City Bible Turns Christians into Mormons

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Here is an interesting comment from a reader who was a Christian, until she started attending City Bible. She decided to convert to Mormonism.

I was saved as a lonely 15 year old in Ken Wilde’s church in Idaho. I moved to Portland at 21 because there was a major break/division in Ken’s church. I never knew what it was about but a lot of people left. In fact that was around the time Mark and Dee Dee Bryan started their church in Idaho. A lot of people from Capital Christian Center went to Church of the Harvest. I attended City Bible Church until I started meeting Mormons left and right. I noticed how wonderful they are and how they to treated me like one of their own.
Well here is the big bomb. I actually was baptized as a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have been a member since 1999. I could go on for paragraphs about what I have learned since becoming a member. None of the lies I was taught about the Mormons as a youth were true. I love feeling the Holy Spirit with no hype, music etc. I have been to the Temple. It is hands down one of the most sacred places I have ever been on this earth. The truth does set you free. Best of luck to you as you figure things out.

For the most part, Mormons are really nice people. And that is a fairly powerful evangelism tool.

The Church at South Las Vegas Settles with Bank

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Reader Monte finds a news article on the settlement negotiations between First Bank and the Church at South Las Vegas (CSLV). For those unfamiliar with the story, CSLV stopped paying the mortgage on their church property when they determined that the mortgage far exceeded the value of the property. Subsequently, First Bank foreclosed on the church, and is now trying to get at some other church bank accounts as well.

Most of the terms of the deal are confidential, but court records show that if they are approved by Judge Linda Riegle:

• The church will pay a confidential sum to the bank to settle all claims between the parties.

• The church will deposit into an escrow bank account $546,700 — or all but $100,000 of the $646,700 in the designated account. This escrow account will serve as “adequate protection” to protect the interests of First Bank in the settlement, court records say.

• Within 45 days the church will provide First Bank with evidence that one half of the settlement amount has been raised or pledged. If it fails to meet this 45-day milestone, or doesn’t make the settlement payment within 90 days, the escrowed funds will be released to First Bank.

It sounds like CSLV is going to lose a big chunk of money from one of their accounts. And they will probably lose their church building as well. I have said I do not think there is anything morally wrong with strategically defaulting. Corporations do this all the time, and it is considered a cost of doing business.  And CSLV is a business. However, that does not mean there are not consequences for defaulting. Losing your church building and much of your church funding is a fairly large consequence.

It also makes me wonder. The whole point of the prosperity gospel is that if you give Pastor McGreedy your money, then God will make you Kardashian rich.  So what happened here? Why isn’t God blessing the Church at South Las Vegas? Did the congregation not give enough money? Is Las Vegas the new Sodom and Gomorrah? Was God so busy helping Tim Tebow win football games that he forgot to bless them? I just don’t know.

New Religious Survey of America

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The Pew Forum has released their new survey of Religion in America. They break the information down by affiliation, geography, political and social issues, demographics, etc. Pretty interesting stuff.

As a Political Science major I found the section comparing social and political beliefs the most interesting. Evangelicals get a bad rap in this country for being too conservative. But if you look at the breakdown among other religions, Evangelicals are actually fairly moderate.  Jehovah Witnesses, Muslims and Mormons are much more conservative.

Unladylike

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A reader of this blog, Pam Hogeweide, has written a book called Unladylike: Resisting the Injustice of Inequality in the Church. From the website’s blurb about the book, it appears Pam tackles the issue of women as church leaders.

In the contemporary church, women are held back from positions of authority and leadership simply because they are women. Gender matters instead of gifting or calling. From the pulpit, to the home front of marriage, women of faith are taught that men lead, and women assist. But is this biblical? Has God created women for helper roles?

You know my position. I think relegating women to subordinate roles is absolutely a Biblical position. The Bible is full of verses that require women take a lesser place in the church.  (e.g. 1 Corinthians 14:34)

However, is this a moral and Christ-like position? I would argue, “No.” Somehow, I do not think Christ intended to create a church that treats women as inferior beings. But then, I’m a dirty liberal hippie who thinks gender equality is a good thing.

Anyway, Pam is a thoughtful and strong writer. Check out her book.

Will Evangelicals vote for a Mormon?

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Conservative Christians are having a hard time rallying behind the Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney.

A group of movement conservatives has called an emergency meeting in Texas next weekend to find a “consensus” Republican presidential hopeful, POLITICO has learned.

“You and your spouse are cordially invited to a private meeting with national conservative leaders of faith at the ranch of Paul and Nancy Pressler near Brenham, Texas, with the purpose of attempting to unite and to come to a consensus on which Republican presidential candidate or candidates to support, or which not to support,” read an invitation that is making its way into in-boxes Wednesday morning.

The meeting is being hosted by such prominent conservative figures as James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Don Wildmon, onetime chairman of the American Family Association; and Gary Bauer, himself a former presidential candidate.

This is code for “We’re going to begin strongly endorsing Rick Santorum.”

