“If it’d said ‘Allah Akbar’, the council wouldn’t have dared to try and remove it,” says Marianne Bons, a member of the Dutch Reformed Protestant Church.

She’s talking about a farm roof on which ‘Jesus saves’ is painted in enormous letters. The council says the text has to go. The farm’s owner, evangelical Christian Joop van Ooijen, is refusing to obey. The affair has united Christians of all persuasions behind the message.

“You’re allowed to believe in anything in this country, as long as it’s nothing to do with Christians or the Church,” says Ms Bos, describing the prevailing Dutch attitude to religion.
 
Mr Van Ooijen has held out for two years, refusing to remove the message from his roof. Giessenlanden local council is fining him 500 euros a week, but he refuses to pay. He has been fighting the council decision for two years and says he’s willing to go to the European Court if necessary.
 
Mr Van Ooijen and Ms Bons both live in Alblasserwaard, an area near Rotterdam, in the heart of the Dutch bible belt. The position adopted by Giessenlanden Council has met with disbelief in this predominantly Christian region.
 
The council argues that it’s pollution of the landscape. Giessenlanden Councillor Berend Buddingh explains that white letters on a red roof is too big a colour contrast. Mr Van Ooijen counters that it is “too big a contrast with the councillor’s own beliefs”.
 
The farmer is receiving support from all over the Netherlands, from secular as well as religious people and from ordinary Christians, not just members of his evangelical church. And from less strict members of his own church, such as the Bons family. “He’s literally shouting it from the rooftops,” says the father of the family, Menno Bons, admiringly.

When Jesus cleared the temple of the moneychangers and animal-sellers, He showed great emotion and anger (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-18; John 2:13-22). Jesus’ emotion was described as “zeal” for God’s house (John 2:17). His anger was pure and completely justified because at its root was concern for God’s holiness and worship. Because these were at stake, Jesus took quick and decisive action. Another time Jesus showed anger was in the synagogue of Capernaum. When the Pharisees refused to answer Jesus’ questions, “He looked around at them in anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts” (Mark 3:5).

Many times, we think of anger as a selfish, destructive emotion that we should eradicate from our lives altogether. However, the fact that Jesus did sometimes become angry indicates that anger itself, as an emotion, is amoral. This is borne out elsewhere in the New Testament. Ephesians 4:26 instructs us “in your anger do not sin” and not to let the sun go down on our anger. The command is not to “avoid anger” (or suppress it or ignore it) but to deal with it properly, in a timely manner. We note the following facts about Jesus’ displays of anger:

1) His anger had the proper motivation. In other words, He was angry for the right reasons. Jesus’ anger did not arise from petty arguments or personal slights against Him. There was no selfishness involved.

2) His anger had the proper focus. He was not angry at God or at the “weaknesses” of others. His anger targeted sinful behavior and true injustice.

3) His anger had the proper supplement. Mark 3:5 says that His anger was attended by grief over the Pharisees’ lack of faith. Jesus’ anger stemmed from love for the Pharisees and concern for their spiritual condition. It had nothing to do with hatred or ill will.

4) His anger had the proper control. Jesus was never out of control, even in His wrath. The temple leaders did not like His cleansing of the temple (Luke 19:47), but He had done nothing sinful. He controlled His emotions; His emotions did not control Him.

5) His anger had the proper duration. He did not allow His anger to turn into bitterness; He did not hold grudges. He dealt with each situation properly, and He handled anger in good time.

6) His anger had the proper result. Jesus’ anger had the inevitable consequence of godly action. Jesus’ anger, as with all His emotions, was held in check by the Word of God; thus, Jesus’ response was always to accomplish God’s will.

When we get angry, too often we have improper control or an improper focus. We fail in one or more of the above points. This is the wrath of man, of which we are told “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:19-20). Jesus did not exhibit man’s anger, but the righteous indignation of God.

Wheat rose in Chicago after Russia, the world’s third-largest grower, extended a ban on grain exports into next year, raising the prospect of higher food prices that already have sparked riots in Mozambique.

Wheat for December delivery rose as much as 1.5 percent to $7.2475 a bushel, advancing for a third day and taking this week’s gain to 4.3 percent. Russia, suffering from its worst drought in at least a half century, started an export ban Aug. 15 that was scheduled to end Dec. 31. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday it wouldn’t be reviewed until after the next harvest and Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said Russians are hoarding staples.

