Having legally abolished biological sex differences, maybe Massachusetts can try repealing the law of gravity

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:18-28

The University of Alberta Student Union elections of 1983 included a joke slate called the Utopian Pragmatists. The first plank of their platform was to repeal "the oppressive law of gravity." In 1983 such a position was obviously meant and understood as satire, but today's satire is tomorrow's reality, as proven by the state of Massachusetts in 2016. As reported by Al Perrotta in The Stream, June 2, 2016 (links in original):

The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 116-36 Wednesday to legally demolish the notion of biological sex in favor of “gender identity.” A similar bill passed the Massachusetts Senate last month. Gov. Charlie Baker has already said he’ll sign the bill.

“The Gender Identity Public Accommodations Bill” (H.4343) provides a three-front advance of transgender “anti-discrimination” laws, reports Conservative Review:

1. It replaces the word “sex” with “gender identity” in multiple areas of Massachusetts law.

2. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination must amend rules and policies to comply with this shift from biological sex to “gender identity.”

3. It allows people to use the restroom or locker room that matches their gender identity. Or as the bill puts it, “Any public accommodation … shall grant all persons admission to and the full enjoyment of such public accommodation or other entity consistent with the person’s gender identity” (incidentally, making bathrooms sound like amusement parks).

According to Boston.com, the bill does throw a bone to critics and parents concerned that such bathroom bills could be used as cover for predatory men who want to gain access to women’s bathrooms. H.4343 contains a provision that the Attorney General’s office issue guidance for potential legal action against “any person who asserts gender identity for an improper purpose.”

Victory brought eye-popping hyperbole from the bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Byron Rushing. “We are doing the work the founders of our nation intended for us to do,” said Rushing, “This is a great day for us and we should be very proud.”

“Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them ‘Humankind’ when they were created.” Genesis 5:2

LGBT activists agreed. “This is a historic day for Massachusetts, said the pro-transgender group Freedom Massachusetts, “The wave of legislative activity #TransBillMA has seen in the last two months is the culmination of a decade-long fight to fully protect transgender people from discrimination in the Bay State.”

Nonsense, says one lawmaker who voted against the bill. “This legislation takes rights away from 99.9% of the population,” Rep. James Lyons told Conservative Review. “Every parent that I have spoken with including a parent of a transgender child understands that this bill eliminates long held expectation of privacy and protection for children.”

The issue goes even deeper. As Lyons told the Boston Herald, “The bill allows people on a routine basis to decide if they are male or female. Your anatomy is no longer relevant,” he said, “This has absolutely nothing to do with discrimination; it has everything to do with changing our society and social engineering by those on the left.”

As the debate and vote were taking place, hundreds opposed to the bill, dressed in blue, stood inside and outside the State House chanting “No, no!”

Opponents of the trans bill chant "no, no" outside the House chamber pic.twitter.com/sx9WZl4e2f

— Lauren Dezenski (@LaurenDezenski) June 1, 2016

They also engaged in prayer.

Faith leaders praying in multiple languages for our leaders to protect women and children. #mapoli #NoBathroomBill pic.twitter.com/0ma0ihai3p

— MA Family Institute (@MAFamilyInst) June 1, 2016

The protest and prayer was organized by Massachusetts Family Institute. And they are not giving up the fight. Today, the group is calling on people to phone Gov. Baker’s office to urge him to veto the bill. His Boston office number is: 617-725-4005. His Springfield office is 413-784-1200.

Perceptive readers will notice that the social justice warriors are quite willing to sacrifice the safety of girls and women in order to advance their demonic agenda--all in the name of "progress" amd "diversity," of course. Blogger Vox Day comments:

Personally, I think the crazier things get, the more egregiously awful they become, the better. All of this will be necessary to steel the civilizationists for the hard work to come. It is getting more and more difficult for the moderates and apologists and churchians to manufacture specious arguments claiming everything is really just fine and things are getting better all the time.

Even tender-hearted women are rapidly beginning to reach the conclusion that "kill it with fire" is the only solution to the sick society we presently endure.

HT: Vox Popoli; John C. Wright

This 81-year-old murderer professed Christ, but apparently didn't possess Christ

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16

The victim of this murder reminds me of a clergyman of my acquaintance who's a lovely man, but seems to assume that everyone else is as decent as he is, and is frequently taken in by con men, especially those who claim to be Christians. Submitted for your approval, the following item, which proves that you're never too old to be conned--or to commit murder. As reported by Marcia Pobzeznik of The Newport Daily News, June 29, 2016:

Edward Acquisto was given a “significant” loan in 2011, Police Chief Thomas Blakey said, and an argument about paying it back led Acquisto to shoot and kill John Cloud of Kingston, Mass., in the town’s Pocasset Hill Cemetery on a Monday night earlier this month.

Blakey would not say how much Acquisto “legally” borrowed from the congregational church he and Cloud belonged to, but did say Acquisto apparently reneged on the agreement to pay it back.

“It does not seem that there was anything substantial paid back,” Blakey said.

Blakey also could not say what Acquisto did with the money. “It is unknown what became of the money,” Blakey said.

Acquisto, 80, formerly of Woonsocket, is a convicted felon who moved to an apartment on State Avenue Street in North Tiverton in 2003 after being released from prison for serving time for manslaughter and rape. He arranged to meet Cloud in the cemetery on Main Road on June 13 about 7 p.m., police said.

Acquisto was known to have spent time in the cemetery praying with his Bible in hand, and the two had met there in the past to pray together, Blakey said. They belonged to the same church in Kingston, Mass.

The night of June 13, Acquisto shot Cloud twice in the torso with a .22-caliber handgun, Blakey said. People who were in the cemetery at the time called police to report that a black Kia drove out of the cemetery, and a man lay dying near gravestones.

Cloud, 81, was a graduate of Tufts University who was a mechanical engineer and working for a medical equipment company in Dedham, Mass., at the time of his death, according to his obituary. He was described by family and friends who posted tributes to him as a dedicated family man who was also dedicated to his church.

The first line of his obituary reads: “John A. Cloud died unexpectedly on June 13 steadfast in his belief of the good in people.”

Fire Chief Robert Lloyd said rescue crews transported Cloud to St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Mass., where he was pronounced dead.

A graveside service was held for Cloud on June 18 at the church in Kingston.

“We and the family have no comment,” Joan Cole, office manager for Mayflower Congregational Church, said in a response to a request for an interview with the reverend of the church and the family of Cloud.

Tiverton Senior Center Director Janice Gomes said Acquisto, who was in failing health the past several years, often quoted Bible verses during his visits to the center. He started going to the center shortly after moving into town in 2003, but in recent years just went there for help with paperwork. He told Gomes of his background early on, she said.

Acquisto was killed in a driveway of a home on Ford Farm Road, across from the town cemetery, after a brief police chase about an hour after he shot Cloud in the cemetery. Acquisto drove into Fall River after shooting Cloud and was chased back into Tiverton by Fall River and Tiverton police who spotted his car about a half-mile from the Tiverton border. Acquisto was shot and killed by police after emerging from his car with a gun in hand.

That part of the investigation is still ongoing, Blakey said.

Asked about the gun Acquisto used and how he obtained it seeing he was a convicted felon who should not have been in possession of a gun, Blakey only said that it was “not reported stolen.”

Handwriting analysis reveals parts of the Old Testament to be older than previously thought

As reported by Tia Ghose of Live Science, April 11, 2016 (bold in original, link inserted by blogger):

Key parts of the Old Testament may have been compiled earlier than some scholars thought, suggests a new handwriting analysis of text on pottery shards.

The shards, found at a frontier fort dating to around 600 B.C., were written by at least six different people, suggesting that literacy was widespread in the ancient kingdom of Judah, said study co-author Israel Finkelstein, an archaeologist and biblical scholar at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

"We're dealing with really low-level soldiers in a remote place who can write," Finkelstein told Live Science. "So there must have been some sort of educational system in Judah at that time."

The writing shows that the kingdom had the intellectual resources to write and compile large chunks of the Old Testament during this period, he added.

Biblical history

Religious scholars have long fiercely debated when the Bible was written. Up until around the middle ages, people believed the Bible was written almost in real-time (as events were occurring).

Text in the Bible mentions scribes and literate officials for the kingdom of Judah, which remained a state from roughly the 10th century B.C. to 586 B.C., when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar laid waste to Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and forced most of the Jewish elites into exile in Babylonia. So scholars assumed the text must have been written prior to the destruction of the temple.

