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Radical Revival Falls on China's State-Controlled Churches | CBN.com
Radical Revival Falls on China's State-Controlled Churches | CBN.comRadical Revival Falls on China's State-Controlled Churches
01-05-2017
George Thomas
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CHINA -- You're about to hear first-hand testimony and see video of an unprecedented Christian revival happening in parts of China. What is unique about this story is how God is moving among communist-controlled government churches.
CBN News traveled to southern China and obtained exclusive, never-before-seen images, from inside these churches.
When God Shows Up in a Communist Church
It's Thursday evening in Fujian Province, southeast China. Scores of men and women are dancing, waving flags, blowing shofars, singing and worshipping God.
You might think these images come from a charismatic service in the United States. But they're not. This is communist, and officially still atheist China.
And what Duan Huilai says is remarkable about this scene is that it's happening in an officially government-controlled congregation known as Three-Self Church.
"Dramatic changes are happening," Duan told CBN News. "God is moving in a powerful way inside these Three-Self Churches."
Duan and his wife have witnessed this move first-hand. Both are evangelists and have for several years crisscrossed the Chinese countryside documenting the Holy Spirit's move among Three-Self Churches.
"The most amazing thing is that the Lord is raising up God-loving people in these churches -- so many brothers and sisters who love God deeply and want to serve Him," Duan said.
Signs and Wonders Now Allowed
Pastor Duan says what is happening today in Beijing and in other parts of China as it relates to the powerful move of God amongst the Three-Self Churches is quite remarkable considering where the church has been in the last 30 years.
"Every sermon that the pastor preached back then had to be vetted by the government authorities. Young people were never allowed to attend these churches so you'd only see old people, mostly women," Duan said. "Preaching about the power of the Holy Spirit was forbidden. You couldn't talk about end times or preach repentance."
Topics on healings, miracles, signs and wonders were out of the question. Not anymore.
"Nowadays people have accepted these topics," Duan said.
Two main types of churches exist in China: registered and unregistered. Registered congregations, also known as Three-Self Churches, are government-approved.
Unregistered, sometimes called underground or house churches, operate outside government control, and for decades faced intense persecution. And with that persecution came tremendous growth.
Three-Self Churches on the other hand never experienced that kind of explosive growth. Until now.
"Now there's big revivals happening in the Three-Self Churches," Dr. Zhao Xiao told CBN News from his offices on the outskirts of China's capital city.
Communist Encounters Christ
Zhao is one of China's foremost experts on Christianity. A former Communist Party member and atheist, Zhao converted after reading the Bible.
"If you go to Haidian Church, you'll find yourself in a more than 100-meter line trying to get inside and worship. In Shenzhen, there are usually an average of 500 people being baptized each Sunday!" he shared.
Decades ago, the Chinese government had a law that said that young men and women below the age of 18 could not attend Three-Self Churches. Zhao says those rules have been loosened in recent years.
"There's an increasing proportion of them in churches now -- more young male believers, professionals, mainstream celebrities, especially in the big cities, that are attending the church unlike the past when it was mainly the elderly who attended."
Love Camp
Back at the Thursday night meeting in Fujian Province, folks have gathered for a four-day event affectionately called "Love Camp"
"Love Camp aims to help the believer grow in their faith walk and get closer to God," Sun Rengui told CBN News one evening.
Sun is a pastor and leads the camp. He says the idea came 12 years ago when he says the Holy Spirit one day showed up while he was preaching at the Three-Self Church he pastors here.
"We were in the middle of the service; suddenly everyone at the church felt the Holy Spirit anointing fall. Some couldn't stand straight, others fell down. Some were dizzy and nauseous. When the worship began, people started crying. After the service, some were being healed. I saw demons being chased away from people's bodies."
Pastor Sun says his church had never experienced anything like it.
"We were seeing something unprecedented. We had no theological training in the move of the Holy Spirit. This was completely new for us," he said.
Word quickly spread.
"We were one of the first churches to experience this in the area. Soon, leaders from other churches came to us and were eager to receive the Holy Spirit. Later they also started witnessing the Holy Spirit's move as well," Pastor Sun said.
But it wasn't without controversy.
"People doubted if this was real. There was even conflict among my church staff," Sun said. "But as time passed, more people accepted the power of the Holy Spirit."
Transformed Lives
Twelve years later, Pastor Sun says the impact of the Holy Spirit's move is seen in the transformed lives of church members.
"Our cell groups are expanding, more people are attending church, and more people are going outside the church walls into society to share the Gospel."
The church runs two orphanages and two elderly care centers, and twice a year puts on the Love Camp.
"We have four goals in this camp: to evangelize people, strengthen the family, disciple believers and encourage other Three-Self Churches to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit."
For Pastor Duan and his wife, this is evidence that God is doing something special in the world's most populous nation.
"I was speaking in Shandong, Henan and Zhejiang recently. Around 8,000 people joined the meeting. Last Christmas, I was speaking at a Three-Self Church in Yuhuan and I was amazed there were 12,000 people," Duan exclaimed with joy.
They, Dr. Zhao and countless others say they feel honored to play a part in helping more Chinese turn to Jesus Christ.
"The number of Christians in China is growing rapidly. It means Christ is starting to play an active role in China's society and that's good in many ways," Zhao said.
Like George Thomas on Facebook. Follow George Thomas on Instagram and Twitter.
*CBN neither supports nor opposes any candidate for public office.
ShareTweetEmail +15
01-05-2017
George Thomas
ShareTweet +15
CHINA -- You're about to hear first-hand testimony and see video of an unprecedented Christian revival happening in parts of China. What is unique about this story is how God is moving among communist-controlled government churches.
CBN News traveled to southern China and obtained exclusive, never-before-seen images, from inside these churches.
When God Shows Up in a Communist Church
It's Thursday evening in Fujian Province, southeast China. Scores of men and women are dancing, waving flags, blowing shofars, singing and worshipping God.
You might think these images come from a charismatic service in the United States. But they're not. This is communist, and officially still atheist China.
And what Duan Huilai says is remarkable about this scene is that it's happening in an officially government-controlled congregation known as Three-Self Church.
"Dramatic changes are happening," Duan told CBN News. "God is moving in a powerful way inside these Three-Self Churches."
Duan and his wife have witnessed this move first-hand. Both are evangelists and have for several years crisscrossed the Chinese countryside documenting the Holy Spirit's move among Three-Self Churches.
"The most amazing thing is that the Lord is raising up God-loving people in these churches -- so many brothers and sisters who love God deeply and want to serve Him," Duan said.
Signs and Wonders Now Allowed
Pastor Duan says what is happening today in Beijing and in other parts of China as it relates to the powerful move of God amongst the Three-Self Churches is quite remarkable considering where the church has been in the last 30 years.
"Every sermon that the pastor preached back then had to be vetted by the government authorities. Young people were never allowed to attend these churches so you'd only see old people, mostly women," Duan said. "Preaching about the power of the Holy Spirit was forbidden. You couldn't talk about end times or preach repentance."
Topics on healings, miracles, signs and wonders were out of the question. Not anymore.
