*Lee Grady of Charisma wrote well in this article below. It needs to be heard by so many in the Church today; particularly those expressing to be Spirit filled. Hat’s off to Mr. Grady for a great article!
__________________________________
Sloshed in the Spirit? It's Time to Get Sober
by Lee Grady
Getting "drunk in the Holy Spirit" has been a popular concept in some churches. But is it biblical?
Sloshed in the Spirit? It's Time to Get Sober
Getting "drunk in the Holy Spirit" has been a popular concept in some churches. But is it biblical?
A few years ago a traveling charismatic minister from the West coast passed through Florida to conduct a series of renewal meetings. I'd never heard of the guy, but the rumor was that he carried a "special" anointing. It was unique, that's for sure-especially when he took the microphone, slurred his words as if intoxicated and leaned to the left of the pulpit as if he were about to fall over. Then, in between some bizarre spasms, he would shout what sounded like "Walla walla bing bang!"
His message didn't make sense. But if he had just said "Ding Dong Bell" or "Yabba Dabba Doo" over and over, some people in his meetings would have run to the front of the room and swooned, even though he never opened his Bible during his message. They wanted what this man claimed to possess—an anointing to become "drunk in the Spirit."
"Let's put the childish things behind us. It's time for us to grow up and sober up."
Spiritual intoxication has been a trend in charismatic circles for a while. Some respected preachers, citing Acts 2:13, defend the concept that Christians might feel drunk when they are filled with the Holy Spirit (because the early disciples were accused of being drunk when they spoke in tongues). This teaching led to lots of disorderly conduct in revival meetings—including nosebleeds, bruises and more serious injuries.
Some people began to manifest what looked like seizures during renewal services, and the bizarre behavior was defended as "manifestations of the Spirit." Some pastors even encouraged wobbly saints to find "designated drivers" if they felt too drunk to operate a vehicle when it was time to go home. Meanwhile, some worship leaders introduced "Holy Ghost drinking songs" that encouraged people to slosh around in the joy of the Lord while uncorking more of His new wine.
The spiritual drunkenness craze led to other charismatic fads, including an infatuation with angels, an obsession with golden dust and the strange teachings of John Crowder—a confessed "new mystic" who compares the infilling of the Holy Spirit to smoking marijuana.
Crowder, who is planting a church in Santa Cruz, Calif., this fall, sometimes calls his meetings "sloshfests" and refers to himself as a bartender for God. He teaches that God wants all Christians to be continually drunk in the Holy Spirit—and he provides resources to help you do just that, including an electronica recording that will help you, in Crowder's words, "trance out," and a teaching that encourages stigmata and levitation.
I'll let the theologians sort out all the obvious reasons why Crowder and other "new mystics" are treading on dangerous ground. Meanwhile I have a less complicated concern. With all of this emphasis on Holy Ghost intoxication, did anybody notice that the Bible clearly commands us to be spiritually sober?
If soberness wasn't mentioned in the New Testament, then I wouldn't be beating this drum so loudly. But I find numerous references, from both Peter and Paul. "But you, be sober in all things," is Paul's admonition to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:5, NASB). He tells the Thessalonians, "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation," (1 Thess. 5:8).
Peter hammers the same point. He wrote, "Prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:13) and "The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer" (1 Pet. 4:7).
The soberness here is not primarily a reference to abstaining from alcohol (although it's worth mentioning that believers who drink will find it more difficult to obey these commands). To be sober can be defined "to show self-control," "to be sane or rational," or "to be free from excess or extravagance." A sober Christian knows the heights of God's inexpressible joy, but he is never ruled by emotions, passions, lust or any other category of temptation that has the power to dull the spiritual senses.
When I look at the state of our nation today, and consider our spiritual challenges, it's obvious the last thing we need are Christians who are so sloshed in emotional euphoria that they can't pray intelligently and work diligently.
This is not a time for God's people to be incapacitated. We need to be thinking, planning, strategizing, researching and building—all using the Holy Spirit's wisdom. Yes, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit like never before—but He is not going to fill us so we can act like giddy freshmen at a frat house keg party. Let's put the childish things behind us. It's time for us to grow up and sober up.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Foliage Shots On A Beautiful Weekend
*This is a great tree! I try to visit it every Fall now to take a shot of it.
*What a cluster of trees!
*A lovely surprise awaits while walking in the park Saturday morning!
*This just may get better, and grow more colorful before the season ends.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Encouragement
I got to feeling discouraged this morning, and in my spirit I heard "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from where comes my help. My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth". This made me desirous to post a few scriptures of encouragement, which we all need from time to time.
PSALMS 34:17-19
17)The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18) The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
PSALMS 121:1-2
1) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2) My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
2 TIMOTHY 4:18
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
ISAIAH 41:10
10) Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
PSALMS 34:17-19
17)The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18) The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
PSALMS 121:1-2
1) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2) My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
2 TIMOTHY 4:18
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
ISAIAH 41:10
10) Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
*Isn’t this so sweet? A racist judge is very concerned for children who do not even exist yet; he refuses to marry interracial couples. Perhaps these children will never exist. Better yet, if he believes being genetically "tainted" by black folk causes "social" problems for the hypothetical amalgamated las or lassies; and he is so ever inspired to even break the law with warp Robin Hood mentality to set the supposedly deluded brain needy free; you would think this guy would take vigorous steps to promote racial understanding rather than opposition by law breaking--uh...hum, after all, he is a judge! His actions simply perpetuate the racist attitudes which influence social and political institutions of our society.
Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.
By MARY FOSTER, AP
NEW ORLEANS – A white Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.
Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."
Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.
Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.
"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."
If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.
"I try to treat everyone equally," he said.
Bardwell estimates that he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the past 2 1/2 years.
Beth Humphrey, 30, and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.
Humphrey, an account manager for a marketing firm, said she and McKay, a welder, just returned to Louisiana. She is white and he is black. She plans to enroll in the University of New Orleans to pursue a masters degree in minority politics.
"That was one thing that made this so unbelievable," she said. "It's not something you expect in this day and age."
Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She says Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples. Bardwell suggested the couple go to another justice of the peace in the parish who agreed to marry them.
"We are looking forward to having children," Humphrey said. "And all our friends and co-workers have been very supportive. Except for this, we're typical happy newlyweds."
"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. She said the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 "that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."
The ACLU sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, asking them to investigate Bardwell and recommending "the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice."
"He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it," Schwartzmann said.
According to the clerk of court's office, application for a marriage license must be made three days before the ceremony because there is a 72-hour waiting period. The applicants are asked if they have previously been married. If so, they must show how the marriage ended, such as divorce.
Other than that, all they need is a birth certificate and Social Security card.
The license fee is $35, and the license must be signed by a Louisiana minister, justice of the peace or judge. The original is returned to the clerk's office.
"I've been a justice of the peace for 34 years and I don't think I've mistreated anybody," Bardwell said. "I've made some mistakes, but you have too. I didn't tell this couple they couldn't get married. I just told them I wouldn't do it."
Monday, October 19, 2009
Healing River With Demonic Currents
Whoa Nelly! Has God been suppressed all this time, waiting for money and power driven prophets to get a healing flow out a "symbolic river" of His power? Or is it"their" power? And if it is "their" power, I advise no part of it, lest we drown! For where is "their" power from? Yes, God still heals and delivers today, but with out added bondage and fees. From Peter Wagner of Global Harvest Ministries: an advertisement email concerning a healing and deliverance conference:
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Subject Line: Come Join Us for The Healing River and Deliverance Conference!
