Patricia Ihlenfeldt, a Christian Women’s Job Corps leader in South Africa, traveled to Alabama to attend a training conference “to be encouraged and refocused and reenergized.”
Why travel from South Africa to attend a ministry training conference in Alabama? For Patricia Ihlenfeldt, the answer is succinct: “to be encouraged and refocused and reenergized.”
Ihlenfeldt, from the Baptist Union of Southern Africa, is director of its Women’s Department. She was among 130-plus leaders and staff members at 2018 Christian Women’s Job Corps/Christian Men’s Job Corps National Meeting at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega, Ala.
The CWJC/CMJC training event, held every three years by national WMU (Woman’s Missionary Union), highlighted the theme “Be Transformed” from Romans 12:1-2. Designed to help participants focus on a variety of topics related to their ministry efforts, breakout sessions addressed such matters as “Spiritual Development of a Leader,” “Finding the WHY of Your Ministry,” “Taking the Fear Out of Mentoring” and “Developing Dignity through Job Creation.”
Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps equip women and men in a Christian context for life and employment. Thousands of participants each year gain practical training and hope for their future through programs offered at certified CWJC/CMJC sites across the nation and internationally.
In addition to the leadership training, Ihlenfeldt said participating in the Aug. 1-3 conference allowed her “to network and to tell people our story” as well as “invite people to come and see what the Lord is doing” in South Africa.
“Having grown up in South Africa where the balance between the wealthy and the poor is so great, it’s just been a continuous challenge as to how do you as a Christian reach out into a community that is so diverse and so unequal economically,” she said. “That is really what has motivated me to get involved in this ministry.”
As a pastor’s wife and teacher with a degree in psychology and adult education training, Ihlenfeldt emphasized that “education has always been a motivating factor in my life.”
Through CWJC, she said, “I see there is opportunity to empower women to improve their economic situation. My desire has always been to equip local women in local church communities to use the facilities and the skills they have to empower and to encourage and to make a difference and to improve the quality of life of people in their community.”
In her broader role with the Baptist Union of Southern Africa, she said a primary goal is “to train and equip women to be used of the Lord in the community where He has placed them for His glory. Christian Women’s Job Corps has been a vehicle for me to do that.”
Since graduating college three years ago, I have held two full-time jobs, one temp job and a paid internship – none of which have had the same job description. I’ve filled out dozens of applications in between those jobs. I’ve lost sleep fretting over unemployment and questioning my decisions to pursue certain types of work and not others. In short, I can very much relate to anyone who wonders, “What should I be doing with my life?” or, “Does this job I’m doing even matter?”
As Christians, the questions of calling and vocation become even more challenging when we factor God’s will into the equation. It’s not just, ‘What do I want to do?’ It becomes, ‘What does God want me to do?’ It’s more than, ‘Is what I’m doing meaningful to me?’ It’s also, ‘Is what I’m doing meaningful to God?’ These are hard questions and many struggle with them. However, I don’t believe they are as important as we think. Here is what I’ve come to realize about calling and God’s will: what we do vocationally both matters to God and doesn’t matter to God. This isn’t a contradiction. Let me break it down.
1. What you decide to do with your life matters. In other words, your work matters. Why does the work we do matter to God? Because work itself matters to God. Work is the first thing we read about when we open our Bibles – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” God went to work! What did his job consist of? Taking nothing and creating something – something incredible. He took what was void and empty and created order and structure – the heavens, earth, water, land, plants, animals, humans. Then we read that when God created man and woman, the first command he gave them was to exercise dominion over the whole of creation (Genesis 1:28). God put humanity straight to work – it was his first order of business for us!
Of course, we know what comes next. When Adam and Eve sinned, their disobedience affected everything – including work. Work is now painful, toilsome and often unfruitful (Genesis 3:17-19). Thus, we think of work as intrinsically bad, a “necessary evil.” Yet to God, work is intrinsically good. As Christians, we don’t know how to deal with the implications of sin on work, so we put work into different categories – some work is “sacred,” or ministerial, some work is of a more “secular” nature.
I remember about a year ago getting a letter in the mail from a friend my husband and I financially supported; she was a ministry leader at a college campus. She was requesting prayer because she was about to leave that ministry, and was trying to, in her words, find a good “secular” career. At a wedding I recently attended, another friend was telling us how she was trying to decide between a job in ministry and a job in a “secular” field.
It’s funny how we as Christians use a term for work that God never used. The ‘secular vs. sacred’ dichotomy is something we created, not God, and it’s not how we should view work. Work is sacred because work is a reflection of who God is. He does not sit idle – he is active, working to bring himself glory.
If you’re a janitor at a high school your work is important because you are helping to create an environment that is healthy for children to learn. If you are an actor, you can bring glory to the Kingdom by telling good, true stories about the human condition and the need to look outside ourselves for Salvation and true fulfillment. If you are a police officer your work is valuable because God values safety. The work we do has value when we understand that work is fundamentally good, corrupted only through our own sinfulness. As author Wendell Berry writes, “There are no unsacred places. Only sacred and desecrated places.” Likewise with work.
Now that I’ve made a case for why work matters, I hope you’ll see the subtle difference when I say that…
Bob Marley was born on Feb 6., and although many are familiar with the reggae legend as a Rastafarian, others may be surprised to hear that he was baptized as an Orthodox Christian before his death.
Marley was an influential figure in the global expansion of a Rastafarian religious movement through his music. The movement began in 1930s Jamaica, focusing on the worship of former Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie I, whose followers believe him to be a messiah that will lead them into righteousness and prosperity.
