Bartholomew's Notes

New Donkey has an interesting profile of Valley View Christian Church, where Harriet Miers was brought to faith:

…VVCC is an independent “Christian” church aligned with the conservative wing of the Campbell-Stone “Restorationist” tradition [Nothing to do with Reconstructionism]…”Restorationism” is a distinctly American religious tradition, a product of the Second Great Awakening on the midwestern and southern frontier, largely under the leadership of Thomas Campbell and Barton Stone, both former Presbyterians who were troubled by denominational and intradenominational rivalries. The basic idea of “restorationism” was a systematic effort to return to what its adherents understood as the practices of the Primitive Church, rejecting “human” creeds, theological traditions (Protestant and well as Catholic), and sectarian denominations, with Scripture, and especially the New Testament, serving as the only source of authority in all matters.

This, inevitably, resulted in a new denomination, the Disciples of Christ. However:

…a significant minority of conservative Disciples, especially in the South and Southwest, drifted out of the Disciples, most affiliating with the new Churches of Christ but others simply becoming “independent Christian” congregations like VVCC.

…Most conservative restorationists dislike the label “fundamentalist,” mainly because the fundamentalist movement in the larger denominations involved theological arguments alien to their own tradition. But they certainly share the fundamentalist position on biblical inerrancy, with an important twist: the tenet that “where [Scripture] is silent, we are silent” has made conservative restorationists much less likely to get involved, at least as a group, in battles over matters like abortion where there are virtually no direct Scriptural references, especially in the New Testament. Indeed, a 1998 article in Restoration Quarterly excoriated Churches of Christ for lagging behind other conservative evangelicals in full-throated commitment to the anti-abortion cause…

Read the whole thing.

One extra item perhaps worth noting: the VVCC website has a short list of links, described as “useful” but “not a [sic] endorsement”. This includes one link, illustrated with a dinosaur, to Carl Baugh‘s Creation Evidence Museum.

UPDATE: It turns out that VVCC underwent a schism last month; Miers and Key joined the breakaway group. See here. Using Wayback, it seems the website has changed recently: a year ago, the Statement of Belief stressed Biblical “inerrancy”; currently, it prefers the word “infallible”, but makes more of the church’s non-dogmatic approach. The Creationism link was there last year.

UPDATE 2: The Panda’s Thumb discusses the Baugh link.

UPDATE 3: Jeff Sharlet at The Revealer notes that Valley View Church also used to have another dodgy link, to an anti-Semitic and white supremacist “ministry” called the Gospel Broadcasting Association. However, it was apparently an honest mistake:

When I spoke to the church’s pastor, Dr. Barry McCarty, last week, I asked him about his site’s link to this racist fantasy. He was genuinely horrified. The link was supposed to be to the Gospel Broadcasting Mission, not the Gospel Broadcasting Association. He said he had no knowledge of the association; I verified this with the association’s sole member, one Russell L. Harris, of Houston, Texas. McCarty saw to it that the link was promptly fixed.

Sharlet goes on to note that McCarty has been contacted by over 100 reporters since the nomination was announced, and goes on to ask:

Why hadn’t they noticed the raging lunacy of the Gospel Broadcasting Association? Why was I the only one to catch it?

Indeed. But I have another question: why didn’t I catch it? Agh!!!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The Moscow News has the latest on Grigori Grabovoi (tipped from Cult News Network), the Russian psychic whom a number of bereaved Beslan mothers believe will raise their murdered children from the dead on 17 October:

…The media is already speculating on Grabovoi’s strong ties to the Kremlin which wants to discredit the Beslan Mothers group as being deranged. The group has become more politicized of late, as it angrily demanded that the government step up efforts to bring those guilty of their children’s deaths to account. Vladimir Putin was forced to receive the group’s activists in the Kremlin and assure them he would take measures to speed up the investigation.

Now, the Beslan Mothers are convinced the Kremlin authorities are set to destroy the group, and Grabovoi is their agent. The other day the group demanded a probe into the cult, saying he is trying to discredit their campaign for justice.

…Grabovoi is said to have long enjoyed the protection of high-placed officials in the presidential administration, and has strong links to senior officials in Central Asia. In particular, it has been reported that Grabovoi used his unique extrasensory skills to ensure flight safety on board the presidential jets in Uzbekistan.

His popularity in Russia prompted Grabovoi to establish a political party DRUGG, which sounds like the Russian word for “friend,” a Russian acronym for the Voluntary Advocates of the Grigory Grabovoi Doctrine. Its leader believes he will become Russia’s new president in 2008. Grabovoi said as much in a live interview on Ekho Moskvy radio only a few days ago.

Background on Grabovoi is available on his English-language website, which offers some dodgily-translated information:

Grigori Petrovich Grabovoi was born in November 14, 1963 in BogaRa village, Kirov District, Chimkent Region, Kazakhstan.

He graduated the Tashkent State University, faculty of applied mathematics and mechanics, specialty – mechanics, in 1986.

He is an academician of International Academy of Informatization . Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Advisor of Russian Federal Aviation Service.

A list of clairvoyant and psychical powers follow, including:

Cured tens of diseased persons from the 4th stage and it is certified by UN as well as from the 4th stage of AIDS. Using his clairvoyance he examined hundreds of aircraft, “MIR RF” orbital station, “Atlantis” spaceship with absolute compliance with real examination concerning total volume of tasks as well as separate task. There are confirming minute signed by managing and authorized officers of air industry enterprises and Russian Space Flights Control Center. In conditions of experiment he did works for materialization, de-materialization, teleportation and these works were stated in the minute. He regenerated destroyed matter. Does all works aimed to prevent catastrophes, through creation without destruction. Teaches the way to control matter for saving.

