I am grateful to God for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ and for the son he has given to me.
Jesus is the reason for the Christmas Season.
Category: Christianity
Visiting Narnia
I took a journey to Narnia this weekend with my children. Unfortunately, my one year old decided that he didn’t want to see the movie. However, the portions that I did see were wonderful. My other children enjoyed it and thought it was much like the book.
I had doubts about bringing this book to the big screen but it works wonderfully. The book by C.S. Lewis is treated seriously and rather faithfully. The texture of the film is great. The characters seem real. Aslan and the beavers were great special effects.
The little girl that plays Lucy is wonderful. Her look of surprise when she first encounters the wardrobe is brilliant. Her eyes in that scene are captivating. The other children in the film are well chosen for their parts.
The film is great. This is the type of family film that Jonathan Frakes has wanted to make but never been successful in creating. The gang at Walden has a real winner. This film is in the Disney tradition with which Walt himself would be proud to be associated.
Take your family and enjoy the film. It is worth full price.
Christ Inconveniences Church
I have often defined Revival as being when the Church is culturally relevant. The opposite of this is if someone padlocked your church doors would your community notice? With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year we may finally get a definitive answer to the question when many of the so called mega churches have decreed that there will be no services on Christmas Sunday this year.
This is such a capitulation to modern culture that it is inexcusable. When the traditions of our society are so important that the Church decrees that the light of the gospel should be extinguished or at least hidden under the bushel basket and away from those that need it, these churches have left the orthodox and biblical reservation.
Christmas and Easter are the focal points of our faith. We all have our way of spending these holidays with family but to simply lock the door and say there is no room at the inn is blasphemous. Yes, many in your church may be out of town or spending the day with family but for a church of several thousand members to simply cancel worship is wrong.
What happened to the promise of Jesus that wherever two or more are gathered in his name he is in their midst? Who changed it to two or three thousand?
A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. This is true for Christs kingdom as well as Satan’s. Any church that is closed on Sunday just because they dont want the inconvenience of getting dressed and going across town on Christmas Day is a church without a wholesome spiritual foundation regardless of the number of members.
Will they start closing church for Easter and the Super Bowl next? Will your church be closed for Spring Break if you live in a tourist area? This appears to be the logic of a business venture not a body of believers building the kingdom of God one soul at a time.
At a time when many of us want to put the Christ back into Christmas, some churches are so busy that they don’t have time to spend with their Lord. If your church is one of these that have no time to spend with Jesus when we celebrate his birth—then do the rest of us a favor and leave the building locked for good. I bet your community wont even notice that youre church is gone.
Clemancy for Stanley “Tookie” William?
The push is on to try to get the death sentence commuted for Stanley Tookie Williams.
In addition to the usual bleeding heart Liberals and small group of misguided but well meaning Roman Catholics, opponents of the death penalty have some new allies from the Right of the political spectrum. There are not many but there are some. Locally Craig DeLuz and Andy Nevis a.k.a. California High School Conservative are among those calling for Tookie to be saved.
On his blog today, Nevis wrote concerning Tookie:
He will certainly do more good alive than dead. If he is allowed to live, he can continue his work against gangs and violence.
As Abraham Lincoln said when pardoning a deserter in the Civil War, He will be of more use above ground than below it.
The power of clemency was given to the Governor for just an instance like this. Its time for the Governor to use that power.
This is a good summary of the views of many of the save Tookie advocates.
The fact is that Tookie is a convicted cold blooded murderer. He has exhausted every judicial appear available to him. There is no one saying that Tookie is innocent. There is no new or mitigating evidence of the crimes for which he has been convicted.
The real issue is can ones good works after conviction be used to mitigate their sentence. It is said that Tookie gave his life to God and has purposed to make amends for his crime. Had Mr. Williams committed property crimes and worked to repay those that were victims of his crime most people would agree that there would be grounds to modify his remaining sentence.
However, when we look at the case of murder does the same principle apply?
For Christians that follow the teaching of Scripture the answer is a clear. In any crime there are actually two victims; the primary victim of any crime is God, the secondary victim is the person that was acted upon by the criminal. In the case of murder, man cannot kill God but he can kill an image bearer of God. A murder is attacking God by destroying someone created in His image.
From Genesis to Revelation, murder is always a crime. This includes abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, homicide and any other act of murder. The Biblical punishment is always the same: restitution. If you take another’s life, then you forfeit your own.
This is reason that human government was instituted in the first place. The State is to protect life and property of its citizens. When someone breaks the law they are subject to the sanctions of the law. This includes criminals within the society and foreign armies without. The oath administered to the military and civilian leaders in the United States to protect us from all enemies foreign and domestic is based upon the Biblical model. (This is also why our Founders wanted the military to be a purely defensive force and gave us the Second Amendment.)