There is a River! Everywhere the river flows, there is healing. We must recognize that the war over the healing river goes hand in hand with setting the captives free through the ministry of deliverance! Global Harvest Ministries is calling together the Body of Christ together on November 5 - 7 in Goodyear, Arizona to declare a breaking loose of The Healing River and Deliverance! This is a time to overcome the fragmentation of the soul, be healed and made whole!
Earlier this year, Chuck Pierce released the following prophetic word: "I am calling forth Rivers of Healing! Many of you have not been able to see the River. Rivers that have nourished crops and brought healing have dried up. My people must find My Healing River! I will shake up the fields! I am shaking up your field! The River is hidden. It is very deep. Deep must call to deep. The River must rise again! There must be a River of Healing in certain fields before I can move forward. You have turned toward healing. Your healing process is creating a great shaking. This shaking is tearing the walls of the vineyard. Now new vineyards must be established. The River of My power was captured in the last season. A war formed over the movement of the River, and the River became a dry bed. I must watch for the times to break the captivity of the Healing River. My Healing River must flow into new areas to heal the people and the earth."
We value prophetic revelation and trust the voice of the prophet to align our times and seasons for victory (2 Chron. 20:20). So we have great faith and expectation for this word to manifest! I will be convening The Healing River and Deliverance Conference, and have invited others with a unique gift and ministry to help break things open. This includes Doris Wagner, Chuck Pierce, Ché Ahn, Bill Sudduth and Greg Brown. Knowing that in addition to being quickened you may need new strength to contend and "flow" through new channels, we will have personal, prophetic, deliverance ministry available.
Pastor Greg Brown and Skyway Church of the West Valley will be helping host this gathering held in Goodyear, Arizona (just outside of Phoenix). We will begin on Thursday evening at 7 PM, meet all day Friday, and conclude on Saturday by noon. If you register by October 19, the discounted cost is $45/person or $80/married couple. (The standard cost is $65/person or $120/married couple.) You can register by going to www.globalharvest.org or by calling (888) 965-1099. Groups of 10 or more (registering at the same time) can attend for $35 per person by calling our toll-free number. This conference will also be available over the internet for those who cannot attend in person. Click HERE to register for the webcast.
This will be a unique gathering as we focus on both healing and deliverance. The war over our wholeness lies ahead. Come join the victorious troop that God is raising up to be restored in body, soul and spirit so that we can usher in His Kingdom plans and purposes in the heavenlies, as well as on the earth.
Warmly,
C. Peter Wagner
----------------------------
Subject Line: Come Join Us for The Healing River and Deliverance Conference!
There is a River! Everywhere the river flows, there is healing. We must recognize that the war over the healing river goes hand in hand with setting the captives free through the ministry of deliverance! Global Harvest Ministries is calling together the Body of Christ together on November 5 - 7 in Goodyear, Arizona to declare a breaking loose of The Healing River and Deliverance! This is a time to overcome the fragmentation of the soul, be healed and made whole!
Earlier this year, Chuck Pierce released the following prophetic word: "I am calling forth Rivers of Healing! Many of you have not been able to see the River. Rivers that have nourished crops and brought healing have dried up. My people must find My Healing River! I will shake up the fields! I am shaking up your field! The River is hidden. It is very deep. Deep must call to deep. The River must rise again! There must be a River of Healing in certain fields before I can move forward. You have turned toward healing. Your healing process is creating a great shaking. This shaking is tearing the walls of the vineyard. Now new vineyards must be established. The River of My power was captured in the last season. A war formed over the movement of the River, and the River became a dry bed. I must watch for the times to break the captivity of the Healing River. My Healing River must flow into new areas to heal the people and the earth."
We value prophetic revelation and trust the voice of the prophet to align our times and seasons for victory (2 Chron. 20:20). So we have great faith and expectation for this word to manifest! I will be convening The Healing River and Deliverance Conference, and have invited others with a unique gift and ministry to help break things open. This includes Doris Wagner, Chuck Pierce, Ché Ahn, Bill Sudduth and Greg Brown. Knowing that in addition to being quickened you may need new strength to contend and "flow" through new channels, we will have personal, prophetic, deliverance ministry available.
Pastor Greg Brown and Skyway Church of the West Valley will be helping host this gathering held in Goodyear, Arizona (just outside of Phoenix). We will begin on Thursday evening at 7 PM, meet all day Friday, and conclude on Saturday by noon. If you register by October 19, the discounted cost is $45/person or $80/married couple. (The standard cost is $65/person or $120/married couple.) You can register by going to www.globalharvest.org or by calling (888) 965-1099. Groups of 10 or more (registering at the same time) can attend for $35 per person by calling our toll-free number. This conference will also be available over the internet for those who cannot attend in person. Click HERE to register for the webcast.
This will be a unique gathering as we focus on both healing and deliverance. The war over our wholeness lies ahead. Come join the victorious troop that God is raising up to be restored in body, soul and spirit so that we can usher in His Kingdom plans and purposes in the heavenlies, as well as on the earth.
Warmly,
C. Peter Wagner
Friday, October 16, 2009
Article: "The Anointing"
*This good article was posted on the "Tents of Isschar" blog.
The Anointing: Light Within Our Dwellings
by T. Austin-Sparks
When will the Lord’s people, who have the Scriptures and who know the Scriptures so well in the letter, when will they come to realize and to recognize that if truly they have been crucified with Christ, if they have died in His death and have been raised together with Him and have received the Spirit, they have light in their dwelling? ”The anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you, but… His anointing teacheth you concerning all things” (I John 2:27). When will believers, when will Christians, come to realize that? Why must Christians who have the knowledge of the Scriptures in the letter run about here and there to seek advice from others on matters which vitally affect their own spiritual knowledge? I do not mean that it is wrong to get counsel, wrong to know what other children of God of experience think or feel about matters. But if we are going to build our position upon their conclusions, we are in great danger. The final authority and arbiter in all matters is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the anointing.
We may get help from one another, but I do hope that you are not going to build your position upon what I say now because I say it. Do not do that. I do not want you to do it. I do not ask you to do it. What I say is, listen, take note; and then go to your final authority Who is in you if you are a child of God, and ask Him to corroborate the truth or to show otherwise. That is your right, your birthright, the birthright of every child of God: to be in the light of the indwelling Spirit of light, the Spirit of God.
I wonder where Paul would have been had he taken the opposite course to that which he did take? ”When it pleased God, Who separated me from my birth…to reveal His Son in me…straightway I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia” (Gal. 1:15-17). I wonder what would have happened had he gone up to Jerusalem and laid every matter before those who were apostles before him? We know from subsequent events that one thing they would have said to him would have been, Look here, be careful, Paul! You tell us that on the Damascus road Jesus is supposed to have said something to you about going to the Gentiles; be careful! They would have put him back about this Gentile business. You know what happened afterward. You know how on that point even Peter was caught in dissimulation years after. You know how those apostles which were before him at Jerusalem were all the time very chary about this matter of the Gentiles, and had Paul capitulated to them, we should never have had the great apostle to the Gentiles, the great apostle of the Body of Christ, with his revelation of the mystery, of the oneness of all in Christ, Jew and Greek. He did not submit that thing even to those who were apostles before him, to ask them whether he was right or not, whether this was sound or not. Oh no! He had the anointing in Damascus; Ananias laid his hands upon him and he received the Spirit, and from that day, although Paul was quite ready and happy to have fellowship with his brethren, though he never took a superior or independent position, though he was always open to conference, nevertheless he was a man governed by the Spirit.