But that line of reasoning assumed the biblical accounts were historically accurate. Another possibility is that those details about literate people were anachronisms inserted by later writers based on their own cultures, Finkelstein said. In recent years, one camp of scholars has pushed for a later date for the compilation of the Old Testament, with some even arguing the compilation occurred centuries later, when the Greeks or Persians ruled in what is now Israel, Finkelstein said.

He said he and his colleagues realized there might be a different way to address the question. Decades earlier, archeologists had uncovered archaic Hebrew ink inscriptions on ostraca, or pottery shards, from a frontier fort called Arad, a remote garrison located far away from Judah's central city, Jerusalem. Finkelstein said he wondered whether these inscriptions, which were written over the span of a few months in 600 B.C., could reveal how many people could read and write at the time.

Widespread literacy

To answer that question, Arie Shaus, a mathematics and archaeology doctoral candidate at Tel Aviv University, along with Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, an applied mathematics doctoral candidate at the university, and colleagues, relied on machine learning. They used computer programs to scan digital images of the text, systematically fill in missing lines of text and analyze each stroke. Finally, the computer algorithms compared the script on each of the 18 inscriptions to see whether they were written by the same hand. (The ancient Hebrew text was written in an Iron Age script that is no longer used.)

All told, at least six different people wrote or read the script on the ostracas, including individuals ranging in rank from the commander of the fort, a man named Malkiyahu, all the way down to the deputy quartermaster, a soldier with a low rank, below the person running the fort's storage depots, the researchers reported today (April 11) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While none of these inscriptions were Shakespeare, most were written with proper spelling and syntax, the researchers found.

"This is really quite amazing," Finkelstein said, "that in a remote place like this, there was more than one person, several people, who could write."

What's more, other border forts have similar ostraca, suggesting that writing at that time was widespread, at least within the Judahite army, the researchers reported. Other archaeological evidence suggests that no more than 100,000 people lived in Judah at the time. Together, these lines of evidence suggest that a substantial fraction of the population (possibly several hundreds of people) could read and write, Finkelstein said.

Early biblical compilation

In order for so many low-ranking soldiers to be able to read and write, there must have been some kind of Judahite educational system, Finkelstein said.

That, in turn, suggests there were enough literate people at that time to compile some portions of the Old Testament, such as the Book of Deuteronomy, parts of Genesis, and the books of Joshua to 2 Kings, Finkelstein said.

By contrast, after the destruction of the first temple, when Israel's educated people were either killed or exiled to Babylonia, there is not so much as a pottery shard, seal or stamp with a single piece of writing from the region for more than 200 years, Finkelstein said. This suggests it's much less likely these books were compiled after the temple's destruction, he said.

The findings are very important and dovetail with other lines of research, said Christopher Rollston, a Near East scholar at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There is no doubt that the elites in Judahite society could read and write around 600 B.C., Rollston said.

"In fact, I have argued in print that the literacy of elites (scribes, high governmental and religious officials) is already present by circa 800 [B.C.]" Rollston told Live Science in an email.

However, not everyone agrees with all of the paper's assumptions. While the notion that many could read and write in the Kingdom of Judah during the seventh century B.C. is widespread, "I do not share the authors' opinion that literacy among the elite declined after the seventh century [B.C.]," said Ernst Axel Knauf, a theology scholar at Bern University in Switzerland, who was not involved in the study.

Edmonton Eskimos cater to the Selfie Generation

This item hasn't anything directly to do with the usual subjects of this blog, but it does serve as a snapshot of current conditions. The Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League are recognizing characteristics unique to Millennials (aka the Selfie Generation, aka the Retarded Generation)--as reported by Ryan Tumilty of Metro News, June 6, 2016:

The Edmonton Eskimos are hoping a new generation of football fans will help them boost struggling attendance numbers and bring new life to Commonwealth Stadium.

With the season set to get underway in just a few weeks, the club has introduced a new standing section that it hopes will appeal to younger fans.

“We created a tiered deck system in both north end corners of the end zone,” said Scott Murray, the team’s vice-president of ticket sales.

He said the new section will be sold online during the week and they hope it will allow for a more social experience.

“They like some freedom to move around, as opposed to being assigned to a specific seat,” he said.

Last year, the team averaged 31,517 fans per game – part of a downward trend they have seen in recent years. Murray said they do hope to improve those numbers, but it’s also about making sure the team is offering something for everyone.

“This helps us engage a different group of people that we don’t think we have engaged enough,” he said. “We think they will come for the social experience and maybe do two or three games a year.”

Jay Ball, the general manager of FC Edmonton, said he believes the Eskimos are on the right track trying to attract millennial fans.

Ball said his team already has much of that younger audience and they’ve attracted them in part by advertising where they are.

“The live on social media, they live on mobile devices and tablets and computers. You can’t reach them through billboard advertising,” he said.

He said they also encourage people to get excited about the game and have a good time, much like what the Esks are planning for the new sections.

“We’re not selling soccer. We’re selling a really unique sports experience.”

I approve of giving the Selfie Generation its own section. Anyone who's had the misfortune of being at a game (or anywhere else) in the vicinity of these life forms can verify that they spend their time running around and playing with their smartphones, and don't bother watching the game. It's a good idea to give them their own playpen, and leave the rest of the stadium for people who want to watch a football game.

Let's see now: they can't remain in one place for very long, and are unable to sit still and concentrate on the activity at hand. This is the sort of behaviour that has historically been true of 5-year-olds, and now it's being recognized as acceptable behaviour for 15-year-olds. And some people are still so deluded as to believe that society is progressing.

40 years ago: Cuckservative Governor of Missouri rescinds 1838 executive order banishing Mormons from the state

The term "cuckservative" has been around only since about early 2015, but the cuckservative mentality has been around longer than that. I don't know if the word has an "official" definition, but I define a cuckservative as someone who claims to be a conservative, but who considers it more important to be regarded as not racist, sexist, and/or (insert pejorative here) by people who don't like him than to stand firm for any conservative principles. Cuckservatism manifests itself in behaviour known as "virtue signalling," such as apologizing to groups claiming victim status on the basis of alleged historical mistreatment at the hands of the cuckservatives and/or the cuckservatives' ancestors.

An example of 20th century cuckservatism comes from June 25, 1976. Missouri Governor Kit Bond (Republican) announced an executive order rescinding Missouri Executive Order 44, issued by Governor Lilburn Boggs on October 27, 1838, directing that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description." Mr. Bond's announcement came in an address to the Far West stake of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a goodwill gesture for the United States Bicentennial. For those unfamiliar with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the RLDS was formed as a splinter group from the main LDS church after the death in 1844 of Moromon founder Joseph Smith, resulting in a dispute over who was the proper successor to Mr. Smith as leader of the church.

Mr. Boggs' executive order in 1838 had been issued three days after the Battle of Crooked River, a skirmish between Mormons and Missouri state militia. The Mormons have made a lot of mileage out of claiming to be victims of religious persecution, but the claim is nonsense. Many new religious movements came into being in the United States in the second quarter of the 19th century, with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being the one that has lasted the longest (It hardly needs saying--but I'll say it, anyway--that that's not to be taken as evidence of the approval of God upon the organization). There were numerous splinter groups that resulted from the death of Joseph Smith; most of them soon disappeared but the RLDS remains. Another new religious movement, Seventh-Day Adventism, began in the mid-1840s, but I don't recall any accounts of Seventh-Day Adventists being driven out of one area after another. The evidence indicates that many Americans in those days were receptive to doctrines that were heretical by biblical standards of orthodoxy (in the mid-19th century, only about 1/4 of the American population were members of Christian churches), but somehow the Mormons seem to have borne the brunt of "persecution." Mormons were in fact driven out of various places (e.g,, Kirtland, Ohio in 1837), but it wasn't because of their beliefs, but because of their behaviour, especially crooked banking and real estate practices. Readers who are interested in this history may search some of the blogs and sites on the left side of this blog. A "secular" book about a serious crime that has some connection to historic Mormon scandals is The Mormon Murders by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (1988).

According to Gordon H. Fraser in his book Is Mormonism Christian? (4th edition, 1977, pp. 176, 180):

True, the Mormons left New York State for Ohio in the early 1830s, but this was largely because their New York neighbors could not see them as saints and prophets. The "hoodlums" of the area were not persecutors, but simply Joseph Smith's old gang of treasure hunters, who felt that Joseph was "holding out" on them with his treasure of golden plates. The attraction in Ohio was Sidney Rigdon's ready-made congregation, which moved into the Mormon church as a body.