His site also posts two media profiles from the mid-1990s. Here’s one, by Vladimir Sudakov:

From time to time foreign mass media sources publish information on mysterious people protecting Russian leaders from any unexpected events, dangers and illnesses. It is likely that the time has come for us to tell the world about the man who “sees through” the government planes, and in case some defects are discovered, he is vested with the power to prohibit the flight; about the extrasensor granted with the talent to diagnose illnesses and cure people a long way off, find the disappeared people, foresee the fall and growth of the exchange rates and many other things. The magician’s name is Grigory Petrovich Grabovoi.

Special diagnostic x-ray abilities seem to be a common claim among Russians who supposedly have psychic abilities; witness Natasha Demkina, just recently dispatched by CSICOP. Eventually:

Grabovoi was demonstrating miracles in his secret Designing Bureau by defining defects in the planes, prompting what could happen if this and that had not been done. Once he was invited by Gani Mazitovich Rafikov, the Head of the Uzbek Division of Civil Aviation, to take the position of the inspector on the flights’ safety and, simultaneously, of the expert on the extrasensory monitoring of avionics.

Grabovoi claims that he can forestall disasters by changing the future:

“Any event can be changed. My forecasts are not fatal, I am always looking for the constructive method of forestalling. I do not change the object I am changing the situation around it.”

One wonders why he did not therefore “forecast” and “forestall” the Beslan massacre…There follows accounts of various miracles: problems with planes diagnosed, some sick individuals cured, and supernatural business advice. Grabovoi backs up his claims with testaments from those who have been impressed by his abilities; these are also translated into English (here and here). Then comes a trip to India:

…Grigori Grabovoi went to Quitab-Minar, the Indian sacred place – shrine Chattrapur -where the highest governmental officials and people of the highest caste pray. That time the Higher priest Baba Nagh Pal was in the shrine, but the guardians did not want the unknown Russian stranger to meet him. Yet Radjiv Gandhi himself was honoured to get only a two-minite audience of the Great Baba Nagh Pal.

Then the Russian stranger said, “Tell Baba Nagh Pal that there came Grigory Grabovoi”. When this was executed, the saint despite the lunch time ordered to invite the respected guest in immediately.

Their conversation lasted for 23 minutes. And said Baba Nagh Pal that he would bless Grabovoi and pray for him. And he also added that Grigory must apply his high extrasensory potentialities and the energetic level to re-unite his country.

(“Nagh Pal” is actually the late Baba Sant Nagpal; a couple of Indira Gandhi’s government members were followers of his.)

Vladimor Vulov adds further details, in an interview with Alexander Pukemov, who had previously met with Grabovoi (link added):

Alexander told me about his meetings with some American business specialists who got attracted by the phenomenon of Grabovoi. He showed to us a thick volume of the book “Management” that was presented to Grigory Grabovoi by the author, Mark Green. Professor from the Simpson College, the city of Indianola, state Iova [sic].

I wasn’t able to access the site’s bookshop directly, but Wayback Internet Archive was able to help out. Titles include ” Practice of management. A way of rescue ” in 3 volumes, and:

Sudakov V.I. “THI SAVIOR THI RHENOMENON OF MILLENNIUMS – GRIGORY GRABOVOY

Grigory Grabovoy troubleshoots aircraft and nuclear reactors, teleports subjects and people, sees through time, distance and barriers, and constructs the present and the future. And the most essential – cures the people from the last stage cancer and AIDS, doing this without drugs and scalpel, mostly in a contactless way. Bulgarian prophet elder woman Vanga[*] has put him on one line with Jesus Christ, who had been risen from dead, and has predicted him brilliant future.

Modest bloke. So what’s going to happen when the dead kids fail to materialise, aside from further heartbreak for the mothers? Grabovoi has two possible answers. Moscow News notes one:

For fairness’ sake it has to be said that Grabovoi has never directly promised to bring the dead back. At his seminars he advocates his doctrine that he claims to help achieve the resurrection of souls.

He’s also got another explanation, which is reported in a translated article at Cultological Culture.

Although there are other sects that have promised resurrection from the dead in the history of sectology, those came to an end, because proof that their promises had been fulfilled was required. Grabovoi really did this in such a cunning way. He said that those living illegally in Moscow are the same ones he resurrected, and he says it is not acknowledged that they have been revivified, so they are sent to psychiatric hospitals. And so the more some poor illegal is convinced that he has not been resurrected, the stronger the Grabovoists believe their sect leader’s assertions.

This titbit comes from Alexander Dvorkin, so needs to be used with caution – as we’ve noted before, Dvorkin is an Orthodox fundamentalist with a view to banning all “sects” in Russia, including Pentecostalism. If Grabovoi really does have powerful friends in the Kremlin, he’s going to need them…

***********************

* Baba Vanga’s obit, from 1996:

Bulgaria’s most revered psychic, Granny Vanga, whose prophetic powers won her admirers across the Balkans and beyond, died at the weekend aged 85. “Granny Vanga passed away . . . after a four-year battle against cancer,” Doctor Teodor Eksariev said from Sofia’s former government hospital where she had been treated since 3 August. For decades Vanga drew visitors from around the world to her villa in the mountains of southern Bulgaria. Blind from childhood, she was venerated as a saint for her healing and clairvoyant powers. Her pronouncements, always religiously recorded, made her a kind of unofficial state oracle. Prominent Bulgarians ranging from the ousted Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov to exiled King Simeon II paid secret visits to Vanga seeking advice, according to local media. Reuter – Sofia

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

With Billiken, the God of Things as They Ought to Be:

(Tsutenkaku Tower, Osaka. This was a few weeks ago; the deity is currently in Tokyo on a cultural exchange tour.)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

The quest to have Intelligent Design imposed on school science classes continues unabated; a pseudo-scholarly Bible curriculum makes inroads into US classrooms; sex education is under siege from prononents of abstinence. But these mainly conservative Christian insinuations into American education are just a Scylla: there’s also the New Age Charybdis. Over to the Sacramento Bee:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Called2Action, an activist Christian group, says stress-reduction classes at a Raleigh elementary school promote “New Age” beliefs, providing school-sponsored religious activity barred by the Constitution.

