Faith Under Fire with Lee Strobel :: Rocket Pictures
Serious faith on Television. For those you who receive PAX TV check out this show. They usually have quality conservative Christian scholars give sound reasons for their faith. Say that three times fast.
Pre-Trib Research Center
If you like detailed End-Times research then this site is for you.
It is the work of The Pre-Trib Study Group. This site is the compulation of 35 Biblical shoolars. Dr. LaHaye was elected Chairman of the steering committee and Dr. Ice Vice Chairman.
It is very detailed. For example, Dr. Ice is up to part 31 in a study in Matthew chapter 24.
New UNC study: Teens with regular religious practices get into less trouble
Who would have thunk it? It is sad that we need a study to prove it. Here are the findings of the North Carolina study.
"We found that kids who go to church regularly or who say that religion is important in their lives are much less likely to be involved in various forms of substance abuse, get into trouble, commit crimes, are less involved in violence, have school problems and have difficulties with their parents," said Smith, professor of sociology at UNC. "They are more likely to behave safely, try to stay healthy and be involved in volunteering, sports and other community activities.
"Our findings are not radically surprising in that they support some earlier, smaller-scale work on this issue, which is something to which not much attention has been paid by most academics," he said. "For example, in the past, people who study adolescents have often neglected or completely ignored the religious factor in teen-agers' lives."
Most sane people know this. Train up a child in the way . . .
TNIV Response Center - Register Your Concerns About This Bible Translation
What do J. I. Packer, Jack Hayford, Howard G. Hendricks, Alistair Begg, R. Kent Hughes, Bill Bright, David Jeremiah, D. James Kennedy, Joni Eareckson Tada, Erwin W. Lutzer all have in common? They are do not endorse the latest translation of the Bible called Today's new International Version or the TNIV for short.
Their main complaint is that the TNIV translates in a Politically Correct manner. My words not theirs. Here's an excert from the website.
The TNIV translation obscures many biblical references to "father," "son," "brother," and "man." For example, in Hebrews 12:7, the NIV says "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?" But the TNIV translates Hebrews 12:7, "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their parents?" The reference to God as Father is lost. In numerous other verses male-oriented meanings that are present in the original language are lost in the TNIV.
I am not a Greek scholar but I have played one on TV. Well, maybe not but I have taught Bibliology for the past seventeen years. Some of these passages seem to me poor translations while others are a slight improvement. To me there was no need for a new translation since we have had several good new ones in the last few decades. Since this translation really does not update the common English language from recent translations, I see no need for it except to pander to a certain segment of society.
The publisher Zondervan says it is to help the younger generation to be interested in reading the Bible.
For Zondervan, more people engaging the Bible more means reaching 18- to 34-year-olds with the Bible in compelling, innovative formats, all supported by the most readable and reliable translation for today’s generation—the TNIV.
Well we already have several translations that meet that need. I don’t begrudge them for trying to attain market share. After all they are a business and must grow and make profits. I just do not like what looks like a liberal bent in the translation. The translators may be superb and very conservative but the translation appears to be a step backwards in translations not forwards. Add annotations to current Bibles that help those 18-34 year olds but don’t change the translation if no language update is needed.
Excite News
GROVE, Okla. (AP) - A pastor handed out $14,000 to congregation members to invest for seven weeks, after which they are to bring the money and profits back to the church to be used in missionary work.
Now here is some practical application on the parable of the talents. It will be interesting to see what happens in seven weeks. I suspect most of the people will return the money with a little bit more added to it. Even if they did not earn any extra on it they will probably give out of their pocket so that they give a return on the investment. No one wants to look like a bad steward.
It’s kind of like fund raisers at your kid’s school or sports team. After you sell to the grandparents and a few friends that you corner, you end up buying all the rest of the merchandise so your kids don’t look bad. The schools count on that mindset for guaranteed income.
I give the pastor an “A” for a fresh idea and a big step of faith. Will it change many lives? I don’t know. We will just have to wait and see.
To My Congregation: Don't be looking for money filled envelopes any time soon.
Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group | Search by Topic | E-Commerce::Product Catalog
Ever get the feeling that God is playing hide-and-seek with your life . . . purposefully keeping you in the dark about which road to take and which choice to make?
Here's a book that I recommend. It is written by a long time friend. Gary LaFerla was a pastor when I first started pastoring back in West Covina. He started a church in Akron, Ohio.
I am pleased to say that I have taught at this church and it is a wonderful church full of servants. He has directed many large ministries and individuals in finding God's will. Look for the book in bookstores soon.
Variety.com - Don't give me an 'R'
Watcher Beware
Are "R" rated movies on the decline? According to this article in fact they are.
Despite moral watchdogs lamenting Hollywood's vile tendencies, the studios have actually been cleaning up their act. R-rated films, once the studios' mainstay, are on the decline, both in numbers and in lure. In the last five years, R-rated pics have dwindled from 212 in 1999 to just 147 last year.
