Josiah Concept Ministries

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.

I now consider myself an official Christian apologist. I have received my first piece of “hate mail” from the atheists in the community. Darrel inflicted a previous post with this gem:

False Doctrine, false religion? Curiosity leads me to post on this site, so as you quote “let each be fully convinced in his own mind” so HE is! Does age make your religion any more valid, myself I despise all religion with a passion, but if he totally believes as you obviously do. What or I suppose in your case who should judge. As a human being and nothing more I really do wish that people like yourselfs and Tom Cruise would realise that we are after all the spawn, seeds, whatever romantic words you would like to attribute, of our sun and therefore evolution. None of your inane ramblings are going to make the slightest bit of difference to the growth of this world (other than reducing the population).
In the hope that religion dies before me (which I doubt)

Indeed, he brings up a very good point. What makes any religion more valid than the other? Age? Certainly not. Judaism is much older than Christianity, certainly a forerunner of Christianity, but not a true religion in any sense. We are no longer waiting for the promised Messiah; for Jesus has already come.

Scientology is another man-made road to spirituality. It is man reaching to God. In fact, it is man’s attempt to be God. Scientology tries to turn us into something that we can never become.

I’m not saying that it is all bad, necessairly. Part of your path to enlightenment in Scientology is reaching out to the world around you and leaving it better than you found it. Christianity is not a works-based salvation in this way; your works don’t save you (as they do in Scientology and other man-made religions), rather, your good works should flow naturally from a desire to serve and please your Creator. God, through Christ, has already paid the price for your sins; they no longer matter. That’s all of your sins–past, present, and future!

I assume that the bit where people like me and Tom Cruise are going to do nothing to impact the world’s population except reduce it is a reference to terrorism carried out in the name of religion. Interesting. In this post, I have been lumped into the same category as Tom Cruise and terrorists.

I would emplore this reader to check the evidence for evolution against the evidence for design in Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator, as well as a website like this. I would also encourage him to keep an open mind as to what God will show him on this journey.

But he’s already made up his mind, hasn’t he?

In a recent article from Religion News Blog about gossip columnists, bloggers, and website users discussing the recent first public appearence of Suri Cruise, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s daughter, Elaine Lui (of laineygossip.com) made a comment that really bothered me:

[T]here’s one absolute necessity if Cruise is to completely rehabilitate his image: he has to stop talking publicly about Scientology.

“We are all religious and we don’t push it on other people, and the way he did it was really offensive to other people. As long as he doesn’t talk about it, he’s going to be fine.”

Again, I have to state in no uncertain terms, that I disagree with Scientology very strongly. The beliefs of this so-called “religion” are completely at odds with a Christian understanding of the world around us. With that in mind, you would think that I am someone who would agree with Lui about what was said here. That is not the case.

I am categorically opposed to Elaine Lui’s above comment.

Although I disagree with Scientology and I pray that Tom Cruise sees God’s truth someday, to oppose him proselytizing his religion begs the question “Where will it end?” If I became a celebrity tomorrow, I wouldn’t be shy about declaring that my celebrity status is not for me, but for the glory of God. I would ask the faithful to pray for me to keep Him in my sight, and that I do His will through my newfound fame. Would Elaine Lui speak out against that?

I sincerely hope that I am reading too much into Lui’s comment. Somehow, I doubt it. No one seems to want to hear about the religious views of another; and I read this as an attack on not just Scientology, but on evangelism in general.

The United States gives its citizens “freedom of speech.” Not “freedom of speech so long as you don’t offend me.” Unfortunately, all too many people assume that the latter is implied by the Constitution. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next decade or so, and weather or not the Political Correctness movement is going to effectively end a lot of our free speech rights.

I often lamblast the so-called “religion” of Scientology. Most people would be surprised to learn, then, that I have no problem with Tom Cruise and his shamless promotion of this false doctrine. It cannot be disputed that Tom Cruise is a very talented actor, and that his movies just make money. So why did Viacom give Cruise/Wagner Productions their walking papers and then slam Tom Cruise’s character in the media?

Paramount severs ties with Cruise/Wagner Productions
–AND–
Overcoming Creative Suicide

I actually support Mr. Cruise. I think that the reasons for the separation shouldn’t be made public, especially when they embarass him. They cite his couch-jumping escapades and his public attempts to evangelize the cult of Scientology. Despite the cult status of Scientology, it isn’t their business! If Mr. Cruise sees benefit in Scientology, it is only natural that he would want others to see similar positive effects in their lives.