They left Kirtland, with its newly built temple, largely because of the shady banking and real estate operations of Smith and Rigdon. Many had apostatized by that time. Those who hastened the exodus westward were not gentile persecutors, but dissident Mormons who had attached themselves to the church and then, disillusioned, sought revenge against the leaders. The rank and file of honest folk who followed westward did so in good faith.

Their expulsion from Missouri and Illinois, likewise, was not because of their religious beliefs but because of their behavior. In both cases, they had become undesirable neighbors...

...The most flagrant fraud, and the one that caused the hasty exit of Smith and Rigdon to escape their pursuers, was their venture into the banking business. The bank was denied a charter but was started anyway. It was illegally operated and dishonestly administered. It issued $250,000 worth of bills, which were backed by no assets. Many besides Mormons invested and deposited in it to their sorrow. The outsiders added to the friction, causing the flight of Smith and Rigdon and the collapse of the whole Kirtland enterprise. None of this, however, was religious persecution by the gentiles.

Note: "Gentiles" in Mormon terminology refers to non-Mormons, as Mormons regard themselves as being true Israel.

The differences between Mormonism and Christianity are beyond the scope of this post, but the reader is invited to search various blogs and sites on the left side of this blog. Additional useful sources include the film The God Makers (1982) and the companion book of the same name by Dave Hunt and Ed Decker (1984), as well as the aforementioned Is Mormonism Christian?.

The Selfie Generation gets a hotfoot while unleashing "The Power Within"

It came as a minor surprise to this blogger that Tony Robbins is still doing his "Power Within" sessions, including firewalking; it seems like such a relic of an earlier era. It's not unusual for people to be burned while firewalking, but the reason for it is new, and related to the technology and mentality of the early 21st century. This episode sounds like something from a "Carry On" movie--as reported by Associated Press, June 24, 2016:

DALLAS — More than 30 people who attended an event with motivational speaker Tony Robbins have been treated for burns after Robbins encouraged them to walk on hot coals as a way of conquering their fears, Dallas fire officials said.

Five people were taken to a hospital Thursday night, while the rest were treated at the scene for burns to their feet and lower extremities, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said.

The hot coals were spread outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center as part of a four-day Robbins seminar called “Unleash the Power Within.”

Representatives for Robbins didn’t immediately return messages Friday, but in a statement provided to KTVT-TV organizers said about 7,000 people walked across the coals and only five “requested any examination beyond what was readily available on site.”

“Someone not familiar with the fire walk observed the event and called 911 erroneously reporting hundreds of people requiring medical attention for severe burns,” according to the statement.

Tad Schinke, an event trainer, told WFAA-TV: “We always have a few people that have some discomfort afterwards and we do our best to take care of them.”

Such fire walks are not uncommon at Robbins’ seminars: More than 20 people were treated for foot burns after a similar event in 2012 in San Jose, California.

One participant, Jacqueline Luxemberg, told WFAA that some people were not concentrating on walking across the coals because they were taking selfies and asking others to take video of them.

Fire officials used a city bus to hold many of the injured people; others were carried to ambulances or back inside the convention centre to be evaluated.

600 years ago: The martyrdom of Jerome of Prague

On May 30, 1416, Jerome, aka Hieronymous, was burned at the stake after being convicted by Roman Catholic Church authorities of heresy. Jerome was a Roman Catholic who became a follower of the doctrines of English reformer John Wycliffe and especially his fellow Bohemian reformer, Jan Hus.

When the Council of Constance--convened by Antipope John XXIII and held in Constance, Germany--opened in 1414, Mr. Hus was summoned, and subsequently burned at the stake as a heretic on July 6, 1415. Jerome followed him there, and was imprisoned in April 1415. He became seriously ill, and recanted his support for Messrs. Wycliffe and Hus in public sessions of the Council in September 1415. The Council doubted the sincerity of Jerome's confession and retried him on May 23 and 26, 1416, wherupon Jerome withdrew his recantation. He was burned at the stake and thus became the first Hussite martyr. It should be kept in mind that the Roman Catholc Church has never apologized for murdering true Christians such as Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, and the doctrines and practices that these saints opposed are still in place.

See my previous post, 600 years ago: The martyrdom of Jan Hus (July 6, 2015).

Hindu Gurus in India pray for Donald Trump's election as President of the United States

It isn't just Southern Baptist convention pastors such as David Jeremiah and Robert Jeffress, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., and New Apostolic Reformation charismaniacs such as Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Jan Crouch, and Lance Wallnau who have laid hands and "anointed" Republican Party front-runner Donald Trump in his campaign for President of the United States of America in the 2016 election. As reported by Associated Press, May 11, 2016:

NEW DELHI: Donald Trump may find it tough to get Republican leaders behind his campaign, but he's got some faraway fans trying to get the gods on his side.

Around a dozen members of a right-wing Indian Hindu group lit a ritual fire and chanted mantras Wednesday asking the Hindu gods to help Trump win the United States (US) presidential election.

While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in India.

"The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity."

Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out in a New Delhi protest park along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman ─ as well as photos of a smiling Trump.

Above them hung a banner declaring support for Trump "because he is hope for humanity against Islamic terror."

The group chanted Sanskrit prayers asking the gods to favor Trump in the election, and threw offerings such as seeds, grass and ghee ─ or clarified butter ─ into a small ritual fire.

It hardly needs saying--but I'll say it, anyway--that if Donald Trump is elected President of the United States in November 2016, it won't be because of the prayers of Hindu gurus, because the gods to whom they're praying don't exist, and are in fact demons (see, e.g., Leviticus 17:7; I Corinthians 10:20; Revelation 9:20). The God of the Bible is sovereign over the affairs of men, and in His answers to prayer.

50 years ago: The founding of the Church of Satan

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Psalms 14:1 (also Psalms 53:1)

On April 30, 1966, the Church of Satan was established in San Francisco; it was founded by High Priest Anton Szandor LaVey, born Howard Stanton Levey, a former keyboard player at carnivals and religious healing services. The "church" uses the word "Satan" to mean "opposer" or "one who questions." The organization doesn't worship the fallen angel Lucifer as mentioned in the Bible, but practices a form of atheism, with Mr. LaVey's book The Satanic Bible (1969) as its "scripture." Those who are so inclined (this blogger isn't among them) can visit the "church"'s website.

The Church of Satan was regarded as the most shocking and extreme publicly flaunted example of evil in the late 1960s and 1970s, but you don't hear much about it anymore. The iconoclastic beliefs and sinful practices promoted by the "church" have passed it and its founder by. As with the sexual revolution promoted by Playboy magazine and its publisher, Hugh Hefner, the Church of Satan and Anton LaVey seem almost quaint, relics of a bygone era. Mr. LaVey died on October 29, 1997 at the age of 67, and the Black House in San Francisco in which Mr. LaVey lived and which served as the "church"'s headquarters until its founder's death was demolished on October 17, 2001. It may come as a surprise to find out that the Church of Satan still exists; its headquarters are now in Poughkeepsie, New York. Peter H. Gilmore has held the office of High Priest since 2001.

The book Selling Satan: The Tragic History of Mike Warnke (1993) by Mike Hertenstein and Jon Trott contains an appendix titled, Reality is a Sometime Thing: A Strange Evening with Anton LaVey, an account of the book's authors acceptance of an invitation to the Black House for dinner with Mr. LaVey and his lover and colleague Blanche Barton. The article is well worth reading, a revealing snapshot of America's most famous Satanist in his declining years. The authors conclude by saying:

If our quest had been to discover the real Anton LaVey, here at last he was: a human being on the edge of eternity, grasping after immortality and significance. He seemed very alone and quite deluded...

The Black Pope, hater of humanity...worries about being forgotten, his own icon smashed by time. One had to wonder if perhaps LaVey's entire masquerade was just one long whistle past the graveyard, an attempt to tame evil and take the sting out of death by reducing them to mere objects of "kitsch." But the last laugh was coming.

Jon shook the iron gate--Blanche had insisted we make sure it was locked behind us. We waved to her on the porch, and she pulled the front door shut, securing the black house from the violent world of homicidal nuts that LaVey, with his bubble-gum nihilism, had helped to create. As we headed down California Street toward our car, my partner and I felt a great sadness for Anton LaVey. It was clear that his chain-link fence against the darkness wasn't going to hold out for much longer.

110 years ago: The Azusa Street Revival begins

On April 14, 1906, African Methodist Episcopal Church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles held its first service under pastor William J. Seymour in what became known as the Azusa Street Revival, beginning the Pentecostal movement. This blogger regards this anniversary as one to be noted, but not celebrated. I don't have the time or energy to catalogue the legacy of the Azusa Street Revival, especially with the increasingly aberrant fruit being produced today. For a small sample of such, click on the "charismania" label for this post; a better idea is to search various blogs on my blogroll, where there's plenty of information to be found.

