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News about cults, sects, alternative religions... |
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Religion Items In The NewsJune 1, 1999 (Vol. 3, Issue 88)
![]() NOTE: Unlike the edition posted to the AR-talk list, items in the archived newsletters will, time-permitting, link back to entries in the Apologetics Index.
If links have not yet been provided, check the Apologetics Index for further information.
=== Main
1. Prosecutors seek death sentence for AUM gasser 2. Cult member may face hanging (Aum) 3. AUM members move under local pressure 4. Move to outlaw killer Aum cult 5. Dead notary's sister takes stand against Aum 6. Sect children case settled (The Family) 7. Ombudsman: British Columbia owes Doukhobors apology, compensation 8. Top French Court Sends Einhorn Back To U.S 9. Investigators: Former employee behind death of missing atheist 10. Ex-Aryan security chief sentenced in assault 11. Satanic Ritual Ends With Stabbing 12. Prosecutor accuses two of killing cousin for shunning her culture 13. Montessori Parents Protest; Petition against Scientology 14. Proceedings against Scientology in Madrid postponed 15. Spanish Parliament plans Sect Observation Agency 16. Russian Court Rejects Church Ban 17. Buddhism in blossom 18. Buddhist festival goes national 19. Young Hindus bring ancient faith to a crossroads in U.S. 20. Hare Krishnas in Yugoslavia feel war's stress 21. Faith finds new worth in old ways 22. Witches brew up protest for Barr meeting 23. Wiccan leader flies out of broom closet (Curott) 24. For New Age action, it's hard to beat Brasilia 25. New law would affect rights of Catholic church in Chile 26. Alternative treatments finding a following 27. Hinckley Breaks Ground on Temple `Where It All Began,' Hill Cumorah 28. Genealogy Site Overwhelmed by Millions of Hits (LDS) 29. Bishop T.D. Jakes puts Phila. Pentecostals on their feet 30. Churches agree on need for revival, differ on what it should look like 31. LWF, Roman Catholics ready to sign 'Joint Declaration' === Noted 32. A Path to the 12 Steps: How Alcoholics Anonymous Began 33. Chuck Colson's Miracle 34. Hits and Myths (Star Wars; The Matrix) 35. For Some, Doom Is in the Digits, in the Web === Books 36. Millennialism thrives at the end of the millennium 37. Author disputes end-of-the-world theology === The Church Around The Corner 38. God makes it all happen... === Main 1. Prosecutors seek death sentence for AUM gasser Mainichi Daily News, June 1, 1999 http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/news04.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
A member of one of the AUM Shinrikyo death squads that released lethalsarin gas on Tokyo subways in 1995, killing 12 and sickening thousands, should receive the death penalty, according to prosecutors at the Tokyo District Court on Monday. [...more...] 2. Cult member may face hanging BBC, May 31, 1999 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_357000/357188.stm (Story no longer online? Read this)
[Aum Shinrikyo](...) Masato Yokoyama is one of the many cult members on trial for his part in the sarin gas attack, which killed 12 and injured thousands more on Tokyo commuter trains in 1995. But this is the first time that the prosecution has asked for the death penalty for a cult member for taking part in the gas attack. (...) As no one on the train he was riding was killed, the decision to ask for the death penalty is surprising. But lawyers said that did not mitigate the fact that he had taken an active role in the fatal attack. [...more...] 3. AUM members move under local pressure Mainichi Daily News, June 1, 1999 http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/news07.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
Witch-hunters trying to expel members of doomsday cult AUM Shinrikyo[Story no longer online? Read this] from Kawaguchi are up in arms after the cultists vacated one factory in the city only to relocate in another close by. In the face of vehement opposition among local residents to their presence, cultists accepted eviction notices and reluctantly agreed to shift away from the computer factory they had set up in Kawaguchi. Authorities and residents are still jittery about the cult's intentions. (...) Justice Minister Takao Jinnouchi on Monday announced that the government intends to amend a law so that it can be applied to AUM Shinrikyo in order to regulate the doomsday cult's activities. [...more...] 4. Move to outlaw killer Aum cult Sydney Morning Herald, June 1, 1999 http://www.smh.com.au/news/9906/01/text/world11.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
The Japanese Government will make a second attempt to outlaw thecontroversial Aum Shinrikyo cult responsible for the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system. (...) The aim would be to amend the Antisubversive Activities Law, drafted in 1952, to make it easy for authorities to clamp down on rogue organisations perceived to be a threat to public safety. (...) Critics say the law, designed to suppress the growth of communism in the 1950s, is seriously deficient in dealing with cults like Aum. Unless authorities can prove a political motivation for anti-public acts, any prosecution will fail. [...more...] 5. Dead notary's sister takes stand against Aum Japan Times, May 27, 1999 http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/news5-99/news.html#story3 (Story no longer online? Read this)