"Nowadays people have accepted these topics," Duan said.
Two main types of churches exist in China: registered and unregistered. Registered congregations, also known as Three-Self Churches, are government-approved.
Unregistered, sometimes called underground or house churches, operate outside government control, and for decades faced intense persecution. And with that persecution came tremendous growth.
Three-Self Churches on the other hand never experienced that kind of explosive growth. Until now.
"Now there's big revivals happening in the Three-Self Churches," Dr. Zhao Xiao told CBN News from his offices on the outskirts of China's capital city.
Communist Encounters Christ
Zhao is one of China's foremost experts on Christianity. A former Communist Party member and atheist, Zhao converted after reading the Bible.
"If you go to Haidian Church, you'll find yourself in a more than 100-meter line trying to get inside and worship. In Shenzhen, there are usually an average of 500 people being baptized each Sunday!" he shared.
Decades ago, the Chinese government had a law that said that young men and women below the age of 18 could not attend Three-Self Churches. Zhao says those rules have been loosened in recent years.
"There's an increasing proportion of them in churches now -- more young male believers, professionals, mainstream celebrities, especially in the big cities, that are attending the church unlike the past when it was mainly the elderly who attended."
Love Camp
Back at the Thursday night meeting in Fujian Province, folks have gathered for a four-day event affectionately called "Love Camp"
"Love Camp aims to help the believer grow in their faith walk and get closer to God," Sun Rengui told CBN News one evening.
Sun is a pastor and leads the camp. He says the idea came 12 years ago when he says the Holy Spirit one day showed up while he was preaching at the Three-Self Church he pastors here.
"We were in the middle of the service; suddenly everyone at the church felt the Holy Spirit anointing fall. Some couldn't stand straight, others fell down. Some were dizzy and nauseous. When the worship began, people started crying. After the service, some were being healed. I saw demons being chased away from people's bodies."
Pastor Sun says his church had never experienced anything like it.
"We were seeing something unprecedented. We had no theological training in the move of the Holy Spirit. This was completely new for us," he said.
Word quickly spread.
"We were one of the first churches to experience this in the area. Soon, leaders from other churches came to us and were eager to receive the Holy Spirit. Later they also started witnessing the Holy Spirit's move as well," Pastor Sun said.
But it wasn't without controversy.
"People doubted if this was real. There was even conflict among my church staff," Sun said. "But as time passed, more people accepted the power of the Holy Spirit."
Transformed Lives
Twelve years later, Pastor Sun says the impact of the Holy Spirit's move is seen in the transformed lives of church members.
"Our cell groups are expanding, more people are attending church, and more people are going outside the church walls into society to share the Gospel."
The church runs two orphanages and two elderly care centers, and twice a year puts on the Love Camp.
"We have four goals in this camp: to evangelize people, strengthen the family, disciple believers and encourage other Three-Self Churches to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit."
For Pastor Duan and his wife, this is evidence that God is doing something special in the world's most populous nation.
"I was speaking in Shandong, Henan and Zhejiang recently. Around 8,000 people joined the meeting. Last Christmas, I was speaking at a Three-Self Church in Yuhuan and I was amazed there were 12,000 people," Duan exclaimed with joy.
They, Dr. Zhao and countless others say they feel honored to play a part in helping more Chinese turn to Jesus Christ.
"The number of Christians in China is growing rapidly. It means Christ is starting to play an active role in China's society and that's good in many ways," Zhao said.
Like George Thomas on Facebook. Follow George Thomas on Instagram and Twitter.
*CBN neither supports nor opposes any candidate for public office.
ShareTweetEmail +15
Review: Louie Giglio’s Simple Pursuit: A Heart After Jesus (A Daily PASSION Devotional) – Pulpit & Pen
Review: Louie Giglio’s Simple Pursuit: A Heart After Jesus (A Daily PASSION Devotional) – Pulpit & PenReview: Louie Giglio’s Simple Pursuit: A Heart After Jesus (A Daily PASSION Devotional)
BY BUD AHLHEIM · JANUARY 5, 2017
_225_350_book-2072-cover
Simple Pursuit: A Heart After Jesus
A Daily Passion Devotional
Copyright 2016
Published by Thomas Nelson, a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9780718087623
Simple Pursuit is a daily devotional book that comes out of Louis Giglio’s Passion Movement. Merely containing an introduction by Giglio, with brief commentaries by “Christian celebrities” Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, and Matt Redman, the daily devotionals are written by 68 “Contributing Writers” drawn from the book’s target millennial audience of 18-25 year olds.
Following Giglio’s brief introduction, the book issues its “268 Declaration,” a five-pointed mission statement for the Passion Movement that is sourced in Isaiah 26:8. The crux of the statement is drawn from John Piper’s Christian Hedonism theme, “The heart of Passion is God’s glory, and God is most glorified in us when we live lives that are fully satisfied in Him.” The outlined five points of Passion are:
A Passion To Know God Above All Things
Love For The Local Expression of His Church
Unity Among Believers That Amplifies His Name
A Desire To See Christ Celebrated Where I Live
Willingness to Shine The Gospel To All People
It is from this outlined premise that the writers of the daily devotionals have penned pithy summaries primarily of “you can do it with God” sorts of encouragement that read with a tone that implies “knowing God” is more an experiential function for the believer than it is one of apprehending and understanding Scriptural truth. (Colossians 1:9-10, Philippians 1:9)
This Christian hedonism approach to faith is inherently dangerous. It encourages the experience of pursuing the joy of God for ourselves above that of the apprehending and understanding of God’s written revelation of Himself. Christian hedonism, as popularized by Piper, and echoed throughout this devotional guide, elevates the pursuit of one fruit of the Spirit – joy- above the others and, by emphasizing the pursuit of that experience, relegates all other aspects of ongoing sanctification in the believer to a lesser-than status.
Dr. Peter Masters’ analysis of Piper’s hedonism would be appropriate in response to the similar theological premise of Simple Pursuit’. (Masters is, btw, pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle whose pulpit was previously occupied by the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon.)
“God’s Word does not provide a single organising principle to govern and drive all the component duties of the spiritual life. ‘Christian Hedonism’ is not drawn from the teaching of the Lord, nor of Paul. However, the Bible does provide a clear prescription for the Christian life, listing a number of spiritual and moral duties, all of which must be given direct and individual attention. We are given famous lists (such as the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, and the lists of 1 Timothy 6.11-12 and Galatians 5.22-23 – see footnote 3) and we must set our minds to accepting a multiple-track righteousness. We will pay a high price for any kind of clever system that reduces biblical duties to an artificial formula, however sound and inspiring many of its elements may seem to be.” Dr. Peter Masters (Source)
41lwvmuq4lSimple Pursuit faces the same challenges of any devotional book: brevity, Biblical integrity, and believer edification. Most devotional books do not pull this trifold challenge off with any success; Simple Pursuit hasn’t either. (A perpetually reliable, and recommendable, devotional guide would be Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening.)