30 years ago: Pope John Paul II visits Rome's Great Synagogue

On April 13, 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue in Rome; it was the first such papal visit on record, and another step in uniting the world's religions. As reported by E.J. Dionne, Jr. of The New York Times, April 14, 1986:

ROME, April 13 — Pope John Paul II, embracing the world's Jews as ''our elder brothers,'' today paid the first recorded papal visit to a synagogue and condemned persecution and displays of anti-Semitism ''at any time and by anyone.''

''I repeat, 'By anyone,' '' John Paul declared to ringing applause at Rome's central synagogue, situated in what was once the Rome ghetto, established by the decree of one of his predecessors.

John Paul, seeking to heal nearly 2,000 years of strife between Catholics and Jews, also expressed his ''abhorrence for the genocide decreed against the Jewish people during the last war, which led to the holocaust of millions of innocent victims.''

Called 'True Turning Point'

The Pope's journey to the spiritual center of what is believed to be the oldest Jewish group in the Diaspora was greeted by the Chief Rabbi, Elio Toaff, as a ''gesture destined to go down in history'' and a ''true turning point in the policy of the church.''

''The heart opens itself,'' Rabbi Toaff declared, ''to the hope that the misfortunes of the past will be replaced by fruitful dialogue.''

Rabbi Toaff embraced John Paul when he arrived on the steps of the imposing Victorian synagogue overlooking the Tiber River.

Congregation of 1,000

John Paul returned the embrace and then entered the synagogue to a thundering ovation from a congregation of 1,000 people, many of them descendents of Jews who had been forced to live apart from other Romans.

As a male chorus sang the 150th Psalm, ''Alleluia, Praise the Lord in His Holy Place,'' the Pope made his way down the blue-carpeted main aisle and took his place beside Rabbi Toaff.

In a service that emphasized the equal dignity of the two faiths, the two men sat on identical gilt and brocade thrones and took turns reading from the Psalms. 'Jews Are Beloved of God'

''The Jews are beloved of God, who has called them with an irrevocable calling,'' John Paul said, speaking in Italian and, briefly, in Hebrew.

''The Jewish religion is not 'extrinsic' to us, but in a certain way is 'intrinsic' to our own religion,'' he said elsewhere in his address. ''With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.''

At no point in his address did John Paul mention Israel. Prominent Jews around the world had expressed the hope that the visit might be the prelude to establishing formal diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Israel.

But in a series of strong attacks on anti-Semitism, the Pope offered rassurances to Jews who feared he was backing away from what Rabbi Toaff called the ''revolution'' in Catholic-Jewish relations set in motion by Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65.

Quoting extensively from ''Nostra Aetate,'' or ''In Our Times,'' the Vatican II document that rejected the longstanding belief among many Catholics that Jews were collectively responsible for Christ's death, the Pope declared:

''So any alleged theological justification for discriminatory measures or, worse still, for acts of persecution is unfounded.'' Deplores Discrimination

The Pope said ''the acts of discrimination, unjustified limitation of religious freedom, oppression'' directed against Jews were ''gravely deplorable manifestations.''

''Yes, once again, through myself, the church, in the words of the well-known declaration 'Nostra Aetate,' 'deplores the hatred, persecutions, and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews any time and by anyone,' '' he said. ''I repeat, 'By anyone.' ''

Recalling his visit to Auschwitz in 1979, the Pope spoke of ''the memory of the people whose sons and daughters were destined to total extermination.''

''The Jewish community of Rome, too, paid a high price in blood,'' he said.

And in a passage that Jewish leaders saw as particularly reassuring, John Paul declared that ''each of our religions'' wishes ''to be recognized and respected in its own identity,'' beyond ''any ambiguous appropriation.''

Refers to Pope's 'New Israel'

Tullia Zevi, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, said the statement was important because of a recent Lenten sermon in which the Pope had said the ''new Israel'' of Christianity ''assumes and surmounts the former.''

The Pope's statement today, Mrs. Zevi said, ''acknowledges that Judaism has his own identity and has not been appropriated or substituted by Christianity.''

''He sweeps away apprehensions that he was moving away from the letter and spirit of Vatican II and was moving back toward a conservative theology,'' she added. ''He clearly expressed his wish to take up the heritage of John XXIII. And for Jews, this is a very reassuring fact.''

But Mrs. Zevi and other Jewish leaders made clear that they were still dissatisfied that the Vatican does not recognize Israel, and the issue was raised forcefully during the ceremony by both Rabbi Toaff and Giacomo Saban, the president of Rome's Jews.

''The return of the Jewish people to its land must be recognized as an unrenounceable good,'' Rabbi Toaff said. ''The recognition of Israel in its irreplaceable role in the plan of final redemption promised by God cannot be denied.''

Anti-Jewish Decree Recalled

In a moving address, Mr. Saban also referred to the decree of Pope Paul IV in 1555 segregating Rome's Jews. The order, he said, ''reduced those who lived in the ghetto to economic and cultural misery, depriving them of some of the most fundamental right.''

''It was only 115 years ago that this complex of restrictions, enslavements and humiliations ceased,'' he said as a pained expression appeared to cross John Paul's face.

The audience included some prominent Italian policians but was made up almost entirely of Italian Jews. They sat in rapt attention as the Pope spoke, some faces creased in smiles of astonishment at the sight of the white-robed Pope addressing the congregation.

''Behold, how good it is, and how pleasant, where brethren dwell at one,'' the Pope read from the 133d Psalm.

Rabbi Toaff read from Psalm 124: ''Had not the Lord been with us, when men rose up against us, then would they have swallowed us alive.''

After the 80-minute ceremony, the Pope attended a brief reception, where he received a gift of a menorah, the ceremonial candelabra. He, in turn, gave the congregation a copy of a Torah from the Vatican Museum.

Meets Key Jewish Leaders

He also met with key Jewish leaders here, including Settima Spizzichino, one of a handful of survivors from the roundup of Oct. 16, 1943, that sent hundreds of Jews to their deaths in Auschwitz.

John Paul also met the mother of a 2-year-old boy killed in October 1982, when Arab terrorists sprayed automatic weapons fire at worshipers at the synagogue, wounding 36 people. The Pope had met with the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasir Arafat, just a month before, and some Jews here said the Pope bore indirect responsibility for the attack.

Also receiving a warm greeting from the Pope was Eytan Ronn, the Israeli Ambassador to Italy, who called the visit ''a good step forward.''

Mr. Ronn said he had told the Pope he looked forward to further progress in relations between the two faiths. ''In my thoughts, there was my own country,'' he said.

Go here and here for other articles on the pope's visit to the synagogue. To read Pope John Paul II's address on the occasion, go here.

On October 27, 1986, six and a half months after his visit to the Great Synagogue in Rome, Pope John Paul II presided over the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy. See my post 25 years ago: Representatives of 12 religions join Pope John Paul II at World Day of Prayer for Peace (October 26, 2011).

For more on the Roman Catholic Church's official position on Jews, see my post 50 years ago: Pope Paul VI promulgates Second Vatican Council's Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate) (October 28, 2015).

10 years ago: The death of William Sloane Coffin

On April 12, 2006, Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. died at the age of 82. Rev. Coffin, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, became a Presbyterian minister, and later was a minister in the United Church of Christ. He was Chaplain of Yale University from 1958-1975, and senior minister at the liberal interdenominational Riverside Church from 1977-1987. Although Rev. Coffin had been a case officer with the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1950s, he became increasingly disenchanted with the CIA and American foreign policy.

As a clergyman, Rev. Coffin was known for opposing U.S. involvement in various wars and supporting nuclear disarmament, sodomite rights, and about any other politically and theologically liberal cause imaginable, to the point that he became a caricature of a liberal Protestant clergyman. The main thing I remember Rev. Coffin for was his trip to Iran in December 1979 with National Council of Churches President Rev. M. William Howard, Jr. and Most Rev. Dr. Thomas Gumbleton, Roman Catholic Bishop of Detroit, to conduct Christmas "services" for Americans being held hostage by Iranian thugs at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The three stooges clergymen, known for their liberal views on various issues, had been invited to Iran as dupes participants in the propaganda exercise by the Islamist regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. For further reading on this incident I recommend the article Captivity Pageant by Mark Bowden in the December 2005 issue of The Atlantic.