In the Bible only government can put someone to death.
The Church is given an even more awesome power, the power of spiritual life and death. Spiritual life is the goal of evangelism but excommunication is the declaration of spiritual death. Only repentance can move one from death to life.
I think both Craig DeLuz and Andy Nevis have confused these two. They seem to believe that evidence of spiritual regeneration is grounds for the civil government to move Tookie from death to life. Sorry fellas. If Stanley Tookie Williams has undergone a spiritual renewal and given his life to Jesus Christ then that is great. He will be in heaven when he is executed and not another gang banger in Hell.
Spiritual conversion is not grounds for clemency from the Governor. If Stanley has truly repented then he knows that he owes restitution to God and his victims. The only restitution that can make things right is forfeiting his life.
If Tookie wants to be an example to struggling young people then be an object lesson. Show them that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6: 23
In this way Stanley could truly do more good in death than in life.
Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Enters Concordat with US Anglicans
The fissures continue to grow as the Anglican world moves closer to splitting into an orthodox Christian body that is jettisoning the corpse of Western Liberalism from its midst.
Last week the gathering of Anglicans in Philadelphia at the Hope and a Future Conference heard from a variety of Archbishops from the Southern Cone (Africa, Asia and South America) that among other things threw down the gauntlet to faithful Christians within The Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA). The Bishops said that the time for talk is over; it is time to stand for Christ and leave the unbelievers in ECUSA to their fate. Leave ECUSA and join the worldwide fellowship of orthodox Anglicans so that the Church can go forward with their mission. (Many believe that this exodus is dependent on the outcome of ECUSA’s General Council in 2006.)
Meanwhile, this week it was announced that The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) entered into a Covenant with two American Anglican bodies—the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America. This is the first of many steps toward a realignment of Anglican Christianity within the United States. Look for other Anglican bodies here in the United States (and Canada) to follow.
Below is the press release of this agreement.
RE Covenant Between The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America.
In an historic moment, as part of the realignment of global Anglicanism, on November 12, 2005 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev. Leonard W. Riches, Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and the Most Rev. Walter H. Grundorf, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America, entered on behalf of their three Churches a Covenant Union of Anglican Churches in Concordat.
The purpose of the covenant of concord is to work together in the common cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, pledging to each other their mutual cooperation, support, discipline and accountability. Recognizing that all three Churches share a common heritage of faith and order within the Anglican tradition, they are united by saving belief in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life, and by their commitment to the Faith once delivered, based on the irrevocable Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the final authority for faith and life.
It was agreed that ministers of these Churches, subject to the respective regulations within the jurisdictions, may be eligible to exercise pastoral ministry in each Church. Archbishops and bishops of the Churches in concordat may also be invited to conduct episcopal duties within the other jurisdictions with the blessing of the appropriate provincial authorities.
The three Churches have united specifically for joint mission in North America. Archbishops Riches and Grundorf welcomed the Church of Nigerias CANA initiative. They assured Archbishop Akinola that, wherever possible, individual congregations of all three jurisdictions, within proximate geographic locations, would work closely and cooperatively together to demonstrate their commitment to one another and their desire to witness to a consistent Biblical, Evangelical and Catholic expression of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Below is text of Covenant Union of Anglican Churches in Concordat
COVENANT UNION OF ANGLICAN CHURCHES IN CONCORDAT AMONG
THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)
THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AND
THE ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF AMERICAWhereas the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America share a common heritage of faith and order within the Anglican tradition; be it understood that:
Article 1: The Churches, recognizing the fact that they are working together in the common cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, pledge to each other, their mutual cooperation, support, discipline and accountability.Article 2: Wherever possible, individual congregations within proximate geographic locations will work closely and cooperatively to demonstrate their commitment to one another and their desire to witness to a consistent Biblical, Evangelical and Catholic expression of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Article 3: As evidence of our union in Christ and the Common Standards of the faith existing among the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America, a delegation of ministers and laity may be sent to attend each others Provincial and General Synods or Councils. As a further demonstration of our union, bishops of the Churches may attend each others episcopal meetings with the expectation that they will be invited to speak but not cast votes.
Article 4: The Ministers of the Churches may, subject to the respective regulations of the Churches, be eligible to exercise pastoral ministry in each Church. Archbishops and Bishops of the Churches in the concordat may also be invited to conduct episcopal duties with accountability, discipline and the episcopal blessing of the local appropriate provincial authorities.
Article 5: Communicants of the Churches may be received into the other Churches on presentation of letters of transfer, or their equivalent.
Article 6: It is also our declared intention to initiate a process that will permit us, in due course to enter into an agreement of full communion with a clear and common understanding of all of its implications.
