Top Ten Stories of 2006

Baptist battles dominated news in 2006, editors say
By ABP Staff
Published: December 21, 2006
DALLAS (ABP) -- The election of an outsider as president of the Southern Baptist Convention was chosen by Baptist journalists as the most important story in Baptist life in 2006 -- a year when denominational affairs outweighed world news in the minds of Baptists of the South.
The election of SBC president Frank Page by discontented conservatives and the resignation of Bob Reccord as head of the North American Mission Board, after a probe found ineffectiveness and extravagant spending, were the most important Baptist news stories of the past year, according to an annual survey of journalists conducted by Associated Baptist Press.
Meanwhile, the controversy between "the blogging trustee" Wade Burleson and the SBC International Mission Board and a scandal in the Rio Grande Valley over funding for phony church-starts also commanded the attention of Baptists. The shift in power to a Democratic-controlled Congress was the only non-Baptist story to crack the top five.
Here’s the complete list:
1. An outsider president. In a major upset, Frank Page of South Carolina was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention over two candidates closely tied to the SBC's conservative power structure. Page, who described his election as a victory for grassroots Baptists, won slightly more than 50 percent of the June vote by pledging more openness and power-sharing among SBC conservatives.
2. Reccord resigns. After a trustee investigation produced a scathing report of poor management, Bob Reccord resigned April 17 as president of the North American Mission Board, Southern Baptists' second largest mission agency. Allegations first surfaced in a February expose by the Christian Index newspaper. NAMB's trustees, after their own investigation, put Reccord under strict "executive-level controls" March 23, which many observers thought would prompt his resignation. With his possible ouster looming at the May 2 trustees meeting, Reccord met April 13 with several prominent Southern Baptist pastors seeking advice. Four days later, he resigned.
3. Wade Burleson. The Oklahoma pastor and rookie trustee used his weblog to speak against the decision by his fellow International Mission Board trustees not to appoint missionaries who use a "private prayer language" -- a variation of tongues-speaking -- in their personal devotions. Trustees threatened to dismiss Burleson for posting information about the board's deliberations. After a closed-door session March 22, however, trustees decided not to seek Burleson's removal, which would have required approval by the SBC. Instead the board censured him and adopted new guidelines to prohibit and punish future criticism of IMB actions by trustees. Burleson used his experience to warn of "narrowing" within the SBC and bolster Page's nomination for president.
4. Valleygate. A five-month investigation uncovered evidence that church-starting funds from the Baptist General Convention of Texas were misused between 1999 and 2005 in the Rio Grande Valley. Independent investigators discovered that 98 percent of the 258 new churches reported by three church-planters in the Valley no longer exist or never existed. The BGCT gave more than $1.3 million to those 258 churches. Pastors Otto Arrango, Aaron De La Torre and Armando Vera were accused and face possible legal action. The BGCT was faulted for poor oversight, uneven management, failure to abide by internal guidelines and misplaced trust.
5. A Democratic Congress. In the Nov. 4 midterm elections, Democrats gained more than a 30-seat majority over Republicans in the House and a one-seat majority in the Senate, as voters objected to the Iraq war and congressional scandals. The power shift could refocus Congress' culture wars from arguments over church-state issues and abortion rights to battles over gay rights, embryonic stem-cell research and federal judges. The new Congress includes 68 Baptists -- 61 in the House and 7 in the Senate.
6. Tongues revisited. Dwight McKissic, a pastor in Arlington, Texas, endorsed the practice of a "private prayer language" in an Aug. 29 chapel sermon at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he serves as a trustee of the institution. The seminary banned free distribution of the sermon through its website and announced its opposition to the practice. McKissic also criticized a policy of the International Mission Board that bans the appointment of missionaries who speak in tongues or practice a private prayer language. A wave of discussion ensued in the Baptist blogosphere. McKissic and supporters hosted a conference and plan another on diversity and freedom in devotion and worship.
