New Year In the Heavenly Jerusalem for Jhan Moskowitz – Jews for Jesus, Iran and Ancient Israel

Posted on September 15, 2012 by shel

On the Eve of Rosh Hoshana the Jewish New Year which starts sunday night – I want to remind you that the first converts to Jesus were Persian ( Iranians! Modern Iran) Zoroastrian Priests (the Magi) AND of course the disciples who were Jews.

Ironically both groups have not ever in majority numbers become followers and worshippers of Jesus the true God and Messiah.

This year Sept. 4th one of the modern evangelists of the Jewish people and co-founder of Jews for Jesus in the US, Jhan Moskowitz, passed away. He was also a Christian & Missionary Alliance ordained minister. Here is the tribute from the Jews for Jesus website:

Tribute

Jhan Moskowitz

1948 – 2012

One of the Founders of Jews for Jesus and a mentor to many…

Jhan Moskowitz, North American director of Jews for Jesus, was raised in the Bronx, New York. The son of a holocaust survivor, the heartbeat of the Moskowitz family is Jewish through and through. This identity only grew stronger when, in 1971 he embraced Y’shua (Jesus) as his Messiah. He became passionate to tell others the Gospel, and was part of the early “tribe” of Jews for Jesus. Jhan not only excelled in creative drama, master story-telling and expounding on the Word of God, he was a consummate missionary, soul-winner and discipler. Jhan also had the ability to bring together many in the Messianic movement. Jhan carried on his ministry with his life partner and love of his life, Melissa, another Jew for Jesus. They married in 1976. They have two daughters and a son-in-law.

Jhan began his training for ministry at Simpson College in San Francisco and was ordained through the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. He continued to study, learn and teach others throughout his life. He has a Masters in Missions from the School of World Missions at Fuller Seminary, and just last year Jhan received his Doctorate of Ministry at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His dynamic preaching abilities were shared with small groups as well as major platforms, including Promise Keepers, as he brought the message of reconciliation through Messiah Jesus to thousands.

You can read the testimony of Jhan and Melissa Moskowitz, Jazzed for Jesus, here.

Jhan’s homegoing was sudden and unexpected. On a rainy Tuesday, September 4, around noon he slipped and fell forward on a staircase going down into the subway at 45th Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. Police immediately called an ambulance, as well as the last colleague Jhan had spoken to on his cell phone who then called his wife Melissa. Jhan was taken to Roosevelt Hospital on 58th Street where Melissa was able to see Jhan while he was still conscious, though disoriented. His daughters arrived and were with him that night. The trauma to his head caused significant bleeding on his brain and ultimately proved fatal. On Wednesday, September 5, Jhan went home to his Maker. Within days, memorial services were held in New York City, Chicago and Tel Aviv. He was buried on Sunday in a suburb of Chicago. Jhan was taken so quickly and we are amazed and grateful for how quickly hundreds of people were able to come together to honor his memory. If you have not already shared your thoughts here, we hope you will do so now. Also, we may have links to add to this site in days to come.

Jhan will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Those of us who also know and love the Messiah Jhan served for more than 40 years look forward to seeing him again.

Watch Jhan’s Journey of Faith

Jhan Memorial Tribute Video

Why Mormonism is NOT Christianity…Ben Witherington

Posted on August 27, 2012 by shel

Shel / Shelby Boese – in case you do not know why Mormonism while using christian language is NOT Christian this article will help you out. Click on the link for comments as well. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/bibleandculture/2012/08/27/why-mormons-are-not-christians-the-issue-of-christology/

Why Mormonism is not Christianity– the Issue of Christology

August 27, 2012 By Ben Witherington

While there are many reasons why Evangelical Christians of all stripes might disagree with Mormon theology, perhaps the most important of these is Christology and the related matter of soteriology.

I would encourage you to read carefully through the statement at the link below by a practicing Mormon scholar, presented at Harvard Divinity School a few years ago. Here is the link—http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/what-mormons-believe-about-jesus-christ (in order to actually find this page you will need to do a Google Search of ‘What Mormons believe’ and then scroll down to the entry from 2001 when Millet spoke at Harvard. It has been taken down from the Mormon website).

Please note that these views, as expressed by Mr. Millet are not unusual or eccentric, rather they are typical. While it is true that in some respects, Mormons have more disagreements with Catholics and Orthodox Christians than they do with Evangelicals they certainly have major differences with Evangelicals as well. They could not, for example, in good conscious sign a faith statement that the Evangelical Theological Society might present to them for membership in that society. What are these major differences? Here it will be worth listing just a few in this post:

1) Mormons are polytheists, not monotheists. That is, they believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate beings, thus denying the essential monotheistic statements of both the OT and NT that God is One.

