George Bush = Anti-Christ?

The United States is looking at implementing an electronic passport.

The proposed U.S. Electronic Passport is the same as a regular passport with the addition of a small contactless integrated circuit (computer chip) embedded in the back cover. The chip will securely store the same data visually displayed on the photo page of the passport, and will additionally include a digital photograph. The inclusion of the digital photograph will enable biometric comparison, through the use of facial recognition technology at international borders. The U.S. “e-passport” will also have a new look, incorporating additional anti-fraud and security features.

On the State Department website they have given people the opportunity to provide feedback on this change. I found this one kind of amusing.

From: gotjesus@—–.com
Subject: RIN 1400-AB93 – comment from Mr. Any Believer
Date: April 2nd 2005

02 April 2005, 08:15:16 AM PST

Chief, Legal Division, Office of Passport Policy,
Planning and Advisory Services

RIN 1400-AB93
Docket No. 05-3080

Electronic Passport
AGENCY: Department of State
ACTION: Proposed rule

Sender: Mr. Any Believer
Jesus
No need to rspsond or know where I live
San Antonio, TX 77777, Heaven, United States

Comment:
- – - – - – - -

No mark of the beast for me you Luciferian beehivers. You can take all
those RFID chips wrapped like a burrito in the HR 4(6+6+6) national id bill
and stick it up yor own arse!

Jesus is the way, not the antichrist of the beast system. Read God’s
words in the Book of Revelation lest your soul is burned in hell. The
great test is upon us all…

- – - – - – - -

Maybe it’s true and George Bush is the anti-Christ.

technorati tags: George Bush, Christianity

The Role of the Church

The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.

technorati tags: Martin Luther King Jr., Christianity

Kennedy on King

The “march toward progress” in the United States that had its roots in the civil rights movement and the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and wife Coretta is “teetering now,” according to Mass. Senator Ted Kennedy.

Full Story

If I had read these words this time last year, I probably would have disagreed with Sen. Kennedy. At that point I was convinced that the battle for civil rights had made great strides. I figured the only racists left were the uneducated on the periphery of society.

That was last year.

After the events of this past summer, especially Hurricane Katrina, I see that Sen. Kennedy is indeed right. The United States is in fact teetering on the brink. As a society they can choose to go in one of two directions, back to the 40’s or forward into a new understanding. This understanding would see all people equally valued, no matter their race or socio-economic status.

Senator Kennedy continues:

“Dr. Martin Luther King was really the driving force, not just for the civil rights movement, but for the great ‘march for progress’ — and as he was the father of that movement, she was the mother of that movement.

“They, together, were the force in this nation, in an area where our Founding Fathers failed. The Founding Fathers wrote slavery into the Constitution. We fought a Civil War. It wasn’t really until we had Dr. King and Coretta Scott King in the’50s that awakened the conscience of the nation so the political leadership in the early ’60s could begin what I call ‘the march to progress,’ knocking down walls on discrimination on race, religion, ethnicity, gender and disability.

“We have benefited so much from their inspiration and leadership.

technorati tags: Hurricane Katrina, Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King dies at 78

Coretta Scott King, who turned a life shattered by her husband’s assassination into one devoted to enshrining his legacy of human rights and equality, has died, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young said Tuesday morning.

She was 78.

CNN.com – Coretta Scott King dies at 78 – Jan 31, 2006

technorati tags: Coretta Scott King

Easy Like a Sunday Morning

A new post I just created on the Saskatoon Resonate Greenhouse.

technorati tags: Resonate Saskatoon

‘Emergent Jews’ consult evangelicals on staying relevant

Over two days, representatives from nearly 30 emergent Jewish and Christian worship groups talked about abandoning traditional worship in search of a more personal connection with God, something they said they can’t find in temple or church. They also shared their vision with more traditional Jewish leaders who hope this new “emergent Judaism” might help bring young Jews back at least to some style of worship.

“We’ve got to learn from what our Christian colleagues are doing,” said Shawn Landres, with Synagogue 3000, a progressive Jewish think tank that set up the meeting at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute about 70 km. north of Los Angeles.

