THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The Roman Catholic priesthood attracts – or creates – pedophiles.
Whether it’s forbidding priests to marry or its general satanic
corruption, there has perhaps been no religion on Earth more associated
with the molestation of children. To this day, the systemic and
institution pedophilia continues in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican announced on Friday that U.S. officials notified them
that one of its diplomats (they have four on staff in Washington D.C.)
at the United States embassy had been suspected of child pornography.
The American authorities asked the Vatican to officially repeal the
suspected pervert’s diplomatic immunity. The Vatican refused to remove his diplomatic immunity and
put him on a plane to the Vatican. Because the Vatican essentially
serves as its own state, it alone will be responsible for investigating,
trying and sentencing the diplomat for his alleged pedophilia.
The Vatican has been notoriously lax on pedophilia and did not
officially condemn the possession of child pornography until 2014 in the
“Holy See’s” official comments on “Convention on the Rights of a Child.”
Should the Vatican investigate, charge and convict the diplomat for
crimes against children committed while in the United States (which is
unlikely), he faces a maximum of 2 years in prison and a 12 thousand
dollar fine. Should he have been convicted in the United States, he
would have faced a maximum of 30 years in prison. But in fact, the
Vatican has a huge backlog of unaddressed sexual abuse cases, and it’s
unlikely the diplomat will be investigated or tried anytime soon. The connection between the Papist religion and pedophilia is well
documented. For a list of “priests” accused of sexual crimes upon
children, click here. But be forewarned – it might take a few days to go through, and that database is only for the United States.
The current holder of the Anti-Christ’s office, Pope Francis,
promised to get tough on the plague of child molestation among Roman
Catholic leaders. His first real test was Cardinal George Pell, one of
the Pope’s chief advisors – who was wanted in Australia for crimes
against children earlier this summer. Francis defended his friend and papal leader, and attacked the victims of his alleged sexual abuse as being guilty of “relentless character assassination.”
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republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
We notice it happening more and more among Protestants. “Discernment” is being redefined.
Often, those with the most nuance, vagueness and whimsy in the public
statements are considered “discerning” because they know what to say
and how to say it in order to receive the acclaim of men or cause the
least controversy possible. Biblical discernment is the opposite,
however; discernment is to make judgments between right and wrong and to
do so based upon the objective Scripture rather than subjective
appearances (for more explanation of Biblical discernment, click here).
The Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope (or Antichrist,
depending upon your Confession of Faith), similarly seems to have
redefined discernment. For him – like for so many evangelicals –
discernment is not being clear on important Biblical issues.
Pope Francis – a committed Marxist and globalist – has departed from
the “moral orthodoxy” of the Roman Catholic Church by speaking in
unprecedented terms of homosexuality and applied an assumed Universalism
towards virtually every class of unrepentant sinner. In short, this
leftist Pope has moved hard left at breakneck speed. It would only make
sense that Pope Francis would desire to redefine “discernment,”
something sorely needed by Papists – some of whom might disagree with
his hard left-turn even though they agree with him on superstition and
idolatry. The redefinition of discernment has been a goal of the Pope
for some time, having used the word, “discernment,” over 30 times in his 2016 Amoris Laetitia.
His usage of the term in this papal declaration was designed to allow
divorced couples receive communion (a startling departure from Romish
teaching), saying, “discernment must help to find possible ways of responding to God and growing in the midst of limits.”
Anyone familiar with Biblical discernment would understand that using
discernment for the sake of doctrinal compromise (this is how a
traditional Romanist might view it) is hardly the proper use of the
term. Demonstrating that the infallible Popes often disagree, Francis
has heralded the work of German theologian, Bernard Häring (who was a
dissenter of Paul John Paul VI) because Häring argued discernment
required not making hard moral stands. Defending his dissent from Pope John Paul VI, Francis was quoted in La Civilta Cattolica as saying…
“Discernment is the key element: the
capacity for discernment. I note the absence of discernment in the
formation of priests. We run the risk of getting used to ‘white or
black,’ to that which is legal. We are rather closed, in
general, to discernment. One thing is clear: today, in a certain number
of seminaries, a rigidity that is far from a discernment of situations
has been introduced. And that is dangerous, because it can lead us to a conception of morality that has a casuistic sense…”
Discernment, to the Pope, has always been not being “rigid” on…you know…Bible-related stuff.
This is, of course, the opposite of Biblical discernment as taught in
the Scripture. Leave it to the Antichrist to twist the Scripture.
In an interview in Katolikus Valasz, the Pope spoke of discernment again…
“Discernment does not decide what is
right or wrong but leads the person to inform himself as fully as
possible, so that he can make a right judgment in a particular matter,
that is, so that he can act in accord with the truth which God has
written upon his heart or conscience.”
