I do not know if this is the experience of all, many or no other blogger, but I find it jaw-dropping amazing how I feel led to post an article only to find another blog I follow posting the same message either the same day (once it was within minutes!) or within a few days. Or I am led to a new blog which has published the same message.

“Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20 God’s Word).

Even though I was never found guilty of any crime or breach of promise, the powers-that-be deprive me of my ability to serve God as an ordained minister. That’s another story. But the statement I gave when ordained on May 30, 1987 remains as true for me today as then.

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People who have an inferiority complex live a form of self-hate. Strange as it may sound it displays arrogance. Read more…

Coat of Arms of the Medici Popes

500 years ago today the Fifth Lateran Council convened, lasting five years. After the Tenth Session Pope Leo X published Inter Sollicitudines (“among the concerns” my translator says), on this day in 1515.

This document began the official censorship of books. In order to be printed a book had to carry imprimatur, the official seal of approval. A book without this, if printed, would lead to excommunication, the arrogance of the church saying such a person couldn’t go to heaven. All churches practice this even if they do not have such language. Denominations and congregations make decisions about who is acceptable. Membership can be withheld or revoked. That’s excommunication. Some go even further, condemning those who aren’t even members.

Church Boards and Councils will censor a preacher. Preachers censor Sunday School teachers. Bible Colleges censor instructors. I do not know if it is true or not, but at my college we were all led to believe a professor was relieved for teaching what someone deemed an unacceptable theory of how part of the Bible reached its final form. Since the whole student body accepted this it, at least, demonstrates evangelical Christians consider such activity as plausible.

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A local clergy phoned to invite us to their Easter service, remembering that we do not have a “church home”. It caught us by surprise, especially since other clergy have literally made it clear we are not welcome to their religious displays and have tried to stop our mission for God. That phone invitation we accepted as Christian love.

Without diminishing the kindness shown by that phone call, it shows a slight misunderstanding.

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There was a fad started some time ago called “seeker-sensitive” ministry. This tool for increasing church attendance aimed at downplaying traditional “church” in favour of a style more like a restaurant or show. Some congregations did find more people came out on Sunday mornings for a cutesy performance without a life-changing experience.

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