From Bridget…
March 10, 2007
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A basic conundrum for stubborn muzbots:
The koran states that the sun goes around the earth.
But it is the earth the travels around the sun.
Ergo, the koran is not from god (unless s/he is a real tease)
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Thirty-three Chinese and Three Korea Pastors Released in Henan after International Pressure; One Sentenced for 10 Days Detention
March 10, 2007
MIDLAND, Texas, Mar. 7 /Christian Newswire/ — China Aid Association has learned after intensive international pressure the local police released 33 arrested house church leaders and three leaders from South Korea. One leader pastor Dong Quanyu was sentenced to 10 days administrative detention for “illegal gathering.”
Photo: Arrested Pastor Dong Quanyu
Pastor Dong is the vice-President of Chinese House Church Alliance. They were raided a house church Bible study in Wancheng District, Nanyang city, Henan province on March 6, 2007. They were taken to the police station for interrogation for almost one day.
Contact the PSB office of Nanyang City to show your concern:
Police Special Squad Director Mr. Chang Keying: +86- 13837767278 (cell phone)
Deputy PSB Director Mr. Lu (on religious affairs): +86- 13603778696(cell phone)
PSB office Tel: +86-377-63311110
Christian Newswire
MIDLAND, Texas, Feb. 26 /Christian Newswire/ — China Aid Association learned that Beijing house church activist Hua Huiqi’s 77-year- old mother, Ms. Shuang Shuying was sentenced to two years by Beijing Chongwen District People’s Court on February 26, 2007 on the charge of willfully damaging public and private property.
The Court only spent an hour hearing this case and quickly sent the verdict. Since the trial date was set on the first work day after the Chinese New Year period, her lawyer was not able to collect any evidence to defend her. She was arrested when she walked to the Chongwen district office to seek information about her son pastor Hua Huiqi who was arrested since January 26. Hua is an active house church Christian in Beijing. He has been passionately serving the ministry and assisting lots of persecuted Christians and oppressed peasants. The Beijing government has been seeking opportunities to take revenge against this family for their active support of the oppressed.
Photo: sister Shuang Shuying in the District Government office
“We are shocked by the injustice done to this elder Christian lady,” said Bob Fu who is the former coworker of Hua, “it definitely represents a new low on the so-called rule of law in China especially in the host city of 2008 Summer Olympics.”
Letter of your concern can be sent to:
Premier Wen Jiabao, PRC
PO Box 1741, The State Council, Beijing, PRC (zip code 100017)
Contact Phone: +86-10-66012399
Ms. Wu Aiying, minister of Ministry of Justice of PRC
Tel: +86-10-65205114
Fax: +86-10-64729863
Address: No. 10, Nan Da Jie, Chaoyangmen, Beijing City (Zip Code: 100020)
Christian Newswire
Ten Reasons Why The Jesus Tomb Claim is Bogus
March 10, 2007
Leading Scholars Say Discovery Channel ‘Documentary’ Makes for Good TV, Bad History and Bad Science
MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 26 /Christian Newswire/ — The claim of James Cameron and the Discovery Channel that a tomb contains the bones of Jesus is bogus, said leading Biblical and archeological scholars today.
“Unfortunately, this is a story full of holes, conjectures and problems,” said Dr. Ben Witherington, author of What Have They Done With Jesus? and New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary. “It will make good TV and involves a bad critical reading of history. Basically, this is old news with a new interpretation. We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. There are all sorts of reasons to see this as much ado about nothing much.”