Notice the subtle deception. Discernment is not judging between
“right and wrong” from the Bible, but allowing someone to make a
judgment based upon one’s own conscience.
Most recently, Francis told a group of recently graduated bishops,
“[We must not be] imprisoned by nostalgia for being able to give just
one answer to apply in all cases,” and that discernment is an “antidote
against rigidity, because the same solutions aren’t valid everywhere.”
The Pope of Rome and evangelicals are growingly accepting the same definition of discernment.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Frank Page is the CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern
Baptist Convention (not to be confused with the president of the SBC,
who currently is Steve Gaines). Page has served in this capacity for the
SBC since 2010, and was president of the SBC itself from 2006 to 2008
and was vice president of the scandal-ridden North American Mission
Board (NAMB) from 2008 to 2010.
Since his service as CEO of the Executive Committee, Page has been
instrumental in focusing the SBC on race relations and attracting
non-white churches to the convention by creating a position of
“Presidential Ambassador for Ethnic Relations” and starting various
advisory committees consisting of different races. Page also authored Trouble with the Tulip,
a book designed to negate the doctrines of Calvinism. Page (an ardent
Arminian) made peace with Russell Moore (a rumored Calvinist), when
Moore came under fire earlier this year for advocating for a Mosque to
be built in New Jersey, probably because they both share the
color-tinted, politically correct and segregated worldview of Cultural Marxism.
Page was seen as the last, best hope to reign in Moore’s progressivism
at the ERLC, and conservatives were generally disappointed with Page
regarding the parlay.
The Baptist “Press” tweeted out a quotation from Frank Page just a few days ago…
The statement was made during Page’s address at the 2017 Executive Committee meeting.
Of course, we don’t need a word from the Lord, and that’s good,
because he’s not giving any more of them. While Article I of the 2000 SBC Faith and Message
stops short of asserting full cessationism, most Baptist Confessions –
like the Second London Baptist Confession (1689) do not. Baptists
traditionally have been cessationists, and do not believe in continued
direct, divine revelation. Recent decades of Baptist life prove an
exception to this rule.
The CEO of the SBC, on the other hand, is still wanting a fresh word from God.
Polemicist Justin Peter’s response was most apropros.
We have 66 Books of Inspired Writ. Someone please inform Page that
“SBC” does not mean, “Slowly Becoming Charismatic.” The SBC needs to
understand the words written.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Technically, the Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t believe in female pastors.
In reality, there are hundreds of female Southern Baptist
pastor-preachers yet to be disfellowshipped from the denomination,
thousands of women with the title “pastor” (usually with the word
“children,” “youth” or “women’s” in front of the title), and it is
becoming altogether commonplace to see women fill Southern Baptist
pulpits as guest lecturers. The Southern Baptist pigeon-peddlers and
money changers, Lifeway Christian Resources, sells, advertises, and
promotes women pastors and preachers. And, it seems that all are excited
about increased female seminary enrollment.
Paige Patterson
The Baptist “Press” reports a “remarkable” increase in
the number of females enrolled in Southern Baptist seminaries. The BP
quotes Southwestern Seminary Baptist President, Paige Patterson, with
what has to be the most asininely absurd comment to be heard from leader
since he defended enrolling Muslims in his seminary.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige
Patterson, in reporting to the EC Sept. 18, said female SBC seminary
graduates are helping to fulfill a need in churches for “strong female
Bible teachers.” He attributed the increased number of female
students in part to the publication of high-quality theological
resources for women by LifeWay Christian Resources.
Yes. Yes, let’s discuss the “high-quality theological resources for women by Lifeway Christian Resources.
Lifeway’s chiefest Cash Cow of Bashan is
Beth Moore, who has become a full-blown charismatic, regularly revealing
prophecies God has given her, and her Bible-twisting has growing
increasingly incoherent. You can find Lifeway’s collection of her
material here.
Lifeway promotes the material of
Hillsong, Word of Faith, impastor, Christine Caine. This woman calls
Joyce Meyer her “spiritual mother.” You can find Lifeway’s collection of
her material here.
Lifeway sells the material of theoerotic siren, Ann Voskamp. In One Thousand Gifts, Voskamp writes about making love to God in erotic terms. You can find Lifeway’s collection of her material here.
Lifeway sells the material from Sarah Young, who wrote Jesus Calling
– a book literally claiming to be direct, divine revelation of Jesus’
actual words. You can find Lifeway’s collection of her material here.
Lifeway sells the material of Priscilla
Shirer, who regularly partners with Joel and Victoria Osteen and Joyce
Meyer, and teaches direct, divine revelation. You can find Lifeway’s
collection of her material here.
