Muslims and Indians in Manitoba team up against white people

A pattern has emerged in recent years of groups of non-white people who otherwise have nothing in common with one another coming together to oppose white people for the heinous crime of being white. One such example is the National Immigration Table, which may be the subject of another blog post, if I can ever get around to it. Another example is the one below, as reported by John Longhurst in the Winnipeg Free Press, January 20, 2025:

At first glance, Muslims and Indigenous people in Manitoba might not have much in common.

However, the two groups have experienced racism and the effects of colonialism, including efforts to convert them to Christianity.

“We are all living with the history and trauma of colonization,” Shahina Siddiqui, executive director of the Islamic Social Services Association, said. “We have much in common from that experience.”

The association will hold the first national Muslim-Indigenous Solidarity Conference, which is happening at the Hilton Suites Airport Hotel on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26.

Siddiqui said the goal is to “strengthen the bonds between the Muslim and Indigenous communities through learning, sharing and healing circles.”

Indigenous elders, Muslim imams, community leaders, academics and activists are scheduled to make presentations.

Topics to be discussed include the legacy of colonialism for Indigenous people and Muslims in North America; the role of colonialism in gender-based violence; the role of the church in assimilation, education and Christianization of Indigenous people in Canada and Muslims around the world; the spiritual commitment of Indigenous people and Muslims to peace, justice and human rights; and the role of spirituality in healing for members of both groups.

In addition, there will be space for smudging and to speak to counsellors.

“The legacy of colonialism is still with us today in the form of racism and dehumanization,” Siddiqui said, noting many countries in the developing world that are home to Muslims — Egypt, Syria, Sudan, India, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Indonesia — were colonized by European powers such as Britain, France and the Netherlands from the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.

“This is an opportunity for members of both communities to hear from each other how they are addressing the colonial legacy and racism, so we can share and learn together and build resilience,” she said.

The "efforts to convert them to Christianity" have had a fair amount of success when it comes to Native people in Canada, since most still identify as Christians of one kind or another. The statement by Ms. Siddiqui is more than a little disingenuous, given that Muslims make efforts to convert others to Islam, while trying to make their new homes into Muslim nations.

Ms. Siddiqui's comment about the spiritual commitment of Muslims to peace, justice and human rights is laughable. The Muslim idea of peace is a lack of opposition to Islam; justice means the imposition of Islamic law; and I dare anyone to name one Muslim nation that respects human rights. In the nations that she mentions, colonialism had the beneficial effect of suppressing the most unpleasant aspects of the native cultures, such as tribal conflict. When it comes to the "legacy of colonialism," the main legacy is everything that these peoples have that can be regarded as mmodern, especially technology.

Trinity Western University promotes events that divide rather than unite Christians

Anyone who thinks that evangelical universities and colleges are actually Christian isn't paying attention; it's becoming increasingly difficult to see any difference between these institutions and the world, especially as the world becomes more anti-Christian. Submitted for your approval, the following items from the events page of Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia (bold, links in original):

27/01/2023 - 10:00 :

Trinity Western University's Lunar New Year celebrations bring students, staff, and the community together at Langley and Richmond campuses

As a global Christian university, Trinity Western is a community of learners representing over 80 countries. This year, during Lunar New Year, a festival celebrated by many communities globally, Trinity Western's Langley and Richmond campuses are filled with activities.

On January 23, TWU's Intercultural Student Programs (ICP) kicked off a week-long series of events for students and the campus community, starting with a Korean Dinner hosted in the Global Lounge (Kuhn Centre) on Monday evening. Students shared laughs and good food while participating in dumpling wrapping and lantern making.

Wema Kibe is a student leader who helped coordinate Monday's community dinner. The third-year International Studies major explained that "Community dinners are a great place for people to not just learn about a culture but to also make new connections. Ushering in the new year with people from diverse places was a great way to do this."

The first activity of the evening was making dumplings, and Wema reflected on the intercultural exchange, "It was fun to see people at different tables creating different shapes. I talked to someone from Japan who made a dumpling the way they do it in her culture, and it was interesting to see that integration."

Student leader Anasthasia Anjanette led participants in making paper lanterns. The activity symbolized "letting go of our past selves" and getting ready for the new year. Wema explains, "Inside the lanterns, they wrote down their wishes for the new year." Prizes were given out to the maker of the best-looking lanterns.

The campus Korean club, Manna, took charge of the cooking and cultural explanations of the food.

On Tuesday, a lion dance troupe graced the foyer of the Reimer Student Centre. Boisterous music and drum beats accompanied the traditional dance performance, which was enjoyed by students, staff, and faculty. Wednesday evening saw student dorms racing through a series of stations across the Langley campus—each station presenting a different game or challenge—in a cross-campus dorm night.

Thursday brought celebrations to TWU Richmond's two sites in Minoru and Lansdowne. Activities included calligraphy writing, trivia games, pastoral care and prayer, and a student dance performance. Dumplings and snacks were served, and red envelopes with a treat and a note of Scriptural encouragement handed out. The MLA for Richmond Centre Teresa Wat attended as well, to share new year greetings with the Richmond campus community.

MBA student Merghani Ahmed expressed that he enjoys studying at TWU Richmond, where the community represents "a diversity of different faiths and nationalities." He also appreciates "the flexibility of classes, and good events, such as today's Lunar New Year event, which are good experiences for students from international backgrounds."

The festivities continued that evening in the Reimer Student Centre, where bubble tea was served by TWU's Student Association (TWUSA), and various booths offered games, conversation, gifts, and snacks.

A week of Lunar New Year events wraps up this Friday evening with a talent show at Block Hall.

30/01/2023 - 09:00

Black History Month 2023 at Trinity Western University

Trinity Western University honours Black History Month this February. Join us as we recognize the importance, impact, and contributions of Black history and culture on a global, national, and local scale.

Find out how TWU is celebrating Black History Month, and how you can participate.

See our month-long schedule of events below:

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Library Event and Book Display – Presentation by Aklilu Mulat, Senior Vice President, Business Operations & CFO, Trinity Western University
February 1 | 11:45 a.m. | Glass Room, Norma Marion Alloway Library

Topic: Blacks' Contribution to the TWU Family: The Ethiopian Connection

Mr. Aklilu Mulat's speech is inspired by his own journey and connection leading to Trinity Western, going as far back to the former emperor of Ethiopia (Haile Selassie), and the visible legacy that the connection created. Lunch provided.

TWU Afro-Caribbean Club (ACC) Games Night
February 2 | 8 p.m. | Global Lounge, Kuhn Centre

Join us in bringing TWU together, especially the student community, for a fun night of games, conversation, and friendship-building. Snacks will be shared.

TWU Chapel
February 3 | 11 a.m. | Enarson Gymnasium

Enjoy a special Praise Chapel worship experience with the TWU BHM Choir.

Black History Month Opening Event
February 3 | 5 p.m. | Kuhn Centre Lobby

Our Black History Month kick-off celebration features music by TWU's BHM Choir and the Kara-Kata Afrobeat Band from Vancouver, alongside talented TWU students Ose Obetoh, David Mutabazi, Eddison Bryan and Tamilore Awonusi.
Warm appetizers and Afro-Caribbean beverages provided.

TWU Chapel
February 8, 10 | 11 a.m. | Enarson Gymnasium

TWU President Mark Husbands continues the Chapel sermon series on Justice.

Black History Month Movie Night
February 15 | 6 p.m. | DeVries Auditorium

Movie: Hidden Figures
See the story of three African-American female mathematicians working at NASA—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson—whose efforts served to launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a monumental accomplishment in U.S. and world history.

February 19
Black History Month Podcast Interview

Learning Matters: a Bridge to Practice – Episode #50

What do you get when a Communication Scholar, Historian, Geographer, and a Biologist walk into a room during Black History Month?

On the podcast Learning Matters: a Bridge to Practice, hosted by TWU's Scott Macklin, professors and scholars Divine Agodzo, Robynne Healey, Maxwell Ofosuhene and Laura Onyango discuss and celebrate intersections of black contributors to history and issues of diversity, inclusion and reconciliation across the full spectrum of our educational offerings and scholarship. Answering questions such as, What do you believe are some of the unique challenges facing Black students in Christian universities today, and how do you work to support and empower them? In your opinion, what can be done to address systemic racism and discrimination within Christian universities and communities? What are some books or movies that you consider helpful in exploring or learning about black history?