I know you have to be careful how you take what I am saying. It will only be safe for you as you are one who does not set yourself up as some independent party with the Holy Spirit, but who keeps perfect fellowship, humility, submissiveness, openness of heart, with readiness to listen to and obey what may come through others, as the Spirit bears witness to the truth. But all that depends upon your inward condition, whether you are on natural ground or on spiritual ground, on old creation ground or on resurrection ground. But being on resurrection ground, where it is not the life of nature but the Spirit that governs, beloved, you have the right and the privilege and the blessing of knowing the Spirit bearing witness in your heart, and the anointing teaching you all things with regard to whether any given matter is right or wrong. When will the Lord’s people know that, recognize that?
You see, it is this other thing all the time that is robbing so many of the light that the Lord would give them. The Lord would lead them into the greater fullness of the knowledge of His Son, of the enlargement of their spiritual understanding, but they are neglecting the gift that is in them. They are neglecting the Holy Spirit as their illuminator and teacher and instructor and guide and arbiter, and they are going to this one and that one, to this authority and that, and saying, What do you think about it? If you think it is wrong, then I will not touch it! It is fatal to spiritual knowledge to do that. That is going on to natural ground.
Now the Lord wants us off that ground. This matter of occupying resurrection ground, of living a life in the Spirit, is all-important in coming to the full knowledge of God’s Son. How much more we could say about that! Let us be careful as to who our authorities are. So many dear children of God, individually and collectively, have come into dire and grievous bondage, limitation, and confusion by all the time going back to human authorities, to this great leader and that, to this man who was greatly used of God, this man who had a great deal of spiritual light.
”The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word” than even this or that servant of His possessed. Do you see what I mean? We get all the benefit of the light given to godly people and seek to profit by true light, but we will never come into bondage and say, That is the end of that matter! That must never be. We must maintain our resurrection ground. And who can exhaust that? In other words, who can exhaust the meaning of Christ risen? He is a boundless store, the land of far distances. No man yet has ever done more than begun to know the meaning of Christ risen. If there has been one man who has that meaning more than another, I suppose it was Paul. But to the last from his prison he still cries, ”That I may know Him!” “I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse” (Phil. 3:8). Right at the end of a life like his, he is still saying, That I may know Him!
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/000660.html
The Anointing: Light Within Our Dwellings
by T. Austin-Sparks
When will the Lord’s people, who have the Scriptures and who know the Scriptures so well in the letter, when will they come to realize and to recognize that if truly they have been crucified with Christ, if they have died in His death and have been raised together with Him and have received the Spirit, they have light in their dwelling? ”The anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you, but… His anointing teacheth you concerning all things” (I John 2:27). When will believers, when will Christians, come to realize that? Why must Christians who have the knowledge of the Scriptures in the letter run about here and there to seek advice from others on matters which vitally affect their own spiritual knowledge? I do not mean that it is wrong to get counsel, wrong to know what other children of God of experience think or feel about matters. But if we are going to build our position upon their conclusions, we are in great danger. The final authority and arbiter in all matters is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the anointing.
We may get help from one another, but I do hope that you are not going to build your position upon what I say now because I say it. Do not do that. I do not want you to do it. I do not ask you to do it. What I say is, listen, take note; and then go to your final authority Who is in you if you are a child of God, and ask Him to corroborate the truth or to show otherwise. That is your right, your birthright, the birthright of every child of God: to be in the light of the indwelling Spirit of light, the Spirit of God.
I wonder where Paul would have been had he taken the opposite course to that which he did take? ”When it pleased God, Who separated me from my birth…to reveal His Son in me…straightway I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia” (Gal. 1:15-17). I wonder what would have happened had he gone up to Jerusalem and laid every matter before those who were apostles before him? We know from subsequent events that one thing they would have said to him would have been, Look here, be careful, Paul! You tell us that on the Damascus road Jesus is supposed to have said something to you about going to the Gentiles; be careful! They would have put him back about this Gentile business. You know what happened afterward. You know how on that point even Peter was caught in dissimulation years after. You know how those apostles which were before him at Jerusalem were all the time very chary about this matter of the Gentiles, and had Paul capitulated to them, we should never have had the great apostle to the Gentiles, the great apostle of the Body of Christ, with his revelation of the mystery, of the oneness of all in Christ, Jew and Greek. He did not submit that thing even to those who were apostles before him, to ask them whether he was right or not, whether this was sound or not. Oh no! He had the anointing in Damascus; Ananias laid his hands upon him and he received the Spirit, and from that day, although Paul was quite ready and happy to have fellowship with his brethren, though he never took a superior or independent position, though he was always open to conference, nevertheless he was a man governed by the Spirit.
I know you have to be careful how you take what I am saying. It will only be safe for you as you are one who does not set yourself up as some independent party with the Holy Spirit, but who keeps perfect fellowship, humility, submissiveness, openness of heart, with readiness to listen to and obey what may come through others, as the Spirit bears witness to the truth. But all that depends upon your inward condition, whether you are on natural ground or on spiritual ground, on old creation ground or on resurrection ground. But being on resurrection ground, where it is not the life of nature but the Spirit that governs, beloved, you have the right and the privilege and the blessing of knowing the Spirit bearing witness in your heart, and the anointing teaching you all things with regard to whether any given matter is right or wrong. When will the Lord’s people know that, recognize that?
You see, it is this other thing all the time that is robbing so many of the light that the Lord would give them. The Lord would lead them into the greater fullness of the knowledge of His Son, of the enlargement of their spiritual understanding, but they are neglecting the gift that is in them. They are neglecting the Holy Spirit as their illuminator and teacher and instructor and guide and arbiter, and they are going to this one and that one, to this authority and that, and saying, What do you think about it? If you think it is wrong, then I will not touch it! It is fatal to spiritual knowledge to do that. That is going on to natural ground.
Now the Lord wants us off that ground. This matter of occupying resurrection ground, of living a life in the Spirit, is all-important in coming to the full knowledge of God’s Son. How much more we could say about that! Let us be careful as to who our authorities are. So many dear children of God, individually and collectively, have come into dire and grievous bondage, limitation, and confusion by all the time going back to human authorities, to this great leader and that, to this man who was greatly used of God, this man who had a great deal of spiritual light.
”The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word” than even this or that servant of His possessed. Do you see what I mean? We get all the benefit of the light given to godly people and seek to profit by true light, but we will never come into bondage and say, That is the end of that matter! That must never be. We must maintain our resurrection ground. And who can exhaust that? In other words, who can exhaust the meaning of Christ risen? He is a boundless store, the land of far distances. No man yet has ever done more than begun to know the meaning of Christ risen. If there has been one man who has that meaning more than another, I suppose it was Paul. But to the last from his prison he still cries, ”That I may know Him!” “I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse” (Phil. 3:8). Right at the end of a life like his, he is still saying, That I may know Him!
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/000660.html
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Homeless & Health Care
*I was truly impressed by the compassion demonstrated towards the homeless in excerpts of an interview with National Health Care for the Homeless Council advocates. This article offers a lot to think about; for too often people take a simplistic, stereotypical approach in assessing and addressing the homeless. Just what would Jesus do today? Step over homeless people lying in the alleyways, so He could quickly pick up a cappuccino at a nearby Starbucks? No. He would help those lying down in the alleyways and pull them up to their feet. The homeless are real people: they cry, they dream and they hurt.
