saltysteve's blog
Kerfuffle at St Pauls.
The whole current fracas at St Pauls may seem to be about grass-root protests against the evils of unchecked faceless capitalism. It may even seem to be a revolt of the common people against the established structures of our country, in this case, the English Church.
But that's all a smokescreen really. There's a bigger issue at stake and most are not seeing it. What we are seeing here is nothing les than the beginning of the end of State Christianity that survived the Reformation and has held sway for far too long in this country. St Pauls Cathedral is the visible symbol of the Church in this country. It physically survived the Blitz but has spiritually lost the current battle. It is seen as an irrelevant joke. How soon will it be before this perception spreads to the parishes (though most would say that this has already begun a long time ago).
HAMAS - what are they really all about?
Jan. 4, 2009 Palestinian Media Watch www.pmw.org.il
PMW's Background Brief on Hamas #1: Extermination of Jews
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
TO UNDERSTAND the causes of the Gaza conflict, it is essential to understand the Hamas ideology. Hamas presents itself as an Islamic supremacist movement. Its charter opens with a quote from the Quran: "You [Islamic nation] are the best nation that hath been raised up unto mankind." [3: 110] However, whereas many religions and cultures believe that their own traditions represent messages of truth, Hamas believes that this supremacy of Islam obligates them to commit genocide, literally to exterminate millions of people who have different beliefs, including the Jews.
Todd Bentley - the fall and the fallout!
Yes, we are called to show mercy, not to wallow in righteous judgement and, hey, think of his wife and kids ... but ... a BIG BUT ... this guy freely fell into the arms of the marketeers of God.tv and welcomed our praise, adulation and worship while the going was good.
Forget all that - what is the World saying!? For once their cynicism is going to be spot on and the cause of world evangelism has taken a mighty blow to the ribs. And the reason for this?
YOUTH VIOLENCE & GANGS
A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE
by Mal Fletcher
www.malfletcher.net
media@malfletcher.net
Some authorities have called youth violence a public health issue, because it's like a virus that spreads from child to child.
Yesterday, I stood outside the Damilola Taylor Centre in Peckham, London and pondered again how we could have come to a situation where, in some European cities, violence by and against teenagers has reached chronic proportions.
Letter from Todd Bentley ...
Dear Friends,
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for hearing my heart on some of the issues that seems to be causing division and some confusion in the Body of Christ. Throughout the Old and New Testaments and in every age following, as far as I can determine, the Lord has given His people dreams and visions, signs and wonders, heavenly encounters and divine supernatural experiences that, for the most part, we cannot understand with our intellect. In the spiritual realm, God isn't limited by our thinking!
Running on empty? Will we cope with the coming oil crisis?
By Tony Pearce
At the time of writing this article (11/6/08) the cost of oil has almost reached $140 a barrel, more than double the cost of $68.2 a barrel in May 2007. The Russian energy giant Gazprom has warned that crude oil is set to skyrocket to $250 ‘in the foreseeable future.’ At the same time gas and electricity bills have gone up by 11.4% since May 2007. The price of food is also going up. The official measure of food inflation is 6.6% but the price of essential foods is going up by 19.1%.
Distress of nations with perplexity (Concerning the Florida Outpouring)
by Tony Pearce
Jesus said in the last days of this age there would be a situation which he described as the ‘distress of nations with perplexity.’ The word in Greek translated ‘with perplexity’ is ‘aporia’ meaning with no way out. In other words at the end of this age there will be a crisis so severe that there will be no solution to it. In fact bringing this age to an end and starting again will be the only solution from God’s point of view. Things will be so bad that it will be impossible to patch up, repair or recondition the state of the world. This will apply to the physical world as multiple crises combine for the final perfect storm created by human rebellion against God.
From Florida, to Dudley, then to the ends of the Earth?
Either there is a World revival or there isn’t?
After all it would be good to know, wouldn’t it? No other recent event has split the Christian world as the “Florida Outpouring” under Todd Bentley, followed by the brummie offshoot, the “Dudley Outpouring”. Resplendent with motto (Come and get some), slogans, (Let the Fire Fall) catchphrases (Bam!!) and desktop wallpaper, we appear to have a real 21st Century media-propagated (courtesy of God TV) phenomenon.
Christian media, who needs ya?
What's it all about? Really! What are we put on earth for? Cossetted in our cosy enclaves, we Christians switch on the Sky box for our assurances or corrections and we flick through our digital radio for musical balm for our souls. Is this what it's all about, Alfie? No point asking Michael Caine, though it may well be better to forget about the car doors and blow the whole thing up and start again!(1)
Something rotten in Soap-land!
Daytime TV, society’s litmus test
One of the perks of working as a freelancer is the freedom to mould your working life around your personal life. So there I was, early afternoon in the gym, pre-emptively working off the plate of chips I was going to eat afterwards, pounding the treadmill and watching an episode of Doctors, the BBC soap loosely concerned with a group of doctors.
Human embryo in knife crime shock!
The real significance of the current parliamentary Bill
You couldn’t make it up! I’m not referring to the mock tabloid headline but the current state of affairs in our great nation that provides the story behind it. The link is the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that is currently steamrolling its way through our parliamentary system, flattening all opposition in its path.
Surely not
Yes we did it!