Aside from the gross theological
problems of all these women (use our search function to find out what
they are), all of these women have two things in common; they preach to
men as well as women and they are Lifeway’s best-sellers.
It’s time to see if Paige Patterson is
mentally fit for the function of seminary president. He’s well beyond
proving himself spiritually unfit. If it’s true that Lifeway is to
credit for women enrolling in seminary, this is a very, very, very bad thing. Lifeway is the one worming their way into churches to lead captive weak women (2 Timothy 3:6).
Patterson continues…
One of the things we have all been
convinced of at the seminaries,” Patterson said, “is that one of the
things we greatly need is a generation of female Bible teachers who
really have their act together, who really understand the Word of God.
The seminaries may be “convinced” that they
need a “generation of female Bible teachers,” but we ask the simple
question: Why do women need to learn the Bible from women? If God has
appointed elders to be “apt to teach,” and women are not Biblically
qualified to be elders (read Timothy and Titus), then why must women learn the Bible from other women?
Such a notion is to treat women like second-class citizens, giving
them less qualified Bible teachers merely because of their gender.
Blacks shouldn’t sit at the end of the bus, and women shouldn’t be
excluded from pastoral Bible teaching just because of their gender. To
give women teachers like Shirer, Moore, Young, Caine, and the like is to
relegate women to eating hotdogs while their husbands dine on steak.
The notion that women should learn or need
to learn from women is not an idea found in the Bible. It’s an idea
found in marketing research of the Christian retail industry.
In the meantime, Southern Baptists should
think long and hard about whether or not increased female enrollment in
seminary is a good thing. Regardless of what the Baptist Faith and
Message says Southern Baptists claim to believe about the complimentary
roles of men and women, the fact is that many female seminary enrollees
will not be content teaching only women – especially if it’s Lifeway’s
products that have inspired their aspirations for service to the church.
For example, a Southern Baptist Church in Tennessee called its first female pastor in June of this year. Maybe the bigshots should rethink exactly what it is they’re celebrating.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa…expressed the appreciation
of the Muslim world for the pope’s ‘fair positions’ regarding ‘the
false claims that link extremism and violence to Islam,’ as well as for
his insistence that extremism is not distinctive of Islam but is found
among followers of all religions.” In other words, he thanked the Pope for dissembling about the
motivating ideology of jihad terror, which his group has been accused of
financing, and for defaming other religions in an effort to whitewash
Islam.
“Despite the group’s official opposition to violence and terrorism
and its pursuit of intercultural dialogue, it has been the subject of
several ongoing counterterrorism investigations in the U.S. related to Hamas, al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.”
Has the Pope met with any of the survivors of the Muslim persecution of Christians?
Let me be clear: I don’t object to the Pope’s meeting this man. After
all, Jesus was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But the meeting
appears to have been a pointless feelgood session, probably featuring
some sly dawah from al-Issa: “the two men reportedly exchanged views on a
number of ‘issues of common interest’ including peace and global
harmony, and discussed cooperation on issues of peaceful coexistence and
the spread of love.”
The spread of love. Yes, that’s what the Muslim World League is all about.
“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)
“Pope Francis Welcomes Leader of Muslim World League to Vatican,” by Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart, September 21, 2017:
Pope Francis met with the secretary general of the Muslim
World League (MWL) in the Vatican Wednesday, a group that has been tied
to Saudi financing of jihadist terrorism and the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, who served for several years as
Saudi minister of justice in Riyadh and is now secretary general of the
MWL, expressed the appreciation
of the Muslim world for the pope’s “fair positions” regarding “the
false claims that link extremism and violence to Islam,” as well as for
his insistence that extremism is not distinctive of Islam but is found
among followers of all religions.
The Muslim World League is a Saudi Government-funded Islamic
non-governmental organization, founded on May 18, 1962 in Mecca for the
propagation of Islamic teachings. Despite the group’s official
opposition to violence and terrorism and its pursuit of intercultural
dialogue, it has been the subject of several ongoing counterterrorism investigations in the U.S. related to Hamas, al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
Two months after the 9/11 jihadist attacks on U.S. soil, Newsweek writer Evan Thomas reported
that the Muslim World League was one of “two interrelated global
charities” directly funded by the Saudi government that were used by
Osama bin Laden to finance his operations. The organizations were left
off the list of groups sanctioned by the United States “in order to
avoid embarrassing the Saudi government,” Thomas wrote.
In 2004, Harper’s Magazine declared
that the Muslim World League had been “long known to have funneled
money to Al Qaeda” and is financed directly by the Saudi government.
“MWL is an evangelical organization that was created to help spread
Wahhabism, the Saudi brand of Islamic fundamentalism,” the article
stated.
