THE PROMISE KEEPERS
Dear Promise Keepers ~
I am a Stranger and a Pilgrim on the earth, having left the City of Destruction (which will soon be burned with fire) and do seek a better country, that is an Heavenly, wherein dwelleth Righteousness. I have read in my Book, The Holy Bible, that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, which Revelation doth cause me to rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory. Indeed, I fain would be clothed with Immortality and to behold alway the face of Him who died on a Cross for my sins. Yea, this expectation would be all my Joy were it not for grievous thoughts which do assail me regarding certain travelers I have met with on my journey. These liberal-minded professors have not entered in at the Strait Gate, wherein I was instructed to go, that I may be eased of my Burden of Sin, but hath climbed up some Other Way. Even so, such Vain Persons are fully persuaded that the King of the Celestial City will receive them and bestow upon them the Promised Inheritance, which is incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away.
The first of these benighted souls is Mr. Worldly Wiseman, who doth abide in the town of Morality, which is under the rule of Legality. The next is Wanton Professor, who liveth in Pleasure being dead even while he liveth. And finally there is Ignorance, who will not endure Sound Doctrine that he may grow thereby, but walketh in the Vanity of his Own Mind. These three fellows Esteem Themselves more highly than they ought and ~ professing to be Wise ~ knoweth not that they are Fools. Methinks such men are greatly deceived in that they presume the King of yonder Celestial City will grant unto them Life Eternal when, of a truth, they will be sore ashamed before Him at the very Throne of Judgment. For many Deceivers are gone out into the world which through great swelling words of Vanity do promise them Life. Such are the Servants of Corruption that, verily, make of their disciples twofold more the Children of Hell than themselves. For this cause, I am of a mind to bid these beguiled fellows to an assembly of Promise Keepers, but must needs first inquire by what particular doctrine thy organisation doth seek to bring such Graceless persons to Christ.
Your Fellow Servant,
Christian
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PK PROMISE
KEEPERS
MEN OF INTEGRITY
Dear Chris,
We appreciate your interest in our organization, which would welcome your fellow travelers. Perhaps you may be overly harsh in assuming that such sincere persons are without hope and without Christ in this world. We would not be so intolerant, but would present to them a heart-warming message in the exciting and non-threatening atmosphere of a familiar sports arena. It is the purpose of the Promise Keepers to promote a contemporary version of Christianity in a doctrinally-free, recreational and multimedia setting. At Promise Keepers conferences, prominent Christian leaders like Chuck Colson assure the men, "If you trust in God it doesn’t matter what religion or race you are, we all belong to each other." Our ecumenical message is carefully designed so as not to offend, but to include all in the great worldwide move toward religious unity.
For example, Mr. Worldly Wiseman would find common interests with many Roman Catholics and Mormons who are encouraged by their churches to attend Promise Keepers conferences. Their particular brand of "faith" is never challenged as long as they profess to "love Jesus." Modeling these works-based religions, Promise Keepers requires that each member make Seven Promises which he tries to keep with the help of mentors. Such carnal methods of attaining to holiness were adopted from the rule of Legality over the town of Morality, where Mr. Worldly Wiseman resides. He will no doubt be familiar with such Promises, and be already hard at work trying to keep many of them.
Wanton Professor, we would suspect, suffers from being spiritually challenged. Instead of confronting his condition, which others would harshly label ‘sinful,’ Promise Keepers provides weekly encounter groups for the men to explore their masculinity in a psychological context. Rather than overwhelming Wanton with the deep truths of the Bible, he would be given reading materials that are better suited to his interests, such as The Masculine Journey, by Robert Hicks. This revolutionary book would inform him that Jesus was lustful just like he is, and introduce him to a host of alternatives to repentance, such as initiation rites, male-bonding and taking of oaths. In addition, The Masculine Journey and Study Guide would refer him to the secular men’s movement, where he may find more agreeable fellowship than a strict Bible-teaching church offers.
Ignorance will surely agree with many of the informative articles in our monthly publication, the New Man. Features such as "Fathers, Fossils and Faith" (1) provide skeptics an intellectually stimulating defense of "Biblical" evolution in contrast to the less scientifically supported view that is presented in Genesis 1. Renewed interest in pagan rites is also part of Promise Keepers’ program as we strive to incorporate the fashionable esoteric practices of New Age spiritualism. Our leaders received their training in the Vineyard Movement, which has been on the vanguard of the occult revival within the Church. In our efforts to further update the narrow doctrinal position of traditional Christianity, Point Men are assigned to local churches and communities who have been trained to pressure pastors to break down all denominational walls. Such modernization of the church we hope will provide easier access and travel for many, like your friends, who prefer the Broad, rather than the Narrow Way.
~ The Promise Breakers
"They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law." Psalm 78:10
Promise Keepers is a non-denominational parachurch organization, formed in 1990 to "celebrate Biblical manhood and motivate men toward Christ-like masculinity." Last year, nearly 1.1 million men attended Promise Keepers events at 22 stadiums around the United States. The movement has grown exponentially in the six years since it was founded by Bill McCartney, who was then the head football coach at the University of Colorado. It now has a full-time staff of 430 at its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado and an annual budget of $97 million. The headquarters produces videos and a radio show, maintains a Web site, publishes books and several newsletters, and keeps in contact with 38 state offices and a handful of international affiliates. Sixty percent of its budget comes from men who pay $60 apiece to attend the stadium events and the remainder from donations and sales of instructional materials. (2)
Promise Keepers plans to expand its outreach globally. Last summer, seventeen men from four countries that hold affiliate or near-affiliate status (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) met at the PK headquarters in Colorado. Promise Keepers’ December 1996 New Man magazine reported that representatives of 30 nations have made official inquiries about forming a Promise Keepers organization in their countries.
President Clinton has endorsed the Promise Keepers movement on the McNeil-Lehrer Report and Hillary Clinton praised this non-denominational ministry to men in her book, It Takes a Village. (3) The L. A. Times ran a favorable article and the New York Times gave Promise Keepers front page recognition. A New Age Journal article noted that Promise Keepers combined the secular men’s movement (founded by New Age poet Robert Bly) with the political evangelicalism of Pat Robertson. (4) And the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave the following appraisal: "Promise Keepers combines the Jesus Saves preaching of Billy Graham with the male-bonding message of Robert Bly, the call for racial conciliation of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the marital advice of Ann Landers." (5)
The Vineyard Movement
Bill McCartney founded the Promise Keepers through the inspiration of his Vineyard pastor, James Ryle. Randy Phillips, the president of Promise Keepers, is also a member of James Ryle’s Vineyard Fellowship. James Ryle claims to be a modern prophet with revelatory powers. His book, A Dream Come True: A Biblical Look at How God Speaks Through Dreams and Visions, forwarded by Bill McCartney, encourages Christians to seek Jesus through dreams and visions. (6) At a 1990 Vineyard Harvest Conference in Denver, Rev. Ryle stated that God had instructed him to reveal to the church that the Beatles and their music were the result of a special anointing of the Holy Spirit - and that God was looking for others upon whom to place that anointing in order to bring about a worldwide revival through music --
"The Lord has appointed me as a lookout and shown me some things that I want to show you…The Lord spoke to me and said, 'What you saw in the Beatles -- the gifting and the sound that they had -- was from me…It was my purpose to bring forth through music a worldwide revival that would usher in the move of My Spirit in bringing men and women to Christ…" (7)
In an evaluation, entitled "Promise Keepers: Growth and Caution," Chris Corbett of Point of View radio ministry chronicled the connection between Promise Keepers and the Vineyard Movement. This profile of the Vineyard, in fact, describes the doctrinal foundation upon which the Promise Keepers Movement was built:
"The Vineyard movement of churches is controversial even within its Pentecostal base. It has been labeled ‘hyper-Pentecostal’ by its detractors, which have included figures such as Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel and evangelist David Wilkerson. Currently, the Vineyard is a major conduit for the ‘Holy Laughter Movement’ in which those said to be filled with the Holy Spirit during a meeting might begin laughing uncontrollably, becoming paralyzed, roar like a lion or howl and bark like a dog.
"Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney's pastor, James Ryle, who is on the Board of PK, is a highly controversial figure. His participation in the ‘Laughing Revival’ was written up in a Washington Post article (11/18/95) about the Laughing Movement at the Pasadena Vineyard Christian Fellowship: At the Pasadena church, James Ryle, chaplain of the University of Colorado football team, is telling the congregation how Jesus freed him from his own demons -- growing up in an orphanage and serving jail time for selling drugs. He tells many jokes about his missing middle finger, lost to a lawn mower. There are waves of tear-wiping laughter. Ryle makes sound effects, including some animal noises. He snaps his fingers, bangs the podium, paces and tells how God will appear here in suits of fire, oil, water. ‘You will feel! And the glory of the Lord will put you down!’ (A Rush of Ecstasy and Alarm, Carol McGraw)
"The Vineyard movement has been closely associated with the signs and wonders means of evangelism. Founder John Wimber follows closely the doctrines of George Eldon Ladd who was a professor of Biblical Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Ladd introduced radically new ideas of the kingdom, redemption and Christian unity. According to The Doctrines of the Kingdom of God, by Carl Widrig (1995), . . . Ladd’s ‘gospel of the Kingdom’ had a tendency to distract Ladd away from emphasizing the saving information of the gospel of Jesus' death on the cross." (8)
The Vineyard Movement has assumed the Gnostic mantle of William Branham, George Warnock, Paul Cain and others, who formerly tried to introduce Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God teachings into the Pentecostal movement. Recently, when Kansas City Prophets Bob Jones and Earl Paulk were exposed for moral failure and Rev. Ernie Gruen challenged the error of modern false prophets, John Wimber provided a covering for their sin through affiliation with Vineyard Ministries. The issues of fornication and heresy were never dealt with and these prophets continue to promote their false doctrines through the Vineyard Fellowship.