Witherington and other leading biblical scholars and archeologists say there are at least 10 reasons why the “Jesus Tomb” claim is completely bogus:
There is no DNA evidence that this is the historical Jesus of Nazareth
The statistical analysis is untrustworthy
The name “Jesus” was a popular name in the first century, appearing in 98 other tombs and on 21 other ossuaries
There is no historical evidence that Jesus was ever married or had a child
The earliest followers of Jesus never called him “Jesus, son of Joseph”
It is highly unlikely that Joseph, who died earlier in Galilee, was buried in Jerusalem, since the historical record connects him only to Nazareth or Bethlehem
The Talipot tomb and ossuaries are such that they would have belonged to a rich family, which does not match the historical record for Jesus
Fourth-century church historian Eusebius makes quite clear that the body of James, the brother of Jesus, was buried alone near the temple mount and that his tomb was visited in the early centuries, making very unlikely that the Talipot tomb was Jesus’ “family tomb”
The two Mary ossuaries do not mention anyone from Migdal, but simply has the name Mary, one of the most common of all ancient Jewish female names
By all ancient accounts, the tomb of Jesus was empty, making it highly unlikely that it was moved to another tomb, decayed for one year’s time, and then the bones put in an ossuary
“In light of all the incredible number of problems with the recent claim that Jesus’ grave has been found, the time-honored, multi-faceted evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus is more convincing than ever,” said Dr. Gary Habermas, an expert on the resurrection of Jesus and author of The Case for the Resurrection. “Even the early opponents of the Christian message acknowledged that Jesus’ tomb was empty. And the evidence for Jesus’ bodily resurrection appearances has never been refuted.”
These leading Biblical and archeological experts are available for media interviews:
Dr. Ben Witherington
Bible scholar, speaker, author of 30 books including What Have They Done With Jesus? and The Jesus Quest
Professor of New Testament Interpretation
Asbury Theological Seminary
Wilmore, Kentucky
859-223-6308
benw333@hotmail.com
curriculum vitae
Dr. Darrell Bock
Media spokesman / Editor-at-large for Christianity Today /Author, Breaking the Da Vinci Code and Jesus in Context
Professor of New Testament Studies
Dallas Theological Seminary
Dallas, Texas
214-824-3094 x3715
DBockDTS@aol.com
website
Dr. Craig Evans
Author, Jesus and the Ossuaries and Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
Professor of New Testament
Acadia Divinity College
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
902-585-2221
craig.evans@acadiau.ca
curriculum vitae
Dr. Gary Habermas
Shroud of Turin expert / Author of 27 books including The Case for the Resurrection
Chair, Department of Philosophy and Theology
Liberty University
Lynchburg, Virginia
434-582-2577
website
Dr. Paul Maier
Bible scholar / author of more than 15 books including The Da Vinci Code – Fact or Fiction?, More Than a Skeleton and Josephus – The Essential Works
Professor of Ancient History
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, Michigan
(269) 387-4816
maier@wmich.edu
faculty profile
Joe Zias
- Thirty years professional experience in the field of Medical/ Physical anthropology
- Over 80 articles in peer reviewed medical and scientific journals
- Science and Archaeology Group at Hebrew University. Former senior curator of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Israel Antiquities Authority for which he was responsible for the curation of the antiquities stored in the Israel Antiquities Authority, ranging from the Pre-historic periods up to the 18th Century AD. These objects, numbering over 75,000, included the Dead Sea Scrolls, pre-historic human skeletal remains as well as artifacts from the regions premier archaeological sites such as Jericho, Megiddo, and Gezer.
972-2-588-2811 Hebrew University (from United States first dial 011)
joezias@yahoo.com
website
Dr. Amos Kloner
Officially oversaw the work at the tomb in 1980 and has published detailed findings on its contents
Professor, Department of Land of Israel Studies
Bar-Ilan University
Jerusalem, Israel
klonera@mail.biu.ac.il
972-3-531-7283 (from United States first dial 011)
Christian Newswire
Another Bogus Claim Against Christianity
March 10, 2007
WASHINGTON/ Another bogus claim has been made against Christianity in a documentary entitled “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.” James Cameron has made the claim that he found the lost tomb of Jesus who was actually married to Mary Magdalene and they had a son together.