Although Marley sang and spoke about being a Rasta, some say he converted to Christianity before his death. Abuna Yesehaq, archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Western Hemisphere who died in 2005, admitted that he baptized Marley about one year before his death.
Yesehaq appeared in a 1984 interview with Jamaica Gleaner’s Sunday magazine, titled “Abuna Yesehaq Looks Back on 14 Years of Ministry in Jamaica,” in which he spoke about Marley’s desire to become a Christian long before his death.
“Bob was really a good brother, a child of God, regardless of how people looked at him,” Yesehaq said. “He had a desire to be baptized long ago, but there were people close to him who controlled him and who were aligned to a different aspect of Rastafari. But he came to church regularly.”
In the interview, Yesehaq addressed claims that Marley’s terminal cancer was the motivation behind his acceptance of Jesus Christ as his personal savior.
“When he toured Los Angeles and New York and England, he preached the Orthodox faith, and many members in those cities came to the Church because of Bob,” Yesehaq said. “Many people think he was baptized because he knew he was dying, but that is not so. He did it when there was no longer any pressure on him, and when he was baptized, he hugged his family and wept, they all wept together for about half an hour.”
Judy Mowatt, a reggae and gospel singer who formerly sang backup for Marley in the group I Threes, recalled learning about Marley’s conversion to Christianity in an interview with Cross Rhythms radio. Mowatt spoke with her former bandmate and Marley’s wife, Rita, about the late musician calling out to Jesus Christ on his death bed.
“When Bob was on his dying bed, his wife Rita called me on the phone and said to me that Bob was in such excruciating pain and he stretched out his hand and said, ‘Jesus take me.’ I was wondering to myself, ‘Why is it that Bob said Jesus and not Selassie,'” Mowatt questioned. “Then I met a friend of mine and he said his sister, who is a Christian, was a nurse at the hospital where Bob was before he passed on, and she led him to the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Rita saw him saying ‘Jesus take me,’ he had already received the Lord Jesus Christ in his life.”
Bob Marley died from cancer in 1981 at the age of 36. Yesehaq conducted the rites for the musician’s funeral.
SOURCE: Christian Today Australia
“Feel Alright” lyrics
One Love! One Heart! Let’s get together and feel all right. Hear the children cryin’ (One Love!); Hear the children cryin’ (One Heart!), Sayin’: give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right; Sayin’: let’s get together and feel all right. Wo wo-wo wo-wo!
Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love!); There is one question I’d really love to ask (One Heart!): Is there a place for the hopeless sinner, Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own beliefs?
One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart! What about -? Let’s get together and feel all right As it was in the beginning (One Love!); So shall it be in the end (One Heart!), All right! Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right; Let’s get together and feel all right. One more thing!
Let’s get together to fight this Holy Armagiddyon (One Love!), So when the Man comes there will be no, no doom (One Song!). Have pity on those whose chances grows t’inner; There ain’t no hiding place from the Father of Creation.
Sayin’: One Love! What about the One Heart? (One Heart!) What about the -? Let’s get together and feel all right. I’m pleadin’ to mankind! (One Love!); Oh, Lord! (One Heart) Wo-ooh!
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right; Let’s get together and feel all right. Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right; Let’s get together and feel all right
The ancient flying pterosaur “has multiple evidences of having been specially created by God (and not generated by naturalistic evolution),” said paleontologist Kurt Wise. BYU photo
A rare pterodactyl fossil discovered in Utah has been claimed by evolutionists as evidence that flying vertebrates lived in the desert 200 million years ago. But two scientists who are biblical creationists say the creature lived about 4,500 years ago, not in a desert and was found in a fossil layer created by the worldwide flood described in Genesis 6-9.
One of the creationists also says the intricate design of the pterosaur — the scientific name of the flying creature with a five-foot wing span — suggests direct creation by God rather than Darwinian evolution.
Although the researchers’ article in the journal Nature, Ecology & Evolution “claims that the new fossil is found in deposits formed in a desert, young-age creationists would interpret the rocks in almost the opposite manner, arguing instead that the sediments were laid down during Noah’s Flood,” Kurt Wise, a Harvard-trained paleontologist who teaches at Truett McConnell University, told Baptist Press via email.
“… I suspect that a close examination of the enclosing sediments would reveal rapid, underwater deposition, consistent with (a) Noah’s Flood, (b) the remarkable preservation and near-articulation of very fragile bones, and (c) the marine sediments in which most pterosaurs are preserved — all inconsistent with desert deposition,” Wise noted.
The pterosaur discovery was published Aug. 13 by a team of researchers led by Brigham Young University paleontologist Brooks Britt. The find is unique, they stated in Nature, Ecology & Evolution, because it is well preserved and the first pterosaur that appears to have been fossilized in a desert environment. The other 30 confirmed pterosaur fossils in the world all were discovered in Greenland and the Alps.
Pterosaur fossils are “extremely rare,” Britt said according to a BYU news release, adding, “Most pterosaur bones look like roadkill,” but “for this animal, we have the sides of the face and the complete roof of the skull, including the brain case, complete lower jaws and part of the wing.”
Answers in Genesis biologist Nathaniel Jeanson agreed with Wise that the pterosaur probably wasn’t fossilized in a desert.
Begin with the name. We honor America’s 160 million laborers by giving them a day free from labor, then we call their holiday “Labor Day.”
However, the name is unfortunately appropriate for our largest labor group: retail employees. They will have one of their longest workdays today as Americans flood into stores for Labor Day sales.