A former Aum Shinrikyo follower whose brother was allegedly abductedand drugged to death by cultists testified before the Tokyo District Court on Thursday that the cult's continuing activities threaten the lives of herself and other relatives. In the hearing of Aum founder Shoko Asahara, the sister of Tokyo notary public Kiyoshi Kariya said she still feels insecure about testifying, fearing it could arouse the cult to attack her and Kariya's family. The witness also said she initially was afraid to tell police and prosecutors what she knew because she had suspected Aum members might have infiltrated law enforcement bodies. "Aum is an eccentric cult, and we don't know what they'll do," she said. "I can't believe Aum is still allowed to carry on after all they have done." [...more...] 6. Sect children case settled The Australian, May 28, 1999 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/state/4253595.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
MEMBERS of a religious sect today said they were "thanking God" at thesettlement of their legal battle over the removal of children from their families in dawn raids seven years ago. (...) Outside the NSW Supreme Court, their solicitor, Greg Walsh, said the terms of settlement were confidential but his clients were extremely happy with the outcome. (...) The plaintiffs, 31 of whom are still children, had sued the State, claiming they suffered psychological damage following the raids on the homes belonging to the Christian fundamentalist sect The Family, formerly known as Children of God. [...more...] 7. Ombudsman: British Columbia owes Doukhobors apology, compensation Star-Telegram, May 27, 1999 http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:RELIGION52/1:RELIGION52052799.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) Ombudsman Dulcie McCallum argued the government should give anexplanation, an apology and compensation to those children of the roughly 2,000 Sons of Freedom Doukhobors who suffered strappings, overcrowding and shoddy housing at the prison-like enclave called New Denver Elementary School Dormitory. The ombudsman's damning report has come out in the same year that British Columbia's 22,000 Doukhobors, who traditionally shun military service, meat, religious hierarchy and governments, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their ancestors' arrival in Canada. [...more...] 8. Top French Court Sends Einhorn Back To U.S Excite, May 27, 1999 http://news.excite.com/news/r/990527/18/news-france-usa-einhorn (Story no longer online? Read this)
France's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that U.S. counterculture guru IraEinhorn should be returned to the United States to stand trial for the murder of his girlfriend in Philadelphia more than two decades ago. [...more...] 9. Investigators: Former employee behind death of missing atheist CNN, May 27, 1999 http://www.cnn.com/US/9905/27/missing.athiest.ap/ (Story no longer online? Read this)
A former office manager for Madalyn Murray O'Hair killed the missingatheist, her son and her granddaughter out of hatred and greed, according to an affidavit from an agent of the Internal Revenue Service. The affidavit, unsealed Wednesday, for the first time presents the government's theory behind the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. O'Hair, Jon Garth Murray, and Robin Murray O'Hair in September 1995. The three vanished from San Antonio along with $500,000 in gold coins. [...more...] 10. Ex-Aryan security chief sentenced in assault Spokane.Net, May 25, 1999 http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=052599&ID=s581523&cat= (Story no longer online? Read this)
Former Aryan Nations security chief Edward ``Jesse'' Warfield couldspend as long as five years in prison under a sentence he received Monday. The 44-year-old Missouri resident was sentenced for his role last summer in a car chase and shooting that began on a county road outside the Aryan Nations compound near Hayden Lake. (...) He told the judge that he still sees no reason why the Aryans shouldn't be able to publicly demonstrate their cultural pride with parades in downtown Coeur d'Alene. ``I just don't see where that is such a hateful thing,'' Warfield told the court. Kosonen later asked Warfield why there weren't any Jews or minorities attending activities at the Aryan Nations. When he couldn't answer the question, the judge said, ``Don't you see that it is not a religious movement, it is a racist movement?'' (...) He explained that it wasn't the Aryan Nations symbol or the Nazi swastika that attracted him to Richard Butler's compound, but its formal name, Church of Jesus Christ Christian. ``I went up there under the pretense I would be learning about my Christian heritage,'' he said. [...more...] 11. Satanic Ritual Ends With Stabbing APBNews.com, May 28, 1999 http://www.apbonline.com/911/1999/05/28/satanic0528_01.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