Edmonton municipal census has three categories for "gender" in 2016

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. Mark 10:6

It comes as no surprise to this blogger to find that the city of Edmonton's municipal census, held every two years, has three categories for the question on gender in 2016: male, female, and "other." At that, it's just in the interest of shortening the questionnaire that only one additional option was added. During the training session for census workers, it was stated that there are now seven varieties of "transgendered" persons. At least, that's the number this week--a new letter seems to be added every few weeks, and it will end up being Heinz 57 varieties, the way it's going. I can't keep up with all these letters, so I just refer to these people as "alphabet" freaks or perverts (yes, they're freaks, and I won't apologize for using the word).

As blogger Vox Day said in commenting on a similar news item on July 14, 2015:

One thing I didn't realize when reading about the historical collapse of empires is how damned farcical it is.

Chaldean Catholic priest in London, Ontario sentenced for gambling away money intended for sponsorship of refugees

As reported by Jennifer O'Brien of the London Free Press, March 29, 2016:

Up to eight London families, and more across southern Ontario, are reportedly out of pocket and the priest they trusted is under investigation after hundreds of thousands of dollars went missing.

The priest, Father Amer Saka of St. Joseph’s Chaldean Catholic Church in London, is suspended and being investigated by police, with his bishop saying Saka told him he gambled away more than $500,000 given to him by families who thought he was holding it for refugee relatives under a private sponsorship program.

Seven or eight London families from the small church in the city are among those who trusted Saka to deposit thousands of dollars into a trust fund to be used once the refugees arrived in Canada, said Bishop Emmanuel Shaleta, head of the Toronto-based Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Canada.

“They deposited it for their loved ones. He was supposed to return it when their relative came.” Shaleta said Monday.

“They did not give this money as a donation for their church. Those people are upset now that money is not there anymore. There are people affected, not only in London, but Toronto, Windsor and Kitchener,” where the priest also worked, he said.

“They trusted him, this money was not for him. It was to be given back to the refugees.”

Instead, the government “has stopped all processing” of refugees wanting to come to London on private sponsorships facilitated by Saka, said one member of the London congregation.

“People are sad. There are people who are working all their life to bring their family here,” said the man, who did not want to be named.

“Some people had no money. They borrowed thousands just to get their family from Syria,” he said, adding many in the congregation have relatives in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.

The man said estimates of $500,000 are low and he’d heard more than $800,000 had vanished. He said he knows of one family alone who gave more than $70,000 to the priest for loved ones still overseas.

“Everybody’s talking about it.”

Saka, who was also an administrator of the Mar Ouraha parish in Kitchener, could not be reached by phone or in person for comment Monday.

Shaleta, head of Canada’s Mar Addai Chaldean Eparchy, an Eastern Rite church that represents Catholics from Iraq and surrounding countries ,and which is overseen by the Vatican, said the problem came to light more than a month ago, when he learned the priest was participating in the federal government’s refugee-sponsorship program through the Hamilton Roman Catholic Diocese.

Saka is not a priest for either the Diocese of London or the Diocese of Hamilton.

With police tight-lipped, key questions about the case remain, including:

--Whether money was actually deposited with any church for refugee sponsorship purposes.

--Whether oversight procedures, typically tight involving private refugee sponsorships, were lacking.

--Why someone from one Catholic organization would go to another to help with private refugee sponsorships. A spokesperson for the Hamilton diocese has suggested that might be because Hamilton has a large Chaldean community and because Saka’s Kitchener mission parish is located within the diocese.

Saka had been parish priest at St. Joseph’s for about eight years, the parishioner told The Free Press. He called him a good priest who liked to do things with his flock, including play soccer with the men.

London police confirmed they’re investigating after church officials reported more than $500,000 went missing.

“I can confirm that there is a fraud investigation after we received a complaint from the Catholic church,” said London police Const. Melissa Duncan. “The investigation is ongoing. As with any fraud investigation, it can take some time because there are various components to the investigation.”

Saka’s London parish has a congregation of about 100 families, said Shaleta. They’re among about 38,000 Chaldean Catholics across the country.

Shaleta said he hadn’t known the London priest was taking part in the program to sponsor Iraqi refugees.

“I did not know that. I said to him, ‘I know this program deposits money (for refugees), where did you deposit it?’” said Shaleta.

“I cornered him. I said, ‘I need to know where is this,’” he said. “He confessed.”

The priest told him he’d been gambling, said Shaleta.

“Right away, I removed him from the parish.”

Shaleta said he contacted police, took Saka to Southdown Institute in Holland Landing, Ont., for priests with addiction and mental health issues, took over the congregation for two weeks and has since sent a priest there.

“The congregation has nothing to do with this. They are not involved with this,” he said.

Fewer than 100 people normally attend the tiny Charles Street church in London, but the day the bishop arrived to explain things there were as many as 300, said the parishioner.

Under the federal government’s private sponsorship program, people who want to sponsor refugees must raise money to support the newcomers as they get settled.

About $12,000 must be raised to sponsor one refugee, and $27,000 to sponsor a family.

Faith-based organizations often partner with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to help with the process by holding the money, making the application and essentially vouching for the sponsors. The money is used for rent and expenses during the first year after newcomers arrive.

“The diocese says ‘this is a parishioner, we know them, we trust them,’” explained Shaleta.

He said he doesn’t know what’s happening in the cases of the sponsorships that were being held by the London priest, but the bishop said he’s working to ensure the refugees make it to Canada.

“I will do my best to process those files,” he said. “Of course, as a church we will help as much as we can."

October 23, 2019 update: As reported by Jane Sims of the London Free Press, October 22, 2019:

There was no legal way that Rev. Amer Saka wasn’t going to prison for his $1-million fraud.

But, when Ontario Court Justice Allan Maclure sent the 54-year-old Chaldean Catholic priest to prison on Tuesday, he offered Saka some glimmer of hope for his future.

“While Father Saka deserves condemnation for his conduct, in my view he’s also deserving of a degree of forgiveness and hope,” Maclure said in a decision that wrestled with the conduct of “a fundamentally good man” with a wicked gambling addiction.

Saka, who came to Canada from Iraq, pleaded guilty earlier this year for one count of fraud over $5,000 for using trust money that was earmarked to bring Iraqi refugees to Canada to feed a gambling addiction.

So deep was Saka’s gambling urge that at the time he was under investigation for fraud, he was already on the radar of the OPP for his frequent visits to the Point Edward casino where he would gamble large sums of cash.

The Federal Transactions Report Analysis Centre of Canada (FTRAC) also knew of Saka’s large transactions, including using $25,525 in one swoop, and had him on their radar.

Maclure agreed with the defence that the addiction stemmed from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder that had its roots in the persecution he suffered in his home country. His brother was murdered in 1984 and his mother died in his arms in 2005 after she had been shot.

Saka maintained his faith and helped prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Once in Canada, he offered his services to the Diocese of Hamilton and its refugee sponsorship through his parishes in London and Kitchener, starting in 2011.

It appears all went well until federal quotas for refugees were eliminated in 2013 and the priest was flooded with requests from potential sponsors, many of them with cash on hand that he was to put in trust accounts.

The problems were detected in 2015 when the church’s sponsorship office became aware of irregularities in Saka’s applications.

By the time the dust settled and Saka had confessed to his bishop, the Crown estimated at least $936,497 had been gambled away.

Saka said in a letter to the court he was under the gambling addict’s view that if he played long enough, he could win back his losses for the families and for himself.

In total, 33 families and 109 family members were affected by Saka’s losses.

“For more than three or four years, I have been suffering from my behaviour regarding my compulsion to gamble,” he wrote in the letter that Maclure read during his decision. “I lost not only myself but also many of my loved ones and loyal parishioners. It was never my intention to cause others so much pain.”

Amer Saka’s lawyer Iryna Revutsky exits the London courthouse Tuesday on the day her client, a Chaldean Catholic priest, was sentenced to two years in prison for fraud. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

He wrote that he misses working as a priest and had devoted his life to helping others. “Priding myself on service to others, I would never have believed that something that started as a pleasant trip with friends to a casino would have become such a nightmare and personal shame,” he wrote.

His hope was to help others find the joy and peace he had discovered in Canada, but he hadn’t come to terms with the trauma in his life. “When I gambled, it took away some of the horror of some of these memories,” he wrote.

“I miss being a priest. I miss helping people. I worry I won’t ever be a priest again,” he wrote.

Maclure said this was “a large scale fraud. It is an egregious breach of trust.” But Maclure also pointed to Saka’s efforts to get counselling and psychological reports about his undiagnosed mental health issues.