--------------------------------------------
Homeless Often Overlooked In Health-care Reform Debate
from. TennesseanT.com
The debate continues in Congress and across the country over health-care reform, but one group of people who have a lot of interest in the issue but are often overlooked are the homeless.
Advocates for the homeless say these individuals face complex health problems, are generally sicker and die earlier than their housed counterparts. Advocates also say the homeless are the most frequent and expensive users of emergency room and inpatient hospital care and are much less likely than those in the general population to be insured.
"It is imperative that health reform address the complex needs and life circumstances of people experiencing homelessness," officials with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council recently said in a press statement. "Failing to do so will continue the current cycle of high-cost hospitalizations, unemployment, disability and homelessness."
Last week, the governing membership of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council met in Nashville. Tennessean editorial page editor Dwight Lewis sat down with some of them to discuss the issues.
Here are excerpts from that meeting with Marion Scott of Houston, president of the council; Barbara DiPietro of Baltimore, policy director; and Bobby Hansford of Houston, eligibility coordinator.
Who makes up the homeless?
Scott: I think the face of the homeless is reflective of society as a whole. I think that everyone now is homeless, and many of us are one paycheck away from being homeless.
I don’t think anybody is on the streets because they really want to be. ... It’s hard to find a job when you live under a bridge and there’s no clock and there’s no way to clean up in the morning or to maintain your hygiene.
DiPietro: When you look at the combining factors of increasing unemployment, loss of health insurance because of that, the foreclosure issue, you’re seeing housing, income and health care come together in a way that creates a lot of crisis for people, and this is all income levels.
One of the emerging populations we’re seeing is people who have no idea how to navigate the shelters, how to navigate social services. It’s a complex system that we’ve created that really requires high literacy, high education and a great deal of organizational skills to be able to get what you need to bring it back together. And I think that needs to be appreciated across middle-income groups, as well.
Hansford: There are several barriers that stop homeless individuals from getting back into society. For instance, we have a mobile dental unit in Houston, and one of the things they tell us is that once they receive the services it boosts their self-esteem so much to where before the service they would be embarrassed to go on job interviews or go speak to someone about a job to get back into society.
Going through programs where it will boost self-esteem, where you can get dental work done or improve your health situation, it’s a plus. It’s something I think would help homeless individuals get back into productive society.
Why should those of us who have homes or are fairly well off or are well off care about the homeless and health care?
Scott: I think it’s our obligation to assist and to help those who are, for the lack of a better word, not at an economic level where some of us are.
With the economic crisis there are a lot of people who were at that economic level we talked about earlier who are now homeless. So you never know, it may be you tomorrow.
DiPietro: In addition to it simply being the right thing to do, caring about your community, caring about your fellow neighbor ... there are cost implications as well. We’ve created a system where it is easy to fall into homelessness, and we make it difficult to get out of homelessness.
We arrest people for sleeping in a public space or loitering or all of the things that come along with that, that creates cost in our court system, it creates backlogs in our court system, it takes up time with our police when we generally rather they focus on more serious crimes.
There are cost implications with our health services, emergency departments are absolutely overcrowded, largely due to people who don’t have insurance, sometimes homeless, sometimes not. But it all comes together to create a service use that is not productive.
In fact, it’s counterproductive for the greater community and for the individual. It’s so much better to be able to focus on providing a safety net that actually is meaningful, that prevents homelessness. Homelessness, when it does occur, can be brief, so that people can get back on their feet fairly quickly. Ultimately, as a community, don’t we want people to be as productive as they can?
I was reading where the average life expectancy for a homeless person is 50 years of age, why is that and what type of health problems do we see mostly among the homeless?
Scott: The problems are reflective of society as a whole. A study of the literature will reveal that the chronic diseases may be more prevalent, diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, dermatological problems, those things may be more prevalent.
I think the thing that really impacts homeless individuals is their access to care. One thing that is very important is that the availability of health care does not mean that it is accessible. I always go back to the movie Field of Dreams, where they say, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, for the homeless, if you build it, they may not be able to get there.
DiPietro: I would emphasize, too, that behavioral health issues, like mental health issues, and serious mental illness among individuals experiencing homelessness is much higher. There’s certainly connections on why that would be. When you do have serious mental illness it is much more difficult to maintain your own independent housing. Substance abuse issues also figure highly. . . .
When you are living on the street it is difficult to maintain your health. If you are diabetic, where do you keep your insulin? If you are HIV-positive, how you do maintain a medication regime, particularly one that requires refrigeration for your medications? How is it that you maintain a diabetic diet when you’re eating out of soup kitchens, which primarily are serving very starchy casseroles and sandwiches and white processed bread and things like that?
There’s not a lot of access to clean, sterile facilities. If you’re out and you’re walking about a lot, foot issues can be worse, particularly if you’re diabetic, easily infected and once you get an infection, it all builds on itself.
And that’s where you see the in and out of the emergency rooms. We don’t have a system that is able to comprehensively care for people’s health. . . .
It is stressful trying to find out where you are going to lay your head every day, where you are going to eat. Sometimes people only get one meal a day. The fear that you have of even closing your eyes for 15 minutes. What if someone comes upon me and beats me with a bat? That’s real reality for people sleeping on the street.
And victimization is a real reality, particularly for women when they’re on the street. And so all of this stress, all of these realities and the risk that come from being exposed contribute to mental health issues, even when none existed before, contribute to a worsening of existing health conditions and it creates new health conditions that weren’t there prior to the homelessness.
Are most cities failing or doing a good job when it comes to addressing the health needs of the homeless? What needs to be done? What do you recommend?
Scott: I believe a model for the Health Care for the Homeless program, and there are 105 of them around the nation, is to actively engage and enable homeless individuals to access available services. (They) actually provide realistic approaches. For example, those providers understand that, say, when you are trying to lose weight to have surgery, you just can’t say just get on a diet and you need to have fresh vegetables and fish and chicken. They understand that these are not available, so what they do is work with individuals to come up with an appropriate plan to help them improve their health status and maintain it.
They do outreach to meet clients where they are. That means whatever their living situation is, we have to understand that level of functioning and then we start to implement treatment plans. In the traditional setting, most plans, whether they’re health care, mental health, etc., build upon the premise that food, clothing and shelter are available. The medication needs to be refrigerated. We have clocks to take our medicine but homeless providers actually understand that’s not the case and understand that plans to improve access to available services have to be realistic and start where homeless people are.
DiPietro: The number one thing that we can do in this country and in every community is to support comprehensive health-care reform at the national level. That is the key. Seventy percent of our clients are uninsured. And it is a myth, and people believe it, unfortunately that just because you are poor you qualify for Medicaid. That is simply not the fact.
The Medicaid expansions that are proposed in the three bills in Congress right now, that is the number one piece that is really going to get the access points. Right now our clinics work on grants from government for the most part and they rely on private fundraising. That’s not sustainable and it’s not really a good way of financing health care. Getting access to Medicaid and comprehensive services that come along with that, not only gives the financing mechanism to the clinics so they can actually bill for their services, but at the same time give clients access to the care that they need.