The documentary also claims that Jesus was never resurrected and so the religion of Christianity is left without a truthful leader. However, this work is completely lacking in truth and it goes against all the historical references we can find. It also goes against the use of DNA which this report says they used. This technology did not exist until recently and so how can we ever know the DNA of Jesus?
It is hard to tell where the idea first started that Christianity should always be the first group to be attacked. This lie is not unlike the one that says Christians are not to be involved in politics. It is untrue and lacks any Biblical support at all.
“One thing is for certain, the person who started this rumor has never read the Bible,” according to Don Swarthout, President of Christians Reviving America’s Values (CRAVE.)
Swarthout said, “Whoever started the rumor that Christians were not to be involved in politics was obviously not a Christian. It was someone who wanted to keep Christians out of politics.”
Swarthout continued, “A lot people say that Christians are not to be involved in politics, but I think that we should mix the principles of our Christianity with absolutely everything in our lives.”
The Bible teaches us that we are to take dominion over the earth, occupy until He returns and to be good stewards over everything He has given us…And that most certainly includes our nation.
Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” How are we supposed to know whether or not a righteous man is ruling if we are not supposed to be interested in politics?
In Matthew 22:21 Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods.” By saying this Jesus said it is lawful for us to pay taxes and therefore to recognize governments.
In Romans 13:1-2 says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Maybe you should reread those last three sentences.
Christians have an obligation to recognize the authority of civil government, unless it conflicts with God’s law. Once again, how will we be able to determine whether civil government is in conflict with God’s law unless we are interested in politics and know something about politics?
Christians also have an obligation to sound the trumpet to warn our people about an impending national disaster just like it says in Ezekiel 3:20. To see an impending disaster coming and do nothing is wrong. How are we going to warn the people about an impending political disaster if we are not involved in politics?
Don Swarthout concluded, “I think everyone would agree with me that if we would just try to live by the Ten Commandments, the world would be a much better place. However, the Ten Commandments never told us Christians to stay out of politics so let’s get involved.”
There are thousands of causes to choose from today. So choose one and get to work, before another day gets away from you. Run for office, write a letter to your elected officials, call your elected officials, write a letter to the editor, Pray for America everyday and if you can’t do anything else mail a track in every bill you pay. Do whatever you can think of to call attention to your cause.
Christians, let’s get involved today before any other unfounded claims and attacks are made against Christianity.
Over 5,000 Souls Saved as Evangelist Dan Owens Proclaims the Gospel in Gitega Burundi Africa
March 10, 2007
SAN DIEGO, Mar. 5 /Christian Newswire/ — Eternity Minded Ministries with Dan Owens recently returned from Gitega, Burundi on a truly miraculous mission trip complete with humanitarian aid, five evening festivals, discipleship training, and community ministries. Eternity Minded Ministries (EMM) is a non-profit faith based organization founded and led by Dan Owens. Dan Owens reveals, “The Lord was clearly leading us to expand our ministry to Gitega.” Carl Dawson, EMM’s ministry director, shared “The enemy was working against us and tried to keep us away. We were told that Gitega is a cold city unreceptive to the Word and that we would be wasting our time.” Eternity Minded Ministries obeyed the Lord and sent in the troops with the largest EMM ministry team to date. Twenty nine volunteers supported this mission trip along with Dan Owens, Carl Dawson, and EMM’s pastoral representative in Africa. This mission was certainly not a waste of time as the Lord was truly glorified in Gitega.
Dan Owens says, “Gitega was a festival of prayer. Over 5,000 came to Christ because of prayer.” The enemy set a number of stumbling blocks to keep EMM from ministering in Gitega. For example, the team was asked to postpone the festival for three months due to raining and flooding in the area. It has also been said that the demonic activity in Gitega has been so great over the years that many evangelists have avoided the area. But our Lord is greater and He won in Gitega.