The Word of God has carefully defined the eligibility criteria for those who shepherd the flock of God. I Thessalonians 5:12 commends believers to "know them which labour among you." However, leaders of parachurch ministries are often protected from scrutiny. I Timothy 3 sets forth precise qualifications for an elder candidate, who must be "above reproach" and "one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)…" A secular magazine, GQ, noted that Bill McCartney is "the only major college football coach in America with two illegitimate grandchildren sired by two different players upon his only daughter." (9) When the requirements of Scripture are ignored in the local church, the spiritual body becomes dysfunctional. Yet many parachurch leaders like Bill McCartney, who would not qualify as elders of a local church, are shepherding millions of Christians worldwide. In addition they receive millions of dollars in tithe money that rightfully belong to local churches. Jesus identified the hireling as a shepherd who does not receive his authority lawfully -- by the high standard given in the Word of God:
"He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1)
The Ecumenical Movement
After the September, 1996 conference in New York, the Promise Keepers issued a press release:
"(Queens, NY) -- Like an army of Christian crusaders, 34,600 highly motivated missionaries and nearly 2,500 volunteers were turned loose on the New York metropolitan area today with the closing of the two-day Promise Keepers Conference at Shea Stadium. A nationwide radio broadcast on 398 stations reached over 250,000 listeners per quarter hour, while a strong national and international media presence assured the message would reach millions more…" (10)
What is the spiritual "message" that has almost overnight catapulted thousands of men across the nation to become missionaries to their cities and has also attracted the attention of national and international media? The multi-ethnic gathering of men in New York City heard from several popular Christian speakers, including Charles Colson, formerly a key political aide to President Nixon and the founder of Prison Fellowship. Colson shared the "message of Jesus" which he learned in jail: "If you trust in God, it doesn’t matter what religion or race you are, we all belong to each other." (11)
Perhaps this unifying message best explains the favorable coverage given to Promise Keepers in the secular press and the political arena. The message of Jesus Christ who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6) is politically incorrect today. When Charles Colson received the $1 million Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, presumably for his co-authorship of The Evangelicals and Catholics Together Document, he quoted John 14:6a -- but omitted the rest of the verse!
The Promise Keepers statement of purpose is: "To unite men through vital relationships to become godly influences in their world by making promises to Jesus Christ and to one another that last a lifetime." In order to become godly influences in their world, the men must keep the sixth of "Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper":
"A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity . . .A Promise Keeper is willing to cross over the lines that have divided the church and meet with at least one man of a different race or denomination at least once a month."
Overseeing the implementation of the Promise Keepers’ agenda are Point Men or Ambassadors who are assigned to local churches and communities. The Ambassador Candidate booklet states:
"Because Promise Keepers is committed to building relational bridges, Ambassadors must avoid negative political and denominational remarks and discussions . . . walls of denominationalism are difficult to break down -- this process may take six months to a year." (12)
Many pastors have reluctantly yielded to the pressure placed upon them by these change agents, who exert substantial influence and generate enthusiasm for Promise Keepers within evangelical churches.
Those who benefit most from Promise Keepers’ ecumenical orientation are Catholic and Mormon leaders, who see in the movement an opportunity to build their own churches. They actively encourage their men to attend rallies and to form PK groups within their churches. After studying the feasibility and propriety of utilizing Promise Keepers at the Catholic parish level, Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles concluded --
"There is no ‘doctrinal’ issue which should cause concern to the Catholic church. Promise Keepers places a very strong emphasis on returning to your own church, congregation or parish and becoming an active layman. There is no attempt at proselytizing or drawing men away from their faith to another church . . . The Promise Keepers seems to me to be a wonderful way to prepare for the Third Millennium of Christianity which begins in the year 2000." (13)
Presaging the spiritual direction that Promise Keepers will be taking is its clarion call for unity under a common leadership. In February of 1996, a National Clergy Conference was held in Atlanta to "tear the hearts of pastors wide open so that a single leadership can be produced." Bill McCartney continued, "And I think He's going to put them back together again as one. One leadership. We've got to have one leadership, one leadership only." (14) McCartney had lamented the division among the clergy at an April, 1995 meeting in Detroit and disrespectfully demanded a reason from any pastor who refused to attend the upcoming Clergy Conference:
"We have a great army that we are assembling. They're the Christian men of this nation. However, our leadership, our clergy are not uniform. Our clergy are divided. Division is many visions. There's no unity of command…there is tremendous division in our clergy…this gathering in Atlanta should exceed 100,000 clergymen. Why? Because we have many more than that, and every single one of them ought to be there. We can't have anybody pass up that meeting. If a guy says that he doesn't want to go, he needs to be able to tell us why he doesn't want to go." (15)
During this conference, an altar call was given for the pastors, who knelt while McCartney led them to confess sin for "putting up barriers on account of denominational dogma." Previously, McCartney had stated, "We need you (priests and ministers) to rightly divide the Word of Truth for us because we can't do it ourselves." Is Promise Keepers hereby calling Evangelicals to revert back to the style of church government from which the reformers struggled to release God’s people -- a united clergy under a single command? Should we also wonder who former Catholic Bill McCartney might have in mind for this "single command"? In his autobiography, From Ashes to Glory, McCartney refers warmly to his Roman Catholic background and remarks: "I never had the feeling I was discarding or even rejecting all that I had been taught." (16) However, in a negative reference to the Protestant Reformation, he proudly announced at the Atlanta Clergy Conference:
"No such meeting was held in the past 400 years, and it is exciting to see the denominational barriers come down as we have Protestants and Roman Catholics here together. The purpose of this meeting is to have the unity of the church."
The recurrent theme in conferences and Promise Keepers' literature is "Breaking Down Denominational Walls." A recent issue of the New Man carries an article written by founder and president of Concerts of Prayer, David Bryant, entitled "Prisoners of Hope." Bryant asserts that revival starts with brokenness, not over personal sin as set forth in Scripture, but for the lack of unity among denominations: "Repent of the disunity of the church that makes it impossible for God to pour out a broad-based spiritual awakening…We must repent of divisiveness caused by our denominationalism …" (17)
In Promise Keepers' rationale, maintaining a denominational preference is hate-mongering equivalent to racial prejudice. To commit the men to this social/religious agenda without undue delay, Promise Keepers now includes commitment cards with each conference attendee’s syllabus. The manufactured transgression of denominationalism is repeatedly the focus of altar calls in rallies and guilt projection onto readers of Promise Keepers literature. Remarkably, however, the weighty sin of homosexuality is marginalized in the Promise Keepers official statement as "a complex and potentially polarizing issue," and homosexuals must be included and sensitively tolerated within the movement.
"…Promise Keepers also recognizes that homosexuality is a complex and potentially polarizing issue. There is a great debate surrounding its environmental and genetic origins, yet as an organization we believe that homosexuals are men who need the same support, encouragement and healing we are offering to all men. While we have clear convictions regarding the issue of homosexuality, we are sensitive to and have compassion for the men who are struggling with these issues. We, therefore, support their being included and welcomed in all our events."
But what saith the Scriptures? I Corinthians 5 forbids fellowship with unrepentant fornicators for good reason: "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" That a Christian men's movement, where men will be congregating and bonding with other men in close relationships, would take a worldly position on homosexuality should sound an alarm within the Church. A powerful expose of the largely homosexual composition of the Nazi Party, The Pink Swastika, paints a somber portrait of the German Wandervogel youth movement, which in its early stages drew the attention of homosexual men. This wholesome hiking and camping society for boys was infiltrated by homosexual pederasts, who preyed upon the innocent. Authors Kevin Abrams and Scott Lively note that:
"Right under the nose of traditional German society, the pederasts laid the groundwork for the ultramasculine military society of the Third Reich. The Wandervogel was certainly not a ‘homosexual organization’ per se, but its homosexual leaders molded the youth movement into an expression of their own Hellenic ideology and, in the process, recruited countless young men into the homosexual lifestyle. The first members of the Wandervogel grew to manhood just in time to provide the Nazi movement with its support base in the German culture. As Steakley put it, ‘[the] Free German Youth jubilantly marched off to war, singing the old Wandervogel songs to which new, chauvinistic verses were added.’" (18)
This eye-opening book tracks another aggressive homosexual agenda -- in America -- and printed an essay written in 1987 by a certain "Michael Swift," which has also been placed in the United States Congressional Record:
"We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools [Project 10], in your dormitories [forced homosexual roommates], in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups [Wandervogel, Boy Scouts], in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses ['gays' in the military], in your truck stops, in your all-male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together." (19)
The Men's Movement
It was only as an adult, upon reading The Peter Pan Syndrome, (20) by Dan Kiley, that I understood Peter Pan to be a type of boy who refused to grow up. Never, Never Land was an enchanting utopia where children could remain children, never putting away their childish things. That America is beset with men who refuse the obligations of manhood is a recognized fact even in secular society. Census Statistics show record numbers of biological fathers who have abandoned their families. In 1993, 6.3 million children in the U.S. were living in a single parent home. In 1994, there were an estimated 11.4 million single parents, a number that has increased by an average of 3.9% per year since 1990. (21)
It seems that our permissive culture fosters irresponsibility at every level of society. Progressive education has succeeded in "dumbing down" American students, the mass media stoops low to accommodate the least common denominator of moral degeneracy and intellectual torpor, judicial legislators penalize law-abiding victims yet reward criminal behavior, a professional medical establishment for profit disposes of unwanted human products of conception and church pulpits withhold from spiritually famished congregations the sincere milk and strong meat of God’s Word.
The sad state of the union was the focus of the National Parenting Association Task Force on Youth Violence on December 15, 1995. Last year an editorial in the Wall Street Journal applauded the National Parenting Task Force on Youth Violence for meeting with Promise Keepers representatives to seek solutions for the breakdown of the family. When these spokesmen were asked the reason for the ministry’s success, the editorial made no mention of Promise Keepers leading men to faith in Jesus Christ, but rather "to affirm their commitment to Christianity..." (22) Surely, the world will give the Church a favorable opinion -- until it asserts that Jesus Christ is the exclusive Way of Salvation.
In response to the present state of emergency in families caused by rampant "Peter Pan Syndrome," the stated purpose of Promise Keepers is to move men toward Christ-like masculinity -- men of integrity and purity. This being a worthy goal, it is disappointing to discover that the practical premise of Promise Keepers is that spiritual maturity can be developed in men by means of pep rallies, psychological teachings, sharing, mentoring, male-bonding, making promises and rites of initiation rather than through the consistent application of God's Word. Supplementary to the stadia events, study guides are produced by Promise Keepers to guide the men in weekly or monthly meetings. The focus is not serious Bible study; rather the groups are modeled after the psychological encounter group format that was largely discredited after the 1970’s, even within the psychological community. In these vulnerable settings, men are encouraged to explore and expose their inmost feelings and intimate experiences before a group that is led, not by a church elder, but by random leaders and mentors.