Katelyn Sills Produces Document Dump
Katelyn Sills has done a document dump on her website posting the correspondence between her family and Loretto High School staff members. I have read all the documents on her site and find the response of the school administration both troubling and disturbing.
It is apparent that Sister Helen Timothy is a micromanager that lost control of this situation. It seems that she didn’t like a parent catching her mistake in a personnel matter. She also took offense that others knew about this issue and that it was not just between her and a parent. It is clear that the last straw for her was when her superior got word of this situation.
Clinically speaking, this is such a slam-dunk decision that it is difficult to see why it took Sister Timothy so long to act. Her ego and emotions clearly got in her way. Ms. Bain should have been dispatched months ago.
Having the vice-principal, Ms. Fuller, following Katelyn’s mom with a camera at the Open House and Sister Timothy’s irrational response to imaginary threats from the Sills family because they asked for prayer in this situation are not the actions of a lucid person.
If Sister Timothy had been more understanding of the concerns of Katelyn’s mom and had gone to the Bishop for advise and support which is part of his job as a Bishop then this matter would have been resolved weeks earlier and Katelyn would still be in school at Loretto.
Scott Adams—the cartoonist for Dilbert—says there is a right way, a wrong way and the weasel way. By hesitating to terminate Ms. Bain and cutting Katelyn off at the knees for something her mom allegedly did is definitely the weasel way.
If I was the Bishop in this situation, given what has transpired thus far, I would make sure that Sister Timothy and Sister Nelson are transferred to a Siberian Outpost over the summer break.
Katelyn, I think you will be a wealthy woman when your attorney finishes with Loretto. Think of it as the scholarship you would have earned if you stayed at the school.
Catholic School Expells Student for Pro-Life Views
I have been following the strange saga of Katelyn Sills and Loretto High School for several weeks without rendering any comments until now. I’m now ready to chime in on this whole situation.
For those of you that haven’t been following this story lets me quickly summarize. Marie Bain was a drama teacher at a Loretto High School. In her spare time she was also a clinic escort at the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. Oh, Loretto is a Roman Catholic School. This is an obvious conflict with established church doctrine and the moral example that Loretto should expect from its faculty. Once this double life was brought to the attention of the school administration, the school did nothing. Frustrated beyond words, Katelyn’s mother appealed this issue to the local Bishop, William K. Weigand. The Bishop thoroughly investigated this matter and decided that there were sufficient grounds to dismiss Bain. A few weeks later, the school administration retaliated by expelling Katelyn and her sister.
The fact that Marie Bain was perfectly fine being a clinic escort is all that you really need to know about her. I have spent my share of time protesting in front of abortion clinics and normal people that like abortion don’t do that sort of activity. Only zealots who believe in a culture of death will participate in the murder of unborn children. The women that I encountered as escorts were either hardcore members of the National Organization of Women (NOW), lesbians from the local Lambda Community Center, dumb girls recruited from Women’s Studies Department at Sac State or imports from San Francisco.
For Marie Bain to be a teacher at a Catholic School is anathema to everything that the Roman Church believes. As a teacher, you represent the school 24/7. Anything you do in public reflects back on the school.
Marie Bain has responded to her firing by filing complaints with two California state agencies: Department of Labor and Department of Fair Employment and Housing. These complaints will set the groundwork for her to file suit for wrongful termination against Loretto and Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.
Too bad for Loretto that Katelyn is an established blogger. This incident has received both national and international exposure. I have seen posts on Katelyn’s site from a host of other states plus England and Canada. Articles have run on WorldNetDaily, LifeSite and RenewAmerica and a host of other sites. This has turned into a BlogSwarm.
Katelyn is on the verge of becoming a conservative symbol of what’s wrong with America on the same magnitude as Terri Schiavo. Loretto may not readmit Katelyn to school but their hypocrisy has severely hurt their reputation as a Catholic institution.
My thanks to Andy Nevis at California High School Conservative for filling in the gaps in this story until Katelyn’s attorney gives her the “green light” tell us the rest of the story.
The Basis of Global Peace
This week, my junior high school student came home with an assignment to draw a poster for a Peace Poster contest. The instructions were to draw a picture but use no text or writing of any kind in your design. This turns out to be a preliminary step in some international competition. This event is sponsored locally by the Lions Club.
We were surprised and concerned that our child received such an assignment. As a result, my wife and I had an hour long discussion with our child about what is peace? What is war? What about nations that are not at war but tyrannical?