“Russia was for the last couple of seasons a very large part of the world export market and now all of sudden they disappeared,” said Keith Flury, a grains analyst at Ratzeburg, Germany-based F.O. Licht. “This is kind of the new fundamental shift that not everybody was really ready for.”

Wheat traded in Chicago, a global benchmark, as much as doubled since June as Russia’s drought, flooding in Canada and parched fields in Kazakhstan and the European Union ruined crops. Higher prices, combined with rallies in corn, rice and livestock, are increasing concern of a return to the food crisis of 2008, which sparked riots from Haiti to Egypt.

Residents of Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, were on strike for a second day yesterday in a protest over higher food and utility prices. At least seven people have died in clashes with police and another 280 injured, Cabinet spokesman Alberto Nkutumula said yesterday.

Prices Peak

While prices have jumped, they’re still a long way off the peaks reached in 2008. Then, wheat reached a record $13.495 and rice rose as high as $25.07 per 100 pounds in Chicago. Rice for November delivery closed yesterday at $11.43. A United Nations’ index of 55 foods rose to 175.9 points last month, 18 percent below the 214 points recorded in June 2008. The world’s poorest nations will spend 37 percent less on cereal imports this year than at the peak, according to the UN.

World wheat stockpiles are expected to be 174.8 million metric tons in the 2010-11 season, comprised of local marketing years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s 40 percent more than in 2007-08.

Wheat for December delivery was 8.5 cents, or 1.2 percent, higher at $7.2225 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, as of 12:15 p.m. in London. Prices rose as high as $8.68 Aug. 6. Milling wheat futures for November delivery climbed 0.5 percent to 230.75 euros ($296) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe in Paris.

Corn for December delivery rose 0.1 percent to $4.48 a bushel, after earlier reaching $4.49, the highest compared with intraday prices since June 2009. Soybeans for November delivery advanced 0.7 percent to $10.165 a bushel. Rice for November delivery gained 0.9 percent to $11.53 per 100 pounds.

Russia produced 61.7 million tons of wheat last year, the largest crop after China and India, according to the International Grains Council.

Special Meeting

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization will hold a special meeting of its intergovernmental groups on grains and rice on Sept. 24 in Rome.

Russia accounted for 14 percent of the global exports of wheat, flour and related products in the year to June 30, according to the USDA. “We can only review lifting the ban on grain exports after the next year’s crop is harvested and we have clarity on the balances,” Putin said in Moscow yesterday.

“So far we are not declaring any crisis, it’s premature,” Abdolreza Abbassian, senior grains economist at the FAO, said. “But we are not saying it’s not a tight situation. It’s a very tight situation.”

Speculators including hedge funds increased their net-long position, or bets on higher prices, in Chicago wheat futures by 9.9 percent in the week ended Aug. 24, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

World wheat production will reach 645.7 million tons in the 2010-11 season, the USDA said last month, reducing its previous forecast of 661.1 million tons.

Germany’s grains harvest fell 12 percent to 43.8 million tons this year after “extreme weather,” the country’s Agriculture Ministry said today.

I tried to warn evangelical leaders about Glenn Beck’s rallies but most of them laughed at me. Now Satan is the one laughing at them as “Christians” run head-long into embracing non-Biblical theology and call it “Christian”.  

Greg West in the Mormon LDS Examiner validates my pre-Beck rally warnings to Evangelical leaders on my radio program, columns, e-mails, and phone conversations. I told them that partnering with Beck in a spiritual enterprise would send the message that Mormons are Christians.

Greg West writes:  

As a Mormon, I have to consider an unintended message throughout Beck’s work, which has culminated in this event. That message is: “Mormons are Christian believers.” Despite nearly two centuries of misrepresentation and religious envy by sectarian Christianity, Beck has achieved the visibility, prominence, and has had the time day after day, week after week, to speak openly and truly about his core beliefs. Those statements of faith have disoriented and confused those who had previously believed the lies about Mormons.

Jim Garlow, a popular and influential pastor who partnered with the Mormon faithful in California to defend traditional marriage was quoted recently in CNN’s Belief Blog, saying, “I have interviewed persons who have talked specifically with Glenn about his personal salvation – persons extremely well known in Christianity – and they have affirmed (using language evangelicals understand), ‘Glenn is saved…’ He understands receiving Christ as Savior.”