A 17-year-old accused of repeatedly stabbing a friend he asked toparticipate in a satanic ritual pleaded not guilty today to a charge of attempted first-degree murder, authorities said. (...) "The victim thought he was involved in one level of activity and became an unwilling participant in another," Broward County Assistant State Attorney Alex Urruella told APBNews.com. [...more...] 12. Prosecutor accuses two of killing cousin for shunning her culture Akron Beacon, May 26, 1999 http://www.ohio.com/bj/news/ohio/docs/032205.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
An assistant prosecutor accused two men of killing their cousin becausethey were upset she shunned her Muslim culture. ``What these two did was shoot a woman in the back of the head. They believe that their religious belief supersede our law,'' said Carmen Marino, chief of the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's major trials division. [...more...] 13. Montessori Parents Protest; Petition against Scientology Sueddeutschen Zeitung (Germany), May 22, 1999 Translation: German Scientology News http://www.lermanet.com/cisar/990522c.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
3,000 signatures against street recruitment by Scientology werecollected by the 'Montessori Parents / Psycho-sects e.V.' initiative and handed over to Mayor Gertraud Burkert in city hall yesterday. The citizens, children among them, got the signatures of people who, in that past year, have been "shamelessly and repeatedly oppressed" by Scientologists, including those in front of the Dianetics center on Leopold Street. As it said on the initiative's flyer, "We cannot bring ourselves to understand how an organization which is being observed nationwide by Constitutional Security may distribute leaflets daily on the streets and drag unsuspecting citizens off to take tests." It is through the personality test, which gives an essentially negative profile of the person being tested, that citizens are said to be pulled into the Scientology system. Besides financial harm, people risk being put under massive psychical influence. Parents of former students of the Dietramszell Montessori school founded the initiative in 1996, after cases of psycho-terrorism were reported near the school, which children of Scientologists also attend. Gertraud Burkert forwarded the list to the district administrative representative. [...entire item...] 14. Proceedings against Scientology in Madrid postponed epd (Germany), May 25, 1999 Translation: German Scientology News http://www.lermanet.com/cisar/990525b.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
Court proceedings against the Scientology organization in Madrid whichhad been scheduled for June 1 have been postponed. The lawyer representing the 18 accused has himself accused the judge of the 4th chamber of the Madrid court with prejudice, reported the Spanish daily newspaper "El Pais" on Tuesday. Until the highest court in Madrid decides upon this application by the defense, the proceedings are postponed. The process against the leading Scientology members, Scientology President Heber Jentzsch among them, is supposed to last for three months. The state attorney made a total of twelve charges against the accused of violation of Spanish criminal and civil law. Among these charges are the psychical treatment and medical diagnosing with a "personality test" without medical education. People with mild depression suffer personality upsets after this "treatment," according to the state attorney. [...entire item...] 15. Spanish Parliament plans Sect Observation Agency epd, May 26, 1999 Translation: German Scientology News http://www.lermanet.com/cisar/990526a.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
The Spanish Parliament intends to establish a Sect Observation agency.One year ago Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja had warned of a rise in doomsday sects because of the end of the millennium, and now the lower House of Representatives sees this step as being urgently needed, reported the daily newspaper "El Pais" on Wednesday. The Interior Minister, upon an inquiry from Parliament, estimated the number of "destructive sects" in Spain at about 200 and the number of sect adherents at between 100,000 and 150,000. This information was too imprecise for the representatives. The Lower House voted unanimously on Tuesday that the administration should establish a sect observation agency. [...entire item...] 16. Russian Court Rejects Church Ban InfoBeat, May 28, 1999 http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559716016-901 (Story no longer online? Read this)