Black History Month Closing Celebration
February 27 | Front of Reimer Centre

Talk by Hon. Justice Olufunlola Adekeye, CON, CFR,JSC (rtd.) Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria 2009-2012
February 28 | DeVries Auditorium

Topic: The Place of Black Women in Leadership in the 21st Century—Experience as a Trailblazer

Hon. Justice Adekeye will share her Lordship’s experience as a Christian woman who helped to break the glass ceiling in the Judiciary of Nigeria. She was the first woman to rise to the High Court of Ondo and Ekiti States, and the second woman (and first in Southern Nigeria) to rise to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which is the highest court in the country.

Throughout the month of February: A display of books written by Black authors will be featured at the Norma Marion Alloway Library.

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Gender Cafe: EDID, Politics, and Christian Institutions

Christian organizations should be in the forefront of creating and advancing equitable, diverse, inclusive, and decolonized environments. It is a part of our DNA. So, why are we not leading in this endeavour? The problem is that we follow the political and cultural trends instead of forging faith-led approaches to achieving a just and humane society. How are Christians called to lead the work of shaping the Beloved Community?

Dr. Adkins’ talk will be followed by discussion and a question-and-answer period.

It's FREE and open to the public and refreshments are provided.

About the Speaker

Jennifer Adkins, PhD, is Vice President of Inclusive Excellence at TWU. An expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion, she is a key member of the executive leadership team, the University leadership council, and the strategic planning committee, and she provides strategic leadership and counsel to the University. She is advancing TWU’s work in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and helping to propel the University forward in pursuit of our shared vision to prepare graduates for faithful lives of excellence.

About the Gender Studies Institute at TWU

The Gender Studies Institute fosters interdisciplinary teaching, intellectual dialogue, research, and collaboration in all areas of gender studies. The interdisciplinary nature of the institute will enable TWU scholars to collaboratively address with students gender issues that come out of every discipline, such as domestic violence, child abuse, and gendered visions of care, exploring how categories such as class, race, and gender intersect, to train leaders who will enjoy and foster restorative gendered relationships. The role of our Christian faith in the working out of gender in all aspects of life will inform our teaching and research.

Lunar New Year has considerable worldly superstition and pagan content; from the article The Lunar New Year: Rituals and Legends at the site Asia for Educators (bold, links in original):

Preparations for the New Year

... Domestically there is a traditional cleansing as well. In decades past, the most thorough “spring cleaning” of the year was initiated as a ritualistic sweeping away of all the evil spirits feared to be lurking in dark corners behind heavy and rarely moved pieces of furniture. Today, the only consideration for the vast majority of Chinese is a spotless presentation of one’s home to the many family members and guests who will be welcomed during the holiday season. Windows are washed, or were repapered in the old days, and the courtyard gate or other wooden parts of the house might be repainted. The old agrarian calendar cites the 20th day of the 12th lunar month as the “day for sweeping floors,” and this date still marks the beginning of the major pre-holiday housecleaning projects in Hong Kong. In much of China, peasants waited until the 23rd (in South China) or the 24th (in the North) to pick up the broom and dust pan. It was on this day that the Kitchen God, or god of the hearth, was scheduled to depart to make his report concerning household activities to the Jade Emperor in heaven. So as not to unnecessarily disturb and possibly offend him, housewives waited until he was on his way before they started moving furniture and raising dust.

Sending the Kitchen God off to heaven was a matter deserving special attention. In residence year-round at the hearth, where he was represented by a prominently displayed picture, or in parts of the South by beautifully calligraphed characters for his name, the Kitchen God observed all the family’s comings and goings. Had they been generous to any beggar at the door? Had they wasted any hard-earned food, which some farmer had toiled and sweated to produce? Measures were taken to insure the kitchen god’s cooperation in giving a glowing report to the Jade Emperor, and thereby winning for the family a little heavenly favor. This included ritual offerings of candies or pastries and wine, and even smearing his lips with honey to make certain that he would only have sweet things to say about the family. Once this was done, the picture of the Kitchen God was torched, and he was off on his yearly journey, not to return until New Year’s Day. The dusting, washing, and scrubbing could then begin. Many believed they should sweep with inward strokes toward the center of the room so as not to whisk any of the family’s good fortune out the door...

...New Year’s Eve

By New Year’s Eve, family members, some of whom may have traveled long distances to return home, gather for a reunion. In preparation for his return from heaven on New Year’s Day, the new portrait of the Kitchen God is hung, as are the brand new door gods, the duilian (door couplets), and any other festive decor. Some southern families place stalks of sugar cane behind the doors. The height and section-upon-section construction of the sweet stalks represented the family’s hope for a ladder-like ascent to new levels of glory in the coming 12 months. Everyone dresses up, preferably in new clothes, and is on best behavior.

Traditionally, on this last night of the year, the male head of the household led the family in making offerings to various gods of the house and to the ancestors. The ceremonies would begin by sealing the cracks around the door with red paper to prevent the last vestiges of the old year’s bad luck from stealing into the house, and any of the family’s good luck from escaping. Respects would be paid to the god of wealth, the gods of the well, the bed, the hearth, or any others with whom the family wanted to remain on especially good terms. The attention would then turn to the ancestors, to whom sacrifices of food would be given along with burning of incense. Each member of the family would kneel in respect before the ancestral tablets, symbols of many past generations, all the spirits of whom some families believed were in attendance that night. In wealthier households, an entire room might be devoted to use as an ancestral hall, complete with altar, while in poorer families, the ancestral tablets might occupy a modest shed in a corner. Just as important was to show respect to one’s living elders. Younger family members would ketou (kowtow) to members of each generation above them, in order, beginning with the eldest. When children showed respect in this way, they were rewarded with red envelopes (hongbao), which contained New Year’s money (yasui qian)...

...New Year Festivities

...It was at this time that the male head of the house in many educated households would write auspicious characters or phrases to be hung at the entrance to the home. Some also waited for this day to approach the ancestral altar for seasonal rites, and to perform ritual ketou...

...In the days after the new year, it is common to make pilgrimages to temples, especially nowadays for residents of Hong Kong. Theater groups and acrobatic troupes perform in the streets at marketplaces, on temple grounds, or at large public stadiums. Dragon dances, lion dances, stilt-walking performances, and folk pageantry are still particularly popular...

...The Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the first lunar month is known as the “Lantern Festival.” The name for this day on the traditional calendar is Yuanshao, which has come to mean the small round dumplings of rice flour conventionally eaten at this time. The Lantern Festival signals the end of the New Year festival period.

Originally, lanterns were said to have been used on this night to help see the gods by torch light. Each family would construct an elaborate paper lantern for this purpose. Now in many parts of China there is great emphasis on the craftsmanship used in making exquisite lanterns in a variety of shapes and styles, which are then often shown at public exhibitions.

All of the events mentioned above appeal to only certain segments of the population rather than the whole. Lunar New Year is of interest mainly to Orientals; Black History Month helps to perpetuate the separation of Negro history from general history; and "equitable, diverse, inclusive, and decolonized" is Orwellian Newspeak for "eradicate everything coming from white people, especially white males." I defy anyone to find anything distinctively Christian in these events--or in allegedly Christian institutions of higher education.

United Church of Canada holds racially segregated mandatory workshops--for "racial justice"

The United Church of Canada continues to be completely beyond the possibility of satire. As reported by True North Wire, May 25, 2021 (link in original):

The United Church of Canada is holding courses on “racial justice” — with attendees being segregated by race.

According to the United Church’s distance learning website, the church is offering a four part “Racial Justice Workshop,” with two of the parts being segregated into white and non-white classes.

The training is mandatory for all active ministry personnel and open to the public.

“We will be meeting in separate groups according to our racial identities: one group are people who self-identify as Indigenous, Black and other Peoples of Colour (BIPOCs) and another group are people who self-identify as White,” the course description reads.

Ministry personnel in the United Church have been required to take racial justice training since 2006 and have appeared to make combatting racism a priority, going so far as to create a “Dismantling White Privilege Working Group.”

The course description goes into detail trying to justify segregating attendees by race, saying that white people and people of colour have different needs...

From the horse's mouth, i.e., the U.C.C.'s United in Learning page (bold, links in original):

Racial Justice Workshop

Course Description

The racial justice educational sessions take place over four sessions. For sessions 1 and 2, which form the mandatory components, we will be meeting in separate groups according to our racial identities: one group are people who self-identify as Indigenous, Black and other Peoples of Colour (BIPOCs)*** and another group are people who self-identify as White.

Sessions 3 and 4, which are optional sessions, will be in racially mixed groups. Select this link for more details on these sessions.