Hallelujah! The light bulb has been switched on after nearly two centuries! Every single member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that a person must be “born again” and receive Jesus Christ as his Savior and Redeemer. Our holy books teach that salvation comes only in and through the atonement of Christ and that there is no other way a person can be saved…Glenn Beck’s beliefs are mainstream Mormon beliefs. Joseph Smith, the Church’s founder, was a Christian prophet. He was an apostolic witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
http://www.examiner.com/lds-church-in-national/glenn-beck-and-the-restoring-honor-rally

Notice that West admits that what Beck has said on his broadcasts about his faith has “disoriented and confused” people who thought that Mormonism was not consistent with Christianity. However, Beck has now convinced them that Mormonism and Christianity are compatible with the help of America’s Christian leaders. . . . .

read the full article here.

The following quote comes from a great article by Randy Lovegreen regarding a recent episode of Glenn Beck’s T.V. program in which Beck brazenly advanced a Mormon fallacy:

Beck is using his show to break the ice for Mormon theology, and promoting a worldview that supports the beliefs of his church. His hour long infomercial for Mormon history only makes it easier for those well groomed young men on bicycles to strike up a conversation, and lead folks astray. . . . As Christians, we must constantly be on guard against anything which may seek to corrupt our faith. This includes charming conservative talk show hosts, even if they are on Fox News.

Read the whole article, Glenn Beck’s Mormon Infomercial, here.

On Wednesday, an unusual gaggle of  “leaders across the ideological spectrum”  released an open letter type statement rebuking anyone who questions the so-called “faith” of the Saviour of the United States (SOTUS).

The Democratic party aligned media agency hired by the “70 prominent religious leaders” contends that anyone who questions whether Barack Obama is a real Christian is misrepresenting his faith.  The letter wanted to make the point that [the president's] faith isn’t a political matter. I beg to differ.

What’s even more outrageous is the demand to prohibit the free speech rights of any American who may question Obama’s religious teleprompter faith.

“…we urge public officials, faith leaders, and the media to offer no further support or airtime to those who misrepresent and call into question the President’s Christian faith.”

Among the signatories: Bishop TD Jakes, Brian McLauren, Kirbyjon Caldwell and Rev. Chuck Currie . . . . . . .

read the full article here.

Part 1: The ATM God

As a result of this message, millions of people have converted to Christianity and swelled the coffers of the TV stations, preachers and churches that preach this. But we must ask a few questions: Are they following the God of the Bible, and are those who teach and believe this message really Christians? How dare we ask such questions? Well, how dare we not!

It all hinges on one question: Is the god of the prosperity message the God of the Bible? That should not be hard to answer. All we need to do is compare the god of the prosperity gospel with the God of the Bible and it becomes clear that they are not the same. The god of the health and wealth message can best be described as the “money god” or the “ATM god.”

One day a rich young man wanted to follow Jesus. The money preacher would have told this young man to give his money to God (meaning the preacher) so that God will give back to him multiplied many more times. But what did Jesus say? “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Matthew 19:21). Jesus did not promise the young man more money, but spiritual riches in heaven. Neither did Jesus tell him to give the money to God, or the Temple, but to just get rid of it because money had become his god. This Jesus of the Bible is different than the one preached today.

After this, turning to His disciples, Jesus said: “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” To which the disciples responded, “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:23-25). If it is hard, in fact impossible, for a rich man to enter the Kingdom, then surely God would be contradicting Himself by making people rich. This is because God also said He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”  (2Peter 3:9). So, if the Lord wants people to be saved, and riches are going to keep them from getting saved, why then will He make them rich?

Jesus also said “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Mammon means money. Clearly serving God and money, greed and materialism, are mutually exclusive: You cannot serve money and God at the same time. Therefore the money god and the God of the Bible are two different gods. Jesus Himself places the two at opposites.

Paul confirms this: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1Timothy 6:9). At the risk of oversimplification: “Everybody who wants to be rich will go to hell!” Is that too strong? No, it is exactly what it says. What else does it mean to drown in destruction and perdition? Clearly, the greed for money sends people to Hell. Who do you think is the master of the preachers who incite people to greed? God does not want any to go to hell, but the Devil does.