A Russian court has rejected an attempt to ban a Pentecostalist churchin the far east under a controversial religion law, a defense lawyer said today. Prosecutors in the port city of Magadan had accused the chief pastor of the Word of Life Pentecostalist Church of hypnotizing congregants to extort donations. They tried to ban the congregation under a religion law that gives courts the right to outlaw religious groups found to be inciting hatred or intolerant behavior. The law has been used against several groups recently. [...more...] 17. Buddhism in blossom: Nearly every branch of the religion is represented in the Bay Area, where recent arrivals supplement long-standing communities San Jose Mercury News, May 23, 1999 http://www.sjmercury.com/premium/front/docs/buddhism23.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) Almost unnoticed, Buddhism is flourishing throughout the BayArea, making this one of the few regions outside Asia where almost every branch and sect of the religion can be found. Fueling this growth are newly arrived Buddhist immigrants who -- joining long-established Buddhist communities already here -- underscore the connection between ancient beliefs and new opportunities. Indeed, Silicon Valley is now home to more than two dozen ethnic Buddhist temples and organizations, representing Burmese, Sri Lankan, Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean and several sects of Japanese and Chinese Buddhism. Many of these temples are just a few years old. No one knows how many Buddhists live in the Bay Area -- or in the United States. No group keeps track of these numbers. But Buddhist scholars estimate there are between 1 million and 6 million adherents in the United States, with the heaviest concentrations in the Bay Area and Southern California. [...more...] 18. Buddhist festival goes national Newsday, May 27, 1999 http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpet1i.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
Tricycle, a Buddhist magazine that has sponsored day-long teachings inCentral Park for the past five years, is taking the program national. San Francisco and Williamsport, Pa., have been added to the June 5 "Change Your Mind Day." Tricycle also will sponsor a park session July 10 in Anchorage, Alaska. In this Buddhist brand of evangelism, teachers give introductory talks and invite park passersby to experiment with meditation techniques. [...more...] 19. Young Hindus bring ancient faith to a crossroads in U.S. Dallas Morning News, May 29, 1999 http://www.charlotte.com/observer/faith/docs/050399.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) For more than a generation, most of the nation's approximately1.5 million Hindus -- most of them Indian immigrants -- have paid little attention to their ancient faith. Busy building careers and families, they've tried to blend into America. But now the first generation of American-born Indians is coming of age. They are forcing their baby-boomer parents to reckon with a long-neglected faith. (...) There is a Web site -- www.hindunet.org/ -- aimed at the young. And there is a glossy monthly called Hinduism Today that bills itself as a leader in the Hindu ``renaissance.'' On campuses, Hindu awareness groups are popping up. There is even a small organization called the American Hindu Anti-Defamation Council. (...) Some Hindus believe that if they can rejuvenate their faith, it can become an important new American force, like Islam. Everyone agrees, however, that the path will be difficult. [...more...] 20. Hare Krishnas in Yugoslavia feel war's stress Contra Costa Times, May 22, 1999 http://www.hotcoco.com/news/religion/stories/ard31065.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) Aside from attrition caused directly by the NATO attacks,Purkhmeyer said the Hare Krishna community had already been having a difficult time because of an educational campaign in Serbian schools warning students of the dangers of the Hindu movement. (...) One prominent Serbian Orthodox author, Father Zarko Gavrilovic, said that although he supports Yugoslav citizens' right to choose what they believe, he considers the Hare Krishna movement to be harmful to a society where the traditional denomination has been the Serbian Orthodox Church. "Hare Krishna is not a Christian sect," said Gavrilovic, 67, a theologian who studied at Oxford. "They are taking our territory, our believers, and in some way washing these people's brains." (...) Despite the difficulties, neither Miljic nor Purkhmeyer nor other temple leaders doubted the long-term prospects of the Hare Krishna movement in Yugoslavia. For one thing, Purkhmeyer said, the Hare Krishnas are offering an explanation for a conflict that is beyond explanation for many of those enduring the daily air raids. (...) "Some other religions would answer at this point, 'The ways of God are not known to us.' But from our point of view, we understand that what is happening is an unraveling of karma. This is the result of past deeds. Surely, God is not allowing this to happen accidentally. It is difficult for people to hear, but it is logical," said Purkhmeyer, a former Roman Catholic who quips, "I still like Jesus very much." [...more...] 21. Faith finds new worth in old ways Bergen Record, May 29, 1999 http://www.bergen.com/news/oldnownew199905298.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