Labor Day could have led to a four-day weekend, but Congress intervened. The first Labor Day was on a Tuesday in 1882. In 1894, Congress moved the holiday to the first Monday in September. When you go back to work tomorrow, blame them.
God “will neither slumber nor sleep”
The good news is that the Lord doesn’t need a Labor Day. Scripture consistently proclaims the omnipotence of the One who “will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).
We can respond to God’s work in the world in three ways.
We can ignore him. We can separate Sunday from Monday, the “spiritual” from “secular,” religion from the “real world.” This is what millions of people who attended church services yesterday will do tomorrow. They see no overlap between their worship and their work. Of course, they forfeit the guidance and empowering of our omniscient, omnipotent Lord.
We can oppose him. We can actively reject his word and will, choosing to be our own God (Genesis 3:5) and working against his kingdom on earth. Of course, no one, from the devil (Revelation 12:7-9) to the most depraved human (Matthew 8:28-32), can defeat the only King of the universe.
We can work as he works. We can join him as he extends his kingdom on earth, using our influence and resources as his Spirit leads and empowers us. This is the only way to redeem our work for eternity and leave a legacy that matters.
CLEVELAND, OH – JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives two thumbs up to the crowd during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party’s nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
One thing is certain with the presidency of Donald Trump. The good is really good and the bad is really bad. Just consider some of the big news recently. Some of it is wonderful and some of it is terrible. And all of it is related to President Trump.
On August 29, the Huffington Post bemoaned, “Democrats Just Confirmed Lots Of Trump’s Judges So They Could Skip Town. The resistance wilts in August.”
According to the article by Jennifer Bendery and Igor Bobic, “Senate Democrats just gave a huge gift to President Donald Trump: They agreed to expedite votes on 15 of his nominees to lifetime federal court seats because they wanted to go home.”
The implications of this are massive: “It’s a major win for Trump and McConnell, whose No. 1 priority is filling up federal courts with conservative judges ― many of whom are incredibly anti-abortion, anti–LGBTQ rights and anti–voting rights. Trump has gotten 26 circuit court judges confirmed, more than any other president at this point in his term. Another way of putting it: 1 in 7 U.S. circuit court seats is now filled by a judge nominated by Trump.”
Add in the pending nomination of Justice Kavanagh, and “you’ve got a president drastically reshaping the nation’s courts for generations.”
This alone would be a an incredible accomplishment for the president. This alone would merit the votes of many a conservative American. Talk about leaving a positive legacy.
But that was just one piece of big, positive news. (Shall we label it “huge”?)
The president also called out the social media giants, accusing them of unfairness towards conservatives. How many leaders have the gumption to do that? And who better to tackle such a massive issue than the President of the United States, with the help of Congress?
Also this week, Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, publicly questioned “Palestinian claims to a ‘right of return’ to modern Israel, saying she believed that the hot button issue should be taken ‘off the table.'”
This is something that should have been done years ago, since talk about the “right of return” not only hinders the peace process, but it has no legitimacy at all.
If the Church wants to grow, it must celebrate those who take eccentric actions to spread the faith, says Michael Frost in his new book about Church “rule-breaker” movements.
In Keep Christianity Weird: Embracing the Discipline of Being Different, Frost, co-founder of Forge Mission Training Network, calls on pastors to use unconventional methods in their ministry to foster “greater creativity and innovation.”
“Could it be that the church has closed its doors to the misfits and rebels and troublemakers? Does the church make space for and foster the contributions of those who see things differently?” asks Frost in the first chapter of his book.
“… the broader culture increasingly recognizes the contribution of eccentricity to the greater good. But not the church. Just as business and education is fostering greater creativity and innovation, the church is in a phase of rewarding compliance and conservatism and suppressing eccentricity.”
Frost, who’s an expert on international church missions, cites multiple examples of groups within Christianity that exhibit the healthy eccentricity he supports, including the Cistercians, Anabaptists and Pentecostals.
“All the great Christian rule-breakers of history submitted themselves to rigorous instruction and discipline as part of their journey into eccentricity,” wrote Frost.
Below is an edited transcript of The Christian Post’s interview with Frost about his book, Keep Christianity Weird.
CP: You say in Chapter 1 that the Church suppresses eccentric creativity. In what specific ways do you believe institutional churches do this?
Frost: All institutions do this, not just the church. In an attempt to maintain cohesion, they require a level of conformity by their members. To maintain this, they marginalize anyone who questions the status quo. It takes a concerted effort by an institution to encourage innovation and creativity.
Churches can then add a “spiritualized” dimension to it, by labeling these eccentrics as disloyal or claiming they are fostering disunity. In some churches, to even question the leadership is tantamount to attacking God’s anointed ones.
I think we need leaders who can tell the difference between fractious troublemakers and those who are clearly discerning the Spirit of God, calling the church to rediscover its vision as a genuinely alternative society.
CP: Do you believe there are churches in the modern day that do not suppress eccentric behavior or creativity? If so, which ones? Does it vary from denomination to denomination?
Frost: Some church planting movements value creativity and innovation. Not the franchise model in the U.S., but the rapid multiplication movements we see in Africa and Asia. That being said, I don’t think you could say any one denomination suppresses eccentricity less than the others. It varies from church to church, not denomination to denomination.
I mention that several “eccentric” movements have occurred in the church down through history — the Celts, the Cistercians, the Anabaptists and the Pentecostals. They are quite different in terms of ecclesiology and, in some ways, theology. But what they had in common was a radical resolve to obey God even if that meant sticking out like a sore thumb.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hold their hearing on President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday.
