Celebrity Pastors Falling Hard; Evangelicals Must Be More Suspicious: Theologian

(Photo: Willow Creek Association)Thousands of church leaders join the 2007 Willow Creek Leadership Summit in South Barrington, Ill. The summit was featured live via videocast in cities across the globe.

In the wake of the fall of some celebrity megachurch pastors, evangelicals must start becoming much more suspicious of who they trust, a prominent Baptist theologian is warning.

Roger E. Olson, professor of Christian Theology of Ethics at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, wrote in a blog post last week that America’s megachurch model “isn’t working.”

“My suggestion is that people (and I’m talking primarily to evangelical Christians) be much more suspicious than they tend to be — about powerful, celebrity spiritual leaders who are not accountable to anyone but themselves and their handpicked boards (‘yes men’),” he wrote.

He argued that America’s “obsession with celebrities, ‘bigness,’ entertainment, and ‘success'” is one of the underlying problems.

“This obsession has obviously filtered into American religion and, sadly, even into American evangelical Christianity,” he warned.

Olson pointed out that in recent years, “several founders and leaders of evangelical, independent mega-churches have fallen off their celebrity-pastor…

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Most believers closely tied with addicts, former Christian alcoholic claims

Chris Wood from Christian residential rehabilitation centre, Yeldall Manor was also an ex-resident at Yeldall Manor himself after being an alcoholic for more than 20 years.

He told Premier more believers than we might realise will probably relate to his story.

 

“My church in the evening service is a big church; they have 350 in the congregation,” he said.

“300 of those – their family will have an addict in them. That’s my own estimate – that’s not a government stat. But it doesn’t have to be drugs and alcohol and the obvious ones. It can be sex and porn and shopping and things like that and everybody has different coping mechanisms.

“But most of the time it’s secret and it’s hidden.”

His comments come as a new study by One Year No Beer, in collaboration with Stirling University, has suggested friends could actually be the greatest enemy when it comes to drinking.

From the 1,697 men and women questioned, 85 per cent said they had experienced bullying from friends to consume alcohol.

Two out of five said they get pestered into drinking by their partner.

Wood told Premier he wasn’t surprised by the study’s results as even colleagues can put pressure on co-workers to drink.

“It used to be the media was a very hard drinking organisation… so to belong to it, you would start to drink. But if you wanted to pull away from it or not get too involved with it, it can be…

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Serita Jakes’ Endorsement of Yoga at Potter’s House Sparks Debate

(Photo: Facebook)Women at Potter’s House Dallas engage in yoga exercises on Aug. 4, 2018.

Serita Jakes, wife of popular televangelist Bishop T.D. Jakes, has reignited debate over the practice of yoga among Christians after she shared a series of photos showing members of a women’s group at The Potter’s House of Dallas enjoying a “taste of yoga” as a part of a healthy living endeavor.

“Today, we aspired to inspire #health mentally, emotionally, and physically. Our ladies even got a taste of #yoga from @Mrs_BrittHall. Health goes beyond what you eat. It’s in the way you think, speak, and live. Thank you to all of the lovely sister girls that came to play with us! I love you. #AspireToInspire #W2W#EmotionalWellnessMatters,” Jakes wrote in a post on Instagram that was also shared on other social media platforms such as Facebook.

The post sparked debate with critics saying it’s wrong for Christians to practice yoga. 

In defense, an Instagram user named Cecilia Echevarria, who indicated she participated in the event, said it was “very inspiring.”

“We learn on how different ways to enjoy yoga in a Christian perspective. Thank you,” she wrote.

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(Photo: Facebook)Serita Jakes

The Christian Post reached out to Jakes’ women’s group for comment on Friday but she…

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Christian entrepreneur raises funds for families who lost everything in California wildfires

Scott Putnam (pictured below) from Apex Technology wants to give 1,000 households in the city of Redding a computer each to aid them in filing insurance claims following a blaze nicknamed the Carr Fire.

His associate, Martin Flack, told Premier: “This initiative is to help those [families] have a way to file their insurance, track their information and try to get a restart on their life when they’ve lost everything.”

 

One of 13 large fires which have affected the US state this summer, the Carr Fire destoryed almost 11,000 homes and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Flack, who is also a Christian – and a business advisor at Vistage – said Carr has “burned down” and the wind has shifted, taking it away from Redding.

 

He added: “We’ve been praying here in Redding for an unseasonable shift in weather patterns; cooler temperatures and/or rain.

“It’s been so hot, there isn’t any humidity in the evening hardly.Therefore the fire has raged ten miles or more in one night.

Click here to listen to Premier’s Alex Williams speaking with Martin Flack:

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Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church Becomes First in US to Baptize 50,000 People; Pastor Hails ‘Miracle’

(Photo: Saddleback Church)Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (R) marking milestone as church baptizes its 50,000th person on August 12, 2018.

Pastor Rick Warren has hailed the congregation at his California-based Saddleback Church as it became the first in U.S. history to baptize 50,000 people.

“I never stop being amazed by you. You are extraordinary people, and I continually thank God for what you mean to me,” Warren stated in a letter to the people of the megachurch, shared Saturday on Facebook.

The pastor looked back over the 38 years of milestones that Saddleback has been achieving, such as becoming the first to grow to 10,000 in worship without owning a building, and the first to send the Gospel to all 197 officials nations in the world.

This weekend marked another major milestone, as the 50,000th person was baptized into the faith at Saddleback.

“Imagine all the amazing personal stories of changed lives behind that number! 50,000 individual lives transformed by Jesus since Saddleback Church began. This is unprecedented in history! YOU are likely one of those stories of a changed life!” read Warren’s letter.

The best-selling author said that “love” is the main reason why the church has been so successful.