The Masculine Journey
The study guide often used is based on a book entitled The Masculine Journey, which was a joint project of Robert Hicks, Promise Keepers and NavPress. This book derives its theories of manhood, not from Scripture, but from a variety of New Age authors, such as Daniel Levinson, Sam Keen, Robert Bly, Patrick Arnold, Robert Moore and occultists Carl Jung and Margaret Mead. Nor do the concepts used to define "the masculine journey" to become a "new man" parallel Biblical principles, but rather pagan systems of religion. Although Robert Hicks pays lip service to the Bible, he frequently betrays a low view of Scripture: "I am often amazed at how God sometimes uses secular sources to communicate His truth better than Christian ones." (23)
The Masculine Journey and its accompanying Study Guide glorify the heathen motifs found in the secular men’s movement. Terms such as "sage," "warrior," "phallic male," "noble savage," "wounding," and "rites of passage" are prevalent. In fact, The Masculine Journey encourages the Promise Keepers to "study the men’s movement" and make referrals to their friends. (24) Hicks liberally and favorably quotes the works of Robert Bly, which present the reader a panorama of the pagan concepts that permeate the secular men’s movement -- which he founded. Robert Bly’s ideology assumes that the basic need of men is to "go back to ancient mythology . . . to visualize the wild man that is part of every modern male." (25) His classic book, Iron John, which is frequently quoted in Masculine Journey, is characterized in Resurrecting Pagan Rites as --
"…a treatise on the need for men to experience the ancient occultic rites of initiation. This agenda is not hidden, but rather the entire theme of the book. Pagan rites of initiation are a cross-cultural phenomenon common to primitive societies past and present, and are also a component of secret male societies such as the Freemasons. In Iron John, it becomes evident that the life stages or cycle of the male journey is defined in terms of the stages of the rite of initiation. Initiation can be defined as:
"The methodology of the ancient Mysteries: long and intensive training with the aim of elevating the one who undergoes it go begin (initiate) living a new, higher life, often described as being on the level of Godhood, above and beyond the state of ordinary mortals -- hence, the initiates of former times were viewed as incarnate Gods by ordinary people. (Seekers Handbook, p. 297) An initiate is: someone who underwent the full course of training in the Mysteries, and who thereby became elevated to a superevolved or God-like state, gaining powers of knowledge and extraordinary faculties that allowed him to assume responsibility for teaching and guiding the human race, and specifically for initiating culture.
"Robert Bly writes that young boys ‘in our culture have a continuing need for initiation into male spirit, but old men in general don't offer it…the active intervention of the older men means that older men welcome the younger men into the ancient, mythologized, instinctive male world. (pp. 14,15)’" (26)
It is this pagan model for manhood, rather than the biblical model of holiness that is likewise archetypal throughout The Masculine Journey and Study Guide. Nowhere in either book is there a clear presentation of the Gospel. "Rather the study leads men through potentially intensive, emotional turmoil and abandons them at the doorstep of rituals and ceremonies that bear little resemblance to the Christian faith." (27) Carefully camouflaging the barbaric nature of pagan customs, Robert Hicks laments that the church lacks appropriate "rites of initiation" for young men, such as:
"…celebrating the experience of sin. I'm not sure how we could do it. But I do know we need to do it. For example, we usually give the teenagers in our churches such massive dose of condemnation regarding their first experiences of sin that I sometimes wonder how any of them ever recover. Maybe we could take a different approach. Instead of jumping all over them when they have their first experience with the police, or their first drunk, or their first experience with sex and drugs, we could look upon this as a teachable moment and a rite of passage. Is this putting a benediction on sin? Of course not, but perhaps at this point the true elders could come forward and confess their own adolescent sins and congratulate the next generation for being human." (28)
It is noteworthy that the Boulder Valley Vineyard, pastored by James Ryle and attended by Bill McCartney and Randy Phillips, sponsors "Rites of Passage: The Defining Moment of Manhood" (29) in which men progress from one "order" of manhood to another. Such "orders" or levels of initiation are not found in Scripture, but are an integral part of secret societies like the Freemasons.
The Masculine Journey makes much of the "wounded" and "warrior" stages which successively follow the "phallic" stage in male development. In pagan cultures and in the secular men's movement, there is a concerted effort to break the ties between men and women, replacing them with male-bonding. Hicks concurs with Bly that male bonding is a means to restore men's identities as members of a warrior class. These rites of passage often take the form of dehumanizing and traumatic rituals which inflict physical pain and involve sexual abuse. The survivor of this torture is presum5ed to have experienced "inner death" leading to the "new birth" of a "new man." (Is it mere coincidence that the Promise Keepers' magazine is entitled New Man?) It has been submitted that these rituals expose the individual to demonization:
"For some in the men's movement, then, the definition of manhood is clearly rooted in the rite of initiation, and it involves a change in consciousness. Moore and Gillette describe it graphically as ‘Death -- symbolic, psychological, or spiritual -- is always a vital part of any initiatory ritual.’ They advocate the use of active imagination as a psychological technique, but caution that it can cause one to possibly ‘encounter a really hostile presence…’The change in consciousness that results from these rites of initiation may in fact be demon possession, which is the ultimate intention of pagan rituals." (30)
In The Masculine Journey, Robert Hicks enthusiastically reflects on "phallic rites of initiation" and the "warrior rituals" of pagan cultures and suggests that corresponding rites are desperately needed in the church. To elevate this profanity to a spiritual level, Hicks launches into a breathtaking portrayal of Jesus Christ as a "phallic male," crediting The Last Temptation of Christ with presenting a true image of Jesus Christ. Hicks subtly implies that Jesus may have had sexual relations with a woman, but it just wasn't recorded -
"But it was never recorded that Jesus had sexual relations with a woman. He may have thought about it as the movie The Last Temptation of Christ portrays, but even in this movie He did not give in to the temptation and remained true to His messianic course. If temptation means anything, it means Christ was tempted in every way as we are. That would mean not only heterosexual temptation but also homosexual temptation? I have found this insight to be very helpful for gay men struggling with their sexuality." (31) (Italics added)
Hicks would not label homosexuality as sin, but rather draws upon the lustful presentation of Jesus in this movie to comfort those who struggle with their "sexuality." Yet Romans 1 declares that vile affections are God's judgment upon those who worship the creature rather than the creator -- hardly a description of Jesus Christ! Rick Meisel, of Biblical Discernment Ministries, takes great exception to this passage in Hick's book, calling it --
"More blasphemy -- the movie The Last Temptation of Christ is referred to in a positive light! Claiming that Jesus is a 'phallic male,' Hicks says Jesus 'may have thought about it as the movie… portrays.’ (p.81) -- referring to Jesus thinking about having sexual relations with a woman! But doesn't Hick's suggestion make Jesus guilty of the sin of lust, thereby embracing the movie’s blasphemy? In fact, the movie portrayed graphic sexual desire, not merely temptation.
"Hicks has an obsession with the male sex organ. He writes, 'We are called and addressed by God in terminology that describes who and what we are--zakar , phallic males. Possessing a penis places unique requirements upon men before God in how they are to worship Him. We are called to worship God as phallic kinds of guys, not as some sort of androgynous, neutered nonmales, or the feminized males so popular in many feminist-enlightened churches. We are told by God to worship Him in accordance with what we are, phallic men.’ (p. 49) This is the language of pagan religionists, not the Bible!
"Hicks makes numerous erroneous statements about male sexuality. Claiming that the second stage of manhood is the phallus (penis) stage (p. 48), Hicks goes on to state, ‘The phallus has always been the symbol of religious devotion and dedication.’ (p.51) And, ‘Improper teaching on the phallus will drive men into sexual sins because their spiritual God-hunger is not satisfied. Sexual energy is essentially spiritual.’ (p.55) (This is teaching from the demon worshippers in India; it's called TANTRA sex yoga.) Again, ‘Our sexual problems only reveal how desperate we are to express, in some perverted form, the deep compulsion to worship with our phallus.’ (p. 56)
"Hicks claims that what keeps men moving along this ‘masculine’ journey is having some other male mentors in their lives and seeing Jesus as the primary voice of God in each stage. ‘Jesus…was the second Adam…was very much human . . . was also very much zakar , phallic . . . I believe Jesus was phallic with all the inherent phallic passions we experience as men.’ (pp. 180-181) [This seems to be either the result of Freudian brainwashing or hanging out in locker rooms. Either way, it's blasphemous!]" (32)
Promise Keepers stopped distributing this controversial book at conferences upon the exposure of its contents and strong objections from numerous discernment-oriented ministries. However, the organization did not withdraw its endorsement of The Masculine Journey, but rather defends its theology as being Biblically sound:
"Several passages in The Masculine Journey by Robert Hicks (1993, NavPress) could be understood in more than one way. Some of the content of the book has unfortunately lent itself to a wide range of interpretations and responses involving theological issues which Promise Keepers does not feel called to resolve. These are controversies which neither Promise Keepers nor the author could have foreseen, and which have proven to be a distraction from the focus of our ministry. Therefore, Promise Keepers has discontinued marketing and distributing The Masculine Journey. At the same time, we believe Mr. Hicks's core theology is consistent with orthodox evangelical Christianity, and that The Masculine Journey was a forthright attempt on his part to deal with male issues from a biblical context" (33)
Meanwhile, a survey of Christian bookstores shows that men’s movement type books, with references to Robert Bly and other New Age authors, are proliferating in the Evangelical church. (i.e., Tender Warrior and Locking Arms by Stu Weber) Ezekiel’s prophecies concerning Israel somehow seem relevant to this present apostasy:
"Her priests (McCartney, Ryle, Hicks) have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean." (Ezekiel 22:26)
In Promise Keepers' theology, Roman Catholicism is undifferentiated from Christianity, biblical separation is condemned as the equivalent of racial discrimination, and the holy Son of God is no different than sinful man.
Phallic Cults
There are other disconcerting implications regarding the stages of manhood and proposed rites of initiation found in The Masculine Journey. Webster’s defines "phallus" as: "a representation or image of the… reproductive organ, worshiped as a symbol of generative power, as in the Dionysiac festivals." The PsychoHeresy Awareness letter states, "There have been various phallic cults throughout history, such as the Celts and Druids. Barry Fell, in his book, America B.C., has a chapter on "The Ritual Phallic Cults." (34) The Druidic cult is still popular internationally with over one million members and there is evidence that the Order of Freemasons either evolved from or was patterned after the Druid tradition. Chapter Two in Masculine Journey is entitled "Noble Savage." Robert Hicks may have borrowed this term and other cultic concepts like initiation rites, oaths and male bonding from the Celtic Druids. In The Trojan Horse, How the New Age Movement Infiltrates the Church, Brenda Scott and Samantha Smith identify the Noble Savage with the Druidic custom of human sacrifice:
"Stuart Piggott, a respected archaeologist and recognized authority on Celtic history, agrees: ‘It is hardly realistic to exculpate the Druids from participation, probably active, in both the beliefs and practices involved in human sacrifice (which after all had only been brought to an end in the civilized Roman world in the early first century B.C.) The Druids were the wise men of barbarian Celtic society, and Celtic religion was their religion, with all its crudities. It is sheer romanticism and a capitulation to the myth of the NOBLE SAVAGE to imagine that they stood by the sacrifices duty bound, but with disapproval on their faces and elevated thoughts in their minds.’" (Stuart Piggott, The Druids, 1968, pp. 110-112) (35)
Scott and Smith also document the historic link between the Druids and present day Freemasonry:
"'Druid traditions were also preserved with Freemasonry, which is thought to have evolved from the Druids or at least alongside of them. This connection is addressed in Gould's History of Freemasonry. (James Bonwick, Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions, Salem N.H.: Ayer Co., 1984, p. 71) The three part structure of the masons is identical to the three offices of druidic priesthood: Ovates, Bards, and Druids. Also, ‘the secret teachings embodied therein are practically the same as the mysteries concealed under the allegories of Blue Lodge masonry.’ (Manly P. Hall, An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalist and Rosicrucian Symbolic Philosophy, Los Angeles: The Philosophical Research Society, 1977, XXIII).
