Josiah Concept Ministries

Ah, and the unbiblical practice of canonizing people as saints so that Catholics the world over can pray to them as the Bible commands us not to do. Another example of that is found here! I’m back to wondering what is happening to this world we live in.

Catholics have nearly completed the initial investigations into beatifying the late Pope John Paul II. Beatification is the second step in the process of formal canonization. They are invstigating three miracles that JP2 must be credited with before he can be declared a saint. To that end, Catholic News Service says

One of the miracles John Paul is being credited with is curing a French nun of Parkinson’s disease. The late pope also suffered from the disease. The nun was in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s when members of her convent prayed to John Paul to ask God for her recovery in May 2005.

Ugg! I can’t believe that people think its okay to pray to anyone but God!

Scientologists now view Tom Cruise as their Christ, citing his firey passion for evangelizing their cultic beliefs.  In fact, one of the higher-ups foresees future Scientologists worshipping Mr. Cruise.  Great.  Don’t teenage girls do enough of that now without this going on?

Okay, when I read about Gwen Shamblin and the Weigh Down/Remnant Fellowship cult, I thought that I had finally heard everything.  Now, I read Tom Cruise is the Christ of Scientology.  I also read in USA Today that in September, a gay couple had a child by surrogate mother.  What is this world coming to?

Sin, sin, sin, everywhere.  Jesus, I pray that the world comes to know You, that they will use Your Word to understand why what they do is wrong in Your eyes, and that they will lean on You to guide them and change their souls into new creations under Your care.

Hungry Hearts Ministries always contains something rather fascinating.  I looked in on one of Joceyln’s book projects and discovered the so-called “Five-Fold Ministry” error.  I confess that I had not heard of it until now.  Maybe I’m not as sharp an apologist as I thought.

So I looked up some additional source material.  Sure enough, the Five-Fold Ministry is the foundation of a series of movements, commonly called Latter Rain Theology or the Restoration/Revival Movements.  For the uninitiated (like me), the “Five-Fold Ministry” is based on Ephesians 4:11-13, where Paul tells us that some are given to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers.  Until unity in the body of Christ is achieved, these offices shall be filled.

Most orthodox Christians, however, believe that we have not seen any apostles or prophets since the close of the New Testament.

For 1900 years, we have had the Bible, the fullness of God’s revelation, to guide us and to teach us (2 Tim 3:16-17).  So why now, suddenly, after 1900 years of silence, do we need more prophets and apostles to redefine doctrine and write additional revelation?

Christianity ain’t broke.  We don’t need to fix it.  Besides, Paul even warns us about these false apostles.  Jocelyn says all of this more succinctly than I could.  Check it out.

A casual perusal of the web today has led to two future topics for blog posts.  I will exapnd on these thoughts in future posts.  For now, I wanted to catalog my initial reactions as much for myself as for my readers.

First, Internet dating service Match.com’s new slogan is “It Doesn’t Hurt To Look.”  That is a terrible way to think.  Why don’t you just make your slogan “Hey, Married People–Just Try Us Out for the Pictures that Members Post!”  Meanwhile, what does looking at all of these attractive members of the opposite sex do for the married person?  Well, first, it takes away adoration from the spouse.  Second, what you think about is what you desire.  Thinking about these women (or men) increases the desire to cheat.

So, as the Bible commands, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil 4:8).  When you see temptation, conciously avert your thoughts where they should go: to your spouse.  James White has a series on Philippians 4:8 -

Think About These Things | Honorable | Just | Pure | Lovely | Commendable

Second thing is a blog post from Meditations on Meaning entitled “The Science is Clear: Marriage Should be Eradicated.“  I don’t have time for a reasoned response in the short space here, but I will respond in full very soon.

Obviously, even Jesus taught that marriage, as God fully intended it, isn’t for everyone (Matt 19:3-12, esp. verse  11).  But should we be so hasty to simply eradicate the entire concept?  The majority of the points that Dan makes in his post are true of our Western, individualistic culture.  This is the same issue that underlies the man-centered theologies I’ve discussed in the previous post.

For secular folks, eradication of marriage may be an option.  But for Christians, called to live as God commands, it means learning how to die to the desires of our sinful nature.  This isn’t an easy calling; it is one I struggle with daily.  But I thank the Lord for granting me the opportunity to try on each new day to live as a perfect offering to Him.  This is a higher calling, a calling to demonstrate God’s love to the world.

It seems to be fashionable these days to put ourselves (that is, humans) at the center of our theology.  James White has been addressing items like this on his recent Dividing Line webcasts.  Now I see an example of man-centered theology on Jimmy Akin’s blog in the form of the following comments to this post on mortal sins:

The gravity of the matter is based on the harm done

I suppose you could define ‘harm’ in such a way as to cover every case, but used in the commonly understood manner it is a very poor absolute criteria to determine graveness.

If I worship a golden calf in the privacy of my own room, what harm have I done? If you say I am harming my chances of eternal beatitude, then your criteria becomes meaningless and circular.

The same could be said of a multitude of other sins that have no impact on anyone except oneself such as masturbation, which incidentally the vast majority of those professionally trained in the medical and psychological fields consider ‘healthy’ behavior. But as Catholics we know this to be gravely immoral in all cases.

Of course my problem is with Steve asking “If I worship a golden calf in the privacy of my own room, what harm have I done?”  I didn’t think anyone would have to even ask that question.  And the responses to it aren’t much better.  Tim J, who I usually respect, said:

Well, the problem is you have worshiped simply nothing, and in doing so you have acted out a lie. You have deceived yourself, which harms you. You have also perverted the worship you owe to the true God, which is unjust.

