The year 1999,
Sin is rampant, but justified by the masses,
Self-proclaimed Messiah sells guns,
American church declares homosexual acts OK, same-sex marriages become an issue,
Prophecy books make money on Y2K bug,
Religion goes on the Internet,
10 Commandments back in but for how long,
Creationist get victory over Evolutionist,
Mainstream churches compromise doctrines in order to begin Christian Unity with each other to survive,
Witchcraft is growing,
50 year-old National Council of Churches being pushed out by the new Christian Unity,
Pope tees off Hindus then plans trip to Holy Land,
Moon's Unification Church moves to Brazil.

• 3/7/1999 - Do the Seven Deadly Sins still add up by Barbara Nachman, Gannett News Services.
      Maybe it's time to re-examine the Seven Deadly Sins.    Since ancient days, the Big Seven - lust, sloth, greed, pride, gluttony, envy and wrath - have been the behavior patterns to avoid, these immoral behavior patterns are supposed to lead to the death of the soul, not to mention hell fires, floods, plagues, pestilence and that pesky little matter of schlepping around for the rest of your life with a scarlet letter affixed to your chest.
      Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.    Pile on those mashed potatoes or supersize it.    So much for gluttony.
      Seventy-eight percent of us don't even meet the minimum exercise guidelines, in our couch potato lifestyles.    So much for sloth.
      Bill Clinton, Henry Hyde, Bob Livingston, Dan Burton, Helen Chenoweth.    So much for lust.
      Greed is prevalent in corporate America and in the financial areas such as "Wall Street."
      Today we see pride as "Proper respect for oneself" and a "sense of one's own dignity or worth," ignoring the first meaning: "Conceit or an overly high opinion of oneself."    Improving ones self-esteem is generally considered to be healthy and promoted by psychologists.    We take immense pride in our pride, which is fashionable, positive and considered a virtue.
      The Big Seven were not passed along directly from God to man, as were, the Ten Commandments.    Lets look at the history of the seven.
      The list of Seven Deadly SIns dates back to Greek monastic theologian Evagrius of Pontus, who drew up a ledger of eight wicked human passions - gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia (spiritual sloth), vainglory and pride.
      Six-century Pope Gregory the Great was next to weigh in, reducing the number to seven -- the mystical biblical numeral -- by making vainglory part of pride.    While he was at it, Gregory folded acedia into sadness and added envy.    Eleven centuries later, the Roman Catholic Church substituted sloth for sadness.
      Solomon Schimmel author of "The Seven Deadly Sins (Oxford) stated, "We all battle with sin and vice - anger doesn't make us murderers, our lust doesn't make most of us rapists and our greed and envy don't make most of us outright criminals, they, together with gluttony, arrogance and sloth (moral apathy) often make us, and those who have to live with us, miserable."
      To find something more to live by try prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.    I also suggest moderation.
• 3/11/1999 - Unification Church finds profit with ties to handgun company - Kahr Arms makes an easy-to-conceal but powerful pistol - by John Mintz, The Washington Post.
      With parts of its sprawling business empire in decline, the Unification Church headed by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon is finding profits in one of the least known of its commercial ventures: making guns.
      Moon's 4-year-old gun company, Kahr Arms, has prospered amid glowing reviews for the workmanship of its small, potent pistols.    Last month, Kahr Arms expanded, purchasing the company that manufactures semiautomatic versions of the Thompson submachine guns, a well-known weapon from World War II.
      The business arm of the church, whose members believe that Moon is the Messiah and was placed on earth to restore the Garden of Eden, declined to clarify its involvement in the gun business.
      An examination of corporate records and interviews with experts on the secretive Moon empire demonstrates the links between the church's business network and Kahr Arms.    Kahr, based in Worcester, Mass., is controlled by Kook Jin "Justin" Moon, 28, the elder Moon's fourth son and slated to be second-in-command of the multibillion-dollar Moon empire when the 79-year-old patriarch dies.
      "I see an irony, if not hypocrisy, that someone who professes peace and says he's completeing Jesus' work also manufactures for profit an implement with no purpose other than killing people," said Tom Diaz, author of "Making a Killing," a new book critical of the firearms industry.
• 3/21/1999 - Episcopal Church stands firm on policy by The Associated Press.