Evangelical Christians began to search for ways to meet evolving spiritual needs about 10 years ago, quitting mainstream churches to form worship groups that meet in coffee shops, warehouses and living rooms. They began calling themselves “emergent Christians” and now focus on “walking the path of Jesus” and doing humanitarian work while remaining apolitical.

Some conservative Jews have criticized those who have split off from synagogues, saying they are ignoring thousands of years of religious tradition.

Still, other Jewish groups feel they have something to learn from the Christian movement, including how to feel comfortable speaking about personal faith in a public sphere

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

And we have so much to learn from Jewish groups about the roots of our faith and understanding the context of scripture.

This dialogue is exciting.

technorati tags: Christianity, Judaism

Disconnect

1. Jesus’ mission was not to get more people to attend weekly temple meetings. How, by following his example, did this become the mission of the church? —Disconnect—

2. A typical ‘church’ might define membership committment by looking for a few key metrics, such as people who are tithing, attend Sunday meetings regularly, are part of a home fellowship, and are engaged in a service ministry in the church. In other words, the church gets at least 10% of their money and at least 10% of their waking 4-hour timeslots. (Think about that time… if a 40-hour work-week gets 60%, and meals, hygene, and commuting could take up to 20%, this leaves 10% for all other pursuits, including God and family… so in other words, the organized church may want half your uncommitted time as a measure of committment to the church.) Jesus just said, “Follow me.” —Disconnect—

Subversive Influence » Churchless Faith

technorati tags: Brother Maynard, Christianity

Chrislam?

At first, it seems a surprising sight: inside a two-story mosque in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest metropolis hangs a life-size portrait of Jesus Christ.

Yet worshipers at “The True Message of God Mission” say it’s entirely natural for Christianity and Islam to coexist, even overlap. They begin their worship by praying at the Jesus alcove and then “running their deliverance” – sprinting laps around the mosque’s mosaic-tiled courtyard, praying to the one God for forgiveness and help. They say it’s akin to Israelites circling the walls of Jericho – and Muslims swirling around the Ka’ba shrine in Mecca.

This group – originally called “Chris-lam-herb” for its mix-and-match approach to Christianity, Islam, and traditional medicine – is a window on an ongoing religious ferment in Africa. It’s still up for debate whether this group, and others like it, could become models for Muslim-Christian unity worldwide or whether they’re uniquely African. But either way, they are “part of a trend,” says Dana Robert, a Boston University religion professor.

In Africa, Islam and Christianity are growing – and blending – Yahoo! News

technorati tags: Christianity, Islam, Syncretism

God Forbid

Forget all the images you’ve seen on television, in the newspapers, online. There isn’t a one of them that truly captures the devastation. Instead walk out your front door and look around. Now imagine for as far as you can see every house, every warehouse, every street light, every car, truck or SUV, or boat demolished. Imagine the bombing of Berlin come to your hometown. Imagine Hiroshima. Imagine the end of the world. Then, and only then, can you really begin to understand what folks driving into Jackson Barracks see ever single day.

The silence says it all. There’s no dogs barking. No motors humming. No kids laughing. No horns blaring. No water running. No music of any sort. Graveyards aren’t even that quiet.

Sidewalks are strewn with remmants of people’s lives. Blue jeans and baby toys hang in trees. Abandoned cars litter the city. A three-foot statue of Jesus sits in yard where a house once stood. His arms open wide. His head gone.

And before you go protesting that the people of the Gulf Coast deserve this because God is mad with them, or because they built a city in a bowl, or whatever rationale you use to dismiss the pain of others, know this: The next disaster could be in your neighborhood. God forbid.

THE SIT & SPIT – Bravenet Web Journal

technorati tags: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans

Resonate Saskatoon

Jordon Cooper has created a Resonate Saskatoon blog. It is going to be a group blog a la the Boar’s Head Tavern. Here is the 411 on the blog:

Welcome to the website/weblog of Resonate’s Saskatoon Theological Learning Community. This is a touching place for our learning community in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and for those who are interested in what we are thinking of around the globe. In other words “Not all the voices are in Toronto”

So far the people posting there are Jordon, his wife Wendy, and myself. I’m sure more will sign up.

Should be an interesting conversation.

technorati tags: Jordon Cooper, Wendy Cooper, Resonate Saskatoon, Resonate