But Emily Diane Gunter of the Rites of Passage Youth Empowerment Foundation says she merely enhances students’ learning practices and “I don’t do anybody’s religion.”

No, not much. Gunter (bio here) gives further details on her website:

The Rites Programs used in America originated in Africa…The Rites Programs’ youth initiates transition into adulthood through the passing on of knowledge and tradition by trained and certified Elders from the community. The Elders facilitate the youth through numerous challenges, experiential exercises and workshops. In the African tradition, the youth must ask for the RITE (right) or permission OF PASSAGE (passing on) to a higher level of human social and educational development. After the youth have demonstrated competency in their academic and personal development during the rites program, the Elders in the community grant permission to their RITE OF PASSAGE.

Fortunately for the Raleigh schoolkids, the RITEs do not include such traditional African traditions as circumcision (as practised by the Nandi of Kenya on girls, and by the Akamba and the Massai on boys). Instead, the emphasis is apparently on, er…controlled breathing and chanting (no Afro-centrist, Gunter has also picked up ideas in Nepal and Tibet).

So, how do I get to be an Elder? Gunter’s outfit also offers the chance to train as one at a special retreat:

Be willing to change. Surrender to the flow. Watch how mundane activities are transformed into Divine support. God loves us and we need to feel this love directly in our bodies. The retreat is a safe and loving place to help us feel our innocence, in the sweet caring setting of nature. Open to receive miracles. Come join the Mutual Admiration Society with fellow elders.

Agenda includes: Sacred Geometry, Spiritual Code of Ethics, Conflict Resolution, Balance, Spherical Holy Breath, Balance, Fire Ceremony and so much more.

Nope, Gunter doesn’t “do anybody’s religion”. Instead, she appears to have made one up herself, to the point of self-parody. “Mutual Admiration Society”? “Spherical Holy Breath”? Just what do these terms have to do with African traditions? Or with anything remotely sensible? But for all that, Gunter can claim some successes. There are apparently 36 Rites of Passage Universal Learning Centers across the USA; one is the Rites of Passage for Girls Youth Empowerment Academy based in Florida, which is part of a larger organisation called Urgent. Their three-year progress report can be seen here.

Called2Action, meanwhile, is a somewhat unattractive local version of the Family Research Council. Its leader, Steve Noble, is a member of the Council for National Policy, and he once led a boycott of a local newspaper for daring to print a photograph of two gay men. Pam’s House Blend notes that C2A’s partners include Pastor Patrick Wooden (“We have to block the use of euphemisms when we talk about homosexuals. They are not gay. We’ve got to use terms like ‘deviant’ and ‘abomination.'”) and Kings Park International Church, which we’ve come across before. With an eye for dramatisation, Noble has employed Terri Schiavo’s attourney David Gibbs in his battle against Gunter and all her works. Gibbs’s letter can seen here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Arutz Sheva reports on the latest development within the Kahanist “Sanhedrin” in Israel:

A council of non-Jewish observers of the Seven Laws of Noah has been selected and will be ordained by the reestablished Sanhedrin in Jerusalem this January.

B’nai Noach, literally “Children of Noah,” known as Noahides, are non-Jews who take upon themselves the Torah’s obligations for non-Jews – consisting of seven laws passed on from Noah following the flood, as documented in Genesis (see below)… Rabbi Michael Bar-Ron, with the Sanhedrin’s blessing, travelled to the United States to meet with representatives of the Noahide movement and select members for the High Council.

The best-known of these Noahides is Vendyl Jones, the self-styled archaeologist previously profiled on this blog, who keeps claiming to be on the verge of revealing the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Bar-Ron met with Jones at this event.

The “Sanhedrin”, of course, has no official recognition in Israel, and its members consist of the Israeli theocratic right. It has received glowing reports from Christian Zionists like Hal Lindsey, who believe that its existence is a sign of Israel’s increasing restoration, and of the last days. However, the Sanhedrin’s plans to include recognition of these “Gentiles for Judaism” may cause some tension. Back to Arutz Sheva:

A third goal of the creation of the High Council and the Sanhedrin’s efforts in regard to the Noahide community, is to “transform the Noahide movement from a religious phenomenon – a curiosity many have not heard of – into a powerful international movement that can successfully compete with, and with G-d’s help bring about the fall of, any religious movement but the pure authentic faith that was given to humanity through Noach, the father of us all,” said emissary Bar-Ron.

The idea is not to make converts to Judaism, since only Jews by birth are required to follow all the commandments laid out in the Torah. The rest of us, though, should be following these seven rules:

Shefichat damim – Do not murder.

Gezel – Do not steal or kidnap.

Avodah zarah – Do not worship false gods/idols.

Gilui arayot – Do not be sexually immoral (engage in incest, sodomy, bestiality, castration and adultery [Glad that “and” isn’t an “or” – RB] )

Birkat Hashem – Do not utter G-d’s name in vain, curse G-d or pursue the occult.

Dinim – Set up righteous and honest courts and apply fair justice in judging offenders and uphold the principles of the last five.

Ever Min HaChai – Do not eat a part of a live animal.