2) Mormons, thus, not surprisingly, deny the doctrine of the Trinity, calling it an amalgam of Greek ideas with Biblical ideas. Their basic view is that the original doctrine of God and of the ‘priesthood’ and key ideas about sacrifice, and leadership of the NT era were lost, as the church became entirely apostate and needed to be renewed, and that the NT church was not renewed until Joseph Smith came along in the 19th century (who btw, had an interest in Methodism whilst he was in Palmyra N.Y. and apparently took part in some of the revivals in the ‘Burnt Over District’ there in the first part of the 19th century). Mormons see the ecumenical councils which produced the Nicean creed or the Apostle’s Creed or the Chalcedonian creed as in essence contradictory to what Scripture teaches.

3) Mormons believe that even God the Father has, and apparently, needs a body, denying that God in the divine nature is spirit. Indeed they believe that God the Father is an exalted man!

4) Just as they believe that the early church became apostate, they also believe the Bible as we have it is not inerrant or always truthful and trustworthy, even on major issues like Christology, and therefore needs to be supplemented (and corrected) by subsequent prophetic revelation in documents like the Book of Mormon, or even The Pearl of Great Price.

5) in terms of soteriology, Mormons deny the sufficiency of Christ’s death for salvation. They suggest, as the linked article says, that each of us must do all we can and then trust in the mercy of God. In other words, the de facto position is that Mormonism is to a significant degree a works religion even when it comes to salvation.

6) The goal of Mormon soteriology is that we all become as ‘gods’ become both immortal and divine, blurring the creator/creature distinction which was already badly blurred by a theology that suggested that God is actually a sort of uber-human being, with less flaws. One rather familiar teaching is ‘as God was, so we are. As God is, so we shall be’.

I bring this issue up now, because of the general ignorance of the American public about whether or not Mormons are actually Christians or not. If they really embrace the official positions of their religious group, they are not Christians, though they often present themselves as such, for example, calling their meeting places churches sometimes (but notice— no crosses to be found on top, or worn either).

What of course makes this whole deal slippery is that Mormon doctrine is a constantly evolving thing due to a belief in the living voice of prophecy. For example, the head of the Mormon Church in my lifetime corrected what had previously been taught by Mormonism’s original leaders (e.g. Brigham Young) that black people were the descendents of the least favored race of the big three (Shem, Ham, and Japeth), and as such could not become priests in the Mormon church. Not so, any more.

It is of course true that there are Christians who are a part of the Mormon religion. I would call them confused Christians who know neither church history very well (including the history of the origins of Mormonism in America and the actual origin of the Book of Mormon), nor do they know what the NT actually teaches when it comes to things like Christology and salvation and the nature of the Scriptures.

It is typical of groups like the Mormons (any of the branches) or the Jehovah’s Witness that they are actually split offs from some orthodox Christian group, in both cases from Protestantism. Not surprisingly then, they have more in common with Protestants in some respects than they do with Catholics or the Orthodox, except in regard to the matter of an all male priesthood and therefore the nature of worship.

Mormonism certainly is a highly patriarchal religion, modeled more in its praxis on Leviticus than say on what is said in the NT letters about male and female apostles, prophets, teachers, and this also extends to the Mormon view of the physical family which is far from egalitarian in character.

I am not suggesting for a moment that there aren’t many Mormons that would pass the test of being decent and honest and loving human beings. There are. I know some of them. Nor can one fault their zeal for their form of religion, indeed their missionaries often put actual Christian missionaries to shame. Nor would I suggest that these folks are deliberate deceivers of other people. The ones I know are not. They are sincere and committed to Mormonism, and truly believe it is the true religion.

What I would say is that they are deceived about what the Bible really teaches about the nature of God, of Christ, of salvation, and of true humanity, not to mention the nature of the Scriptures which are indeed the sufficient rule of faith and practice for all true Christians and do not require supplements or corrections from Joseph Smith’s works.

Why have I posted this now? Because of the many times I am asked these days, the question– Can Evangelicals vote for Mitt Romney? I have done a previous post, some time ago for Beliefnet about Mitt Romney in regard to his previous campaigns for high office. I will not repeat that here. I think deciding on who to vote for as President should involve a consideration of many different factors, many different pros and cons of the two candidates.

I think each person must make up their own mind who they will vote for, but the point of this post is that such important decisions should not be made on the basis of false assumptions, and particularly not on the basis of false assumptions about a person’s actual religion.

SPOILER ALERT: THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT SAY IN RESPONSE TO THIS POST

1) ‘You’re just prejudiced, you don’t know what you’re talking about, and that’s just your opinion’.

Wrong. These are the facts. I have taught classes on both world and American religions, and what I have said is based either on what Mormons themselves have said about their beliefs, and/or what their source documents say about the same.

2) ‘This is unkind and untimely. Everyone should have the right to their own religious beliefs and should not be criticized for them. If a person wants to call himself a Christian, then he or she must be a Christian.’

Yes…and no. Yes, a person has an American right to freedom of religion. No, a private individual does not get to decide for themselves what is and isn’t true or is or isn’t orthodox Christianity, and that includes me. Christian beliefs need to match up with what the Bible in fact claims, and what the historic creeds and confessions of the church have understood the Bible to say and mean. Furthermore, even if we were talking about genuine Christian groups, no single group has the authority to add additional books to the sacred canon of Scriptures, whether it be the Book of Mormon or something else. The Bible is both the necessary and sufficient revelation of God and God’s character and God’s will. All three great monotheistic religions recognize the Bible or some part of it as God’s Word. None of them recognize the Book of Mormon as the necessary appendix to the Bible.