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Only 23 Christian Refugees from Middle East Allowed Into U.S. in 2018; Trump Blames Obama Administration – Urban Christian News

Christian refugees displaced from Telskuf by the conflict between the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi Forces and Iranian backed Hashd al Shaabi in October 2017. (Photo by Elizabeth Fitt/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

In a now embarrassing January 2017 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Donald Trump was asked, “The refugee changes you’re looking to make, as it relates to persecuted Christians, do you see them as kind of a priority here?” Trump answered, “Yes. They’ve been horribly treated . . . We are going to help them.” However, a new letter from the Evangelical Immigration Table notes that in the first half of 2018, the Trump administration admitted only 23 Middle Eastern Christian refugees.

Trump’s full statement in the Christian Broadcasting Network interview doesn’t deny that Christians in the Middle East face danger but rather casts the blame for their lack of admission into the U.S. on the Obama administration.

Trump vowed to be a strong advocate for Christians who face persecution abroad. “Yes. They’ve been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very, very tough, to get into the United States,” said Trump in the interview. “If you were a Muslim you could come in. But if you were a Christian it was almost impossible. And the reason that was so unfair is that, everybody was persecuted in all fairness, they were chopping the heads off of everybody, but more so the Christians, and I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them.”

The letter from the…

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Terry Waite wrote a book in his head while being held hostage

As an envoy for the Church of England, he travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages and was himself kidnapped and held captive from 1987 to 1991.

He told The Big Issue magazine that the stories he had in his head due to being a reader helped him cope.

 

“I had no pencil and paper, but I could write in my head. I wrote my first book, Taken On Trust, in my head. I was chained up for 23 hours and 50 minutes a day.

“I had no books or papers and no companionship. I slept on the floor. The only way I could survive was to keep myself mentally alive. I didn’t ever feel the close presence of God. I felt alone.

“But I could say, in the face of my captors, you have the power to break my body by beating me, you have the power to bend my mind by interrogating me, but my soul is not yours to possess,” he told the magazine.

He said he knew he might die, but he kept telling himself, “don’t give way to morbid thoughts. You still have life today”.

Mr Waite said he thinks he came out of the experience a better person, adding: “We live in a world of suffering and there isn’t a soul who doesn’t suffer in some way.”

The Big Issue is on sale from Monday.

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Alleged abuse victim vents anger at Church of England after death of John Smyth

Andrew Moore accused the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England and police of shortcomings in their handling of John Symth, who passed away on Saturday.

The 57-year-old told the Daily Telegraph newspaper he – and other alleged victims – had been denied justice and closure by action not being taken sooner.

 

He said: “I’m a generally very forgiving person, but Justin Welby was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

“Jesus would not have silently protected the abusers; he would have stood with the abused.”

Most Rev Justin Welby knew Mr Smyth and attended some of the same holiday camps in Dorset during the 1970s.

They were run by the Iwerne Trust, of which Mr Smyth was once the chair before stepping down. It has since merged with another organisation, the Titus Trust.

It was alleged Mr Smyth beat youngsters, who he had met at the camps, at his home in Hampshire. Mr Smyth is the only staff member at the Iwerne Trust camps accused of abuse.

The allegations against Mr Smyth were not investigated by police until an investigation by Channel 4 last year.

Ten days ago, alleged victims were informed that Hampshire Police had been instructed to question Mr Smyth on UK soil, with a view to mounting a prosecution.

Police had not previously investigated Mr Smyth, saying there was not enough evidence.

 

Officers had not been handed an Iwerne…

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Tim Peake says space trip made his consider intelligent design behind universe

On Friday evening, the Cathedral displayed the Soyuz Capsule which Peake had travelled in.

He spoke about his journey back to Earth in 2016 and answered questions from local children.

According to The Times, he said: “Although I say I’m not religious it doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t seriously consider that the universe could have been created from intelligent design.

“There are many things in science that lead us towards that conclusion.

“From a point of view of seeing how magnificent the Earth is from space and seeing the cosmos from different perspective, it helps you to relate to that.”

Peake added that, as well as the scale of the universe being impressive, looking at the minute details also made him think: “When you look at the smaller scale, the micro level, and you understand quantum mechanics and quantum physics, there are many things that lead us… towards intelligent design of the universe.”

380 people attended the event, including the Dean of Peterborough, Very Rev Chris Dalliston.

The Cathedral’s director of music, Steven Grahl, played the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey on the church organ.

The capsule will be in the cathedral until 5th November.

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A “mission to touch the sun”

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else” (C. S. Lewis).

NASA launched a spacecraft yesterday that will get seven times closer to the sun than previous spacecraft. One NASA scientist called it a mission to “touch the sun.”

The Parker Solar Probe will cover 96 percent of the 93 million miles between us and our closest star. It will make twenty-four close approaches to the sun over the next seven years.

We’re obviously interested in the sun since life on our planet depends on it. But frankly, our sun is nothing special in the larger universe. While it would take one million Earths to fill it, the sun is just average compared to other stars in our galaxy. Betelgeuse, for instance, is about seven hundred times bigger and about 14,000 times brighter.

In total, scientists estimate that there are one billion trillion stars in the known universe. And God “gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4).

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). How is this declaration in the heavens relevant to the hard choices we must make on earth?

The true test of faith

It’s easy to obey God when we understand why we should. The test of faith comes when we are called to step beyond what we understand or even want to be true.

If you’re like most of us, you’re facing such a step today. God is asking you to do something or stop doing something, to forgive someone or to seek forgiveness, to stand courageously for his word and will in a skeptical culture, but it’s hard. If it were easy, you would already have done what he asks.

Today’s Daily Article was born in a statement I read yesterday in My Utmost for His Highest: “There are stages in life when there is no storm, no crisis, when we do our human best; it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely.”

It is far easier to trust…

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