The decision this week by the rabbinic leadership of Reform Judaism tofoster old-style practices such as wearing yarmulkes and keeping kosher provoked intense and highly public debate within the largest and most liberal Jewish movement in America. Although the conflict focused on whether the rabbis were turning their backs on the modernist ethos that for a century has defined progressive Judaism, a broader view shows that the embrace of old-style religious customs is going on across the spectrum of religious life in America. In fact, the movement to recover neglected spiritual practices has been growing especially strong in the last two or three years, and it now represents a distinct countercurrent to the prevailing tide that stresses updated worship styles as the way to draw worshipers. Today, mainline Protestants are meditating to Gregorian chants, evangelicals are undertaking purifying fasts, and Eastern Orthodox churches, with their deliberate, incense-infused liturgies, are gaining a steady stream of converts. "We call it the move from 'Gooey-Gooey-God' to 'Honest-to-God,' " said Phyllis Tickle, an editor at Publishers Weekly and author of several books on religion in America, including "Re-Discovering the Sacred." [...more...] 22. Witches brew up protest for Barr meeting AccessAtlanta, May 30, 1999 http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/1999/05/30/barr.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) The Georgia Republican fielded questions from witches, Christiansand other constituents in a packed room at a Cobb County library in Marietta. Barr criticized the commander of Fort Hood this month for allowing a Wiccan rite on the Texas Army base. (...) Barr told the crowd of 120 that Wicca threatened to erode military discipline--a fear not uttered publicly by military commanders--and the First Amendment needed to take a back seat to that concern. He favored the free exercise of Wicca in civilian life or by military personnel off their bases. He claimed officially sanctioning Wicca would open the door to other religious practices, such as peyote use by Native Americans. The Department of Defense is drawing up regulations to cover the use of the hallucinogenic drug, he said. [...more...] 23. Wiccan leader flies out of broom closet Toronto Star, May 22, 1999 http://www.thestar.com/thestar/back_issues/ED19990522/ entertainment/990521LFE03_LI-KASTNER22.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) High priestess Phyllis is tall and blonde, long and lean,somewhere in her 40s. She had a Jewish mother, a Scandinavian sea captain father. Besides being a witch, she is a lawyer. In her Book Of Shadows, A Modern Woman's Journey Into the Wisdom Of Witchcraft And The Magic Of The Goddess (Broadway Books), you will learn that: ``When high-powered Manhattan lawyer Phyllis Curott began exploring witchcraft, she discovered a spiritual movement that defied all stereotypes.'' Tapping deeply into the western world's need to try to figure out what the hell is going on, the book is into its fifth printing, soon to be released in paperback. The front cover blazes with a stunningly opaque blurb from mental magic-meister Deepak Chopra: ``A modern-day Persephone myth full of magic and mystery, Book Of Shadows transcends the bounds of its genre.'' (...) Phyllis turned to witchcraft ``when she began having prophetic dreams and mysterious visions of ancient female figures.'' [...more...] 24. For New Age action, it's hard to beat Brasilia Dallas Morning News, May 22, 1999 http://www.dallasnews.com:80/religion/0522rel3brasilia.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) With about 5,000 members, the Valley of the Dawn is one of morethan 150 mystical religious groups that have sprung up around Brasilia in the past few years. And the number grows every day, researchers say. Now the government in Brasilia is hoping to cash in on the city's mystical image as "the capital of the third millennium" by promoting events around 2000, which coincides with Brazil's 500th anniversary. About half of the 1 million visitors to Brasilia last year came for mystical tourism, officials say. "We believe we can double the number of New Age tourists as the millennium approaches," says Marcelo Dourado, the city's tourism secretary. "Brasilia has a mystical aura that no other city in Brazil has. This is an excellent tourist product." (...) From its founding in 1960, Brasilia has billed itself as the city of the future. Its modernist architecture, framed by an expansive blue sky, and isolated location in Brazil's dry backlands lend the city an otherworldly aura. Many New Age devotees believe the region lies on a bedrock of crystal that is supposed to give it unusual spiritual power. Built in the shape of a bird or airplane, Brasilia was the brainchild of former President Juscelino Kubitschek. (...) Egon and his wife, Inti-Ra, founded the Arcadia organization based on insights from extraterrestrial beings. (...) Fearing the apocalypse, Osho - a Hindu meditation group formed by the late Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - moved onto a spectacular patch of land near Alto Paraiso where it runs an eco-spiritual resort. (...) Controversial groups such as Saint Daime - which uses a hallucinogenic plant borrowed from Indians of the Peruvian Amazon to give members visions - are as welcome in Alto Paraiso as fringe Protestant groups or Hindus. (...) The new religions may have an otherworldly veneer, but they are firmly Brazilian in their incorporation of other traditions and their social role. [...more...] 25. New law would affect rights of Catholic church in Chile EWTN, May 27, 1999 http://www.ewtn.com/ewtn/news/getstory.asp?number=16344 (Story no longer online? Read this)
