Theocracy advocate, the late R. J. Rushdoony, is the poster child for the Theocray movement in America. His own son has recently written that the state can become a "tool of the dragon". The admittance by Rushdoony Jr. is an acknowledgement that the state is not the divine incarnation of the faith. When the Sha of Iran's wife argued for the rights of women in the nation, she had proposed a secular state. She did not get her wish and the future brought with it religious suppression of women's rights.
The current American President has the unfortunate task of explaining constantly to the nation that our government was founded with religious freedom and neutrality toward religious faiths. Being Black, he appears to have drawn the wrath of many in my area suggesting he is seeking to denounce our Christian heritage or worse, establish a Muslim state.
From Rick Scarborough's famous naval chaplain to First Baptist Houston's guest speaker Judge Roy Moore, the argument is being made that the ABC's apply to our country now. That is, "Anything But Christian". Recent local court rulings like the Santa Fe School District prayer case incite the fears that government is seeking to ban believers from the public square.
Author Walter Capps called school prayers the cultic celebration of civil rituals. To some, their sacred official state religion is being banished to the underground. "Secular" has come to mean degenerate of infidel. The Pentagon's decision to cancel Franklin Graham, (a decision backed by Baptist's ethicsdaily.com) only added fuel to the fire that persecution is coming for believers in the country.
Francis Schaeffer and R. J. Rushdoony proclaimed that neutrality was not a valid option. You were either gathering for, or scattering against as an institution. Part of the recent problem is the dwindling of the evangelical church. The evangelical church has been on the decline while prosperity gospel, positive thinking movements and experiential groups have taken over in strength of numbers. The result, like that of The Family movement, tends to focus on social and political power in contrast to personal conversion.
The traditional evangelical church never got excited about meeting with the Methodists and United Church of Christ to host a national day of prayer. Sharing the communion cup with such was officially discouraged. One of he neglected tenets of the Southern Baptist statement of faith is the idea of closed communion. Many of its own churches have moved away from such and the trend continues. The other neglected belief system is separation of church and state. The reason why Richard Land, unofficial spokesman of the Southern Baptist Convention, claims to have more in common with the Pope than with Jimmy Carter is a case in point. Joining forces to cross over doctrinal lines to unite together to fight the coming secular state is more important than what one holds as truth.
I just received a slick ad in the form of a magazine with the title, Pastors Beware. The ad is an attempt to get you to attend their church financial tax and law conference. The sarcastic warning says. "Protect yourself from a prison ministry". The Church Management & Tax Conference of Chattanooga, Tennessee has come upon a timely scare tactic to increase attendance at their $139 seminars.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Top Ten Reasons Why Ken Starr Sould Not Be President of Baylor
1. In John 7, there is a familiar story of lawyers who drug a Jewish girl caught in adultery into the public square. The lawyers did not care about he law, justice or faith, it was merely a political ploy to destroy somebody. James Harris used to say the act committed by the Pharisees was worse than the act committed by the woman in the heat of passion. Which character(s) in this story represent the new head of a Baptist school?
2. Ken Starr spend over $52 million to prosecute a President and it proved to be a failure as experts warned the nation this impeachment would never happen. Not exactly good stewardship.
3. Some Biblical commentators believe the Pharisees in John's story were involved in the same thing the woman was and that was what Jesus wrote in the sand. During
Starr's legal maneuvering, the leading opposing political party had a long list of people doing the exact same thing as the President. While the House leader was leading the charge for impeachment, he was having an affair with a staff member.
4. Starr ain't a Baptist.
5. Baylor often uses euphemistic language to pass something along to its supporters. A few years ago I received a letter stating the university had decided to discontinue its "unclothed anatomical figurine drawing class". Most of us didn't know what they were talking about in East Texas. If they had told us they were closing he nude modeling co-ed class we would have understood. The spin is that Starr is a Democrat!
6. Since the Baylor basketball player, who was poor and drove a new SUV, capped a few rounds into fellow team member, Baylor has held the spotlight quite often for embarrassing reasons. Not to mention a huge debt, harming the church/state tradition, and firing administrators.
7. Starr went against President Bush's wishes and pushed for a pro-choice Supreme Court nominee. Texas Baptists are not pro-choice.