Many liberals fear that, if confirmed, Kavanaugh — nominated by Trump in July to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy — will push the Supreme Court rightward.
Conservatives have expressed more mixed opinions on Kavanaugh, with some hailing him as an excellent choice while others hold reservations about his actual ideological reliability.
Here are four things to look out for as Kavanaugh goes before the Senate. They include questions on abortion, religious liberty, swing votes, and complaints over the speed of the process.
Complaints Over Process
When Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa announced on Aug. 10 that the committee hearing on Kavanaugh would be on Sept. 4, many Democrats objected over what they viewed as a rushed process.
Democrats sent several requests to the National Archives to view the full records of Kavanaugh’s five years in the Bush administration, arguing that they do not have sufficient information on the nominee.
“We need these documents to do our job,” stated Committee member Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, as quoted by Roll Call in August. “We will be ready to go to court. I still have hope that they will in fact comply.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York claimed that Republicans were trying “to make this the least transparent, most secretive Supreme Court nomination in history.”
“They seem to be more frightened of this nominee’s record and history than any we’ve ever considered,” stated Schumer, as quoted by Politico.
For his part, Grassley has stated that the committee already has nearly a quarter of a million documents about Kavanaugh’s work in the Bush administration, and have both sufficient time and resources to prepare for the Sept. 4 hearing.
“Most are already publicly available, and we’re working to make the vast majority of them publicly available as quickly as possible,” stated Grassley, according to Roll Call. “We have plenty of time to review all these materials before the hearing.”
Abortion
A major point of contention over the Kavanaugh nomination is the circuit court judge’s position on abortion and whether or not he will be key to the overturning of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat it: with this nomination, the constitutional right to access legal abortion in this country is on the line,” stated Dawn Laguens, executive vice president for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, earlier this year.
“The balance of the Supreme Court is at stake — we cannot allow it to be tilted against the constitutional right to access abortion. Generations of women, especially women of color, will be affected.”
Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser stated in July that Kavanaugh “is an experienced, principled jurist with a strong record of protecting life and constitutional rights.”
“President Trump has made another outstanding choice in nominating Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, keeping his promise to nominate only originalist judges to the court,” said Dannenfelser.
As the issue of abortion has been a major point of past hearings on Supreme Court nominees, questions on how Kavanaugh would rule on an abortion case will likely turn up.
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine held a one-on-one meeting with Kavanaugh in August, telling reporters that the nominee had told her that he believed Roe v. Wade was “settled law.”
“We talked about whether he considered Roe to be settled law. He said that he agreed with what [Chief Justice John Roberts] said at his nomination hearing, in which he said that it was settled law,” said Collins.
The previously unpublished version of the iconic photograph.
It’s a holiday to celebrate work. Labor Day had its start in 1869. The Knights of Labor came up with the idea. They were the most important labor organization of their day. They hailed the working man, rejected socialism and anarchism. Later, a group that was disaffected by the Knights formed the American Federation of Labor. In 1894, they designated the first Monday in September as the day set aside annually to honor the nation’s labor force. That very same year, President Grover Cleveland signed legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday.
From our nation’s earliest beginnings, Americans have been dedicated to a strong work ethic. It’s because of the untold millions that burned the candle at both ends, went the extra mile, pulled their weight and buckled down that America has achieved an unequaled prosperity. If we fail to remember this, if we neglect to honor work and the worker, then we could lose everything we’ve gained.
Labor Day also gives Christians an opportunity to visit what the Scriptures teach about work. There are words of admonishment for the employer and the employee.
On Labor Day, it’s not uncommon to hear the passage read, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thess. 3:10, KJV). But the Bible also has a word about the way employers should treat their workers with dignity.
Since 2012, there have been many protests and strikes by workers nationwide calling for a $15 minimum wage hike. The cry of these folks in difficult and impoverished circumstances is understandable. However, government-mandated minimum wage hikes saddle employers with tough choices. The wage hike often forces them to cut jobs and scale back hours to stay in business. Economic research consistently shows this hurts the poorest of the poor the most because it’s the low-skilled employees that are most likely to lose their jobs.
Rather than the government’s interference in private enterprise, the better solution is for employers to recognize that they are accountable to God for the treatment of their employees. Much government intrusion could be avoided if we would govern ourselves by God’s commands. Government has a tendency to get bigger and rule over us, when we fail to allow God to rule us.
James Madison stated the principle in this way, “We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
Employers should see themselves in something of a pastoral role. In his Providence, God has blessed the employer with people to help him in his work. Therefore, as the Lord blesses the employer to profit, he should be sensitive to his workers’ needs. He should be fair with them. For without them, his prosperity would have never occurred.
A covetous and greedy spirit sets the employer at variance with God himself. The apostle James, in his epistle, warned certain wealthy employers of God’s judgment, saying, “Behold, the wages of your laborers, who have harvested your fields, wrongfully kept back by you, cry, and the cries of those that have reaped are entered into the ears of [the] Lord of Sabaoth” (Ja. 5:4 DBY).
When employees are unjustly treated or exploited, God sees and hears their sorrows. God promises to judge those that defraud them. Furthermore, God knows as no one does what the employer might reasonably do to ease their suffering.