It is hard to believe that Hollywood has cleaned up their act. I know they will do most anything for money but moral reform is not one of them. I believe what we used to call “R” movies are now “PG13” and “PG13” movies are now “G” movies. There is a line in the article that suggests this.
(At the same time, there is evidence that today's PG-13 is more like yesterday's R. Last summer, a Harvard study found that current films with PG-13 ratings and below had more violence, sex and profanity than films of the same ratings 10 years prior.)
The point is buyer beware. Whether or not movies are becoming tamer or the ratings are slipping we are called to keep our minds unspotted from the world. That is why I recommended this movie review site.
iafrica.com | news | sa news Up to 23% in SANDF have HIV/Aids
Aids update: Just a note connected to a previous post on the End Times and pestilences. Here’s a story documenting the epidemic in South Africa. They believe that up to 23% of their military are infected with the virus that causes AIDs. Sometimes we can overlook the seer magnitude of what is occurring in our time.
For the first time in 1,600 years, the Israeli Sanhedrin was re-established. It occurred in Tiberius, the site of the Sanhedrin's last meeting in AD 425.
This is Big BIG prophecy news for two reasons.
The first reason is that the Sanhedrin wants to set up a third temple to establish sacrifices in Israel again. This is prophesied in Revelation chapter 11 and in 2 Thess. 2:3, 4. In many Jewish eyes any rebuilt temple would not be legitimate unless it was established and overseen by the Sanhedrin. The Bible says that in the last days the temple would be rebuilt. This is necessary because it will be used by the Antichrist in the middle of the tribulation period to proclaim himself god.
Here’s a quote from the article. “On Feb. 9, just a few weeks after the Sanhedrin's re-establishment, another enormously important development took place. The religious sages began to consider the rebuilding of the Temple and reinstitution of ancient animal sacrifices as prescribed in the Law of Moses.”
Second, the Sanhedrin is essential to identify the messiah to the nation of Israel when he comes.
“These religious authorities believe it was necessary to re-establish the Sanhedrin because only this properly ordained body of sages can authenticate a Messiah when he comes. There is a growing expectation of the long-awaited Messiah to appear among devout Jews. The rebirth of the Jewish state and recapture of Jerusalem has increasingly influenced this conviction.”
This is setting up the reign of the Son of Perdition or the Antichrist. He will be looked at as the messiah for three and a half years until he makes the claim that he is god and is rejected by Israel. This means that we are increasingly close to the tribulation period.
AP Wire | 02/11/2005 | House panel approves measure to make abortion a felony
PIERRE, S.D. - Abortion should be a crime in South Dakota if states are given the right to outlaw the medical procedure, a House panel recommended Friday.
The State Affairs Committee unanimously approved HB1249, which would make it a felony to do abortions if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, is overturned. The bill would allow exceptions in cases where a pregnant woman's life is at risk.
Of course Planned Parenthood was elated with the news and said it was a great victory for parents and family. Yea right, I guess I can wake up now. Here is what they had to say about the bill.
"Kate Looby of Planned Parenthood said the bill is one of the most extreme measures she has seen. The measure would tie physicians' hands and ignore women's ability to make decisions for themselves, she said."
I think it is a good thing that states ignore people’s ability to decide on murder and tie doctor’s hand about doing the same. I guess I’m strange but I don’t think legalized murder is good for any society.
How We Used Christian Principles to Resurrect Morale - FaithInTheWorkplace.com
Faith in the work place or at least faith principles are becoming more common. This is a good article about how a fortune 500 company turned around one department with these morale changing principles.
“Early in 2002, we assumed management responsibilities for a 100 person team within a large, Fortune 500 company. We also assumed responsibility for several products that had been causing our customers problems. It was our job to solve the quality issues and to make the customers happy.
Coming from a conservative, Reformed tradition—a tradition that has for centuries spoken to business and workplace issues—this managerial challenge afforded us the perfect opportunity to put into practice some of our most cherished biblical distinctives.”
CNN.com - Parents challenge weekly� Bible classes
When new families move to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley from outside communities they are surprised to find Bible class as part of the normal school curriculum.
"My reaction is exactly like the reaction of those who come here from a different place -- shock and disbelief that we have Bible classes in public schools," Heather Ward said.
Now the Wards and other parents are asking the school board to eliminate or modify the program, which shuttles first-, second- and third-graders to churches during class time for voluntary half-hour Christian lessons and activities.
Rutherford President John Whitehead said the classes "are wholly consistent with the First Amendment and this nation's religious heritage."
But opponents argue the classes are divisive, and the schools already have character-education classes, which teach children about right and wrong without religion.
It is amazing to see how irate parents can become to an optional Bible class for their kids. God forbid that they might learn about morality. Oops, I can’t say “God” or it might offend someone. Students are required to read profanity laced books in literature class, subjected to pornographic music at games and dances but love your neighbor as your self is too provocative. Good has become evil and evil good.