      New York -- The head of the Episcopal Church has rebuffed a protest from other national branches in the Anglican Communion over the American's liberal policy on homosexuality.    Last August the world's Anglican bishops voted 526-70 for a declaration that homosexual acts are "incompatible with Scripture."    But the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, has allowed each bishop to decide, and several endorse gay and lesbian clergy and same-sex couples.
      In a letter dated Feb. 26, the leaders of Anglican branches in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Australia, the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia wrote Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, asking all U.S. bishops to comply with the declaration.
      Griswold replied that divergent opinions exist in the United States and other Anglican branches.    "We therefore find ourselves in a process of discernment and 'testing the spirits'," he said.    He invited the complainants to visit and talk personally with homosexuals and bishops who support them.
• 3/26/1999 - Vatican again rejects letting woman be deacons.
      Vatican City -- The Vatican has reiterated its refusal to allow woman to serve as deacons, a role that would have allowed them to preach at Mass and help celebrate liturgical services.
      Ordination as deacons is a step below priesthood, which the Roman Catholic Church reserves for unmarried men.    "There are so many other opportunities" for women in the church, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos said yesterday.
• 3/26/1999 - Church ban on same-sex unions is tested - Methodist minister conducted ceremony for homosexual pair - by Martha Irvine, The Associated Press.
      Downers Grove, Ill. -- A Methodist minister who presided at the "wedding" of two homosexuals from Chicgo went on trial before a jury of 13 pastors in the first test of a church law banning same-sex marriages and ceremonies.
      The 53 year-old Rev. Gregory Dell of Chicago, a pastor for 30 years, could be defrocked if found guilty, with verdict expected tomorrow.    In opening statements, a minister acting as a church prosecutor said the ceremony that Dell performed last September made "a mockery of church law."    If Methodists don't obey the laws, "then strike the word 'united' from United Methodist," the Rev. Stephen Williams argued.
      Also a bishop in California filed a complaint against 69 Methodist ministers who gathered at a Sacramento, Calif., church in January to bless the union of two lesbians.
      Dell attended Duke University's Divinity School with another controversial Methodist minister, the Rev. Jimmy Creech of Omaha, Neb., who was put on trial in 1998 for performing a lesbian "wedding," and was acquitted and placed on leave.    That prompted the Methodist church with 8.5 million, the nations second-largest Protestant denomination to elevate its guidelines against same-sex unions to the status of church law.    In 1996, the church's top policy-making body, the General Conference, voted to place the following sentence in the church's rule book: "Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches."    Dell is now being tried under that law.
      This trial illustrates a national controversy, in both religious and secular spheres, over same-sex unions.
      Some members of the church include Hillary Clinton, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and former Sen. Bob Dole.
• 3/27/1999 - Methodist convict pastor for same-sex union by The Washington Post.
      The Chicago pastor, Rev. Gregory Dell became the first person convicted by a United Methodist Church court for violating a newly clarified church law forbidding ministers from celebrating same-sex unions.
• 4/4/1999 - Endtime books big sellers at Christian stores by The Associated Press.
      Birmingham, Ala. -- The approach of the year 2000 may be a devil of a problem for computer programmers, but it's heavenly for the $3 billion Christian book market.    Some of the books examine current world events in a biblical context and conclude the time is ripe for the return of Jesus Christ.    Many authors of endtime genre are prophesing that weather changes, nations against nations, computer glitches known as Y2K could put the world in chaos creating tumultous times, leading to an event known as "The Rapture," when many Christians believe the faithful will be taken to heaven.
• 4/5/1999 - Israeli Muslims, Christians clash over revered site by The Associated Press.
      Nazareth, Israel -- Easter turned violent in the town of Jesus' boyhood when clashes erupted between Christians and Muslims, angry over the planned construction of a plaza for millennium Christian pilgrims near a mosque where a revered Muslim scholar is buried.
      Thousands of young Muslim men gathered at the disputed site near the Church of the Annunciation where Muslims have been holding protests for nearly a year.    Some hurled insults and curses at worshipers as they left the church where Roman Catholic tradition holds that the Angel Gabriel appeared before Mary and told here she was pregnant.    Youths wielding clubs smashed windshields of cars with crosses dangling from the mirrors.
• 4/7/1999 - Jesus Christ was God in human flesh by Rev. Billy Graham.
      Asked if Jesus was God, then how could He have died?    God can't die, can He?