The format of Simple Pursuit is a page-per-day devotional in which each is headlined by a singly plucked verse of Scripture accompanied by a one, two, or maybe very brief, three-paragraph commentary of encouragement or explanation, concluding, on most days of the books’ entries, with a one or two sentence, suggested summarizing prayer.
Obvious exegetical risks accompany any such endeavor with so limited a scope of intent. The contextual fullness of singly-plucked verses is difficult to responsibly divulge to the reader. The poor exegetical performance of Simple Passion is evident by its clear lack of pastoral oversight or theological insight that exhibits concern for, and consistency of, sound doctrine. Verses are plucked, often out of context, presumably because of their particular importance to the unidentified author and exposited in a Scripturally-illicit “what’s this verse mean to me” sort of manner.
The theme of “unity,” as highlighted in point three of the five points of Passion, runs through a number of the daily entries. Commenting on this in the book, contributor Chris Tomlin writes, “Jesus said that the world would know we are His by our love (John 15:35). Interestingly, He did not say ‘by our doctrine’ or ‘by our denomination,’ but by our love.” This “doctrine is divisive” narrative echoed by Tomlin is not unknown, and, ironically, it is most often offered by those who “don’t know” what Scripture teaches in its fulness.
The popular suggestion that doctrine divides is a vehemently anti-Scriptural claim. The Apostle Paul, through whom the Holy Spirit inspired and wrote much of the Jesus-approved New Testament defined division in the church.
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. Romans 16:17-18
Another example of doctrine-avoiding unity is from the devotional on Day 182: “What is one thing that every denomination has in common? Despite stylistic differences, we reach out to God in prayer. If we are going to see Jesus at work through our generation, then we need to be united around a clear purpose.” That mechanism of unity, for the Simple Pursuit writer, is not the Jesus of Scripture, but the Jesus of prayer.
While the “stylistic differences” may exist between those, for example, praying at Hillsong, or Bethel, or the nearest Catholic parish, or the Baptist church down the street, one thing is certain among all of those congregations – each is praying to a very different “Jesus.” The actual Jesus of Scripture, however, gave us His focal point for Christian unity in His high priestly prayer to the Father: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Scripture – and the sound doctrine it contains – is the point of unity for believers. According to the writer of this day’s devotion, with no agreement on the correct Jesus or God of Scripture, Christians could theoretically be found in spiritual unity with any religion that prays. But it’s a certainty the Muslims are praying to a decidedly different “God” than Christians do. Appeals for unity outside the boundaries of Scripture are dangerous to the believer, toxic to sound doctrine, and may rapidly become blasphemous to God. Indeed, for those not adhering to sound doctrine and proclaiming illicit variants of it, the apostle is quite clear: “Avoid them.” (Romans16:18)
The prevalent “Gospel” contained in Simple Pursuit is the ever-popular, but always unbiblical social gospel. From one entry we read, “Not only does our pursuit of justice bring healing to this world, but it also brings us closer to God.” Or there’s this line, “Fighting injustice, speaking against lies, loving others, and seeking to end poverty all require much effort often personal discomfort – but they give so much gain.” Or, from another entry, this explanation: “Just as materialism is heart bondage, so poverty and injustice are physical bondage. When we generously give to the needy for the good of God’s kingdom, we take part in God’s purpose for the world: to free creation from the bondage of evil through the love of Christ.”
The social justice refrains reflect an aberrant Gospel message exhibited in Simple Pursuit. They smack of a form of dominionism in which believers must eradicate the ills of the world – poverty, homelessness, legal injustices, for example – as critical to the “good of God’s kingdom.” While these noble acts of Christian charity are done as a consequential outflow of a truly redeemed soul, the acts themselves do not constitute the Gospel. Apart from doing such charity with a clear, corresponding proclamation of the Gospel, the results won’t be establishing “God’s kingdom,” but simply making the world a better place from which to go to hell.
Rather, God’s plans for this divinely cursed world (Genesis 3:17) are certain – see 2 Peter 3:10-12 – and, until that “day of Lord” arrives, believers are to seek to reconcile with God the spiritually lost (and, according to Scripture, spiritually “dead” – Ephesians 2:1) by purposefully, audibly sharing – not merely “shining,” as Passion point #5 puts it – the authentic Gospel of Christ. God’s temporal purpose is not to “free creation from the bondage of evil” through a social gospel agenda, but to take for the Son from it a bride – the church – comprised of those divinely regenerated as a result of His powerful, authentic Gospel. (Romans 1:16) Believers in the true Gospel of Scripture are awaiting the new creation, “a new heaven and a new earth.” (Revelation 21:1)
Commensurate with a doctrine-less, social gospel platform for which Passion is known, their devotional book perpetuates the unbiblical notion that all men are the beloved children of God who merely need to “love Jesus.” Regrettably, the Jesus glimpsed on the pages of Simple Pursuit is a Jesus that cannot be properly gleaned from a responsible reading of Scripture.
Under the entry for Day 27, entitled “Hear The Knock,” the false, but evangelically-hallowed, door-knocking Jesus is seen. “Jesus knocks at the door of our hearts and is waiting to enter fellowship with us.” The cited verse for this illicit statement? Revelation 3:20 … a verse in which Jesus is not knocking on anyone’s heart, but is issuing a dire warning against apostasy and disobedience to the believer-void church of Laodicea. The day’s devotional ends with a dangerous tone of contemplative spirituality, “What can we do to be still so we can hear God’s voice today? Let us pause to hear His voice, and answer the knock at the door of our hearts.”
The “Jesus loves everyone” notion shows up in a number of the daily readings. In one, the closing is in the form of a question, “How can you learn to see everyone as Jesus does – a dearly loved child in need of an eternal savior?” While every believer should proclaim the gospel to everyone, not everyone is “a dearly loved child” of God. What this errant proclamation fails to recognize is that even Jesus, while on earth, did not exhibit limitless, gushing divine love for everyone He encountered. In fact, the Jesus of Simple Pursuit seems unlike the judgmental Jesus of Matthew 13:10-16 who began teaching in parables precisely so that not all His hearers would grasp His divinely taught truth. As MacArthur writes, parables “were designed to hide the truth.” “Do you know why Jesus taught in parables?” writes MacArthur. “It was a judgment. It was a judgment on willful, hard-hearted unbelief.” So much for “Jesus loves you and has a wonderfully hedonistic plan for your life.”
pipgig
John Piper & Louis Giglio
Giglio, in his introduction to Simple Pursuit, says this:
“From the start [of the Passion Movement], we have wanted to see a generation stand in awe of Jesus; to fall in love with the wonder and majesty of who He is. And we have sought to inspire them to reflect that glory to their world.”
Those words ring with a noble resolve, to be sure, but the ambition is based on an errant theology. The fundamental premise of Christian hedonism that is rampant throughout the volume, as it is the Passion Movement, elevates the pursuit of joy in Jesus above the very thing which Christ Himself said would identify those who truly love Him: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) God commands our obedience.
Simple Pursuit encourages social justice as a way to “shine” the Gospel for the intent of maximizing individual joy. This form of hedonism seems foreign to the authors of the New Testament who defined themselves, often in the opening words their epistles, as “doulos” – or slaves – of Christ. (Romans 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1, Revelation 1:1) A slave exhibits obedience to his master, first and foremost, not the relentless pursuit of self-gratifying joy to be gained in the name of his master.