The bishops of the Church in Chile have signed a statement in whichthey express their disagreement with some aspects of the so called "Law of Cult" to be discussed in the country's senate. The Chilean episcopate has questioned this law, which not only wants to create a legal framework for all the churches that exist in Chile, but that also includes the idea of equality among them. Some parliamentarians have already recognized that the problem with this law is, on one hand, that it gives constitutional level to all religious confessions and, on the other hand, that its phrasing may permit abusive interpretations by small religious groups that have little representation in the national life. [...more...] 26. Alternative treatments finding a following MSNBC, May 26, 1999 http://www.msnbc.com/local/WTHR/38917.asp (Story no longer online? Read this)
It’s the east versus the west in the ways of healing. For centuries theChinese relied on herbs and alternative treatments to heal everything from arthritis to migraine headaches to injury pains. More people are turning to these methods, but do they really work? [...more...] 27. Hinckley Breaks Ground on Temple `Where It All Began,' Hill Cumorah Salt Lake Tribune, May 29, 1999 http://www.sltrib.com/1999/may/05291999/religion/108981.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
At the Mormon church's birthplace, spiritual leader Gordon B. Hinckleybroke ground Tuesday at the planned site of the church's 100th temple. "This is where it all began," said Hinckley. "From this place, this work has spread over the Earth to more than 160 nations and to more than 10 million people. Who could ever have imagined it?" [...more...] 28. Genealogy Site Overwhelmed by Millions of Hits Salt Lake Tribune, May 28, 1999 http://www.sltrib.com/1999/may/05281999/nation_w/108825.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
Staggered by a tidal wave of would-be users, the LDS Church's newInternet genealogy site has been forced to undergo a series of major programming and hardware upgrades less than a week into its launch. On Thursday, less than half of an estimated 1 million people trying to reach FamilySearch on the World Wide Web were getting through. LavaStorm, the Boston-based developer of the service, reported that in addition to the 40 million hits being recorded at the site (http://www.familysearch.org), users representing another 60 million hits were failing to connect. (...) ... LavaStorm contends that FamilySearch already is at least among the top 10 most popular Web sites. [...more...] 29. Bishop T.D. Jakes puts Phila. Pentecostals on their feet Philadelphia Inquirer, May 29, 1999 http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/99/May/29/city/JAKE29.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
The minute Bishop T.D. Jakes arrived on the stage, before he had spokenone word, the crowd at the Convention Center was up and cheering. "He's the apostle for the 21st century!" decreed his presenter, to whistles and shouts of approval. "The man God has raised to minister, bless, uplift and encourage." (...) Bishop Jakes, 41, is a media phenomenon -- part mesmerizing preacher, part merchant savant -- who has risen rapidly to be one of the nation's most recognized clergymen, particularly in black churches. His base of operations is the Potter's House church in Dallas, a megachurch that sits on 28 acres and claims 17,000 members. (...) Before his sermon Thursday, he promoted video series and CDs -- recent items he has produced. Though Bishop Jakes has his church critics, who dislike his "prosperity gospel" and his open self-promoting, they were nowhere to be seen Thursday. (...) "As you go over into the 21st century, this is your year for God to unfold the mystery of His will," he said. "You have never been healed like you're going to be healed when God opens up these blueprints." (...) Bishop Jakes explained that God was not going to allow their lives to end badly: "Things are predestined. God said, 'I fix things before things are going to end.' God could not afford you messing up his plan. "The reason God isn't getting upset every time you get upset is because God has already worked it out," he said. [...more...] 30. Churches agree on need for revival, differ on what it should look like Sun Herald, May 22, 1999 http://vh1459.infi.net/living/docs/heaven052299.