According to the New York Times, an internal, top-secret
report from the Treasury Department obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act stated that the International Islamic Relief
Organization (IIRO), “an offshoot
of the Muslim World League,” supported terrorist organizations
beginning in the early 1990s “through to at least the first half of
2006.”
The MWL has also come under fire for its alleged anti-Semitism and the Anti-Defamation League claims that the MWL has frequently been a platform for anti-Israeli rhetoric. It has also been accused of using its English-language “Journal” to spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
At their first International Islamic Conference on Dialogue in Mecca
in 2008, the MWL invited Yusuf al-Qaradawi to speak. During his speech,
he said he would “never sit with Jews on one platform and never hold
dialogue with those Jews who have committed injustice against us and
support Israel.”
On Tuesday, Al-Issa spoke at an international conference
in Rome on “Tolerance in Islam” along with Joseph Levi, the former
chief rabbi in Florence, and Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, secretary
of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
For his audience with the Pope, Al-Issa was accompanied by a
delegation of seven people. The Vatican released a series of photographs
of the encounter, during which the two men reportedly exchanged views
on a number of “issues of common interest” including peace and global
harmony, and discussed cooperation on issues of peaceful coexistence and
the spread of love….
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“I won’t hide my concern in the face of the signs of intolerance,
discrimination and xenophobia that have arisen in different regions of
Europe, often fueled by reticence and fear of the other, the one who is
different, the foreigner.”
Maybe people have “reticence and fear of the other” because of “the
other’s” tendency to perpetrate jihad massacres, and to boast of his
imminent conquest of Europe. The Pope, by portraying opposition to the
Muslim migrant influx as a moral issue and trying to shame people out of
that opposition, is helping to expose the non-Muslim people of Europe,
and their children and children’s children, to a future full of misery
and bloodshed. Is that really what a Christian leader should be doing?
“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)
“Pope Francis Says Concern for ‘Cultural Identity’ Doesn’t Justify Opposition to Mass Migration,” by Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart, September 22, 2017:
Pope Francis spoke out strongly Friday in favor of
welcoming more migrants throughout Europe, telling his hearers to beware
of the “intolerance, discrimination and xenophobia” that have sprung up
around the continent. In his audience
with the European national directors of the Church’s pastoral work with
migrants here for a meeting sponsored by the Council of Episcopal
Conferences of Europe (CCEE), the Pope recognized the consternation
caused by the “massive migrant flows” in Europe that have “thrown into
crisis migratory policies held up to now.” At the same time, Francis rejected national immigration policies
designed to protect the cultural and religious identities of the peoples
of Europe. “I won’t hide my concern in the face of the signs of intolerance,
discrimination and xenophobia that have arisen in different regions of
Europe,” the pontiff said, which are “often fueled by reticence and fear
of the other, the one who is different, the foreigner.”
“I am worried still more by the sad awareness that our Catholic
communities in Europe are not exempt from these reactions of
defensiveness and rejection, justified by an unspecified ‘moral duty’ to
conserve one’s original cultural and religious identity,” he said.
A report
this summer by the Centro Machiavelli found that Europe’s immigration
crisis is causing an ‘unprecedented’ shift in Italy’s demographics.
As of last January, Italy had over five million foreigners living as
residents, a growth of a remarkable 25 percent relative to 2012 and a
full 270 percent over 2002. At that time, foreigners made up just 2.38
percent of the population while fifteen years later the figure has
nearly trebled to 8.33 percent of the population.
If current trends continue, the report states, by 2065, first- and
second-generation immigrants will exceed 22 million persons, or more
than 40 percent of Italy’s total population.
In his address Friday, Francis appealed to the Church’s own history
of missionary work among different cultures, as well as the universality
of its mission in the world.
“The Church has spread through every continent thanks to the
‘migration’ of so many missionaries who were convinced of the
universality of the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, destined for
the men and women of every culture,” he said.
“Temptations to exclusiveness and cultural entrenchment have not been
wanting in the history of the Church,” the Pope continued, “but the
Holy Spirit has always helped us to overcome them, guaranteeing a
constant openness toward the other, considered as a concrete possibility
of growth and enrichment.”
Pope Francis said he was convinced that “the Holy Spirit will help us
to keep an attitude of trusting openness that will allow us to overcome
every barrier and scale every wall.”
In his address, the Pope also suggested that Europeans’ trouble with
migrants may be due in part to a lack of greater cohesion among European
nations and an incomplete process of political unification.
“In my constant listening to the particular churches in Europe I have
perceived a profound uneasiness in the face of the massive arrival of
migrants and refugees,” Francis said. “This uneasiness must be
recognized and understood in the light of a historical juncture
characterized by an economic crisis that has left deep wounds. This
uneasiness has been aggravated, moreover, by the scope and composition
of the migrant flows, by a substantial lack of preparedness in the host
countries and by frequently inadequate national and community policies.”