“So my call to you now, in the name of God Almighty, is that you might make it your eternal vocation to pursue your pleasure with all the might that God mightily inspires within you.” John Piper, Passion Conference 1997 (Source)
Simple Pursuit is an avoidable devotional guide for the millennial. In a post-modern world where relativistic, subjective pursuits run counter to Scriptural veracities, the continued proclamation of the tenets of Christian hedonism will drive many to ultimately seek escape from Christianity, for the Christian faith puts a priority on obedience to Christ, with sanctification resulting in many fruits in addition to joy. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Scripture does not promise unbridled temporal joy nor prescribe the pursuit of indulgent self-gratification though Christian hedonism slathers these ambitions with a veneer of Christian-ese. But Piper and Giglio and his Passion colleagues are required to read into Scripture a formula for faith not naturally, normally, or – from the record of orthodoxy – historically found within it. Such a “simple pursuit” cannot be sustained by those who have no true foundation in the fundamental doctrines of faith, the “sound teaching” from the Word. (1 Timothy 4:6, 2 Timothy 4:3, Titus 1:9)
As Dr. Masters pointed out, “We will pay a high price for any kind of clever system that reduces biblical duties to an artificial formula, however sound and inspiring many of its elements may seem to be.” Simple Pursuit is effectively a “rah-rah” approach to faith, proffered in a daily sound-byte format, and most certainly exemplifies this dangerous, menacing, “clever system.”
Simple Pursuit is not a sound, endorsable resource for authentic believers of any age.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book through BooklookBlogger in return for my honest review. I was not required to give a favorable review to the book.)
[Contributed by Bud Ahlheim]
BY BUD AHLHEIM · JANUARY 5, 2017
_225_350_book-2072-cover
Simple Pursuit: A Heart After Jesus
A Daily Passion Devotional
Copyright 2016
Published by Thomas Nelson, a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9780718087623
Simple Pursuit is a daily devotional book that comes out of Louis Giglio’s Passion Movement. Merely containing an introduction by Giglio, with brief commentaries by “Christian celebrities” Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, and Matt Redman, the daily devotionals are written by 68 “Contributing Writers” drawn from the book’s target millennial audience of 18-25 year olds.
Following Giglio’s brief introduction, the book issues its “268 Declaration,” a five-pointed mission statement for the Passion Movement that is sourced in Isaiah 26:8. The crux of the statement is drawn from John Piper’s Christian Hedonism theme, “The heart of Passion is God’s glory, and God is most glorified in us when we live lives that are fully satisfied in Him.” The outlined five points of Passion are:
A Passion To Know God Above All Things
Love For The Local Expression of His Church
Unity Among Believers That Amplifies His Name
A Desire To See Christ Celebrated Where I Live
Willingness to Shine The Gospel To All People
It is from this outlined premise that the writers of the daily devotionals have penned pithy summaries primarily of “you can do it with God” sorts of encouragement that read with a tone that implies “knowing God” is more an experiential function for the believer than it is one of apprehending and understanding Scriptural truth. (Colossians 1:9-10, Philippians 1:9)
This Christian hedonism approach to faith is inherently dangerous. It encourages the experience of pursuing the joy of God for ourselves above that of the apprehending and understanding of God’s written revelation of Himself. Christian hedonism, as popularized by Piper, and echoed throughout this devotional guide, elevates the pursuit of one fruit of the Spirit – joy- above the others and, by emphasizing the pursuit of that experience, relegates all other aspects of ongoing sanctification in the believer to a lesser-than status.
Dr. Peter Masters’ analysis of Piper’s hedonism would be appropriate in response to the similar theological premise of Simple Pursuit’. (Masters is, btw, pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle whose pulpit was previously occupied by the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon.)
“God’s Word does not provide a single organising principle to govern and drive all the component duties of the spiritual life. ‘Christian Hedonism’ is not drawn from the teaching of the Lord, nor of Paul. However, the Bible does provide a clear prescription for the Christian life, listing a number of spiritual and moral duties, all of which must be given direct and individual attention. We are given famous lists (such as the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, and the lists of 1 Timothy 6.11-12 and Galatians 5.22-23 – see footnote 3) and we must set our minds to accepting a multiple-track righteousness. We will pay a high price for any kind of clever system that reduces biblical duties to an artificial formula, however sound and inspiring many of its elements may seem to be.” Dr. Peter Masters (Source)
41lwvmuq4lSimple Pursuit faces the same challenges of any devotional book: brevity, Biblical integrity, and believer edification. Most devotional books do not pull this trifold challenge off with any success; Simple Pursuit hasn’t either. (A perpetually reliable, and recommendable, devotional guide would be Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening.)
The format of Simple Pursuit is a page-per-day devotional in which each is headlined by a singly plucked verse of Scripture accompanied by a one, two, or maybe very brief, three-paragraph commentary of encouragement or explanation, concluding, on most days of the books’ entries, with a one or two sentence, suggested summarizing prayer.
Obvious exegetical risks accompany any such endeavor with so limited a scope of intent. The contextual fullness of singly-plucked verses is difficult to responsibly divulge to the reader. The poor exegetical performance of Simple Passion is evident by its clear lack of pastoral oversight or theological insight that exhibits concern for, and consistency of, sound doctrine. Verses are plucked, often out of context, presumably because of their particular importance to the unidentified author and exposited in a Scripturally-illicit “what’s this verse mean to me” sort of manner.
The theme of “unity,” as highlighted in point three of the five points of Passion, runs through a number of the daily entries. Commenting on this in the book, contributor Chris Tomlin writes, “Jesus said that the world would know we are His by our love (John 15:35). Interestingly, He did not say ‘by our doctrine’ or ‘by our denomination,’ but by our love.” This “doctrine is divisive” narrative echoed by Tomlin is not unknown, and, ironically, it is most often offered by those who “don’t know” what Scripture teaches in its fulness.
The popular suggestion that doctrine divides is a vehemently anti-Scriptural claim. The Apostle Paul, through whom the Holy Spirit inspired and wrote much of the Jesus-approved New Testament defined division in the church.
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. Romans 16:17-18
Another example of doctrine-avoiding unity is from the devotional on Day 182: “What is one thing that every denomination has in common? Despite stylistic differences, we reach out to God in prayer. If we are going to see Jesus at work through our generation, then we need to be united around a clear purpose.” That mechanism of unity, for the Simple Pursuit writer, is not the Jesus of Scripture, but the Jesus of prayer.