So is Christianity among the “religious movements” which deserve to “fall”? Some more of Bar-Ron’s views are available in English on a website named Torah Voice, which deals with a third category; we all know about Jews and Gentiles, but there are also the “Joes”, descendents of the lost tribes. In discussing how the “Joes” can be included in Israel, Bar-Ron gives his views about Christianity (emphsis in original):

R. Bar Ron states: Because certain members of the Lubavitch community hold that the late Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, z’’l, was/is the messiah, the Sanhedrin “may” decide not to discriminate against those who hold Y’shua/Jesus to also be “an anointed one.”  Although believing in Jesus as a prophet, messiah, or tzadik is contrary to Jewish tradition and highly improper; such beliefs do not preclude the believer from becoming a kosher returnee to the Covenant of Abraham and the Israelite nation, according to Jewish law.  The absolute qualification is that no shi’tuf (association with the Deity) be made with Y’shua/Jesus, and that no prayers be directed to him, even as an intermediary.  Any Sadiq, a righteous man, be he Israelite or Gentile, must only have the most direct, unmediated, personal  relationship with HaShem (G-d).

The author of Torah Voice is Maggid ben Yosef (or “Maggid ben Yosseif”, “Maggid ben Yoseif”; formerly Dell Griffin), and he himself is a “Joe”. He got a brief mention in the Forward back in 2003, in a report of a Christian Zionist rally:

Many in the crowd identified themselves as “Joes” — Christians who have an affinity for Torah and try to adopt Jewish worship practices. The name refers to prophecies about the House of Joseph being scattered in the winds but being gathered in again before the end of days.

Maggid ben Yosef, president of Jerusalem Torah Voice, said Sunday’s event presented his “Joe-ish” group with a chance to take a dramatic stand. Ben Yosef’s organization has already mailed a copy of the King James Version of the Holy Bible to the White House, with more than a dozen specific admonitions and prophecies cited, to warn the president against pressuring Israel.

This definition is not quite accurate, though. For one thing, as with a Jew, it’s possible to be a Joe without realizing it, since in fact it’s genetic. Ben Yosef tells us:

Interest by non-Jews in the land and people of Israel and Torah has never been more noticeable.

This unexplainable “Israel thing” may have an explanation, however. A biblical one. Hashem (G-d) may be preparing vast numbers of long-assimilated descendants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to return to their ancient homeland. These stirrings, motivated by the Ru’ach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit or Spirit of Holiness) of Hashem, point to the future reunion of the Jewish descendants of Judah with the non-Jewish “Joes,” (descendants of Joseph), if not a remnant from all of the Northern Kingdom.

The only alternative, of course, would be that people like Ben Yosef are just ordinary folks, devoid of specially blessed DNA – which simply would not do. Ben Yosef also rejects the idea of Jesus as being God; instead, he was a holy man with a message about the restoration of the lost tribes. He claims to have found

conclusive evidence that Y’shua was not Deity, but rather renewed the Covenant to the Assimilation as a tzadik, consistent with the expectations of noted Jewish mystics concerning the role of the tzadikim

Further, Ben Yosef believes that the West Bank properly belongs to Joes like him, and his site includes a curious map which supposedly proves his point. Don’t worry about the present inhabitants: they can go to Gaza, while “the annihilation of the Palestinian population who remain in Judea-Samaria (the West Bank), is a biblical certainty” (Unsurprisingly, he’s also a fan of the late Meir Kahane). He also gives us some more details about both himself and Bar-Ron:

Maggid ben Yoseif  has Orthodox “smichah,” from the Rebbe Shani Dor, also known as the Breslov Hasid Rav Yisrael Tzvi Yehudah Schneider of Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel.  His beloved “Rav, esteemed teacher, Nachman mysticist, travel companion, prayer conspirator and Dodi,” of 13 years, was recently chosen to fill the 23rd seat in the Revived 71 Seat of Moshe known anciently as “The Sanhedrin.”

MbY is also in a dialogue with the Rabbi Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron, to whom Rebbe Shani-Dor passed his spiritual baton and blessing for the work of “bringing back Rachel’s kids.” R. Michael is one of the nine members of the revived Sanhedrin’s ruling council and the English spokesman for that council. Due to health issues, in January of 2005,  Rebbe Shani Dor instructed MbY to work with R. Michael.

However, ben Yosef and Bar-Ron are not in complete agreement about everything. Ben Yosef believes that Jesus had a “true message” about the restoration of the ten tribes into the West Bank; Bar-Ron asks ben Yosef to “leave Jesus out of it”. Bar-Ron also makes the following observations in a letter published on ben Yosef’s website:

As I specifically told Dr. Jones, I do believe there is a historical base for Anglo-Saxons to claim mixed Israelite descent, a source of inspiration to many to return to the Hebrew nation, and the Jewish People…Like Mr. Davidy, (albeit in your own unique style, and your own strong sense of purpose and destiny) continue to do what you’re doing, raising awareness of mixed Israelite ancestry of Northern Europe.  It’s powerful stuff.

OK, first off a sort of Christian who believes God will annihilate the Palestinians so he can live in the West Bank, and now a Jew who believes in British Israelitism. And I thought Prophet Yahweh was way out there…But Bar-Ron is not the only one; “Mr Davidy” is Yair Davidy (or Yair Davidiy, Yair Davidi), and his organization Brit-Am is devoted to the subject.

So, what about Bar-Ron and ben Yosef’s mutual guru, Shani Dor/Yisrael Schneider? Schneider is a long-time Greater Israel activist; back in 2003 he sent this message to protestors at an anti-road map rally in Houston, making reference to the Joes:

“Fight the road map! Israel’s greatest threat today is not from Arafat. It is from Bush and the State Department. No one is better prepared to fight this enemy than the children of Joseph in America. Bush and the State Department have raised a Palestinian flag over Joseph’s and Judah’s possessions. That flag must come down. The children of Joseph have the side of right and justice with them. But you must be united. Come down from the theological pinnacles which divide you and unite in the spirit of service and sacrifice. Make your stand united and the world will take notice.”