Assistant pastors Nell Collier and her husband, Ron, and Amos Stevenson of Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church participated in a Sunday worship service. (Credit: Jerry Holt, Star Tribune(
The Rev. Billy Russell has been pitching the merits of Minneapolis to fellow National Baptist Convention members across the nation for two years, and this week about 15,000 faithful are taking him up on his offer to visit the Twin Cities for the denomination’s annual gathering.
It’s an unconventional location for the group. The National Baptist Convention USA is the nation’s largest, predominantly African-American religious denomination. The vast majority of its 7.5 million members are from the South, where the historic denomination was started more than a century ago.
For its Minnesota leaders, hosting the event is a way to deepen connections and share ideas with their national colleagues, as well as to showcase a state that isn’t well-known by members of the faith.
“I’ve been traveling around the country to promote this, and the rumors I had to dispel!” quipped Russell, president of the Minnesota State Baptist Convention — the word “convention” meaning their denomination.
“People ask, ‘Should I bring a coat? Are there many black people there?’ ” he said. “I thought this would be a great experience for Minneapolis to have that many African-Americans coming to the city and making a difference. And it would be good for the church.”
It’s just the second time that the National Baptist Convention, started in 1880, has held its annual convention in Minnesota. With 30 churches serving about 10,000 members, and a relatively small black population in general, Minnesota has among the fewest adherents to the faith.
“We are delighted to be coming to Minneapolis,” said the Rev. Jerry Young, president of the National Baptist Convention, crediting Russell with persuading them to visit. “Our main thrust while in the city is to help equip our churches to become much more effective in light of today’s culture, to extend the life of Christ, and to express His love.”
Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. delivers the Eulogy for Aretha Franklin at the funeral service for the late singer at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, Michigan on August 31, 2018. (Mike Segar / Reuters)
Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. told The Associated Press in a phone interview Sunday he felt his sermon was appropriate at Franklin’s funeral Friday in Detroit. He felt his timing was right, especially after other speakers spoke on the civil rights movement and President Donald Trump.
“I was trying to show that the movement now is moving and should move in a different direction,” he said. “… What we need to do is create respect among ourselves. Aretha is the person with that song ‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T’ that is laid out for us and what we need to be as a race within ourselves. We need to show each other that. We need to show each other respect. That was the reason why I did it.”
Williams, who is the pastor of Salem Bible Church in Atlanta, said his words about black women being incapable of raising sons alone were taken out of context. He described as “abortion after birth” the idea of children being raised without a “provider” father and a mother as the “nurturer.”
Many thought Williams took a shot at Franklin, who was a single mother of four boys. But the pastor said a household can become stronger with two parents rather than one.
“Here’s the root of what I’ve been talking about: In order to change America, we must change black America’s culture,” he said. “We must do it through parenting. In order for the parenting to go forth, it has to be done in the home. The home.”
Williams also received backlash for his thoughts about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Some called Williams’ eulogy a “disaster” as his speech caused an uproar on social media and in the funeral crowd, including Stevie Wonder who yelled out “Black Lives Matter” after the pastor said “No, black lives do not matter” during his sermon.
“I think Stevie Wonder did not understand what I said,” Williams said. “I said blacks do not matter, because black lives cannot matter, will not matter, should not matter, must not matter until black people begin to respect their own lives. Then and only then will black lives matter. That’s what I said, and again, and again, and again. We need to have respect for each other. Once we start doing that, then we can begin to change.”
Some questioned why he was chosen to honor Franklin. The pastor, who eulogized Franklin’s father, minister and civil rights activist C.L. Franklin, 34 years ago, said he was appointed by the family to handle the eulogy at her funeral. The pastor said the last time he spoke with Aretha Franklin was a few months ago.
Williams was blasted on social media for misogyny, bigotry and the perpetuation of false science on race. He blamed integration and the civil rights movement for ripping the heart out of black micro-economies that once relied on black-owned small businesses such as grocery stores, hotels and banks.
Williams said he hasn’t heard “one way or another” from the Franklin family, but knows about the social media criticism of him.
“I’m sure much of the negativity is due to the fact that they don’t understand what I’m talking about,” he said. “Anybody who thinks black America is all right as we are now is crazy. We’re not all right. It’s a lot of change that needs to occur. This change must come from within us. Nobody can give us things to eliminate where we are. We have to change from within ourselves. It is ludicrous for the church not to be involved. The church is the only viable institution we have in the African-American community. We must step up and turn our race around.”
Even though Williams spoke for nearly 50 minutes of the eight-hour funeral, the pastor said he didn’t have enough time to delve deep into his sermon. He said he will expound more on his sermon and how Franklin was originally named the “Queen of Soul” for the next two Sundays at his church.
“I think if she’s immortalized, she should be immortalized,” he said. “If we can turn black America around, it would be the greatest and best immortalization we could properly give to her for what she did for black America and the world when she lived.”
The moment was the antithesis of one of Aretha Franklin’s most popular hits. As the world stopped to celebrate the homegoing of The Queen of Soul on Friday—the traditional black church gathering to celebrate Franklin’s transition from earthside to the Lord—the dark cloud of patriarchy and misogyny threatened to overshadow the service when a bishop failed to R-E-S-P-E-C-T pop star Ariana Grande, inappropriately touching her breast area for the world to see.
As part of the celebration, Grande sang Franklin’s hit, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” At the conclusion of her performance, Bishop Charles H. Ellis III called Grande to the pulpit, wrapped his arms around her (his fingers touching her breast) and made the racist remark that he’d thought “Ariana Grande” was a meal at Taco Bell. Some laughed and many cringed. But it was Bishop Ellis’ inappropriate touch that triggered most women, especially those who grew up in the church. It was a moment that, even a decade after Tarana Burke created #MeToo and its meteoric digital rise last year following the Harvey Weinstein accusations, proves that it is past time to publicly reckon with the mistreatment of girls and women in holy spaces.