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) For many charismatic and evangelical Christians, what's happeningat Brownsville fulfills part of a prophecy by the Rev. David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world's largest Protestant church, Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul. (...) The church was born into an ancient world where casting out devils, raising the dead and prophesying future events were the norm. Today's believers can't agree on whether they should be experiencing the same things their forefathers did. "They (the early Christians) had a power that died with them," said Stewart Custer, a writer and professor at the conservative Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. Custer said similar modern-day events like the Brownsville revival are evil counterfeits that dupe the masses into believing that God has touched them. (...) "There are 5,000 Anglican parishes (in England) that are caught up in the current renewal," Kellner said. "There weren't that many in the Wesleyan revival." (...) "There's a lot of religious activity, but I'm not certain that all the religious activity is aimed at changing people's lives and pointing them to Scripture," said the Rev. Bill Safley, pastor of Michael Memorial Baptist Church in Gulfport. "Revival changes a society." [...more...] 31. LWF, Roman Catholics ready to sign 'Joint Declaration' WFN, May 28, 1999 http://www.wfn.org/conferences/wfn.news/entries/2401372843.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
Following positive conclusion of deliberations between the LutheranWorld Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the RCC and the LWF is now ready for a joint action of confirmation. (...) "Now it can be declared without reservation that the doctrinal condemnations which were set forth mutually by the Lutheran and Catholic sides at the time of the Reformation, do not apply to the teaching on justification by the two parties expressed in the Joint Declaration,"he added. A joint press conference by Dr. Noko and Cardinal Cassidy will take place here on 11 June 1999. [...more...] === Noted 32. A Path to the 12 Steps: How Alcoholics Anonymous Began Fox News, May 26, 1999 http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/health/052699/addiction_aa_side.sml (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) The buddy told Wilson he could also fully recover from alcoholismif he were willing to believe in some concept of God — some power greater than himself. Wilson believed him and experienced, by his own account, a sudden spiritual awakening. (...) Even with its Switzerland-like position of neutrality, AA has not escaped criticism. AA's discussion of God has prompted numerous people to contend that it is a religion or a cult which fosters dependence on support groups. "The phenomenal success of AA is largely the result of its twelfth-step evangelical outreach, which catapults members into cult proselytizing activities," claims an online pamphlet published by Rational Recovery, a rival group. [...more...] 33. Chuck Colson's Miracle Washington Post, May 30, 1999 http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/30/169l-053099-idx.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) Coming soon to a neighborhood near yours: 50 percent of the 1.2million inmates of America's prisons. Such is the churning of the prison population, that many will be outside within a year. Many will be outside only temporarily. The re-arrest rate for former prisoners is 68 percent. That should quicken your interest in the Prison Fellowship, which runs the InnerChange program. The low re-arrest rate for graduates of the fellowship's many programs indicates that those programs can help make incarceration a little less a recycling of repeat offenders at a time when the prisoner population is increasing by more than 1,000 a week. (...) Prison Fellowship's aim, he says, is not rehabilitation, which implies getting people back to the way they were, but regeneration, making them what they never were. Considering the records of the men in question, skeptics say regeneration would be a miracle. The fellowship says, there are precedents. The evidence says it's working. [...more...] 34. Hits and Myths: For some, the spiritual effects rival the special effects in movies such as 'Star Wars' and 'The Matrix' Sacramento Bee, May 22, 1999 http://www.sacbee.com/lifestyle/news/lifestyle01_19990522.