What U.S. Christians Think of Israel
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/355514.aspx
What do American Christians think about Israel? A new poll just released shows overwhelming support for the Jewish state.
Friends of Israel
The Joshua Fund -- a Christian humanitarian organization -- commissioned the poll and released the results during a one day conference held in Jerusalem called "Epicenter 08" best selling author Joel Rosenberg hosted the conference.
"We surveyed American Christians, both Catholics and Protestants, and we asked them a whole series of questions related to Israel and what I call epicenter, Middle East issues," Rosenberg said.
The poll showed an overwhelming majority of American Christians love Israel.
- 82 percent believe they have "a moral and biblical obligation to support Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem"
- 75 percent believe they have a biblical obligation to help victims of war and terrorism in israel and the middle east
- 57 percent said they desire to visit Israel.
Election '08
The poll also revealed Middle East issues will affect this year's presidential election.
Forty-five percent of American Christians said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who advocates issues like not dividing Jerusalem and protecting Israel from a nuclear Iran.
The epicenter conference looked at the threats Israel faces -- like a nuclear Iran.
The Shadow of Islam
Retired General Jerry Boykin addressed the overarching threat of radical Islam.
"My main message was this threat of radical Islam is a serious threat. We are indeed in a war of survival and it is time for people across the world, not just in Israel and not just in America; for them to take this seriously and treat it as a war and fight back," Boykin said.
In light of this threat, many said it is a pivotal time to stand with Israel.
"As the scripture says, though the whole world be gathered against them, we want them to know that as Christians, we're not," Chuck Smith, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel in California, said.
Rosenberg said, "The prophet Jeremiah said that the Lord loves Israel with an everlasting love and the question is, 'Do followers of Jesus love Israel with an everlasting, unconditional love?'"
He continued, "I think this is a moment that we need to stand with Israel and bless her as the Bible tells us to do, regardless of what U.S. foreign policy or any other nation does. This is a moment we're really going to be tested."
U.S., Israel Criticize Carter Plans to See Hamas
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/carter_hamas_meshaal/2008/04/10/87091.html
WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department said on Thursday it had advised former President Jimmy Carter against meeting the leader of Hamas in Syria next week, saying it went against U.S. policy of isolating the militant group.
Carter plans to visit Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan during a nine-day trip due to start on Sunday but gave no details of specific meetings.
"This is a study mission and our purpose is not to negotiate but to support and provide momentum for current efforts to secure peace in the Middle East," the Carter Center said in a statement.
"Our delegation has considerable experience in the region, and we go there with an open mind and heart to listen and learn from all parties," it said.
Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, discussed with the State Department's point person on Israeli-Palestinian issues, David Welch, his plans to meet exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus, but the department said it went against U.S. policy.
"We counseled against it," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"U.S. government policy is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't believe it is in the interests of our policy or in the interests of peace to have such a meeting."
Israel's ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor, also expressed concern over such a meeting. "The unintended consequences of such a meeting would be to embolden terrorists and undermine the cause of peace," he told Reuters.
Carter, 83, served one term as president from 1977 to 1981. He succeeded in negotiating the 1978 Camp David Accords that paved the way for peace between Israel and Egypt but he has increasingly taken positions highly critical of Israel.
In a 2006 book, he described Israeli policy in the occupied territories as "a system of apartheid."
U.S. policy is to isolate Hamas, which has control of Gaza and is committed to the destruction of Israel. Washington sees pro-Western Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as its partner in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Israelis.
PLANS UNDER WAY
"There is an agreement to hold the meeting and arrangements are under way," Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters in Gaza of Carter's meeting.
Taha said the meeting was to be held following a request from the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which aims to promote global peace, health, democracy and human rights.
A spokeswoman for Carter declined to comment on specific meetings. The delegation will include former first lady Rosalynn Carter and ex-Congressman Stephen Solarz.
Initially, Carter had hoped to go with a group of 'elder statesmen,' including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former South African President Nelson Mandela, but the others decided the timing was wrong.
"The elders will consider consultations with key leaders in the region and outside with the purpose of developing a comprehensive report, but have decided to postpone their visit," said a statement on Tuesday from the group of 12 former leaders on their Web site, www.theelders.org.
Carter has been harshly critical of the Bush administration's foreign policy, from the invasion of Iraq to its approach to Iran as well as the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
McCormack said the U.S. government would provide support for Carter's Syrian trip but would not take part in any of his meetings or the planning and scheduling of those talks.
McCain Defends Homeowner Plan
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/mccain_economy/2008/04/11/87292.html
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Republican John McCain defended his latest plan to help some homeowners pay their mortgages, saying Friday it was not a reversal of his earlier opposition to aggressive intervention by the government.
The likely Republican presidential nominee on Thursday proposed to help 200,000 to 400,000 homeowners trade burdensome mortgages for manageable loans, a plan that would cost $3 billion to $10 billion.
Democratic rivals Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama argued that McCain was flip-flopping. Last month, he said he preferred only limited intervention and letting market forces play out, drawing criticism from Democrats and some Republicans that he was being indifferent to Americans facing foreclosures and other economic pain.
McCain said their criticism was "just factually incorrect."
"I said there shouldn't be a broad government bailout," he told reporters Friday in Dallas.
"But I said very clearly _ and I'd be glad to get a record of what I said _ I said the government has to enact reform to prevent the kind of crisis we have, and there was a role for government, and I supported a bipartisan solution," McCain said.
His plan falls in the middle; it would help twice as many homeowners as President Bush and fewer than half as many as congressional Democrats.
McCain held a rally Friday in an airport hangar after holding fundraisers in Dallas and Lubbock.
"I think you all know," he told the crowd in Lubbock, "Americans are sitting around the kitchen table, and they're trying to figure out a way to keep their home and realize the American dream."
Obama Says Some Voters Are Angry, Bitter
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_bitter_voters/2008/04/11/87356.html
In the midst of an assault from his rivals, a defensive Barack Obama said Friday that many working-class Americans are angry and bitter over economic inequalities and have lost faith in Washington _ and, as a result, vote on the basis of other issues such as gun protections or gay marriage.