If you look at the Old Testament, idol worship is not proscribed because it harms others, but because - in a way - it robs the worshiper. It takes his piety, energy and devotion and gives him nothing in return. It also is an affront to God, cutting against the grain of the universe He created. It “harms” God, by way of insult (though God can’t be harmed in the same sense that we can).

SDG, who writes guest blog posts from time to time, added “As others have indicated, you gravely harm yourself by turning your will away from its true end.”

So, the main trouble here is that worshipping idols robs the worshipper?  You harm yourself?  God forbids idol worship because it is unfair to us?  That thought process is completely outrageous!  God is the very reason for our existence.  To worship an idol robs Him of deserved worship.  True, worshipping an idol will never bring our own lives fulfillment, but that fact should be considered secondary to denying God His well-deserved worship.  These responses deal only with the harm inflicted upon yourself, as if the offense committed against God is only an afterthought.

What can we expect from a religion that authorizes worship of saints, angels, and Mary?  Finally, we encounter this:

The harm done in worshipping the golden calf is infinite, because you have given the honors due to God alone to something that is not-God, and denied God what should be His.  “Harm” is not simply “harm to other people.”

Thank you, WRY!  Someone with some sense.

The reasoning in those comments must truly offend God.  I’m sorry that Jimmy didn’t address those issues in his own blog or the comments section, and I pray God reveals this to him.

I think that that post has truly shown me once and for all that Catholicism, with all of its laws and precepts, is in the end a man-centered theology.

Normally, I have many unkind things to say about Wal-Mart.  But today, I have something good to say about them, or at least about one of the pharmacists.

Brent Beams, pharmacist at the Springfield Wal-Mart near Columbus, OH, refused to sell the Plan B pill to a young couple.  Plan B, the so-called “morning after pill,” is available over-the-counter to patients over the age of 18.

The very fact that these pills are so available speaks volumes for the society that we live in.  It is as if it is socially unacceptable to take responsibility and face the consequences.  A possible consequence of unprotected sex is pregnancy.  People who take Plan B or get an abortion aren’t facing their problems, they are punishing the baby–the innocent one–for their shortcoming.  That baby had nothing to do with what they did, and yet it will suffer for that.

My wife and I are trying to have a child.  We have both face potential difficulties in this area.  A child would be nothing short of a blessing from God.  I can’t put in to words how thrilled I would be to be someone’s daddy.  It makes me sick to read about people who treat their God-given ability to have children with such a cavellier attitude as to go buy a pill that will end this potential life within them.  A life, by the way, that God chose to bless them with.  And they simply scoff at it.  They stamp it RETURN TO SENDER and mail it back. Then they get back to the only thing that they are good at: focusing on themselves.

Maybe this is an angry and bitter article, but I think everything here needed to be said.

This weekend was my wife’s birthday, and we continued with our annual tradition of spending the weekend of her birthday with our cousins in Indianapolis.  That means that I was unable to work on the articles for this week.  Couple that with me getting sick, and you have a bad week for apologetics on this site.

The open theism article should be done this week.  The SSPX article may or may not get done.  Since the SSPX Society is primairly a schismatic Catholic movement, it doesn’t fit with the mission of this ministry very well.  Therefore, if I get to it, I get to it; if I don’t, I don’t.  I’m also thinking of addressing prosperity theology (since it seems to be very popular these days) and Kingdom Now Theology.  I’ve also been carefully researching King James Onlyism, and will be posting my findings sometime next month, once I’ve had time to study material from both sides and from someone trying only to prove the New Testament itself, not KJV vs. Modern Translations.

I was poking around Religion News Blog, looking for items to rant about.  I found a gold mine of stuff.

The “local churches” and Living Stream Ministries is the subject of an unprecedented movement by the Evangelical Churches.  A group of ministers, many of whom are doctrinally opposed to one another, have joined forces to ask LSM and “local church” leadership to stop publishing the heretical statements of founder Witness Lee and to cease the use of lawsuits to settle arguments or criticism.  The letter and its signatures are viewable here.

It was only a matter of time before The Da Vinci Code was used to further the agenda of the cults.  Kathleen McGowan, earlier this year, claimed to be a descendant of Jesus Christ.  Her novel The Expected One was based on 20 years of research across four continents.  Now, her idea is being applied by another author, Vern Swanson, to the founder of Mormonism (LDS Church) Joseph Smith.  This, the author believes, will lend credibility to the Mormon faith and establish Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God.   Read the article for yourself.

And the Citizens’ Commission for Human Rights, a Scientology front group, has brought its travelling exhibit, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, to the Jefferson City, Missouri Capitol rotunda.  Of course protesters have already bombarded the Capitol with e-mails, but it is unlikely that anything will stop our Scientology friends from this grotesque misuse of the First Amendment.  As the APA said in response to Scientology:

Rigorous, published, peer-reviewed research clearly demonstrates that treatment of mental illness works. It is unfortunate that in the face of this remarkable scientific and clinical progress that a small number of individuals and groups persist in questioning its legitimacy.

Over the past few days, I’ve revised four articles and reposted them.  I have decided to completely eliminate the God is NOT Imaginary section under my Articles tab since I have no intention of continuing with that project.  Four of the five articles have been moved to the Articles page for easy viewing.

This week, I will begin work on an examination of open theism and an examination of the SSPX Society.  The SSPX article should be in place by the end of this week, and the open theism examination by the weekend or early next week.

I finished my article on Catholic Mass and it is posted here. Enjoy!