Our Lord equipped EMM with a spirit-filled team ready to go and fight for Him and a faithful prayer team at home. Local pastors were surprised on the first night when nearly 15,000 people came on the grounds. People were hanging out of trees to see Dan Owens and listen as he gave the message and laid out the plan of salvation. Pastors may have been surprised at the turnout; but at the end of the first night when nearly 2,000 people came forward – they were astonished.
Because rain was a concern, prayer warriors were vigilant in asking the Lord to hold back the rains. During the five day festival it rained in the morning, in the evening, in areas around the grounds, and it even rained at the end of the festival. Praise the Lord – it NEVER rained once during the Gospel message and not one day of ministry was lost due to rain.
During the day the ministry troops went to schools, prisons, hospitals, orphanages and military barracks to share the love of Christ and be a witness; and ground was broken on the new Christian school in Gitega that is being built with funds raised by Eternity Minded Ministries. By the end of the last festival night over 75,000 people heard the Gospel and over 5,000 people came forward to receive Jesus Christ and prayer. Thousands received spiritual as well as physical healing during the festival evenings. Dan Owens says “I was especially touched after watching a woman receive prayer for physical healing and then immediately throw down her crutches and run over to me with complete joy on her face as she walked for the first time in years. Our God is truly amazing and ALL things are possible through Him.”
The Lord was truly glorified in Gitega and He made His salvation known. Eternity Minded Ministries will continue to minister in Gitega as churches are planted and pastors are trained. Contact EMM for more information about the Christian school project and the Seed and Seeds programs that will continue to glorify the Lord in Gitega.
Eternity Minded Ministries is a non-profit 501(c)(3) evangelistic ministry founded and led by Dan Owens, evangelist, author, and speaker. EMM is devoted to proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost and hurting world, providing humanitarian aid, training disciples, and promoting renewal and spiritual growth in local churches.
Visit www.eternityminded.org for more information about Eternity Minded Ministries with Dan Owens, and sign-up to receive free weekly devotionals.
Christian Newswire
WASHINGTON Mar. 7 /Standard Newswire/ — U.S. Representative Frank Wolf’s (R-VA) controversial Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act is scheduled for a vote in the House Resources Committee today. It stalled last year after protests by property rights groups.
Wolf’s legislation would create a 175-mile preservation zone from central Virginia to southern Pennsylvania where land use could be curtailed. The bill would give preservationist groups substantial influence in the process, tasking them with drafting a land use “management plan.”
“Congressman Wolf has simply resurrected his failed Heritage Area initiative from last year, slapped a few cosmetic changes on it, and is now trying to push it through the new Congress,” said Peyton Knight, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for the National Center for Public Policy Research. “Like most sequels, this one is not worth the price of admission.”
The bill failed last year despite Wolf slipping a million- dollar earmark into the 2005 federal transportation bill to fund the principal lobbying group behind his bill.
Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) introduced an alternative bill to address concerns found in the Wolf bill about private property rights, federal overreach and earmarks.
Key differences between the proposals:
* The Wolf bill would earmark $10 million federal tax dollars for interest groups; the Barlett bill would not. The Wolf bill recommends that these interest groups disburse their taxpayer-subsidized windfall to “states and their political subdivisions” for the purpose of promoting the land use policies the preservation groups favor.
Richard Falknor of the Maryland Taxpayers Association notes: “The Bartlett approach would not authorize using taxpayer money to lobby local governments to restrict the property rights of ordinary Americans in the proposal’s four-state area.”
* Under the Wolf proposal, preservationist groups and the National Park Service would be directed to create a “management plan” that includes an “inventory” of property that should be targeted for preservation. The Bartlett bill includes no such inventory.
“The Wolf bill would enable special interest groups and the federal Park Service to impose a narrow, preservationist agenda on the citizens of the area,” says John Taylor, president of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy Research.
* The Bartlett bill requires that property owners be notified of any pending Heritage Area designation encompassing their land. The Wolf bill does not.
* The Wolf bill would not require that property owners be compensated for losses; the Bartlett bill would.