There’s 10 million people who would be newly eligible for Medicaid should that expansion go forward. That’s 10 million people who would have access to health care that currently don’t. It would encompass more than just the homeless. This is all low-income people, below about $14,000 a year for an individual. That is critical.
What if nothing passes when it comes to health-care reform? What happens to the homeless?
DiPietro: It will definitely get worse. It gets worse for everyone. It’s not about isolating the homeless from greater mainstream, because that’s disingenuous as well. This is about everybody. This is about all of our health. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world and yet we rank number 37th in the World Health Organization on our health system. That’s embarrassing, frankly.
And we pay more. We pay 40 percent more for our health care per capita than the next-most-expensive health-care system. That’s ludicrous. We are paying for universal health care but we are not getting universal health care. And everyone should be angry about that. Angry about where that money goes.
It is stressful trying to find out where you are going to lay your head every day, where you are going to eat. Sometimes people only get one meal a day. The fear that you have of even closing your eyes for 15 minutes. What if someone comes upon me and beats me with a bat? That’s real reality for people sleeping on the street.
And victimization is a real reality, particularly for women when they’re on the street. And so all of this stress, all of these realities and the risk that come from being exposed contribute to mental health issues, even when none existed before, contribute to a worsening of existing health conditions and it creates new health conditions that weren’t there prior to the homelessness.
Are most cities failing or doing a good job when it comes to addressing the health needs of the homeless? What needs to be done? What do you recommend?
Scott: I believe a model for the Health Care for the Homeless program, and there are 105 of them around the nation, is to actively engage and enable homeless individuals to access available services. (They) actually provide realistic approaches. For example, those providers understand that, say, when you are trying to lose weight to have surgery, you just can’t say just get on a diet and you need to have fresh vegetables and fish and chicken. They understand that these are not available, so what they do is work with individuals to come up with an appropriate plan to help them improve their health status and maintain it.
They do outreach to meet clients where they are. That means whatever their living situation is, we have to understand that level of functioning and then we start to implement treatment plans. In the traditional setting, most plans, whether they’re health care, mental health, etc., build upon the premise that food, clothing and shelter are available. The medication needs to be refrigerated. We have clocks to take our medicine but homeless providers actually understand that’s not the case and understand that plans to improve access to available services have to be realistic and start where homeless people are.
DiPietro: The number one thing that we can do in this country and in every community is to support comprehensive health-care reform at the national level. That is the key. Seventy percent of our clients are uninsured. And it is a myth, and people believe it, unfortunately that just because you are poor you qualify for Medicaid. That is simply not the fact.
The Medicaid expansions that are proposed in the three bills in Congress right now, that is the number one piece that is really going to get the access points. Right now our clinics work on grants from government for the most part and they rely on private fundraising. That’s not sustainable and it’s not really a good way of financing health care. Getting access to Medicaid and comprehensive services that come along with that, not only gives the financing mechanism to the clinics so they can actually bill for their services, but at the same time give clients access to the care that they need.
There’s 10 million people who would be newly eligible for Medicaid should that expansion go forward. That’s 10 million people who would have access to health care that currently don’t. It would encompass more than just the homeless. This is all low-income people, below about $14,000 a year for an individual. That is critical.
What if nothing passes when it comes to health-care reform? What happens to the homeless?
DiPietro: It will definitely get worse. It gets worse for everyone. It’s not about isolating the homeless from greater mainstream, because that’s disingenuous as well. This is about everybody. This is about all of our health. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world and yet we rank number 37th in the World Health Organization on our health system. That’s embarrassing, frankly.
And we pay more. We pay 40 percent more for our health care per capita than the next-most-expensive health-care system. That’s ludicrous. We are paying for universal health care but we are not getting universal health care. And everyone should be angry about that. Angry about where that money goes.
--------------------------------------------
Homeless Often Overlooked In Health-care Reform Debate
from. TennesseanT.com
The debate continues in Congress and across the country over health-care reform, but one group of people who have a lot of interest in the issue but are often overlooked are the homeless.
Advocates for the homeless say these individuals face complex health problems, are generally sicker and die earlier than their housed counterparts. Advocates also say the homeless are the most frequent and expensive users of emergency room and inpatient hospital care and are much less likely than those in the general population to be insured.
"It is imperative that health reform address the complex needs and life circumstances of people experiencing homelessness," officials with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council recently said in a press statement. "Failing to do so will continue the current cycle of high-cost hospitalizations, unemployment, disability and homelessness."
Last week, the governing membership of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council met in Nashville. Tennessean editorial page editor Dwight Lewis sat down with some of them to discuss the issues.
Here are excerpts from that meeting with Marion Scott of Houston, president of the council; Barbara DiPietro of Baltimore, policy director; and Bobby Hansford of Houston, eligibility coordinator.
Who makes up the homeless?
Scott: I think the face of the homeless is reflective of society as a whole. I think that everyone now is homeless, and many of us are one paycheck away from being homeless.
I don’t think anybody is on the streets because they really want to be. ... It’s hard to find a job when you live under a bridge and there’s no clock and there’s no way to clean up in the morning or to maintain your hygiene.
DiPietro: When you look at the combining factors of increasing unemployment, loss of health insurance because of that, the foreclosure issue, you’re seeing housing, income and health care come together in a way that creates a lot of crisis for people, and this is all income levels.
One of the emerging populations we’re seeing is people who have no idea how to navigate the shelters, how to navigate social services. It’s a complex system that we’ve created that really requires high literacy, high education and a great deal of organizational skills to be able to get what you need to bring it back together. And I think that needs to be appreciated across middle-income groups, as well.
Hansford: There are several barriers that stop homeless individuals from getting back into society. For instance, we have a mobile dental unit in Houston, and one of the things they tell us is that once they receive the services it boosts their self-esteem so much to where before the service they would be embarrassed to go on job interviews or go speak to someone about a job to get back into society.
Going through programs where it will boost self-esteem, where you can get dental work done or improve your health situation, it’s a plus. It’s something I think would help homeless individuals get back into productive society.
Why should those of us who have homes or are fairly well off or are well off care about the homeless and health care?
Scott: I think it’s our obligation to assist and to help those who are, for the lack of a better word, not at an economic level where some of us are.
With the economic crisis there are a lot of people who were at that economic level we talked about earlier who are now homeless. So you never know, it may be you tomorrow.
DiPietro: In addition to it simply being the right thing to do, caring about your community, caring about your fellow neighbor ... there are cost implications as well. We’ve created a system where it is easy to fall into homelessness, and we make it difficult to get out of homelessness.
We arrest people for sleeping in a public space or loitering or all of the things that come along with that, that creates cost in our court system, it creates backlogs in our court system, it takes up time with our police when we generally rather they focus on more serious crimes.
There are cost implications with our health services, emergency departments are absolutely overcrowded, largely due to people who don’t have insurance, sometimes homeless, sometimes not. But it all comes together to create a service use that is not productive.
In fact, it’s counterproductive for the greater community and for the individual. It’s so much better to be able to focus on providing a safety net that actually is meaningful, that prevents homelessness. Homelessness, when it does occur, can be brief, so that people can get back on their feet fairly quickly. Ultimately, as a community, don’t we want people to be as productive as they can?
I was reading where the average life expectancy for a homeless person is 50 years of age, why is that and what type of health problems do we see mostly among the homeless?
Scott: The problems are reflective of society as a whole. A study of the literature will reveal that the chronic diseases may be more prevalent, diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, dermatological problems, those things may be more prevalent.