Like a dodgy British salesman selling fake aristocratic titles, it seems the “Sanhedrin” really knows its market among certain credulous Americans. And those of us cursed by fate to be neither a Jew nor a Joe can at least take solace in one thing: in God’s eyes, you’re only at the bottom of the pile if you’re a Palestinian.

UPDATE: Maggid ben Yoseif graces the comments section! He tells us that the Joes have been “excluded from consideration by the Sanhedrin”.

UPDATE 2: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach discusses the Noachides in the Jerusalem Post:

Already, there are whole Christian congregations that have removed the cross and steeple and transformed themselves into Noachide communities who reject the deification of Jesus, observe the Sabbath on Saturday rather than Sunday, study the Torah for its general prescriptions of a spiritual life, but do not embrace all the rituals of biblical law.

…The Jewish community should be spearheading this movement, and should fund a global campaign to have non-Jews join a Jewish confederation, if not adopt Judaism in its entirety.

This is not to knock Christianity or portray it as a lesser faith. On the contrary, Judaism and Christianity, both Godly religions, simply have vastly different appeals, even as they share a great deal in common. Christianity will always appeal to those who prefer a more corporeal religion, where God is incarnate in human form, just as Judaism will always appeal to those attracted to a more subtle and intangible God, and those who wish to approach God without intermediaries.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 21 Comments »

Zion Oil & Gas is back in the news. As readers may recall, this company has been in the news on and off for the past couple of years; CEO John Brown believes that the Bible provides a code which will lead to the discovery of oil reserves in Israel, and for the past few months he has been drilling away. Last year Hal Lindsey encouraged his readers to buy shares in the company – but as was revealed exclusively on this blog, he failed to disclose that his cousin, Ralph DeVore, owned a large share of the company, and that Lindsey’s puffing of the shares would therefore directly benefit his family. DeVore later fell out with Brown; Lindsey has been curiously quiet on the subject of oil in Israel since then. However, others at WorldNetDaily have since taken up the baton. Over to the inevitable Aaron Klein:

KIBBUTZ MA’ANIT, Israel – Is Israel sitting on an enormous oil reserve mapped out in the Old Testament that when found will immediately change the geopolitical structure of the Middle East and confirm the validity of the Bible to people around the world?

So believes John Brown, an evangelical Christian and founder and chairman of Zion Oil and Gas, a company he and others poured several million dollars into to drill a hole 15,000 feet deep that will as soon as next week tap a rock interval that may contain oil.

Or may not. Long-time WND followers may recall this article, from 1998:

IRVING, TX. — A $30 million, six-to-eight-month project to uncover the world’s largest oil field atop a salt dome at the southwest end of Israel’s Dead Sea, is expected to begin in early 1999, according to respected Texas oil man, Harold “Hayseed” Stephens.

… Stephens, a one-time “hell-raiser” and former pro football quarterback with the New York Titans, explained Israeli oil officials had approved his lease in early September and drilling equipment would likely arrive at the site early in the New Year.

…The Hebrew translation of Isaiah 45:3 reads: “I will shoot up to you deposits stored in valuable dungeon-type containers, so that you will know that I Am the Lord your God, who called you by name.” However, Stephens had his own version: “I will shoot up (Texas terms: I will gush up to you) deposits (oil deposits) that are stored in the valuable dungeon-type containers (oil traps) so that you will know that I Am the Lord your God Who called you by name.”

It seems it’s always just around the corner. That article also noted:

…Prominent born-again Christian oilmen have drilled in specific locations in Israel based on their interpretation of various Scripture references. Among them have been Gilman Hill, Andy Sorelle, Jr., and Canadian Lyle Harron. Hill invested $6 million at a drill site near Mount Carmel in the ’70s. It came up dry. Sorelle also drilled during the 80’s, on the Mediterranean, and spent millions on various leases throughout Israel. Harron spent nearly a decade at a Netanya lease, just north of Tel Aviv. Even the late Armand Hammer was dedicated to finding “black gold” offshore in the Mediterranean.

So why is Brown any different? Back to Klein:

Brown says he used a strategy explained to him by James Spillman, an evangelical minister and Bible scholar who lectured at his local church, to determine exactly where on the biblical map the oil might be.

WND encourages us to buy a book by the aptly-named Spillman and his son Steve, entitled Breaking the Treasure Code: The Hunt for Israel’s Oil. James Spillman is deceased, but Steve Spillman is today due to appear on Farah Live.
So how does the Bible lead the way to oil? This is the late James Spillman’s “anatomy” theory, which we have seen before:

Brown, pointing to the Bible he says he always carries with him, referred to several biblical passages he is certain indicate where to find petroleum. He stressed that two passages, detailing God’s blessings to each of biblical patriarch Jacob’s 12 sons, are very specific:

“Let Asher be blessed … and let him dip his foot in oil.” – Deuteronomy 33:24

“Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well … blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head.” – Genesis 49: 22-26

…Mapping the tribes’ biblical territory indeed shows that Asher’s area resembles a giant foot “dipped” into the top, or “crown” area of the land of Joseph’s son, Manasseh.

And what will this mean? The book’s blurb on WND‘s shopping area tells us:

A major oil discovery in Israel will not only have a profound effect on that nation’s economy but also a potentially explosive political effect on the surrounding Arab nations. More importantly, says Spillman, the discovery of a huge oil reserve in Israel and its geo-political implications could be a precursor to last days events mentioned in Ezekiel 38, leading to the battle of Armageddon.

That’s the final bloody battle in which millions will perish, including most Jews, but for which we’re all supposed to look forward to.