"Political and religious suppression forced the Druids to go underground. Many thought that the religion had disappeared, but it survived, handed down within families and villages to resurface again in the early eighteenth century. There are three main druidic colleges. . .In fact, druidism has become so accepted socially that Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales both accepted posts as honorary Druids in the Wales Gorsedd. (Sophie Moore, The Gnosis Interview) . . .By 1988, there were estimated to be over one million adepts (spiritual masters) and the movement is growing." (36)
Former 33rd degree Mason, James Shaw was the highest ranking adept to defect from the Masonic Order. After his conversion to Christianity, Rev. Jim Shaw wrote pamphlets and books to reach other Masons with the Gospel and to expose Freemasonry. In The Deadly Deception, Jim Shaw explained that the foundation of all Masonic symbolism is Phallic Worship.
"Since the true meaning of Masonic symbols (and thus, the true meaning of Masonry itself) is to be known only by the Prince Adepts of Masonry, we must hear what they say concerning them. They (Albert Pike, Albert Mackey, J.D. Buck, Daniel Sickles and others) teach that Masonry is a revival of the Ancient Mysteries (the mystery religions of Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Rome and Greece).
"These Ancient religions had two meanings, or interpretations. One was the apparent (exoteric) meaning, known to the uninitiated, ignorant masses; the other (esoteric) meaning was the true meaning, entirely different, known only to a small, elite group, initiated into their secrets and secret rituals of worship. These mystery religions were forms of nature-worship, more specifically and most commonly the worship of the Sun as source and giver of life to the Earth. Since Ancient times, this worship of the Sun (and of the Moon, stars and of nature in general) has been sexual in its outworkings and rituals. Since the Sun’s rays, penetrating the Earth and bringing about new life, have been central to such worship, the phallus, the male ‘generative principle,’ has been worshipped and the rituals climaxed with sexual union in the mystery religions of Isis and Osiris, Tammuz, Baal, etc. In summary, then, since the Ancient Mysteries (especially those of Egypt) are in fact the Old Religion of which Freemasonry is a revival, the symbols of Masonry should be expected to be phallic in true meaning. This, in very fact, is the case." (37)
It seems that there is more to Promise Keepers than meets the eye. In his recent book, The Illuminati Formula, researcher and author Fritz Springmeier, who has interviewed many former Illuminati, states: "The infiltration and control of the Christian religion has been one of the easiest tasks of the Illuminati." The lluminati is the elite body that controls the various orders of Freemasonry, which in turn help to finance their New World Order. When esoteric concepts and terminology show up in the Christian Church, it is not unreasonable to assume that those who introduce and promote them have some personal knowledge of these occult religions and perhaps even an affiliation with them. Of course, it is for this reason that the membership rolls of the Masonic Order are kept secret. The plan to infiltrate the Christian Church and convert it into a vehicle for the New World Order depends upon these subversive agents maintaining their cover within the Church.
Joel's Army
In Promise Keepers: Is What You See What You Get?, Al Dager examined the dynamics of a typical Promise Keepers conference --
"These mass meetings are characterized by group euphoria, religious commitments and technical exhibitions… Suddenly a low rumble (is it thunder?) begins softly and becomes louder. It’s the sound of a jet aircraft piercing the stadium from the huge speakers strategically placed for maximum effectiveness. The large screen displays the takeoff of a jumbo jet as the announcer welcomes the crowd to the flight for restored manhood. The stadium, full now, erupts in a cheer …They expect to hear words that will kindle in them a zeal for commitment to their role at home, in their church, and in their community. The first speaker, Greg Laurie, gives an impassioned message, calling for response to the offer of salvation or recommitment to Christ. To thunderous applause, about 3,000 men stream from every area of the stadium to take their position in front of the stage. A good beginning to an emotionally charged day just getting under way." (38)
As a young man, Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God forefather, Paul Cain, first envisioned Joel’s Army in training and then graduating to fill the stadiums by the thousands. At the 1995 Prophetic Power and Passion Conference in Alabama, Cain recounted his dream:
"And I had a dream that became a recurring dream, and it was about all the stadiums -- and we've told this hundreds and hundreds of times all across America, all over the world, in fact -- and I saw these stadiums and football fields, soccer fields and sports arenas, all of them filled with thousands and thousands of people, sometimes over 100,000 in each place." (39)
Recently, Cain stated that the Promise Keepers Movement is the realization of his prophetic vision. Co-founder of PK, James Ryle, also responded in an interview to a question whether Promise Keepers could be fulfilling the prophecy of raising an army in Joel 2: "Yes…300,000 men have come together so far this year under Promise Keepers…Never in history have 300,000 men come together except to go to war. These men are gathered for War." (40) The Suitable Helpers newsletter for women participating in Promise Keepers also echoes the Gnostic militant theme of the Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God: "Our Lord is calling out a great host of men ready and willing to become ‘Christs’ in their homes: Promise Keepers. In grand, bold sweeps, God is mustering an army." (41)
Al Dager advises extreme caution concerning religious/political coalitions: "We would do well to take a lesson from history and remember that Hitler made his plea for acceptance of Nazism based upon a platform of anti-communism, anti-homosexuality, patriotism and morality." Christians would benefit from the historical perspective presented in Richard Terrell’s book, Resurrecting the Third Reich. The following is an excerpt from this work, which reveals the diabolical origin of an elitist, controlling and militant mindset -- and its inevitable end.
"What was to take possession of the German consciousness was a militant romanticism . . . According to this way of thinking, the Divine Spirit is manifested in the spirit of a people, in their collective genius and total culture or Volkgeist . . . Germany developed a kind of communal mysticism which contained its own Teutonic concept of a chosen people, called to redeem civilization from its decadence . . . rallies were glorious pageants that stirred the emotions, which depended not on any revelation of Scripture, but on pure feeling . . . Even today, still photographs of these meetings have a powerful and gripping presence . . . The Volkish concept of the social organism was effectively symbolized in mass meetings that expressed a sense of eternity, awe, and mystery, effects stimulated by cathedral of light nighttime mass meetings in which antiaircraft lights sent brilliant shafts of illumination into the darkened sky.’ (42)
According to Terrell, orthodox Christianity was supplanted by the German Volkish faith, which was preached to the German masses in large rallies. The Christian Conscience notes the present parallels:
"Is Promise Keepers creating a new folk religion? The large mass rallies, the exaltation of emotion over reason, the lack of doctrinal integrity, the taking of oaths, the focus on fatherland and fatherhood, and the ecumenical inclusion of aberrant esoteric doctrines bears a disconcerting similarity to an era which gave rise to one of the most dreadful armies in history. The infiltration of Manifest Sons of God doctrines into Promise Keepers combined with New Age ideologies appears to create a new American folk theology: pantheism, the idolatry of self, the belief in a divine mandate to take the land, the superiority of a group, and the necessity of group hysteria."
A similar portrait emerges from the prophetic passages of Scripture. II Thessalonians 2 foretells that the delusion of a "divine spirit" will take possession of a deceived people. This watershed event will render a divine mandate for "Joel's army," under the command of a counterfeit Christ, to make war on the saints. The Gnostic doctrines of the Latter Rain are preparing many to believe the strong delusion of their own divine incarnation:
"The Glory, in the Latter Rain understanding, is the visible manifestation of the Spirit. Now, in light of the satanic nature of this deception, it is not surprising that deceived Christians are being led to expect a manifested spirit and not the visible return of the Lord Jesus . . . the return of the "lord" to his church, in glory, before (or perhaps even instead of?) the physical return of Jesus." (43)
Paul Cain has best expressed the Second Coming of the Latter Rain:
"I don't know what the second coming is to you, . . .but let me tell you he's coming to you, he's coming to his Church, he' s coming to abide in you, to take up his abode in you . . . I want you to know he's coming to the Church before he comes for the Church. He's gonna perfect the Church so the Church can be the Image, be Him, and be his representation." (44)
A recent best-seller by Francis Frangipane, The Days of His Presence, identifies Promise Keepers as a main catalyst for this worldwide transformation:
"The Spirit of the Lord is moving on so many fronts. In just the past ten months we have seen racial reconciliations take place among Southern Baptists in Atlanta; in Memphis, leaders from Pentecostal denominations, once divided along racial lines, are now reunited, while white Evangelical leaders repented with blacks in Chicago. We can truly say the Lord is moving mightily on his people. Mix in the March for Jesus [20,000,000] and the [1,100,000] Promise Keepers, and we are seeing the stage set for what I believe will be the greatest awakening of this century." (45)
Movements such as Promise Keepers are fully dedicated to breaking down all denominational walls, regardless of essential doctrine, in order to bring about a unified church with a "central command." Promise Keepers leaders say that they are building "Joel’s Army." Bill McCartney has even invited the Christian men of Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March to join the PK Million Man March this October. (46) If the radical homosexual movement infiltrates PK (and they have threatened to seduce our sons "wherever men are with men together") and PK merges with the secular men's movement and Louis Farrakhan's movement, we could one day have a monster like Hitler's S.A. or S.S. Few recall that it was the wholesome German Wandervogel movement, infiltrated by Nazi gay activists, which developed into the Hitler Youth Movement -- which later matured into the ultramasculine, militaristic, highly disciplined and dreaded Nazi Storm Troopers -- or S.A.
Revelation 17 describes a massive religious and political entity which has become skillful in the exercise of spiritual and political power. However, MYSTERY BABYLON is not "the Lord’s army" -- but the bloodstained warrior church. The various Gnostic streams of the Latter Rain will soon merge, becoming a deluge that rivals the days of Noah.