I think the thing that really impacts homeless individuals is their access to care. One thing that is very important is that the availability of health care does not mean that it is accessible. I always go back to the movie Field of Dreams, where they say, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, for the homeless, if you build it, they may not be able to get there.
DiPietro: I would emphasize, too, that behavioral health issues, like mental health issues, and serious mental illness among individuals experiencing homelessness is much higher. There’s certainly connections on why that would be. When you do have serious mental illness it is much more difficult to maintain your own independent housing. Substance abuse issues also figure highly. . . .
When you are living on the street it is difficult to maintain your health. If you are diabetic, where do you keep your insulin? If you are HIV-positive, how you do maintain a medication regime, particularly one that requires refrigeration for your medications? How is it that you maintain a diabetic diet when you’re eating out of soup kitchens, which primarily are serving very starchy casseroles and sandwiches and white processed bread and things like that?
There’s not a lot of access to clean, sterile facilities. If you’re out and you’re walking about a lot, foot issues can be worse, particularly if you’re diabetic, easily infected and once you get an infection, it all builds on itself.
And that’s where you see the in and out of the emergency rooms. We don’t have a system that is able to comprehensively care for people’s health. . . .
It is stressful trying to find out where you are going to lay your head every day, where you are going to eat. Sometimes people only get one meal a day. The fear that you have of even closing your eyes for 15 minutes. What if someone comes upon me and beats me with a bat? That’s real reality for people sleeping on the street.
And victimization is a real reality, particularly for women when they’re on the street. And so all of this stress, all of these realities and the risk that come from being exposed contribute to mental health issues, even when none existed before, contribute to a worsening of existing health conditions and it creates new health conditions that weren’t there prior to the homelessness.
Are most cities failing or doing a good job when it comes to addressing the health needs of the homeless? What needs to be done? What do you recommend?
Scott: I believe a model for the Health Care for the Homeless program, and there are 105 of them around the nation, is to actively engage and enable homeless individuals to access available services. (They) actually provide realistic approaches. For example, those providers understand that, say, when you are trying to lose weight to have surgery, you just can’t say just get on a diet and you need to have fresh vegetables and fish and chicken. They understand that these are not available, so what they do is work with individuals to come up with an appropriate plan to help them improve their health status and maintain it.
They do outreach to meet clients where they are. That means whatever their living situation is, we have to understand that level of functioning and then we start to implement treatment plans. In the traditional setting, most plans, whether they’re health care, mental health, etc., build upon the premise that food, clothing and shelter are available. The medication needs to be refrigerated. We have clocks to take our medicine but homeless providers actually understand that’s not the case and understand that plans to improve access to available services have to be realistic and start where homeless people are.
DiPietro: The number one thing that we can do in this country and in every community is to support comprehensive health-care reform at the national level. That is the key. Seventy percent of our clients are uninsured. And it is a myth, and people believe it, unfortunately that just because you are poor you qualify for Medicaid. That is simply not the fact.
The Medicaid expansions that are proposed in the three bills in Congress right now, that is the number one piece that is really going to get the access points. Right now our clinics work on grants from government for the most part and they rely on private fundraising. That’s not sustainable and it’s not really a good way of financing health care. Getting access to Medicaid and comprehensive services that come along with that, not only gives the financing mechanism to the clinics so they can actually bill for their services, but at the same time give clients access to the care that they need.
There’s 10 million people who would be newly eligible for Medicaid should that expansion go forward. That’s 10 million people who would have access to health care that currently don’t. It would encompass more than just the homeless. This is all low-income people, below about $14,000 a year for an individual. That is critical.
What if nothing passes when it comes to health-care reform? What happens to the homeless?
DiPietro: It will definitely get worse. It gets worse for everyone. It’s not about isolating the homeless from greater mainstream, because that’s disingenuous as well. This is about everybody. This is about all of our health. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world and yet we rank number 37th in the World Health Organization on our health system. That’s embarrassing, frankly.
And we pay more. We pay 40 percent more for our health care per capita than the next-most-expensive health-care system. That’s ludicrous. We are paying for universal health care but we are not getting universal health care. And everyone should be angry about that. Angry about where that money goes.
It is stressful trying to find out where you are going to lay your head every day, where you are going to eat. Sometimes people only get one meal a day. The fear that you have of even closing your eyes for 15 minutes. What if someone comes upon me and beats me with a bat? That’s real reality for people sleeping on the street.
And victimization is a real reality, particularly for women when they’re on the street. And so all of this stress, all of these realities and the risk that come from being exposed contribute to mental health issues, even when none existed before, contribute to a worsening of existing health conditions and it creates new health conditions that weren’t there prior to the homelessness.
Are most cities failing or doing a good job when it comes to addressing the health needs of the homeless? What needs to be done? What do you recommend?
Scott: I believe a model for the Health Care for the Homeless program, and there are 105 of them around the nation, is to actively engage and enable homeless individuals to access available services. (They) actually provide realistic approaches. For example, those providers understand that, say, when you are trying to lose weight to have surgery, you just can’t say just get on a diet and you need to have fresh vegetables and fish and chicken. They understand that these are not available, so what they do is work with individuals to come up with an appropriate plan to help them improve their health status and maintain it.
They do outreach to meet clients where they are. That means whatever their living situation is, we have to understand that level of functioning and then we start to implement treatment plans. In the traditional setting, most plans, whether they’re health care, mental health, etc., build upon the premise that food, clothing and shelter are available. The medication needs to be refrigerated. We have clocks to take our medicine but homeless providers actually understand that’s not the case and understand that plans to improve access to available services have to be realistic and start where homeless people are.
DiPietro: The number one thing that we can do in this country and in every community is to support comprehensive health-care reform at the national level. That is the key. Seventy percent of our clients are uninsured. And it is a myth, and people believe it, unfortunately that just because you are poor you qualify for Medicaid. That is simply not the fact.
The Medicaid expansions that are proposed in the three bills in Congress right now, that is the number one piece that is really going to get the access points. Right now our clinics work on grants from government for the most part and they rely on private fundraising. That’s not sustainable and it’s not really a good way of financing health care. Getting access to Medicaid and comprehensive services that come along with that, not only gives the financing mechanism to the clinics so they can actually bill for their services, but at the same time give clients access to the care that they need.
There’s 10 million people who would be newly eligible for Medicaid should that expansion go forward. That’s 10 million people who would have access to health care that currently don’t. It would encompass more than just the homeless. This is all low-income people, below about $14,000 a year for an individual. That is critical.
What if nothing passes when it comes to health-care reform? What happens to the homeless?
DiPietro: It will definitely get worse. It gets worse for everyone. It’s not about isolating the homeless from greater mainstream, because that’s disingenuous as well. This is about everybody. This is about all of our health. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world and yet we rank number 37th in the World Health Organization on our health system. That’s embarrassing, frankly.
And we pay more. We pay 40 percent more for our health care per capita than the next-most-expensive health-care system. That’s ludicrous. We are paying for universal health care but we are not getting universal health care. And everyone should be angry about that. Angry about where that money goes.
Friday, October 9, 2009
"I Forgot To Ask"
1 John 2:9-11
9) He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11) But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
This article below was published over a decade ago, and sad to say, it is just as relevant today. Saints, examine your hearts towards those who appear different than you and are of a different culture. Hatred should not belong in a Christian, and lately it has been manifesting strong, you can even see it strong in the political arena. Examine your standards--do you impose different standards upon different looking people?