The Illinois senator's analysis of what motivates working-class voters came after chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton accused him of looking down on them. Clinton rebuked Obama on Friday for similar remarks he made privately last Sunday to a group of donors in San Francisco.
"People don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody is going to help them," Obama told a crowd at a Terre Haute, Ind., high school Friday evening. "So people end up voting on issues like guns and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. They take refuge in their faith and their community, and their family, and the things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."
The Huffington Post Web site reported Friday that Obama, speaking of some Pennsylvanians' economic anxieties, told supporters at the San Francisco fundraiser: "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years. ... And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
In Terre Haute, Obama said he did describe some voters as bitter when a donor asked why working-class voters in Pennsylvania were not getting behind his campaign.
"Well, that's not my experience," Clinton told a Drexel University crowd, describing the state's residents as resilient, optimistic and hardworking.
"Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them."
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for Republican candidate John McCain, described Obama's comments as "condescending" and "out of touch."
In Terre Haute, Obama chided McCain for not responding promptly to the home mortgage crisis and criticized Clinton for voting for a bankruptcy bill supported by credit card companies.
"No, I'm IN touch," he said. "I know exactly what's going on. People are fed up, they are angry, they're frustrated and they're bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington."
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said Friday night, "Instead of apologizing for offending small-town America, Senator Obama chose to repeat and embrace the comments he made earlier this week."
Obama's Remarks Give Clinton an Opening
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/356266.aspx
MISHAWAKA, Ind. - A political tempest over Barack Obama's comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.
Obama tried to quell the furor Saturday, explaining his remarks while also conceding he had chosen his words poorly.
"If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said in an interview with the Winston-Salem Journal.
But the Clinton campaign fueled the controversy in every place and every way it could, hoping charges that Obama is elitist and arrogant will resonate with the swing voters the candidates are vying for not only in Pennsylvania, but in upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina as well.
Political insiders differed on whether Obama's comments, which came to light Friday, would become a full-blown political disaster that could prompt party leaders to try to steer the nomination to Clinton even though Obama has more pledged delegates. Clinton supporters were eagerly hoping so.
They handed out "I'm not bitter" stickers in North Carolina, and held a conference call of Pennsylvania mayors to denounce the Illinois senator. In Indiana, Clinton did the work herself, telling plant workers in Indianapolis that Obama's comments were "elitist and out of touch."
At issue are comments he made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
The comments, posted Friday on The Huffington Post Web site, set off a blast of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and other GOP officials, and drew attention to a potential Obama weakness - the image some have that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and aloof.
His campaign scrambled to defuse possible damage.
There has been a small "political flare-up because I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter," Obama said Saturday morning at a town hall-style meeting at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. "They are angry. They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they're going through.
"So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country."
After acknowledging his previous remarks in California could have been better phrased, he added:
"The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to."
Clinton attacked Obama's remarks much more harshly Saturday than she had the night before, calling them "demeaning." Her aides feel Obama has given them a big opening, pulling the spotlight away from troublesome stories such as former President Clinton's recent revisiting of his wife's misstatements about an airport landing in Bosnia 10 years ago.
Obama is trying to focus attention narrowly on his remarks, arguing there's no question that some working-class families are anxious and bitter. The Clinton campaign is parsing every word, focusing on what Obama said about religion, guns, immigration and trade.
Clinton hit all those themes in lengthy comments to manufacturing workers in Indianapolis.
"The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich," she said.
"I also disagree with Senator Obama's assertion that people in this country 'cling to guns' and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration," Clinton added.
"People don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them."
McCain's campaign piled on Obama, releasing a statement that also accused him of elitism.
One of Clinton's staunchest supporters, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., acknowledged there was some truth in Obama's remarks. But he said Republicans would use them against him anyway.
At a campaign rally in Wilson, N.C., former state Democratic Party chairman and current Clinton adviser Tom Hendrickson said rural voters don't need "liberal elites" telling them what to believe.
Bill Clinton was the featured speaker of the rally but avoided commenting on Obama's remarks. When asked about it afterward, he said simply, "I agree with what Hillary said."
Huckabee Signs With Talent Agency
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Huckabee_Talent_Agency/2008/04/11/87195.html
Former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has signed a contract with one of the largest talent agencies in Hollywood, Creative Artists Agencies (CAA).
“Nothing has been decided,” his daughter and adviser Sarah Huckabee told CNN about his future projects.
“It probably won’t be just one thing but maybe several different things. Just exploring options right now.”
Huckabee and his sense of humor drew praise when he appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and other TV show during his White House campaign.
CAA represents more than 2,000 clients, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore and Tony Bennett.
White House Highlights Local Impact of President Bush's Health Initiatives in Africa
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07066.shtml
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA -- The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives today hosted a Conference on Health Initiatives in Lusaka, Zambia to highlight and expand the growing leadership of faith- based and community organizations in disease control, treatment and prevention efforts. White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Director Jay Hein was joined by First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, U.S. Ambassador Carmen Martinez and other government, private-sector and nonprofit leaders to explore innovative solutions to addressing human need and further advance the U.S. Government's battle against poverty, disease, and other ills in Zambia and across Africa. Following President Bush's visit to Africa last month, the conference furthered the President's vision for "compassion in action" across the continent and around the globe.
"Today's conference joins leaders from American and Zambia to capture, honor and expand models of effective partnership between government and local nonprofits to overcome AIDS, malaria and other ills," said Jay Hein, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. "Empowering locally-built solutions and expanding neighbor-to- neighbor service is central to the President's Faith- Based and Community Initiative and is now an integral part of the U.S. Government's efforts to address human need both at home and abroad."
"It is apparent that this scourge requires a combined effort and cooperation between the church, civil society, government and other faith-based entities," said Mrs. Mwanawasa. "These entities need to collaborate and develop synergies that use a multi- faceted approach in order to have the greatest impact."
Today's event featured a range of effective partnership models between the U.S. Government, Zambian Government, non-government organizations and social entrepreneurs to target community needs throughout the nation. By engaging multi-sector strategies and building sustainable public-private partnerships, the U.S. Government has redefined its approach to international development and disease prevention in Africa.
For example, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President Malaria Initiative (PMI) engage unprecedented efforts to combat disease in Zambia and other developing countries, while helping to build long-term economic stability. These efforts represent large-scale implementation of President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative vision for empowering local solutions to address vexing social challenges.
