The Bulletin Board:(Please SCROLL DOWN this page to find the article titled on this post in LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS. Thank you.)
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
"The Campus Crusade for Comfort" - Mike Adams | Oct 01, 2014; http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2014/10/01/the-campus-crusade-for-comfort-n1899000/page/full [AS I SEE IT: As someone who heard the gospel through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ over 41 years ago and who also served on their staff for 33 years, I was obviously disturbed to just recently come across the following article. I can only hope that the author's experience is just limited to a few individuals within the ministry, but somehow I don't believe that is the case. Also, I too am distressed that there seems to be no vision among campus ministries to equip its students to be able to come alongside fellow students who are in crisis pregnancies and are considering abortion. Finally, please note also the comment afterward left by someone else who was once with the CCC ministry. - Stan]
Note: In the following article, I refuse to refer to Campus Crusade for Christ by their new name. I find their removal of the words “Crusade” and “Christ” to be offensive and demeaning (and just incredibly silly).[I share this view. - Stan]
Nearly half of the abortions in this country are performed on college-age women. According to Students for Life of America, 70% of all abortion-providing and abortion-referring facilities are located within five miles of a college campus. Given those staggering numbers, it would seem that campus ministries would be positioning themselves to do something about the problem. But most are doing nothing at all. If you don’t believe me, take the time to go to the Campus Crusade website and do a search for the word “abortion.” See what your search reveals.
So why are campus ministries largely silent on such a profound moral issue? Recently, I had a chance to ask a Campus Crusade director that very question. His response was that Campus Crusade is not “a politically-based organization.” That explanation is inadequate. In fact, it is demonstrably false.
Several years ago, a good friend of mine named Dave Sterrett gave a pro-life speech to a Campus Crusade chapter at a state university in North Texas. He was invited to speak by a student. During the middle of his speech, he was arguing that the unborn are fully human and have souls by quoting from the Gospel of Luke. His talk was clearly Biblical and not political in nature. Nonetheless, when the Campus Crusade director arrived, he rudely shut the speech down.
The Campus Crusade director told Dave to come out in the hall after he shut down his talk.The Crusade leader then began to yell at Dave and told him, "I don't know what your deal is talking about this issue. Get your books and get out of here." He went even further calling the headquarters of Crusade, which then demanded an apology from Sterrett.
Shortly after I wrote about the incident, several members of Campus Crusade contacted me - but not to apologize for their mistreatment of Dave. They emailed to admonish me for writing about the incident – even though I did not call out the university or the chapter director by name.The fallout from the incident was revealing. It shows how far some campus ministries will go to avoid controversy – and that they often consider themselves to be above reproach.
The original incident was also revealing. The censored speech was not political so the problem cannot be that Campus Crusade is not a “politically-based” organization. The speech was morally and Biblically based. Does the rejection of the speech mean that Campus Crusade is not a “morally-based” organization? Or does it mean they are not a “Biblically-based” organization?
Of course it doesn’t. The incident merely shows that Campus Crusade has become a “comfort-based” organization. In other words, an over-riding priority is avoiding topics that might make people feel uncomfortable.
Sadly, Campus Crusade is not the only ministry that is obsessed with the very un-Christ-like goal of avoiding topics that make people feel uncomfortable. Search the major campus ministry websites and see what they have to say about abortion. I guarantee that it won’t take very long to commit to memory all that they don’t have to say.
The saddest part about this is that Christian peers would be the best possible people to help pregnant women work through the abortion decision process. Imagine Campus Crusade students trained, not just to defend life, but also to walk women through the process of getting an ultrasound, talking to a nurse, and really thinking all the options through. As my friend Amber Lehman says, “The simple truth in love for a woman with pregnancy decisional conflict goes a long way for her to make a life decision.”
I was inspired to write this column after a Campus Crusade chapter director urged me to be careful to avoid criticizing other Christians who do not “attack the abortion issue” the same way I do. That is simply arrogant and utterly un-Biblical. What he really means is that he doesn’t like me calling his organization out for their sinful silence on the most profound moral, political, and Biblical issue of our time.
I urge everyone reading this column to criticize all Christians who “attack the abortion issue” by keeping as quiet as they possibly can in the name of enhancing comfort.
If they admonish you for criticizing Christians, introduce them to the letters of the Apostle Paul. He wasn’t afraid of offending his support team.