---------------------------------------------------------
The Tragedy of Racism
By Wayne Jackson
No one with a modicum of awareness will deny that racism—the inclination to judge a person solely on the basis of his skin pigmentation or ethnic background—has been a human problem for centuries.
Paul addressed this problem before the haughty Greeks in Athens; there he affirmed that “God made of [out of] one [masculine – one man, an allusion to Adam] all men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). This ran counter to the ancient Greek notion that they were superior to others.
Many have been racist out of ignorance or weakness. Others, with a more ingrained disposition, have sought to defend it. Many past advocates of evolution were racist to the core. Charles Darwin’s, The Origin of Species (1859) was even subtitled “The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” The notion of a “superior race”—that later was argued by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and so brutally implemented by Adolf Hitler—clearly had Darwinian roots.
But many religionists—of all ethnic backgrounds—have been racist as well. An old rhyme that lacked as much in style as in ethics hatefully blurted: “Ham [the son of Noah], he was ‘cussed,’ and so ‘they’ [the dark-skinned] ain’t as good as us.”
This poetic (?!) “theology” has been all too prominent in American history—though it has no sanction at all in the Bible. The fact is, it was Canaan, the son of Ham, who was destined to be a “servant of servants” to his brothers (Genesis 9:25). This involved the Canaanites, but certainly not all of the offspring of Ham. It bears no relation to racial problems today.
There are, of course, black militant groups that are intensely racist also, as indeed there are racists in all ethnic segments of humanity.
Jesus, in his parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), renders a death-blow to racist ideas.
Back in November (1999), Royce Money, president of Abilene Christian University (Texas), stood before a black audience and confessed the university’s past sins of practicing discrimination. He apologized and asked for forgiveness. We applaud Money for this acknowledgment.
When I read of this event I was reminded of a letter I wrote and which was published in The Christian Chronicle more than a third of a century ago (October 25, 1963). In part, I said:
I sincerely hope that your [recent] editorial on the “White-Negro Issue” will stimulate many to get off the “fence” and stand steadfastly for love among brethren [and] against ignorance and bias . . . Some of our . . . colleges refuse enrollment to Negros, fearing either social pressures or the withdrawal of funds, or perhaps both.
I vividly recall, when I was a student at David Lipscomb College in the mid ’50s, that Marshall Keeble would be invited to speak on occasion; yet all the black brethren would be required to sit in the balcony.
We’ve made a lot of progress since then. There is still prejudice, however, among all groups of the human family. But as the spirit of Jesus progressively invades our souls, racist attitudes must evaporate. Racism is morally wrong for the following reasons:
(1) It denies the basic unity of the human family as the offspring of God. Adam and Eve are the grandparents of us all (Genesis 3:20).
(2) The denigration of any human being, made in the image of God, is an assault upon the Creator himself (cf. Genesis 9:6).
(3) Since Christ died for all people (1 Timothy 2:5-6), any attempt to castigate a segment of humanity, suggesting its unworthiness, reflects upon the Savior’s sacrifice.
(4) Racism militates against one intended design of Jesus’ mission—to eradicate all ethnic barriers (Galatians 3:28).
May God help us be more like the little boy who, returning from his first day at school, joyfully told his mother, “Mamma, I’ve found a new friend.” “What color was he?” she inquired. His pure response was, “I forgot to ask.”
9) He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11) But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
This article below was published over a decade ago, and sad to say, it is just as relevant today. Saints, examine your hearts towards those who appear different than you and are of a different culture. Hatred should not belong in a Christian, and lately it has been manifesting strong, you can even see it strong in the political arena. Examine your standards--do you impose different standards upon different looking people?
---------------------------------------------------------
The Tragedy of Racism
By Wayne Jackson
No one with a modicum of awareness will deny that racism—the inclination to judge a person solely on the basis of his skin pigmentation or ethnic background—has been a human problem for centuries.
Paul addressed this problem before the haughty Greeks in Athens; there he affirmed that “God made of [out of] one [masculine – one man, an allusion to Adam] all men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). This ran counter to the ancient Greek notion that they were superior to others.
Many have been racist out of ignorance or weakness. Others, with a more ingrained disposition, have sought to defend it. Many past advocates of evolution were racist to the core. Charles Darwin’s, The Origin of Species (1859) was even subtitled “The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” The notion of a “superior race”—that later was argued by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and so brutally implemented by Adolf Hitler—clearly had Darwinian roots.
But many religionists—of all ethnic backgrounds—have been racist as well. An old rhyme that lacked as much in style as in ethics hatefully blurted: “Ham [the son of Noah], he was ‘cussed,’ and so ‘they’ [the dark-skinned] ain’t as good as us.”
This poetic (?!) “theology” has been all too prominent in American history—though it has no sanction at all in the Bible. The fact is, it was Canaan, the son of Ham, who was destined to be a “servant of servants” to his brothers (Genesis 9:25). This involved the Canaanites, but certainly not all of the offspring of Ham. It bears no relation to racial problems today.
There are, of course, black militant groups that are intensely racist also, as indeed there are racists in all ethnic segments of humanity.
Jesus, in his parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), renders a death-blow to racist ideas.
Back in November (1999), Royce Money, president of Abilene Christian University (Texas), stood before a black audience and confessed the university’s past sins of practicing discrimination. He apologized and asked for forgiveness. We applaud Money for this acknowledgment.
When I read of this event I was reminded of a letter I wrote and which was published in The Christian Chronicle more than a third of a century ago (October 25, 1963). In part, I said:
I sincerely hope that your [recent] editorial on the “White-Negro Issue” will stimulate many to get off the “fence” and stand steadfastly for love among brethren [and] against ignorance and bias . . . Some of our . . . colleges refuse enrollment to Negros, fearing either social pressures or the withdrawal of funds, or perhaps both.
I vividly recall, when I was a student at David Lipscomb College in the mid ’50s, that Marshall Keeble would be invited to speak on occasion; yet all the black brethren would be required to sit in the balcony.
We’ve made a lot of progress since then. There is still prejudice, however, among all groups of the human family. But as the spirit of Jesus progressively invades our souls, racist attitudes must evaporate. Racism is morally wrong for the following reasons:
(1) It denies the basic unity of the human family as the offspring of God. Adam and Eve are the grandparents of us all (Genesis 3:20).
(2) The denigration of any human being, made in the image of God, is an assault upon the Creator himself (cf. Genesis 9:6).
(3) Since Christ died for all people (1 Timothy 2:5-6), any attempt to castigate a segment of humanity, suggesting its unworthiness, reflects upon the Savior’s sacrifice.
(4) Racism militates against one intended design of Jesus’ mission—to eradicate all ethnic barriers (Galatians 3:28).
May God help us be more like the little boy who, returning from his first day at school, joyfully told his mother, “Mamma, I’ve found a new friend.” “What color was he?” she inquired. His pure response was, “I forgot to ask.”