First announced in 2003, PEPFAR is the largest commitment ever by any nation for an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease -- a five- year, $15 billion, multi-faceted approach to combating HIV/AIDS. More than 80 percent of PEPFAR partners are local organizations, which support more than 15,000 project sites for prevention, treatment, and care. These groups possess distinctive strengths that effectively complement those of government, including community networks, local knowledge and credibility, buildings and other vital assets, dedicated volunteers, and other assets and capabilities.
In June 2005, President Bush launched PMI and pledged to increase U.S. funding by more than $1.2 billion over five years to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. He also challenged countries, private foundations, and corporations to join in reducing the suffering and death caused by this disease. In the first two years of implementation, PMI has reached over 25 million people with lifesaving prevention or treatment services. As with PEPFAR, many PMI partners are indigenous faith-based and community organizations engaged in service to their neighbors.
President Bush launched the Faith-Based and Community Initiative in his first days in office to strengthen and grow the work of faith-based and other non-profit organizations as central partners in what the President calls "a determined attack on need." The Initiative seeks to expand the impact of the nonprofit sector by growing partnerships with government, philanthropists, corporations and other partners to address community problems.
For more information on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, visit: whitehouse.gov/government/fbci
Assemblywoman Reintroduces Law to Ban Spanking
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07065.shtml
SACRAMENTO -- Assemblywoman Sally Lieber has introduced a bill that will effectively ban spanking in California. Identical to last year's highly publicized AB 755, this new AB 2943 will make it a crime to spank a child.
"Last session this same bill received national attention because of its assault on parents rights to discipline their children," stated Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Family Impact. "We succeeded in stopping the bill because parents were so outraged that an arrogant lawmaker thinks she knows better than parents how to raise their children."
According to AB 2943, a parent who spanks their child would be placed on probation for a minimum of 4 years, and would be forced to attend a "nonviolent parental education class" and the child would receive a criminal court protective order "protecting the victim from further acts of violence or threats" and "residence exclusion or stay-away conditions."
AB 2943 declares it illegal to inflict "physical pain or mental suffering." These ambiguous terms include any suffering cause by instruments including (but not limited to) "a stick, a rod, a switch, an electrical cord, an extension cord, a belt, a broom, or a shoe." Parents often use wooden spoons or rulers to discipline a disobedient child. Under AB 2943, such discipline would be illegal.
"In the legislature we often hear that schools have become too unsafe and we need 'sensitivity' or 'tolerance' training," stated Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for CRFI. "But the reason children are unruly is because they aren't being disciplined. Taking away the rights of parents to lovingly discipline their children will only worsen the behavior problems that justify indoctrination classes in schools."
"Current laws already punish abusive parents for shaking or harming children," explained England. "This bill goes much further and seeks to prohibit parents from raising healthy, responsible children."
"The legislature's analysis of this bill last year actually quoted from Bible passages admonishing parents to discipline their children, citing these quotes as justification for banning spanking," stated Turney. "There is contempt in the legislature for Judeo- Christian values and AB 2943 is the most blatant evidence of this attempt to take away our freedom to raise children according to our beliefs."
AB 2943 will be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee in the next few weeks.
Annual 'Dishonor' Given to Liberal Media
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/355836.aspx
In the news business, there are awards that most every journalist covets. Like an emmy award.
And then, there are some awards that they don't want.
Last night, the Media Research Council held a ceremony for one such award - the annual "Dishonor Awards."
The ceremony roasted what they have called the most outrageously biased liberal reporting of the year.
The winners were chosen by a panel of top conservative minds, including Rush Limbaugh and Steve Forbes.
Categories included topics such as the "This Is How We Adore Clinton-Gore Award." Chris Natthews won that one.
This is how he described the former president:
"There are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple. I mean, amazing ability to transcend ethnicity - in this country and, and speak to us all in this amazingly primordial way."
Hillsong Reacts to Idol's Shout to the Lord
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/356024.aspx
Hillsong Church leaders say they are thrilled that their song "Shout to the Lord," was chosen for American Idol's Give Back broadcast that aired Wednesday.
But they also said they were not asked about the removal of the name Jesus in the broadcast performance.
"Hillsong Church was thrilled to see the song "Shout To The Lord" performed recently on American Idol," officials with the Australian church said in a statement issued late Friday.
"It received an incredible response and was the fifth most downloaded song in this week's U.S. iTunes charts," a church spokesperson said.
The show's eight final contestants from season seven first sang the song during American Idol's second annual charity drive Idol Gives Back. But during the broadcast, the opening line of the song was changed to remove the name of Jesus. The word 'shepherd' was inserted instead.
But in a reprisal of the song Thursday night, and in the downloaded version, "Jesus" was left in.
"Darlene Zschech and Hillsong Church were not asked, nor approved, of the name of Jesus being replaced," the spokesperson said. "We were pleased to see that the song was performed again with the correct lyrics."
Wednesday night's performance became the number one download from that night in the United States.
"Wow. I've never heard this song until they played it on Idol Gives Back," said one reviewer of the downloaded performance. "I really liked how it was giving praise to the Lord and was full of hope. It was beautiful."
On Wednesday, millions tuned in to the charity show to see the needs spread across the globe -- everything from hungry children to AIDS victims.
Numerous celebrities participated in the event to encourage viewers to donate, including Bono, Miley Cyrus, Brad Pitt, Billy Crystal, and Peyton and Eli Manning -- just to name a few.
Producers expect the event to raise $100 million.
Warren's challenge to pastors: 'What has God put in your hands?'
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/warrens.challenge.to.pastors.what.has.god.put.in.your.hands/17894.htm
Internationally revered Pastor Rick Warren slipped into the conference hall unnoticed Tuesday night, comfortably mingling with the hundreds of pastors gathered at the 19th annual National Conference on Preaching, before stepping on stage to deliver a sermon that reminded the audience why Warren is one of the most popular pastors in the world.
In his sermon entitled “Growing Spiritually,” Warren recounted the runaway success of his book The Purpose Driven Life – the best-selling book in history behind the Bible – to the audience gathered at Woodbridge, Virginia, in the US. The sermon was based on the story in Exodus 4 about the scene where God tells Moses to throw his staff on the ground and it transforms into a snake.