      He responded: The Bible teaches that Jesus was indeed fully God, that is, He was God in human flesh: "He is the image of the invisible God. ... For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him" (Colossians 1:15, 19).
      He also was fully human, that is, He had a physical body, sharing the same experiences we have as humans, although without sin.    As the Bible says, Christ "shared in their humanity ... tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin" (Hebrews 2:14; 4:15).    Jesus was both fully God and fully man.
      Why is this important?    Because only in this way could He become our Savior.    If He were only a human sinner like us, He couldn't take our sins upon Himself.    If He were not fully human, He could never demonstrate His love for us through His death on the cross.    Because He was both fully God and fully man, He had the power to "destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" (Hebrews 2:14-15).
      I realize you may not believe this right now, but I challenge you to read the Gospels with an open heart and mind, and discover who Jesus really is.    You need the forgiveness and peace He alone can bring.    Open your heart and mind to His transforming power without delay.
• 4/12/1999 - The spiritual search goes online - Growing numbers find religious connections - by Lisa Miller, The Wall Street Journal.
      Early each morning, Wendy Gale from Coldwater, Ontario prays with monks and participates in services at the Petersham, Mass., monastery via a "Web cam" in the chapel.    She listens to religious music, worships before an altar adorned with statues of angels and meditates for half an hour while gazing at the Eucharist.    Then she logs off.    God has arrived on the Internet.    The medium that is transforming shopping, pornography and research is dramatically changing the way some people worship.
      Indeed, almost anything you can do at church or synagogue, you can do at your computer terminal - from taking part in discussions of Scripture to singing along with an online Jewish cantor.    Nearly every traditional denomination has a Web site, as do a number of individual churches, mosques and synagogues.
      Even the pope has appeared live online at www.vatican.va.    There are 17,000 sites devoted to religion and spirituality.
      The world of virtual worship has sparked a controversy at the heart of what religion means.    Is authentic faith possible without real people gathered in a real place?    Most theologians will say no, since Christianity requires physical participation: Its holiest sacraments -- Baptism and Communion -- are physical acts.    Jews require a "minyan" - 10 people gathered together - for prayer, and observant Jews balk at the idea of a virtual minyan.
      Proponents of online worship say religion puts its future at risk by not offering ritual on the Internet.
      With traditional religion facing competition from fundamentalist and New Age-style fads, technology mavens say the Web offers a chance to touch an unprecedented number of souls: the unaffiliated, the spiritually reticent, the workaholics.
      The Protestant Reformation suceeded in large part because Luther and his cohorts papered Europe with tracts and pamphlets decrying the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church.    Also for some Christians, long accustomed to watching church services on television, virtual worship isn't much of a stretch.
      Of course, technological glitches can make a sacred experience less than revelatory.    So can you remove the body from the act of worship by soul surfing?
• 4/19/1999 - Evolution Theory by Times-Post News Service.
      One of the longest-running debates in the history of humanity has been exactly where on Earth modern humans first evolved.    Most experts believe this occurred in what is now Africa and that early humans spread around the globe from there.    But new evidence is challenging this theory, suggesting instead that humanity's earlier ancestors left Africa and then evolved separately in different parts of the world.
      Eugene E. Harris and Jody Hey of Rutgers University in New Jersey analyzed the same segment of the X chromosome from 16 modern-day Africans and 19 non-Africans from four European and Asian populations.    The researchers found a specific genetic mutation in all of the non-African individuals but none of the Africans.
      Based on that finding, the researchers calculated that the division between African and non-African populations began about 200,000 years ago.    Since modern human fossils date to only 100,000 to 130,000 years ago, the findings suggest that separate populations already existed when modern humans evolved.
      "The extent to which this is true and the details of such a process are issues that lie at the heart of some debates on the origins of modern humans," the researchers said in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• 5/21/1999 - High court approves same-sex couples.
      Ottawa -- Canada's Supreme Court struck down a heterosexual definition of "spouse" as unconstitutional in a landmark decision that could rewrite Canada's law books to give legal rights to same-sex couples, and may lead to legal benefits of common-law marriage.
• 5/23/1999 - List of significant religious developments vary by Charles C. Haynes.
      Does religion still help shape world events?    Or is religion something that mattered in the distant past but no longer influences the direction of history and society?
      Many focus on new developments within Christianity - the ordination of women, or the acceptance of homosexuality by some denominations.    Others mentioned specific ministries - notably Billy Graham's - and such innovations in ministry as televangelism.