3) ‘Aren’t we disputing about words and minor issues here.’

No we are not. The attempt to trivialize important theological issues, and make them a mere dispute about words is frankly an insult to the earliest Christians, many of whom died for their monotheistic and Trinitarian beliefs. Yes indeed, it does matter what the content is of your religious belief.

4) ‘But look at all the energy and zeal and earnestness and deep commitment of Mormons. Isn’t that to be commended?’

Yes and no. Zeal that is not according to knowledge does not honor the real God, and is misguided. Sincerity is not the same thing as true faith. A person can be sincerely wrong, indeed badly wrong however convinced they are of what they believe. So, yes some of these traits are commendable, if they are properly directed and guided and serving the God of the Bible and the good of humankind.’

I could go on, but this is more than enough for you to chew on. Think on these things.

Spiritual Warfare Series Overview

Posted on August 22, 2012 by shel

shel boese – a few months ago I shared a short introduction to spiritual warfare in the Sharing Jesus in a Winsome Way (not being a jerk) Series. Check this out:

Spiritual Warfare Series Overview from Your Journey Blog by Gary Rohrmayer

Argentinean leader Ed Silvoso said, “The Church in the West today presents too easy a target for Satan. We do not believe we are at war. We do not know where the battleground is located, and, in spite of our weapons, they are neither loaded nor aimed at the right target. We are unaware of how vulnerable we are. We are better fitted for a parade that for an amphibious landing.”The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, “…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (II Corinthians 2:11).

Paul, as a spiritual leader, acknowledges to this troubled church that he knows the plans, thoughts and cunning of the evil one. In the context of this verse he reveals that one of the tactics of the enemy is an unforgiving spirit which provides an entry point for the enemy’s influence in the church’s life. I also would suggest that in this statement he is presuming that we can know them (the enemy’s tactics) and not be outwitted by them for they are well documented throughout the pages of Scripture. Scripture reveals to us the reasons for Satan’s fall (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19); the tactics he used in his temptation of Adam & Eve (Genesis 3:1-10) and his devices to tempted our Savior (Matthew 4). We see throughout the pages of Scripture Satan’s defeat (Hebrews 2:12-14) and his ultimate demise (Revelation 20:10). Serious spiritual leaders should be fully aware of these counter-attacks on His leaders and His church. Ignorance of the enemy’s tactics is one of the downfalls that many leaders face and ultimately leads to ones disengagement in God’s redemptive work in the world.

In Robert Clinton’s Commentary on 1 & 2 Corinthians: Problematic Apostolic Leadership, he writes several excellent articles on spiritual warfare. In one article entitled, “Spiritual Warfare—Satan’s Tactics” he offers a simple listing of times when Paul refers to Satan or the Devil and or demonic work. I have found these references very instructive and illuminating and they serve as the foundation of 14 devotional thoughts I am writing for spiritual leaders to increase our awareness of spiritual warfare. Clinton states that, “There are over 89 passages in scripture that deal with or mention the Devil or Satan, along with others that discuss demonic influence.” Through these simple lessons our focus will be on the 14 Pauline passages, but they all must be taken in context of the whole of Scripture.

Here are the 14 passages and issues we will be examining:

My prayer is that we as a missional leaders will start will use these lessons in building up our spiritual muscles; refocusing our spiritual dependence and receiving God’s spiritual discernment.

Remember all missional advancement always engages missional resistance (Matthew 16:18-19).

“The word “go” forbids us to settle into the plush present”

Posted on August 19, 2012 by shel

Calvin Miller Has Died: In Memoriam and His “Letter to the Church” ShareThis Sunday August 19, 2012 ~ Ed Stetzer

I was deeply saddened to hear the news about the passing of Calvin Miller moments ago. It was always a joy to learn from him.

A native of Enid, Oklahoma, Dr. Miller was a faithful servant of the church. Though he only pastored two churches in his lifetime, his 25-years of service at Westside Church in Omaha, Nebraska, shaped his ministry and that of many others. Under his leadership, Westside grew from 10 members to over 2,500 when he left to join the faculty of Southwestern Seminary in 1991. Since 1999, Dr. Miller had served at Beeson Divinity School (one of my alma maters).

A prolific writer, he authored more than forty books and countless poems and free-lance articles. Dr. Miller was deeply committed to the evangelism, apologetics, and cultural engagement for the cause of Christ. He even contributed a “Letter to the Church” for the Mission of God Study Bible (that essay is below). When he asked me to endorse his book, Letters to a Young Pastor, I felt like a kid was asked to endorse a celebrity. (You should get the book.)

He was never one to seek the spotlight like so many others. However, those who knew Dr. Miller knew of his unabashed fervor for the word of God and his desire to make Christ known among the nations.