Why are we meeting in separate groups for these initial sessions? It is because the learning needs of BIPOCs are often different from the learning needs of White people. Because of their lived experiences, BIPOCs certainly have different day-to-day realities than those of White people. At times, in past educational sessions, BIPOCs were often called on to “educate” White people about racism but did not necessarily have opportunities to do their own learnings. And White people have sometimes felt that the need to self-censor because they did not want to say anything “wrong” in front of a BIPOC person, even if they had genuine questions about racial justice. As a result, not everyone was receiving the full educational experience.

The Rev. Dr. Bill Smith, previous Chairperson of the Dismantling White Privilege Working Group, also adds the following, “The White Privilege Working Group realizes that separating into groups along racial lines may be uncomfortable for some and may be seen as an act of segregation.” There is, however, a difference between historical segregation and creating settings by self-identified groups that are beneficial for people to have their own space and conversations. The method used in these racial justice sessions is by self-identified groups and is in response to requests made by people who are Indigenous, racialized, and bi-racial to have their own space for dialogue.

Our churches have a history of occasionally gathering people separately, based on their identities or their learnings needs—many churches, for example, will gather children and youth separately for Sunday school or youth programs (instead of being part of the worship service). Similarly, self-identified women might gather separately as part of the United Church Women. For this particular educational program on racial justice, having groups meet separately who self-identify differently racially can take into consideration the different lived experiences and different learning needs of people’s encounters with race. It offers a safer (or brave) space for people to explore questions with people who may have had similar experiences with as themselves.

*** We want to note that language is ever-changing and evolving, and language is always imperfect. Previously, this workshop has used the term “racialized” to denote a reference to all people of colours. At the moment, we are using the term BIPOC for racialized. We encourage the participants of these workshops to please be mindful not to get hang up on the terms as labels to one’s racial identity. The intent of the workshop is to help us work towards our commitment on dismantling systemic racism in our denomination and local communities of faith.

Mandatory Training

Racial justice training for all active ministry personnel was mandated at the 39th General Council 2006. The proposal came out of a long history of the United Church's engagement with issues of social justice. In 2000, the United Church adopted its Anti-Racism Policy statement; racial justice training is one effort to help the church continue to live out its principles.

As of 2017 we're also opening this program to all members of the church. The Program Committe on Programs, Mission and Ministry notes, "The current form of the racial justice training is receiving very good feedback, and it is therefore particularly commended to people serving in any leadership capacity within the church."

Currently, unlike the Boundaries credential, this credential does NOT need to be refreshed every five years. Those who have done racial justice training previously, either online with United-in-Learning or in a Conference-based course, need not take it again. Ministry Personnel, however, must complete Sessions 1 & 2 of this credential in order to register for Sessions 3 & 4.

Please note that records of online participants since 2011 have been uploaded to www.ChurchHub.ca during the summer of 2019. Records of participants at Conference-based face-to-face programs are still in process. If you participated in one of these programs, and Church Hub does not yet indicate this, don't panic! The records will be completed soon. However, if you require a letter of good standing immediately, and you don't see your participation recorded at Church Hub, you can contact the Office of Vocation Minister at your Regional Council Office and show them a copy of your certificate of completion.

Cost: $49.99 -- $5 discount if you pay online

Dates and Times

Please note the course is divided into two sessions. They are each 2.5 hours long

In order to complete the course you must attend both Session 1 and Session 2; it's best, if possible, to do these both on the same day

the links in the "Session times" show the start times in each of Canada's time zones

Choose Your Dates

For sessions 1 and 2, which form the mandatory components, we will be meeting in separate groups according to our racial identities: one group are people who self-identify as Indigenous, racialized, and/or bi-racial, and another group are people who self-identify as White. Please indicate which category you fall into, to see the available dates

Which category fits you best?
...Select one
White person
Black, Indigenous or Person of Colour
...

Waiting List

If these dates aren't convenient for you, click HERE for our waiting list, and we'll email you when new dates are announced.

Apostate mainline churches support illegal blockades in Canada

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; II Thessalonians 2:7a (NIV)

The Coastal GasLink project is a natural gas pipeline covering approximately 670 kilometres (about 416 miles) from the area of Dawson Creek, British Columbia to the B.C. coast near Kitimat. The company, after years of consultation, has signed agreements with all 20 First Nations (i.e., Canadian Indian bands) along the pipeline route. The Trans Mountain Pipeline is an oil pipeline carrying oil from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia; 120 of 129 Indian bands support the project. Native and other organizations protesting the projects have had their days in court, and lost.

The overwhelming majority of Indians support the pipelines because the projects offer them a once-in-a-generation chance to improve their economic circumstances and escape poverty. However, the Wet'suwet'en, an ostensible First Nation in British Columbia run by allegedly hereditary chiefs, has, for several weeks, been operating an illegal blockade of the Coastal GasLink project. The blockades have spread across the country, e.g., Mohawks in Ontario are expressing solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en protest, using it as an excuse to continue several hundred years of grievances with Canada. All three levels of government in Canada have done nothing to end the lawless blockades; the police, with the notable exception of Vancouver, have been worse than useless, refusing to clear the blockades, while arresting law-abiding people who do try to clear the blockades.

It comes as no surprise to this blogger that the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done nothing to stop the lawlessness. This "government" is basically just a criminal racket, under the titular leadership of a pot-smoking puppet of evil international financier George Soros. Mr. Trudeau has finally gotten around to saying that it's time for the blockades to end, but his actions, or lack thereof, increase my suspicion that he supports the protests--especially since they have a disproportionately negative impact on the economy of western Canada, rather than his parasitical home province of Quebec.

There's nothing "grassroots" or spontaneous about the protests that are increasingly paralyzing the Canadian economy, as becomes apparent when court decisions come down in favour of the pipelines, and protest rallies magically appear in various places within minutes of the announcement of the ruling. The Wet'suwet'en aren't even a real Indian band, but are a company, with the "hereditary chiefs" actually a board of directors, while many of their sympathizers are foreign-funded non-Natives (see videos at the bottom of this post).

On February 16, 2020, geopolitical blogger Dracul Van Helsing came across a Trotskyite World Socialist International (his description) website, and one of their leaders was boasting about his plans to take over Canada, noting that the political leaders are weak, that it was easy to take over the links of Canada's infrastructure, and that he was going to use the Wet'suwet'en dispute to do that, sending out agitators to lead groups of Wet'suwet'en supporters into blocking railways, bridges, highways, airports and various government and public buildings, bringing the Canadian economy to a virtual standstill, making it ripe for widespread anarchy and eventual violent revolution. The next day, they began doing just that, but on the following Sunday, when blogger Van Helsing to post the link for the relevant item to his own blog, the item had been taken down--which this blogger finds very suspicious.

The activities described in the item quoted by Dracul Van Helsing remind me of a book published in 1972, but still relevant. A former Czechoslovakian Communist Party official who defected to the West wrote The Subverters (or The Subverters of Liberty, depending on whether it's the British or American edition), in which he revealed that U.S.S.R. dictator Josef Stalin in 1948 had begun training "master subverters." The master subverters were carefully prepared for 10 years in specially-constructed communities made to resemble those found in the countries to which they would be sent. The master subverters spent these years in these pseudo-Western communities learning the languages (including accents) and customs of their assigned countries, and were given new identities, with all the proper documentation, so that by the time they graduated and took up their assignments, it was impossible for most of the residents in the Western countries to which they were assigned to know that their new neighbours weren't new arrivals from among their own people, but were in fact Soviet spies. Mr. Hutton argued that disruptive events that happened in Western countries in the late 1960s-early 1970s, such as race riots in America, campus protests in Western countries (especially in France), labour strikes in Britain, and skyjackings in the Middle East and elsewhere, were related, and were the result of years of work by the master subverters. It sounds suspiciously like what's going on in Canada today.

The current activities of certain Native terrorists activists also remind me of the prophetic novel The Flaming Sword (1939) by Thomas Dixon, in which Communists used Negroes as dupes in an attempt to take over the United States. Mr. Dixon wrote his novel after researching every race riot in the U.S.A. from 1900-1938.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that the protesters who are attempting to shut down Canada are a small, loud, and violent minority, it comes as no surprise to this blogger that they've attracted the support of clergy from the country's apostate mainline churches. As reported by John Longhurst of the Winnipeg Free Press, February 10, 2020 (link in original):

Two Manitoba bishops are among 71 Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran and United Church of Canada leaders and others from across Canada showing support for the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs protesting the $6-billion, 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline that will go through their traditional territory.

