I just read the following article on the web this fine Easter morning, and was wondering what thoughts everyone might have on it.

I found particularly interesting former President Reagan's suspicion — apparently gleaned from their various closed-door tête à têtes — that Mr. Gorbachev could have actually been a Christian all along during those tension-filled days in the 80s, when I for one followed very closely the unfolding (almost nuclear) showdown between the US and the USSR.

I realize that the media labels all sorts of people as "Christians," and while I had never heard these rumors about Gorby before, still — if true — who wudda thought?

Here are the main points:   

EX-SOVIET LEADER GORBACHEV ADMITS HE IS CHRISTIAN

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last communist leader of the Soviet Union, admitted publicly for the first time on Wednesday that he is a Christian. 

Rumors had circulated for decades that Gorbachev was a “closet Christian,” but it was only confirmed yesterday when he made a surprise visit with his daughter Irina to pray at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy. The former communist leader spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb. 

Until now, Gorbachev had only expressed pantheistic views such as “nature is my god,” according to the U.K. newspaper. 

Gorbachev, 77, was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church and his parents are Christians. Moreover, the parents of his wife, Raisa, were devout Christians who died during World War II for having religious icons in their home. 

Many had suspected that Gorbachev was forced to hide his faith because of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)’s official stance as an atheist state. 

Former President Ronald Reagan had allegedly told close aides that he suspected that his opponent during the Cold War was a “closet believer,” according to the Telegraph. 

Besides praying at the tomb, Gorbachev during his Assisi visit also toured the Basilica of St. Francis and asked the monks there for theological books to help him understand the life of St. Francis. 

“He seemed a man deeply inspired by charity, and told me that he was involved in a project to help children with cancer,” reflected (Father Miroslavo) Anuskevic. 

 -joebib

It's March Madness time, and I am spending all my free moments in front of the TV. So I won't be posting for awhile.

Please feel free to use this post as an open thread, or just to yell at joebib. (hahaha… just kidding!)

In a blog on the Huffington Post, Frank Schaeffer wonders why it is offensive for a black pastor to criticize America, but it is acceptable when a white pastor does it. Frank shares quotes from his own father, Francis Schaeffer, where his own father justifies the overthrow of the U.S. government. 

Frank concludes:

The hypocrisy of the right denouncing Obama, because of his minister's words, is staggering. They are the same people who argue for the right to "bear arms" as "insurance" to limit government power. They are the same people that in the early 1980s roared and cheered when I called down damnation on America as "fallen away from God" at their national meetings where I was keynote speaker, including the annual meeting of the ultraconservative Southern Baptist convention, and the religious broadcasters that I addressed.

Christians love to lament the fall of America, and they speak glowingly of the 1950's: back when it was okay to pray in school, keep homosexuals in the closet and treat blacks as second class citizens. To many fundamental Christians, our founders were Godly Christian men who knew that the Bible belonged in Government and blacks belonged in the field picking cotton.

For once, I'd like to hear a white Christian Evangelical praise America for how much we have improved in our treatment of minorities. And I'd love to hear a white Evangelical preacher ask forgiveness for how America has treated it's black people. But that won't happen, because to white Evangelicals, slavery was just an unfortunate incident but "gays getting married" is the worst abomination known to man.

America isn't perfect. And it's acceptable to say this. But we're still a lot better country than we were fifty years ago. I'm proud of how this country has developed. And when we vote in Barack Hussein Obama as our next President, it will be another step in showing the world, that we are the greatest country in the world.

I was interested in this article from yesterday's The Christian Post, and I must say I agree with the majority of it. The "foolishness of the Cross" refers to Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 regarding what our emphasis is to be in presenting the Good News of Jesus to the world.

I can't remember the last time I was in an IC that didn't preach a seeker-friendly, purpose-driven, watered-down, I'm-OK-You're-OK "gospel." 

Conversely, neither can I recall the last time I heard a sermon on the Cross, on Hell, or on the sinfulness and depravity of man, holy living, coming Judgment, man's need to repent, or even self-sacrifice — unless it was sacrifice in regard to the giving of money to that particular IC. 

Don't get me wrong…I'm not saying every sermon has to be on the aspect of all this gloomy stuff, as my flesh doesn't enjoy it any more than the next person does.  I, too, prefer to hear about all the good stuff, the blessings, benefits and rewards of serving Jesus.

