According to a notice received from the Christian Law Association today, the latest attack in America on Christianity is against using the name of Jesus when praying in public. "In the past two months, two states have banned private citizens from praying in Jesus' name in the state legislatures, and other government units are sure to follow. Unbelievably, prayers to other gods, such as to 'Allah,' have not been challenged!"
Women are developing a taste for violence in their entertainment. Less and less are women put off by violence in their novels and movies. According to a frontpage article in today's Wall Street Journal, women are increasingly drawn to thriller novels where the hero is an assassin or a revenge killer. Women now make up 60% of the audience for the gory "CSI" television franchise that has three different series. Movie houses are also noticing that women make up an increasing percentage of the viewers at recent horror/terror films. Women are losing their squeamish nature when it comes to violence. One of the signs of the days of Noah was that "the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11). Jesus told us that "as it was in the days of Noe [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man" (Luke 17:26).
Today's Wall Street Journal reports some of the recent actions of the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 2004, the Presbyterian Church decided "to initiate a process of phased, selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel." That is, they decided to boycott Israel. On the other hand, the pro-Palestinian stance of the Presbyterian leadership has been astounding. In the fall of 2004, senior church leaders met with and praised Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist organization responsible for the death of thousands, some of them Americans. The church funds pro-Palestinian committees and wrote "congratulatory letters to the terrorist leaders of Hamas on their recent election victory." Further, they verbally attack Israel and "blame the U.S. and capitalism in general for most of the world's catastrophes." God told Abraham four thousand years ago concerning him and his descendants: "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee" (Genesis 12:3). Is it any wonder that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is suffering from "declining membership and dwindling financial support?"
Sadly, many of the reported converts to Christianity on the African continent are being led astray by a false spirit. The television airwaves in the country of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where most people still believe in black magic, are being dominated by charismatic preachers performing exorcisms as a great spectacle of power. The "Telegraph" reports: "The young Congolese woman lay screaming on the dusty ground, arms thrashing wildly as a white-gowned preacher gripped her head and prayed. As she fainted, thousands of spectators in Kinshasa's Tata Raphael stadium roared with excitement - yet another public exorcism was reaching its climax."
Today's Wall Street Journal has an editorial on how the IRS is reviewing the content of sermons to see if it deems any of them to be political in nature. Under the ungodly and probably unconstitutional 1954 Revenue Act, churches risk losing their tax exemptions if they "participate in, or intervene is... any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for political office." For years this was interpreted very conservatively and very few problems arose. But now, at the instigation of groups like Americans United for the Separation of church and State (an anti-god and anti-Christian organization), the IRS is stepping into the churches.