“But the uneasiness is also indicative of the limits in the process
of European unification,” the pontiff continued, “of the obstacles faced
by the concrete application of the universality of human rights, and of
the walls encountered by the integral humanism that constitutes one of
the most beautiful fruits of European civilization.”…
Jon Rappoport hosts the fourth hour of the Alex Jones Show and breaks
down how medical globalism just another play by the globalists to bring
down humanity.
Nurse Ratchet Cranks Up Medical Tyranny
Apart from the racism of the white doctor saying “kill all the white
people” because they’re “refusers”, Jon Rappoport breaks down the
medical tyranny that would mandate some medical treatments, prohibit
others and threaten to kill those who “refuse”.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
California’s radical Attorney General Xavier Becerra (shown) traveled
to San Diego on September 20 to announce a lawsuit he will file against
the Trump administration over its plan to begin construction of a wall
along the Mexican border in San Diego and Imperial counties. Becerra
made his announcement at the Border Field State Park in Imperial Beach,
which borders Playas de Tijuana in Mexico. “No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the President of the United States,” Becerra said to those attending. The Times of San Diego reported that the federal government
is seeking to start construction of the border wall in San Diego County.
Last month the Department of Homeland Security announced it has secured
a waiver that will allow it to bypass environmental regulations to
speed up the building process in both San Diego and Imperial counties.
The Calexico waiver, as it was called, marked the seventh time the
government has waived environmental reviews under a 2005 law. That law
exempts the federal government from the National Environmental
Protection Act, which calls for extensive reviews of environmental
impacts, as well as many other laws.
The DHS would waive 37 federal statues as well as regulations related to those statutes, Becerra said during his announcement
That move would violate “numerous state and local laws” in California
and San Diego County, he asserted. “If it happens in our backyard we
demand that it be carried out the right way and follow the rule of law,”
said Becerra as quoted by the Times of San Diego. “If you want
to do business in California — and that includes the President of the
United States — be prepared to follow the law.”
A September 20 report in Politico cited Becerra’s statement
that the lawsuit will argue that the administration’s plan to build the
wall along the border violates federal law and the Constitution by
intruding on state authority. “They’re violating the Tenth Amendment and
infringing on a lot of state laws, not just federal laws, that affect
our state. At the same time, they’re trying to do something that only
Congress can do,” Becerra told journalists in Washington in advance of
an official announcement he plans to make in San Diego. “In California,
that’s not going to fly,” Becerra added.
Becerra said the suit will argue that federal officials are running
afoul of the law by declaring the expansion of the border wall to be an
emergency that justifies waiving environmental studies and usual
contracting procedures.
This is not Becerra’s first lawsuit against the Trump administration.
However, when the attorneys general of 15 states and the District of
Columbia filed suit on September 6 against the administration to block
it from terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
(DACA), California did not join the lawsuit. A spokeswoman cited by NPR
said that although Becerra has worked closely with other state attorneys
general, he will likely choose to take action independently because of
the number of DACA recipients in his state.
The DACA program protected from deportation those brought to this
country illegally as children. They are often referred to as DREAMers — a
reference to the DREAM Act, which was never ratified by Congress but
used as a model for provisions incorporated into DACA by executive order
under the Obama administration.
“We will not permit Donald Trump to destroy the lives of young
immigrants who make California and our country stronger,” Becerra said
in a statement last week. “The court of public opinion has already
spoken: the vast majority of Americans agree Dreamers should be here to
stay; so now it’s time to fight in every way we can — and on multiple
fronts — in the court of law.”
Additionally, California was also the first state to challenge the
administration on its policy of denying funds to “sanctuary cities” that
limit cooperation with enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. The state
of California and city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against the U.S.
Department of Justice over President Trump's sanctuary city
restrictions on public safety grants. If Becerra’s name sounds familiar to some readers, it is because in
addition to doing battle with the Trump administration, he has gone to
war against pro-life activists. On March 28, Becerra filed 15 felony
charges in the state Superior Court in San Francisco against David
Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), and his
associate Sandra Merritt. Becerra alleged that Daleiden and Merritt
invaded the privacy of staff personnel at Planned Parenthood by filming
undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from the
abortion provider. Becerra’s tendency toward radicalism was noted in an article posted by The New American
last January, when Governor Jerry Brown first nominated him for his
present position. The article’s author, Bob Adelmann, observed after
Brown announced the pick:
Given [Becerra’s] radical background, his
long history of associating with communist and progressive groups, and
his far-left voting record including opposition to rights enshrined in
the Second Amendment, Becerra ought to be a slam-dunk.