“That question, ‘What is in your hand?’ is one of the most important questions in life. What is in your hand?” Warren asked his audience, citing God’s question to Moses in Exodus 4:2.
God tells Moses to throw the staff in his hand on the ground and “something that was dead comes alive”, Warren emphasised. The pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California then made two points: God never does miracles to show off and God never asks questions that he does not already know the answer. God asks questions for our benefit, said Warren.
He went on to explain the significance of the staff which represented Moses’ identity as a shepherd; symbolised his income because wealth was tied to livestock back in those days; and symbolised his influence – Moses used the staff to pull or push his sheep.
“‘Lay it down and it will come alive, but Moses every time you pick it up it’s going to die,’” said Warren. “That simple little experience was the turning point in the history of the world.”
After that scene in the Bible, it was never again referred to as Moses’ staff but always called the Rod of God. The Rod of God was used to part the Red Sea, to turn the Nile River into blood, to perform miracles in front of pharaoh and to make water come out of a rock.
“It was just a simple stick. There was nothing magical about it, but once Moses surrendered it to God, it became the Rod of God,” Warren noted. “Pastors, what is in your hands?” the speaker challenged.
Warren then shifted gear and started talking about the success of The Purpose Driven Life and how he dealt with the fame and fortune that followed. He had to ask himself what has God put in his hands – tens of millions of dollars and enormous attention.
“If I wanted to after the book came out I could have bought an island and retire and have people serve me little drinks with umbrellas the rest of my life,” Warren joked. “But when you write a book and the first sentence of the book is, ‘It’s not about you,’ then you kind of figure the money is not for you and the fame is not for you,” he said drawing laughter.
Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, after prayer decided to not change their lives “one bit” even though they now had millions of dollars at their disposal. He said he still drives an eight-year-old Ford truck, lives in the same house before he wrote the book, and wears a watch from Target.
In addition, he stopped receiving salary from Saddleback Church in 2002 – the year the book was released; repaid all the salary he ever received from the church; set up foundations; pays for all his own travel expenses; and practises reverse tithing – where he gives 90 percent of his income and lives on 10 percent.
“I don’t want anybody doubting why I do what I do,” Warren explained. “I know with this book God has put me under the spotlight and I didn’t want anyone doubting why I do what I do,” he said, noting his main goal in life is to simply save one more soul.
The best-selling author said it was easy to resolve the money that God had put in his hands – simply give it away, but the influence was trickier to deal with. But after reading in Psalm 72 about King Solomon asking God to make him more influential so he could help the needy and oppressed, Warren understood that his fame was meant to be used to help the voiceless.
So following that model, Warren and Kay advocate for the poor and oppressed by sometimes speaking to politicians and businessmen, or by mobilising the church to help the weak and poor, especially children orphaned by Aids.
“What is in your hand? What is your identity? What is your income? What is your influence?” Warren concluded. “If you will take it and give it to Jesus he will make it come alive. He will do things in your life you would never imagine,” promised the renowned Christian pastor.
Warren spoke at the conference right after stepping off a flight from Kenya, which was one of his stops during a 12-day trip to Africa. There, he met with church, business, and political leaders. The three-day 19th annual National Conference on Preaching concluded Wednesday.
'Jesus Camp' makers back with new documentary - 'Lord's Boot Camp'
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/jesus.camp.makers.back.with.new.documentary.lords.boot.camp/17924.htm
The makers of the disputed "Jesus Camp" are back – this time with a special documentary on teen missions that will air this weekend on CBS.
"The Lord’s Boot Camp" is a collaboration between CBS News and Loki Films, the production company behind the Oscar-nominated documentary on the charismatic summer camp for children at Devil's Lake, North Dakota.
CBS' newsmagazine '48 Hours' will air the one-hour special this Saturday at 8 p.m. EST/PST.
Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, co-founders of Loki films, helped produce "The Lord's Boot Camp", which looks at 700 teens training to become Christian missionaries in the United States or Africa at the Teen Missions Intl headquarters in Merritt Island, Florida.
The presentation tells the story of the physical and mental challenges teens face during the intensive two-week training camp through the eyes of three teenagers.
Tabitha Taylor, 13, of Bellwood, Pennsylvania, is a camp standout. Nicole Scrivener, 15, of Tallahassee, Florida struggles with drug and alcohol abuse and a rebellious attitude. Valerie Smith, 15, of Las Vegas, Nevada, has a hard time being away from her boyfriend.
"We're the ambulance of people's souls," said Tabitha in a preview video on CBS News. "And we can't sit around waiting for people to get a heart attack. We need to get in there and save them before it happens."
Following the camp, one camera crew also documented Nicole's missionary trip to Zambia where her team helped construct a staff house for missionaries, met with AIDS orphans and distributed shoes to orphans.
Ewing, co-founder of Loki Films, said each of the three girls "represents a different reaction that religious belief can provoke in a young person: bold confidence, angry rebellion and feelings of doubt," according to CBS News.
"All three characters struggled with the physical and mental demands of the camp as well as the looming question of what role their belief in God will play in their lives as they enter adulthood," Grady, also co-founder of Loki Films, added in the report.
Both filmmakers of the New York-based production company said they try to portray their subjects objectively and without agenda, according to past reports.
Critics, however, say that the "Jesus Camp" documentary purposely presented a negative portrayal of Christians.
"The directors' claims that they were simply trying to create an 'objective' film about children and faith ring hollow,” Ron Reno, Focus on the Family's assistant to the chairman, told Plugged In Online.
“Unfortunately, however, it appears that [the young people pictured] were unknowingly being manipulated by the directors in their effort to cast evangelical Christianity in an unflattering light."
After the release of "Jesus Camp" in 2006, the camp site of the film was vandalised and faced $1,500 in damages. Owners of the property subsequently decided to ban Kids on Fire School of Ministry from using the premises for future camps.
Teen Missions Intl said it will be praying that the special "will be a positive documentary that will honour the Lord and will encourage others to be involved in missions", according to its website.
The group claims to have established 200 missions projects in over 110 countries since 1971 and says it is a pioneer of the concept of providing short-term missions experience for teens.