When I was attending City Bible Church as a youth, I was always told that Mormons were a cult. (along with Jehovah Witnesses, Buddhists and most Catholics). And I remain convinced that Evangelicals will not vote for a Mormon. I am not saying they will vote for Obama.  But if the choice next November is between a Democrat or a Mormon, my guess is they just stay home.

Three Sentenced in Lighthouse Financial Mortgage Fraud Investigation

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One of our readers sent me this press release about some local mortgage brokers with ties to City Bible (one of them married into the Callahan family).  Apparently they are going to prison for awhile due to some very un-Christ like behavior.  I never knew the guys at Lighthouse Financial personally but I knew a couple of loan officers who worked for them and was told they did loans for a number of CBC members during the peak of the mortgage boom and made a lot of money at it.  Well as we can now all see there was a reason why the cash was flowing so easy.  I don’t know how deep the connections go, but for their sake I hope CBC didn’t take in too much from these guys.  They had one seriously shady business going on there.

And we’re back!

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It looks like the site is back up and running.

To all who were concerned: the WordPress software was just really old and needed to be updated.  I didn’t quit. And no one pressured me to stop the blog. It was merely a maintenance issue.

Also, thanks to everyone who offered to chip in and help support the blog financially. I really appreciate it. This is actually a fairly cheap site to run. And unlike some pastors, I am not looking to you all to support my lavish lifestyle of PBR and burritos. So, I’m fine on that end. But truly, thanks.

Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, I will be able to tweak the theme and get the blog looking somewhat like it’s old self. And with the updated software, it will make blogging easier and more fun. So, expect more posts for the next couple of months or until I burn out again. (which, in all honesty, could be tomorrow).

Happy New Year!

Is God Rewarding Tim Tebow For His Faith?

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OK sports fans, here is a topic of conversations for you.  In an interview with TMZ this week, Pastor Wayne Hanson of Summit Church in suburban Denver said that the Denver Broncos winning streak under quarterback Tim Tebow is not luck, but rather God's favor.  God is rewarding Tebow for his strong religious beliefs, and if he wasn't such a strong believer they would not be winning games.

Now we all know that a lot of pastors say a lot of stupid things.  They are human like everyone else, and often not very "street smart" in how to handle media attention.  But this pastor talking with a site like TMZ about God intervening in professional football has to be near the top of the list as one of the stupidest things I've heard a Christian leader say.  Now I don't doubt that God is working in Tebow's life, keeping him healthy and safe, blessing him with good fortune and using his faith as a way to advance the Gospel (as He does with all of us who chose to follow him), but to think that the only reason the Bronco's are winning is because God is making it happen just shows me how ignorant some people can be.  I mean of all things in this world for God to intervene in, making sure that a guy who makes millions to play a sport for a living wins a few games is probably pretty low on the important list.  At least I hope that is the case.  I would much rather have my God taking care of the sick and starving kids across the globe than helping a quarterback throw a few more touchdowns, but hey maybe that's just me. 

And if you really think about it, men and women of faith are on every sports team, in every kind of sport, in every part of the world.  These people have won games, championships and awards for generations.  There have been hundreds who came along way before Tim Tebow and hundreds that will come along after him.  Yet for some reason this guy has become the poster child for the Christian athlete and I just can't seem to figure out why.  My biggest fear is that the more people refer to him as the second coming of Christ, the harder the fall will be when his human side comes out. I guess only time will tell.    

Lessons Learned From Bishop Eddie Long

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The Christian world has been somewhat abuzz about the recent news of Bishop Eddie Long, who has announced a leave of absence from his pastoral position at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church just outside Atlanta Georgia, after his wife of 21 years filed for divorce last week.  Long's mega church has 25,000 members and he is considered one of the most influential Christian leaders in America, but in September of 2010 four men filed separate lawsuits against Long claiming an abuse of power and coerced sexual relations with him.  Long, who has been very vocal about his stance against homosexuality, eventually settled the claims out of court.  Then in October of this year, ten members of his congregation filed another suit, claiming they lost more than $1 million in fraudulent investment schemes orchestrated by the pastor.  All of this has taken its toll on the church and Long is doing his best duck and cover routine, taking a break from a position he has controlled for almost 25 years.

After reading about Long and learning more about the way he pastored his church, it is pretty clear that something bad was going to happen here.  He had unilateral control, surrounded himself with yes men and ran a virtual one man show.  There were no checks or balances and he was generally worshiped as one of God's chosen prophets of our day.  He was also a very prominent prosperity teacher, lavishing himself with luxury cars, a million dollar home, custom jewelry and even a private jet.

So I bring this up as another reminder to our readers and anyone who may stumble across this blog, please don't go to churches where the pastor is king.  The story of Eddie Long shows us once again that money, power, control and greed are things that have no place in the church.  Don't give of your time and money to places like this.  Churches are corrupt because we the people let them be.  Don't sit and listen week after week to anyone who tells you that you have to give to get, even if it means you have to walk away from your friends and family.  It may take some time but eventually you will find a place with a humble, God fearing pastor that wants to serve people over themselves.