Dr. Miller knew the importance of story as well. A wonderful wordsmith, he would use the element of story in such a way that cold facts and dry doctrine came to life in ways rarely seen. His poetry was an outpouring of his devotion to both his Savior and his sweetheart, Barbara Joyce.

Like many, I will miss Dr. Miller. He has greatly influenced my, my ministry, and my writings.

As he wrote in his memoir Life Is Mostly Edges:

The edge is a good address. It is a good place to remember our temporariness. It teaches us to spend our time wisely. So our last days can become our best days.

Life is good. So is God.

And life with God is full of glorious daybreaks. After all, it was God who gave me the courage to walk the edges of a life that was never mine!

May we all not take for granted each and every daybreak and remember we are living a life that is ultimately not ours.

Thank you, Dr. Miller.

A Letter to the Church by Calvin Miller, from The Mission of God Study Bible

To every Christian who reads this book: you are a missionary. Missions is the joyous work of informing the world that it is loved. Missions is unrelenting in its desire, it pushes in flaming light against the dark walls of human ignorance. It is honest about all things eternal: we can be free only when we know the truth (Jn 8:32).

Missions is clear, cold water–a cup of grace, a draft of life in the desert. It is as free as air, yet as precious as a pearl buried deep in the brokenness of the human spirit (Mt 13:46). Missions is a message, as simple as two words Jesus Saves–one noun, one verb–and yet this simplicity is God’s broad banner posted just above the gates of eternity (Lk 19:10).

Missions is ravenous in its hunger to please God. It knows no other purpose for its existence. It lives for the single pleasure of hearing God say, “Well done, good and faithful slave (Mt 25:21). You have told the truth in a false world, you have turned the iron key of liberty in the steel door of hell, and the captives are freed (Lk 4:18)! For this liberation you have been called “missionary.”

Missions is a divine madness that hears the voice of God’s only begotten, crying from a mountaintop, into all the world (Mt 28:18-20). It takes this cry to bed and pillow every night. It wakes at every dawn, as Christ whispers in the heart, “I was dead, but look–I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rv 1:18). You must arise for I have come to seek and to save that which was lost. There is no time to waste, the world is loved and doesn’t know it. Hold out your hand and I fill it with gold, and you must go out to give the gold away, making rich all those who are poor in spirit (Mt 5:3). Tell all those who starve about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rv 19:9).

To every Christian who reads this book: you are a missionary.

No matter your credentials. All who name the name of Christ have been ordained by the urgency of God’s agenda in a fallen world. Missionaries are not just those special few who have accepted some certificate of some profession. They are not servants of a special calling. Missionaries are all those who have said “yes, Lord!” To say “I believe” is to understand that you have accepted the commission to go into all the world, starting right inside your home, your village, your nation, your world. You have been empowered. Christ has breathed upon you (Jn 20:22). When Christ moves in, you move out. Out where? Out there! Outside your narrow life. Anywhere is the place to start. So start. Seek! Knock! Any door will do (Mt 7:7). You need no grand beginning point.

There, it is done! You have spoken to someone the entreaty, “Come with us to Christ!” Congratulations! You are a missionary and missionaries are the merchants of hope. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring Good Tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God Reigns (Isaiah 52:7).

But be not proud! In redeeming the world all arrogance is precluded. There are no good, arrogant missionaries (2Co 12:5). Christ’s ambassadors (2Co 5:20) are men and women made humble by the immense size of the message given to them by Earth’s Lover. They feed on the bread they give away. They remember who they were when they met Christ, and just that little act of memory causes them to weep that that they once stumbled into grace, before they were ever called to dispense it. Now they are driven by the joy of God’s call, they are the cleansed unclean, the forgiven forgivers, the wounded healers. Nothing is more important than their preachment. They live for it, they die for it (1Co 9:16). They will not change their minds and they cannot change the subject. They are intentional about one truth, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did” (Jn 4:29). I can baptize you only with water, but He will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit (Lk 3:16). Thus holding forth the world in their left hand they reach for heaven with their right hand, and the gulf between time and eternity is pulled shut (Lk 16:22). The world at hand is made one with the world that is on the way.

All we who know Him are the heralds of God, missionaries blind to our own greatness because we have served a magnificent obsession, a glorious compulsion, “Jesus lives, Jesus saves.” There is no other significant, eternal truth (Ac 4:12).

The day we became missionaries we were no longer good at the sedentary life. The word “go” forbids us to settle into the plush present, for we know that the future is where we were meant to live, for only the future holds the possibility of us making our next disciple (1Co 9:19). Of course we love our last convert, but that believer has only fueled our fever to meet the next one.

Here in this volume you hold the grand marriage of the Word of God and the Commission of God. This is the book that holds the definition of forty holy men, the Bible writers, who have defined the heart of God. Missions plus the Word equals everything. You cannot serve just one of these, for to serve the Book is to serve the mission (Php 2:16). To fail to serve either of them is to choose to serve neither. Read herein what God has for you, then do all that you have read. Only then will you enter into life a whole person waiting on God, and knowing who you are. And knowing who you are you will find pleasure in your identity (Php 3:8,10).

