ANGLICAN ANGST: Rowan Williams can't see the forest or the trees!

Which photo is the real Rasputin; which is his Anglo reincarnation, Rowan Williams?

Not much difference between the two in many respects; both are/were mouthpieces for once great but failed human institutions, both have spoken absurdly on geo-social issues, and both are/were not known for being the brightest bulbs in the room.

Williams, in a recent interview with a Muslim propaganda machine, waxed eloquently (as Brit intellectuals are fond of doing ... bless them) about world affairs ...

“We have only one global hegemonic power,” he said according to London’s Telegraph newspaper. “It is not accumulating territory: it is trying to accumulate influence and control. That’s not working.

“It is one thing to take over a territory and then pour energy and resources in to administering it and normalizing it. Rightly or wrongly, that’s what the British Empire did in India, for example,” added Williams, who has been a long-time critic of the war in Iraq.

“It is another thing to go in on the assumption that a quick burst of violent action will somehow clear the decks and that you can move on and other people will put it back together – Iraq, for example.”

[CRIB emphasis]

How is it a man of his experience and intelligence cannot see the specific application of his own words to the global actions of Muslim extremists since pre-1948 times? Is he unaware that his own nation has been involved it the Iraq War since its inception? Duh!

Is Williams saying that what is good for the goose is verboten for the gander? Both can be right, or both wrong, in their choice of methodologies - but one cannot be wrong and the other right!

BLOGGERS BLOGGING:

Transfiguations

OTHER SOURCES:

Boston Herald
Islam Online
NY Sun
Right Mind
Spectator - Hat tip Black Kettle
Times Online

CHRIST: Is it all about the image of God or the Word of God?

I know we revere the doctrine of the Imago Dei but we live by "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" not iconic images.

An Aussie artist who created a controversial piece depicting Usama bin Laden morphing into Jesus Christ defended her work, calling for people to look beyond the comparison of good and evil, the News Limited of Australia reported on Thursday.

Priscilla Bracks denied she was trying offend people.

"Absolutely not, no, no,” she said in the News article. “I am not interested in being offensive. I am interested in having a discussion and asking questions about how we think about our world and what we accept and what we don't accept," she said.

My question to my readers is this: What does Jesus look like? We know more about the face of the mysterious and murderous bin Laden since 9/11 than we do about the image of the Jesus we've known for 2000 years.

There is no picture of Jesus available to man ... so how is it that we become offended by a human representation of an unknown? Besides ...

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

Deuteronomy 5:8

BLOGGERS BLOGGING:

Anchoress
Captain's Quarters
Herald Sun/Au
Stop ACLU

Art, bin Laden, Priscilla Bracks,
Commandments, Icons, Imago dei, Word

FREEMASONRY: A timely reminder of a real threat from a day gone by!

Christianity Today's offering on Freemasonry is pertinent and timely for this blogger/observer ... ironically, I just put up a copy of a hundred-year-old address on the subject by the son of the Johnathon Blanchard mentioned below, Charles A. Blanchard.

Click over to The SHEEP'S CRIB - Inspiration to read the most pointed refutation of Freemasonry I've come across ... and that by a former 33rd degree Mason.

In CT's TIDINGS column they bring us ...

"The Freemasonry Threat - Faint echoes remind evangelicals of a nearly forgotten foe" by Ted Olsen; a timely reminder of things past ...
Family Life Church loves their new building ... except for one thing: The walls still bear symbols of its past as a Masonic temple. The suburban Chicago Daily Herald reported that Elgin officials barred the markings' removal because they "contribute to the overall character of the building, its history." The church argued the symbols conflict with Christian belief, but the government said the church can only cover them up, not remove them.

Family Life Church's effort echoes a long fight in Kenya's Presbyterian Church of East Africa over eradicating Masonic symbols in colonial-era churches and government buildings. "These symbols and artifacts must be removed and destroyed," PCEA head David Githii explained to The Nation as at least 30 stained-glass windows and other items were removed from Nairobi's St. Andrews Church. "They are anti-Christ." Githii sent demolition squads to other PCEA churches around the country ... .