Our child wanted to use primarily a symbol of a dove to represent peace. Ok so what does the dove represent? Our child did know that the dove (with olive branch) was from the biblical account of Noah and the ark. Our next question was where else in the Bible do you find a dove and what does it represent? Our child was clueless. We opened the New Testament and read the account of the baptism of Jesus. Mark 1: 9-11 From this story we learn that the dove often is related to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We also discussed the purpose and origin of government. As source material we used the Westminster Confession of Faith section XXIII on Civil Magistrates, the scope and limitation of government as viewed by our founders and the biblical covenant where God first established human government Gen 9.
What was shown was that God established human government as a means of protecting the innocent and punishing the wicked. God raises up human leaders and removes them at his pleasure. The government has a God-given role, the church also has a God-given role in society and each citizen has obligations to their government.
We also briefly mentioned a description of Christ on his throne ruling over the nations as described in the book of Revelation. We talked that normally war is only justified as a defensive measure. Government insures the safety of citizens from threats both internal and external.
Our child kept saying that harmony was a goal of nations. It was a typical Rodney King moment appealing to the why cant we just get along? sentiment. Ok. What does that mean?
Using the Global War on Terror as our example we explained that not everyone is interested in peace. Peace can often be confused for surrender. Just ask Cindy Sheehan. We asked our child what the United States could do to have a ceasefire with the Islamic fundamentalists. Who would we negotiate with? Who has authority to sign a treaty? What assurance would there be to compliance with the terms of peace? (These are the same questions that the Liberals are unable to answer.)
The War on Terror is a just war because it is a defensive measure necessary because of a clear and present danger to our nation.
Our child enjoys music and said that all the nations are a big orchestra and peace is defined as a harmony of all the parts. We then inquired as to why nations should be in harmony and to extend the analogy, what would they be playing?
My contention is that there can only be peace when every knee shall bow and tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. Phil 2:11 To that end our song is Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! Rev 6:8b Only to the extent that nations are obedient to Christ and fulfilling their God ordained role can any nation truly know peace.
Question 1 of the Westminster Catechism asks, What is the chief and highest end of man?
Answer Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever .
One purpose of government is to maintain a society where man is free to worship his creator and live in peace.
Now that you understand all this, we told our child to go and make a poster about world peace.
Local Parish Wins More from Diocese of Los Angeles
This is follow-up story to a previous post that I made.
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles must pay legal fees to Newport’s St. James, judge says. By Lauren Vane Daily Pilot September 16, 2005 An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles must pay more than $81,000 in legal fees to St. James Church, the Newport Beach congregation that split from the diocese over a dispute about church doctrine. The same judge, David Velasquez, ruled Aug. 15 to dismiss a lawsuit against St. James Church’s congregation that claimed the Newport Beach breakaway church’s property and assets belong to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Velasquez ruled that efforts by the national church to retain the property of the seceding St. James congregation was an attempt to tread upon the congregation’s freedom of speech. Praveen Bunyan, pastor of St. James, said the awarding of legal fees is another affirmation that the St. James Church was right from the beginning. “This is a reiteration saying that the lawsuit was wrongfully brought against us,” Bunyan said. Representatives from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles did not return phone calls Friday. Financially, Judge Velasquez’s ruling Thursday means that the church can apply funds toward “God’s mission,” Bunyan said. “We’re glad that we can continue to concentrate on the mission that we believe as a church we are called to do,” Bunyan said. The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles filed suit against St. James in September 2004 after the Newport Beach church and two other Southern California congregations broke away from the diocese and the Episcopal Church of the United States in protest of the national church’s positions. After leaving the national church, St. James affiliated with the Diocese of Luwero in the Anglican province of Uganda, Africa. The Los Angeles diocese’s lawsuit alleged St. James’ property belongs to the national church, not to the congregation. Although St. James Church is pleased with the awarding of legal fees, the church remains skeptical that the diocese will pay the legal fees without first appealing the decision, said St. James attorney Eric Sohlgren, in a statement released Thursday. “I don’t know whether they will appeal,” Bunyan said. “Of course, we’ll continue to fight for what is ours.”
Nigerian Church Breaks with Canterbury
Update on Episcopal Church Split
CHURCH OF NIGERIA REDEFINES ANGLICAN COMMUNION
With a careful rewording of her constitution, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) redefined her relationship with all other Anglican Churches.
All former references to ‘communion with the see of Canterbury’ were deleted and replaced with another provision of communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the ‘Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church’.
Emphasis was also placed on the 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer and the historic Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.
The Constitutional change also allowed the Church to create Convocations and Chaplaincies of like-minded faithful outside Nigeria. This effectively gives legal teeth to the Convocation of Anglican Nigerians in Americas (CANA) formed to give a worshiping refuge to thousands in the USA who no longer feel welcomed to worship in the Liberal churches especially with the recent theological innovations encouraging practices which the Nigerians recognize as sin.