8. I assume leaders of institutions ought to draw folks together, not splinter them further apart.
9. You cannot trust the regents at Baylor with the rocky recent history.
10. In just about every truck stop in Texas there is a sarcastic bumper sticker. It reads, "remember the golden rule, those who have the gold make the rules". This choice appears to be like the famous movie line, "show me the money".
2. Ken Starr spend over $52 million to prosecute a President and it proved to be a failure as experts warned the nation this impeachment would never happen. Not exactly good stewardship.
3. Some Biblical commentators believe the Pharisees in John's story were involved in the same thing the woman was and that was what Jesus wrote in the sand. During
Starr's legal maneuvering, the leading opposing political party had a long list of people doing the exact same thing as the President. While the House leader was leading the charge for impeachment, he was having an affair with a staff member.
4. Starr ain't a Baptist.
5. Baylor often uses euphemistic language to pass something along to its supporters. A few years ago I received a letter stating the university had decided to discontinue its "unclothed anatomical figurine drawing class". Most of us didn't know what they were talking about in East Texas. If they had told us they were closing he nude modeling co-ed class we would have understood. The spin is that Starr is a Democrat!
6. Since the Baylor basketball player, who was poor and drove a new SUV, capped a few rounds into fellow team member, Baylor has held the spotlight quite often for embarrassing reasons. Not to mention a huge debt, harming the church/state tradition, and firing administrators.
7. Starr went against President Bush's wishes and pushed for a pro-choice Supreme Court nominee. Texas Baptists are not pro-choice.
8. I assume leaders of institutions ought to draw folks together, not splinter them further apart.
9. You cannot trust the regents at Baylor with the rocky recent history.
10. In just about every truck stop in Texas there is a sarcastic bumper sticker. It reads, "remember the golden rule, those who have the gold make the rules". This choice appears to be like the famous movie line, "show me the money".
Monday, January 18, 2010
Macho Ministers
Recent revelations reveal Southern Baptist Seminaries ratcheting up the agenda to produce a higher testosterone level amidst its clergy. Heading the way is Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, and Southern Seminary in Louisville is not far behind.
In 2003 the president of Southwestern led a rally at an Arkansas church in which he presented the number one problem men face in America. That problem was gun ownership. Seminary head Paige Patterson was at one time president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Patterson said boys need three things: a dog, a gun, and a dad. More than just any dog, he said they needed a big one to be proud of. Paige's counsel about this grave problem of boys not being taken hunting sets a standard few of his fellow Texans could pay for with the cost of hunting leases in the Lone Star State.
The failure to follow through with such a program might lead to "girlie men types" the governor of California warned about. Even though the governor of California posed nude for pictures in a homosexual magazine, he evidently fired enough weapons in action movies to qualify his manhood.
Patterson claimed there was a war against boys. He wanted to set the record straight at his seminary to provide adequate leadership. Author Martin Marty wrote about these things in the Christian Century magazine. Southwestern now has a 23-hour degree on homemaking for women. This was the school that released a woman seminary professor because she was teaching men. Patterson was afraid some gender roles might get confused. Marty noted that Jesus once fixed a meal for His disciples and Paul was a tent maker using a needle and thread. Marty implied the whole macho thing was kind of silly as it played out in the Dallas Morning News.
Southern Seminary's Bruce Ware claims that women would not have to worry about abuse if they were more obedient to their husbands. Ware might conceive that slapping a few of the wives around to keep them in place might be what is needed in our society today.
Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler is a member of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Mohler has stated that white female Christians need to be more fertile and the pill was one of the greatest evils in Western civilization.
Evidently testosterone oozes from the aura of pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle. Driscoll claims he is so manly that several women have sought to seduce him and so he has to be careful at all times. In Houston, Driscoll lamented the wimpy pulpiteers of this generation. He placed the blame on the lack of church attendance in America at the foot of sissy-type preachers. He said, "The problem with our churches today is that the lead pastor is some sissy boy who wears cardigan sweaters, has the Carpenters dialed in on his iPod, gets his hair cut at a salon instead of a barber shop and hasn't been to an Ultimate Fighting Match, works out on an elliptical machine instead of going to isolated regions like Rocky IV in order to harvest lumber with his teeth, and generally swishes around like Jack from Three's Company whenever Mr. Roper was around."