Iran Keeping Chaos in Iraq?
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/355747.aspx
The historic visit of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iraq was designed to be a show of potential cooperation between the two countries.
But a closer look reveals that five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Iran secretly fights to keep Iraq in chaos.
For example, Iranian-made weapons, including rockets and deadly explosives, were discovered inside Iraq by coalition forces.
Stopping this flow of weapons into Baghdad is a major goal of the U.S. troop surge. Much of the effort takes place hundreds of miles away in a desolate wasteland along the Iranian border.
Camp Shocker is a new forward operating base that's being constructed about a mile from the Iranian border. The soldiers there aren't Americans, but from the eastern European country of Georgia. At the camp, they man checkpoints to stop the flow of weapons, people and money across the border into Iraq.
The Americans stationed at Camp Shocker advise the Iraqi troops along the frontier.
The challenges are significant, because there are hundreds of years of cultural precedent to overcome. But with training and support from the Americans, the Iraqis are making significant headway.
Captain Brendan McEvoy commands one of the teams.
"The terrorist elements on the other side are seeing this, and the drop off in attacks throughout Wasit province and in Baghdad is significant enough that we've noticed that our work here has had some success," he said.
That success is very apparent in some of Baghdad's neighborhoods, like one, where ninety days ago the stores were closed and the people stayed home out of fear.
Now, when Gen. David Petraeus the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq says he wants to meet with Iranian officials, to tell them to stop meddling in Iraq.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker says Iran is still arming Iraqi militias and terrorists.
Chuck Holton reported from the Iranian border that the U.S. has known for some time that Iran is exporting violence to Iraq. But the commander of U.S. forces there is quick to point out that the Iraqi people get the credit.
"Let's not forget that there's been an Iraqi surge ongoing," Petraeus said. "Those people are turning in the bad guys, bringing out the weapons caches, are identifying the improvised explosive devices and ultimately are volunteering to help with security."
For the Iraqi troops stationed along the Iranian frontier, helping with security means tracking down smugglers, beefing up border searches and staying vigilant in the midst of an incredibly bleak landscape.
The scars of the brutal Iran/Iraq war fought some twenty years ago can still be seen everywhere, and nearby Iranian forces provide a tense but constant reminder that reconciliation between these two countries has yet to arrive.
Navy Ship Encounters Iranian Boat
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/us_iranian_boats/2008/04/11/87236.html
WASHINGTON -- The Navy says a ship encountered a small Iranian high-speed boat in the central Persian Gulf and warned it away by firing a flare.
Two other similar Iranian boats in the area did not come as close.
The USS Typhoon tried unsuccessfully to establish radio contact with the Iranian boat after it came within an estimated 200 yards of the Typhoon on Thursday, outside Iranian territorial waters. A Navy official says the ship then fired the flare and continued on its way without incident.
The official says there were no signs any boat was armed.
It was at least the second encounter with an aggressive Iranian high-speed boat this year. In January, Iranian boats made what the Navy called provocative moves near a U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Reports: Iran Denies Confrontation With USS Typhoon in Persian Gulf
Shttp://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350470,00.html
WASHINGTON — Iranian media reported on Friday that there was no encounter in the central Persian Gulf between a U.S. Navy ship and a small Iranian high-speed boat in the central Persian Gulf.
A U.S. Navy official earlier reported the USS Typhoon had tried unsuccessfully to establish radio contact with the Iranian boat after it came within an estimated 200 yards of the Typhoon on Thursday, outside Iranian territorial waters. A Navy official said the ship then fired the flare and continued on its way without incident.Two other similar Iranian boats in the area did not come as close.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said there were no signs any boat was armed.
But Iranian English-language Press TV quoted an unnamed official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as denying "any new confrontation" in the Persian Gulf.
"The Iranian boats approached the U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf for a routine check," the official was quoted as saying on Press TV.
Meanwhile, the Web site of Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam TV cited an unnamed senior Iranian Navy official as saying that "no accident took place between the Iranian boats and the U.S. ship, but there was a recognition of the U.S. forces' presence in the Persian Gulf."
This passed in a "normal way ... and according to protocol, and then the boats left the scene with no accident whatsoever," the Iranian Navy official said.
This marked at least the second U.S. Navy encounter with an aggressive Iranian high-speed boat this year. In January, Iranian boats made what the Navy called provocative moves near a U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Bomb Kills Nine in Iran Mosque
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/356260.aspx
TEHRAN, Iran - A bomb explosion in a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers in southern Iran killed at least nine people and injured more than 100 Saturday, local media reported.
The semi-official Fars news agency said the explosion in the city of Shiraz went off as a cleric was delivering his weekly speech against extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Bahai faith.
The report said nine people were killed and 105 injured, some of them critically. The force of the explosion shook houses more than a mile away, and ambulances and firefighters were rushing to the mosque, it said. Officials urged the public to donate blood and called all nurses in the city in on duty.
A police official said a homemade bomb caused the explosion, Fars reported. It also quoted a young woman who was there as saying some 800 worshippers were inside the mosque at the time of the explosion.
Bombings are unusual in Shiraz, a major draw for foreign tourists who come to see the ruins of nearby Persepolis, an ancient Persian kingdom that was a center for ceremonies and worship. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have been behind rare but deadly attacks in recent years - though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.
In February 2007, a car loaded with explosives blew up near a bus carrying members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, killing 11 of them and wounding more than 30 in southeastern Iran. A Sunni militant group that has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops claimed responsibility.
Some believe the group, known as Jundallah, is linked to al-Qaida. Jundallah, or God's Brigade, has waged a low-level insurgency in southeastern Iran.
Besides the violence in the southeast, ethnic Arab Sunni militants have been blamed for bombings in the western city of Ahvaz near the border of Iraq - including blasts in 2006 that killed nine people.
The mosque targeted is part of the Rahpouyan-e-Vesal cultural center in Shiraz, about 559 miles south of the capital, Tehran.
Fars said the mosque's cleric gives a weekly speech denouncing the Bahai faith and Wahabism - an austere brand of Sunni Islam practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia. Such speeches are not unusual in Iranian mosques.