Many church girls like me knew that moment. We’ve experienced it from pastors, deacons and older men who, under the guise of complimenting, have inappropriately commented on how nice we looked on Sundays. Later, how well we were growing into womanhood. Our girlhood, in church and on the street, cut short under the surveilling eyes of men. We made the same face as Grande (the embarrassed drop of the head, that uncomfortable chuckle) as we tried to maneuver out of unwelcomed embraces that lasted too long and lingering touches we never requested. And the shame was on us to carry. This behavior—almost always accepted or dismissed, even enabled—that made us coil our changing bodies inward, feeling the stinging humiliation of being fondled, the betrayal that our bodies were budding breasts and curves for the consumption of men.
Following Bishop Ellis’ apology and in response to those who came to his defense, many remembered when their complaints were dismissed with “that’s just how he is” and “he is just being friendly.” Others remembered why they never told anyone.
A person attends the MLK50 Conference, hosted by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and The Gospel Coalition in Memphis, Tennessee, in April 2018. (PHOTO: ERLC)
The term “social justice” has become quite a buzz word in evangelical circles in recent years. Social matters like immigration, racial reconciliation, and sexuality are taking center stage in conferences and online discussions, with loud voices expressing strong opinions.
Other voices are beginning to object to the direction of such discussions, expressing concerns over the impact of secular leftist political and social thought upon some of these evangelical movements. John MacArthur and others are starting to weigh in, and all signs indicate that these debates aren’t going to calm down any time soon.
As I’ve followed with interest these controversies over the past few years, I’ve come to see that although there is a lot of discussion about these things, most of it has involved throwing terms and philosophies around with little clarity, and there are very few places to go that carefully explain the nature of concerns with where these recent evangelical “social justice” movements appear to be headed.
I count myself among those with concerns about much of what is being said by these “social justice” evangelicals, and I would like to simply lay out the nature of my concerns. I do not mean to speak for all who are concerned, but I think what I write here summarizes many of the problems with these recent developments within some quarters of evangelicalism. This essay is meant to inform, not necessarily fully explain or defend.
A little background
First, where are these discussions happening?
I think two cultural matters sparked recent tensions within evangelicalism over social issues, and they were occurring around the same time: immigration policy (especially with Islamic refugees attempting to enter the US) and prominent shootings of African Americans (including Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown). Sexuality entered the mix with claims that some evangelicals were starting to soften their views concerning homosexuality. These funneled into the 2016 Presidential election, with Donald Trump’s personal behavior and rhetoric adding fuel to an already growing fire.
Several prominent evangelicals raised strong opinions about immigration, refugees, shootings, and Trump, creating tension among evangelicals over political and social matters that appears to be unprecedented.
Within the last year, some of these evangelicals have organized conferences that further sparked debate. Conferences like MLK50 (sponsored by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC along with the Gospel Coalition), Together for the Gospel (with several message explicitly addressing social justice and racial reconciliation) and Revoice (a conference “supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality”) have brought the tension to maximum combustibility.
Don’t we support social justice?
So why are some of us concerned about these recent conferences and discussions? Are we against justice? Are we in favor of racism?
Hardly. It is simply irresponsible and dishonest to claim, as I have seen many times on social media, that those who are concerned about recent evangelical “social justice” movements are in favor of injustice or racism. Such a claim is an unfortunate straw man.
What we are concerned about is how such discussions are being framed, how terms are being redefined, and the influence of secular leftist ideology on such discussions.
Confusing race, ethnicity, and culture
The first concern I have with recent social justice movements is that many evangelicals have seemingly adopted very secular (i.e., not biblical) categories of race, ethnicity, and culture. For one thing, according to Scripture, there is only one race—the human race (Acts 17:26). The whole notion of racial distinctions based on genetic and physical distinctiveness comes from Darwinian evolutionary theories and is simply unbiblical (not to mention scientifically disproven).
Scripture does have the category of ethnicity, which biblically refers to various people groups unified by geography, politics, heritage, and culture (e.g. Rev. 7:9). But the problem is that many evangelicals have also adopted the common practice of equating ethnicity and culture, which is also invalid biblically. Ethnicity refers to a group of people united and living together, while culture refers to the common behaviors of a group of people. The two categories are not equivalent. All people of every ethnicity are equally good and made in God’s image, while cultures (understood as systems of behavior) are produced by beliefs, values, and worldviews, and thus may be better or worse when compared to the values, beliefs and patterns of behavior advocated in Scripture (1 Peter 1:13-19).
Secular racists (like white supremacists) and leftists (like multiculturalists) perpetuate these confusions over race, ethnicity, and culture. The former assumes that one group is genetically superior to another. The latter assumes that all ways of life are equally good and valid. Neither is biblical.
This also broadens considerably what should be accurately defined as racism. With these secular definitions, any criticism of one set of behaviors as wrong or inferior to another is considered racist.
It would do evangelicals well to re-evaluate their definitions of these categories based on how Scripture discusses them. The rest of the problems I am going to elucidate are, I believe, symptoms of this fundamental problem, which is why I devoted a chapter to the subject in By the Waters of Babylon and have written several articles and blog posts on the issue, including the following:
Thaddeus Matthews is pastor of Naked Truth Liberation and Empowerment Ministries in Memphis, Tenn. (PHOTO: FACEBOOK)
A controversial Memphis pastor who has drawn millions of views with his messages online by punctuating them with profane words, says he really doesn’t “give a damn” what traditional Christians think of his practice.