A SACRED ASSEMBLY OF MEN
ENDNOTES
New Man, July/August, 1996, pp. 52-54.
Washington Post, Laurie Goodstein, Dec. 16, 1996.
It Takes A Village, Hillary Rodham Clinton, (Simon & Schuster, 1996), pp. 41-42.
"Promise Keepers: Ecumenical ‘Macho-Men’ for Christ," Biblical Discernment Ministries, P.O. Box 679, Bedford, IN, 47421-0679, p. 26. http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/pk/
Ibid., p. 2.
James Ryle, A Dream Come True: A Biblical Look at How God Speaks Through Dreams and Visions, 1995, p. 228.
Ibid., p. 22. http://rapidnet.com/~jbeard/pklie.htm
Dallas/Fort Worth Heritage (June 1995), "Promise Keepers: Growth and Caution," Chris Corbett.
GQ, January, 1996, p. 111 as cited in "Promise Keepers:Ecumenical ‘Macho-Men’ for Christ," P. 25.
Official Promise Keepers Web Site on the Internet, 9/26/96 http://www.promisekeepers.org/pkpress/218a_142.htm
Ibid.
"PK: Ecumenical Macho-Men for Christ," Rick Meisel.
"Promise Keepers' Promises Spiritual Growth for Men," The Tidings Archdiocese of L.A. paper, March 31. 1995.
Promise Keepers, Detroit Silver Dome, April 29, 1995.
"An Open Letter to Bill McCartney," Rev. Bill Randles 8/95.
Bill McCartney, From Ashes to Glory, (Thomas Nelson Pub. 1995), p. 47.
"New Man," David Bryant, Strang Communications Co., 600 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, FL 32746, p. 32.
The Pink Swastika, Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams, Founders Publishing Corp., Box 20307, Keizer OR 97307, 1995, Chap. 1, p, 34.
Ibid., Chap. 7, pp. 194, 195.
Dan Kiley, The Peter Pan Syndrome, Avon Books, 1983.
U.S. Census Bureau, Oct., 1996.
"Family Values Gain Ground," The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 28, 1995, p. A6.
Robert Hicks, The Masculine Journey, (NavPress, 1993, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935,) p. 162.
Masculine Journey Study Guide, (NavPress 1993) pp. 42,90.
"Connecting With the Wild Man Inside All Males," Utne Reader, Nov./Dec., 1989, p. 58.
"Resurrecting Pagan Rites," Part I, Sarah and Lynn Leslie, The Christian Conscience, Dec., 1995.
"Promise Keepers: Encountering Men At Risk," Sarah Leslie, The Christian Conscience, Jan. 1995.
Robert Hicks, The Masculine Journey, p. 176.
"Rites of Passage" brochure, Boulder Valley Vineyard Conference, August 25-26, 1995.
"Resurrecting Pagan Rites," Part I, op. cit.
Robert Hicks, The Masculine Journey, p. 181.
"Masculine Journey," Rick Meisel, Biblical Discernment Ministries, http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/pk/
PK Web Site: http://www.promisekeepers.org/27ba.htm
PsychoHeresy Awareness Newsletter, of July/Aug. 1995.
The Trojan Horse: How the New Age Infiltrates the Church, Brenda Scott and Samantha Smith, Huntington House, pp. 51.
Ibid., p. 59.
James R. Shaw, The Deadly Deception, Huntington House, 1988, p. 143.
"Promise Keepers, Is What You See What You Get?," Albert Dager, Media Spotlight Ministries, p. 1.
Prophetic Power and Passion Conference, Christ Chapel, Florence, AL, Aug. 30, 1995.
"Latter Rain and the Rise of Joel's Army," Jewel van der Merwe, Discernment Newsletter, Sept./October 1994, p.7.
Suitable Helpers newsletter, February, 1995.
"The Christian Conscience," April, 1995, Resurrecting the Third Reich, Richard Terrell, Huntington House, 1994.
"The Significance of Filled Stadiums," Ed Tarkowski.
Grace Ministries tape, Nov. 1988.
The Days of His Presence, Francis Frangipane, 1996, Arrow Publication.
Washington Post, Laurie Goodstein, op. cit.
http://www.watch.pair.com/promise.html
giovedì 23 luglio 2009
mercoledì 10 giugno 2009
Apostasy: The new service, from the Open Episcopal Church "host in the post"...... including atheists and even satanists
CHRISTIAN BIBLE STUDIES
AGAINST APOSTASY
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
By Martino Gerber and Giuliano Lattes
**********************************
The new service, from the Open Episcopal Church "host in the post"...... including atheists and even satanists
In recent years the communion wafer has been made available in a variety of forms - including patterned, wholemeal, crumb-proof and gluten-free - to satisfy the demands of modern life. Soon, altar bread will become even more convenient and accessible with the advent of the "host in the post".
The new service, from the Open Episcopal Church, is aimed at people who either cannot attend Eucharist, through age or ill-health, or those who have drifted away from church, (including atheists and even satanists).
Jonathan Blake, the Open Episcopal Church bishop,he said the organisation was taking "care and concern" over appropriate packaging for the wafer, which is no more than a millimetre thick, to ensure it remained intact on arrival, before adding that anyone - including atheists and even satanists - could avail themselves of the service. "Jesus did not make these distinctions. He gave himself to anyone and everyone. It makes no difference, the body of Christ is redeeming."
06-09 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/worship-communion-wafers-post
***********************************************************************************
Against Apostasy
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
1 Corinthians 11 ; 23-32
11,23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
http://www.carm.org/kjv/1Cor/1cor_11.htm
1 Corinthians 5 ; 9-13
5,9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
http://www.carm.org/kjv/1Cor/1cor_5.htm
2 Corinthians 6 ; 14-18
6,9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
http://www.carm.org/kjv/2Cor/2cor_6.htm
http://groups.google.com/group/christianbiblestudies?hl=it
AGAINST APOSTASY
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
By Martino Gerber and Giuliano Lattes
**********************************
The new service, from the Open Episcopal Church "host in the post"...... including atheists and even satanists
In recent years the communion wafer has been made available in a variety of forms - including patterned, wholemeal, crumb-proof and gluten-free - to satisfy the demands of modern life. Soon, altar bread will become even more convenient and accessible with the advent of the "host in the post".
The new service, from the Open Episcopal Church, is aimed at people who either cannot attend Eucharist, through age or ill-health, or those who have drifted away from church, (including atheists and even satanists).
Jonathan Blake, the Open Episcopal Church bishop,he said the organisation was taking "care and concern" over appropriate packaging for the wafer, which is no more than a millimetre thick, to ensure it remained intact on arrival, before adding that anyone - including atheists and even satanists - could avail themselves of the service. "Jesus did not make these distinctions. He gave himself to anyone and everyone. It makes no difference, the body of Christ is redeeming."
06-09 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/worship-communion-wafers-post
***********************************************************************************
Against Apostasy
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
1 Corinthians 11 ; 23-32
11,23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
http://www.carm.org/kjv/1Cor/1cor_11.htm
1 Corinthians 5 ; 9-13
5,9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
http://www.carm.org/kjv/1Cor/1cor_5.htm
2 Corinthians 6 ; 14-18
6,9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
http://www.carm.org/kjv/2Cor/2cor_6.htm
http://groups.google.com/group/christianbiblestudies?hl=it
Praise the Lord and post the Host: church's plan to woo worshippe......... including atheists and even satanists
Praise the Lord and post the Host: church's plan to woo worshippe
Riazat Butt, Religious affairs correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday 9 June 2009
Article history
In recent years the communion wafer has been made available in a variety of forms - including patterned, wholemeal, crumb-proof and gluten-free - to satisfy the demands of modern life. Soon, altar bread will become even more convenient and accessible with the advent of the "host in the post".
The new service, from the Open Episcopal Church, is aimed at people who either cannot attend Eucharist, through age or ill-health, or those who have drifted away from church.
Although the pre-consecrated wafer is free, there will be a charge for postage and packing. Receiving one host costs £2; receiving 500 costs £10.
Jonathan Blake, the Open Episcopal Church bishop who officiated at Jade Goody's wedding this year, said the initiative was also designed to reverse the way the church presented itself to people.
"The sense they have to go to places to worship is something their parents did. The churches we work with have got respect for the fact that we're taking the church to places it hasn't been before.
"It is a mistake to locate a church as those who gather in a building. There is a large population who have haemorrhaged away from church but regard themselves as committed Christians."
He said the organisation was taking "care and concern" over appropriate packaging for the wafer, which is no more than a millimetre thick, to ensure it remained intact on arrival, before adding that anyone - including atheists and even satanists - could avail themselves of the service. "Jesus did not make these distinctions. He gave himself to anyone and everyone. It makes no difference, the body of Christ is redeeming."
News of Blake's latest innovation did not elicit a response from the Church of England, which, as a rule, does not comment on the internal affairs of other churches.
One of his previous projects was a street mass using language more commonly associated with text messages: "JC said: 'I am the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will live 4ever.'"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/worship-communion-wafers-post
Riazat Butt, Religious affairs correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday 9 June 2009
Article history
In recent years the communion wafer has been made available in a variety of forms - including patterned, wholemeal, crumb-proof and gluten-free - to satisfy the demands of modern life. Soon, altar bread will become even more convenient and accessible with the advent of the "host in the post".
The new service, from the Open Episcopal Church, is aimed at people who either cannot attend Eucharist, through age or ill-health, or those who have drifted away from church.
Although the pre-consecrated wafer is free, there will be a charge for postage and packing. Receiving one host costs £2; receiving 500 costs £10.
Jonathan Blake, the Open Episcopal Church bishop who officiated at Jade Goody's wedding this year, said the initiative was also designed to reverse the way the church presented itself to people.
"The sense they have to go to places to worship is something their parents did. The churches we work with have got respect for the fact that we're taking the church to places it hasn't been before.
"It is a mistake to locate a church as those who gather in a building. There is a large population who have haemorrhaged away from church but regard themselves as committed Christians."
He said the organisation was taking "care and concern" over appropriate packaging for the wafer, which is no more than a millimetre thick, to ensure it remained intact on arrival, before adding that anyone - including atheists and even satanists - could avail themselves of the service. "Jesus did not make these distinctions. He gave himself to anyone and everyone. It makes no difference, the body of Christ is redeeming."
News of Blake's latest innovation did not elicit a response from the Church of England, which, as a rule, does not comment on the internal affairs of other churches.
One of his previous projects was a street mass using language more commonly associated with text messages: "JC said: 'I am the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will live 4ever.'"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/worship-communion-wafers-post
Too Unorthodox Even for the Episcopal Church?