Paul continues: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness” (1Timothy 6:10). Yes, I know. it is the love of money and not the money. But what exactly is it that the money preachers are appealing to when they promise people that God will make them rich? It is the love of money. It is not the love of God. If that were the basis of their appeal they would encourage people to just give their money to God and not expect anything back. But they are expressly appealing to, and encouraging, the love of money. So who promotes the love of money? God or the Devil? God’s messengers, or the messengers of Satan?

Just think about it a moment before you reach for the mouse to delete this message. Wait before you sit at the keyboard to fire off a message telling me I am a heretic. Yes, I agree that God blesses His children, meets their needs and teaches them to look to Him for their daily bread. But there is a huge difference between loving God and loving money.

Millions of people have become “Christians” because of the promises of health, wealth and happiness. But I wonder if they would have become Christians if God rather promised persecution, hardship and problems. But wait! What does the Bible promise?: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2Timothy 3:12). “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33 NIV). And “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Not only do we have promises of hardship as Christians, but the record of Scripture confirms that to be the case. Jesus was never rich and had to be buried in a borrowed tomb. Paul had a few seasons of abundance but mostly his life was pretty miserable: “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2Corinthians 11:24-27). Does that sound like the kind of life preachers are offering today?

Look at the wonderful “prosperous” life the heroes of faith lived: “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented– of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:35-38).

There are glaring differences between the promises of the Bible and those of the prosperity preachers. In fact, they are direct opposites.

It is very obvious that the god of the prosperity message is not the God of the Bible, and that those who preach that message are not messengers of God but of Satan. We must then ask whether their followers are really Christians.

If you have been following Jesus for what He can give you, then you need to repent and turn to the real Lord Jesus Christ who died for you on the cross. Ask Him right now to forgive you for following Him for things, when He already gave Himself as a sacrifice for your sins. God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son; but you want stuff?

Part 2: The Material Kingdom

Part 3: The Political Kingdom

By Alexander Maistrovoy: Israeli journalist with the Russian-language Israeli newspaper Novosty Nedely

“In all the lands it conquered, Islam has replaced indigenous places of worship with mosques…”

The Israeli government announced that it would include the Cave of the Patriarchs (Me’arat HaMachpelah) in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem as part of a comprehensive plan to preserve Israel’s national heritage and religious sites (”Moreshet”). The reaction of the Arab (and all Islamic) world to the decision has once again showed the real essence of the “Arab-Israeli conflict”, which actually is the holy war that Arabs had proclaimed against the Jews.

Any conflict can be resolved if the conflicting parties recognize each other’s right of existence. It becomes basically irresolvable if one of parties refuses to recognize the other. The key questions of borders, the status of Jerusalem and refugees are difficult but could be resolved in case Arabs recognized the right of the Jews to live in their land.

Arabs do not recognize it. All their policy, strategy, ideology is directed to depriving the Jews of any connection with the land of Israel: virtually, and then physically to uproot the Jews from the history of the Holy Land. Jews have neither antiquities nor holy sites, they have no past. In other words, they do not belong to this land and have no right to exist at all.
It is the genocidal approach that is characteristic of Islam. Power and possession are inherent parts of religious attitude in Islam. This approach extends to all other religions, not only to Judaism. The idea consists in depriving other cultures of their spiritual base to achieve total physical domination over them.

The famous Belgian orientalist Koenraad Elst in his book “Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam” writes:

“In all the lands it conquered, Islam has replaced indigenous places of worship with mosques. In Iran, there are no ancient Zoroastrians or Manichean shrines left. In Central Asia, there are no Buddhist temples left. Similarly, in India (except the far South where Islam penetrated rather late) there are practically no Hindu temples that have survived the Muslim period (over 10,000 destroyed). But there are thousands of mosques built on the foundations of Hindu temples (for example, the Ayodhya temple).”

Nowadays, the same policy is being carried out towards the Jews. The ignorance, hypocrisy, and soullessness of the Western world make the problem easier to overcome.

Jerusalem has never been a holy Muslim place.