“I find no reason to try to justify that. I’m a fisher of men. I go to people on their level. And you have to get past the cussing to get the message. The cussing has drawn the attention of millions around the country. Apparently, it’s drawn yours because you’re calling me,” Pastor Thaddeus Matthews, who leads the Naked Truth Liberation and Empowerment Ministries in Memphis, Tennessee, told The Christian Post Thursday.
While some might consider his use of expletives in his messages swearing, Matthews doesn’t believe the way he uses expletives in his messages falls into that category.
“There is a difference in ‘cussing’ and ‘cursing’ as people say. The words that we use today like motherf—–r, s–t, damn, were not words that were used in biblical times.
“So I don’t have an issue with the cussing. And the people that listen to me don’t have an issue with the cussing, and I’m not trying to justify it to the traditional churchgoer,” the preacher explained.
Matthews, who calls himself “the cussing pastor,” launched his ministry about three years ago, building on a longtime career as a controversial broadcaster in Memphis.
“I’m a controversial figure in Memphis and I’ve been in broadcast for nearly 40 years. So even prior to the ministry starting, we’re going into our third year now, I’ve been a controversial person,” he said, fully embracing his public image.
Among his most viral messages so far is a video in which he tells women to stop having sex with men who refuse to work. That video has been viewed more than a million times. The 61-year-old, who is unmarried, also caused a stir earlier this year when he posted a photo of himself on Instagram resting his head on the covered chest of a woman he described as a fan.
Come October, Matthews plans to take his message to the streets in what he calls “The Bulls–t From the Pulpit Tour.”
He said he is on a mission to push back against the “bulls–t” festering in popular church culture that is causing many people to turn away from God.
“There’s so much bulls–t that’s going on in the church in the traditional mindset. And the reason that people are leaving a view of believing in God is because they are believing in preachers, they are believing in churches, and preachers have set themselves up on pedestals and they are forgetting about the people. They’re not giving people a message of hope,” Matthews said.
“We’re spending too much time talking about tithes and offerings but not talking about the needs of people in society. Why are people depressed? How do you get over depression? How do you have an abundant life?” he continued.
“I’m not talking about a prosperity ministry. If we’re preaching in a church that God will bring bread for you when you’re hungry and all the damn folk in the church is hungry, the message is not going forth if only the pastor looks wealthy and only the pastor is looking good and driving good. What is the message of hope that we’re gonna give the people?” Matthews asked.
A fiery, old-school pastor who is under fire for saying black America is losing “its soul” at Aretha Franklin’s funeral stands firm by his words with the hope that critics can understand his perspective.
The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. told the Associated Press in a phone interview Sunday he felt his sermon was appropriate at Franklin’s funeral Friday in Detroit. He felt his timing was right, especially after other speakers spoke on the civil rights movement and President Donald Trump.
“I was trying to show that the movement now is moving and should move in a different direction,” he said. “… What we need to do is create respect among ourselves. Aretha is the person with that song ‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T’ that is laid out for us and what we need to be as a race within ourselves. We need to show each other that. We need to show each other respect. That was the reason why I did it.”
Williams, who is the pastor of Salem Bible Church in Atlanta, said his words about black women being incapable of raising sons alone were taken out of context. He described as “abortion after birth” the idea of children being raised without a “provider” father and a mother as the “nurturer.”
Many thought Williams took a shot at Franklin, who was a single mother of four boys. But the pastor said a household can become stronger with two parents rather than one.
“Here’s the root of what I’ve been talking about: In order to change America, we must change black America’s culture,” he said. “We must do it through parenting. In order for the parenting to go forth, it has to be done in the home. The home.”
Williams also received backlash for his thoughts about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Some called Williams’ eulogy a “disaster” as his speech caused an uproar on social media and in the funeral crowd, including Stevie Wonder, who yelled out “Black Lives Matter” after the pastor said, “No, black lives do not matter” during his sermon.
“I think Stevie Wonder did not understand what I said,” Williams said. “I said blacks do not matter, because black lives cannot matter, will not matter, should not matter, must not matter until black people begin to respect their own lives. Then and only then will black lives matter. That’s what I said, and again, and again, and again. We need to have respect for each other. Once we start doing that, then we can begin to change.”
Some questioned why he was chosen to honor Franklin. The pastor, who eulogized Franklin’s father, minister and civil rights activist C.L. Franklin, 34 years ago, said he was appointed by the family to handle the eulogy at her funeral. The pastor said the last time he spoke with Aretha Franklin was a few months ago.
Williams was blasted on social media for misogyny, bigotry and the perpetuation of false science on race. He blamed integration and the civil rights movement for ripping the heart out of black micro-economies that once relied on black-owned small businesses such as grocery stores, hotels and banks.
Williams said he hasn’t heard “one way or another” from the Franklin family, but knows about the social media criticism of him.
“I’m sure much of the negativity is due to the fact that they don’t understand what I’m talking about,” he said. “Anybody who thinks black America is all right as we are now is crazy. We’re not all right. It’s a lot of change that needs to occur. This change must come from within us. Nobody can give us things to eliminate where we are. We have to change from within ourselves. It is ludicrous for the church not to be involved. The church is the only viable institution we have in the African-American community. We must step up and turn our race around.”
