Sunday, May 31, 2009

One of the saddest things I've read lately:

Child Witches: Accused in the Name of Jesus

Christian Pastors in Congo Paid to Perform Violent Exorcisms; Children Banished From Homes, Abandoned by Families

"In a dirt-floored, back-alley church, 8-year-old Bobby and his 6-year-old brother Henock were made to kneel before a pastor wearing a white, flowing robe adorned with pictures of Jesus.

Looming over the boys, Pastor Moise Tshombe went into a trance, during which he claimed the Holy Spirit took over and the voice of God spoke through him. "I see that witchcraft is in these two," Tshombe said. "The threats inside of them are very strong." These young brothers were the latest victims in an epidemic of accusations of child witchcraft here in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is raging in the name of Jesus. It continues seemingly unabated despite flags raised by organizations such as the United Nations, Save the Children and Human Rights Watch." http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7613395&page=1

Abandoned in the name of Jesus? I don't think so. This is another terrible example of evil running wild and conveniently dumping the blame on Christianity. Jesus loved the little ones and He has nothing to do with this brutality. He warned people to "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." Matthew 18:10-11

Several churches are trying to help in the Congo, and Pastor Muhasanya's Assemblies of God church in the Panzi suburb of Bukavu is one of them. I wish we could do so much more--and do it quickly. As a mother, I long to take all of these little ones away from the nightmare they're living and give them a home where they are loved.

The Congo is so very far away . . . .

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Interesting reading over at Midwest Christian Outreach:

On the Blog: The Dilemma Called CRI

"Some of our readers may recall that The Local Church of Witness Lee had filed suit against Harvest House Publishers, John Ankerberg and John Weldon for their inclusion in the Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions. To the surprise of most missions for cults and New Religions movements and discernment ministries, CRI had come out positively for the Local Church and against Harvest House Publishers, John Ankerberg and John Weldon. Near the end of the litigation, “More than 70 evangelical Christian scholars and ministry leaders from seven nations have signed an
unprecedented open letter to the leadership of the “local churches” and Living Stream Ministry.” This week, Apologetics Index uploaded Five Christian apologists evaluate the teachings of Witness Lee and The Local Church. There is also a synopsis of this situation on this page and other links and evaluations. The dilemma we face is how to view CRI in its present incarnation. Over the years CRI has produced some of the leading researchers, writers and scholars in the area of missions to cults and New Religious Movements, training and equipping the Body of Christ in discernment and evangelism. Names like ... Read more at MidwestOutreach.org


My comment on all of this is that the Church today doesn’t hold anyone accountable for anything, and Hanegraaff is just one more example of this. Not only is there no accountability, but people put money and marketing connections before integrity and even worse--before biblical principles. When apologists regularly appear on the BAM show; when Christian leaders embrace Hanegraaff for 20 years—never voicing regret when they discover who he really is—things go from bad to worse.