No sign from heaven shall be given

And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.

-- Mark 8:11f.

St. Peter in the 1st century thought the blood moon prophecy was already being fulfilled and meant the end of the world

 

 

In Acts 2:16f, 20, Luke the Historian has St. Peter explicitly connect the Pentecost phenomenon with the fulfillment of our lately called "blood moon prophecy", saying that "this is that", namely that Pentecost ushered in the last age of the Spirit, but the end of the world it most certainly was not, then anymore than it will be today:

  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: ... The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come . . ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is notable is that the historical Jesus did not talk this way.

 

He said the kingdom of God was not coming with signs to be observed, but that it would come by stealth, like a thief in the middle of the night, intruding into the midst of normality suddenly and without warning, as it was in the days of Noah . . .. By the time you realize it, it will be too late. The many will perish, and only the few will be saved. Therefore repent! Sell that ye have! Give alms! And come, follow me.

Roman Catholic superstition is alive and well in the US Congress

Stories here and here.

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

-- Acts 19:11f.

Hate evil!

You who love the LORD, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

-- Psalm 97:10

And he was transfigured before them: Jesus as Brocken spectre

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

-- Matthew 17:1f.

And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

-- Mark 9:2f.

And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

-- Luke 9:28f.

A Brocken spectre (German Brockengespenst), also called Brocken bow or mountain spectre, is the apparently enormous and magnified shadow of an observer, cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun. The phenomenon can appear on any misty mountainside or cloud bank, even when seen from an aeroplane, but the frequent fogs and low-altitude accessibility of the Brocken, a peak in the Harz Mountains in Germany, have created a local legend from which the phenomenon draws its name. The Brocken spectre was observed and described by Johann Silberschlag in 1780, and has since been recorded often in literature about the region. 

More here.

Phil Jenkins never tells you the crackpot solution of Ellen G. White to "The Great Disappointment"

Namely, The Investigative Judgment, a doctrine wholly derived from "a charismatic prophetic leader" and not found anywhere in Scripture, here:

"The Adventists grew out of the millenarian fervor that swept the United States in the 1840s. In 1844, William Miller warned of the Christ’s imminent return and the world’s destruction. In fact, he did so twice, and the double failure provoked what is termed the Great Disappoint­ment. A rem­nant of Millerites then reconstructed their movement under the visionary leadership of New England–born Ellen G. White."

Seventh-day Adventism is a failed apocalyptic cult, not unlike Christianity itself.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. By their fruit ye shall know them. "Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water and brackish?" -- James 3:11

Phil Jenkins should know better, but practices a form of political correctness all too characteristic of the contemporary academic community by not addressing Seventh-day Adventism's raison d'être. Too prickly no doubt for The Christian Century, and for his career. So much for thinking critically, living faithfully.

The religion of Ben Carson does no real harm in the world, except insofar as its adherents are occasionally no better than your average criminal, which Jenkins does mention. Thank God for small favors, I suppose.

But Adventism is still nuts.

Carly Fiorina's non-denominational Christianity is of the Willow Creek variety, dating to about 2010 after battling cancer in 2009

Reported here in August 2012:

'Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, came to the stage as a guest at the end of the first day to share her story of coming to faith in the midst of battling cancer, losing her daughter to suicide, and serving for years as a high-powered business executive. According to Fiorina, Bill Hybels's persistence kept her pondering the complexities of faith, and after praying with him on stage at the summit a couple years ago, then praying to God on her own for a sign, she began seeing little miracles. At the end of her talk, Fiorina stated that now she lives "unburdened by fear," because she sees life as "not measured in time—it's measured in love and contribution and moments of grace."'

Incredible but true: Ben Carson's Seventh-day Adventist Church, begun after 1844, believes it is mentioned in the Bible

Here:

'In Revelation 12, John the Revelator identifies the church in the last days as the "remnant . . . which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (verse 17). We believe that in this brief prophetic picture the Revelator is describing the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which not only keeps "the commandments of God" but has "the testimony of Jesus Christ," which is "the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10).'

WaPo wants to remind us in 2015 that Hillary Clinton carried around a Bible in her purse in 2007

Seriously.

Here:

'In 2008, Clinton told CNN that she had “tried to take my beliefs, my faith, and put it to work my entire life” to help others. In 2007, she told the network about how she prays regularly and carries a Bible in her purse.'

The story writer, Daniel Silliman, in fact offers a complete shorthand history of Hillary Clinton's liberal Methodist Christianity.

At one point he even writes that her faith was recently "on display" because she had an informed religious conversation with a Reverend in a bakery, documented conveniently by CNN, in which she demonstrated to him surprising and impressive knowledge of the "living word" of God. Silliman even links to that story for your convenience.

How nice.

No mention, however, of all those flying ashtrays and flying expletives in the White House years, or how the Secret Service to this day considers assignment to the Clinton detail a form of punishment. The Clintons are said to refer to them as "pigs" and routinely tell them to "f^$k off".

Faith was never so easy as it is in the hands of The Washington Post.

Liberal exceptionalism: The post-war liberal West is suddenly suffused with self-doubt, but the rest of us are fine

Steven Erlanger reporting from London in The New York Times here, conflating post-war liberal values with Judeo-Christian ones:

"THE West is suddenly suffused with self-doubt. ... Are Western values, essentially Judeo-Christian ones, truly universal?