The fundamentalist Wahabi strain of Islam considers Shiites heretics and Iran is dominated by Shiite Muslims. Wahabis are suspected of having influence over some militants waging the insurgency in Iraq.
The Bahai faith was founded in the 1860s by a Persian nobleman, Baha'u'llah, who claimed to be a new prophet in the series that included Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Islam considers Muhammad to be the last of the prophets.
Iran had been the cradle of the Bahai faith in the middle of the 19th century. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, the faith was banned and it is not recognized in the Iranian constitution as a religious minority.
Last year, Bahai communities abroad reported that a group of followers were detained in Shiraz while helping poor communities there.
Libya allegedly went on gun-buying spree
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080412/ap_on_re_af/guns_for_libya;_ylt=ArqcAVLrbpM0CwkaIqy062Ks0NUE
PERUGIA, Italy - The Libyan officer tried to cloak the purpose of his call to the Italian arms dealer. "A friend," he said, wanted to buy 1 million "pieces" and 50 million items of "food."
But when that phone call was placed in 2006, Italian police were listening. They knew the meaning. Libya was shopping for guns — lots of them.
Authorities shadowed the negotiations between Libyan officials and a group of black-market dealers from across Italy for a year before they moved in and broke up what would have been a $64 million deal for hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made assault rifles.
The case, detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, raises questions about whether Libya, a country eagerly shedding its reputation as a sponsor of terrorism, is still surreptitiously supporting suspect groups and regimes. The investigation also underscores the Italian underworld's role as a go-between for illegal arms deals.
The court papers say at least part of the shipment was expected to go to other countries, and experts believe likely destinations were African countries including war-torn Chad and Sudan, where killings of civilians are widespread.
Libyan officials did not respond to questions from the AP about the allegations.
Italian prosecutors say the deal involved hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to senior Libyan officials.
Italy was a natural place for them to shop.
"Organized crime syndicates ... use Italy for brokering or transshipping illegal arms transfers to the Balkans, Africa, the United States and Colombia, in a trade that includes cocaine and human trafficking," said Sergio Finardi, a military logistics expert at TransArmsEurope, a nonprofit group based in Italy and the United States that monitors arms deals.
It was anti-Mafia prosecutors in the central city of Perugia who discovered the Libyan transactions, while conducting an unrelated investigation into drug trafficking by the mob. One of the drug suspects was found to be part of a group that used offshore companies in Malta and Cyprus to broker arms deals.
The phone call they tapped was between Ermete Moretti, owner of the Malta-based Middle East Engineering Ltd., and a man identified by prosecutors as a Libyan Defense Ministry official in Tripoli, Col. Tafferdin Mansur.
"They want the food too," Mansur told Moretti in the March 2006 conversation, referring to bullets. "Their request is for 1 million pieces and 50 million food."
A few days later, Gianluca Squarzolo, the crossover suspect from the drug probe, went to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, to make a deal. Unknown to him, police at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport inspected his checked baggage and found a weapons catalog, the first physical evidence of the group's activities.
Police used wiretaps and e-mail intercepts to keep tabs on the ensuing negotiations, which documents show were marked by requests for bribes by the Libyan officials. When it appeared that an initial agreement was ready for the sale of 500,000 T-56 submachine guns, a Chinese version of the AK-47, authorities moved in to break up the deal.
Early on, the arms traffickers themselves had hinted that Libya would not have been the final stop for the shipment. The country of 5.5 million has an army of only 76,000 personnel, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"They are really shopping around if they want a million," Moretti said in a March 2006 conversation. "It means they want to spread them right and left."
Investigators shared that view. "The suspects know that the huge order of AK-47s is destined to fulfill not only the needs of the Libyan army ... they are aware that part of the order will be forwarded to third parties," anti-Mafia prosecutor Dario Razzi in Perugia, a city in central Italy, wrote in requesting the arrest warrants for the group.
The Italians made trips to Tripoli and China, arranged for six sample guns to be sent to the North African country and got as far as organizing a trip to Libya for the Chinese middlemen to sign the final contract.
On Feb. 12, 2007, police across Italy arrested four of the alleged arms traffickers: Moretti, Squarzolo, Massimo Bettinotti and Serafino Rossi. A fifth member, Vittorio Dordi, is believed to be in Congo, where he apparently is involved in the diamond trade.
In addition, 13 other Italians were arrested in the drug probe. A lawyer for the Italians did not return repeated phone calls.
None of the Libyan and Chinese officials named in the probe was charged, as they are not suspected of committing crimes in Italy. Authorities led by Razzi have requested information on the case from several countries.
Court documents show the Italians had contact with international arms dealers to supply Russian-made tanks and helicopters, buy a naval cannon and night visors for Sri Lanka, and procure rubber-coated bullets and tear gas launchers from a French company.
Many of the prospective deals appeared to fizzle out quickly. But prosecutors say the ring came close to success with a separate attempt to sell more than 100,000 AK-47s to Iraq, as well as with the Libyan case.
Since the 1 million-gun order for Libya was daunting, the Italians decided to seek an initial 500,000 rifles and 10 million bullets in China, according to the arrest warrants issued in Perugia.
They held talks with a trading company called China Jing An Import & Export Corporation, which in turn was to procure the arms from China's giant, state-owned North Industries Corp., also known as Norinco. Neither company responded to requests for comment.
In 2005, the U.S. government barred Norinco from doing business in the United States, accusing the company of helping Iran's missile program. Norinco has denied that allegation.
Libya's order was huge even for Norinco. Jing An warned the Italians that it would take more than two years to produce that many guns.
"You must be sure of the quantity of the order," said an e-mail from Jing An director Yin Weiguo. "I have to admit that it's a big order, and a bit of a surprise for us."
Before sending six rifles for testing by Tripoli, the Chinese also requested export documents known as end-user certificates showing Libya as the final recipient of the samples.
The job of obtaining the papers fell to Mansur and other Libyan officials, who, according to the court documents, were in the pay of the Italians.
Prosecutors believe the group paid the colonel and another Libyan Defense Ministry official at least $500,000 in kickbacks, including tuition payments for Mansur's son, studying in Britain. The Italians also agreed to share with the Libyans the profits from the deal.