While the “stylistic differences” may exist between those, for example, praying at Hillsong, or Bethel, or the nearest Catholic parish, or the Baptist church down the street, one thing is certain among all of those congregations – each is praying to a very different “Jesus.” The actual Jesus of Scripture, however, gave us His focal point for Christian unity in His high priestly prayer to the Father: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Scripture – and the sound doctrine it contains – is the point of unity for believers. According to the writer of this day’s devotion, with no agreement on the correct Jesus or God of Scripture, Christians could theoretically be found in spiritual unity with any religion that prays. But it’s a certainty the Muslims are praying to a decidedly different “God” than Christians do. Appeals for unity outside the boundaries of Scripture are dangerous to the believer, toxic to sound doctrine, and may rapidly become blasphemous to God. Indeed, for those not adhering to sound doctrine and proclaiming illicit variants of it, the apostle is quite clear: “Avoid them.” (Romans16:18)
The prevalent “Gospel” contained in Simple Pursuit is the ever-popular, but always unbiblical social gospel. From one entry we read, “Not only does our pursuit of justice bring healing to this world, but it also brings us closer to God.” Or there’s this line, “Fighting injustice, speaking against lies, loving others, and seeking to end poverty all require much effort often personal discomfort – but they give so much gain.” Or, from another entry, this explanation: “Just as materialism is heart bondage, so poverty and injustice are physical bondage. When we generously give to the needy for the good of God’s kingdom, we take part in God’s purpose for the world: to free creation from the bondage of evil through the love of Christ.”
The social justice refrains reflect an aberrant Gospel message exhibited in Simple Pursuit. They smack of a form of dominionism in which believers must eradicate the ills of the world – poverty, homelessness, legal injustices, for example – as critical to the “good of God’s kingdom.” While these noble acts of Christian charity are done as a consequential outflow of a truly redeemed soul, the acts themselves do not constitute the Gospel. Apart from doing such charity with a clear, corresponding proclamation of the Gospel, the results won’t be establishing “God’s kingdom,” but simply making the world a better place from which to go to hell.
Rather, God’s plans for this divinely cursed world (Genesis 3:17) are certain – see 2 Peter 3:10-12 – and, until that “day of Lord” arrives, believers are to seek to reconcile with God the spiritually lost (and, according to Scripture, spiritually “dead” – Ephesians 2:1) by purposefully, audibly sharing – not merely “shining,” as Passion point #5 puts it – the authentic Gospel of Christ. God’s temporal purpose is not to “free creation from the bondage of evil” through a social gospel agenda, but to take for the Son from it a bride – the church – comprised of those divinely regenerated as a result of His powerful, authentic Gospel. (Romans 1:16) Believers in the true Gospel of Scripture are awaiting the new creation, “a new heaven and a new earth.” (Revelation 21:1)
Commensurate with a doctrine-less, social gospel platform for which Passion is known, their devotional book perpetuates the unbiblical notion that all men are the beloved children of God who merely need to “love Jesus.” Regrettably, the Jesus glimpsed on the pages of Simple Pursuit is a Jesus that cannot be properly gleaned from a responsible reading of Scripture.
Under the entry for Day 27, entitled “Hear The Knock,” the false, but evangelically-hallowed, door-knocking Jesus is seen. “Jesus knocks at the door of our hearts and is waiting to enter fellowship with us.” The cited verse for this illicit statement? Revelation 3:20 … a verse in which Jesus is not knocking on anyone’s heart, but is issuing a dire warning against apostasy and disobedience to the believer-void church of Laodicea. The day’s devotional ends with a dangerous tone of contemplative spirituality, “What can we do to be still so we can hear God’s voice today? Let us pause to hear His voice, and answer the knock at the door of our hearts.”
The “Jesus loves everyone” notion shows up in a number of the daily readings. In one, the closing is in the form of a question, “How can you learn to see everyone as Jesus does – a dearly loved child in need of an eternal savior?” While every believer should proclaim the gospel to everyone, not everyone is “a dearly loved child” of God. What this errant proclamation fails to recognize is that even Jesus, while on earth, did not exhibit limitless, gushing divine love for everyone He encountered. In fact, the Jesus of Simple Pursuit seems unlike the judgmental Jesus of Matthew 13:10-16 who began teaching in parables precisely so that not all His hearers would grasp His divinely taught truth. As MacArthur writes, parables “were designed to hide the truth.” “Do you know why Jesus taught in parables?” writes MacArthur. “It was a judgment. It was a judgment on willful, hard-hearted unbelief.” So much for “Jesus loves you and has a wonderfully hedonistic plan for your life.”
pipgig
John Piper & Louis Giglio
Giglio, in his introduction to Simple Pursuit, says this:
“From the start [of the Passion Movement], we have wanted to see a generation stand in awe of Jesus; to fall in love with the wonder and majesty of who He is. And we have sought to inspire them to reflect that glory to their world.”
Those words ring with a noble resolve, to be sure, but the ambition is based on an errant theology. The fundamental premise of Christian hedonism that is rampant throughout the volume, as it is the Passion Movement, elevates the pursuit of joy in Jesus above the very thing which Christ Himself said would identify those who truly love Him: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) God commands our obedience.
Simple Pursuit encourages social justice as a way to “shine” the Gospel for the intent of maximizing individual joy. This form of hedonism seems foreign to the authors of the New Testament who defined themselves, often in the opening words their epistles, as “doulos” – or slaves – of Christ. (Romans 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1, Revelation 1:1) A slave exhibits obedience to his master, first and foremost, not the relentless pursuit of self-gratifying joy to be gained in the name of his master.
“So my call to you now, in the name of God Almighty, is that you might make it your eternal vocation to pursue your pleasure with all the might that God mightily inspires within you.” John Piper, Passion Conference 1997 (Source)
Simple Pursuit is an avoidable devotional guide for the millennial. In a post-modern world where relativistic, subjective pursuits run counter to Scriptural veracities, the continued proclamation of the tenets of Christian hedonism will drive many to ultimately seek escape from Christianity, for the Christian faith puts a priority on obedience to Christ, with sanctification resulting in many fruits in addition to joy. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Scripture does not promise unbridled temporal joy nor prescribe the pursuit of indulgent self-gratification though Christian hedonism slathers these ambitions with a veneer of Christian-ese. But Piper and Giglio and his Passion colleagues are required to read into Scripture a formula for faith not naturally, normally, or – from the record of orthodoxy – historically found within it. Such a “simple pursuit” cannot be sustained by those who have no true foundation in the fundamental doctrines of faith, the “sound teaching” from the Word. (1 Timothy 4:6, 2 Timothy 4:3, Titus 1:9)
As Dr. Masters pointed out, “We will pay a high price for any kind of clever system that reduces biblical duties to an artificial formula, however sound and inspiring many of its elements may seem to be.” Simple Pursuit is effectively a “rah-rah” approach to faith, proffered in a daily sound-byte format, and most certainly exemplifies this dangerous, menacing, “clever system.”
Simple Pursuit is not a sound, endorsable resource for authentic believers of any age.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book through BooklookBlogger in return for my honest review. I was not required to give a favorable review to the book.)
[Contributed by Bud Ahlheim]
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Ethics? We Don’t Need No Stinking Ethics | The American Conservative
Ethics? We Don’t Need No Stinking Ethics | The American ConservativeEthics? We Don’t Need No Stinking Ethics
By NOAH MILLMAN • January 3, 2017, 12:36 PM
bioraven / Shutterstock.com
bioraven / Shutterstock.com
I try to avoid getting on the outrage bandwagon. Most outrages turn out to be outright fabrications, like the hate hoaxes that we seem to be endlessly plagued with, or considerably more complicated than they are presented as being.