Too Unorthodox Even for the Episcopal Church?
Church leaders appear to have vetoed a bishop-elect for the first time since the 1930s. But few opponents are celebrating.
Frank E. Lockwood in Little Rock, Arkansas | posted 6/08/2009 09:58AM
Barring a last minute change of heart by opponents, it appears certain that Episcopal Church leaders have rejected the consecration of a bishop-elect who denies traditional Christian teachings about sin, salvation, and Christ's atoning death at Calvary.
Evangelicals inside and outside the Episcopal Church say they would have been concerned if Kevin Thew Forrester had been given a ceremonial shepherd's staff and a sacred charge to "feed and tend the flock of Christ" in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, where he was elected on February 21. But few are seeing the rejection as a cause to celebrate.
According to church rules, elections of bishops must be confirmed by a majority of the church's House of Bishops (though not all members are allowed to vote) and a majority of its 111 diocesan governing boards, known as standing committees. While the results will not be official until mid-July, a majority of standing committees have voted to withhold consent, according to a survey by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Unofficial surveys show the bishop-elect trailing badly among bishops as well.
Thew Forrester, who has rewritten the church's baptismal covenant, the Apostles' Creed, and the Book of Common Prayer's Easter Vigil liturgy to remove historic Christian doctrines, would be the first bishop-elect to be vetoed by denominational leaders since at least the 1930s, according to the church's Office of Communication.
The 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church has had bishops who have denied core Christian doctrines like the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, and the Resurrection of Jesus. But the most prominent bishops to make such claims (such as John Shelby Spong and James Pike) reportedly did not do so until after they had been made bishop.
Critics on the theological left and the right said Thew Forrester's abandonment of church doctrine and liturgy, as contained in the Book of Common Prayer, placed him too far outside the mainstream to serve as a bishop and a successor to the Apostles.
Thew Forrester's rejection of atonement theology and his claims that the crucifixion was not the will of God were particularly troubling to some Episcopalians. According to Thew Forrester, Christ's blood doesn't wash away sin and Christ's death doesn't redeem and restore humanity. Jesus doesn't make us one with God, but simply reveals to us that we're already and always one with God, the bishop-elect maintains.
Such doctrinal innovations were too much for some bishops.
"There are a few things that are absolutely non-negotiable in the Christian faith because without them it ceases to be the Christian faith," said Bishop of West Texas Gary R. Lillibridge.
But a Thew Forrester supporter, Wyoming Bishop Bruce Caldwell, said Thew Forrester's theology "stretches us, but not to the point of breaking."
The bishop-elect defended his liturgical and theological changes, saying they reflected the "continually evolving" Christian faith.
"What we've done is quite responsible and appropriate, and indeed the church needs to do it in order to stay relevant in the 21st century," he said.
In addition to rejecting orthodox Christian teachings about the Cross, Thew Forrester denies that Satan exists, calls the Qur'an the Word of God, describes sin as being blind to our own goodness, and questions whether Jesus is truly the only begotten Son of God. A student of Zen Buddhism, Thew Forrester took Buddhist lay ordination vows and adopted a new Buddhist name—Genpo—meaning "way of universal wisdom."
Critics charged that Thew Forrester had also altered Christian liturgies to add Buddhist, Unitarian-Universalist, and New Age principles.
In a message posted on his blog, Bishop of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) Paul V. Marshall warned that the denomination's failure to uphold historic Christian teachings had made it an embarrassment.
"As a Church we are increasingly a laughing-stock … because we do not consistently proclaim a solid core, words as simple as 'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,' yet 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,'" Marshall wrote.
Thew Forrester's theological and liturgical innovations are too extreme for a majority of the Episcopal Church, said Greg Griffith, founder of the conservative Anglican website StandFirmInFaith.com. But that doesn't mean that the Episcopal Church is ready to embrace the faith once delivered to the saints, he added.
"All the Episcopal Church has done is to say that someone who is clearly not a Christian may not be one of its bishops," Griffith said. "It may be history in the making, but it's hardly a grand or noble achievement, and certainly not a signal that the Episcopal Church is returning to orthodoxy."
"In any other church—evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal—this person wouldn't get to go to seminary, let alone be able to lead" an entire regional body, said Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. The fact that a diocese chose Thew Forrester and that nearly 30 standing committees have voted to confirm him is troubling, Harmon said.
Harmon and other theological conservatives also noted that the opposition to Thew Forrester is fragmented. A few oppose him because he was the only candidate for bishop on the ballot. Others say he should have gone before the proper channels before rewriting the Apostles' Creed and baptismal covenant. Only a minority oppose Thew Forrester because they believe the changes are contrary to Christian teaching, Harmon said.
"This is not something to celebrate. It's something to be sad about. It reveals a deeply, deeply unhealthy church," he said.
But Bill Carroll, rector at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Athens, Ohio, says the vote may be a turning point for his denomination. "I think history will remember this as the point when the Episcopal Church began to show some backbone about basic Christian doctrine," he wrote in a comments thread at EpiscopalCafe.com. "For too long, we have allowed our respect for difference to mean anything goes. There are boundaries."
Christian leaders outside the Episcopal Church said the church's handling of Thew Forrester has implications beyond the denomination.
"If a so-called bishop does not agree with the central elements of the Christian faith, then he should not call himself a Christian, let alone a bishop—nor should a church ordain him. He is an apostate from the Faith; and a church that ordains such a one is also apostate," said George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler agrees.
"The difference between orthodoxy and heresy is of vital importance to every evangelical believer," he said. "We should feel grief and pain whenever we see a church that is involved in this kind of basic theological turmoil and where we hear the truth of the gospel denied, because it compromises the gospel witness of Christians around the world."
Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Frank E. Lockwood, religion editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has been extensively covering the dispute over Kevin Thew Forrester at his blog, Bible Belt Blogger.
A Christianity Today article in March noted that Thew Forrester and a Muslim priest were raising questions about syncretism in the church.
More articles on the widening division in the Anglican Church are available in our full coverage area.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/juneweb-only/123-11.0.html?start=2© 2009 Christianity Today International
Church leaders appear to have vetoed a bishop-elect for the first time since the 1930s. But few opponents are celebrating.
Frank E. Lockwood in Little Rock, Arkansas | posted 6/08/2009 09:58AM
Barring a last minute change of heart by opponents, it appears certain that Episcopal Church leaders have rejected the consecration of a bishop-elect who denies traditional Christian teachings about sin, salvation, and Christ's atoning death at Calvary.
Evangelicals inside and outside the Episcopal Church say they would have been concerned if Kevin Thew Forrester had been given a ceremonial shepherd's staff and a sacred charge to "feed and tend the flock of Christ" in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, where he was elected on February 21. But few are seeing the rejection as a cause to celebrate.
According to church rules, elections of bishops must be confirmed by a majority of the church's House of Bishops (though not all members are allowed to vote) and a majority of its 111 diocesan governing boards, known as standing committees. While the results will not be official until mid-July, a majority of standing committees have voted to withhold consent, according to a survey by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Unofficial surveys show the bishop-elect trailing badly among bishops as well.
Thew Forrester, who has rewritten the church's baptismal covenant, the Apostles' Creed, and the Book of Common Prayer's Easter Vigil liturgy to remove historic Christian doctrines, would be the first bishop-elect to be vetoed by denominational leaders since at least the 1930s, according to the church's Office of Communication.
The 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church has had bishops who have denied core Christian doctrines like the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, and the Resurrection of Jesus. But the most prominent bishops to make such claims (such as John Shelby Spong and James Pike) reportedly did not do so until after they had been made bishop.
Critics on the theological left and the right said Thew Forrester's abandonment of church doctrine and liturgy, as contained in the Book of Common Prayer, placed him too far outside the mainstream to serve as a bishop and a successor to the Apostles.
Thew Forrester's rejection of atonement theology and his claims that the crucifixion was not the will of God were particularly troubling to some Episcopalians. According to Thew Forrester, Christ's blood doesn't wash away sin and Christ's death doesn't redeem and restore humanity. Jesus doesn't make us one with God, but simply reveals to us that we're already and always one with God, the bishop-elect maintains.
Such doctrinal innovations were too much for some bishops.
"There are a few things that are absolutely non-negotiable in the Christian faith because without them it ceases to be the Christian faith," said Bishop of West Texas Gary R. Lillibridge.
But a Thew Forrester supporter, Wyoming Bishop Bruce Caldwell, said Thew Forrester's theology "stretches us, but not to the point of breaking."
The bishop-elect defended his liturgical and theological changes, saying they reflected the "continually evolving" Christian faith.
"What we've done is quite responsible and appropriate, and indeed the church needs to do it in order to stay relevant in the 21st century," he said.
In addition to rejecting orthodox Christian teachings about the Cross, Thew Forrester denies that Satan exists, calls the Qur'an the Word of God, describes sin as being blind to our own goodness, and questions whether Jesus is truly the only begotten Son of God. A student of Zen Buddhism, Thew Forrester took Buddhist lay ordination vows and adopted a new Buddhist name—Genpo—meaning "way of universal wisdom."
Critics charged that Thew Forrester had also altered Christian liturgies to add Buddhist, Unitarian-Universalist, and New Age principles.
In a message posted on his blog, Bishop of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) Paul V. Marshall warned that the denomination's failure to uphold historic Christian teachings had made it an embarrassment.
"As a Church we are increasingly a laughing-stock … because we do not consistently proclaim a solid core, words as simple as 'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,' yet 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,'" Marshall wrote.
Thew Forrester's theological and liturgical innovations are too extreme for a majority of the Episcopal Church, said Greg Griffith, founder of the conservative Anglican website StandFirmInFaith.com. But that doesn't mean that the Episcopal Church is ready to embrace the faith once delivered to the saints, he added.
"All the Episcopal Church has done is to say that someone who is clearly not a Christian may not be one of its bishops," Griffith said. "It may be history in the making, but it's hardly a grand or noble achievement, and certainly not a signal that the Episcopal Church is returning to orthodoxy."
"In any other church—evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal—this person wouldn't get to go to seminary, let alone be able to lead" an entire regional body, said Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. The fact that a diocese chose Thew Forrester and that nearly 30 standing committees have voted to confirm him is troubling, Harmon said.
Harmon and other theological conservatives also noted that the opposition to Thew Forrester is fragmented. A few oppose him because he was the only candidate for bishop on the ballot. Others say he should have gone before the proper channels before rewriting the Apostles' Creed and baptismal covenant. Only a minority oppose Thew Forrester because they believe the changes are contrary to Christian teaching, Harmon said.
"This is not something to celebrate. It's something to be sad about. It reveals a deeply, deeply unhealthy church," he said.