Your life belongs to the world. Your zip code is the globe. You are a missionary.

You might also visit his website and see his most recent book… it will be worth the click.

10 Reasons We Have Not Reached the Unchurched, part 2 (Reasons 6-10) Thom Rainer

Posted on July 17, 2012 by shel

http://www.thomrainer.com/2012/07/10-reasons-we-have-not-reached-the-unchurched-part-2-reasons-6-10.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thomrainer%2Frss+%28thomrainer.com%29

In last week’s post, I covered the first five reasons we, as Christians fail to reach others for Christ. Today I conclude with the final five reasons.

A Desire to Be Tolerant — The message of the gospel, in some senses, is intolerant. The one true God insists there can be no other gods. He is a jealous God and leaves no room for other gods. In the post-modern culture of 21st century America, Christians should know the criticisms of intolerance will come. The great concern is that many Christians are unwilling to take a narrow view because they do not want to be labeled as intolerant. But Jesus never waivered in His insistence that He is the only way to the one and only true God.
Losing the Habit of Witnessing — Some Christians have been very active in sharing their faith with the lost and the unchurched. But, for a myriad of reasons, they get out of the habit, and it no longer becomes a priority. Witnessing, like prayer and Bible study, is a discipine. It is a habit to learn, to retain, and, if lost, to regain.
Lack of Accountability — Programmatic evangelism in local churches is sometimes denigrated because it is seen as a “canned” approach to witnessing. But one of the strengths of many of these programs is that some inherent system of accoutnability is built into the program itself. Accountability is likely to engender more witnessing attempts to the unchurched. Attempting more evangelistic encounters creates a habit of witnessing that then increases our zeal for evangelism.
Failure to Invite — When is the last time you invited an unchurched person to church? When is the last time you offered to take a person to church, or, at the very least, meet him or her at church? It’s a simple gesture, yet so few Christians do it.
We Go to Churches That Do Not Reach the Unchurched — We only reach one person for Christ each year for every 85 church members in the United States. That is a frightening and terrible ratio. One of the key reasons we do not reach the unchurched is that most Christians in America are members of churches that do not reach the unchurched.

I’ve now covered ten of the most common reasons Christians fail to obey the Great Commission. This list is not exhaustive though. In God’s power, however, we can reverse this trend and reach the unchurched in America.

Which area do you struggle with the most? Which area can you identify as one that can be easily improved in your life?

Mission Field Sioux Falls: A heart for the nations starts at home!

Posted on March 7, 2012 by shel

A heart for the nations starts at home! The church is always one generation away for extinction in any local place anywhere. Every generation matters to Jesus!

Here’s a little blurb from a book one of the Mercy Church growth groups is reading…Makes the point wonderfully that are called not neglect our Jerusalem, our culture, that which is most alike us…

“When we fail to distinguish between the quasi-Christian civil religion of America and the kingdom of God, two things happen.

First, American kingdom people lost their missionary zeal. Because we buy the myth that we live in a Christian nation, as defined by the civil religion, we don’t live with the same missionary zeal we’d have if we lived, say , in a country where Buddhism or Hinduism was the civil religion. This is why American Christians so often define “missions” as sending people to other countries—as though there was more missionary work to do there then here.

I believe this sentiment is rooted in an illusion. If you peel back the façade of the civil religion, you find that America is about as pagan as any country we could ever send missionaries to. Despite what a majority of Americans say when asked by pollsters, we are arguable no less self-centered, unethical, or prone toward violence than most other cultures. We generally look no more like Jesus, dying on a cross out of love for the people who crucified him, than do people in other cultures, and they are generally no closer to the kingdom of God than people in other cultures. The fact that we have a quasi-Christian civil religion doesn’t help; if anything, it hurts precisely because it create the illusion in the minds of kingdom people that we are closer to the example of Jesus than we actually are (CF Matt. 21:31)….

When a kingdom person realizes that the civil religion of America has no more relationship to the real kingdom of God than any other civil religion—that it’s all just part of the religious trappings most versions of the kingdom of the world adopt—they are motivated to live as much as a missionary IN America as they would if they were stationed in , say, China, Cambodia, or India. The only significant difference is that in at least one respect it’s arguable harder to be a missionary in America…”

The Mainline Churches Are Dead/Dying – BUT Global Evangelicals and Renewalists are Seeing Growth

Posted on December 19, 2011 by shel

Shel Boese / Shelby Boese – it appear as Samuel Langhorne Clemens AKA Mark Twain said the rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated…the death of the church of Jesus is also greatly exaggerated. The church is growing around the world! Check out all of this from the Pew Forum – the interactive maps on their website are great. The mainline denominations are largely dead/dying/declining – BUT the majority of the Global church is Evangelical and open to the Holy Spirit (renewalists: charismatic, “P”entecostal and “p”entecostal) and growing. Jesus said HE would build His church. That the christians are holding their own is amazing. Of course we also need to re-evangelize Europe. Thankfully Africa, Asia and even some US missionaries are refocusing on the old-west.