John Brown in fact actually believes he is mentioned in the Bible, as his testimony on an older Zion Oil website explains (square brackets in original):

While visiting Israel with Alger Wolfe in May 1983, John Brown’s prayer to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was for oil to be found in Israel. This prayer and G-d’s specific instruction to John were based on the Biblical portion describing the Dedication of the First Temple in Jerusalem and Solomon’s prayers thereat. (I Kings 8:22-66)

…”Moreover concerning a stranger [John Brown], that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country [U.S.A.] for thy name’s sake: (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm); when he shall come and pray towards this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to ALL that the stranger calleth to thee for [Oil for Israel]: that all the people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.” (I Kings 8:41-43).

Some, however, take an alternative, controversial view that the Bible does not revolve around Americans and their energy wants. One such is Gordon Franz of Associates for Biblical Research, an organisation which can fairly be termed Biblically fundamentalist. Writing last year, Franz argued:

It is clear from the context that the oil in this passage is olive oil. The Hebrew word “shemen” is used 190 times in Scripture for “generally olive oil whether pure or prepared for various uses as perfume or ointment” (Austel 1980: 2: 937), and is never used for petroleum oil. Interestingly, the early rabbinic writings understand it to mean olive oil as well. In the tractate Menahoth on regulations concerning the meal offering in the Temple, the rabbis taught,”And let him dip his foot in oil: this refers to the territory of Asher which flowed with oil like a fountain” (Menahoth 85b). The context is talking about olive oil.

Franz also notes Spillman’s long-term influence:

A number of years ago an expose appeared in the Wall Street Journal with the headline, “Prophets and Profits Motivate Evangelicals Hunting for Israeli Oil” (Getschow 1985:1). The article describes some of the personalities and operations, and then goes on to list several states that have prohibited the sale of their “penny stocks” because of the suspect nature of these groups and their operations. At one prophecy conference, a book by Rev. Jim Spillman entitled The Great Treasure Hunt (1981) outsold the Bible (Getschow 1985: 16).

The new book is self-published by Steve Spillman’s True Potential Publishing, which is devoted to James Spillman’s work; an extract can be viewed here. It’s worth also taking a look at some of James Spillman’s other books, such as The Resurrection Clock:

What is the real meaning of the seventh day? Does quantum physics confirm the Bible regarding the Sabbath?

God has created a clock that will strike twelve at the very atomic moment of resurrection. The chimes of the Resurrection Clock are Sabbath days. Is each Sabbath telling us that our eternity is near? How close is the resurrection? Is it five minutes to twelve? One minute? The Resurrection Clock is ticking…

A short bio of James Spillman is rather uninformative, but further details can be gleaned from the web. Here’s one story:

In years gone by, Jim Spillman, a friend and a man of God, was one of the pastors at Melodyland Church, across from Disneyland in Southern California. One time a young lady whom he knew came up to him before a service and said, “Pastor, I think this is my day to be healed!” He noticed that one of her eyes was a little irregular and they did not move together.

It was a glass eye. However, after prayer from Spillman:

…While she was being prayed for, one of the ushers saw the glass eye come out of the right socket and begin to roll down the aisle. He retrieved it and put it in her right hand. He then noted some white, swirling substance in her right eye socket and saw an eye being formed under her eyelid.

This is well documented and was reported on Channel 9 in Los Angeles (1972), including testimonies by her parents and her doctor.

Probably not the only person to have rolled their eyes at Spillman, but with a testimony like that, how could one not want to invest in Zion Oil & Gas?

For those wanting daily updates, be sure to check out Zion Oil & Gas’s news section, and riveting daily reports:

September 22, 2005: Day #65 of completion operations. Finished in hole with bit and scraper, tagged top of cement at 4253 meters. Washed and reamed to 4270, drilled hard cement to 4346. Shut in for night.

(Image from Jesus’ General)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

(Special thanks to a reader for tip and some links)

A couple of weeks ago, WorldNetDaily reported on an interesting religious charitable effort post-Katrina:

The charitable arm of a Louisiana pastors’ council is moving at full tilt in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, providing everything from physical and spiritual sustenance to chainsaw crews to help in clean-up efforts.

PRC Compassion is a division of the Pastor’s Resource Council, a coalition of Louisiana churches and pastors formed several years ago to provide for community needs.

…Gene Mills of the Louisiana Family Forum is on the group’s pastoral committee. Yesterday, he posted a message stressing the need for continued assistance in the state.

“The local churches in the state are supporting 10,000 people who lost everything,” Mills wrote. “At this point, there is no help from the federal government – Tony [Perkins of Family Research Council] has made every effort to get assistance from folks in the faith-based office at the White House to no avail.

The PRC itself is low-profile, and has no pre-Katrina web presence. However, the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF) gives a bit of detail about the “community needs” the PRC is addressing:

Because LFF refuses to remain silent in this culture war, we want to provide an opportunity for pastors to arm themselves against the attack on the institution of marriage and other attacks on family values. This is the Pastors Resource Council.

We’ve identified 400 churches across the State who have joined the PRC and are committed to uniting and working together. We’re asking pastors to commit to four simple “Action Items.” Click the “Pastors Resource Council” title above to learn more!

Then, weirdly:

Many pastors have requested Adolf Hitler’s quote regarding his assessment of the pre-war church. Here it is.

The “Action Items” consist of: opposition to same-sex marriage; distribution of LFF materials; help with a voter registration push; and donation of cash to LFF. The Statewide Director is Rev. Mark Stermer of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge. There is also a vaguely sinister logo that manages to make a Bible in silhouette look like a gun (see below). Can’t think why the “folks in the faith-based office” are dragging their heels…

The Beauregard Daily News gives further information:

The Pastors Resource Council (PRC) is a network of pastors and churches throughout the state. For the duration of the present relief effort, the PRC will include the Family Resource Council under the direction of Louisianian Tony Perkins and Louisiana Congressman Bobby Jindal. The effort itself is being headed-up by Executive director of the Louisiana Family Forum Gene Mills with great help from Paster Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge.