      The "school-prayer" decisions, Roe v. Wade more legal than religious in nature, but carry implications for many religious people.
      Some promote that we are already in the "last days," as many Americans view history through a religious, rather than secular, lens.
      Others see events such as the liberation theology and its impact on Latin America revolutions and others the growth of the Mormon Church.
      What are the top 10 religious developments of the 20^th century that have had the most impact on the United States and the world.    The results?    Here are the top 10 by this writer's opinion.
      1. The Nazi Holocaust in Europe.    An event which has shaped much religious life and thinking.
      2. The dominance of the scientific worldview in the West.    In the Western world, modern science has come to provide the dominant worldview of our civilization.
      3. The Second Vatican Council, 1962-65.    This mostly affected the 1 billion Roman Catholics, but has widespread implications for relations among religions.
      4. The civil rights movement in the United States.    This changed the African-American churches and was supported by many Jewish and Christian groups.
      5. The emergence of Islam as a major force in the world community.    Islam is the dominant faith in nearly 50 nations and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has shaped events in Iran, the Middle East, northern Africa and elswhere.
      6. The nonviolent resistance movement led by Mohandas Gandhi.    Based on Eastern and Western religious ideas, Gandhi's movement liberated India and influenced the tactics and philosophy of Martin Luther King as well as others around the world.
      7. Expanding religious pluralism in the United States.    The emergence of new religious movements and the growth of world religions such as Islam and Buddhism in America has altered the landscape of our nation.    This has led to what some historians have called "the second disestablishment" of Protestantism in this country.
      8. The downfall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc nations.    No development in the 20^th century has done more to inspire religious revival than the defeat of Soviet-style communism, an ideology dedicated to the destruction of religious faith.
      9. The founding of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people.    This event has powerful political and religious significance for millions of Jews, Christians and Muslims.
      10. The involvement of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in American political life.    From activist groups such as the Christian Coalition to the pro-life movement, conservative Christians have had a major impact on public-policy debates in the United States.
• 6/18/1999 - House OKs Bible rules in schools - Ten Commandments to be allowed back in classrooms - by Washington Post and AP.
      Washington -- Searching for a way to curb youth violence, the House voted to allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools and other state-owned facilities, apparently contradicting a 1980 Supreme Court ruling holding that such displays violate the First Amendment.
      The vote was 248-180 for a proposal by Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-ALa., to allow states to display the commandments.    Critics blasted the vote.    "This singling out of one religion is contrary to the American ideal of religious tolerance and is blatantly unconstitutional," said Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., a member of the Judiciary Committee.
• 6/20/1999 - The Church and Gays - The Presbyterian convention will confront an issue that is dividing many denominations - by Leslie Scanlon, The Courier-Journal.
      The battle over the role of gays in the church is reopening as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) holds its annual General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas.    The debate comes at a time when churches everywhere are struggling with finding ways of ministering to gays and lesbians, while acknowledging that many Christians believe homosexuality runs counter to biblical and church teachings.
      One side who claim they worship God and do not believe that the church should tell one how to live their life.    The other side claims that legitimizing homosexuality will open the door to allow any individual to set up their own moral standards and sexual preferences, which would be a recipe for moral chaos.
• 6/27/1999 - Baptists end Iowa meeting deeply divided by The Associated Press.
      Des Moines, Iowa -- The convention of American Baptist Churches USA ended with discord caused by the decision to cast out four California churches for their pro-homosexual leanings at Veterans Memorial Auditorium.
      Even in worship, the strife in the denomination was evident, when about 200 members and supporters of the exiled congregations walked to the front of the arena and filled the center aisle.
      The decision had to be upheld so its view on authority of the Bible and homosexual practice as sinful.    The Baptist body is one of more than 20 in the United States and has about 1.5 million members.
• 8/20/1999 - Evolution of the Creationists by Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe-Washington Post.
      Boston -- The majority of religious conservatives on the Board of Education decided to delete nearly every reference to evolution from the science curriculum.    Removing evolution from a required science curriculum is a bit like removing verbs from the English curriculum.    Evolution can still be taught, but it's no longer required, it won't be tested, and it will be discouraged.    The board just plain dropped the central theory about the origin of species and -- what the heck -- while they were at it, deleted any references to the big-bang theory of the universe.    This gives preference to theology over biology.