Monday, October 5, 2009
Family Men With Loose Pants
*This article was published on Religion Dispatches:
Narcissistic Christians and “Pants Down” Journalism
By Becky Garrison
When the stories about the nightclubbing Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania first hit my inbox, I was reminded of the sex scandals involving a range of Reverends including Jimmy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Ted Haggard as well as self-professed “Christian” political leaders like Gov. Mark Sanford; former Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)
All too often, the media focuses on the more salacious sexual aspect to these stories, ignoring the other more substantive issues that accompany such acting out behavior. For example, no one seemed to report on the Family’s range of questionable activities until Sanford, Pickering and Ensign were shown to be connected to the Family-owned C Street townhouse. In Salon this summer, Jeff Sharlet, author of the New York Times bestseller The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, wrote that these scandals aren’t simply a case of family values politicians getting caught with their pants down:
If sexual license was all the Family offered the C Street men, however, that would merely be seedy and self-serving. But Family men are more than hypocritical. They’re followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to “advance the Kingdom.” They say they’re working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn’t registered as a lobby — and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.
Imbued with the spirit of self-righteousness, such Christians begin to flaunt the narcissistic components of their personality that might not have been so easily detected until they began to bask in the glow that can ensue when public personalities get placed on a pedestal. Over time, they deceive themselves into believing that their desires are in sync with Jesus’ call for their lives. The Lord’s Prayer asking God that “Thy will be done” is replaced by “God bless my will.” Somehow they forgot Jesus’ teachings that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:15, NIV)
Should they be found guilty of any transgression and exposed by the media for “sinning,” they fail to comprehend what, if anything they’ve done wrong. Any repentance they might offer for their discretions tends to be orchestrated in a manner that enables them to maintain their carefully crafted public persona.
In today's feature, “Along Came a Spider: What the Pope Doesn’t See,” Anthea Butler shows that even an institution like the Catholic church can find itself “in the throes of a Maury Povich-style DNA paternity case show.” Just as with the case of the Family, the sex-capades with Father Cutie and Father Dueppen’s $1800 visit to a strip club not to mention the priest sex abuse cases that keep resurfacing do provide for titillating headlines. However, as Butler points out, “the deeper issue within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church surrounds bureaucracy and a corporate fealty that is designed to protect the institution at all costs; even when the corporation’s clients (parishioners) are being abused.” Therein lies the crux of the situation—by turning a blind eye when boys are behaving unbiblically, the narcissistic virus that emanates from these self-centered souls ends up infecting the entire body of believers.
*Clicking the title will bring you directly to the article.
Narcissistic Christians and “Pants Down” Journalism
By Becky Garrison
When the stories about the nightclubbing Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania first hit my inbox, I was reminded of the sex scandals involving a range of Reverends including Jimmy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Ted Haggard as well as self-professed “Christian” political leaders like Gov. Mark Sanford; former Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)
All too often, the media focuses on the more salacious sexual aspect to these stories, ignoring the other more substantive issues that accompany such acting out behavior. For example, no one seemed to report on the Family’s range of questionable activities until Sanford, Pickering and Ensign were shown to be connected to the Family-owned C Street townhouse. In Salon this summer, Jeff Sharlet, author of the New York Times bestseller The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, wrote that these scandals aren’t simply a case of family values politicians getting caught with their pants down:
If sexual license was all the Family offered the C Street men, however, that would merely be seedy and self-serving. But Family men are more than hypocritical. They’re followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to “advance the Kingdom.” They say they’re working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn’t registered as a lobby — and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.
Imbued with the spirit of self-righteousness, such Christians begin to flaunt the narcissistic components of their personality that might not have been so easily detected until they began to bask in the glow that can ensue when public personalities get placed on a pedestal. Over time, they deceive themselves into believing that their desires are in sync with Jesus’ call for their lives. The Lord’s Prayer asking God that “Thy will be done” is replaced by “God bless my will.” Somehow they forgot Jesus’ teachings that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:15, NIV)
Should they be found guilty of any transgression and exposed by the media for “sinning,” they fail to comprehend what, if anything they’ve done wrong. Any repentance they might offer for their discretions tends to be orchestrated in a manner that enables them to maintain their carefully crafted public persona.
In today's feature, “Along Came a Spider: What the Pope Doesn’t See,” Anthea Butler shows that even an institution like the Catholic church can find itself “in the throes of a Maury Povich-style DNA paternity case show.” Just as with the case of the Family, the sex-capades with Father Cutie and Father Dueppen’s $1800 visit to a strip club not to mention the priest sex abuse cases that keep resurfacing do provide for titillating headlines. However, as Butler points out, “the deeper issue within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church surrounds bureaucracy and a corporate fealty that is designed to protect the institution at all costs; even when the corporation’s clients (parishioners) are being abused.” Therein lies the crux of the situation—by turning a blind eye when boys are behaving unbiblically, the narcissistic virus that emanates from these self-centered souls ends up infecting the entire body of believers.
*Clicking the title will bring you directly to the article.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Article: Faith Healing & Doctors
*Yes, the Lord heals today, but He has given us common sense as well, along with doctors and medical knowledge...We all know God heals with perfection and no side effects; but we can seek His hand in our health while seeking medical treatment. I see no negation of faith to this process--just good rational sense. Believe for healing on your way to the doctor's office.
-------------------------------------
Church has left many dead children in its wake
CLACKAMAS COUNTY – KATU confirmed Tuesday that detectives are investigating the death of an infant born over the weekend in Clackamas County.
It has also been confirmed that the child’s family is a member of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City. There have been no charges filed against the family, as the medical examiner works to determine the cause of death.
[...]
Some members of the Follower’s of Christ Church in Oregon City favor faith healing over modern medicine.
In a separate case, Carl Worthington, a member of the church, was convicted of criminal mistreatment on July 23 in the death of his daughter, 15-month-old Ava, who died of what the medical examiner called a treatable condition. Carl Worthington was sentenced to 60 days and was released last week.
Meanwhile, Ava’s grandparents Jeff and Marci Beagley are scheduled to go on trial in January in the 2008 death of their teenage son Neil. Dr. Cliff Nelson, with the State Medical Examiner’s office, said their 16-year-old could have survived with medical treatment.
A KATU investigation in the late 1990s, showed that at least two dozen children buried at a Clackamas County cemetery died from treatable causes but doctors were never called.
- Source / Full Story: Death of newborn sparks new Followers case, By Thom Jensen, Dan Tilkin, KATU News and KATU.com (Oregon), Oct. 1, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog
Note: You can click the title to go to the website.
-------------------------------------
Church has left many dead children in its wake
CLACKAMAS COUNTY – KATU confirmed Tuesday that detectives are investigating the death of an infant born over the weekend in Clackamas County.
It has also been confirmed that the child’s family is a member of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City. There have been no charges filed against the family, as the medical examiner works to determine the cause of death.
[...]
Some members of the Follower’s of Christ Church in Oregon City favor faith healing over modern medicine.
In a separate case, Carl Worthington, a member of the church, was convicted of criminal mistreatment on July 23 in the death of his daughter, 15-month-old Ava, who died of what the medical examiner called a treatable condition. Carl Worthington was sentenced to 60 days and was released last week.
Meanwhile, Ava’s grandparents Jeff and Marci Beagley are scheduled to go on trial in January in the 2008 death of their teenage son Neil. Dr. Cliff Nelson, with the State Medical Examiner’s office, said their 16-year-old could have survived with medical treatment.
A KATU investigation in the late 1990s, showed that at least two dozen children buried at a Clackamas County cemetery died from treatable causes but doctors were never called.
- Source / Full Story: Death of newborn sparks new Followers case, By Thom Jensen, Dan Tilkin, KATU News and KATU.com (Oregon), Oct. 1, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog
Note: You can click the title to go to the website.
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