But Bill Carroll, rector at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Athens, Ohio, says the vote may be a turning point for his denomination. "I think history will remember this as the point when the Episcopal Church began to show some backbone about basic Christian doctrine," he wrote in a comments thread at EpiscopalCafe.com. "For too long, we have allowed our respect for difference to mean anything goes. There are boundaries."
Christian leaders outside the Episcopal Church said the church's handling of Thew Forrester has implications beyond the denomination.
"If a so-called bishop does not agree with the central elements of the Christian faith, then he should not call himself a Christian, let alone a bishop—nor should a church ordain him. He is an apostate from the Faith; and a church that ordains such a one is also apostate," said George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler agrees.
"The difference between orthodoxy and heresy is of vital importance to every evangelical believer," he said. "We should feel grief and pain whenever we see a church that is involved in this kind of basic theological turmoil and where we hear the truth of the gospel denied, because it compromises the gospel witness of Christians around the world."
Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Frank E. Lockwood, religion editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has been extensively covering the dispute over Kevin Thew Forrester at his blog, Bible Belt Blogger.
A Christianity Today article in March noted that Thew Forrester and a Muslim priest were raising questions about syncretism in the church.
More articles on the widening division in the Anglican Church are available in our full coverage area.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/juneweb-only/123-11.0.html?start=2© 2009 Christianity Today International
lunedì 1 giugno 2009
Partial Birth Abortion: Mercy or Infanticide?
Partial Birth Abortion: Mercy or Infanticide?
Abstract
Partial birth abortion is a controversial method of abortion late in a woman’s pregnancy in which the baby is aborted by a craniotomy. Two organizations are commonly affiliated with abortion: Pro-choice supports abortion saying that what is in a woman’s body is her “property”, while Pro-life believes it is murder of innocent babies. Partial birth abortion is murder of innocent children and an abomination to basic human rights and values.
Partial Birth Abortion: Mercy or Infanticide?
Thesis Statement: Partial birth abortion is murder of innocent babies and an abomination to basic human rights and values.
I. The differing sides on Intact D&X are distinctly
opposite
A. Pro-choice supports abortions
1. Done 650 times a year and only when the
mother’s life is endangered or the child is
deformed
2. Says the public is mistaken in its knowledge
of Intact Dilation and Extraction
B. Pro-life doesn’t support abortions of any kind
1. Backed by medical experts it is claimed that
80% of partial birth abortions are purely
elective
2. Believes the baby is a living human being and
deserves the rights of a human
II. There are benefits and harmful consequences to P.B.A.
A. Many abortionists claim that the benefits far out
way the consequences
1. It is safer, quicker, and easier
2. Intact D&X is less traumatic to the mother
B. There are also many harmful effects
1. Risk of uterine and breast cancer is increased
2. Rates of depression also increase
III. The issue of partial birth abortion has come into our
courtrooms
A. Congress made its first attempt to ban P.B.A in 1996
1.Brenda Shafer R.N. testified to what she saw in
abortion clinic
2. Congress passed the ban, but President Clinton
vetoed the bill
B. The second attempt was made in 1997
1. Passed Congress again
2. President Clinton vetoed the bill
Imagine being in excruciating pain from a gaping hole in the back of your neck. Then you hear a slight “whirr” before your brains are sucked out through a tiny tube. Sadly this happens to many babies each day because they are unwanted, inconvenient, or imperfect. The abortionist first delivers the baby breech style except for the head, scissors are then jammed into the head at the base of the skull, and the brains sucked out, the skull then collapses. This procedure is commonly known as partial birth abortion or Intact Dilation and Extraction (Intact D&X) (“Partial Birth Abortion”, 1996). Adolph Hitler often used pregnant women for experiments, and procedures similar to this were used to torture the soon-to-be mothers. Partial birth abortion is murder of innocent children and an abomination to basic human rights and values.
Opposing Views
The opposing sides on the partial birth abortion issue are distinctly opposite. Pro-choice, which supports abortion, says that partial birth abortion is rarely done, and only then when the mother’s life is endangered or the child is deformed. Abortion supporters also say that the baby is only a fetus, and cannot feel any pain when the abortion happens. According to Sykes (2000), people are misled into thinking that partial birth abortion happens thousands of times a year, bu
they only happen about 650 times a year. She also argues that the name “partial birth abortion”, which was given to the method in 1995, alone is misleading in that it implies that a full-term baby is being killed while it is in the process of being born. The name “late term” is also said to be confusing because it implies a third trimester abortion (Sykes, 2000). According to Sykes (2000), Intact D&X has been around for a while and says, “The procedure is not new- a 19th century medical textbook I own describes a method of abortion that involves a craniotomy, and so does a 1930 edition of Williams Obstetrics…”
Pro-life supporters argue that partial birth abortion is done up to 4,000 times a year, and is usually used in situations that aren’t life threatening. Captured in a direct quote from Dr. Martin Haskell, an abortionist, it is seen that the procedure is usually not necessary, “20% are for genetic purposes, and 80% are purely elective.” Medical experts have said that it is never necessary to kill an infant in order to the save the mother’s life once the baby is almost fully delivered (“Partial Birth Abortion”, 1996). Pro-lifers believe that the fetus is not just tissue, but a living breathing human being that can feel pain. By 20 weeks, the earliest an abortionist will do an Intact D&X, the infant has a regular schedule of sleeping, turning, sucking, and kicking, and all of his/her organs are completely formed (“Information Page on Abortion”). According to “Partial Birth Abortion” (1996), during an Intact D&X, a mother is given anesthesia so she won’t feel any pain. Medical experts have testified that infants of that age can experience pain. This drug has very little to no effect on the infant, which means that the infant, before it is killed, is in excruciating pain.
Benefits and Harmful Effects
There are benefits and harmful effects to an Intact Dilation and Extraction. The benefits of partial birth abortion according to Dr. Martin Haskell are that it is safer, quicker, and easier than other abortions, and there is a lessened risk of infection (Sykes, 2000). It is also less traumatic to the mother than say, Intact Dilation and Evacuation, where the baby is torn apart limb-by-limb. The harmful consequences are also definitely something to consider. According to “Information Page on Abortion”, the risk of uterine and breast cancer is greatly increased, as is the rate of depression among mothers.
Banning Intact D&X
In the past decade, the controversial issue of partial birth abortion has come to light and into our courtrooms. One of the reasons it is hard to make it ethically right is when an infant’s head sometimes slips out during an Intact D&X, the infant has full legal rights as a U.S. citizen. Yet the abortionist will still perform the abortion. The abortion is now dancing the fine line between abortion and infanticide (Sprang and Neerhof, 1998). The contentious event of Intact Dilation and Extraction finally reached Congress in 1996. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act was then presented before the House of Representatives and the Senate, Brenda Shafer, R.N. testified:
…The doctor stuck the scissors through the back of his head, and the baby’s arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks he might fall. The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening and sucked the baby’s brains out. Now
the baby was completely limp. I was totally
unprepared for what I saw…(Shafer, 1996)
This testimony, and numerous others helped Congress pass the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act in 1996. When this bill reached President Clinton for signing, he vetoed the ban on April 10, 1996. Clinton claims this was justified because it affects only hundreds and was necessary to save the mother. Again, on October 8, 1997, the ban was passed. President Clinton chose to veto the bill once more. The House then voted to override the veto, but the Senate
failed (“Partial Birth Abortion”, 1996).
Partial birth abortion’s biggest supporters and their biggest opponents are both adamant in their beliefs. Pro-life bases its beliefs on the Bible and what God has to say about abortion, whereas pro-choice bases its beliefs on what man has to say. Jeremiah 1:5a says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (New International Version). This shows that God loves the unborn child, and just like His children, will protect them. A clear statement against abortion is in Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.” (New International Version) I believe this applies to the child still in the womb. The difference of a couple weeks, and even just a few days separates the abortionist from a murderer, and the procedure from Infanticide. We need to take strong action against not only partial birth abortion, but also abortions of any kind by writing our representatives and senators.
References
Information Page on Abortion. Retrieved October 17, 2000 from the World Wide Web:
http://web.tusco.net/newone/abortion2.htm
Partial Birth Abortion (1996). Retrieved October 17, 2000
from the World Wide Web:
http://www.jeremiahproject.com/prophecy/partbirthabort.html
Shafer, B. P. (1996, March 21). Hearing on the Partial
Birth Abortion Ban Act (HR 1833). Retrieved October
23, 2000 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.priestsforlife.org/testimony.html
Sprang and Neerhof (1998, August 26). Rationale for
Banning Abortions Late in Pregnancy. American
Medical Association 280 744-747. Retrieved
October 19, 2000 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.partialbirthabortion.org/welcome/what_is.html
Sykes, M. (2000). ‘Late Term’ Confusion, ‘Partial Birth’
Lies. Retrieved October 23, 2000 from the World Wide
Web:http://prochoice.about.com/newissues/prochoice/library/bllatetermlies.htm
This essay is only for research purposes. If used, be sure to cite it properly!
http://www.essaydepot.com/essayme/589/index.php
Tiller Killed: Dr. George Tiller, Operation Rescue, Late Term Abortion Procedure doctor murdered
Tiller Killed: Dr. George Tiller, Operation Rescue, Late Term Abortion Procedure doctor murdered
By News Editor • on May 31, 2009
George Tiller (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was a physician in Wichita, Kansas in the United States. He was the medical director of an abortion clinic in Wichita, Women’s Health Care Services, which specializes in the provision of late-term procedures. Dr. Tiller was shot and murdered while serving as an usher at his Lutheran church on May 31, 2009.
The Women’s Health Care Services clinic is a family planning clinic in Kansas. In particular, Troy Newman and Operation Rescue have made it their goal to see the clinic closed. The clinic has been one of a limited number nationwide that provide late-term procedures.
The clinic itself is unusual in that it offers funerary services to its patients. Some of these services include photographs, footprinting and handprinting, baptism, cremation, arrangement for burial in or out of state, and arrangement for amniocentesis and/or autopsy. Tiller was the target of anti-abortion violence. On August 19, 1993, he was shot in both arms outside of the Wichita clinic by Shelley Shannon, who received an 11-year prison sentence for the crime. On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot to death as he served as an usher during church services.
The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue condemned the murder:
“We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.”
Background
Tiller studied at the University of Kansas School of Medicine from 1963 to 1967. Shortly thereafter, he held a medical internship with United States Navy, and served as flight surgeon in Oakland, California in 1969 and 1970.