      Let's go back to the origin of this species.    In the beginning, people who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible wanted to bar the teaching of evolution in the public schools altogether.    The only science book they found acceptable was Genesis.    In 1925, creationists dragged a young biology teacher, John Scopes, to the courtroom for the infamous "Monkey Trial."    It wasn't until 1968 that the Supreme Court finally ruled that states couldn't ban the teaching of evolution.
      What did the creationists do then?    They evolved.    In their second form, fundamentalists legislated equal time for religion and science, the Bible and evolution.    The courts, however took an equally dim view of teaching religion in public school.
      So the creationists evolved again.
      This time they invented "scientific creationism," which paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould once called "the old wolf of Genesis literalism, lightly clothed in a wooly patina of supposed empirical verification."
      Two states - Arkansas and Louisiana -- actually mandated equal time for "creation science" and "evolution science," but in 1987 the Supreme Court saw through that wool.
      Most of us thought that creationists would become extinct.    But lo and behold - we have yet another, ever more complicated evolved form.
      The same religious conservatives talking nationally about giving up politics, are talking locally about taking over school boards.    If they can't dump Darwin, they'll downgrade him.
      Now Kansas, along with dozens of other school boards, labels evolution as "just a theory."    In Alabama, biology textbooks even come with a little warning label: "No one was present when life first appeared on Earth.    Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered as theory, not fact."
      Evolution is supported by anatomy, fossils, carbon-dating, genetic evidence, the ages of rocks.    Creationism is supported by the Bible as text.
• 8/20/1999 - Lutherans OK union with Episcopalians - Historic move awaits other church's vote - by Hanna Rosin, The Washington Post.
      Following three days of tempestuous debate, Lutheran leaders passed a historic union with Episcopalians, enabling the two churches to recognize each other's members and sacraments and making their clergy essentially interchangeable.    Lutheran clergy will have to give up their informal ordination process and must be ordained by a bishop, and each new bishop must be ordained by three bishops in a line believed to extend back to Christ's apostles.    This gives more power to the bishops, and for their opponents its like the rigid hierarchy Martin Luther saw as a temptation to corruption.
      The agreement advances the widely held Christian goal of breaking down barriers between different denominations and uniting in a common church.    Jesus' vision in John 17 that his followers "may be one," and in part because two mainstream Protestant denominations that have watched their memberships dwindle over the last 30 years are now, while remaining distinct, united into a fellowship 8 million strong.    The union will take effect following approval by the Episcopalians in July and who had already approved an earlier draft of the document "Called to Common Mission."
      This move into the 21^st century brings together two very different American religious traditions: Lutherans, headquartered in Chicago, trace their roots to hardsrabble Norwegian immigrant farmers in the upper Midwest.    The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the sixth largest Christian church in the country with 5.2 million members.    Episcopalians, based in New York, are an independent province of the Anglican Church and are more closely associated with the Northeastern elite.
• 10/31/1999 - Catholics, Lutherans move closer together with signing today - Agreement ends dispute over key doctrine - by The Washington Post.
      In a Reformation reversal, Lutherans and Roman Catholics will sign a historic agreement in Augsburg, Germany, on the doctrine of justification, one of the key theological issues over which the Catholic Church split 500 years ago.
      Catholics and Lutherans worldwide will celebrate the event with joint services on Reformation Day, the today in the Lutheran liturgical calendar closest to, or on, Oct. 31.    On that date in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses, or points of disagreement with the Vatican, on the door of the church in Wittenberg.
      The New Testament teaches everyone sins but can be saved through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, a process called justification because the believer is justified, or made blameless and righteous, in God's sight.
      The Protestant doctrine of justification declared salvation comes by faith alone through God's grace, not by good works.    This was largely a response to the 16^th-century church's practice of selling indulgences, or forgiveness of temporal punishments for sin, and the Reformers' contention the church placed deeds before grace.
      The "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" is the result of three decades of theological discussions.    The document attempts to explain salvation, faith and works in terms acceptable to Catholics and Lutherans.    Salvation comes through faith, which results in "calling us to good works," the documents states, more seen at www.elca.org.
      To sign the agreement, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will lead a Vatican delegation to the city where Luther and his followers drafted the beliefs and practices that became known as the Augsburg Confession, the foundational document of Lutheranism.