+++++

Global Christianity

A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population

ANALYSIS December 19, 2011

A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.

Quick Links:

Full Report:

Read through the preface, executive summary, report chapters and methodology.

PDF (11.7MB, 130 pages)

Christian Traditions:

Regional Distribution of Christians:

Sortable Data Tables:

Quiz:

View data on Christians in 232 countries in a series of sortable data tables. View all Christians and each tradition by number, as a percentage of the total Christian population and as apercentage of the overall population.

How much do you know about Christianity around the world? Test your knowledge with our short,10-question quiz, which includes questions on the size and distribution of the 2010 global Christian population.

Interactive Feature:

Interactive MapsSelect one of 232 countries, a region or the world to see the size of the Christian population in 2010. Filter data to see the 2010 population of the Christian traditions.

World Maps:

Weighted World Map of the Christian Population in 1910 and 2010View a weighted map of the world that shows each country’s relative size based on its Christian population.

Bubble Maps of the Christian PopulationView world maps that display the size of the Christian population in each country using different-sized bubbles.

Posted on October 14, 2011 by shel

Shel Boese / Shelby Boese – my deepest prayer and hope for Mormonism is that it would follow the path of the “Worldwide Church of God” religion – repent of false teaching and move to embrace orthodox faith and now called Grace Communion International http://www.gci.org/aboutus/history.

Mormonism 101 by KEVIN DEYOUNG|6:32 AM CT

Mormonism is back in the news. And with two Mormon presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney (the front runner for the Republican nomination), there’s a good chance we will be hearing much more about Mormonism for the next twelve months. Denny Burk has a very helpful piece onwhether Mormonism is a cult, and Albert Mohler has written a thoughtful article on “Mormonism, Democracy, and the Urgent Need for Evangelical Thinking.” I won’t repeat their arguments, except to reiterate Mohler’s reminder that voting for a president should include examining the candidate’s religious beliefs, but should include other considerations as well.

Presidential elections are important. But believing the truth is even more important. With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to provide a brief overview of Mormon history and theology. I won’t try to debunk Mormonism or prove Christianity. But I hope this quick survey will show that the two are not the same.

A quick note on secondary sources: Christian materials do not always treat Mormonism fairly or go the extra mile to present Mormon ideas as a Mormon would recognize it. One book that does is Andrew Jackson’s Mormonism Explained: What Latter-day Saints Teach and Practice. I also recommend A Different Jesus? The Christ of the Latter-Day Saints by BYU professor Robert Millet. Richard Mouw concedes too much in his Foreword and Afterword, but it’s still helpful to get Mormon Christology from a Mormon himself.

Mormon History

Joseph Smith was born in rural Vermont in 1805, the fourth of nine children. With little success farming in Vermont, the Smith family moved west to Palmyra, New York. There Joseph Smith was exposed to different revival movements, and most of his family became Presbyterians, though Smith later said he leaned toward Methodism.

The presence of so many variations of Christianity bothered Smith. Which one was right? How could he choose? At one revival meetings, a preacher quoted from James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (KJV). Smith, 14 years old at the time, went home, reflected on these words, and went into the woods to pray.

According to Mormon tradition, this is when Joseph Smith had his first vision. In this visions, which is foundational to the Mormon faith, Smith claimed to see two “personages.” The one-God the Father-pointed to the other and said “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Smith asked them what sect he should join. They answered that he should join none of them. They were all wrong. All their creeds were an abomination and their believers corrupt.

Three years later, Mormons believe Smith received another vision. In this vision the angel Moroni told Smith of golden plates buried under a hill near Palmyra. The plates were revealed in 1827 when Smith was provided with two reading crystals–urim and thummim–by which he could translate the writing (Smith claimed the plates were written in hieroglyphics). In 1830 Smith published The Book of Mormon, which contains the story of the lost Israelites who migrated to America in the sixth century BC but were killed in battle in AD 428. Smith later received another vision from John the Baptist giving him the Aaronic Priesthood.

That same year (1830) Smith founded the “Church of Christ.” In 1838 he changed the name to “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”

Smith continued to receive revelations telling him to move from New York to Ohio to Missouri and eventually to Illinois where he and his followers built a town called Nauvoo. There Smith and his followers tried to live out an utopian vision of society. They also instituted polygyny as early Mormon leaders argued that Jesus had had many wives. Smith and his brother were arrested in 1844. Later a mob stormed the jail and killed them both. Mormons consider Smith a martyr. Others say he died in a violent shoot-out.

Following Smith’s death there was a schism. A small group called the Josephites became the Reorganized Church with headquarters in Missouri. Most followed Brigham Young, who became their First President and prophet. In 1847, Young took the followers to Utah and built Salt Lake City.

Today there are more than ten million Mormons worldwide-about half in the United States. Mormonism is the largest new religious movement from the West since Christianity (which really came from the Near East). It is also the first homegrown American religion. Mormonism continues to grow because of it missionary impulse and its commitment to doctrinal and ethical distinctives.