But as I have sat week after week in various LCs over the years, I've noticed their slow and subtle movement toward preaching only that which offends no one, but instead strokes the hearers…

³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; 

⁴ and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NASB)

I am reminded that the one Person who spoke more on accountability, punishment, and Hell than anyone else in the Scriptures was none other than the lowly, love-filled Jesus. In fact, according to scholars who pay attention to these things, preaching on Hell was Jesus' #1 favorite subject.

Apparently to Him, warning others of impending judgment constituted the highest manifestation of love for mankind.

Here are the high points of the article:

Many Christians will arrive at Easter this year celebrating only half of what the holiest day in the Christian calendar signifies. "

Easter Sunday is not only a most appropriate occasion for celebration, but it also serves as a yearly sobering reminder of a topic that many people work hard to avoid – the harsh reality of death," said C.J. Mahaney, president of Sovereign Grace Ministries. 

Mahaney was speaking to hundreds in Orlando, Fla., this past weekend at Ligonier Ministries' annual national conference, which concluded Saturday. 

Death is a topic most people like to distance themselves from, Mahaney told the crowd on Friday, including during the Easter celebration. On Easter Sunday, when churches expect fuller pews and higher attendance numbers than usual, people expect to hear messages that are cheerful in tone. 

But that's not what Easter is only about. 

"If we don't understand the harsh reality or theological significance of death, we will never truly celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ," Mahaney stressed. 

Just ahead of the start of Holy Week, which marks the last week of the earthly life of Jesus and is considered the most important week of the year for believers, speakers at the Orlando conference spent three days expounding on Scripture passages that spoke of the cross and resurrection of Jesus. 

Bluntly stated, the cross is bloody, it's an offensive message and it's a shameful death in the ears of the world, said Steven J. Lawson, senior pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., during the Ligonier conference. 

The word of the cross is foolishness. In other words, it's nonsense, pointless, idiotic, and mindless. "That is what the cross is to the natural man," Lawson noted. 

Even though foolishness to many, a straightforward delivery of the message of the cross and the crucifixion of Jesus is power to those being saved, and it is desperately needed in the church today, he added. 

"It is a distasteful announcement that the herald brings and yet, he is responsible to God to discharge his duty to bring the entirety of the message," Lawson said, noting that heralds are marked by the straightforward delivery of the message regardless of what the results may be. 

"We need heralds. We need to come back to the foolishness of preaching," he emphasized to hundreds as he denounced modern trends of replacing theology with theatrics and expository preaching with entertainment. 

Ligonier Ministries president and founder R.C. Sproul believes many churches are following modern trends and that the church has failed to preach the biblical Gospel. 

"Instead of preaching about mankind's depravity and the truth that citizenship in the kingdom of God comes only by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, we hear about a powerless and insipid Creator and the cheap grace He lavishes upon all," he said in an introduction statement for this year's conference, which was aptly themed "Evangelism According to Jesus." 

And the result of failing to preach the biblical Gospel is evangelism that introduces people to the wrong Jesus, Sproul noted. 

I love Sproul, and "the wrong Jesus" he refers to is doubtless the man-made, Santa Claus "Jesus" of the WOF/Prosperity Movement that wants to give you any- and everything your covetous little heart desires, from a nice big house to expensive, fancy cars in the driveway, and designer sunglasses and clothes, all in exchange for — and dependant upon — you giving all your money to the Senior Pastor's latest monument to his pride, otherwise known as the "building program."

Which is not unlike, it seems to me, the pyramids in Egypt, constructed for the sole purpose of memorializing the Pharaoh-kings who had them built on the backs of the over-burdened people. 

Gone are the sermons of yesteryear Pastor Lawson mentions which actually used to contain biblical theology and expository preaching from the Word, as we see exemplified in the Book of Acts.

I really wonder how many Local Churches will preach a message this Sunday that actually resembles anything Jesus and the Apostles would recognize as glorifying the Cross and His Resurrection? Oddly, one would probably have to go to one of the much vilified, mainline, "high churches" to hear such a sermon.

-joe   

Below are two letters I received over the weekend from readers of the blog.