Adelmann continued by detailing some of the key points of the Becerra’s past:
First voted into office as a member of
the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992, Becerra has welcomed the
support of far-left groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America,
which formally endorsed his reelection to the House in 1996. He
returned the favor by supporting other far-left groups such as the
Chicano Coalition for Peace and Social Justice, a group that had been
infiltrated by the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). In 2005 he joined
Latinos for Peace, an anti-Iraq War front group of the CPUSA.
Adelmann noted that in September of 2009, when the House voted 345-75
to defund ACORN, Becerra was one of the 75 who voted to continue
funding for the notoriously radical and corrupt community organization.
This is the man who presumes to lecture Trump and the members of his
administration on the 10th Amendment and the law. However, considering
the decisions made recently by federal judges who have heard various
lawsuits against the administration (e.g., U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber of Chicago ruled
September 15 that the Department of Justice cannot withhold federal
dollars in law-enforcement grants to sanctuary cities), one of them is
likely to take the California lawsuit seriously instead of dismissing
it.
President Donald Trump announces new sanctions on North Korea through
executive order at a working luncheon with South Korean President Moon
Jae-in and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
September 21, 2017
Xi Jinping And Donald Trump Work Together To Isolate North Korea's Economy
President Trump Meets with South Korea President Moon Jae-In 9/21/17
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —A “church” in New Mexico has become the first in the
Mennonite Church USA to appoint an open lesbian as “lead pastor.”
Albuquerque Mennonite Church, which affirmed homosexual relationships
a decade ago, made the announcement on Monday that it had chosen Erica
Lea as its new leader. It remarked that Lea has a “strong call to connect with and serve
people affected by current immigration policies and racial, social and
economic discrimination—as well as a call to provide a beacon and safe
haven for the LGBTQ community.”
“We look forward to finding more ways of articulating and sharing an
Anabaptist faith that can flourish in locally derived expressions of
Jesus’s call to discipleship, peacemaking and justice,” said search
committee member Andrew Clouse. “We think Erica is well-equipped to help
us do this.”
Lea has heretofore mainly led professing Baptist assemblies, but did
serve as an interim pastor for Houston Mennonite Church, Mennonite World
Review reports. She has been at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington,
D.C. for the past three years. According to the site Sojourners, Lea plans to move to New Mexico to
take the role at Albuquerque Mennonite Church after she “marries” her
female partner in November. “It’s like the Grand Canyon distance between becoming open and
affirming and actually calling an LGBTQ pastor who is out,” she told the
outlet. “A lot of churches struggle to make that movement. … I want
LGBTQ people and women to be celebrated and encouraged in pastoral and
ministry leadership roles.”
She also asserted to the Mennonite World Review that “it is quite
possible that the Spirit might be calling them (homosexuals and
transgenders) to these types of roles.” Lea is a graduate of Truett Seminary at Baylor University in Texas,
and also has a background in eco-feminism, which “sees a relationship
between the serious environmental damage done to the earth and the
repression of women.”
While Lea is the first openly lesbian “lead pastor” to be appointed
by a Mennonite Church USA congregation, in 2014, the Mountain States
Conference approved the ministerial license
of Theda Good, a Colorado woman who identifies as a lesbian, to serve
as as pastor of nurture and fellowship at First Mennonite Church of
Denver. As previously reported,
the development prompted a Mennonite Church in Ohio to leave the
denomination in part due to concerns over the lack of discipline against
those who engage in homosexual behavior.
“We felt that Mennonite Church USA and [our church] were going in
different directions concerning scriptural authority and holiness,” Ross
Miller, pastor of Hartville Mennonite Church in Lake, told reporters.
“We felt there needed to be church discipline, and there hasn’t
been,” he said, referencing disappointment that the Ohio Conference
failed to pass a resolution urging the denomination headquarters to
address the Mountain States’ actions, as well as a statement from an
executive board member that he felt was less than satisfactory.
According to 1 Timothy 3, leaders of the Church are to be men and are to be examples of holiness, including in their own homes.
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant,
sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given
to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a
brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his
children in subjection with all gravity,” it reads. “For if a man know
not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of
God?”
Rev. Erica Lea received her bachelor of arts from Texas A&M
University with a major in psychology and a minor in women’s and gender
studies. She received her master of divinity from George W. Truett
Theological Seminary at Baylor University with a concentration in
spiritual formation.
She has continued her studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
and currently serves at the Pastoral Resident at Calvary Baptist Church
in Washington, D.C. Previously she served as the interim pastor at
Houston Mennonite Church in Houston, TX, and as a pastoral intern at
Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco, TX.
Erica is a member of the Capital Area Anabaptist Network, DC EcoWomen,
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Association of Welcoming and
Affirming Baptists, The Alliance of Baptists, Gay Christian Network,
Renovaré Spiritual Formation Covenant Member, The Academy of Preachers,
Mennonite Women USA, and The Young Clergy Women Project.