There were also letters of support from parishioners, including one who said Saka sold his own car to help him settle in Canada. Maclure noted many witnesses at Saka’s preliminary hearing held no malice against the priest and forgave him.

“These are the true measures of this man” Maclure said.

Maclure agreed with the Crown that a prison sentence was the only possible outcome. He sentenced Saka to two years, the low end of the range suggested by the Crown.

He also agreed the victims “are among the most vulnerable, displaced people coming from a wartorn country.”

“In many of the events, he took advantage of the high regard he held in the community,” the judge said.

But Maclure also agreed the diocese should have monitored the trust accounts more closely. He was “also very much troubled” that gambling authorities knew of Saka’s gambling, “watched and did nothing.”

Maclure noated Saka’s worry he may never be a priest again. “It would be most unfortunate if that happened,” he said.

“I believe Father Saka is fundamentally a very good man who dedicated his life to others, was traumatized in a way that I doubt many of us could ever appreciate.”

Maclure ordered Saka to pay back the money, but with some hesitance. The most Saka ever made as a priest was $22,000 a year and hopes of him paying back close to $1 million is slim. But the law says there must be restitution.

Maclure suggested he give Saka 45 years to pay , but assistant Crown attorney Adam Campbell argued that would “effectively nullify the intent of Parliament.”

Maclure recalculated his decision to 10 years after Saka completes his sentence. At that time Saka can come to court and request more time.

Maclure recommended Saka serve his sentence in a minimum security prison.

Yoga has yet to bring peace to this recent convert who's now under arrest after getting violent during a plane flight

Only the Lord Jesus Christ can bring true and eternal peace to a troubled soul; let's pray that the subject of this article comes to know that peace. As reported by Jennifer Sinco Kelleher of Associated Press, March 31, 2016:

HONOLULU — A Japan-bound aircraft returned to Hawaii because of a violent South Korean passenger who wanted to do yoga instead of sit in his seat, the FBI said.

The pilot of the March 26 United Airlines flight from Honolulu International Airport to Narita International Airport turned the plane around after hearing that Hyongtae Pae was yelling at crew members and shoving his wife, the FBI said in a criminal complaint.

Pae told the FBI he didn’t want to sit in his seat during the meal service, so he went to the back of the plane to do yoga and meditate. He became angry when his wife and flight attendants told him to return to his seat. “Pae pushed his wife because she was trying to make him stop,” the complaint said. “He felt that she was siding with the flight crew.”

He tried to head-butt and bite U.S. marines who were passengers on the flight and tried to force him back to his seat, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching said at Pae’s detention hearing Wednesday.

According to the complaint, he threatened to kill passengers and was yelling that there is no god.

Pae went into a rage because he felt the flight crew was ordering him around, Ching said.

Ching said Pae shouldn’t be released because he’s a danger to his wife, himself and others. Pae urinated on himself and was on suicide watch at the Honolulu Federal Detention Centre, Ching said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang ordered that Pae be released on $25,000 bond, but with certain conditions including not leaving the island of Oahu and undergoing a mental health evaluation.

Since the arrest, Pae’s wife has been staying at the Waikiki Gateway Hotel, defence attorney Jin Tae “J.T.” Kim told the judge, who asked whether Pae had financial resources to continue staying there after his release. Kim said he’s working with the consulate to transfer more money to Pae’s wife and find alternate, temporary housing.

Chang denied Kim’s request to allow Pae to return home to Korea, because that would involve getting on a plane again.

Outside of court, Kim said his client is a 72-year-old retired farmer who travelled from South Korea to celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary with a Hawaii vacation. It was the couple’s first trip to Hawaii.

Pae only recently took up yoga to help with anxiety, Kim said, adding that he was sleep-deprived during the vacation. Pae told the FBI he hadn’t been able to sleep in 11 days.

Old church buildings, like their denominations, are often beyond repair

And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Mark 13:1-2

Buffalo, New York is not alone in being home to old and large church buildings built by old and once-large denominations that, like their cities, have declined numerically (often because of apostasy, as in the case of mainline Protestant churches), and/or have moved to the suburbs. As reported by Robert J. McCarthy of the Buffalo News, December 22, 2015:

If things were still like 1928, when St. Matthew’s Catholic Church first opened, thousands of people would pass through its doors at 1066 E. Ferry St. on this Christmas weekend.

But those days are long gone. The once-elegant Romanesque style structure has been abandoned since 2004, and now decays along with other formerly grand houses of worship throughout the city.

At Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, however, Masten Council Member Ulysees O. Wingo Sr. gained approval of a resolution calling for a city task force to study just what to do with long-abandoned and crumbling churches. Wingo’s measure calls St. Matthew’s “battered, forgotten, neglected and open to the elements.”

“We don’t want these places to become havens for vagrants,” he said after Tuesday’s meeting. “We don’t want to wait for something to happen.”

Wingo noted that many closed churches once served as vibrant centers of the community, with Wednesday’s resolution noting that St. Matthew’s was known as a “diverse parish community with a great deal of emphasis being placed on education and compassion for others.”

The Council member noted that the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo closed the church in 1998 and that it was later purchased by the Way Christian Community Church. But he said the congregation was never able to raise enough money for extensive repairs and left.

“You have all these superambitious people think they can do wonders with these superdilapidated buildings,” he said, “until they find out how much it costs.”

St. Ann’s Catholic Church at Broadway and Emslie Street also has become a focus of city attention in recent weeks after the diocese ordered it closed in 2013 in the face of as much as $12 million in needed repairs.

A fence has been installed around the structure to protect passers-by.

Wingo received Council approval to convene Council members, the city Preservation Board, the Office of Strategic Planning, Department of Permit and Inspection Services, the Mayor’s Impact Team and the Law Department to discuss future use of St. Matthew’s and other churches.

“Maybe we could offer assistance with grant writing or something else,” he said. “We want ideas how to reuse them and get them back as the beacons of light and hope they once were.”

An example from Saskatoon of a community service centre masquerading as a Christian church

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Matthew 6:1-4

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; II Timothy 4:3

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

If the Lord Jesus Christ can be removed or omitted from a movement or activity without fundamentally changing it, then the movement or activity isn't in fact Christian. Here is yet another product of the Church Growth Movement's cookie-cutter, as reported by Darlene Polachic of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, March 12, 2016 (link in original):

Does a church that gives 100 per cent of the offering each Sunday to help the poor and needy sound like a dream?

That’s what’s happening at Connect Church XYE which meets Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. at TCU Place.

Three years ago, Rev. Dean Angell was pastoring a church in Toledo, Ohio, when he was approached by some friends of his in business in Saskatoon about starting a unique new Christian church plant. What made the church plant unique was the commitment on the part of the business people to underwrite the cost of running the church so that all offerings could be donated to worthy causes.

After careful consideration, Angell and the financial underwriters agreed to make a three-year commitment. The plant, known as Connect Church YXE, officially kicked off in September of 2013.

“Donating all the money given by the congregation at Sunday services is a significant hallmark of what we’re trying to do here,” Angell says. “Making church that simple is a major shift for everyone.”

Connect Church YXE has three pillars of connection: connect people to God, connect to people, connect to a cause.

People are connected to God primarily through Sunday services.

“We believe that having a meaningful and personal faith walk can be a reality for anyone and everyone, regardless of their past or present circumstances,” Angell says. “We also think church should be the very best place to find that faith.

“We get a lot of first time people coming, people who haven’t been in church much, and we want to make sure those people can walk in the door and learn how to step closer to God in Week 1. We try to engage people on different levels through visual arts and music led by a professional band. It’s fun, it’s loud, very relaxed, with a coffee break in the middle of a service that’s programmed to last 70 minutes or less.”

Between 300 and 400 typically attend Sunday services. A strong children’s ministry runs simultaneously.

Angell says, “The message I preach is Jesus. My goal is to connect Him with where people are at in this city. Some sermon series have been 12-Step focused. Lately, it’s been about managing your life during a downturn. A lot of our people are coming from stress-filled situations.

“It’s my job to help people find faith, which will help them become whole and healthy. We’re a hospital, not a cathedral.”

When offering time comes, Angell says there is power in being able to say, “We need you to be generous today because all the money given is going to The Lighthouse, or some other worthy charity.”

Shelly VanBinsbergen is in charge of the Cause arm of Connect Church YXE. She says the church has a yearly giving plan for each organization it helps. Each charity supported has been a suggestion from the congregation. VanBinsbergen researches each suggestion thoroughly to establish eligibility. The congregation then votes on whether it wants its money to go there.