[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]
Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Letters to a Young Progressive: How To Avoid Wasting Your Life Protesting Things You Don't Understand.
WiserGuy Wrote:Oct 02, 2014 11:45 AM
Cru (or Campus Crusade for Christ... a better name in my opinion), I am ashamed to learn this and go to your website and find it out for myself. As a former student leader and founding leader of the chapter at my college I am upset that you are committing this tragic sin of omission. Yet, you know you are doing it, and so I would classify this as a sin of commission, too. To think that you would even go to the extent of SILENCING someone who is speaking out against such an offensive sin!! I suppose if Jesus were to show up at one of your meetings and speak on the issue that you would silence him, too. I recently had the unfortunate privilege of seeing multiple unborn children whose lives were cut short, yet someone saw fit to preserve the tiny little frames in solution in jars to be brought out for anatomy lessons. I don't know how they ended up in those jars - natural death, accident, or abortion (though I have my suspicions). But, one thing I know and have known and am unashamed to know better than you. That is, ABORTION IS MURDER OF THE WORST TYPE. It rips apart limb by limb little human beings who have committed no crime but to have a mother or father or grandparents who would rather them be dead than to see them alive. And it is no secret that abortionists prey on scared, lonely, emotionally abandoned college girls to murder their children for money. Yet, you remain SILENT on the issue and SILENCE those who would speak. I wonder if slavery were to come back into fashion in the US, would you remain silent? When the actions and laws of men transgressed the character and laws of God, Jesus spoke out. Occasionally, he knocked over tables while wielding a whip. What, I wonder, do you think is the Christian response to the command to "walk in His steps." Up until now I have had nothing but deep appreciation for Campus Crusade and the influence it has been on college campuses, but I must say I am quite disappointed by this revelation. I would much prefer to hear that Campus Crusade (Cru) is standing for righteousness and for those made in the image of God no matter how popular that stand may be or what effect it may have on donor contributions. But, that's not the case. I believe Jesus has these words for you, friends (and I call you friends):
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent." - Revelation 2:5
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
11/21 Special Petition Effort for Pastor Seed/ signatures needed in next few days....
President Obama is "desperate" to make a nuclear deal with Iran.
To leave American Pastor Saeed to rot in an Iranian jail for his Christian faith would be an absolute travesty. We have just a few days to demand President Obama act before the nuclear deadline.We can't trust Iran as it torments Pastor Saeed. His life - his freedom - is at stake.
We must send a powerful message to President Obama - a sense of urgency to bring Pastor Saeed home.We've mobilized our international resources. We're aggressively working with Members of Congress to make it crystal clear: no deal without Pastor Saeed. We're fully committed in the fight to bring Pastor Saeed home, but now we need to hear from you. Already, nearly 100,000 have made their voices heard. Join them. Be heard today. Save Saeed. Sign Our Petition: No Deals without Pastor Saeed. http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign
"American Christian Couple [in Qatar]Faces Death Sentence after Daughter Dies" - By Charlene Aaron, CBN News, November 21, 2014; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/November/Christian-Couple-Faces-Death-Sentence-after-Daughter-Dies/
NOW THAT THE ELECTION IS OVER:1) Let's be praying that God showed us grace in giving us representatives who will sincerely work to DO NO HARM to us and future generations. Let's also be praying that should He have chosen to give us those who WILL do us harm, that He extends mercy to us now and for the years ahead. His will is now done as far as the results we have. Now it's up to us to be diligent to hold those elected accountable!, and 2) Let's be praying that the present lame-duck session in Congress will not be allowed to pass legislation that will do harm to our country as they can easily do. (See post #1051 - 'Return of the Zombie).
11/21 Special Petition Effort for Pastor Seed/ signatures needed in next few days....
President Obama is "desperate" to make a nuclear deal with Iran.
To leave American Pastor Saeed to rot in an Iranian jail for his Christian faith would be an absolute travesty. We have just a few days to demand President Obama act before the nuclear deadline.We can't trust Iran as it torments Pastor Saeed. His life - his freedom - is at stake.