“At First Blush,” sermon by Rev. Erica Lea at the Christian Feminism Today Gathering
Gathering, Rev. Erica Lea preached a powerful, prophetic sermon titled
“At First Blush.”
It was great to get to know Erica at the Gathering and to hear her
preach for the first time! I was impressed and inspired by her words of
wisdom.
Erica received her bachelor of arts degree from Texas A&M
University with a major in psychology and a minor in women’s and gender
studies and her master of divinity degree from George W. Truett
Theological Seminary at Baylor University with a concentration in
spiritual formation. She has continued her studies at Anabaptist
Mennonite Biblical Seminary. She has served as pastoral resident at
Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.D., interim pastor of Houston
Mennonite Church in Houston, Texas, and as pastoral intern at Lake Shore
Baptist Church in Waco.
At First Blush by Rev. Erica Lea
First, thank you. It really is an honor to have the opportunity to
share my voice today among so many important voices that we have heard
this weekend.
Allow me to start this morning with a confession. When I came here on
Thursday, I wasn’t exactly sure, yet, how I felt about you. I have
known you to be an encouraging and supportive collection of email
addresses and names online. I knew you were eager, particularly, to
welcome more young people. Even so, I honestly wondered if I would see
anyone who looked like me.
Then, I saw Reta, a familiar face from a previous Mennonite event. I
learned more about Deb and her heart for pastoral care. I felt one of
Marg’s famous bear hugs. I attended Alicia’s session about sensitivity
to gender and pronouns. I read Elisabeth’s imaginative poetry. I heard
Jann’s familiar yet new music. I stretched my limits and more with
Lisa’s gentle yogi encouragement. I tasted Becky’s gifts for
hospitality. I prayed with Leslie and her soulful, contemplative
spirituality. I have seen different parts of myself in all of you. I have seen the imago dei, that Divine Image, in all of you. Our primary passage this morning comes from Wisdom of Solomon chapter 7.
Some scholars believe the intended audience of this book was Jewish
young people in Alexandria, Egypt, who were surrounded by messages that
were contrary to Jewish faith and customs. In context and in essence,
the Wisdom of Solomon was intended to be not only counter-cultural, but a
reminder to the audience of what they already knew deeply about
themselves. When I conceptualize wisdom, this breath throughout Creation,
I visualize a chubby owl with glasses on, “hooooing” with a long trill
like the owl on Winnie the Pooh. There are many artistic depictions of Wisdom, including some beautiful icons. Perhaps more than visually, I have experienced Wisdom in an auditory way.
When I think of home, I think of my cottage in the forest in central
Texas where I lived during seminary. Not long after I moved in, I
noticed, on occasion, an owl “hooooing” in a particular and
recognizable pattern. I named her Sophia. I only saw her a few times,
but I often heard her. I knew her voice.
In chapter 7:22–26, we see two lists. A friend once described me as
Type A-minus. I can be mellow, but when something needs organizing, I am
cheerfully on it with a chart and a color-coded system. I love it!
These lists are more than a convenient way for the author to throw in
some information. The first list, in particular, in verses 22b–24, is a
poetic device utilizing Jewish mysticism. If you count the
number of attributes of Woman Wisdom in this list, there are twenty-one.
Twenty-one is not just a good number in Black Jack. No, twenty-one is a
multiple of both seven and three. Both seven and three are mystical
symbolic numbers of completeness and perfection. Another understanding of complete completeness is shalom.
Shalom is more than peace. I got my favorite belt buckle in Jerusalem.
You know you’re Texan when you go to Jerusalem and come home with a belt
buckle as your prized souvenir. This belt buckle made my Mennonite
heart beat wildly—a black and bronze rectangle with Peace, Shalom, and
Salaam written on it—each word flowing into each other word. Like people
flowing into one another.
In the Holy Land, official signs are written in all three
languages—Hebrew, Arabic, and English—reflecting the history and the
residents. If you are an Israeli Jew, you may be fine with only Hebrew.
If you are an Israeli or Palestinian Muslim, you may be fine with only
Arabic. If you are one of the approximately 200,000 American or British
immigrants since 1948, you may be fine with only English. To not include
all three of these languages on the signs, and on my belt buckle, would
certainly be a statement. This list of twenty-one
attributes for Woman Wisdom—intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, clear,
steadfast, overseeing all, intelligent, and more—come together to give a
more robust and tangible description of Woman Wisdom so that we can
attempt to wrap our heads around Her. If this list were
twenty or twenty-two, it would lose its poetic and mystical power. There
must be twenty-one attributes on the list for the full power and
weight. As I consider all of the meaningful work and amazingly far
reach of EEWC-CFT, I see us at twenty. What are we missing so that we
can be our full selves, living into full potential, being completely
complete, a model of shalom? Who are we missing? I know some
people are not here this year because they have died, may their memory
be a blessing. Others are not here because they are ill, may they
experience wholeness however possible. Who else are we missing? Later,
when we gather around the Table, consider who is not at the Table with
you. Where are we missing? It is only after this full list
of twenty-one attributes that Woman Wisdom, the second list, appears,
in verses 25–26, showing all She is capable of: 25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure
emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains
entrance into her. 26 For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of goodness.