“Connect Church YXE’s Cause pillar is what hits people most,” VanBinsbergen says. “Giving money to churches has an unsavoury stigma for a lot of people, but our commitment to give all the money collected to a worthy cause has removed people’s fears and reservations about money and church. As well, giving this way allows them to engage physically in the action.”

As a result, many volunteer hours are being connected to the financial giving, with people from the congregation helping out the various recipient organizations.

Angell says, with a less-programmed church, instead of people volunteering for church programs, they’re encouraged to go to The Lighthouse or The Bridge and volunteer there.

Volunteering as a church initiative removes a lot of barriers that might keep people from walking into these places on their own to help, VanBinsbergen says. “It might be social barriers, or perhaps fear, or maybe time constraints, but going with a group can help address these things, and allow the person to take that first step.”

Locally, YXE makes donations to the Friendship Inn, The Lighthouse, Youth For Christ, and The Bridge. Every Thanksgiving, the church holds its service at The Lighthouse.

Connect YXE also supports international organizations like Hands at Work: Africa, Canadian Humanitarian: Ethiopia, Place of Rescue: Cambodia, International Justice Mission: Worldwide, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and Food for the Hungry.

Connect Church YXE frequently sends mission teams to work with the various international groups.

“In the churches where I’ve worked previously, missions happened, but nothing like this one,” Angell says. “In two and a half years, we’ve done six or seven missions trip. We’re building it into the DNA of the church.

“Service,” he says, “is what we do the rest of the week as Christians.”

To learn more, visit http://www.connectchurchyxe.com.

When you go to the church website, you find this list of Values – Our Big Ten:

1. Simple - we keep the message of Jesus uncomplicated and the organization of the church simple

2. Inclusive - everyone is welcome at connect, our desire is to include and value all people

3. Over Balanced - we attract people who normally don’t “do” church by keeping an over-balanced focus on those who are searching for God

4. Generous - 100% of money raised at Connect is given directly to charities to support those in great need

5. Excellent - we do our best to be well-prepared and well-presented publicly and organizationally

6. Real - we are totally honest about who we are…the good, the bad, the ugly, and the money

7. Involved - we engage with the community where we live, involvement is encouraged and modeled

8. Relational - we place a high value on developing deep meaningful friendships

9. Resourced - we value your growth and put significant time and energy into resourcing those who desire to work on their own spiritual development

10. Fun - we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we do laugh a lot as we enjoy every minute of doing church

I particularly like #3--they're "over balanced," all right--"over balanced" in favour of the Peter Drucker-influenced paradigm of having the church meet the "felt needs" of "people tho normally don't 'do' church." A true Christian church is an assembly of believers, not unbelievers. I'm always suspicious of those who claim to be "totally honest," but maybe that's just me--I am a suspicious person. And I'm sick of churches who make "fun" a priority--fun isn't mentioned in the Bible as a Christian "value."

The charities mentioned in the newspaper article sound generally Christian, and many of the activities mentioned on the news page of the church website sound like acts of Christian compassion, but what cause is Connect Church YXE supporting this week (link in original)?

This Easter Sunday, we are taking a special one day offering for Ronald McDonald House Saskatoon.

When children are sick Ronald McDonald House Charities Saskatchewan gives them what they need most... their families by providing a "home-away-from-home" for them. We truly believe that having family by their side during an illness improves the health and well being of the child.

Through the doors of Ronald McDonald House Charities Saskatchewan, you will find families struggling with a child's fragile health, celebrating the healing of their sick child while at the same time dealing with the routine necessities of everyday life.

You can donate to Ronald McDonald House on Sunday, March 27th knowing that 100% of your donation will go directly to the organization.

We will also have opportunities for you to sign up on Sunday to prepare and serve dinner at the house for the families staying there.

I have nothing against Ronald McDonald House as a charity, but it's a secular charity that any non-Christian can support without any qualms.

Here's one from June 15, 2015 (bold in original):

Connect to Others, Connect to a Cause ~Hudson's Taphouse June 24th

Burger Bar and Silent Auction

6 - 9 pm

Burger Bar opens at 6:30, Silent Auction bidding begins at 6, ends at 8:45.

Burger Bar with Salad and a Drink ticket for $25 per person with proceeds going to support the team from Connect who are travelling to Zimbabwe with Hands at Work to serve in our partner community of Sukubva.

Since the establishment is a "taphouse," the drink ticket would presumably refer to or include alcoholic drinks.

And what's on tap for the near future? This item was posted on March 15, 2016 (bold, link in original):

Connect to Others, Connect to a Cause - Sunday May 1st, 2016

Heart and Sole
5K Fun Run in support of the Saskatoon Crisis Nursery

Sunday May 1st
Registration starts at 9:30 A.M. at Village Guitar
432 20th St W
5k Run starts at 10 am
Minimum $20 donation to register

On Sunday May 1st, we will not be holding our regular Sunday services at TCU Place. Instead, we are inviting you to take part in the Heart and Sole Fun Run that we are hosting to raise funds for the Saskatoon Crisis Nursery. We are looking for volunteers and runners - families, individuals, work place teams to participate in this first annual event in support of the Crisis Nursery. If you love to run or walk, this is an easy 5K route along the river in Riversdale.

If you're not a runner or would like to volunteer, we are looking for you! We'd love to have cheering stations along the route, water stations, route marshalls, first aid attendants, bbq'ers and popcorn poppers. We'll be having fun bounce houses and face painting and other great activities on the block in front of Village Guitar and the Underground Cafe on 20th.

Grab your neighbours, coworkers, friends and family and take part in this great morning of fun and community in our city!

Details to follow here and on our Facebook page. Stay tuned! Registration will open soon.

If you'd like to be involved in the planning or volunteer on the day of the race, please email Robyn and Jessi at heartandsolefunrun@gmail.com.

Saskatoon Crisis Nursery sounds like a decent charity, but it's a secular charity. Why do secular charities always seem to hold their fundraising runs on Sunday mornings when church services are taking place? They never advertise runs to be held on Saturday mornings--perhaps because they don't want to interfere with the religion of Mammon worship as people go shopping. The reader will notice that the May 1 Fun Run has an entry fee of $20, so anyone who doesn't have that much or isn't wishing to donate that much can't participate in the run.

What about people who want to go to church on May 1, 2016 and get fed from the word of God? They won't have that opportunity at Connect Church YXE, but if the sermon titles are any indication, they probably wouldn't get fed much, anyway. With titles such as How to Deal with Debt; "Budgeting 101" ; Superbowl Sunday; "20 mile learnings"; and "Make Someone Else's Day", the sermons are more likely to be motivational talks than messages from the word of God.

When you click on Connect Church YXE's Resources link, and then on Personal Growth from the drop-down list, you're presented with a link to Right Now Media, featuring such popular and dubious big names as Bill Hybels, Francis Chan, and Matt Chandler. The link for Counselling & Support provides a list of agencies, most affiliated with evangelical churches, but also including Catholic Family Services.

On the church's Why Connect? page, it says:

...We believe that anyone and everyone can have a meaningful and personal faith walk become a reality in their lives, regardless of their past or present circumstances. We also think that the church should be the very best place for anyone (and everyone) to find that faith.

Especially on Sundays at Connect, we will place a very high priority on passing on Jesus’ message of simple faith in relevant, easily accessible ways, spoken in common, everyday language, with very practical life application. We believe that God really does want to connect with each of you, and we will do our best to not get in the way of that...

Oddly, there's nothing on Connect Church YXE's website that says what that faith is, or what the message of Jesus is. There's no statement of faith or beliefs (although such statements are often followed more in the breach than in the observance), just the list of "Big Ten" values. The trouble with churches such as Connect Church YXE is that you can't serve two masters, and eventually the social gospel--which is a false gospel--will end up displacing the true gospel, as has happened in the mainline churches, and you'll end up with churches "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."