7. A new Supreme Court. On Jan. 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 to recommend Samuel Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Congress concurred. Alito, a conservative, was tapped by President Bush to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate. With the earlier confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts, who replaced the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Republicans expect a solid conservative direction from the high court.
8. Katrina recovery. Churches were the “true first responders” to Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005, a new survey found. More than 86 percent of Louisiana churches gave services of some kind to Katrina evacuees, the study found. Nearly three-fourths offered food, more than half gave away clothing, and about 70 percent provided financial aid. The congregations also provided spiritual aid and comfort, researchers noted. Churches nationwide, led by Baptists, gave counseling, transportation, child care, shelter, meals, showers and housing.
9. Warren and Obama on AIDS. The second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church, held at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., was the loudest voice yet rallying evangelicals to fight AIDS. Some conservatives objected to the open attitude Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist, demonstrated in selecting speakers, especially his choice to invite pro-choice Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). But more than 2,000 people from 39 states and 18 countries attended the training event. Warren wants Christians to mount a global effort to prevent and treat AIDS. He said nothing comes close to the resources, history, tradition or scope of the church.
10. Alabama church arsons. Law enforcement officials arrested three men March 8 in connection with a string of nine fires at Baptist churches in rural Alabama. More than 100 ATF personnel sorting through more than 800 leads worked on the case in the days following the initial fires in early February. A tenth fire, although ruled arson, has yet to be connected to the initial nine. Most of the churches belonged to the Southern Baptist Convention, the statewide Alabama Baptist Convention and the local Bibb County Baptist Association.
Other stories that caught the attention of Baptists included:
11. North Carolina shift. The recent conservative shift in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina prompted an Executive Board member to resign and several more churches to leave the convention. Tension continues to mount over control of the convention's institutions.
12. Evangelical shame. Ted Haggard, head of the National Association of Evangelicals and a prominent opponent of gay rights, resigned after a Colorado man came forward with allegations that Haggard paid him for sex and drugs. He was also fired as pastor of a prominent Colorado megachurch. After initial denials and changing stories, Ted Haggard admitted to unspecified acts of "sexual immorality." A Denver man, Mike Jones, said Haggard bought sex and methamphetamine for three years until their last encounter in August.
13. Muslim cartoons. Incensed Muslims sacked Christian neighborhoods and burned the Danish Embassy in Lebanon Feb. 5, angered by the publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. More than 20,000 protesters threw rocks, burned buildings and sacked cars in an outpouring that left at least one person dead and 30 wounded. The 12 editorial cartoons, originally published in Denmark newspapers in September 2005, sparked demonstrations in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Palestinian West Bank, India and New Zealand.
14. Peace activist killed. Tom Fox, 54, a Baptist peace activist, was found dead in Baghdad March 9. The lone American among four Christian peace activists who were held captive for months in Iraq, Fox was presumably executed by his abductors. His body was found in a garbage dump in the western part of the city. Fox's kidnappers had demanded the release of all Iraqis detained by U.S. and British forces and Iraqi police in exchange for the four hostages' lives.
15. Belmont tug-of-war. Tennessee Baptists voted May 9 to reject an offer of $5 million from Belmont University that would have given the school power to elect its own trustees. The Tennessee Baptist Convention leaders then filed a lawsuit against Belmont Sept. 29 to regain the approximately $58 million in funds it has donated to the school over the years. The suit is pending.
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Broken Back, Broken Church, Broken Family