      The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and six other leaders will sign on behalf of the 128-church Lutheran World Federation.    The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States, is not a federation member and opposes the signing.
• 10/31/1999 - Witchcraft movement is growing - 17,000 practitioners list themselves on 'Net' site - by New York Times New Service.
      Rehoboth, Mass. -- An hour before sundown, 40 adults have formed a circle in a small back yard, the limbs of a barren tree overhead.    Most are dressed in black, many in capes.    But the occasion, a gathering of local witches' covens, is expectant, not somber.
      In their midst, a blonde woman raises a sword above her head, point skyward, and walks clockwise within the group.    "I would like you to concentrate on raising a circle of energy around us, to turn the wheel of the year," says Cheryl Sulyma-Masson, high priestess of one coven, in this town near Providence, R.I.
      After completing the circle, she adds, "We will change the future through tolerance, education and through love."    All respond, "As a witch, I make this pledge."
      In 1486, two Germans wrote "The Hammer of Witches," which linked witchcraft with the demonic.    A landmark date is 1954, shortly after anti-witchcraft laws were repealed in Britain.    Encouraged by federal court rulings on September 1986, recognizing witchcraft as a legal religion protected by the Constitution, an increasing number of books related to the subject, and the continuing cultural concern for the environment, Wicca, as contemporary withchcraft is often called, has been growing in the United States and abroad.    It is a major element in an expanding "neo-pagan" movement whose members regard nature itself as charged with divinity.
      Estimates of how many people fit under the pagan umbrella vary widely, from 100,000 to three or more times that number.    Some have found historical antecedents for their beliefs and work to re-create ancient Egyptian or Greek religions.    Some call themselves Druids.
      Witches can be found at Pagan Pride Days in various cities and at an October festival in Washington.    An Internet site called The Witches' Voice (www.witch-vox.com) lists nearly 900 covens and other Wiccan groups, promoting 17,000 people listed on the site.
      Witches say they follow the "Old Religion," which is beneficial, in keeping with the Wiccan Rede, an ethical code, but many derive from recent sources.    Still witchcraft is believed by some to be associated with black magic, a result of biblical warnings against sorcery as well as more recent accusations.
• 10/31/1999 - Bible literacy - Knowledge withers away when fewer read the Good Book - by Todd Van Campen, Herald-Leader Religion Writer.
      Thirteen-year-old Anne Dostart of Lexington liked "The Prince of Egypt" even though the animated film about the life of Moses omitted some biblical facts and fudged others.    Even the original movie the "The Ten Commandments probably had errors in viewpoints.    Touched By An Angel is popular but steers clear of scriptural messsages.    If your knowledge of Noah's Ark comes from the recent NBC television miniseries, who had Lot a contemporary of Noah, join the club.    National studies show a decline in biblical literacy - a fact that affects both American Christianity and the understanding of American culture.
      Ninety percent of Americans own a Bible, only 34 percent read it during the past week in 1996, compared to 50 percent in 1992.    Eighty percent wrongly said that the Bible contains the saying, "God helps those who help themselves."    Nearly 65 percent did not know the message of John 3:16, which is the most important one of all the Bible.    And 10 percent thought Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.
      Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., attracts many students who grew up in Protestant churches and believe that the Bible is literally true.    Yet tests of incoming freshman showed that they do not have their facts straight, according to Gary Burge, professor of New Testament at Wheaton.
      The Bible provides the bedrock for Christian belief, so a Christian without Bible knowledge is like a carpenter without a level.
• 11/7/1999 - U.S. alliance of churches unraveling by The Associated Press.
      New York -- On paper, it's one of America's grandest religious alliances, representing 35 denominations with 50 million members and styling itself as "the primary national expression of the movement for Christian unity."
      If so, Christian unity is in trouble.
      For the National Council of Churches has reached a historical low point as it celebrated its 50^th anniversary at a meeting in Cleveland.
      On the conservative end of the spectrum, leaders of the Evangelical caucuses in seven council denominations called upon the organization to disband.    "The NCC is a hinderance to the cause of Christian unity," said Methodist James Heidinger II.
      Other observers say the council's woes simply reflect the decline of "Mainline Protestant" denominations.    Two huge sectors of U.S. Christianity remain outside the council, the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Protestants.    Representatives from both will be participating in a "great conversation" about the future.