Even though Williams spoke for nearly 50 minutes of the eight-hour funeral, the pastor said he didn’t have enough time to delve deep into his sermon. He said he will expound more on his sermon and how Franklin was originally named the “Queen of Soul” for the next two Sundays at his church.
“I think if she’s immortalized, she should be immortalized,” he said. “If we can turn black America around, it would be the greatest and best immortalization we could properly give to her for what she did for black America and the world when she lived.”
The late Pastor Andrew Stoecklein and his three sons. (PHOTO: INSTAGRAM)
A week after his suicide, the three sons of Pastor Andrew Stoecklein of Inland Hills Church in Chino, California, have finally been told he died and his oldest is “incredibly heartbroken.”
Stoecklein’s widow, Kayla, revealed on Instagram how it “crushed” her to tell her three boys that their father wouldn’t be coming home again. Her oldest son, Smith, who recently started pre-k, she said, asked her heartbreaking questions like, “Why didn’t he say goodbye?”
“Telling the boys yesterday was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. It crushed me. Our oldest son Smith had the most difficult time processing everything. He is such a smart boy and is incredibly heartbroken,” she wrote.
“The types of questions he asked really shocked me. ‘Are you and daddy still married?’ ‘Did the doctors know daddy was going to die?’ ‘Why didn’t he say goodbye?’ ‘What is my life going to be like without daddy?’
“These are questions a 5 year old shouldn’t be asking. These are questions a 29 year old mommy shouldn’t be answering. I hate that I can’t protect them from their grief. I hate that the only way to move forward is to walk through it. There is so much unknown for all of us,” the young widow explained.
Despite not knowing what the future held for her young family, Kayla Stoecklein expressed faith that God will sustain her family.
“The unknown is daunting. This isn’t the life I dreamed about, but I know God is with me. This isn’t the life I prayed for, but I know God will provide. This isn’t fair, this isn’t right, this doesn’t feel real, but I know God is greater, stronger, and bigger. God is for me, with me, and beside me. He is wrapping his loving arms around me and my boys and reminding us even now that He has got this too. #godsgotthis,” she ended in the post.
Tamrin Olden, crime prevention supervisor with the City of Chino Police Department, told The Christian Post that at about 11:08 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 24, they received a call from Inland Hills Church about an attempted suicide. When they arrived, they identified Pastor Stoecklein as the victim who would die hours later at a local hospital.
Pastor Stoecklein had been battling mental and physical health issues at the time of his death.
In his first message at the church on his return from a four-month-long sabbatical on Aug. 12, Stoecklein who turned 30 in May, revealed that even though his church was doing well financially and they were attracting record-setting attendance, he had been falling apart for several months.
Vice President Mike Pence turned to Scripture recently in responding to a new book that paints him as “the most successful Christian supremacist in American history.”
“The Bible says, ‘count it all joy’ when you endure trials of many kinds,” Pence told CBN News as he referenced James 1:2-3 to respond to what he sees as a personal attack. “Anytime I’m criticized for my belief in Jesus Christ I just breathe a prayer of praise.”
In “The Shadow President: The Truth About Mike Pence,” which was published last week, authors Michael D’Antonio and Peter Eisner argue that Pence, “the most successful Christian supremacist in American history” is already functioning as a “kind of replacement president” and is preparing to “fashion a nation more pleasing to his god and corporate sponsors,” USA Today reported.
Pence, the authors argue, has had a lifelong ambition of becoming president and has abandoned his Christian values in pursuit of his dream.
“Although Pence presents himself as a deeply moral man,” the authors write according to The Washington Post, “his record indicates both a ruthlessness and a comfort with aggression that belie this pose.”
It is his ambition, the authors say, that has allowed him to align himself with President Donald Trump, “a man whose immorality in the form of lying, cheating, and deceiving in every aspect of his life, from his marriage to his businesses, had made him a living exemplar of everything that Christianity and conservatism abhorred.”
Pence, who has been repeatedly mocked in mainstream media for his faith, says he has no intention of backing down for standing for what he believes.
Eight people were shot during a dice game at an apartment complex in San Bernardino, California, late Sunday, police said.
A 17-year-old is in grave condition, while two other victims are in extremely critical condition, said San Bernardino Police Capt. Richard Lawhead. The remaining five victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Police initially said 10 people had been shot, all of them apparently adults, but Lawhead revised the tally early Monday to eight, including at least one minor.
Though there is a lot of gang activity in the area, Lawhead could not say for certain if that was a factor in the shooting but also wouldn’t rule it out.
The shooting took place in a common area of the complex, he said.
There is no suspect in custody, he said.
Officers got a call reporting shots fired at the complex, located on the east side of the city, Sunday at 10:45 p.m. (1:45 a.m. ET Monday).
“We believe that there was an exchange of gunfire,” he told reporters at the scene.
Handguns and rifles appear to have been involved in the shooting, Lawhead said, but no weapons have been recovered. Determining specifically what led to the violence has been difficult because victims and witnesses refuse to cooperate with police, he said.
“I can tell you multiple shots were fired, I don’t want to guess how many,” he said. “We do have some people that have been transported to the station for investigative purposes so we hope that they will yield information for us.”
Some listeners are calling the first message in the series, which Dr. Smith preached during services on Sunday, September 2nd, only a day after Aretha Franklin’s funeral was held, ‘the eulogy that the Queen of Soul deserved’ as opposed to the highly controversial eulogy delivered by Pastor Jasper Williams Jr. ‘Even if the wind is against our backs, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’ Watch below:
