A reasonable lawsuit against the Osteens?

Joseph Perkins of Christian Post narrates the story of the recent lawsuit faced by Joel and Victoria Osteen, pastors of Houston-based Lakewood Church. Richard Cupolo and John Emanuele, songwriting duo of a band named The American Dollar filed a $3 million copyright infringement case against the Osteens. The main issue is about the unlawful use of the song “Signaling Through the Flames.” Don Ilof, the spokesman of the Osteen responded:

“…The two musicians are ‘apparently confused about the scope of the license, and are now demanding $3 million for uses that are authorized. We think this is unreasonable’…”

You can read the details of the story at:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/joel-osteen-church-sued-by-band-for-3m-54585/

Seeing the End Times from a Different Lens

Contrary to popular beliefs, David Neff offers a different way of seeing the end times. Instead of taking for granted the ills of humanity, biblical eschatology calls Christians to acts of justice in bringing healing to a wounded world. Neff identifies six ideas, which show interrelationships among events in the last days, justice, and evangelism. Neff voiced out his complain:

“In preparing so assiduously for the last days, we missed something important: our responsibility to address the real needs of desperate people. If the world and its ills will soon pass away, these needs will feel less urgent. I have come to believe, however, that the Bible’s vision of eschatology discourages such forgetfulness. Living in the last days means relieving the needs of particular people, and confronting the ills of all humanity.”

You can read the details of these six ideas at:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/august/signsendtimes.html

The Solution to the Intellectual Problem of our Time

David Neff of Christianity Today shares his interview with Mark Noll about the latter’s most recent book, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. Noll is unhappy with the culture of anti-intellectualism among evangelical circles. He sees it would still take a very long journey for Christians to contribute to the intellectual problem of our time. He accepts that there are positive signs moving into the right direction through the contributions of Christian philosophers and a number of Christian colleges and seminaries.

The premise of Noll’s book is that the basic truths of Christianity offer the keys to Christian scholarship. What does it mean that Christians should depend on Christ to provide the basic standpoint from which to look at intellectual problems? Noll asks. He answered his own question:

“It means, first of all, to recognize that everything exists because it was created by Jesus. John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1 all make the same statement: It’s not just that the Lord God in some general sense created everything, but that Christ created everything. We also have the amazing statement in Colossians 1 that all things hold together in Jesus.”

You can read the details of this interview at:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/august/nollfoundationmind.html

Hillsong’s Cross-Cultural Journey

Hillsong United shares their cross-cultural journey through a musical documentary. This is their unique way of sharing the love of God to the world. In this documentary, the group featured their tours across 6 continents, 42 nations and 93 cities. Cbn.com describes the goals of the documentary:

“Their musical documentary “The I Heart Revolution: We’re All in this Together” highlights the needs of people around the world and how the church can minister in practical ways.”

You can read more about this story at:

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/August/Hillsong-Documentary-Shows-Were-in-This-Together/

Recession: Great Time for Christian Publishers

As a result of economic recession, religious books increased its sales as compared to those books under other categories, says Anita Wadhani of The Tennessean. Now is a great time for Christian publishers. Most people are drawn to think about faith, spirituality, and God during difficult times. Among those who benefited from this trend is the United Methodist Publishing House. Audrey Kidd, the executive vice president of UMPH said:

“Our books address such basic, human-felt needs, and we find that in hard times readers are drawn to devotionals and to books that attempt to answer the really tough questions of faith and a faithful God.”

You can read the details of this story at The Tennessean.

Planned Parenthood and Private Abortion Funds

The recent writing of Dr. Randall K. O’Bannon got the attention of Dave Andrusko of National Right to Life. He said that Dr. O’Bannon exposes millionaires and billionaires working in the shadows through their private funds. These “philanthropists” underwrite Planned Parenthood, which is a “cover-up” for abortion. Andrusko calls the attention of people to read Dr. O’ Bannon’s piece:

“It is must reading. Today we take a look at a laudatory profile of individual heavy-hitters who underwrite Planned Parenthood and who are anything but in the shadows. I can’t help but be amused when millionaires and billionaires act as if they are the “voice of the people,” especially when they are bankrolling Planned Parenthood, which specializes in eliminating over 332,000 people a year.”

You can know more about this alarming story at: http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/08/the-millionaires-and-billionaires-behind-planned-parenthood/

Education Crisis or Job Crisis?

Paul Freedman, co-founder and CEO of Altius organization claims that the existing job crisis is an indication of a far deeper crisis in education, Russ Jones of OneNewsNow reports. More and more Americans are turning to online education to obtain an additional edge in the marketplace. This shows that the current educational system is insufficient to prepare students for the actual demands in the marketplace. Freedman remarks:

“If you look more carefully at it, we don’t have a jobs crisis — we have an education crisis. While unemployment is roughly nine-and-a-half percent for students who have a high school education, its only 4.3 percent for students who have a bachelor’s degree or higher.”

You can read more about this story at: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=1419628

Sharing the Gospel: Culture of Witchcraft and Fear

The ministry of Kent and Jenny Schafer in Mozambique for it to be successful must overcome a culture of witchcraft and fear. Dena McMaster of NTM reports that the Schafers discerned several cultural insights for the Gospel to be shared in a culturally relevant way. McMaster cites an example of this culture of witchcraft and fear:

“If you buy a quantity of food (spaghetti, dried manioc, rice, etc), you should make sure to bring it home after darkness falls. If you do not do so, every time you take out the food to cook it, any witchdoctor who may have happened to see you bring it home will magically take some out at the same time. And, in this way, your food will run out in no time at all.”

You can know more about this culture of fear and witchcraft at: http://usa.ntm.org/field-news/witchcraft-fear-abound

Christian teachers: Required to model a Christian lifestyle?

The decision of Happy Time Daycare and Preschool, a daycare in Waukee, Iowa requiring its teachers to abide to a new agreement resulted into a local controversy, Eryn Sun of Christian Post reports. Some receive the change positively seeing it as part of the daycare’s mission to enhance the spiritual and academic experience of the children. Others are unhappy about this change.

The new agreement includes questions about faith, spiritual gifts, and evangelism and highlights the importance of maintaining a Christian lifestyle:

“Point of Grace Children’s Academy requires every employee accept and follow a lifestyle commitment based upon Biblical principles. As a Christian School representing Jesus Christ in our community, we require employees to be born-again Christians and to live their lives as Christian role models.”

You can read more about this story at The Christian Post.

Being a Christian is a crime!

Ray Downs of Christian Post reports about the arrest of Abdolreza “Matthias” Haghnejad, an evangelical pastor without clear charges. Many organizations see this act as part of Iran’s campaign against Christianity. The government thinks of Christianity as a threat to national security. Firouz Sadegh-Khanjani, a member of the Church of Iran’s National Council said that in Iran authorities are equating being a Christian to a political crime. Downs summarized this attitude of Iranian government towards Christianity:

“…Iranian courts and officials have begun to define Protestant groups in political terms, trying Protestant believers and leaders in Revolutionary Courts, which are reserved for political and national security offenses, with much heavier sentences.”

You can read more about this report at:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-pastor-in-iran-arrested-as-christianity-crackdown-continues-54503/