Controversy
Christin Gilbert
Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old woman with Down Syndrome from Keller, Texas, died in January 2005 after a multi-day abortion procedure performed at Tiller’s facility, though reports conflict as to whether the abortion was performed by Tiller himself or by LeRoy Carhart. Gilbert had been 28 weeks pregnant. The autopsy stated that Gilbert died of sepsis following the abortion.[9] Tiller was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts. After a petition from Operation Rescue, a grand jury was convened to probe the death,[10][11] which resulted in no indictments against Tiller.
The O’Reilly Factor controversy
On Friday, November 3, 2006, Bill O’Reilly featured an exclusive segment on his show, The O’Reilly Factor, saying that he has an “inside source” with official clinic documentation indicating that George Tiller performs late-term abortions to alleviate “temporary depression” in the pregnant woman.[12] According to reporting data provided to the Kansas Board of Healing Arts for the year 1998, all of the post-viable “partial-birth” (dilation and extraction) abortion procedures performed in Kansas during that year were performed because “the attending physician believe[d] that continuing the pregnancy [would] constitute a substantial and irreversible impairment of the patient’s mental function.”[citation needed] Tiller responded to O’Reilly’s statements by demanding an investigation into the “inside source” through which the information was leaked, suggesting that Phill Kline, then the Kansas Attorney General, was responsible. Kline denied the charge.
Trial and acquittal
Tiller went on trial in March 2009, charged with nineteen misdemeanors for allegedly consulting a second physician in late-term abortion cases who was not truly “independent” as required by Kansas state law.[13][14]
The case became a cause célèbre for both supporters and opponents of abortion rights. Columnist Jack Cashill compared the trial to the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals,[15] while NYU Professor Jacob Appel described Tiller as “a genuine hero who ranks alongside Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr. in the pantheon of defenders of human liberty.”[16]
On March 27, 2009, Tiller was found not guilty of all 19 misdemeanor charges stemming from some abortions he performed at his Wichita clinic in 2003.[17]
Death
George Tiller was shot dead around 10:00 am Sunday, May 31, 2009 while serving as an usher during worship services at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.[7] Local television station KAKE reported that a suspect fled the scene in a light or powder blue Ford Taurus.[18][19]
The suspect fled the scene in his vehicle and authorities are still investigating. The suspect was described as a white male in his 50’s or 60’s, 6′1,” 220 lbs, wearing a white shirt and dark pants. The car is licensed to Merriam, Kansas. The car was later pulled over near Gardner, Kansas and a person was arrested at the time. [18][20]
A candlelight vigil to honor Tiller has been announced for the night of May 31, 2009, in Old Town Square in Wichita.[21]
Reaction to murder
The Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women issued a statement that read in part, “The Kansas National Organization for Women is deeply saddened at the cowardly act of violence committed against Dr. George Tiller, a champion for women’s reproductive freedom—an act that ultimately took his life. Dr. Tiller, although previously surviving many acts of terrorism and violence directed at him and his clinic, did not allow it to stop him from standing up for the rights of all women. Kansas NOW grieves not only the loss of Dr. Tiller, but also the loss that all women needing access to safe abortion have suffered due to this act of violence.”[22]
Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, a founder of Operation Rescue, which is now under new leadership and known as Operation Save America, responded to Tiller’s death by issuing a statement in which he wrote: “George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller’s killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name, murder.”[23]
The president of Operation Rescue, formerly known as Operation Rescue West in Wichita, Troy Newman, commented that “Operation Rescue has worked tirelessly on peaceful, non-violent measures to bring him to justice through the legal system, the legislative system […] Mr. Tiller was an abortionist. But this wasn’t personal. We are pro life, and this act was antithetical to what we believe. Our prayers go out to his family and the thousands of people this will impact”[24] The group also stated “We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning”.[20]
“Dr. Tiller was a fearless, passionate defender of women’s reproductive health and rights,” said Nancy Northup, President of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which had worked on a legal matters with Dr. Tiller. “It’s time that this nation stop demonizing these doctors, and start honoring them.” Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who had prosecuted Tiller, issued a statement saying, “I am stunned by this lawless and violent act which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law. We join in lifting prayer that God’s grace and presence rest with Dr. Tiller’s family and friends.” Bioethicist Jacob Appel, a longtime Tiller supporter, wrote, “George Tiller will now become for American women what Medgar Evers became for African-Americans. That is no consolations for his friends and family, but it is the lesson of hope to be drawn from this horrific crime.” Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson also condemned the murder.
http://elitestv.com/pub/2009/05/tiller-killed-dr-george-tiller-operation-rescue-late-term-abortion-procedure-doctor-murdered
By News Editor • on May 31, 2009
George Tiller (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was a physician in Wichita, Kansas in the United States. He was the medical director of an abortion clinic in Wichita, Women’s Health Care Services, which specializes in the provision of late-term procedures. Dr. Tiller was shot and murdered while serving as an usher at his Lutheran church on May 31, 2009.
The Women’s Health Care Services clinic is a family planning clinic in Kansas. In particular, Troy Newman and Operation Rescue have made it their goal to see the clinic closed. The clinic has been one of a limited number nationwide that provide late-term procedures.
The clinic itself is unusual in that it offers funerary services to its patients. Some of these services include photographs, footprinting and handprinting, baptism, cremation, arrangement for burial in or out of state, and arrangement for amniocentesis and/or autopsy. Tiller was the target of anti-abortion violence. On August 19, 1993, he was shot in both arms outside of the Wichita clinic by Shelley Shannon, who received an 11-year prison sentence for the crime. On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot to death as he served as an usher during church services.
The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue condemned the murder:
“We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.”
Background
Tiller studied at the University of Kansas School of Medicine from 1963 to 1967. Shortly thereafter, he held a medical internship with United States Navy, and served as flight surgeon in Oakland, California in 1969 and 1970.
Controversy
Christin Gilbert
Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old woman with Down Syndrome from Keller, Texas, died in January 2005 after a multi-day abortion procedure performed at Tiller’s facility, though reports conflict as to whether the abortion was performed by Tiller himself or by LeRoy Carhart. Gilbert had been 28 weeks pregnant. The autopsy stated that Gilbert died of sepsis following the abortion.[9] Tiller was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts. After a petition from Operation Rescue, a grand jury was convened to probe the death,[10][11] which resulted in no indictments against Tiller.
The O’Reilly Factor controversy
On Friday, November 3, 2006, Bill O’Reilly featured an exclusive segment on his show, The O’Reilly Factor, saying that he has an “inside source” with official clinic documentation indicating that George Tiller performs late-term abortions to alleviate “temporary depression” in the pregnant woman.[12] According to reporting data provided to the Kansas Board of Healing Arts for the year 1998, all of the post-viable “partial-birth” (dilation and extraction) abortion procedures performed in Kansas during that year were performed because “the attending physician believe[d] that continuing the pregnancy [would] constitute a substantial and irreversible impairment of the patient’s mental function.”[citation needed] Tiller responded to O’Reilly’s statements by demanding an investigation into the “inside source” through which the information was leaked, suggesting that Phill Kline, then the Kansas Attorney General, was responsible. Kline denied the charge.
Trial and acquittal
Tiller went on trial in March 2009, charged with nineteen misdemeanors for allegedly consulting a second physician in late-term abortion cases who was not truly “independent” as required by Kansas state law.[13][14]
The case became a cause célèbre for both supporters and opponents of abortion rights. Columnist Jack Cashill compared the trial to the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals,[15] while NYU Professor Jacob Appel described Tiller as “a genuine hero who ranks alongside Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr. in the pantheon of defenders of human liberty.”[16]
On March 27, 2009, Tiller was found not guilty of all 19 misdemeanor charges stemming from some abortions he performed at his Wichita clinic in 2003.[17]
Death
George Tiller was shot dead around 10:00 am Sunday, May 31, 2009 while serving as an usher during worship services at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.[7] Local television station KAKE reported that a suspect fled the scene in a light or powder blue Ford Taurus.[18][19]
The suspect fled the scene in his vehicle and authorities are still investigating. The suspect was described as a white male in his 50’s or 60’s, 6′1,” 220 lbs, wearing a white shirt and dark pants. The car is licensed to Merriam, Kansas. The car was later pulled over near Gardner, Kansas and a person was arrested at the time. [18][20]
A candlelight vigil to honor Tiller has been announced for the night of May 31, 2009, in Old Town Square in Wichita.[21]
Reaction to murder
The Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women issued a statement that read in part, “The Kansas National Organization for Women is deeply saddened at the cowardly act of violence committed against Dr. George Tiller, a champion for women’s reproductive freedom—an act that ultimately took his life. Dr. Tiller, although previously surviving many acts of terrorism and violence directed at him and his clinic, did not allow it to stop him from standing up for the rights of all women. Kansas NOW grieves not only the loss of Dr. Tiller, but also the loss that all women needing access to safe abortion have suffered due to this act of violence.”[22]
Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, a founder of Operation Rescue, which is now under new leadership and known as Operation Save America, responded to Tiller’s death by issuing a statement in which he wrote: “George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller’s killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name, murder.”[23]
The president of Operation Rescue, formerly known as Operation Rescue West in Wichita, Troy Newman, commented that “Operation Rescue has worked tirelessly on peaceful, non-violent measures to bring him to justice through the legal system, the legislative system […] Mr. Tiller was an abortionist. But this wasn’t personal. We are pro life, and this act was antithetical to what we believe. Our prayers go out to his family and the thousands of people this will impact”[24] The group also stated “We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning”.[20]
“Dr. Tiller was a fearless, passionate defender of women’s reproductive health and rights,” said Nancy Northup, President of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which had worked on a legal matters with Dr. Tiller. “It’s time that this nation stop demonizing these doctors, and start honoring them.” Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who had prosecuted Tiller, issued a statement saying, “I am stunned by this lawless and violent act which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law. We join in lifting prayer that God’s grace and presence rest with Dr. Tiller’s family and friends.” Bioethicist Jacob Appel, a longtime Tiller supporter, wrote, “George Tiller will now become for American women what Medgar Evers became for African-Americans. That is no consolations for his friends and family, but it is the lesson of hope to be drawn from this horrific crime.” Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson also condemned the murder.
http://elitestv.com/pub/2009/05/tiller-killed-dr-george-tiller-operation-rescue-late-term-abortion-procedure-doctor-murdered
sabato 30 maggio 2009
ASCENSION-DAY AND PENTECOST-DAY
ASCENSION-DAY AND PENTECOST-DAY
ACTS 1, 1-2, 47
1
1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath days journey.
13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.
17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.
18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.
20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.
21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.
26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
2
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles� doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
http://www.carm.org/kjv/Acts/acts_1.htm
http://groups.google.com/group/christianbiblestudies?hl=it
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