      The organization "is a product where the churches were 50 years ago, and times have changed," observes the Rev. Richard Hamm, president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
• 11/7/1999 - Pope puts Asian church on side of poor by Victor L. Simpson, The Associated Press.
      New Delhi, India -- Declaring his church an ally of Asia's poor, Pope John Paul praised Christian missionaries and exhorted his bishops to spread the Christian message across a continent where Roman Catholics are a tiny minority.
      He also denounced violence in the name of religion as a "travesty of true belief."    "Let there also be peace for religion," he told his bishops.    This message set the course for his Asian flock in the new millennium, as the church would renounce none of its principles, as he denounced attempts to introduce abortion and "artifical population control programs."    The pope said, "The peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and his Gospel.    Asia is thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give."
      His encouragement of evangelism came at a time when militant Hindus were campaigning against missionaries they accuse of luring poor, illiterate Indians to Christianity.    The church denies using unethical inducements to win converts.
      Radical Hindus demanded an end to missionary activity, the withdrawal of foreign missionaries from India and an apology for the alleged massacre of Hindus 400 years ago.
• 11/12/1999 - Pastor who performed gay marriage on trial by Kevin O'Hanlon, The Associated Press.
      Lincoln, Neb. -- As the Rev. Jimmy Creech prepares to be tried a second time by a jury of 13 ministers of the United Methodist Church for performing a marriage ceremony of two gay men this year.    Many feel the future of the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination hangs in the balance if many of its 9.5 million members leave to form a new denomination.    Creech feels its about institutionalized bigotry and the church using its institutional power to enforce discrimination and persecution of gay and lesbian people.    Creech drew the ire of church officials in 1997 when he performed a union ceremony for a lesbian couple in his Omaha congregation, but was acquitted on charges of disobeying church rules, and put on voluntary leave of absence.
• 11/17/1999 - Georgia Baptists expel 2 churches for stand on gays by The Associated Press.
      Macon, Ga. -- Georgia's Southern Baptists voted overwhelmingly to expel two churches, Oakhurst Baptist of Decatur and Virginia Highland Baptist of Atlanta, that let homosexuals serve as leaders and allowed a same-sex wedding.
      The convention changed its constitution last year to exclude congregations that "affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior."
• 11/18/1999 - Bishops to control theology teachers by Richard N. Ostling, The Associated Press.
      Washington -- After a nine-year struggle, American Roman Catholic hierarchy gave approval to new rules, shaped to Vatican specifications, that are aimed at controlling theologians and what they teach at the nation's 235 church-related colleges.    Colleges became more independent of the churches policies beginning in the 1960s, and the Americans adopted a more liberal policy in 1996, but the Vatican rejected it.    This is really about who is and who is not an appropriate teacher of Catholic theology, and not about changing the secular condition of colleges.
• 11/18/1999 - Pope to make Holy Land pilgrimage by Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press.
      Vatican City -- The 79 year-old Pope John Paul II will make a millennium pilgrimage to the Holy Land for 10 days in March to Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem -- a visit that fulfills a long-held dream as it thrusts the pontiff into the heart of Middle East political and religious tensions.
      The Vatican is also pushing ahead on an even more politically fraught trip to the Iraqi city of Ur possibly in January.    The United States, Britain and Iraqi dissidents have opposed the trip, fearing Saddam Hussein would use it for propaganda.
      Israel and Palestinian officials welcomed news of the visit, the first papal trip to the Holy Land since Pope Paul VI entered Jerusalem in 1964 - before Israel took the whole of the city in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.    In Jerusalem, a holy city to Jews, Christians and Muslims both Israelis and Palestinians will see the pope's visit as legitimizing their claims of sovereignty.    Palestinians have long seen the Vatican as sympathetic to their claims to the city's eastern sector - which they want as a capital for a future state.    Last year, the Vatican's secretary of state called Israeli rule there an illegal military occupation.    But many Israelis see John Paul's agreement to visit the city now as a tacit recognition of Israel's sovereignty.
• 11/21/1999 - Pope rebukes grass-roots efforts by The Associated Press.
      Vatican City -- Pope John Paul II gave a stern rebuke to grass-roots Catholic reform movements, rejecting demand for women priests and a greater role for laity.    John Paul spoke before an audience of bishops from Germany, home to a reform movement as active as the one in the United States.    The pontiff has never left any doubt he opposed the aims of reform movements.