Yes, there are still Freemasons, including a reported 1.8 million members in the United States. And if the unconfirmed anecdotes ct editors hear regularly are to believed, Masonic cliques still wield power in several places.

But membership is half what it was 50 years ago. It's hard to believe that Freemasons and similar secret societies were one of the top three social ills targeted by evangelicals of the mid-1800s, along with slavery and alcohol. In 1868, several prominent evangelicals, including revivalist Charles Grandison Finney and Wheaton College founder Jonathan Blanchard, created the National Christian Association (NCA) to warn believers that "all secret societies [are] deistical, antagonistic to Christianity, [and] tend to loosen moral ties."

Now Freemasonry is nearly forgotten, and the Christian campaign against "secretism" had little to do with the decline. ... The tough question is when to listen to William Wilberforce and when to listen to Gamaliel (Acts 5:38): "Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail."

Once you read Blanchard's charges you might want to reread Wilberforce.

Christianity, Christianity Today,
Cults, Freemasons, PCEA, Wheaton

DISCERNING CHRIST: Lessons from the Least of Us!

Once in a while we land on a worthy post by accident ...

Lately, there have been a number of occasions where I could feel the goose bumps rising on my arm as I pondered God’s Presence mysteriously hidden in life. It is the way of the world to look for God in powerful displays but it seems it is the way of God to reveal Himself, even conceal Himself, in displays of weakness.

Read more here!

Blindness, Brokenness, Christianity, Discernment,
Least of these, Submission, Surrender, Weakness

DISCERNMENT: We Often Fail Discernment's Test

The heat of the moment and the heat of the issue: both cause believers to lose sight of the obvious - sin is a global issue, not a single issue, and it resides in the hearts of all mankind.

Christians forget their battle is not against flesh and blood (individuals) but against forces of darkness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12), not against single issues but against the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life (1 John 2:15-16).

Truth says, "No one can do everything!" ... besides, some hills are just not worth dying on, let alone climbing. In spite of secular hype for multitasking, working on everything at once is dissipating, wearying, and inefficient to the homo sapien. For example ...

While there is a temptation for Christians to label whatever is not in keeping with [their view of] sound doctrine as heresy, the Bible seems to make the distinction that heresy is not merely the opposite of orthodoxy. Rather -

- heresy is a divisive teaching or practice which forces those who call themselves Christians to separate from it or face condemnation for it.

John the Apostle gave a prime example of such a doctrine: denying the true nature of the person and work of Jesus Christ (1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 1:7-11). [Source; my emphases]

Satan has done a frighteningly good job of distracting us from the real battle (he is not referred to by the Lord as "the father of lies" for no mean purpose (John 8:44). He is able to get well-intentioned but non-discerning Christians so wound up over single or peripheral issues they fail to discern reality.

[This picture is from an 80s Moody Monthly issue;
if you know the artist let me know so I can give proper accreditation.]

They are then frustrated because no one else sees Christian mission as they see it ("why isn't she working as hard as I am," "why don't they do it my way," "why would they want to do it that way, any idiot can see my way is better," "that won't work, but I know a way that will"). Frustration then turns to fault-finding in order to assuage a very guilty conscience.

Some members of the Body of Christ are so busy pointing fingers at what is wrong with others, they fail to see the huge chinks in their own armor (if they wear any at all).

For instance, they may attend a bible study, where they hear, over several weeks, several hours of good teaching; suddenly their sensory neurons pick up one statement they don't agree with ... the next day they solemnly announce, "I can't go back there; not if he's going to continue to teach false doctrine."

This makes them a gossip, a backbiter, and apparently the sole arbiter of what is acceptable teaching in the church. For someone seeking an excuse to leave a bible study, any excuse is adequate. Sadly, they busy themselves trying to recruit others to join them, "If we don't stop her, she'll kill our church."

Thank God for the discerning amongst us, those who don't fall for Satan's deceptions.

Christianity, Church, Discernment, Hypocrisy,
Issues, Multitasking, Priorities