But sometimes you should be outraged by the genuinely outrageous. Which means you need a good filter to help you figure out what’s worth being outraged about.
For the issues with which he’s most concerned, Norm Ornstein is one of my filters. And he’s pretty outraged about the Republican gutting of the Office of Congressional Ethics:
I have rarely been more angry or dismayed at the conduct of Congress than I was Monday night with the unconscionable, deplorable, underhanded move by Representative Bob Goodlatte to eviscerate and undermine the Office of Congressional Ethics. When House Speaker Paul Ryan and his counterpart Nancy Pelosi indicated weeks ago that they would continue OCE, the reform community—left and right—breathed a sigh of relief. Ryan, like his predecessor John Boehner, had seen the value to the integrity of the House of the office, which has been a stalwart of bipartisan and nonpartisan comity and independence. That makes this bait-and-switch action even more outrageous.
Some have pointed out the relatively recent vintage of the office — it was created in 2008 — as a way of suggesting that its removal merely reverts to a reasonably-functioning prior system. Ornstein rips the stuffing out of that objection: the OCE was created specifically in response to the escalating seriousness of ethics problems in the Hastert/DeLay years (remember them?) and succeeded because both Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner wanted it to.
And Ornstein isn’t buying Paul Ryan’s claims that he tried to preserve the OCE but was overruled by his caucus:
Rules packages get up or down votes, and are top priority for the majority leadership. They are not rejected by the majority party. The package is put together by the leadership; nothing gets included or excluded without the say-so of the speaker. Make no mistake about it: Despite public reports loudly proclaiming his opposition, it’s hard to believe this would have happened had Paul Ryan really tried to stop it. And do not believe Goodlatte’s risable assurance that this strengthens OCE. It has been muzzled and hamstrung, defenestrated and castrated. If Speaker Ryan really is opposed, he can demand a separate vote on the OCE provision when the whole House votes on its rules. If he does not, he owns it, plain and simple.
I’m not at all surprised that stuff like this is happening first. Any time a new party takes power, it makes sense for them to push their highest and most difficult priorities first. When President Obama prioritized health care reform over a more aggressive response to the foreclosure crisis (or, for that matter, climate change), that told you both what he and his party thought would be the hardest sell (do your toughest stuff first), and what would pay the most long-term dividends (in terms of constituents who benefitted from the action).
Republicans would be crazy to do something like this in the run up to an election. So they are doing it immediately after an election. And, as well, they presumably see a strong and independent body policing Congressional ethics as a material obstacle to their individual and collective advancement, such that removing that watchdog will pay dividends down the road.
I suspect the GOP caucus knows what they are doing. I hope advocates of the public interest know how to respond.
UPDATE: well, right after I posted this, the House Republicans backed away from their own proposal in the face of criticism not only from Democrats and independent reform groups but from President-elect Donald Trump.
That doesn’t mean the proposal is dead — Trump’s own tweets against the measure suggested the problem was more the timing than the substance. But nonetheless: it’s a pretty clear message to the GOP House about where the power lies right now. It sure doesn’t look like it’s in the Speaker’s office.
Tagged corruption, ethics, Norm Ornstein, Office of Congressional Ethics, outrage, Paul Ryan.
By NOAH MILLMAN • January 3, 2017, 12:36 PM
bioraven / Shutterstock.com
bioraven / Shutterstock.com
I try to avoid getting on the outrage bandwagon. Most outrages turn out to be outright fabrications, like the hate hoaxes that we seem to be endlessly plagued with, or considerably more complicated than they are presented as being.
But sometimes you should be outraged by the genuinely outrageous. Which means you need a good filter to help you figure out what’s worth being outraged about.
For the issues with which he’s most concerned, Norm Ornstein is one of my filters. And he’s pretty outraged about the Republican gutting of the Office of Congressional Ethics:
I have rarely been more angry or dismayed at the conduct of Congress than I was Monday night with the unconscionable, deplorable, underhanded move by Representative Bob Goodlatte to eviscerate and undermine the Office of Congressional Ethics. When House Speaker Paul Ryan and his counterpart Nancy Pelosi indicated weeks ago that they would continue OCE, the reform community—left and right—breathed a sigh of relief. Ryan, like his predecessor John Boehner, had seen the value to the integrity of the House of the office, which has been a stalwart of bipartisan and nonpartisan comity and independence. That makes this bait-and-switch action even more outrageous.
Some have pointed out the relatively recent vintage of the office — it was created in 2008 — as a way of suggesting that its removal merely reverts to a reasonably-functioning prior system. Ornstein rips the stuffing out of that objection: the OCE was created specifically in response to the escalating seriousness of ethics problems in the Hastert/DeLay years (remember them?) and succeeded because both Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner wanted it to.
And Ornstein isn’t buying Paul Ryan’s claims that he tried to preserve the OCE but was overruled by his caucus:
Rules packages get up or down votes, and are top priority for the majority leadership. They are not rejected by the majority party. The package is put together by the leadership; nothing gets included or excluded without the say-so of the speaker. Make no mistake about it: Despite public reports loudly proclaiming his opposition, it’s hard to believe this would have happened had Paul Ryan really tried to stop it. And do not believe Goodlatte’s risable assurance that this strengthens OCE. It has been muzzled and hamstrung, defenestrated and castrated. If Speaker Ryan really is opposed, he can demand a separate vote on the OCE provision when the whole House votes on its rules. If he does not, he owns it, plain and simple.
I’m not at all surprised that stuff like this is happening first. Any time a new party takes power, it makes sense for them to push their highest and most difficult priorities first. When President Obama prioritized health care reform over a more aggressive response to the foreclosure crisis (or, for that matter, climate change), that told you both what he and his party thought would be the hardest sell (do your toughest stuff first), and what would pay the most long-term dividends (in terms of constituents who benefitted from the action).
Republicans would be crazy to do something like this in the run up to an election. So they are doing it immediately after an election. And, as well, they presumably see a strong and independent body policing Congressional ethics as a material obstacle to their individual and collective advancement, such that removing that watchdog will pay dividends down the road.
I suspect the GOP caucus knows what they are doing. I hope advocates of the public interest know how to respond.
UPDATE: well, right after I posted this, the House Republicans backed away from their own proposal in the face of criticism not only from Democrats and independent reform groups but from President-elect Donald Trump.
That doesn’t mean the proposal is dead — Trump’s own tweets against the measure suggested the problem was more the timing than the substance. But nonetheless: it’s a pretty clear message to the GOP House about where the power lies right now. It sure doesn’t look like it’s in the Speaker’s office.
Tagged corruption, ethics, Norm Ornstein, Office of Congressional Ethics, outrage, Paul Ryan.