"The history of the last decade is a bracing antidote to such easy thinking. The rise of authoritarian capitalism has been a blow to assumptions, made popular by Francis Fukuyama, that liberal democracy has proved to be the most reliable and lasting political system. ... The fight over values is not limited to democracy . . . with radical disagreements over the proper place of women and the rights of homosexuals. In its rejection of Western liberal values of sexual equality and choice, conservative Russia finds common cause with many in Africa and with the religious teachings of Islam, the Vatican, fundamentalist Protestants and Orthodox Jews."

It's as if liberalism were a frightened little child, running to hide behind her mother's skirt after having gone too far with some opponent, maybe the dog. Judeo-Christian values, the last refuge of the liberal scoundrel.

Historically speaking, Judeo-Christian values produced what was a relatively quiescent American republican mercantilism until the dawn of the 20th century, not the worldwide crusade for democracy and unfettered capitalism we have come to see thereafter, but sixty years of lousy public education has a way of making people forget such things.

Amnesia also exists about traditional values, which gave us their easy imprimatur for social relations organized around the family and children, with a long and storied history until recent times. The pipe dream has been egalitarian individualism and its various licenses for perversion, which are still fringe arrangements for most people, even for those who purchased them. Regret is everywhere. Such things are the specialties of liberalism, which does indeed look like it's coming undone, but the truly universal things like religion and the family and the arrangements they inspire continue to suggest themselves by nature to billions.

Only a liberal could fail to see them everywhere, as if they were the exception, not he.

The kingdom of God belongs to the poor

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. ... But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

-- Luke 6:20, 24

Donald Trump asks who does Ben Carson think he is to question Trump's faith

Seen here:

Trump added, “he’s questioning my faith. I happen to be a great believer in God, and great believer in the Bible. Who is he — hey Chris, who is he to question my faith, when I am — you know, I mean, he doesn’t even know me. I’ve met him a few times, but I don’t know Ben Carson. He was a doctor, perhaps, you know, an okay doctor, by the way, you can check that out, too. We’re not talking about a great — he was an okay doctor. He was just fine.” And “now, because he’s a doctor, and he hired one nurse, he’s going to end up being the president of the United States? But, for him to criticize me on my faith is absolutely — and for him to read from the Bible, in his memory, it looked like he memorized it about two minutes before he went on stage. But, Ben Carson is not going to be your next president, that I can tell you.”

Who is he? Well, Ben Carson is a follower of the scores of visions experienced by this woman, originally a Millerite and later a co-founder of Seventh Day Adventism:

Ellen G. White in 1899

Nearly a third of Americans, nearly 50 million individuals, made poverty level wages in 2013

The poverty guideline for an individual in 2015 is just under $12,000.

Catholic clergy pension funds severely underfunded

The Reuters story was picked up here:

"A Reuters review of U.S. Catholic financial disclosures shows the pension funding shortfall in 2014 likely approached $2 billion, with much of that coming due in the next five years as thousands of priests retire. ... A review of 51 dioceses that provide detailed financial information showed a clergy pension funding gap of nearly $700 million - a figure that does not include other post-retirement benefits, or obligations to lay staff. If the remainder of the roughly 197 dioceses in the United States face similar funding issues, the total pension gap would be close to $2 billion. ...

"Pensions for priests became commonplace in the U.S. Catholic Church in the 1970s, typically funded through donations, fundraising drives, and – in some cases – contributions from clergy wages. The pensions are generally fairly meager at around $20,000 per year. A report issued by non-profit group Laity in Support of Retired Priests (LSRP) last year showed that an average priest's pension and social security benefits are projected to be lower than the cost of living."

Still one thing eludes you!

Luke 18:22

One thing you lack!

Mark 10:21

What archaeology tells us Jesus left behind

Reported by Eric Metaxas here:

'Nazareth wasn’t quite the backwater Nathanael and everyone else since thought it was. It was likely “larger” and “slightly wealthier” than previously believed.'

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"In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples."

-- Luke 14:33

"John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."

-- Mark 1:4

"And Jesus answering said unto him, 'Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.' Then he suffered him."

-- Matthew 3:15

Muhammad the plagiarist: Age of Koran manuscript pre-dates his career by as many as forty-two years

The story is here (subscription required). The UK Daily Mail here had the money quotes:

Historian Tom Holland, told the Times: 'It destabilises, to put it mildly, the idea that we can know anything with certainty about how the Koran emerged - and that in turn has implications for the history of Muhammad and the Companions.'

Keith Small, from the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, added: 'This gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Koran's genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven.'

Students of the Koran in the West have long doubted the story of the miraculous origin of the words of the Koran given to the illiterate prophet, based in part on Muhammad's version of Christianity in it, which is derivative of heretical Nestorianism, not revelation. Muhammad had contact with Nestorians according to various accounts, but it is thought that it was primarily through the family of his wife Khadija, from whom he must have learned much of what he knew about Christianity and Judaism. An anonymous philologist (who fears for his life) has even proposed that much of the Koran was originally a Christian Arabic lectionary translated from Syriac sources, which makes even more sense now that a manuscript of the Koran appears to be dated precisely to the period when the words were supposedly circulating only as oral tradition, as recitation.

It would seem that Muhammad and his companions raided more than caravans.