Both The Right Reverend Geoffrey Woodcroft, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Rupertsland, and Bishop Susan Johnson, National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, signed the solidarity statement that calls on the Canadian government and the RCMP "to immediately cease their occupation, arrests, and trespassing on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory."

The statement, goes on to note "these unlawful occupations and tactics violate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" and violate the wishes of the Wet’suwet’en Clan Chiefs who "hold sole title to their unceded territory and unanimously do not support the construction of the pipeline."

It goes on to say the pipeline project would mar the landscape, cut down trees, harm migration patterns of animals, and put the entire watershed at risk of a leak and contamination.

"We are deeply concerned about the militarized arrests, pressure and trespassing presence of the RCMP on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory," it states, adding this treats "Indigenous peoples like prisoners on their own territory."

The statement concludes by noting the pipeline not only tramples on the rights of Indigenous Nations, but endangers "our collective wellbeing and future."

For Johnson, signing the statement was a way to remind Canadians "we are not living in to the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including the commitment to free, prior and informed consent."

She’s also "deeply concerned about climate justice and about responsible resource extraction. The concerns of the Wet’suwet’en overlap all of these concerns."

For her, using the RCMP is the wrong way to deal with the issue.

"If we are serious about addressing these concerns, then we need to take time to have a real consultation," she said.

By signing the statement, she wants members of her denomination, and other Canadians, to know "we stand with the Wet’suwet’en people and hold our government accountable for its actions."

As for Woodcroft, one reason he signed it because the Anglican community in Manitoba and northwest Ontario is "well connected" with Indigenous people.

He also sees signing it as a way to promote the Anglican Church’s goal of promoting reconciliation with Indigenous people, and of ensuring treaties are fulfilled.

Concern about climate change, and the future of the planet, is also on his mind.

"I am convinced that Creator, God is calling not only me, but all of goodwill, to get on with providing a better tomorrow for all people," he said.

The church has "always had a voice and a strength to care deeply for God’s creation," he added, concluding that is something "we somehow forget" until situations like this arise. Then "we are called back to exercise love, justice and humbleness."

Other signers of the statement include The Most Reverend Mark MacDonald, National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop; The Right Reverend Ron Culter, Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil, The Bishop of Toronto; Jennifer Henry, Executive Director, KAIROS; Carragh Erhardt, Justice Ministries, The Presbyterian Church in Canada; Peter Haresnape, General Secretary, Student Christian Movement of Canada; The Reverend Dr. Joanne Mercer, Anglican Parish of Twillingate, Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland.

Find the full statement here: https://bit.ly/2uy25MQ.

In addition to the solidarity statement, members of Hope Mennonite Church in Winnipeg signed a petition sent to the Prime Minister to honour the jurisdiction of the Wet’suwet’en traditional governance and publicly affirm the demands of all five Wet’suwet’en Clan Chiefs.

In the petition, they also call on Coastal GasLink to vacate the territory of the Wet’suwet’en; that the Canadian and British Columbia governments uphold their commitments to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and that the RCMP respect the rights of the hereditary chiefs and refrain from interfering with Wet’suwet’en law.

I'm not taking a chance that the link and the statement might disappear, so here, with the names and affiliations of the signatories, is the statement by mainline clergy in support of the small, violent minority of terrorists who are attempting to shut down Canada:

Thursday February 6th 2020

Peace be with you,

In solidarity with our Wet’suwet’en relatives, we call upon the government of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to immediately cease their occupation, arrests, and trespassing on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory.

In a public statement made yesterday, the RCMP have asserted that they will arrest any persons who will not leave their camps on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. Wet’suwet’en law precedes and supersedes Canadian law on Wet’suwet’en land. The militarized forced removal of Wet’suwet’en from their own territory, for the economic benefit of fracked natural gas Coastal GasLink’s 670km pipeline is consistent with the colonial practices of genocide. These unlawful occupations and tactics violate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Wet’suwet’en Clan Chiefs hold sole title to their unceded territory and unanimously do not support the construction of the pipeline. The pipeline project would mar the landscape, cutting down trees, harming migration patterns of animals, and putting the entire watershed at risk of a pipeline leak and contamination. Furthermore, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people found that there is a direct connection between resource extraction projects and increased violence against and within Indigenous communities. The migration of settler labourers to pipeline projects sites has been connected to increased sexual harassment, murder, rape, sexual assault, the influx of drugs and alcohol, increased conflict and policing, and the undermining of Indigenous self-determination in their communities.

We are deeply concerned about the militarized arrests, pressure and trespassing presence of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory. We are alarmed by the RCMP’s establishment of an “Exclusion Zone”- which infringes on freedom of movement of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, with the exclusion of media from witnessing and documentation, and bars clan members from accessing their own lands. These acts of intimidation, occupation, and restriction are harmful and reverses us back to the pass system era, which treats Indigenous peoples like prisoners on their own territory.

The RCMP does not hold the jurisdiction or right to arrest sovereign Wet’suwet’en peoples on their own unceded Nation and territory. The practice of forced relocation, arrest, detention, and criminalization of Wet’suwet’en, Indigenous peoples, and their allies on Wet’suwet’en land is an egregious and shameful violation of international law. We call upon the RCMP and Canadian government to respectfully honour Wet’suwet’en Clan law, whereby ceasing their surveillance, occupation, and militarized violence on Indigenous land.

The continual prioritizing of the interests of private sector and resource extraction over the rights of Indigenous Nations, laws, treaties, lands, and waters, condemns our collective wellbeing and future. We call upon the RCMP and government of Canada to immediately halt all violations and assaults on Indigenous water and land defenders. We stand with the Wet’suwet’en and their allies who have made significant sacrifices on the front lines of this violation on their territory. We honour and respect their commitment to defending the wellbeing of the waters, lands, creatures, people, and sovereignty of Wet’suwet’en.

Sincerely,

The Reverend Evan Smith
Sandra Campbell
The Reverend Leigh Kern
Toronto Urban Native Ministry

The Most Reverend Mark MacDonald
National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop

Bishop Susan Johnson
National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Right Reverend Ron Cutler
Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil
The Bishop of Toronto

The Right Reverend Geoffrey Woodcroft
Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Rupertsland

The Right Reverend Riscylla Shaw
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

The Right Reverend Peter Fenty
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

The Right Reverend Jenny Andison
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

The Right Reverend Kevin Robertson
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

Aaron Sault
Suitaakii Black
The Right Reverend Sydney Black
The Vision Keepers Council

The Reverend Canon Ginny Doctor, Mohawk Turtle Clan
Coordinator of Indigenous Ministry, The Anglican Church of Canada

Jennifer Henry
Executive Director, KAIROS

Melanie Delva
National Reconciliation Animator, The Anglican Church of Canada

Yolanda Bird
Suicide Prevention, Alberta and Saskatchewan

Carragh Erhardt
Justice Ministries, The Presbyterian Church in Canada

Judith Moses
Deputy Prolocutor, The Anglican Church of Canada

The Reverend Dr. Karen L. Egan
Prolocutor, The Anglican Church of Canada

Peter Haresnape
General Secretary, Student Christian Movement of Canada

The Reverend Dr. Jennifer Eileen Sculley
Director of Faith, Worship and Ministry, The Anglican Church of Canada

The Reverend Jasmine Hanakaulani Bostock
St. Peter’s, Honolulu

The Reverend Pamela Rayment
St. Clement’s Church

Laura Walton
Prolocutor for the Anglican Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario

The Reverend Dr. Joanne Mercer
Anglican Parish of Twillingate, Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland

The Reverend Valerie Kerr, Mohawk, Wolf Clan
Archdeacon

Elin Goulden
Social Justice and Advocacy Coordinator, The Anglican Diocese of Toronto

The Reverend Maggie Helwig
Social Justice and Advocacy Committee, The Anglican Diocese of Toronto

The Reverend Canon George M. Porter
Gathering Table, Thunder Bay

The Reverend Andrea Budgey
University of Toronto Chaplain

The Reverend Tay Moss
Church of the Messiah

The Reverend Samantha Caravan
All Saints’ Peterborough

The Reverend Dana Dickson
Trinity Anglican Church, Bradford

The Reverend Dr. Jason McKinney
Epiphany & St Mark, Parkdale

The Reverend Canon Brad Smith
St John the Evangelist, Peterborough

The Reverend Mark Regis
Church of St. Mary and St. Martha

The Reverend Don Beyers
Christ Church Bolton, York-Credit Valley Social Justice Officer

The Reverend Janaki Bandara
St Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cambridge