Libyan officials in Tripoli and diplomats in Rome and at the United Nations declined to discuss the case, and requests for contacts for Mansur and other officials named in the probe were ignored.
Demands for even more money frayed relations between the Italians and their contacts during the spring and summer of 2006, as they waited for the paperwork from the Libyan government.
In one wiretapped conversation, Squarzolo, reporting to his bosses from Libya, suggested that Moretti call the colonel to smooth things out.
"I'm not calling Mansur," Moretti replied. "Why should I call him, to hear him ask 'send money to my son?' Tell him we need results, not just requests and demands."
The certificates were finally produced in July 2006, signed by an official identified in the court documents as Major General Abdulrahman Ali Alssied, the head of the Defense Ministry's procurement office.
While the Libyans conducted tests, the Italians and the Chinese hammered out the final contract for 10 million bullets, 300,000 T-56 rifles and 200,000 variants of the T-56 with a double handle.
The price tag was $40.9 million, which grew to $64.8 million after the Italians added a 60 percent profit. They told the Chinese that "we have to share the commission with people in Libya."
Peter Danssaert, a weapons trafficking expert at the International Peace Information Service — an independent, Belgium-based institute that focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa — said the huge order exceeded the needs of Libya's military.
Also, the type of T-56 rifle the Libyans were seeking is a decades-old model, an unlikely choice given Libya's drive to modernize its armed forces by buying anti-tank missiles and other advanced defense systems from Europe and Russia.
The outdated weapons could have been earmarked for low-tech forces in spots such as Chad, Sudan, Somalia or Congo. Libya has been working to boost its clout on the continent, now that it has been relieved of U.N. sanctions and is restoring ties with the West, Danssaert said.
Libya now sits on the U.N. Security Council, after announcing in 2003 the dismantling of its clandestine nuclear arms program and compensating victims' families for the 1988 bombing of Pam Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Finardi, the expert at TransArmsEurope who researched the case, said that though it is impossible to say which factions within the African countries would have benefited from the huge shipment, it is likely that the weapons would have gone to government forces as part of Libya's push to strengthen ties with its neighbors.
However, in Iraq, there have been accusations that Libya is funneling arms to insurgents.
In January, a top Iraqi security official in Anbar province, police Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, accused Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the eldest son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, of aiding a group of 150 foreign and Iraqi fighters responsible for several attacks in the area. Gadhafi has not commented on the allegation.
Back in 2006, Iraq also figured in another major negotiation by the Italian traffickers, who, separately from the Libya case, were working on a $40 million deal to sell more than 100,000 Russian-made AK-47s to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
That deal, negotiated without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command, was blocked along with the complex Libya scheme when Italian police stepped in to make the arrests.
Christian Couple under House Arrest in Srinagar, India
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07068.shtml
Peerzada Shakeel, a convert to Christianity from Islam was arrested along with his wife, Arifa, in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir on charges of forcible conversion on March 26, according to a March 31 report from Compass Direct.
On March 21, local Muslims broke into Shakeel's house and beat him. They dragged him to a mosque where they beat him again when he told them he would worship only Christ. Shakeel's father, a local mosque member, then brought false charges of forced conversions against him because he refused to deny Christ.
Shakeel and his wife were arrested and taken to a police station at Sonwar, Srinagar. Although the couple was released on bail the following day, they remain under house arrest. Shakeel has faced severe opposition from his family and community since he became a Christian in 2006.
Pray that Shakeel and Arifa will not give in to fear but be enabled by God to stand in His grace and remain faithful in the face of societal rejection and hostility for their Christian faith (1 Peter 5:10-12).
For more information on the persecution of Christians in India, go to www.persecution.net/country/india.htm.
Christian Girl Arrested and Tortured in Pakistan
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07067.shtml
Police arrested and tortured a Christian teenager, Farzana (16), after her Muslim employer falsely accused her of theft in Lahore on March 27, according to a March 28 report from Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan.
Following her arrest from the house of her employer, Muhammad Abid, th e police took her to the station where she was tortured and forced to confess to stealing from Abid. The same day, at 11 p.m., the police searched Farzana's home and arrested her elderly father and three brothers, whom they also tortured. Her father and brothers were released the following day when a crowd protested the police's actions.
No formal charge has been issued against Farzana and there is no evidence to indicate her guilt. However, it is common in Pakistan for Muslim employers to falsely accuse Christians of crimes, particularly young Christian girls who are forced to work as house servants.
Pray that the Lord will strengthen and comfort Farzana, providing for her every need (Phil. 4:19). Pray for God's love and grace to abound in her and her family members as they suffer for the sake of their beliefs.
For more information on the persecution facing Christians in Pakistan, go to www.persecution.net/country/pakistan.htm.
13 House Church Leaders Detained in Sichuan Province
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07064.shtml
SICHUAN -- CAA has learned that thirteen house church leaders were detained at Qu county, Sichuan province on March 30. According to an eyewitness within the church there, around 3pm March 29th, Saturday afternoon, a house church service was attacked during their praise and worship service.
The church is in Qu county, Dazhou city which is 6 hours drive from Chengdu city, Sichuan Province. Seven believers were taken by a group of people who claimed to be from the local religious affairs bureau, community administration and national security. Their names are Wang Qingxiu, Zhou Yanmei, Zhang Mingxiu, Luo Qinghua, Wan Huabi, Wang Zhenping, and Yan XX. Wan Huabi and Wang Zhenping were released after the interrogation. Around 6pm Wang Zhenping was notified by the detention center that Wang Qingxiu was there. Luo Qinghua was found in the detention center the next day. The other three sisters are also in the detention center.
In the morning of March 30th, nine sisters and four children were taken by policemen after their Sunday school service was let out. Another sister who was working in the cloth market was taken at the same time. All children and two elderly believers were released after the interrogation. Seven of them are still in the detention center, and one sister is missing.
According to three copies of official criminal detention notices obtained by CAA, which were issued to family members of Ms. Wan Huabi, Ms. Wang Qingxiu and Ms. Lei Shibi on March 30, 2008 by the PSB of Qu County, Sichuan province, these arrested leaders were accused of being "suspected of using an evil cult to obstruct the enforcement of the law." Ms. Li Xianbi, 59 years old, who was the host of the Sunday worship at her house on March 30, received 5 days administrative detention for "illegal gathering for evil cult activities."