We must send a powerful message to President Obama - a sense of urgency to bring Pastor Saeed home.We've mobilized our international resources. We're aggressively working with Members of Congress to make it crystal clear: no deal without Pastor Saeed. We're fully committed in the fight to bring Pastor Saeed home, but now we need to hear from you. Already, nearly 100,000 have made their voices heard. Join them. Be heard today. Save Saeed. Sign Our Petition: No Deals without Pastor Saeed. http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign
"American Christian Couple [in Qatar]Faces Death Sentence after Daughter Dies" - By Charlene Aaron, CBN News, November 21, 2014; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/November/Christian-Couple-Faces-Death-Sentence-after-Daughter-Dies/
NOW THAT THE ELECTION IS OVER:1) Let's be praying that God showed us grace in giving us representatives who will sincerely work to DO NO HARM to us and future generations. Let's also be praying that should He have chosen to give us those who WILL do us harm, that He extends mercy to us now and for the years ahead. His will is now done as far as the results we have. Now it's up to us to be diligent to hold those elected accountable!, and 2) Let's be praying that the present lame-duck session in Congress will not be allowed to pass legislation that will do harm to our country as they can easily do. (See post #1051 - 'Return of the Zombie).
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Save Christian Mom Asia Bibi from Execution - A Christian mom has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for her faith. Asia Bibi was falsely accused of “blasphemy” – speaking against the prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith.She would be the first woman executed under Pakistan’s Shariah blasphemy law.This is the ultimate human rights violation. We’re mobilizing our international affiliate – the European Centre for Law and Justice – and its partner in Pakistan to stop this atrocity. Add your name to our letter to the government of Pakistan demanding Asia Bibi’s freedom.Go to http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution; please add your signature to mine and over 35,000 others AND pray for Asia Bibi.
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Friday, Sept. 26th - Two Year Anniversary of Pastor Saeed Abedini's Imprisonment in Iran! - [NOTE TODAY'S POST!]
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign] For comfort and .\
"Not Everyone Happy with Religious Ambassador Pick," Caitlin Burke,July 29, 2014;
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/July/Obama-Taps-Rabbi-for-Religious-Freedom-Ambassador/ "..An estimated 76 percent of the world's population live in countries where religious freedom is restricted. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States must take a strong stand against those violations. "Around the world repressive governments and extremists groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against, so we have to be equally clear about what we must stand for," Kerry said. "We stand for greater freedom, for greater tolerance, greater respect, for rights of freedom of expression and freedom of conscience," he said A key development in the 2013 report is the large number of displaced members of religious communities, including entire Christian communities in Syria and Iraq that have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution."
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
PRAY FOR THE CRISIS HAPPENING NOW IN IRAQ (see post #907) Pray that allied forces will be able to drive the group ISIS back (see post #964)
/PRAYER ALERT- UKRAINE: As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
Continue to Pray for EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
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"The Campus Crusade for Comfort" - Mike Adams | Oct 01, 2014; http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2014/10/01/the-campus-crusade-for-comfort-n1899000/page/full [AS I SEE IT: As someone who heard the gospel through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ over 41 years ago and who also served on their staff for 33 years, I was obviously disturbed to just recently come across the following article. I can only hope that the author's experience is just limited to a few individuals within the ministry, but somehow I don't believe that is the case. Also, I too am distressed that there seems to be no vision among campus ministries to equip its students to be able to come alongside fellow students who are in crisis pregnancies and are considering abortion. Finally, please note also the comment afterward left by someone else who was once with the CCC ministry. - Stan]
Note: In the following article, I refuse to refer to Campus Crusade for Christ by their new name. I find their removal of the words “Crusade” and “Christ” to be offensive and demeaning (and just incredibly silly).[I share this view. - Stan]
Nearly half of the abortions in this country are performed on college-age women. According to Students for Life of America, 70% of all abortion-providing and abortion-referring facilities are located within five miles of a college campus. Given those staggering numbers, it would seem that campus ministries would be positioning themselves to do something about the problem. But most are doing nothing at all. If you don’t believe me, take the time to go to the Campus Crusade website and do a search for the word “abortion.” See what your search reveals.
So why are campus ministries largely silent on such a profound moral issue? Recently, I had a chance to ask a Campus Crusade director that very question. His response was that Campus Crusade is not “a politically-based organization.” That explanation is inadequate. In fact, it is demonstrably false.
Several years ago, a good friend of mine named Dave Sterrett gave a pro-life speech to a Campus Crusade chapter at a state university in North Texas. He was invited to speak by a student. During the middle of his speech, he was arguing that the unborn are fully human and have souls by quoting from the Gospel of Luke. His talk was clearly Biblical and not political in nature. Nonetheless, when the Campus Crusade director arrived, he rudely shut the speech down.