Dennis Prager: Better answers: The case for Judeo-Christian values
I would like to introduce to you one of my favorite radio commentators. Although Dennis is not a Christian he is one of the best defenders of Christianity on radio. This is the first in a series of articles making the case for the Judeo-Christian world view.
Bloomberg.com: U.S.
New York City doctors have discovered a man with a previously unseen strain of HIV that is resistant to three of the four types of anti-viral drugs that combat the disease, and progresses from infection to full-blown AIDS in two or three months, the health department said.
This is scary because HIV is a virus that mutates at a high rate. The Bible talks about diseases and sicknesses at the last days.
Matt. 24: 7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”
Now, we have always had wars and pestilences so what makes this unique? The Bible describes these things as global and increasing in proportion as a precursor to the end times (1 Thess. 5:3). It’s not that there will be wars it is that there will be world wars and nations forming coalitions against other nations. It’s not that there will be diseases but those diseases will affect whole nations and the world at large.
There are nations in Africa where one-third of the population will die of AIDS in the next five years. In Asia HIV is spreading at an alarming rate. The World Health Organization has put China on the HIV epidemic watch list. They are approaching critical mass in HIV cases.
Systematic Theology One - 17 CD's In All
It's all done. Pick up your package at the Church or click the link above to order online and have it shipped.
Systematic Theology One - 17 CD's In All
15 Audio CD's & 2 MP3 CD's
Doctrines of the Bible, Angels and the Church
You can read a better description here.
Destroyed embryo deemed human
Here's a story in the Chicago Sun Times that states, "A frozen embryo destroyed in a Chicago fertility clinic was a human being whose parents are entitled to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, a Cook County judge ruled Friday.
Attorneys on both sides of the abortion issue said it was the first such ruling they had heard of as the country debates whether stem cells derived from embryos can be used in research and medicine."
While a medical researcher in London receives a license to clone humans and wipe them out to harvest their cells, here's a law suit that calls something less insidious a wrongful death. I guess it is only a death only IF someone wants the baby. Remember, that those who play god will one day meet God who will be working on their judgment.
My Way News
I am all for medical research that produces benefits for us but not at the expense of killing people. This is where the argument thickens. When does life begin? It begins at fertilization. The fertilized egg is a being because it exits. It is human because it can be nothing else. If left on its natural course it will grow. Not grow into a human because it already is a human. It will just mature as a human.
We don’t have a right to fertilize an egg and wipe it out to harvest its cells. That is as wrong as killing a mature adult and harvesting their organs. Murder has no age limit. It is as wrong to kill someone one day old as it is to kill someone one thousand days old. If life is worth protecting at any stage then it is worth protecting at every stage.
Reasons To Believe: Hugh Ross, Fazale Rana, Kenneth Samples
This is another multimedia website you can use as a super resource. They do allow an old earth theory sometimes but otherwise it is spot on. You can watch their T.V. program online or order them on VHS or DVD.
Arutz Sheva - Israel National News
Muslim clerics debate the relative benefits of killing Jews or converting them to Islam.
While the Palestinian Authority may come down clearly on the side of killing Jews for divine Islamic reward, other Muslims think converting Jews is even better. Although, they'll agree, killing Jews is still good.
So much for the pronouncements that Islam is a peaceful religion. This debate was carried on Saudi Arabia's Iqra TV last month.
The anti-semitism is growing world wide. The next great divide among the nations will be who backs Israel and who sides with the Muslims nations. This is also seen in Ezk. 36-39.
WorldNetDaily: Judge rules against Christians who preached to homosexuals
As WorldNetDaily reported, on Oct. 10, a group of 11 Christians was "preaching God's Word" to a crowd of people attending the Philadelphia "OutFest" event and displaying banners with biblical messages.
After a confrontation with a group called the Pink Angels, described by protesters as "a militant mob of homosexuals," the Christians were arrested and spent a night in jail.
Eight charges were filed: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways.
Five of these Christians face a penalty of up to 47 years in prison. The prosecutors are getting away with calling the preaching of the Word "hateful". I guess it is acceptable to parade around half naked simulating sexual acts in public but if someone objects and quotes the Bible they should be thrown in prison.
Ankerberg Theological Research Institute - The John Ankerberg Show
This is a terrific long standing apologetic ministry. I have used some of his tapes in my Systematic Theology classes. He always has quality guests and does a fair job of presenting both sides in the debate.
The Debate on Christianity Versus Secular Humanism is one of my all time favorites. In this show Dr. Paul Kurtz debates Dr. Norman Geisler on many topics including evolution. It is a classic that I have watched at least a dozen times. Check out the website, scroll down and click on the video link to see what I mean.
OnePlace.com is an excellent ministry source. Did you miss your favorite radio pastor this week? You can probably catch him at OnePlace.com.
There are about 200 radio ministries listed here. You can find information or teaching on just about any topic all at the click of your mouse. Listen to great Bible teachers streamed directly to your PC. You got to love it!