The Reverend Dawn Leger
St. John’s West Toronto

The Reverend Stephen Kern
Dr. Anne Kern
St. Philips-on-the-Hill, Unionville

The Reverend Dr. Alison Kemper
The Reverend Canon Joyce Barnett
St. Matthias Bellwoods

The Reverend Megan Jull
St. Augustine of Canterbury

The Reverend Sherman Hesslegrave
Zachary Grant
Church of the Holy Trinity

The Reverend Alexa Gilmour
UCC, Toronto

The Reverend Sandra Fyfe
Anglican Parish of Horton, Wolfville

Lisa Alexander
Lawyer/Mediator, Victoria

Andrew Stephens-Rennie
Vancouver, BC

Canon David Robinson
Winnipeg

The Reverend Dr. Heather McCance

Caitlin Reilley Beck

Sharla Sandrock

The Reverend David J. Burrows

Kathy Wellunscheg Klassen

Belinda J. Kishimoto

The Reverend Elizabeth Boehm-Wilson
UCC minister, Kingston

Suzanne Brooks

The Reverend Anne Hoganson

The Reverend Justin Philip Cheng

Susanne Cruickshank

The Reverend Dr. Morar Murray-Hayes

Professor Alan L. Hayes

The Reverend Susanne McKim
Trinity-St. Paul, Port Credit

The Reverend Canon Nicola Skinner
Grace Church, Markham

The Reverend Erin Martin
St James the Apostle, Sharon

The Reverend Susan Spicer
St. George, Ajax

The Reverend Dr. Leigh Silcox
St. Matthias, Etobicoke

For media contact: lkern@toronto.anglican.ca

Two things from the list of signatories stick out to this blogger: the disproportionately large number of female names, especially those with religious titles in front of them--an obvious indication of apostasy; and the fact that almost all of those whose locations are identified come from oil-consuming areas, and almost none from-oil producing areas, and are far away from where the protests originated (although, the way the protests are spreading, they may already have come to experience the protests and/or their effects directly). These people are not Christians, but are liars, hypocrites, economic ignoramususes (ignorami?), and mental and moral pygmies (and I say that with all due respect). They openly support lawlessness, while having the nerve to say "Peace be with you."

As for the comment that "there is a direct connection between resource extraction projects and increased violence against and within Indigenous communities": if that's true, why are the overwhelming majority of Indians in favour of these projects? Are the majority of Indians therefore in favour of increased violence within their communities? I don't believe so, but these religious liberals apparently do, which prompts me to accuse these liberals of a racist slur against the law-abiding majority of Indians. And aren't these liberals always saying that poverty leads to violence? Now they're saying that increased prosperity is directly connected to violence. This blogger can come to no other conclusion than that the signers of this statement want the majority of Indians in the affected areas (and I think it's reasonable to infer that they they would also be opposed to such projects elsewhere in the country) to continue to live in poverty, with everyone subject to continuing and increasing anarchy. These apostates are as sincere in their professed concern for the poor as Judas Iscariot:

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. John 12:3-6

See the following videos for more information:

SPECIAL REPORT: Foreign-funded corporation posing as a First Nation blocks pipeline (Rebel News, January 23, 2019)



Investigating the fake First Nation running the illegal Coastal GasLink blockade (Rebel News, January 15, 2020)



Coastal GasLink protester IDENTIFIED — he's from Ontario! (Rebel News, January 17, 2020)



K'omoks First Nation in BC denounce “non-indigenous” protesters for blocking highway (Rebel News, February 13, 2020)



The truth behind First Nations pipeline protests (Financial Post, February 14, 2020)



Majority of First Nations support Canadian energy (True North, February 14, 2020)



Pipeline protests have nothing to do with supporting the Wet’suwet’en people (True North, February 15, 2020)



Wet'suwet'en hereditary Chief Woos, aka Frank Alec TOOK OVER a title reserved ONLY for women! (Rebel News, March 3, 2020)



See also my post The Flaming Sword: A prophetic novel? (January 14, 2009)

See also Dracul Van Helsing's posts:

Pansy Justin Calls All Wimps’ Meeting With Pansy Jagmeet and Pansy Yves-Francois (February 18, 2020)

Renfield’s Ottawa News Broadcasts and The Arrival of Magical Mystery Tour (February 19, 2020)

Justin Trudeau’s Failed Macho Man Impersonation and The Unmasked Demon Dancer Chief Woos (February 21, 2020)

Trotskyite Anarchists Throw Burning Debris Against Canadian Trains (February 26, 2020)

HT: Dracul Van Helsing

Campus Crusade for Christ Canada P2C follows its American counterpart into the social gospel

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20:29-30

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. II Corinthians 6:14-18

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:6-9

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5

"Most people are devoted to causes which are neither significant nor lasting."
--Howard Hendricks, from the promotional film for the Campus Crusade for Christ conference KC '83.

Sites such as the blog Enemies Within the Church and the YouTube channel Conversations That Matter have done excellent work in recent months in reporting on the rapidly-increasing liberalism of the U.S. campus ministry Cru, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. Submitted for your approval, the following items from those sites and others:

Jeff Maples
Campus Crusade Social Justice Agenda Exposed in New Video (September 27, 2019)

The Social Justice Movement Takes Over CRU19 (September 27, 2019)

Conversations That Matter (Jon Harris)
The Month in Review: CRU, Josh Harris, SBC Seminaries, and Approaching Your Pastor



Trevor Loudon
The Social Justice Movement Takes Over CRU19 (September 27, 2019)



Conversations That Matter (Jon Harris)
CRU Goes Down the Woke Hole (September 27, 2019)



Breaking: Cru Leaders Soft-Peddling Homosexuality, Pushing Marxism (October 3, 2019)

Conversations That Matter (Jon Harris)
A Deeper Dive into Cru's Decline (October 3, 2019)



Internal Documents Prove Cru Leaders Officially Promoting Social Gospel (October 8, 2019)

Conversations That Matter (Jon Harris)
King David a Rapist? & Confirmed: Cru Endorses Social Gospel (October 8, 2019)



Cru’s “Social Justice Bible Studies” (October 15, 2019)

Whistleblower Speaks Out on Cru’s Leftward Drift (October 29, 2019)

Conversations That Matter (Jon Harris)
Former Cru Intern Shares Story about Ministry's Leftward Drift (October 28, 2019)



Giving Tuesday, Cru Staff Speaks Out, & Matthew Hall on CRT (December 3, 2019)
Conversations That Matter (Jon Harris)



It comes as a disappointment, but no surprise to this blogger, that Power to Change, (P2C for short), the Canadian offspring of Cru, is following its parent organization into social gospel apostasy. I've been warning about this since the Canadian organization announced its "new paradigm" in May 2006. I was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ as a student in the 1980s; I eventually developed misgivings about some of their methods and characteristics, but I have fond memories of my involvement with the movement and of the people I was associated with, and at least Campus Crusade was reasonably clear on what the gospel is.

In those days, there were separate Christmas Conferences in eastern and western Canada, with the exception of 1983, when there was one big North American conference in Kansas City known as "K.C. '83." I went to several Christmas Conferences in western Canada, as well as K.C. '83. The keynote speakers at all the conferences I attended were distinguished Bible teachers such as Ralph Alexander, J.I. Packer, and Howard Hendricks, and their talks generally consisted of examining characters from the Bible, and looking at characteristics that we should emulate (or avoid). The group sessions were on topics such as sharing your faith and having a successful discipleship group, i.e., topics associated with the gospel and the Great Commission.

Some years ago, P2C dropped the word "Christmas" from its conferences, and began calling them "Winter Conferences." Now, they don't even do that anymore, and just have one national annual conference. The one for 2019, known as "P2C Plus," is taking place in Toronto from December 28-31, with the apparent theme "first." A quick glance at the list of speakers and topics shows more emphasis on the social gospel and less on the true gospel and the Great Commission:

Workshops
Our workshops encourage students to take a deep dive into a broad range of focused topics that intersect faith and culture like: leadership and mentorship, spiritual growth and disciplines, prayer, discernment, discipleship, evangelism in local and global contexts, personal growth, relationships, mental health, gender identity, addictions, trauma, shame, suffering, grief and loss, healing, health, humanization, racism, world religions, financial stewardship, hospitality, vocation, technology and design, creativity, apologetics, and the church.

The "lesser" speakers (I don't mean that as a derogatory term) seem mostly okay, but some (not all) of the keynote speakers rang some alarm bells with me, such as the following examples.

Alison Buchan, MSW, RSW, CSAT

Alison is a recognized skilled clinical social worker, in the strengths-based approach in the treatment of mental health issues, addictions & trauma. She has been in practice for over 15 years and has assisted adults and adolescents experiencing a wide range of emotional, relational and behavioural difficulties...