'Large, viable remnant' wants to continue as Episcopal congregationDetermination to move forward outweighs sadness
Episcopal News Service
By: Mary Frances Schjonberg Posted: Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The 30 or so members of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Heathsville, Virginia, who opposed a recent vote by the majority of the congregation and the rector to join the Anglican Church of Nigeria say they want to continue as the Episcopal presence in their community. "We are prepared to continue to operate St. Stephen's as an Episcopal Church, and I think we have people who will agree to accept leadership positions and to continue to carry on the work of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church," said Dawn Mahaffey, one of the people who voted against what some members are calling "the secession."
Sandra Kirkpatrick referred to that slowly organizing group as a "large, viable remnant."
Their determination comes not without some pain.
"Two of the speakers who wished to secede from the Episcopal Church told those of us sitting in the congregation that if we voted 'no' we were imperiling our immortal souls, and that was hard to hear," said Kirkpatrick, describing a discussion held during the week before the voting began. "This was said lovingly by people who have been my friends - dear friends - for over 10 years but they are very, very, very convinced that they are dong the right thing in leaving the Episcopal Church and they are acting genuinely worried about those of us who are not."
Mahaffey said she does "truly love" the family she has at St. Stephen's.
"This is not personal. These people have been my family, and I, and I don't think any of the others that have come to me, would harbor any evil feelings toward our fellow parishioners," she said. "This has been an issue around leadership and it's just been the way in which it has been handled. I don't think it's been done in a kind and equitable and fair way."
She called the actions of the vestry and the rector, the Rev. Jeffrey Cerar, "divisive, irresponsible and manipulative."
At that meeting to discuss the resolutions, Margaret Cox, a St. Stephen's member whose husband was rector from 1967 to 1972, said that a resolution to take possession of the St. Stephen's property "sounds like taking something that does not belong to you." She reiterated a number of the bequests and gifts given to the parish through the years, adding that "none of us owns this property; we only hold it in trust."
Meade Kilduff, who was baptized at St. Stephen's on December 28, 1918, told the same meeting that she liked the liturgy, the Episcopal Church's history and tradition and the ways the Bible is emphasized "again and again."
"Last but not least I like the inclusiveness of our church. It is our gem," she said. "I want to assure you, there is at St. Stephen's a loyal and substantial group of communicants committed to staying at St. Stephen's as an Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia."
Cox and Kilduff were part of a contingent that re-built St. Stephen's congregation after it dwindled to about 24 communicants in the 1970s, following a dispute with the diocese about vestry elections, Kirkpatrick said.
"Now these ladies, they're ready to do it again," she said. "There is a very staunch core of older people who don't want this to happen."
St. Stephen's is one of eight Diocese of Virginia congregations in which a majority of members announced December 17 that they were severing ties with the Episcopal Church and aligning themselves with Anglicans in either Nigeria or Uganda. More information about the Virginia votes is available here.
Heathsville is the county seat of Northumberland County in what is known as the Northern Neck of Virginia, a peninsula that borders the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. While the jurisdiction known as the Parish of St. Stephen's dates to the 1650s, the congregation of St. Stephen's was formed in the 1880s and, according to the church's website, "struggled for decades to keep the church open."
Mahaffey said there will be a meeting later this week to determine who is involved and what exactly they want to do.
The Diocese of Virginia issued a statement December 18 saying it plans to offer "every encouragement to establish structures necessary for their continuity as the Episcopal Church." Meanwhile, the statement said, the departing and remaining members of all eight congregations have agreed to a 30-day "standstill" during which no actions will be taken concerning church property.
A 40-day discernment period that led up to the vote felt like a "force-feeding" on the part of the vestry, Kirkpatrick said. However, the effort backfired in one small group as the members "managed to get into a serious discussion of what we wanted as Episcopalians, what we felt about our church and where our spiritual journeys had led us."
"At the end of this 40-day discernment period we had discovered each other," she said "We had found that there were enough of us that really cared to remain Episcopalians and really cared about being an Episcopal Church presence in Heathsville that we were ready to go to the consider expense of time, money and emotion to try and do this, as opposed to just going elsewhere, which would be very, very easy to do."