Statements about the city being “the third holy place of Islam” appeared in the thirties of the last century. First they were announced by notorious Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini. He aspired to stir up religious fanaticism among an apathetic local population. Al-Husseini worked vigorously to raise Jerusalem’s status as an Islamic holy center. He renovated the mosques that had fallen into complete disrepair on the Temple Mount while conducting an unceasing campaign regarding the imminent Jewish “threat” to Muslim holy sites.

(It is a well-known fact that Hussein collaborated with Hitler in the “final solution of the Jewish question”. Less known is that he was appointed to the post of the High Commissioner by a Jew Herbert Samuel).

Earlier all Arabian historians and scientists referred to Jerusalem and, first of all, the Temple Mount, as the Jewish holy site only. In the 13th century an Arab geographer Yakut said: “Mecca is holy to Moslems and Jerusalem to the Jews”. . . . . .

read the full article here.

What would you think if you walked into a public hall, expecting to see a Christian worship service, and saw people prancing around in animal costumes? 

Lucky us, we don’t have to imagine such a thing. We can see the video, courtesy of Youtube.  In fact, you probably couldn’t imagine it.  You gotta see it to believe it.

We are talking about footage shot at the Presbyterian Church USA’s recent General Assembly. That’s a meeting where PCUSA delegates from all over the country gather to see how much harm they can inflict on their denomination.

But now let’s go to the videotape!

Exhibit A

This might easily be confused with out-takes from “The Wicker Man,” but it’s supposed to be the processional service that opens the Assembly’s proceedings.  Here we see Christians costumed as skunks, bison, raccoons, and other animals, all hopping about.  Over them towers a tall, creepy figure which may be intended to represent the current occupant of the White House.  Apologists for this scene say it’s just PCUSA’s way of paying homage to “native American spirituality,” more familiarly known as paganism.

 As shudderingly awful as this is, Exhibit B is even worse:

Here we have some enormous, goggle-eyed “puppets”–they look like something borrowed from a Mardi Gras parade–shuffling about, while a couple of dancers cavort all over the floor and someone sings an interminable hymn about “social justice,” more familiarly known as communism.

What’s with all the dancing, anyway? Do they get the head of John the Baptist when they’re done?

Not captured on videotape, but reported by eyewitnesses, were numerous “prayers” offered up to Mother Earth, “Goddess Sophia,” and several other non-Christian hobgoblins. We are not told whether the delegates also prayed to Baal, Ashtoreth, or Speedy Alka-Seltzer.  Occasionally the name of Jesus Christ was invoked as one of many gods.

In case these images alone fail to convince one that the PCUSA is no longer a proper Christian church, the actual work done by the delegates should close the deal.  Here’s what they accomplished:

*They rejected a definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, leaving the PCUSA without any definition of marriage at all.  Maybe they ought to buy a dictionary–or even a Bible, if they can stand the sight of one.

*They abolished fidelity and chastity requirements for church officers; so now a Presbyterian elder can rank below a politician on the moral totem pole. Who would have believed that was possible? You may get tossed out of Congress for propositioning an undercover cop in a public rest room, but if you’re an elder in the PCUSA, anything goes.

*They voted to spend $7-10 million to extend assorted benefits to church employees with same-sex “partners,” to be funded by mandatory payments squeezed from all PCUSA congregations, even the ones that are still Christian.

There was a lot of griping when they couldn’t quite swing the votes for a total commitment to homosexual pseudomarriage–but, hey, that just gives them something big to shoot for next year. There’d be even more griping if the General Assembly ever ran out of ways to insult God.

Now, if the GA delegates are not pagans, why do they do such a cracking good imitation of paganism? What’s the point of that?  It’s like pretending to be drunk in public.

Virtually invisible, but nevertheless present at the Assembly, were Christian delegates. What they were doing there, and what they hoped to accomplish there, stumps me.  Individuals, families, and whole congregations are fleeing the PCUSA in numbers that would gravely alarm the executives of any other kind of organization.  

But the PCUSA leadership acts like it sincerely believes that all it has to do to stop the bleeding is throw in a few more dancers, ring in a few more costumes, and find a few more imaginary gods to pray to. And if that doesn’t work, they can always go whole-hog for left-wing politics.

The only question left is this. Can any church’s leadership truly be that clueless, that wooden-headed, that welded to sheer folly?  Or are they only pretending to be so, and purposely trying to drive the PCUSA into extinction?

Only the costume rental company knows for sure.