Driscoll invited some of the pastors in the crowd to come to punch him out. When no one took up the offer, he hit himself a few times to prove his manhood. I wondered if Driscoll knows that Rocky IV is fiction? Driscoll is the kind of minister who would start his nose hairs on fire with a Bic lighter to light his cigarette.
His profanity and offer to engage in fisticuffs reminds me of Houston's own R. B. Thieme. This Dallas seminary graduate sent out tapes around the nation and had a huge following. Thieme wore a military uniform while he preached. The foyer in his church was graced with photos of military figures who were war heroes. Thieme often swore at critics and to those who challenged him he offered to take them on in the parking lot. Thieme decried long haired men as sissies.
John Eldredge has written a best seller about manhood called WILD AT HEART. He believes church life in America has made girlie men out of the culture. Thus men have been justified to retreat to porn for their affection. Eldredge believes what women want from men is to be fought for. He said God created them for battle and Jesus wants them to be warriors.
Short hair, big guns, big dogs, a hunting lease, and slapping the ol' lady around a little, are now apparently requirements for a ministerial license in the South. A theological education is not one.
In 2003 the president of Southwestern led a rally at an Arkansas church in which he presented the number one problem men face in America. That problem was gun ownership. Seminary head Paige Patterson was at one time president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Patterson said boys need three things: a dog, a gun, and a dad. More than just any dog, he said they needed a big one to be proud of. Paige's counsel about this grave problem of boys not being taken hunting sets a standard few of his fellow Texans could pay for with the cost of hunting leases in the Lone Star State.
The failure to follow through with such a program might lead to "girlie men types" the governor of California warned about. Even though the governor of California posed nude for pictures in a homosexual magazine, he evidently fired enough weapons in action movies to qualify his manhood.
Patterson claimed there was a war against boys. He wanted to set the record straight at his seminary to provide adequate leadership. Author Martin Marty wrote about these things in the Christian Century magazine. Southwestern now has a 23-hour degree on homemaking for women. This was the school that released a woman seminary professor because she was teaching men. Patterson was afraid some gender roles might get confused. Marty noted that Jesus once fixed a meal for His disciples and Paul was a tent maker using a needle and thread. Marty implied the whole macho thing was kind of silly as it played out in the Dallas Morning News.
Southern Seminary's Bruce Ware claims that women would not have to worry about abuse if they were more obedient to their husbands. Ware might conceive that slapping a few of the wives around to keep them in place might be what is needed in our society today.
Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler is a member of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Mohler has stated that white female Christians need to be more fertile and the pill was one of the greatest evils in Western civilization.
Evidently testosterone oozes from the aura of pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle. Driscoll claims he is so manly that several women have sought to seduce him and so he has to be careful at all times. In Houston, Driscoll lamented the wimpy pulpiteers of this generation. He placed the blame on the lack of church attendance in America at the foot of sissy-type preachers. He said, "The problem with our churches today is that the lead pastor is some sissy boy who wears cardigan sweaters, has the Carpenters dialed in on his iPod, gets his hair cut at a salon instead of a barber shop and hasn't been to an Ultimate Fighting Match, works out on an elliptical machine instead of going to isolated regions like Rocky IV in order to harvest lumber with his teeth, and generally swishes around like Jack from Three's Company whenever Mr. Roper was around."
Driscoll invited some of the pastors in the crowd to come to punch him out. When no one took up the offer, he hit himself a few times to prove his manhood. I wondered if Driscoll knows that Rocky IV is fiction? Driscoll is the kind of minister who would start his nose hairs on fire with a Bic lighter to light his cigarette.
His profanity and offer to engage in fisticuffs reminds me of Houston's own R. B. Thieme. This Dallas seminary graduate sent out tapes around the nation and had a huge following. Thieme wore a military uniform while he preached. The foyer in his church was graced with photos of military figures who were war heroes. Thieme often swore at critics and to those who challenged him he offered to take them on in the parking lot. Thieme decried long haired men as sissies.
John Eldredge has written a best seller about manhood called WILD AT HEART. He believes church life in America has made girlie men out of the culture. Thus men have been justified to retreat to porn for their affection. Eldredge believes what women want from men is to be fought for. He said God created them for battle and Jesus wants them to be warriors.
Short hair, big guns, big dogs, a hunting lease, and slapping the ol' lady around a little, are now apparently requirements for a ministerial license in the South. A theological education is not one.
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