Mormon Theology

Let me highlight seven areas of Mormon doctrine. Again, I won’t try to refute the Mormon position, but I hope you will see the explicit deviation from the historic Christian faith.

1. View of history. In Mormon thinking, the rise of Mormonism was not merely a reformation or renewal of the church. It was a complete restoration. Following the death of Christ’s apostles, the church fell into complete apostasy. The church lost divine authority and true doctrine. There is no unbroken continuity from the early church to the present. Christianity, for almost all of its history, was false and without the truth—until Joseph Smith and his revelation. As Mohler points out, Mormonism not only rejects historic orthodox Christianity, their whole religion is based on the need for such repudiation.

2. View of revelation. Mormons believe the Bible (the KJV version), but do not consider it inerrant. Neither do they consider the Bible complete. What makes Mormonism unique is their belief in continuing revelation sustained through prophets, seers, and revelators. So while Mormons affirm the Bible, they also affirm the inspiration of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Through an elaborate hierarchy of President, First Presidency, Twelve Apostles, First Quorum of the Seventy, and Second Quorum of the Seventy, Mormons can receive authoritative interpretations and new authoritative revelations.

3. View of man. According to Mormon theology, men and women are the spirit sons and daughters of God. We lived in a premortal spirit existence before birth. In this first estate we grew and developed in preparation for the second estate. In this second estate we walk by faith in this second state. A veil of forgetfulness has been placed over our minds so we don’t remember what we did and who we used to be in our premortal existence. Our purpose in this life is to grow and mature in a physical body to prepare us for our final eternal state.

Mormons do not believe in human depravity. We are not implicated in Adam’s fall. We are basically good in our eternal nature, but prone to error in our mortal nature. The human is a being in conflict, but also a being with infinite potential.

4. View of God. In Mormon thought, God has a physical body. According to Doctrine and Covenants, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also;” but “The Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit.”

Whether God the Father is self-existent is unclear. There was a long procession of gods and fathers leading up to our Heavenly Father. Brigham Young once remarked, “How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds.” What is clearer is that the Mormon God is not a higher order or a different species than man. God is a man with a body of flesh and bones like us.

Mormons do not believe in the Trinity. They will talk about the unity of three personages, but the unity is a relational unity in purpose and mind, not a unity of essence. The three separate beings of the Godhead are three distinct Gods.

5. View of Christ. Mormons believe Jesus is Redeemer, God, and Savior. He is endless and eternal, the only begotten son of the Father. Through Jesus, the Heavenly Father has provided a way for people to be like him and to live with him forever.

But this familiar language does not mean the same thing to Mormons as it does to Christians. Jesus was born of the Father just like all spirit children. God is his Father in the same way he is Father to all. Whatever immortality or Godhood Jesus possesses, they are inherited attributes and powers. He does not share the same eternal nature as the Father. Jesus may be divine, but his is a derivative divinity. As one Mormon theologian puts it, Jesus “is God the Second, the Redeemer.”

6. View of the Atonement. Mormons believe Jesus died for sins and rose again from the dead. The atonement is the central event in history and essential to their theology. And yet, Mormons do not have a precise doctrine of the atonement. They do not emphasize Christ as wrath-bearing substitute, but emphasize simply that Christ somehow mysteriously remits our sins through his suffering.

While the atonement itself is not overly defined, the way in which the atonement is made efficacious is much more carefully delineated. Salvation is available because of the atoning blood of Christ, but this salvation is only received upon four conditions: faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end by keeping the commandments of God (which include various Mormon rituals).

Finally, it should be noted Mormon theology stresses the suffering the garden rather than the suffering on the cross. Atonement may have been completed on Golgotha, but is was made efficacious in Gethsemane.

7. View of salvation. The goal of Mormon salvation is not about escaping wrath as much as it is about maximizing our growth and insuring our happiness. Salvation is finding our way back to God the Father and recalling our forgotten first estate as his premortal spirit children.

Mormon theology teaches that we cannot receive eternal reward by our own unaided efforts. In some respects, salvation is based on what we have earn, but what we earn is by grace. How this plays out in Mormon life may differ from person to person, but they stress that the gift of the Holy Ghost is conditional upon continued obedience. Mormons must keep the First Principles and Ordinances, which consists of the Ten Commandments, tithing, chastity, and the “Word of Wisdom” which prohibits tobacco, coffee tea, alcohol and illegal narcotics.

Temples are also important in Mormon doctrine and practice. Couples must be married in a Mormon temple to have eternal marriage, and every Mormon must be baptized in one of their 135 (and counting) authorized Temples. Because of the importance of baptism in the Temple, baptisms for the dead are extremely common. Mormons keep detailed genealogical records so that their ancestors can be properly baptized. By one estimate more than 100 million deceased persons have been baptized by proxy baptism in Mormon temples. Those who received this baptism are free in the afterlife to reject or accept what has been done on their behalf.

Death in Mormon thinking is seen as another beginning, complete with opportunities to respond to postmortem preaching in the world to come. We will live in the spirit world, and at some point our spirit and body will be reunited forever.