• 11/21/1999 - Hindus perceive Christian threat.
      Lumbini, Nepal -- India's religious communities are looking for ways to unite to preserve their identities in the face of aggressive Christian proselytizing, Hindu religious leader said.    "It has become essential as never before that the tradition and culture of Rama and Buddha debate the past, present and future.    We have to unite to face the assault" of Christianity, said Acharya Dharmendra, of the World Hindu Council.    Rama is the principal deity in the Hindu pantheon.
      Pope John Paul II's call for missionaries to spread Catholicism in Asia has sparked a sense of crisis among Hindu religious leaders who have gathered in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, for the fourth International Conference of Great Religions in Asia.
• 11/24/1999 - Mosque cornerstone fans Vatican-Israel dispute - Catholics say plan will cause further division - by Sarah Delaney, The Washington Post.
      Nazareth, Israel -- Thousands of triumphant Muslims unveiled a cornerstone for a mosque, approved by Israel, next to a major Christian shrine in the heart of Nazareth - a ceremony that set off bitter recriminations between Vatican and Israel.
      The Vatican said Israel, by allowing the mosque to be built in Jesus' boyhood home, was "laying the foundation" for division.    Israel hinted that the Holy See's protests were motivated in part by anti-Semitism.
      The mosque is to be built on disputed land adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation, which Christians were planning to build a future plaza.    Several thousand Islamic activists cheered and chanted when a green cloth was lifted from the cornerstone, a beige marble slab about redeeming "Shihab el-Din," a reference to the 12^th century anti-Crusader cleric they believe is buried at the site.
      Israel Foreign Ministry utterly rejected the Vatican"s criticism and finger pointing for a church who has a longstanding accusation of and guilty of anti-Semitism.
• 11/28/1999 - South Americans wary of Rev. Moon's venture - Unification founder seeks to build spiritual, business empire in Brazil - by New York Times News Service.
      Jardim, Brazil -- Rev. Sun Myung Moon envisions a remote and sparsely populated corner of Brazil as what he calls "a kingdom of heaven on earth, a new Garden of Eden."    Moon, founder of the Unification Church, who has been rebuffed in the United States and is facing financial trouble in his native South Korea, is seeking to reinvent himself here in the South American heartland.
      Through a venture he calls New Hope East Garden, Moon a self-proclaimed "true father" and successor to Jesus Christ, has bought thousands of acres of pasture land and spent some $30 million in hope of building a spiritual and business empire here that includes investments in agriculture, industry and tourism, as well as a university.
      No one knows what he is up to and some call this an issue for national security.    In October, local Roman Catholic and Protestant churches issed an open letter accusing Moon of 10 forms of heresy, urging "the people of God to keep their distance from the Unification sect."    It is more than a sect, this is a business that hides behind the facade of religion in order to make money.
• 12/3/1999 - German theologian wins Grawemeyer - Hopeful book on end times is recognized - by Leslie Scanlon, The Courier-Journal.
      Jurgen Moltmann, a prominent Protestant German theologian, will be awarded the $200,000 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his most recent book "The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology," about the end times and the hope he sees in man's relationship with God.    He writes about the theology of hope and the idea that the end times will bring a new beginning.    The study of Christian eschatology - the doctrine of the last things - has been central to his works for decades, as important to theological idea for Protestants and Catholics to focus not just on how the world ends, but on the world's relationship with God that comes next.
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      At the end of 1999, much speculation occurred in that Jesus Christ would return by the year 2000.    Israel's rebirth or becoming a nation occurred on May 14, 1948, setting the stage for the fig tree parable and the birth pangs.    Afterwards we began seeing a shocking breakdown in morality, an increase in earthquakes (symbolic of social reforms), famines, violence and ethnic wars.    Knowledge has increased as science and travel have changed the way we live and view the world around us.    Counterfeit spirituality is showing up everywhere with the explosion of cults, psychic phenomena, spiritism, Satan worship, withchcraft, nature worship and the New Age movement.    A New World Order is beginning to centralize the world's financial and political power.    And last there will be an increase in both apostasy and faith.    Many churches will deny the eternal truths of Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit, replacing them with ungodly, temporal and politically correct values.    Let us pray that God's Spirit will cause many to come to true faith in Christ regardless of what the world pushes upon us.
  
  

Last updated January 24, 2004.