Both Mahaffey and Kirkpatrick said that the decision at the 2003 General Convention to consent to the election of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire prompted a change in the attitude of St. Stephen's leadership, which only got more determined with time.
Mahaffey said that Cerar initially said at a congregational meeting late in 2003 that he would try to work within the framework of the Episcopal Church to make changes but that he would leave if he felt he could not continue in the church. He said at that meeting that if he left and if others joined him, they would not attempt to take over St. Stephen's property, she said.
In December 2003, Kirkpatrick said, a vestry survey showed that the majority of St. Stephen's members wanted to remain in the Episcopal Church.
However, Mahaffey recalled, the perceived failings of the Episcopal Church "became the topic of his sermons from that point forward. It did not matter what the liturgy was for any given Sunday or what the Gospel was, there was always a way to bring the topic around to that issue. We very often got the message that the Episcopal Church had sinned and needed to be repentant."
"It got to the point that our needs for pastoral oversight and ministry were not being met because of the single-minded focus on this issue. We were not hearing the Word and how that was applicable in our daily lives. I don't think we were being ministered to in all of our needs."
There was a "steady outgo of people who found this message intolerable," Kirkpatrick said, and a "steady influx" of people who approved of the leadership's position.
"Everyone down here knew that St. Stephen's was taking this stance," she said.
Mahaffey said the growing disaffection with the Episcopal Church "has been very well staged."
"I think it has been sold to the congregation," she said. "Three years of hearing it week after week after week."
The issue of homosexuality was the "precipitating event but it has gone so far beyond that that I haven't even heard that mentioned in probably the last year," Kirkpatrick said. "The first year it was an issue, but not since. It has been: 'We know the truth and we are telling it to you. If you don't accept this truth then you really don't belong here."
"It is biblical inerrancy - taking the Bible seriously as a primary source, taking the Bible literally in a lot of cases. There's very much been from the pulpit and from everyone connected with the leaving-the-Episcopal-Church-side that there is one way, there is one truth and that they know what that one way and that one truth is... that anyone [who] believes, says, [or] accepts the idea that anyone could find truth in a religious life any way except through Jesus Christ in this particular narrow revelation of him is not a Christian."
Because many members left St. Stephen's or didn't attend frequently, some of them were declared ineligible to vote on either December 10 or December 17, including Mahaffey's 21-year-old son.
Acknowledging that the pressures of college and work also kept him away, Mahaffey said her son asked her a year ago: "Why would I want to sit there and have to listen to being indoctrinated into leaving something that I believe in?"
It is painful, she said, to have this example set for him.
Some have also questioned the ability of the parish's leadership to hold the vote on two different days. Kirkpatrick said that many people pushed to have the ballot boxes secured during the intervening days and they were in fact held in the evidence room of the county courthouse. A local paper featured a picture of the boxes being brought back to the church on December 17.
After the vote was announced that day, Kirkpatrick said the rector told the meeting that "he hoped that we continue as a congregation, and that he wanted very much to be a pastor to everyone, whether they voted yes or no, but that those of us who voted no should submit to the will of the majority who had decided to leave the church."
Mahaffey said she's disappointed that the dispute came down to the vote, which was 132-33 in favor of severing ties and 94-37 in favor of trying to retain the church property. Those who opposed either motion are not unanimous in their opinions about the Episcopal Church, she said.
"The bottom line of all of us that we can agree on is that it's not worth what's going on here," she said.
When she moved to the area, Kirkpatrick, who has been an Episcopalian for about 55 years, said she knew she was "more liberal in my theology" than many of the friends she made.
"But we have all this time been a wonderful church where we might not agree about things but we could talk about them, and grow and learn from each other," she said. "I have grown a great deal here and I am very, very grateful for the spiritual experience that I had at St. Stephen's before all this happened."
Mahaffey agreed that St. Stephen's has "good, loving people."
"In many ways I feel that the back of St. Stephen's has been broken and that neither side is going to be whole. We are now a broken church. We are a broken parish. We are a broken family," she said. "It could have all been prevented had what was promised to us in 2003 come to fruition: that we work within the framework of the church to affect change with things that we disagree . . . Now we're all going to have to find a way to heal - both sides. But there is a loyal following of Episcopalians at St. Stephen's and we don't want to be forgotten."