"We are deeply concerned about the well-fare of these detained Christian leaders, " said Rev. Bob Fu, " their arbitrary detention totally contradicts the spirit of rule of law. It is another step backward toward improving the religious freedom record in China as the Chinese government promised both before and after the 2008 Olympics was awarded to Beijing."
To voice your concern please contact:
Chinese Embassy in Washington DC
Address: 2201 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 338-6688, (202) 588-9760
Fax: (202) 588-9760
Author Puts Controversial View on Jesus
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/355952.aspx
Not one Jesus, but three. That's how popular health and wellness author Deepak Chopra sees it.
In his February released book, "The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore," Chopra says Jesus comes in three forms: a historical Jesus, the Son of God and, most importantly, a "cosmic Christ," which embodies Jesus as a way of thinking.
"The third Jesus, the one this book is about, is as yet so unknown that even the most devout Christians don't suspect that he exists," he wrote.
Chopra, who says he grew up reading comic books and living a "mythical life in his imagination," believes Jesus should be thought of as a state of consciousness that everyone can experience and use as a spiritual guide.
"In a sense, the cosmic Christ evolved from the traditional Holy Spirit, and those who have experienced either one would find them compatible, even if official theology doesn't," he told CBN News. "Rather than making the Son of God a litmus test for Christian orthodoxy, why not present Christ as a world figure?"
Chopra, 61, believes the need for recognition of the "Third Jesus" is urgent, as evidenced by the book's first chapter which begins with the sentence "Jesus is in trouble."
"As a faith, Christianity finds itself caught up in a serious crisis," Chopra explained. "At its worst, given the bigotry and intolerance preached today, a religion of love has become a religion of hate. It's a heartbreaking situation, and I felt compelled to stand up against it."
It took Chopra more than 25 years to write "TheThird Jesus." He said it was written to help clear confusion that exists around the message of Christ.
The first Jesus, he says, is one of contradiction and the second Jesus, the "three-in-one Jesus," never existed and was built up by theologians. But the third Jesus, he believes, is eternal and embraces everyone.
Chopra vs. the Church
Chopra's book has sparked controversy among believers. Some accept Chopra's claims, while others say his teachings are of the antichrist.
"First John teaches that anyone who says that Jesus is not born in the flesh is of the antichrist. Therefore, following such a teaching makes you follow the antichrist," Peter Prosser, professor of Christian History and Doctrine at Regent University, said. "Jesus cannot just be mind or thought…This is an old cultic teaching that was popularized by Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Christian Science teaching in the 19th century."
Prosser has been studying and teaching on cults since 1971.
"People who follow this teaching are missing out on real eternal life," he added. "They will live forever in a resurrected body, not as part of the mind of God."
Skip Horton-Parker, a professor of theology and religious studies and Prosser's colleague, says Chopra is right that Jesus' teachings can benefit anyone. But individuals who think of Christ as he does are missing out.
"The disconnect between Chopra's approach to wisdom and what Christianity would say about true wisdom, is his basic metaphysical assumption that all is 'consciousness,' and that 'the highest level of consciousness' is synonymous with God," he said. "In (Chopra's approach), Jesus is depersonalized and any who attempt to make themselves over in the image of 'Jesus as gnosis' are depersonalized as well."
An Alternate View
"The Third Jesus" isn't Chopra's first book to take another approach to Christian beliefs.
His book "How to Know God: The Soul's Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries" was released in 2001. Chopra called it "a scientific approach to understanding the divine." And he claims God is not a person or thing, but instead, a process.
"Christ wasn't a Christian and Mohammed wasn't a Mohammedan. Buddha wasn't a Buddhist," he said in an interview with Powell's Books. "These are dogmas and ideologies. The fight is about semantics."
In a Time magazine interview, Chopra said the Jesus he speaks about in his new book is one of love and compassion, like a woman.
"In our evolution we have gone through a phase that has been very male and predatory. And that has peeked now because you see what is happening in the world right now," he said in the interview.
"The next phase of human evolution has to be not survival of the fittest, but survival of the wisest. For that we need intuition, a sense of beauty, nurturing, tenderness, affection, love and compassion. And for that we certainly need a woman god... I think when we bring back the feminine in our spiritual traditions, we will really see a healing."
To Be Continued
Chopra says he will continue the points of "Third Jesus" in his next book on the missing years of Christ.
"I belong to the camp that believes Jesus evolved slowly into Christhood, and I also favor the theory that he went outside Judaism for enlightenment. Those are the ground rules, so to speak, of the new book," he said.
Chopra was born and raised in India and has written more than 40 books and 100 audio, video and CD-ROM selections.
Still, Parker believes his best-selling books aren't enough to follow his beliefs.
"Chopra's version of transcendence is currently popular culturally, but from a Christian perspective, it will not do," he said.
Chopra says he doesn't identify himself with a religion but rather embodies all beliefs.
"I revere Christ, Buddha and other enlightened masters," he said. "I agree with the great Indian poet Kabir, who said that he searched for God in all the sacred pools, the temples, and the scriptures, but never found him until he went within himself."
IMF head gives food price warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7344892.stm
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict.
There have been food riots recently in a number of countries, including Haiti, the Philippines and Egypt.
Meeting in Washington, the IMF called for strong action on food prices and the international financial crisis.
Market turmoil
Although the problems in global credit markets were the main focus of the meeting of the IMF's steering committee of finance minister from 24 countries, Mr Strauss-Kahn warned of dire consequences from continued food price rises.
"Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people will be starving. Children will be suffering from malnutrition, with consequences for all their lives," he told reporters.
He said the problem could lead to trade imbalances that may eventually affect developed nations, "so it is not only a humanitarian question".
Food prices have risen sharply in recent months, driven by increased demand, poor weather in some countries and an increase in the use of land to grow crops for transport fuels.
The steering committee also called for "strong action" among its 185 members to deal with "the still unfolding financial market turmoil and... the potential worsening" of housing markets and the credit crunch.
The finance ministers did not dissent from the IMF's previous forecast that only a moderate slowdown in world economic growth is the most likely outcome over the next year or two.
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