...She has completed training at Toronto Institute of Relational Psychotherapy (TIRP), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute and The Ferentz Institute. Additionally she has enhanced training in trauma treatment in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), cognitive behavioural therapy, Internal Family Systems therapy; and specialized training from the International Centre of Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and has received certification in smoking cessation from the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health.

In terms of her clinical orientation, she uses a insight-oriented cognitive-behavioural psychodynamic, solution-focused psychotherapy. Integrating mindfulness-based approaches in all her work.

"Mindfulness" comes from Buddhism. I see no Christian content of any kind in Ms. Buchan's resume.

John Van Sloten

About me

I am a pastor, teacher and writer who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. All I want in life is to know God more (and to read everything he’s written). For the past 20 years I’ve been exploring a worldview that seeks to discern God's voice in all things: the Bible, the arts, sport, science, film, music, literature, history, mathematics, nature and human nature. My first book, The Day Metallica Came to Church: Seeing the Everywhere God in Everything (Square Inch, 2010), listened for God's whispers in pop culture. My second book, Every Job a Parable; What Walmart Greeters, Nurses and Astronauts tell us about God (Navpress/Tyndale (US) and Hodder and Stoughton (UK), 2017), listens for God's words at work. I have been awarded two John Templeton Foundation sub-grants to explore the intersection of faith and science in the context of preaching, and am currently writing my third book on how science can help us know God more.

There are things that Mr. Van Sloten says that I agree with. However, it concerns me when I read that he's received grants from the John Templeton foundation (at least Mr. Van Sloten is honest enough to say where he's obtaining his funding--there are those in evangelical circles who aren't as forthcoming). Mr. Van Sloten's grants are for something called The Steam Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and Fuller Theological Seminary:

The John Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. We support research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and infinity to creativity, forgiveness, love, and free will. We encourage civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights.

STEAM is also supported by Fuller Theological Seminary, the host organization also committed to the integration of Christian faith and science.

Jon Corbin

According to his website:

Jon Corbin is a Canadian hip-hop artist, spoken word poet, speaker, band leader, writer and DJ based in Milton, ON. Since 2001, first under the name The Runaway, Jon has blessed stages big and small with lyrical themes of faith, love, family, social justice, and personal growth.

Corbin is a veteran artist who has quietly carved a niche in Canada’s hip-hop community, collaborating with multiple Polaris Music Prize nominee Shad, Juno Award winner Caroline Brooks of The Good Lovelies, and many other revered emcees on both sides of the border.

As a speaker, Corbin speaks passionately on topics of identity, race and racism, mental health and community connections. As a musician, Jon provides a dynamic show that stays true to the basic tenets of hip-hop: peace, love, unity, and having fun!

I don't know if Mr. Corbin is a Christian or not, but I certainly don't see any Christian content on his site.

Katharine Hayhoe

Katharine Hayhoe, the wife of pastor Andrew Farley, is a climate scientist, who on her site, goes on and on about her qualifications until the MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) syndrome sets in. She's presumably at the conference to promote action on climate change as a priority for Christians. As I said in a recent post, if you're on the same side of an issue as Justin Trudeau and George Soros, I suggest you rethink your position; and Christians should beware of those who are on the same side as Justin Trudeau and George Soros.

Alyssa Esperaz

This young woman particularly inspires a negative reaction from me. According to her website:

I am Chinese-Filipino-Canadian and live in Toronto, Canada.

I am studying International Development at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Critical Development Studies.

Another alarm bell went off for me when I saw the name of the place where Miss Esperaz is studying. The word "critical" used in an academic context is usually a synonym for Marxist, and a quick glance at their website confirms my suspicions (look at the course content).

She has a blog; I read just two entries--this one and this one--and that was enough to give me an idea of what she's about. Miss Esperaz tells so many falsehoods that it's only the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that's restraining me from using foul language to describe this lying little [insert pejorative term here]. It would take too much time to go into a detailed account of Miss Esperanza's false propaganda, but one in particular sticks out at me, when she says that all kinds of people fought for Canada in two world wars. She's right in saying that Canadian Indians fought for the country, but it's absolutely not true to say that all kinds of people did, because the country wasn't composed of all kinds of people. The men who fought for Canada in World Wars I and II were overwhelmingly white Europeans, mainly of British ancestry, because that's what Canada was. They were fighting to preserve the country they had then, not to produce the non-nation that passes for Canada now. The "greatest generation" made the horrible mistake, a quarter-century after World War II, of handing the country over to Pierre Trudeau, who refused to fight in the war. He's the one who turned Canada into a multicultural monstrosity, which should really be renamed "Trudeaupia" to reflect its post-1968 reality.

Blogger Vox Day's third law of social justice warriors is: They always project. This especially manifests itself in accusing others of what the SJWs themselves are guilty. SJWs love to hurl nasty names at people, so I'm pulling the Jerry Seinfeld trick of heckling the heckler. I accuse Miss Esperaz of not only being a liar, but a racist. She refers to her "Asian-Canadian identity" and supports racist immigration and refugee policies which favour those of her and other non-white groups, with the intention of making Canada less white, more like the lands of her ancestors, and less like the country that those who fought in the world wars were fighting to preserve (see above comment regarding Justin Trudeau and George Soros). I'm not going to mention that one of the countries of her ancestors--let's call it "China"--has never been known for being openly welcome to foreigners. From the SJW point of view, it's okay for Miss Esperaz and those of her ilk to support anti-white policies; but if I support policies designed to preserve the country I was born into, I'm a "racist," without Christian compassion. As a Canadian whose roots in this country go back more than 240 years, I can't tell you how much I appreciate Miss Esperaz, a "first generation Canadian," presuming to give lessons in history and tolerance to real Canadians. If this is what Campus Crusade for Christ Canada Power to Change has become, I want no part of it.

It should be kept in mind that Campus Crusade for Christ P2C conferences have traditionally been used to recruit people to go on summer projects, which in turn, are used to recruit prospective staff members; which is to say, these conferences are where the future leaders of the movement receive training in addition to that which they receive in their regular campus activities. If Campus Crusade for Christ Canada P2C continues in this direction, they'll end up as liberal--and irrelevant--as the thoroughly apostate Student Christian Movement of Canada, which is associated with mainline liberal "Christianity," is irrelevant to God's purposes, and is now ignored. If you're moving in the same direction, you'll end up in the same place.

July 19, 2022 update: Jon Harris conducts another interview with former Cru staffer John Anderson:



See also my posts:

Campus Crusaders, Sodomites, and Potheads Together (January 13, 2009)

Campus Crusaders and Atheists Together (March 1, 2009)

Campus Crusade's Power to Change's mission is to boldly go where the United Church of Canada has gone before (May 8, 2010)

More social gospel, works-based righteousness from Campus Crusade for Christ Power to Change: shaming people into supporting humanitarian aid (September 24, 2010)

Campus Crusade for Christ Power to Change Canada uses its 2019 Canadian summer project to promote contemplative spirituality (December 31, 2018)

Campus Crusade for Christ Cru19 staff conference promotes enneagram, contemplative spirituality, secular psychology, native spirituality, and social gospel (August 16, 2019)

U.S. Reform Judaism supports racial extortion

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Matthew 23:27

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5

Reform Judaism is the Jewish equivalent of liberal "Christianity," which has largely substituted liberal political and social "values" for the Jewish religion, although its adherents will cite the Bible when convenient. The adherents then whine about "anti-semitism" when they're criticized for their political and social liberalism. One of the latest bandwagons for political and social liberals to jump on is that of "reparations" for slavery--a practice which ended in the United States just over 150 years ago. This is nothing more than an attempt to play on racial guilt feelings of ignorant white people in order to extort money from them. The Canadian equivalent is "reconciliation" with the Native peoples, which consists of an ever-expanding list of grievances.

The irony of liberal Jews' support for extortionists of colour is that the very victim class they support doesn't seem to have much affection for their benefactors. I hardly need mention--but I will, anyway--that "anti-racist" is a code term for "anti-white."

As reported by Ben Sales of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 13, 2019 (links in original):

CHICAGO — The Reform movement, the country’s largest Jewish denomination, declared its support for reparations for African-Americans at its biennial conference.

The resolution, which was approved Friday by voice vote at the 5,000-person gathering of the Union for Reform Judaism, calls for “a federal commission to study and develop proposals for reparations to redress the historic and continuing effects of slavery and subsequent systemic racial, societal, and economic discrimination against Black Americans.”