But there’s also someone else involved, keeping a low profile. Back to the LFF website, where the section on its board includes a profile of a certain Lee Domingue:

Lee is an independent business owner and founder and operator of The Lazard Group (named in honor of his grandfather). Along with their four sons, Lee and Laura have lived in Baton Rouge for over seven years and attend Healing Place Church.

The Lazard Group was founded in 1997, and is also known as Lazard Sterling. It is a conglomerate working in many areas, and earlier this month Domingue and two other Lazard executives, S. Chris Herndon and Riley Hagan III (profiles can be seen here), filed a new organisation with the Louisiana Secretary of State. This was Chest of Joash, Inc. Returning to the PRC Compassion website, we find at the base of the page:

© 2005 Chest of Joash, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PRC Compassion is a division of Chest of Joash, Inc.

The “Chest of Joash” is a reference to a Biblical story, found in 2 Chronicles 24:

And the king [Joash] called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness? And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD…And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.

Domingue’s company profile notes that he “serves on the boards of numerous faith-based organizations.” A Biblical tale of tax money going to religious enterprises might therefore have special appeal.

****

PS: One other link that may be interesting is that Chris Herndon of Lazard/Chest of Joash used to be CEO of The Mattress Firm; here he worked with Greg Feste, who is deeply involved with the charismatic grouping known as Every Nation (see blog Christian Dem for more details on Feste). Every Nation has been the subject of this blog several times before; EN is also involved with PRC Compassion.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

The Church of England has launched an attack on American imperialism and its religious justifications. Over to the Guardian:

A group of Church of England bishops issued a report today criticising American foreign policy, the US war on terror and some American Christians’ use of biblical texts to support a political agenda in the Middle East, and accuses the US of using illegitimate and dangerous rhetoric.

The four bishops are Richard Harries of Oxford, Colin Bennetts of Coventry, Peter Selby of Worcester, and Peter Price of Bath & Wells. Of these, Harries is the most well-known and intellectual figure, having held public discussions with Richard Dawkins. According to his profile:

The Bishop of Oxford was Chairman of the Church of England Board for Social Responsibility from 1996 – 2001. He chaired the House of Bishops’ Working Party on Issues in Human Sexuality and he was a Board member of Christian Aid. He is an active member of the House of Lords contributing on a range of issues. His publications in this area include Christianity and War in a Nuclear Age (Mowbrays, 1986), and Is there a Gospel for the Rich? (Mowbrays 1992)…The Bishop was Chairman of the Council of Christians and Jews from 1992 – 2001. He is also a founder member of the Abrahamic Group in Oxford which brings together Jews, Muslims and Christians for serious theological dialogue. After the Evil: Christianity and Judaism in the Shadow of the Holocaust was published by OUP in 2003.

The other three bishops have a background of involvement in the Middle East and opposition to the war in Iraq: back in 1998 they were among signatories to a caution against invasion, and another in 2002, both of which were supported by Rowan Williams. Bennetts of Coventry and Price of Bath & Wells have also been involved with anti-war protests (see here and here), and in 2000 were also outspoken against the effect of sanctions on Iraq. (Bennetts’s position against invasion would have brought him into conflict with Canon Andrew White, the Director of the Cathedral’s International Centre for Reconciliation, who took a liberal hawk line; Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester supported the invasion on the grounds of WMD).

The report itself, entitled Countering Terrorism: Power, Violence and Democracy Post 9/11, can be viewed here; there is a short summary at Ekklesia. The Guardian also notes that the bishops

Did…receive advice from defence specialists and military experts in drawing up their work.

Of particular interest to this blog are pages 41 to 46, which deal with “American nationalism: the religious dimension”; and it’s a shame the bishops didn’t include some scholars of religion (or even some religion journos) among their experts. First off:

Samuel Huntington’s thesis that, “those countries that are more religious tend to be more nationalist,” has been used recently by a number of political scientists to explain the rise of American nationalism in the early part of the twenty first century. Some secular European commentators have used this thesis to draw critical attention to the growing evangelical tradition in the US and its impact upon American domestic and foreign policy.

No names are given, and Huntington’s thesis is not explained, but it seems to me a bit odd. Adrian Hastings made a distinction between religions that go against nationalism – Islam and Roman Catholicism – and those that support it: in particular, Protestantism. The key was Protestantism’s support for a vernacular language. And I’d prefer “resurgent” rather than “growing” for the US evangelical tradition. The bishops also tell us:

Not all evangelicals are either fundamentalist in religion, or advocates of a right wing nationalism in politics. Large numbers of Black Americans belong to the evangelical tradition and yet their religious beliefs do not necessarily translate into right wing political positions.

There follows some general information about US religion, taken mainly from America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism, by British journalist Anatol Lieven (which also informs other sections of the report). The New York Review of Books calls this book “tightly written and extensively researched”, but one would have thought the bishops might have had a word with either Mark Noll, Robert Wuthnow, or Alan Wolfe, to name just three scholars at the centre of discussions about American religion.

The report goes on as one would expect – noting the Christian Right’s “uncompromising moral messages”; its old habit of red-baiting; and now:

Although the Christian Right lost political ground following the end of the Cold War, 9/11 has become a rallying flag around which it has regrouped. The war against terrorism, with its potential to be perceived as part of a clash of civilisations, replaced anti-communism as the Christian Right’s new moral crusade. Jerry Falwell, for instance, called the Prophet Muhammad a ‘terrorist’, while Pat Robertson described him as a ‘wild-eyed fanatic’ a ‘robber’ and a ‘brigand’. To Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, ‘Islam is a very evil and wicked religion’, while Henry Vines a leading southern Baptist, called the Prophet Muhammad a ‘demon obsessed paedophile’.