For those of you keeping score at home, that is: breath, emanation, reflection, mirror, and image.
She must be whole in order to fulfill her potential. The journey toward shalom and wholeness, both on individual
and collective levels, can be difficult and long. We do not make this
journey alone. Verse 27 says she is one and can do all things. When we
are one, we can do all things together.
If earlier, when we considered the attributes of Woman Wisdom, those
verses echoed Proverbs 31 to you, then you are good company. I
understand Proverbs 31 to be an ode to the women, the community of
women, rather than one individual woman. Proverbs 31 is not a
checklist. It is a wake-up call that wisdom is daily and cannot be done
alone.
Proverbs 31 is, as Kathleen O’Connor writes, “an invitation to search
for wisdom as if for a precious stone, to live committed to the path of
wisdom with the utter loyalty and allegiance of the person setting out
in life with a beloved partner.” We are partners with Woman Wisdom and
we are partners with one another.
Though the journey to shalom and living fully into all we can be is
difficult and long, for some of us more than others, there is
sustenance.
Have you ever played the road trip game? You know, I’m going on a
road trip and I’m bringing ____ and ____. For example, I am Erica Lea
and I’m going on a road trip and I’m bringing eggs and lettuce. I may
go. If Marg were to play, she might say I am Marg Herder and I’m going
on a road trip and I’m bringing juice and ham. She may not go. But if
she said, my name is Marg Herder and I’m going on a road trip and I’m
bringing mustard and ham, she may go. If you don’t get it, ask whoever
you rode with or whoever you will share a van with to the airport. Ya’ll
will have a good time. God is with us. Sophia is with
us. Woman Wisdom is with us. We are with each other. We can continue to
move forward together on this journey of shalom as we lean on God and
lean on one another.
Verse 29 says, “She is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every
constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be
superior.”
Did ya’ll see the strawberry moon last week? Full moon and summer
solstice came together to show a pinkish moon. It was beautiful. If you
garden, as so many of you have shared that you do, you know the power of
sunlight and photosynthesis to feed plants. Light is energy. Light is
food for growth. Woman Wisdom is superior even to light. As the Inner
Light grows in you, your connection to that power will grow. The light,
this provision, is grace. Finally, the text says that wisdom will prevail over evil. I
don’t know about you but it is often difficult for me to believe that
wisdom will prevail against internalized homophobia, transphobia,
xenophobia, and racism. It is often difficult to see wisdom prevailing
over injustice and social evils. We will be most effective
bringing forward justice in our time when we are whole, when we are
whole together, and when we trust in the Light that Woman Wisdom brings.
Kenneth Carter Jr. writes that “wisdom may be defined as a life well
lived, a life that matters . . . wisdom is a way of life that includes
justice, righteousness, humility, compassion, and fairness.” Today is the one-year anniversary for the Supreme Court
ruling in support of marriage equality. Yay! However, in the past year,
there has been an uptick in hate crimes, including violence, especially
against trans women of color. There has been conservative panic in many
forms, especially so-called religious liberty bills. So many of us felt
like we were truly moving forward, but these anxiety-motivated and
anxiety-producing roadblocks stop us. We must continue to move forward.
Our voice for justice and equality will continue to be heard most
effectively as one unified voice. It may appear that we are
sliding backward from the progress won by decades of work. All progress
meets resistance. We will continue to move forward. Together. Wisdom will prevail over evil.
Rev. Erica Lea & Rev. Leslie Harrison, worship leaders at the Christian Feminism Today Gathering
It is tempting to be discouraged sometimes. It is tempting to look
around now and ask, “Where are the younger generations?” We are here. It
is tempting to say, “I don’t feel like I have Inner Light.” The Inner
Light has you. It is tempting to think, “I’m not enough.” Enough of an
expert or enough outspoken or enough young or enough old or enough . . .
whatever. We are enough with Woman Wisdom. We are enough. Together.
Remember, Wisdom is a spotless mirror and you and I seem only dimly
into a mirror. Let us continue to look into the mirror together. Amen. Rev. Erica Lea’s sermon, “At First Blush,” originally published in Christian Feminism Today. Reposted with permission.
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