It said that reparations can take the form of anything from an expression of remorse to education to monetary compensation.

Reform leaders painted the resolution as the next step in the movement’s historical support for civil rights. The movement passed its first resolution in support of civil rights in 1950 and has passed four more. Two came in the past five years, addressing reforms to the way law enforcement treats African-Americans, and racial inequities within the Reform movement.

“Combating hate is the most urgent call of our time,” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said in a keynote address Thursday night. “We must be anti-racist. That means taking an active part to eliminate racism in our society. It’s our job as Reform Jews to continue this fight. We must face down the structures of racism and we must knock them down.”

The resolution is part of a growing movement in progressive American circles to support reparations that was galvanized in 2014 by an essay in The Atlantic called “The Case for Reparations.” Democrats have introduced bills in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to create a commission on studying reparations. Several Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, have supported the measures. Booker introduced the Senate version.

The Reform resolution cites the biblical precept that humans are created in God’s image and the rabbinic emphasis on all of humanity being equal given its shared descent from Adam and Eve. The resolution also calls on Reform congregations to study systemic racism, undertake efforts to combat it and actively promote racial equality.

Two other resolutions approved Friday also address issues in American society at large. One seeks a ban on private prisons and the closure of those that currently exist. Another calls on the government to increase funding and encourage medical treatment to combat the opioid addiction crisis.

Jacobs said the reparations resolution is part of the movement’s ongoing efforts to work on behalf of people of color. In his speech, he mentioned the movement’s fellowship for Jewish minorities. The biennial conference also included sessions on addressing racial justice and creating space for Jews of color and other marginalized groups in Reform synagogues.

“Schedule a training about equity, inclusion and anti-racism in your community,” Jacobs said. “Learn about unconscious and implicit bias and how to be a better ally. When marginalized members of your community find the courage to speak up, treat this as a gift and listen deeply to what they have to say.”

See also my posts:

50 years ago: A United Methodist Church in New York City pays extortion reparations to Negro extortionists economic development organization (July 6, 2019)

Some black churches in the United States use the issue of slavery to sow discord (July 24, 2019)

Campus Crusade for Christ Cru19 staff conference promotes enneagram, contemplative spirituality, secular psychology, native spirituality, and social gospel

In May 2006, when Campus Crusade for Christ announced a "new paradigm," I predicted that they would henceforth be heading in a more liberal direction; the following therefore comes as no surprise to this blogger.

The organization historically known as Campus Crusade for Christ changed the name of its American campus ministry several years ago to "Cru"--a name that isn't even a word, and has no meaning. When an organization changes its name, it's often a sign of a change in direction.

Cru continues the practice of holding annual summer conferences for staff. This year's conference, Cru19, took place in Fort Collins, Colorado from July 19-25. There was much, such as Josh McDowell's apologetics, that seems to be good; other people have warned about some things or people who seem questionable, and I noticed a few others.

Cru19 included workshops, described as "...interactive, hands-on, smaller group presentations...an hour in length and facilitated by authors, pastors, CEOs, missionaries, Cru staff members, faculty, and many others."

The use of the enneagram is becoming popular in evangelicalism, and Cru is no exception (bold in original):

Saturday, July 20, 1:30-2:30 PM

Going Deeper With the Enneagram

Gina Butz | LSC 382

So you know your enneagram type. Now what? Come here thoughts and practices for how to use the enneagram to go deeper in your personal and spiritual growth.

The use of the enneagram is a New Age technique. See The Enneagram— Does It Have A Place In Christianity? and other information on the subject at Lighthouse Trails Research Project.

Contemplative spirituality was promoted in this workshop, taking place at the same time:

Creating Space to Hear God’s Voice: Solitude and Silence

David Neibling & Paul Lucido | Clark A104

Silence and solitude help us to counteract the noise and busyness of our daily lives, creating space for us to experience God’s presence, hear His voice and be transformed. Come and learn about these spiritual practices as they relate to quieting our minds and hearts, deepening our relationship with God and impacting our capacity to connect with others.

Several of the blogs on my blogroll have useful information on contemplative spirituality; I particularly recommend Lighthouse Trails Research Project.

Secular psychology was promoted in this workshop:

Thursday, July 25, 2:45-3:45 PM

Birkman, Because ...

Cy & Diane Farmer, Francine Smalley & Mark McGowan | Clark A201

Those attending this workshop will learn that Birkman can be used to encourage personal growth by acknowledging strengths and challenges alike and how individuals and teams benefit from the Birkman Method through better communication and a clearer understanding of people’s interests, needs, usual behaviors and stress behaviors. Birkman can be used to help fulfill the admonishment in Galatians 6:4, "But each one must carefully scrutinize his own work (examining his actions, attitudes, and behavior), and then he can have the personal satisfaction and inner joy of doing something commendable without comparing himself to another.” (AMP).

Birkman is a company promoting a method of organizational psychology originated by Dr. Roger Birkman, and includes personality assessments. It's unfortunate that Cru doesn't regard the Bible as sufficient for personal growth, and has to adopt unbiblical methods.

Cru19 also included "Super Seminars," described as "select, large group, lecture gatherings." This one caught my attention:

Wednesday, July 24th | 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Shalom and the Community of Creation

Randy Woodley | Lory Student Center Ballroom Grand Ballroom B

Materialism. Abuse of nature. Injustice. War. The problems facing America today are staggering. We need restoration. But how?

Randy Woodley offers an answer: the Native American “Harmony Way,” a concept that, like shalom, can bring reconciliation between Euro-Westerners and Indigenous Peoples, connectedness with Creator and creation, justice, an end to imperial warfare — and a more authentic spirituality. Rooted in redemptive correction, Dr. Woodley calls for partnership through the co-creation of theological systems that foster wholeness and peace.

I'd never heard of Randy Woodley, but the description of the seminar immediately set off alarm bells with me. The idea that Native Americans are in harmony with the environment is politically correct nonsense that ignorant white people are happy to believe. As Canadian journalist Stephen Hume--a man generally sympathetic to Natives--pointed out in his book Ghost Camps (1989), the reason that Natives haven't slaughtered all the wildlife long before now isn't because of their respect for the environment, but because they lacked the technology. A quick search for Dr. Woodley turned up the following resume for him at Portland Seminary, affiliated with George Fox University (bold, links in original):

Randy Woodley, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Faith and Culture

Director of Intercultural and Indigenous Studies

Introduction

Rev. Randy Woodley (PhD, Asbury Theological Seminary) is a Keetoowah Cherokee (legal descendent) teacher, poet, activist, former pastor, missiologist and historian. Woodley received his baccalaureate degree from Rockmont College in Denver. He was ordained to the ministry through the American Baptist Churches in the USA in Oklahoma after graduating with a Masters of Divinity degree from Eastern Seminary (now Palmer Seminary) in Philadelphia. Randy's PhD is in intercultural studies from Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Woodley’s books include The Harmony Tree: A Story of Healing and Community, 2016 (Friesen Press), Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision, 2012 (Eerdmans) and Living in Color: Embracing God’s Passion for Ethnic Diversity, 2004 (IVP). He has authored numerous book chapters and contributed essays and articles in compilations such as the Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics (Baker Academic), An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (Baker), The Justice Project (Baker), and The Global Dictionary of Theology (IVP).

Professor Woodley is active in the ongoing discussions concerning new church movements, racial and ethnic diversity, peace, social justice, interreligious dialogue and mission. He regularly blogs in these areas and publishes his own blog, Ethnic Space and Faith. He is also a regular contributor to God's Politics Blog: Jim Wallis and Friends, Emergent Village Voice and The Huffington Post’s religion page.

He also hosts the "Peacing it all together" podcast about journey and place with Bo Sanders.

Rev. Woodley was pastor of the Eagle Valley Church in Carson City, Nevada, which for many years served as a unique role model as an authentic Native American Christian church. He and his wife Edith, cofounders of Eagle's Wings Ministry, are considered early innovators in what has been dubbed the “Native American Contextual Movement.” The Woodleys have spent over 25 years of culturally contextual service in Native North American communities.

I don't even need to click on the links to see what Dr. Woodley is like. The American Baptist Churches (formerly the Northern Baptist Convention) are the liberal Baptists; this is the denomination that includes people such as Tony Campolo and Ron Sider. Jim Wallis, who seems to have been around forever, is someone I've long regarded as a Communist masquerading as a Christian; he hasn't changed, but evangelicalism has moved so far to the left in recent years, that it's caught up to him. Just the words "Emergent Village Voice" speak volumes; it should be noted that George Fox University is named after the founder of the Quakers, and is thus naturally likely to be favourable toward contemplative spirituality. And of course, The Huffington Post is hardly a bastion of biblical Christian doctrine.