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) Are these movies genuinely spiritual? Are their mythic andbiblical references more than window-dressing? Do phrases such as "Stop trying to hit me and hit me" ("The Matrix") really impart the essence of Zen Buddhism? And does anyone really get, let alone care about, the Jungian archetypes that scholars have found in "Star Wars" or ponder the messianic journey of Neo Anderson of "The Matrix"? (...) Even Karen McKinley of Rancho Cordova, who describes herself as an evangelical Christian, says that the religious allusions "don't really have an impact on me. It's not Christianity, and I don't go to the movies to see religious ideas played out. I came for the fun of it." (...) But there are those who have spent a lot of time thinking about the symbolic underpinings of the movies. Books and master's theses have been written on the Jungian archetypes of the original three "Star Wars" movies, and "The Matrix" has received some impressively complex analysis on Web sites such as www.aboutfilm.com. (...) Steven Galipeau is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Los Angeles who has written a book, not yet published, titled "Myth and Symbol in the Adventures of Luke Skywalker." It is, he says, a psychological interpretation of the first three movies. Doing so is important, he says, because the movies "convey a lot of important spiritual understanding that has been lost from traditional religions." (...) The opinion that "Star Wars" in particular is providing a valuable psychological or religious education is not universally held. (...) "It's so American," he says. "In both of these movies, it's all a matter of attitude, of 'digging the spiritual vibe' sort of thing, rather than good works or acts. And they don't take it any further. It's spirituality as a lifestyle choice. "But in the end," he says, referring to Yoda, "The truth is not going to come from a muppet with Frank Oz's voice. [...more...] 35. For Some, Doom Is in the Digits, in the Web San Francisco Chronicle, May 24, 1999 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/ archive/1999/05/24/MN79015.DTL (Story no longer online? Read this)
Past candidates have included the Emperor Nero, various popes, AdolphHitler and Saddam Hussein. Now, at the approach of 2000, a new suspect has emerged in the centuries-long search for the great satanic beast of the Book of Revelation. It is the World Wide Web. Robert Barber, a free-lance Bible sleuth from Oceanside, reports that an obsolete Greek letter, the digamma, representing ``six'' in the ancient Greek alphabet, is pronounced in English as ``W.'' Thus, 666=WWW. (...) Barber is just the latest in a long line of numerologists and amateur Bible buffs to think they have deciphered the mysteries of the Christian apocalypse. [...more...] === Books 36. Millennialism thrives at the end of the millennium Star Democrat, May 21, 1999 http://www.stardem.com/ap/0521bible.html (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) Those intrigued by eschatology, study of the End Times, can learnsomething from "Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond" (Zondervan paperback, $16.99), edited by Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary. (...) The book benefits by having three writers in a format that provides unusually balanced overview. Each writer presents major competing views, followed by replies from the other two. All three writers are conservatives who believe Christ will return, literally and visibly, to establish his kingdom. The authors and their camps: Craig Blaising, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, represents the premillennialists, who take Revelation 20 literally. (...) Kenneth Gentry, Bahnsen Theological Seminary, Placentia, Calif., speaks for the postmillennialists. (...) Robert Strimple, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, speaks for the amillennialists, who see Revelation 20 as symbolizing the church's struggles in the first century and ever since. [...more...] 37. Author disputes end-of-the-world theology Charlotte Observer, May 29, 1999 http://www.charlotte.com/observer/faith/docs/022853.htm (Story no longer online? Read this)
(...) Now she [Grace Halsell - awh] has plunged herself intoend-of-the-world biblical prophecy in researching her latest book, ``Armageddon: Understanding God's End Game.'' (...) Her latest book, which is to be released this year, expresses her fears about the end-times theology of many Christians. (...) Another of Halsell's books, ``Prophecy and Politics: the Secret Alliance Between Israel and the U.S. Christian Right'' (Lawrence Hill, $9.95), published in 1989, also explores her concerns about Armageddon theology. (...) Armageddon theology is preached by much-admired evangelists, such as Billy Graham and Luis Palau. But as the year 2000 approaches, Halsell said she is alarmed by end-of-the-world comments being made by many, particularly Falwell and Pat Robertson, president of the Christian Broadcasting Network. ''Their sermons are filled with scary stuff,'' Halsell said. (...) Halsell bases her views solely on her own research and experiences as a professing Christian and not on any credentials as a biblical scholar. She argues that those who preach Armageddon theology replace Christ's teachings about universal love with a God of war. [...more...] === The Church Around The Corner [Story no longer online? Read this] 38. God makes it all happen Religion News Service: "God makes it all happen. If He doesn't, who the [h***] does? I'd like them to tell me that." -- Mary Giovani, 83-year-old resident of Cranford, N.J., asked by USA Today her opinion of American Atheists moving its headquarters to Cranford.
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