© 2004, The Episcopal Church, USA. Episcopal News Service content may be reprinted without permission as long as credit is given to ENS.

Saddam Hussein Hangs

Killing Saddam Hussein is no solution, say churches -05/11/06

The Vatican has said that it would be wrong to execute former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and other opponents of the death penalty – including peace churches (Mennonites, Quakers, and Brethren in Christ) and ecumenical bodies – are likely to argue that such an outcome would be counterproductive as well as morally corrosive.The concern of church and human rights comes after the verdict of death by hanging was passed upon Saddam after the first of two projected trials in Iraq, following the ex-president’s seizure by the Americans after the US-led invasion and occupation of the country in 2003.Reaction on the streets of Baghdad and in other parts of Iraq was mixed, and largely divided on established political and sectarian lines – highlighting one of the major concerns for the fragile future of the country.Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, said today that carrying out the death sentence by hanging would be an unjustifiably vindictive action, even though Saddam Hussein has committed crimes against humanity, because every life is sacred."For me, punishing a crime with another crime - which is what killing for vindication is - would mean that we are still at the point of demanding an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," reported Italian news agency Ansa.Added Cardinal Martino: "Unfortunately, Iraq is one of the few countries that have not yet made the civilised choice of abolishing the death penalty." In 2003 he angered the United States government when he criticised US troops for treating Saddam like an animal when they took him captive, dragging him out of a hole in the ground.The pictures of Saddam’s medical examination broadcast on national TV were said by some lawyers to be in flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention. Insurgents subsequently meted out the same treatment to captured coalition troops.Groups like Christian Peacemaker Teams, whose reconciliation work inside the country began before the invasion, have long argued that it is important to break rather than feed the cycle of violence.Questions have also been raised about the conduct of the trial. But opponents of the brutal Saddam regime and many of his victims were mainly celebrating the execution verdict tonight.The British government is against the death penalty, but its protests against the verdict have so far verged from non-existent to muted. A spokesperson said that the handling of the case “was a matter for the Iraqi government and people.”Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said that it would be wrong and unhelpful for the ex-dictator to be killed, however. At the same time he recognised the thirst for justice among Saddam’s victims.English clergyman Dr Andrew White, vicar of St George’s Anglican Church in Baghdad, said on BBC radio this morning that the verdict was an appropriate one. But many other church leaders in the USA and Europe disagree.Simon Barrow, co-director of the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia, said that the churches needed to speak out consistently against all kinds of violence, both by states an by armed terror groups.“The British government was complicit in the war, and it cannot evade its responsibility in this”, he added. “Humanly speaking, the desire for revenge against Saddam is entirely understandable – but it is politically unwise, and morally it contributes to the climate of increasing sectarian murder which is threatening to unpick what remains of Iraqi society in the aftermath of an armed intervention that has brought little justice and no peace.”Ekklesia, which relates to Christian Peacemaker Teams, has highlighted the destructive consequences of the “myth of redemptive violence” within the world order – the quasi-religious but also secular ideology which encourages to believe that killing is a solution.


Meditation XVII
from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris.Now this bell tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.
Perchance he for whom this bell tolls1 may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me and see my state may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that2. The church is catholic, universal, so are all her3 actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too4, and ingrafted into the body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author5 and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language6; and every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice7; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves8 again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another9. As therefore the bell that rings a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness. There was a contention10 as far as a suit (in which piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early11, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit12 again, yet from that minute that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world? No man is an island13, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory14 were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee15. Neither can we call this a begging of misery or a borrowing of misery16, as though we are not miserable enough of ourselves but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors17. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion18, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current moneys, his treasure will not defray19 him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels as gold in a mine and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction digs out and applies that gold to me, if by this consideration of another's dangers I take mine own into contemplation and so secure myself by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security20.
John Donne (Anglican priest) 1624
Hear the Meditation read aloud at Global Language Resources