Campus Crusade for Christ founder and president Bill Bright (1921-2003) had his faults, but I doubt if he would have approved of some of the things now being promoted by the movement that he founded; he must be turning over in his grave.

October 3, 2019 update: Jeff Maples at Reformation Charlotte has an excellent post on the cultural Marxism-infested social gospel content of CRU19, as shown in this video:



HT: The Watchman's Bagpipes

Some black churches in the United States use the issue of slavery to sow discord

These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:...
...A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16, 19

As reported by Julie Zauzmer of The Washington Post, May 11, 2019 (bold in original):

When the Rev. Jaymes Robert Moody takes his pulpit to preach, sometimes he pictures the graveyard.

That is where his congregation was born.

It was called Georgia Cemetery -- named, he has been told, for the place the enslaved were stolen from before being sent to work the fields in Huntsville, Ala.

The graveyard was where they buried their loved ones. It was there they could gather in private. It was there where they could worship a God who offered not only salvation, but the thing they sought most -- the promise of freedom.

That graveyard, and those who founded what is now St. Bartley Primitive Baptist Church in 1820, weighs heavy on the young minister who now leads the congregation. It is not lost on him that the Gospel he preaches, the Gospel so many black people embraced to sustain them through the horrors of beatings and rapes, separations and lynchings, separate and unequal, is the same Gospel used to enslave them.

"That's the history of the black church," said Moody, who at 29 leads a congregation of 2,000 members that will celebrate 200 years in existence next year.

He makes sure every new member goes through a church orientation to learn that history -- all of it. He preaches about the ways slaveholders claimed the Bible was on their side, citing passages that commanded servants to obey. He also talks about the ways black Christians have reclaimed the Bible and its message of liberation.

As America commemorates the 400th anniversary of the creation of representative government in what would become the United States, and the first documented recording of captive Africans being brought to its shores, it is also grappling with the ways the country justified slavery. Nowhere is that discussion more fraught than in its churches.

"Christianity was pro slavery," said the Rev. Yolanda Pierce, dean of the divinity school at Howard University. "So much of early American Christian identity is predicated on a pro slavery theology. From the naming of the slave ships, to who sponsored some of these journeys including some churches, to the fact that so much of early American religious rhetoric is deeply intertwined ... with slaveholding: It is pro slavery."

Some Christian institutions, notably Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, are engaged in a reckoning about what it means that their past was rooted in slaveholding. But others have not confronted the topic.

"In a certain sense, we've never completely come to terms with that in this nation," Pierce said.

The Africans who were brought to America from 1619 onward carried with them diverse religious traditions. About 20% to 30% were Muslim, Pierce said. Some had learned of Christianity before coming to America, but many practiced African spiritual traditions.

Early on, many slaveholders were not concerned with the spiritual well-being of Africans. But few had qualms about using Christianity to justify slavery.

Some theologians said it was providence that had brought Africans to America as slaves, since their enslavement would allow them to encounter the Christian message and thus their eternal souls would be saved, said Mark Noll, a historian of American Christianity.

Some preachers encouraged slave owners to allow their slaves to attend worship services -- though only in separate gatherings led by white pro slavery preachers. They had to be seated in the back or the balcony of a segregated church. Those men of God argued that the sermons on the injunction in Ephesians and Colossians, "slaves, obey your earthly master," would promote docility among enslaved workers.

The Museum of the Bible in Washington displays a "slave Bible," published in 1807, which removed portions of Scripture including the Exodus story that could inspire rebellious thinking.

Some ministers promoted the idea that Africans were the descendants of Ham, cursed in the book of Genesis, and thus their enslavement was fitting.

"That biblical interpretation is made up of whole cloth in the 15th century," Noll said. "There's just no historical record of any seriousness to back it up. It's made up, at a time when Europeans are beginning to colonize Africa."

Slaveholders frequently noted that the Israelites of the Old Testament owned slaves.

Abolitionists tried to make arguments against using the Bible to justify slavery, but they were in the minority.

"They were considered to be radical," Noll said. "Often they were considered to be infidels, because how could they say God was opposed to slavery if it was so obvious in the Bible that he was not?"

The foremost objectors, of course, were black people themselves. Large numbers adopted the faith, and they quickly began remaking it into their own.

"As soon as enslaved people learned to read English, they immediately began to read the Bible, and they immediately began to protest this idea of a biblical justification for slavery," Pierce said. "Literally as soon as black people took pen to paper, we are arguing for our own liberation."

Those books and broadsides challenging prevailing biblical interpretations were savvy.

"They very quickly learned that the only way we can be heard is to speak the language of our slaveholders, to speak to them about the text that they love, that they believe in," Pierce said.

In the generations since -- including during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, as well as a present-day movement spurring new interest in African religions -- some black people have rejected Christianity as the religion of the oppressor. Many have embraced Islam or have explored African traditions; young adults today include complaints about the church not doing enough to address racial injustice on their long list of reasons for leaving church.

But for vast numbers, both centuries ago and now, Christianity motivated and uplifted with the promise of heavenly rewards and the possibility that their reward might come on earth, too. Christianity brought enslaved Africans "this powerful and profound sense of hope," Pierce said. "That Jesus would return. That there is a life and world after this life. That what is going on with the human body, the mortal realm, is just temporary. That there is eternity. That you will be rewarded, you will experience joy and peace and comfort. ... That this God is a God of transformation.

"No wonder it was embraced."

That conversion did not come without questioning the faith that brought both oppression and liberation.

"More than anything, this challenged them the most: The challenge of believing in a God that at the time was used to intend to pacify, but still believing in the God that could provide freedom," Moody said.

The religion of black Christians and white Christians is constructed on the same tenets -- the belief in an almighty God, Jesus Christ as savior and the Holy Spirit as comforter. But the division that began with such wildly divergent interpretations of the Bible's message about slavery would only expand. As of 2014, 80% of American churchgoers attended churches where at least 80% of the congregation is of only one race, according to Pew Research Center.

"The church gave spiritual sanction [to racism], both overtly by the things that it taught and covertly by the critique that it did not raise," said Bishop Claude Alexander, who leads The Park Church in Charlotte, N.C.

Political priorities vary widely. White evangelicals tend to be more focused on issues such as abortion and sexuality, while many black Christians rate issues of economic and racial inequality and criminal justice higher, Alexander said.

"How does one account for that difference in priority when these groups basically believe the same thing?" he asked. "If I've never experienced oppression or marginalization outside of the womb, then it's easy for me to make what happens inside the womb a priority."

"There's no quote-unquote 'theology' that's not shaped by context," Alexander said, adding that racialized violence is the context that has always shaped America and the American church, Alexander said. "It was the amniotic fluid out of which our nation was born."

But Alexander is looking to change the context. He is working on putting together groups of leaders -- such as the presidents of predominantly white evangelical colleges and the presidents of historically black colleges; the ministers of influential white churches and influential black churches -- who will travel together on what Alexander terms "pilgrimages."

They will travel together to the sites of America's unhealed racial wounds. To the lynching memorial in Montgomery, Ala. To Charleston, N.C.'s, harbor, where so many enslaved people were transported that, to this day, 60% of black people can trace their history back to that bloody port. To Virginia, where the first enslaved Africans set foot on this soil in 1619.

Perhaps, he hopes, they will leave their pilgrimage ready to face the fifth century since then with a bit more grace.

In Canada, native peoples exploit white racial guilt feelings and ignorance, using the word "reconciliation" to manufacture a perpetual grievance machine and extortion racket. In the United States, some black church leaders are doing the same thing with the issue of slavery. The reader will notice that Bishop Alexander uses an analogy of racial violence to deflect concern about abortion and to focus on white guilt. There's a big difference between the issues of abortion and slavery, however: abortion is an abomination that's going on today, whereas slavery in the United States was outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.

Slavery hasn't been practiced against blacks in the United States for more than 150 years, isn't practiced against them today, it won't be coming back, and no white Christians are calling for its revival, so I infer that the issue is being used by people such as Bishop Alexander in order to sow discord and perhaps establish social justice and reparations extortion similar to that attempted 50 years ago by those mentioned in the post below.

October 3, 2019 update: The false gospel of racial grievances was on display at Cru19, the annual staff conference of Cru, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. See my post Campus Crusade for Christ Cru19 staff conference promotes enneagram, contemplative spirituality, secular psychology, native spirituality, and social gospel (August 16, 2019)