Yemen Is Being Starved to Death | The American Conservative
Yemen Is Being Starved to Death | The American ConservativeYemen Is Being Starved to Death
By DANIEL LARISON • January 3, 2017, 3:24 PM
UN OCHA / Philippe Kropf, via Flickr
UN OCHA / Philippe Kropf, via Flickr
The AP reports on the horrible and worsening conditions in Yemen:
They are among countless Yemenis who are struggling to feed themselves amid a grinding civil war that has pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine. The family lives in a mud hut in northern Yemen, territory controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels, who are at war with government forces and a Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition.
The coalition has been waging a fierce air campaign against the rebels since March 2015, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge them from the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. A coalition blockade aimed at preventing the Houthis from rearming has contributed to a 60-percent spike in food prices, according to an estimate used by international aid groups.
The coalition’s responsibility for creating these conditions is even greater than the article states. In addition to a punishing blockade that has been in place for almost two years, the coalition has bombed major ports, roads, and bridges that are all critical to bringing in food and other aid. The “legitimate” Yemeni government led by Hadi announced that the central bank was being moved to Aden last fall. That had the effect of rupturing one of the last national institutions left, and it made it much harder for importers to arrange financing to bring in necessities. Shortly before the end of the year, major trading companies halted wheat imports into Yemen as a result of Hadi’s central bank decision, which made the already dire situation in the country even worse. The Hadi government and its coalition and Western backers have inflicted all of this on the civilian population of Yemen for more than twenty-one months in the service of an atrocious war effort that has failed in all of its stated objectives.
Yemen is suffering one of the worst man-made disasters of this century. The humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen threatens millions of people with death from starvation and preventable disease, and yet the U.S. continues to support and enable the coalition war effort that bears a huge share of the blame for creating famine conditions in one of the world’s poorest countries. Unless something is done immediately to lift the blockade and bring in food to stave it off, Yemen’s famine will only grow more severe.
By DANIEL LARISON • January 3, 2017, 3:24 PM
UN OCHA / Philippe Kropf, via Flickr
UN OCHA / Philippe Kropf, via Flickr
The AP reports on the horrible and worsening conditions in Yemen:
They are among countless Yemenis who are struggling to feed themselves amid a grinding civil war that has pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine. The family lives in a mud hut in northern Yemen, territory controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels, who are at war with government forces and a Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition.
The coalition has been waging a fierce air campaign against the rebels since March 2015, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge them from the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. A coalition blockade aimed at preventing the Houthis from rearming has contributed to a 60-percent spike in food prices, according to an estimate used by international aid groups.
The coalition’s responsibility for creating these conditions is even greater than the article states. In addition to a punishing blockade that has been in place for almost two years, the coalition has bombed major ports, roads, and bridges that are all critical to bringing in food and other aid. The “legitimate” Yemeni government led by Hadi announced that the central bank was being moved to Aden last fall. That had the effect of rupturing one of the last national institutions left, and it made it much harder for importers to arrange financing to bring in necessities. Shortly before the end of the year, major trading companies halted wheat imports into Yemen as a result of Hadi’s central bank decision, which made the already dire situation in the country even worse. The Hadi government and its coalition and Western backers have inflicted all of this on the civilian population of Yemen for more than twenty-one months in the service of an atrocious war effort that has failed in all of its stated objectives.
Yemen is suffering one of the worst man-made disasters of this century. The humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen threatens millions of people with death from starvation and preventable disease, and yet the U.S. continues to support and enable the coalition war effort that bears a huge share of the blame for creating famine conditions in one of the world’s poorest countries. Unless something is done immediately to lift the blockade and bring in food to stave it off, Yemen’s famine will only grow more severe.
Trump Shuts Down North Korean Nuclear Threats In Dismissive Tweet – American Military News
Trump Shuts Down North Korean Nuclear Threats In Dismissive Tweet – American Military NewsTrump Shuts Down North Korean Nuclear Threats In Dismissive Tweet
BY STAFFWRITER9 · JANUARY 3, 2017
On Monday, President-elect Donald J. Trump tweeted a message to North Korea, challenging the country’s latest threats about their nuclear weapon capabilities. In a televised New Years message on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised his nation’s military and said that they’re close to testing long-range missiles that would be capable of hitting the United States. Upon hearing the Korean leader’s remarks, Trump rebutted “it won’t happen!”
Screen Shot 2017-01-03 at 10.42.42 AM
“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!” Trump tweeted Monday evening.
The President-elect also had criticism of China, who he said wouldn’t help the U.S. against North Korea.
Screen Shot 2017-01-03 at 10.43.11 AM
“China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!” he tweeted, about 40 minutes after his previous tweet.
During his Sunday statement, Kim Jong Un was addressing the North Korean people as well the United States as he touted the strength of their military. The North Korean leader said that his country was now a “military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy” that was in its “last stage” of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States.
“Research and development of cutting edge arms equipment is actively progressing and ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) rocket test launch preparation is in its last stage,” Kim Jong Un said.
North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests in the past year, including the largest it’s ever conducted, raising fears that their nuclear capabilities have been increasing. However, none of the test missiles have never been successfully fired.
BY STAFFWRITER9 · JANUARY 3, 2017
On Monday, President-elect Donald J. Trump tweeted a message to North Korea, challenging the country’s latest threats about their nuclear weapon capabilities. In a televised New Years message on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised his nation’s military and said that they’re close to testing long-range missiles that would be capable of hitting the United States. Upon hearing the Korean leader’s remarks, Trump rebutted “it won’t happen!”
Screen Shot 2017-01-03 at 10.42.42 AM
“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!” Trump tweeted Monday evening.
The President-elect also had criticism of China, who he said wouldn’t help the U.S. against North Korea.
Screen Shot 2017-01-03 at 10.43.11 AM
“China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!” he tweeted, about 40 minutes after his previous tweet.
During his Sunday statement, Kim Jong Un was addressing the North Korean people as well the United States as he touted the strength of their military. The North Korean leader said that his country was now a “military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy” that was in its “last stage” of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States.
“Research and development of cutting edge arms equipment is actively progressing and ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) rocket test launch preparation is in its last stage,” Kim Jong Un said.
North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests in the past year, including the largest it’s ever conducted, raising fears that their nuclear capabilities have been increasing. However, none of the test missiles have never been successfully fired.
Obama Leaves U.S. Navy Without Carrier at Sea for 1st Time Since WWII
Obama Leaves U.S. Navy Without Carrier at Sea for 1st Time Since WWIIObama Leaves U.S. Navy Without Carrier at Sea for 1st Time Since WWII
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For the first time since World War II, there is no U.S. aircraft carrier at sea to respond to threats, according to Fox News.
In a nearly unprecedented move, there will likely be a nearly one-month gap between the docking of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which docked last Friday, and the deployment of the USS George H.W. Bush, the ship meant to replace it. According to Defense News, the Bush is not scheduled to leave the port of Norfolk until at least the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump, and it could possibly leave later.
The Bush, Fox News reported, has been delayed in the shipyards for over six months. A carrier at port could be “surged” in order to meet any threat that emerges, the Navy said. However, at a time of geopolitical instability, it is notable that our president has taken arguably taken our most important tool of military prestige and removed it from the waters of the world.