The Campus Crusade director told Dave to come out in the hall after he shut down his talk.The Crusade leader then began to yell at Dave and told him, "I don't know what your deal is talking about this issue. Get your books and get out of here." He went even further calling the headquarters of Crusade, which then demanded an apology from Sterrett.
Shortly after I wrote about the incident, several members of Campus Crusade contacted me - but not to apologize for their mistreatment of Dave. They emailed to admonish me for writing about the incident – even though I did not call out the university or the chapter director by name.The fallout from the incident was revealing. It shows how far some campus ministries will go to avoid controversy – and that they often consider themselves to be above reproach.
The original incident was also revealing. The censored speech was not political so the problem cannot be that Campus Crusade is not a “politically-based” organization. The speech was morally and Biblically based. Does the rejection of the speech mean that Campus Crusade is not a “morally-based” organization? Or does it mean they are not a “Biblically-based” organization?
Of course it doesn’t. The incident merely shows that Campus Crusade has become a “comfort-based” organization. In other words, an over-riding priority is avoiding topics that might make people feel uncomfortable.
Sadly, Campus Crusade is not the only ministry that is obsessed with the very un-Christ-like goal of avoiding topics that make people feel uncomfortable. Search the major campus ministry websites and see what they have to say about abortion. I guarantee that it won’t take very long to commit to memory all that they don’t have to say.
The saddest part about this is that Christian peers would be the best possible people to help pregnant women work through the abortion decision process. Imagine Campus Crusade students trained, not just to defend life, but also to walk women through the process of getting an ultrasound, talking to a nurse, and really thinking all the options through. As my friend Amber Lehman says, “The simple truth in love for a woman with pregnancy decisional conflict goes a long way for her to make a life decision.”
I was inspired to write this column after a Campus Crusade chapter director urged me to be careful to avoid criticizing other Christians who do not “attack the abortion issue” the same way I do. That is simply arrogant and utterly un-Biblical. What he really means is that he doesn’t like me calling his organization out for their sinful silence on the most profound moral, political, and Biblical issue of our time.
I urge everyone reading this column to criticize all Christians who “attack the abortion issue” by keeping as quiet as they possibly can in the name of enhancing comfort.
If they admonish you for criticizing Christians, introduce them to the letters of the Apostle Paul. He wasn’t afraid of offending his support team.
[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]
Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Letters to a Young Progressive: How To Avoid Wasting Your Life Protesting Things You Don't Understand.
WiserGuy Wrote:Oct 02, 2014 11:45 AM
Cru (or Campus Crusade for Christ... a better name in my opinion), I am ashamed to learn this and go to your website and find it out for myself. As a former student leader and founding leader of the chapter at my college I am upset that you are committing this tragic sin of omission. Yet, you know you are doing it, and so I would classify this as a sin of commission, too. To think that you would even go to the extent of SILENCING someone who is speaking out against such an offensive sin!! I suppose if Jesus were to show up at one of your meetings and speak on the issue that you would silence him, too. I recently had the unfortunate privilege of seeing multiple unborn children whose lives were cut short, yet someone saw fit to preserve the tiny little frames in solution in jars to be brought out for anatomy lessons. I don't know how they ended up in those jars - natural death, accident, or abortion (though I have my suspicions). But, one thing I know and have known and am unashamed to know better than you. That is, ABORTION IS MURDER OF THE WORST TYPE. It rips apart limb by limb little human beings who have committed no crime but to have a mother or father or grandparents who would rather them be dead than to see them alive. And it is no secret that abortionists prey on scared, lonely, emotionally abandoned college girls to murder their children for money. Yet, you remain SILENT on the issue and SILENCE those who would speak. I wonder if slavery were to come back into fashion in the US, would you remain silent? When the actions and laws of men transgressed the character and laws of God, Jesus spoke out. Occasionally, he knocked over tables while wielding a whip. What, I wonder, do you think is the Christian response to the command to "walk in His steps." Up until now I have had nothing but deep appreciation for Campus Crusade and the influence it has been on college campuses, but I must say I am quite disappointed by this revelation. I would much prefer to hear that Campus Crusade (Cru) is standing for righteousness and for those made in the image of God no matter how popular that stand may be or what effect it may have on donor contributions. But, that's not the case. I believe Jesus has these words for you, friends (and I call you friends):
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent." - Revelation 2:5
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