Kerry or Bush

Hello again, I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!
Yesterday I opened a letter from my member of Congress that talks in part about (H.R.6166) Military Commissions Act of 2006. That's the bill that passed recently defining what the United States government calls torture. It's sort of a supplemental to the bill passed last year sponsored by Sentator McCain that so many people called The Torture Bill.
Pay attention to the actual number of the bill and then read the World Net Daily article below.

www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44169

Sunday, May 8, 2005
TESTING THE FAITH
666 wrong number of prophetic beast?
Newly examined Scripture fragment lends credence to argument it's 616
Posted: May 8, 20052:17 p.m. Eastern
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com-->© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
For centuries, people have been intrigued by the number 666, the "number of the beast" from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.
Not only is it mentioned in the Bible, it has been associated with the Satanism, universal price codes and the game of roulette, as the numbers on the wheel add up to 666.
Now, the legendary number is getting a fresh look, as researchers are re-examining evidence the number may actually be 616.
Fragment from Book of Revelation mentions 616 in the third line – chi, iota, sigma (courtesy Egypt Exploration Society)
In the King James Version of the Bible, the well-known verse of Revelation 13:18 reads:
"Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
While many Bible have footnotes saying the number translated from the original Greek could be 616, experts say new photographic evidence of an ancient fragment of papyrus from Revelation indeed indicates the number is indeed 616, instead of 666.
Scholars in England have been using modern technology to scour some 400,000 bits of papyri which were originally discovered in 1895 at a dump outside the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. Many of the sections have been damaged and discolored, but an imaging process is shedding new light on the sacred text, believed to have originally been penned by John, one of Jesus' 12 apostles.
"This is a very nice piece to find," Ellen Aitken, a professor of early Christian history at McGill University, told Canada's National Post. "Scholars have argued for a long time over this, and it now seems that 616 was the original number of the beast."
The papyrus in the spotlight is believed to be from about 300 A.D.
"This is very early confirmation of that number, earlier than any other text we've found of that passage," Aitken said. "It's probably about 100 years before any other version."
The main researcher promoting the 616 claim is David Parker, professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham in England.
"This is an example of gematria, where numbers are based on the numerical values of letters in people's names," Parker told the UK's Independent. "Early Christians would use numbers to hide the identity of people who they were attacking: 616 refers to the Emperor Caligula."
Many commentators have gone with later copies of text which assign the number 666 to "the beast," believed by some to be the End-time world power.
Some have also linked 666 with Nero, the ancient Roman emperor known for persecuting Christians.
Parker points out the possibility of 616 was considered by the second century church father Irenaeus, who rejected it.
Regarding this new text, Parker told Britain's Church Times, "This adds weight to those who believe that it is a reference to Caligula's attempt to desecrate the Temple in Jerusalem, by having his statue erected there as part of the cult of emperor worship.
"There may be a reference to it in Mark [13:14], where he refers to the 'the abomination of desolation.' But this was overlaid by the Neronian persecutions. People believed that you could get from '666' to Nero because in Greek he is the emperor Neron Caesar. And 666 is one number less than the perfect 777. The text [showing 616] is quite legible to the naked eye. It was published in 1999, but it has taken people time to catch up."
The National Post quotes Elijah Dan, professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Toronto, as saying the new number won't likely have an impact in the popularity of 666.
"Otherwise, a lot of sermons would have to be changed and a lot of movies rewritten," he said with a laugh. "There's always someone with an active imagination who can put another interpretation on it. It just shows you that when you study something as cryptic and mystic as the Book of Revelation there's an almost unlimited number of interpretations."

Halloween is past and it's now All Saints Day . The holiday season is upon us. The air is crisp and the leaves are turning golden. Take a ride in the country or the mountains. God keep you and all you love.