The first is from a reader who opposes the blog and wishes we would stop:

i just recieved this right now. i mean, i don't mean to sound like i'm hating or anything-because i'm not, but my youth was entirely saved because of his preachings at Youth For the Nations, and i truly believe that us as humans don't have the right to judge or criticize God's servants-only he alone can do that. some ppl from my church already thought that it was okay to criticize my pastor like that, and in result, they ended up leaving the church, causing half of the church to disappear. and i already prophecied over that over millions of times, and no one believed me-until then. now, it's like "what do we do? has God left us?" and it was all because one person in the church decided that they were better than he was, in almost every way. of course, God didn't leave us, but when you talk about people like that-especially God's servants-in public media or just in public period-it could really ruin people lives-the ones that were saved by his sermons. i just think that all of you should think twice before criticizing a man of God publicly

As you can tell from this email, the Lord has apparently forgotten how to use proper grammer and punctuation when sending out His message.

Here is a letter from a fan of the blog:

Justin,
Can't tell you enough how I appreciate your comments and general content on the City Business Church Website.  I recently discovered this treasure a couple of weeks ago and have been entertained, delighted, and enlightened. 
 
My family attended Bible Temple back in the early seventies.  Things happened, and my Mother returned (freshly divorced, and of course that brought on so many judgements and stupidities) with all of us teens in tow back to the Church in the latter half of the seventies.  I saw the Church slowly embrace what is now the "prosperity" doctrine. 
 
I just wanted to say that what you are doing is absolutely wonderful; your writing is succinct, clear, witty without rancor.  It's refreshing to read material from a truly honest and THINKING Christian, honest with himself, and courageous enough to write truth.
 
Thank you,

I tell you right now, when I run for President of the Beer Club, my slogan is going to be "Justin Morton: Witty without Rancor".

And you tell me, which email did you find most persuasive? The one from the Lord or the one written from the heart.

(I suppose I should add, I do believe that God speaks to people. But I also think that most people who think they are hearing from God are really just hearing their own selfish thoughts.)

As you may have noticed, the country is experiencing a little bit of financial Armageddon right now.

I would love to write about my theories on what is happening to the U.S. economy, but honestly, I do not really know what I am talking about.

So let me refer you to Calculated Risk; the best Financial Blog out there. I've been reading the blog for a couple of years now, and this guy has accurately predicted most of the country's current financial turmoil. From the drop in Housing to the failure of the credit markets, this guy saw it coming. 

And if anything good comes out of this economic downturn, I hope it is that the curtain is pulled back on the Prosperity Gospel to revel it as the hokey doctrine it is.

Last week Negrodamus sent me this email:

I couldn't articulate it well enough, but I think this is the kind of Black Person CBC wants apart their church:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/5773

Uh, so according to the New York City Church website, in April,   Dr. Frank Damazio will be a guest speaker. 

As you can imagine, this gives me pause.  I'm not so surprised at the speaking in New York, but at the "doctor" in front of Frank's name.

I didn't know you could get a Doctorate in tithing.

I'm actually genuinely curious to know where he got his degree. 

In any event, I suspect he is a doctor like Dr. Phil is a doctor. And Dr. Laura is a doctor. Basically, really good at telling you how to live your life, but not so good at helping you in an actual medical emergency.

Update: A reader informed me that Frank got his Doctorate from Oral Roberts University. As ORU is pretty much ground zero for the Prosperity Doctrine, this kind of makes sense.

I have had a request for a comment thread on Eliot Spitzer. I can't really think of any way to tie this into Religion/City Bible/Prosperity Doctrine, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about it.

My take, I feel very badly for his wife and children. And I'm not sure why the wives always go up to the podium while their husband admits making mistakes. Let 'em twist up there alone. I did catch Governor McGreevey's ex-wife on Larry King the night the Spitzer story broke, and she said when the story broke about her husband, she did it for their daughter.  She wanted to show their daughter that she still loved her father. And I guess I can respect that.

Other questions we could talk about:

- Should prostitution be legal? If it's legal to pay two people to have sex on film, (pornography), then I'm not sure why it's illegal to just pay for sex because you want it. I understand the moral implications, but I'm not sure as a publicy policy reason, what the difference is.

- Would you stay with your spouse if they cheated on you? I'm not married, so my take is no. But, I assume it's different if you are married with children.

- Why do seemingly smart people, make such dumb decisions? Spitzer was brilliant and he had everything to lose by going to a prostitute. So why did he do it? Stupidity? Arrogance? Lust?

- Who can't wait for the in-depth Barbra Walters interview with Ashley Alexandra Dupree aka "Kristen"? (raises hand)

Reader MH, sends in this newsclip of an Israeli professor who claims that Moses was actually high on drugs when he heard God give him the 10 Commandments.

"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Of course it turns out the professor himself is a bit of a druggie.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

Shocker, huh.