Flashback--1938: Economist and churchman Roger Babson anticipates the Church Growth Movement

Students of American economic history may recognize the name of Roger W. Babson. An economist and investment adviser, Mr. Babson was bearish about the stock market in the late 1920s, while the market was still booming. On September 5, 1929, he delivered a luncheon speech at the annual National Business Conference in Boston. Mr. Babson ominously predicted, "Sooner or later a crash is coming which will take in the leading stocks and cause a decline of from 60 to 80 points in the Dow-Jones barometer." Mr. Babson's speech immediately became front page news in the United States, earning him the nickname "The Prophet of Loss." The speech prompted a brief flurry of panic selling, but Yale University Professor Irving Fisher, approached by the New York Herald-Tribune for a response, rebutted Mr. Babson's pessimism, and within hours, the "Babson Break" had been halted, and stock values resumed their climb. Seven weeks after Mr. Babson's address to the National Business Conference, the stock market crashed, as he had predicted. 1

While looking through microfilms of old newspapers, I recently came across the name of Roger W. Babson in another context (assuming it was the same Roger W. Babson--there couldn't have been too many people with that name floating around), in this anonymous article that appeared in The Edmonton Journal, July 16, 1938 (bold in original):

Says Church Membership Must Be Taken Seriously
-----------------------------------
Babson Believes Services Will Be Oftener In Future
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URGES MORE UNITY
------------------------
Considerable interest for Canadian as well as American church people attaches to remarks made by Roger W. Babson, as moderator of the Congregationalist-Christian churches in the United States, at their general council in Beloit, Wis., a few weeks ago. Sounding a note of revolt against some present-day methods in Protestant churches, Mr. Babson made a number of practical suggestions that he believed would be moves toward a more sincere and effective church life.

Too loose conception of the duties and responsibilities of church membership was the first point of Mr. Babson's attack. He deprecated the idea of "once a member, always a member" and thought it probable that in future church members might be asked for "a signed reaffirmation each year, placing on the inactive list those who do not reply." With this, it was suggested, should be a general raising of Christian standards.

Hold More Services

More efficient work in the Sunday schools, with teaching that is both more serious and more applicable to the daily needs of the young folk, was urged by Mr. Babson, who felt a "rebirth of evangelism among the young" to be highly desirable.

"Multiple services" were also recommended as a better way of using the churches' opportunities for public worship. Churches should be open more, the speaker claimed, with perhaps four or five services on Sunday, beginning with morning prayers at 8:30, to be attended by groups, rather than be entire congregations, at the most acceptable hours, and some of them to be for only 20 to 40 minutes. One of the Sunday services, probably that at 9:30 a.m., might be for discussion, and at 5:00 p.m. a vespers service. The minister's service would be given at 11:00 a.m. and repeated at evening worship and at Monday night service. "Smaller groups, more services, and shorter services will be a slogan of the present revolt," said Mr. Babson, adding that "the new assumption will be that each member will attend only one service."

Stop Competition

Other points emphasized were the need of a spirit of real stewardship in the church so that giving money to the church might be made an act of real worship; greater concern among church members about people's economic and social welfare, with a serious effort to cope with the unemployment problem; and a demand for church unity, eliminating wasteful competition between different Protestant denominations.

On the question of unity, Mr. Babson said: "Two things are certain: (1) The coming generation of young people will not stand for the foolish existing divisions of Protestants along creedal lines, with their different names. (2) The tax authorities of states and cities will not long consent to tax exemption on Protestant church property unless it is kept open at all times. There will be a movement to exempt such property only in proportion to the hours per week it is used. These two factors will force the closing of 50 per cent to 70 per cent of present church buildings and the elimination of meaningless different denominational names."

As far as I know, Mr. Babson was wrong on his last point about the tax authorities, but he was remarkably prescient in most of his recommendations: smaller groups; multiple and shorter services; emphasis on visible organizational unity and what might come under the umbrella of the "social gospel;" and an annual "signed reaffirmation," which sounds like the unbiblical "membership covenants" that Rick Warren brought in at Saddleback Community Church and have spread to other churches like a virus. All of these things are characteristic of the Church Growth Movement, and were recommended by Roger Babson, with his background in business, decades before they became standard evangelical church business practices under the influence of Donald McGavran, Peter Wagner, Peter Drucker, Bill Hybels, and Rick Warren. For further reading on the Church Growth Movement, I recommend searching the blogs Herescope and Lighthouse Trails Research Project.

Next to the article in the Journal was a photograph of a man, with the caption:

Rev. Dr. Charles Stelzle of New York, who recently suggested that the churches ought in the present financial situation to pay 25 per cent of the taxes from which they are legally exempt, as an acknowledgment of their "civic and social responsibility." He estimated that in his own city this would amount to about one dollar a year for each communicant member."

I don't know who Rev. Dr. Stelzle was, but I do know this: his suggestion was a bad idea, although it probably sounds appealing to virtue-signalling cuckservative churches of the type that adopt "Serve the World" as part of their slogans. Never voluntarily give up your rights to the state; you're not likely to ever get back any rights you've surrendered, and the state is likely to then take that surrender as the starting point for further erosion of your rights.
==================================
1. Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst, 1979, pp. 267-270, 277.

Seattle scam artist ordered to shut down "pay for prayer" website and repay almost $7.75 million to bilked consumers

Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. Isaiah 56:7

And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. Mark 11:15-17

As reported by Samuel Connelly of Wichita Christian Faith & Culture Examiner, March 17, 2016 (links in original):

SEATTLE – Pastor John Carlson of Christian Prayer Center (CPC) was ordered Wednesday, to take down his prayer website and repay nearly $7,750,000 to approximately 165,000 unwitting customers nationwide who were deceived into paying for prayers from fictional ministries and fabricated pastors.

According to the statement released by Washington State’s, Office of the Attorney General (AGO), Attorney General Bob Ferguson called a stop to the deceptive business practice that had not only fabricated names for nonexistent pastors, but had also created false testimonials using stock photos on their website.

Benjamin Rogovy, the real name of the man behind the masks, offered to pray for those who shared their prayer needs on his websites, christianprayercenter.com and oracioncristiana.org, for a fee ranging between $9 and $35 for his services. The websites claimed that whenever Pastor John Carlson prayed for people, they got whatever they wanted including, winning lottery tickets, negative HIV tests, healthy babies, and even saving homes from foreclosure. The problem with these testimonies where that they were all made up. The testimonies. The stories. Even the names of the pastors were fabricated.

The Christian Post, reported that the websites claimed that they were more effective at answering prayers than small prayer groups since they had an online network of thousands of people that would receive consumer’s prayers:

“Local churches and small group prayer lists have been a wonderful way to share the blessings of prayer, but these methods are limited in their ability to rally the true power of thousands of voices all praying in agreement. The Internet has enabled us to build a massive congregation to lift your prayer requests to a whole new level...”

...According to Ferguson, “Rogovy and the CPC created fake religious leaders and posted false testimonials in order to attract consumers. The CPC claimed that “Pastor John Carlson” solely ran the sites. It would send weekly inspirational emails to consumers under the pastor’s name, and even created a fake LinkedIn profile that described the Pastor’s experience as “Senior Pastor, Christian Prayer Center, January 2009 — present.” CPC also used the name “Pastor Eric Johnston” to sign consumer correspondence. Neither of these people exist.”

Further investigation into the websites by the AGO revealed a “deliberately confusing webpage to lock consumers into reoccurring payments.” According to the investigation once a person logged into the site and paid for their prayer they were transferred to another page that asked them if they wanted to continue to receive blessings. When the unsuspecting person agreed, in would enter their information into a data base to be charged monthly fees.

“…the websites used a deliberately confusing webpage to lock consumers into recurring monthly payments. The AGO investigation found that once consumers submitted and paid for a prayer request, they were directed to a Web page that gave them the option to receive “continued blessings.” The information was presented in a confusing manner and inadequately disclosed that the charges would reoccur until the consumer cancelled.”

Looking at the Christian Prayer Center Facebook page you wouldn’t think there was anything suspect about this ministry. It encourages their million plus followers with daily prayer posters and memes while offering a place for people to share their prayer needs. An excerpt from the ‘General Information’ on the ‘About’ section of their Facebook:

“Please note that we exist online only. We provide this Facebook group as a free service to our members, as well as the ability to use our website for free to read prayer requests of others. Any voluntary payments made to post prayer requests on our website are not tax-deductible.” CPC's Facebook page turned out to be just one of the ways the business lured people with prayer needs to their website where at least 165,000 were duped into entering a credit card number.

Rogovy had also created another for-profit entity online called “Christian National Church” pastored by the fictional, Pastor Parker Robinson.” District Attorney Ferguson said Rogovy used the same deceptive tactics to draw desperate people into his scam.

As part of an agreement announced Thursday in court, Rogovy must return all the money to eligible consumers. In addition, the court ordered the businessman to: Stop all unfair and deceptive business practices; clearly present and disclose payment information; pay $500,000 and attorney costs and enforcement fees; and be subject to $1,000,000 in civil penalties that are suspended as long as terms of the agreement aren’t violated...

...If you have been taken advantage of, or, if you know someone who has been taken advantage of by Christian Prayer Center or Oracion Cristiana at any time beginning in July 1, 2011, you must file a complaint with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office by June 12, 2016.

You can file your complaint HERE.