There are four divisions in the afterlife. The Lake of Fire is reserved for the Devil, his demons, and those who commit the unpardonable sin. The Telestial Kingdom is where the wicked go. It is a place of suffering but not like the Lake of Fire. Most people go to the Telestial Kingdom where they are offered salvation again. The lukewarm-not quite good, not quite evil-go to the Terrestrial Kingdom when they die. This Kingdom is located on a distant planet in the universe. The Celestial Kindgom is for the righteous. Here God’s people live forever in God’s presence. We will live as gods and live with our spouses and continue to procreate. This the aim and the end of Mormon salvation.

Conclusion

I encourage you to study Mormonism for yourself if you have more questions. I think you’ll find that though the language sounds similar at times, the beliefs are quite distinctive. Mormons do not understand history, God, man, salvation, heaven, hell, the cross, Jesus, or the Trinity as the canonical Scriptures teach, nor do they agree with the doctrine taught by the holy, catholic, apostolic church over two millennia.

Mormonism, cults, and Christianity

Posted on October 9, 2011 by shel

Mormonism, Cults, and Christianity from EdStetzer.com by Ed Stetzer

The news is abuzz with the question of Mormonism, cults, and Christianity.

A cult is often understood as a religious group with strange beliefs out of the cultural mainstream (which many today increasingly consider biblical Christianity). Since “cult” is difficult to define, scholars tend not to use it.

However, the question of what beliefs characterize Christianity is not a new debate, and is one we should not shy away from if words and definitions matter.

Many people are shocked at the idea that some pastors believe Mormons are not Christians– “judgementalism” is decried and “intolerance” proclaimed. Yet, as that may be new news to some, the view that Mormons are not Christians is historic and very widely held view.

In 2007, LDS spokesman Michael Otterson provided a forthright article in the On Faith section of the Washington Post / Newsweek. He explains,

The question, “Are Mormons Christian?” is a good starting point for this discussion. When some conservative Protestants say Mormons aren’t Christian, it is deeply offensive to Latter-day Saints. Yet when Latter-day Saints assert their Christianity, some of those same Christians bitterly resent it. Why? Because both sides are using the same terms to describe different things…
When someone says Mormons aren’t Christian… he or she usually means that Mormons don’t embrace the traditional interpretation of the Bible that includes the Trinity. “Our Jesus” is somehow different from “their Jesus.” Further, they mean that some Mormon teachings are so far outside Christian orthodoxy of past centuries that they constitute almost a new religion.

Otterson is correct here. For evangelicals and others, “Christian” is more than a self-identified label. It is hard for people in tolerant America to hear, “I know you SAY you are a Christian, but you are not.” Yet, basic to evangelicalism (and historic Protestantism) is that some people are Christians, some people are not, and not all people who think that they are Christians actually are.

“Christianity” is not based on what you say about yourself or your beliefs. “Christianity” must be connected to how your beliefs agree with the beliefs of biblical Christianity.

With Mormonism becoming a major topic of discussion, about a year ago LifeWay Research decided to ask Protestant pastors their view. According to our random sample, most pastors feel strongly Mormons are not Christians. After several reporters asked if we had some data, I decided to release it. You can download the full report Protestant Pastor Views of Mormonism.pptx.

The survey polled 1,000 American Protestant pastors asking them to respond to the statement, “I personally consider Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) to be Christians.” It’s a forthright question some will find offensive, but it will be an increasingly important question.

Three-quarters of Protestant pastors (75%) disagree with the statement, “I personally consider Mormons… to be Christians,” including 60 percent who strongly disagree and 15 percent who somewhat disagree. Just 11 percent somewhat agree, 6 percent strongly agree and 9 percent do not know.

In other words, the view that “Mormons are not Christians” is the widely and strongly held view among Protestant pastors. That does not meant they do not respect Mormons as persons, share their values on family, and have much in common. Yet, they simply view Mormonism as a distinct religion outside of basic teachings of Christianity. Many of these pastors may know Mormons consider themselves Christians, but Protestant pastors overwhelmingly do not consider them such.

I know this is an unpleasant question to many, and one that some will use as a hammer on evangelicals, but let me encourage a different view.

The fundamental issue is: how divergent can your views be and still be a part of a faith group (in contrast to forming a new one). Can you believe, for instance, that Muhammad is not the prophet and still call yourself a Muslim? The vast majority of Muslims would say you cannot. For Christians, calling yourself a Christian while not believing that God has always existed as the triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is as inconceivable.

This is not simply a conservative evangelical Christian view. Methodists have said ”the LDS Church is not a part of the historic, apostolic tradition of the Christian faith.” Even Roman Catholics (hardly conservative Protestants)don’t recognize LDS baptism.

As I said before, a cult is difficult to define. But Christianity has been defined a certain way for centuries. There is no reason to be shocked that devout Christians consider those with a different view of Christ as non-Christians. In the current cultural climate it may be uncomfortable, but it is anything but shocking.

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