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The Navy, meanwhile, refrained from comment on the matter.
“We are not going to discuss the timing of operational movements of carrier strike groups into and out of the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility,” U.S. Naval Forces Central Command spokesman Capt. Terry Shannon told Fox News.
The Eisenhower’s return to port was preceded by a seven-month tour in the Middle East, where the carrier launched hundreds of attacks against Islamic State group targets in Iraq and Syria, both from the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.
Meanwhile, off the shores of Yemen, two American destroyers were recently attacked by Houthi rebels, a group sponsored by Iran. There are also, as you may have heard, significant geopolitical difficulties involving both Russia and China.
President Obama has overseen one of the largest downgrades in military prestige that we’ve seen from the executive branch. However, not having a carrier at sea — much less in the Middle East — for the first time since World War II is one of its most disgraceful moves yet. To make things worse, it comes at a perilous time.
While there are other ways that the United States can strike back in case of an attack, the aircraft carrier is the safest, surest projection of strength we have. The fact that Obama has chosen this time, close to a transfer of power in the United States of America, is telling.
We need a president whose leadership can keep America safe. This certainly isn’t how its done. We can only hope Donald Trump does better.
Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print
For the first time since World War II, there is no U.S. aircraft carrier at sea to respond to threats, according to Fox News.
In a nearly unprecedented move, there will likely be a nearly one-month gap between the docking of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which docked last Friday, and the deployment of the USS George H.W. Bush, the ship meant to replace it. According to Defense News, the Bush is not scheduled to leave the port of Norfolk until at least the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump, and it could possibly leave later.
The Bush, Fox News reported, has been delayed in the shipyards for over six months. A carrier at port could be “surged” in order to meet any threat that emerges, the Navy said. However, at a time of geopolitical instability, it is notable that our president has taken arguably taken our most important tool of military prestige and removed it from the waters of the world.
RELATED STORIES
Trump Tells North Korea That Nuclear ICBM Launch “Won’t Happen”
U.S. Islamist Groups Are Preparing to Wage Jihad Against Trump
Trump Trolls Mexico by Having Border Patrol Pipes and Drums Corps at Inaugural Parade
The Navy, meanwhile, refrained from comment on the matter.
“We are not going to discuss the timing of operational movements of carrier strike groups into and out of the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility,” U.S. Naval Forces Central Command spokesman Capt. Terry Shannon told Fox News.
The Eisenhower’s return to port was preceded by a seven-month tour in the Middle East, where the carrier launched hundreds of attacks against Islamic State group targets in Iraq and Syria, both from the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.
Meanwhile, off the shores of Yemen, two American destroyers were recently attacked by Houthi rebels, a group sponsored by Iran. There are also, as you may have heard, significant geopolitical difficulties involving both Russia and China.
President Obama has overseen one of the largest downgrades in military prestige that we’ve seen from the executive branch. However, not having a carrier at sea — much less in the Middle East — for the first time since World War II is one of its most disgraceful moves yet. To make things worse, it comes at a perilous time.
While there are other ways that the United States can strike back in case of an attack, the aircraft carrier is the safest, surest projection of strength we have. The fact that Obama has chosen this time, close to a transfer of power in the United States of America, is telling.
We need a president whose leadership can keep America safe. This certainly isn’t how its done. We can only hope Donald Trump does better.
Monday, January 2, 2017
21 Days of Fasting and Praying Until the Inauguration
21 Days of Fasting and Praying Until the InaugurationThis is not the first call to action for prayer and fasting that Pastor Wiles has issued. He also called for a period of 21 days of praying and fasting leading up to the election on November 9th. Around the country, millions of Christians prayed, and election night saw one of the most dramatic political upsets in American history.
Franklin Graham called the election of Donald Trump not the result of Russian hacking, but the hand of God.
Scripture does not command Christians to fast. God does not require or demand it of Christians. At the same time, the Bible presents fasting as something that is good, profitable, and beneficial. The book of Acts records believers fasting before they made important decisions (Acts 13:2; 14:23). Fasting and prayer are often linked together (Luke 2:37; 5:33). Too often, the focus of fasting is on the lack of food. Instead, the purpose of fasting should be to take your eyes off the things of this world to focus completely on God. Fasting is a way to demonstrate to God, and to ourselves, that we are serious about our relationship with Him. Fasting helps us gain a new perspective and a renewed reliance upon God.
Although fasting in Scripture is almost always a fasting from food, there are other ways to fast. Anything given up temporarily in order to focus all our attention on God can be considered a fast (1 Corinthians 7:1-5). Fasting should be limited to a set time, especially when fasting from food. Extended periods of time without eating can be harmful to the body. Fasting is not intended to punish the flesh, but to redirect attention to God. Fasting should not be considered a “dieting method” either. The purpose of a biblical fast is not to lose weight, but rather to gain deeper fellowship with God. Anyone can fast, but some may not be able to fast from food (diabetics, for example). Everyone can temporarily give up something in order to draw closer to God.
By taking our eyes off the things of this world, we can more successfully turn our attention to Christ. Fasting is not a way to get God to do what we want. Fasting changes us, not God. Fasting is not a way to appear more spiritual than others. Fasting is to be done in a spirit of humility and a joyful attitude. Matthew 6:16-18 declares, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
- See more at: http://www.trunews.com/article/21-days-of-fasting-and-praying-until-the-inauguration#sthash.0LMmqZCX.dpuf
Franklin Graham called the election of Donald Trump not the result of Russian hacking, but the hand of God.
Scripture does not command Christians to fast. God does not require or demand it of Christians. At the same time, the Bible presents fasting as something that is good, profitable, and beneficial. The book of Acts records believers fasting before they made important decisions (Acts 13:2; 14:23). Fasting and prayer are often linked together (Luke 2:37; 5:33). Too often, the focus of fasting is on the lack of food. Instead, the purpose of fasting should be to take your eyes off the things of this world to focus completely on God. Fasting is a way to demonstrate to God, and to ourselves, that we are serious about our relationship with Him. Fasting helps us gain a new perspective and a renewed reliance upon God.
Although fasting in Scripture is almost always a fasting from food, there are other ways to fast. Anything given up temporarily in order to focus all our attention on God can be considered a fast (1 Corinthians 7:1-5). Fasting should be limited to a set time, especially when fasting from food. Extended periods of time without eating can be harmful to the body. Fasting is not intended to punish the flesh, but to redirect attention to God. Fasting should not be considered a “dieting method” either. The purpose of a biblical fast is not to lose weight, but rather to gain deeper fellowship with God. Anyone can fast, but some may not be able to fast from food (diabetics, for example). Everyone can temporarily give up something in order to draw closer to God.
By taking our eyes off the things of this world, we can more successfully turn our attention to Christ. Fasting is not a way to get God to do what we want. Fasting changes us, not God. Fasting is not a way to appear more spiritual than others. Fasting is to be done in a spirit of humility and a joyful attitude. Matthew 6:16-18 declares, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
- See more at: http://www.trunews.com/article/21-days-of-fasting-and-praying-until-the-inauguration#sthash.0LMmqZCX.dpuf
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