It isn’t for me to judge Mr. Cruise’s spirituality. “Let each be fully convinced in his own mind” (Rom 14:5). I have faith that God will sort that mess out. In the meantime, let us all pray that Mr. Cruise will see God’s truth before that day. If he is this strong of a proponent for a false religion, how much stronger could he be when relying upon the Lord’s strength rather than his own tenacity as Scientology teaches? He could literally win thousands of souls for Christ. What about the monetary resources he could provide for God’s family? Scientology is certainly not cheap, as anyone who has studied the “religion” knows. What if Mr. Cruise pumped all of the money he spent on becoming an Operating Thetan into real missionary work? It could be a serious blessing for the gospel we share.

Let’s also pray that Cruise/Wagner Productions owns the rights to the Mission: Impossible franchise. I love those movies, and I think that another one would be great!

Scientologists protest psychiatry at national conference

NIAGARA FALLS - A weekend conference of psychiatrists was picketed here Friday by Scientologists who marched outside the convention center banging drums and carrying signs that read, “Psychiatry kills.”

More than 200 psychiatrists and mental health professionals from across the country are attending the second annual Comprehensive Review of Psychiatry in the Conference Center Niagara Falls.

The pickets belong to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, which was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and has more than 135 chapters in 34 countries. One of the organization’s more famous members is actor Tom Cruise.

“Their beliefs have nothing to do with psychiatry,” said Dr. Steven Dubovsky, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University at Buffalo, which is co-sponsoring the conference with the Western New York Psychiatric Society. “They have the same credibility as people who say they’ve been kidnapped by aliens in flying saucers.”

One of the speakers on Friday’s program was Dr. Daniel Fisher of Washington, D.C., a former schizophrenic who said he was cured by psychiatry and psychiatric drugs.

The Scientologists weren’t allowed inside the convention center, but they wouldn’t have been swayed in their beliefs.

One of their signs, “Psychiatric drugs create kid killers,” referred to school shootings such as the one that occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999. Eric Harris, one of the two teens who killed 13 and wounded 21, was on the Prozac-like drug Luvox at the time.

“At least eight of the 13 school shooters in recent years were on mind-altering drugs,” said Bruce Wiseman, the commission’s national president, who came from Los Angeles for the protest.

Wiseman said there are 10 million children in the United States on psychiatric drugs that are known to cause suicidal thoughts and behavior. Children with attention deficit disorders are given Ritalin, which is as addictive as cocaine, he claims.

Dubovsky brushed aside that argument as “nonsensical.”

“That’s like saying you shouldn’t give penicillin to a child with pneumonia,” Dubovsky said.

The Buffalo chapter set up an exhibit of anti-psychiatry panels and videos in the Niagara Center, the former Occidental office building near the Rainbow Bridge, that will coincide with the convention.

Dramatic placards and video images decrying psychiatrists as “Masterminds of destruction” and the science as “An industry of death” had a profound effect on some of the people viewing them.

Patricia Felske, a mother of four from Toronto, had one word for her reaction to the exhibit: “Horror.”

The Scientologists said they will picket outside the convention center again today and Sunday.

Consumer Alert: Scientologists “unqualified”

“Scientology is evil; its techniques are evil; its practice is a serious threat to the community, medically, morally, and socially; and its adherents are sadly deluded and often mentally ill… (Scientology is) the world’s largest organization of unqualified persons engaged in the practice of dangerous techniques which masquerade as mental therapy.”
- Justice Anderson, Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, quoted at What judges have to say about Scientology

• Scientology Kills
• Research resources on Scientology

Hate Group within a Hate Group

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is a front organization for the Church of Scientology. Both organizations are hate groups actively involved in unethical behavior.

• More articles on the Citizens Commission on Human Rights
• Research resources on CCHR

Reported by Religion News Blog

Religious news… sometimes heartwarming, sometimes weird.

I have one from each category. Jody sent me an article from the Toledo Blade that detailed an organization called the Greater Toledo House of Prayer. It is a relatively new organization in Toledo that serves as a 24 hour open prayer meeting house. They have a few noteworthy ministries, including Kid’s HOP that teaches young kids the importance of prayer. This is definately a ministry that I plan to watch and support.

On the weird side, the rather vulgar and one-joke show South Park aired an episode so controversial, it led to the resignation of Isaac Hayes, a long time cast member. The show was a send up of the so-called religion of Scientology, of which Hayes is a member. Tom Cruise reportedly threatened Comedy Central and its parent company Viacom with boycotting his own scheduled promotional appearances for Mission: Impossible 3 if they aired the episode, entitled “Trapped in the Closet.”

View a clip.

In the story, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is thought to be reincarnated as Stan. The show features a non-sequitor appearance by R. Kelley and extremely unflattering portrayals of John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

The episode is very tame for South Park, however, as I only count one unbleeped expletive–a female dog–and one bleeped expletive. Both were uttered by R. Kelley as he sings a tune.