October Surprise

Hello, everyone, this time will be a little bit different. We've had some hymns so far and some religion/politics the two things we're not supposed to talk about.
Now we'll have something a little more highbrow. No, I don't mean someone who needs to tweeze across their eyes. It's October, but no werewolves yet.
One of my favorite poets is Susan Powell. This is the title poem from her book "Women Who Paint Tall Houses". Superman just premiered so I guess this is appropriate.


Women who paint tall houses
could also be beautiful,
though you wouldn't expect it.
So when they come to do an estimate,
looking more like models than painters
you prepare yourself not to listen,
no matter what the price is,
even if they guarantee their work
and promise you a discount
at Benjamin Moore
because that's what they like
and it lasts.
The blond does most of the talking;
she's really a college professor,
but paints on the side
to keep in shape. Now you know
it's a scam. And her partner,
the dark one, just stands there
staring with those incredible eyes,
daring you to change your mind
and give them the job anyway.
Then finally, because she sees
it's no use, says you don't have to pay
if you're not satisfied..
She's that sure of their work.
So you hear yourself agreeing
to the terms, half up front
for materials, and half when it's done,
though you know your wife
will have a fit when she sees them
dangling out there on those tall ladders,
those delicate hands dipping brushes
into red paint, but you do it anyway
as a favor to those marvelous bodies
staying in shape, maybe even improving
with the help of your house.
You almost wish it were worse
than they said, more scraping, more priming
to keep them busy longer, especially if they
wear shorts, especially if you can find a way
to get rid of your wife for a week or so,
and ask for another estimate
on the interior.

President Bush "clarity" Geneva Convention

President Bush needs "clarity" for his CIA interrogators. They need to know that they won't be tried for crimes against humanity if they continue to use the same techniques they've used to interrogate Middle Eastern detainees since 9/11. They need to know it's alright for them to torture. They need clarity.

Common
article 3 of the Geneva Convention
ARTICLE 3
In the case of armed conflict not of an
international character occurring in the territory of one of the High
Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a
minimum, the following provisions:
(1) Persons taking no active part in the
hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and
those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause,
shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction
founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other
similar criteria. To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited
at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned
persons:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds,
mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (b) taking of hostages; (c) outrages
upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; (d)
the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous
judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial
guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
(2)
The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial
humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may
offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
The Parties to the
conflict should further endeavour to bring into force, by means of special
agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present Convention.
The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal
status of the Parties to the conflict.

George W. Bush in his first campaign for the White House in 2000 campaigned as the "compassionate conservative". His favorite philosopher was Jesus Christ He was more Christian than Jimmy Carter.

President Bush says 9/11 changed the way he sees things. How has it changed his Christianity?


The clarity he needs is still there where it's always been.
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." "Even as you have done it unto the least of these you've done it to me."

You say that's naive. It doesn't apply to the world we live in now

Was Jesus naive when he said, " Love your enemies" or "Be merciful even as your Father in Heaven is merciful" ? Jesus, the Anointed One, lives those words. Who knows us or the ways of this world better than he does?
"Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

He is our role model. He is our Hero.
Did he say, "Do good to those who despitefully use you except in case of war."?

In this most Christian of nations if President Bush's interrogators are adults they know right from wrong and good from evil.

?

Well come !

hide3

PRONUNCIATION:
hd
NOUN:
An old English measure of land, usually the amount held adequate for one free family and its dependents.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old English hd. See kei-1 in Appendix I.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Family, community, that's what it's all about isn't it. While we're all gathered here from time to time I'll be the head of this house hold. Does that make me house bound or just the husband?

We'll have a pleathera of things to talk about, but not all at the same time. I'll probably do most of the talking, but you don't have to listen. Just like any other family.

Tomorrow's Sunday. Have a good, quiet, introspective one. Worship as you will.

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;he chastens and hastens his will to make known;the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:sing praise to his Name, he forgets not his own.Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;so from the beginning the fight we were winning:thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.Let thy congregation escape tribulation:thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!