This will irritate some – over at Get Religion, they are currently bemoaning the media’s obsession with these aged “usual suspects”. I don’t share that view – Robertson and Falwell remain influential figures, but the above is a bit stale in that the media reported all these comments years ago. Why not refer to something more current? For instance, Mike Evans last year produced a best-seller that argued that the very existence of Arabs is a mistake, since Ishmael was born as result of Abraham’s disobedience to God (Pat Robertson said something similar just recently, but I don’t have the reference to hand).

Next comes a discussion of millenarianism and Christian Zionism. This is a bit more detailed, and draws on scholarship from Stephen Sizer and Michael Northcott (both ordained Anglicans). But emphasis is, unsurprisingly, on the Left Behind novels:

The political philosophy of these views is even more startling in the twelve books of the Left Behind series, apocalyptic fantasies by Tim LaHay [sic] and Jerry B. Jenkins that have appeared since the mid 1990s. These are allegedly novels, but they carry LaHay’s designation as a nationally recognised speaker on Bible prophecy. They refer to the period on the earth after the rapture, that is after certain special Christians have simply disappeared. The world that remains is a world of struggle against the anti-Christ, which seems to be identified with the work of the United Nations. All this is a prelude to Christ returning to kill millions of people. Sales of this series have long since topped the 55 million mark. All this, particularly the political implications of the book, with its endorsement of unbridled American power, the role of Israel, including the rebuilding of the temple and the unquestioning acceptance of violence in the name of God is deeply worrying.

All very well, although I would have been more impressed had Tim LaHaye’s name been spelt correctly. I also wonder about the long-term significance of the books, with their genesis in the Clinton era. In a new world of evangelical power, being Raptured away is less attractive – although unquestioning support for the Israeli right may continue for other reasons, and the books’ anti-UN paranoia and American triumphalism will ensure continued sales. If the bishops wished to focus on the theocratic tendency in the USA, drawing on Frederick Clarkson’s long accumulation of information about the movement would have provided a more useful picture. Tellingly, the bishops identify post-millennialism with an earlier, optimistic, period of American history: but today’s conservatives seem to be very optimistic. Have any of the bishops heard of Rushdoony?

Channel 4 News also covered the report last night, which can be seen here (the news presenter, by the way, is Jon Snow, son of a former Bishop of Whitby). It includes a rather pointless debate between Richard Harries and Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Pointless because, much as I dislike Tooley, he actually knows rather more about American religious conservatism than Harries.

(One titbit from the interview: at one point Tooley mentions conservatives “both religious and se…non-religious”. What’s he got against the word “secular”? Is it now perjorative?)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Pastor Garland Bilbo

(Updated with extra info)

From the Toledo Blade:

A devastating flood in New Orleans was predicted by the Rev. Kim Clement, a South Africa-born evangelist, in a prophecy given at a suburban Houston church July 22.

The full text is available on Clement’s website, with mp3 (and electric guitar backing; Clement is a “singing prophet”) – emphases in original:

Enough of past curses reminding you of yesterday’s failures. Enough of New Orleans and its treachery. Enough of stealing the Ark of the Covenant from my people just because you had those surrounding you that had no faith. Caleb said we are able to take this land. Joshua said we are able to take this land. But ten voices arose against the Lord God. And they would stone my servant Moses and say let us stone them and raise up another leader so that we may go back to Egypt. Would you go back to your dung? Would you go back to your vomit?

O New Orleans God speaks to you from Houston tonight and says enough of this! For a judgment is coming says the Spirit of the Lord, and I will take the men that have stood in faith, raise them above the flood that shall destroy those that constantly bicker and stand against my servant Moses, or my servant Bilbo. I want you to understand there are great men in New Orleans that have faith but you have been set aside not to lose but to win. Enough of this! For I will take the curses and the bodies will even rise and they will come forth on the water, but I will keep you and the stench of death will only last a few days. And then what I promised two years ago will come to pass for August, September and October of this year I made a promise it would happen, and God said be strengthened now, be strengthened now for enough is enough says the Lord.

Clement adds some commentary:

…My dear friend, Pastor Garland Bilbo, who had hosted my ministry a number of times was present in the meeting that night, and God even referred to him in the prophecy. His family had been a target of attack during the eighties and suffered persecution from religious forces during the Nineties due to a public scandal in their family. This prophecy is one of the most accurate that I have ever been given and yet it almost sounded like God was about to deal with the Gatekeepers and spiritual leaders of New Orleans rather than the sinners of that City.

A part of the prophecy that concerned me was the fact that the flood would destroy those that constantly bicker and stand against my servant Moses (or my servant Bilbo.) I did not truly believe that these people would be destroyed in the flood but rather the waters would rid the City of the curses and bring an end to discord and divisive leaders…

Of course, Clement is far from being the only person to have associated the words “New Orleans” and “flood”, but his timing is impressive. So, who are Kim Clement and Garland Bilbo?

Let’s look at Garland Bilbo first. The “public scandal” to which Clement refers is that of Bilbo’s father-in-law, Marvin Gorman (thanks to Bene Diction for that tip). From a book review in the Texas Observer:

Gorman, who was a friend of Jim Bakker, had been a rising star in the televangelist world until 1986, when he was summoned by the Assemblies of God hierarchy to answer charges of adultery. Though he confessed to a moment of weakness with a distraught female parishioner and denied having intercourse, Gorman received extremely harsh treatment and suffered catastrophic professional and financial losses.

This “harsh treatment” was prompted particularly by none other than Jimmy Swaggart. But Gorman fought back:

…A little over a year later, in the fall of 1987, it was Gorman who set up the camera in the room across the courtyard from the one where Jimmy was meeting Debra Murphree…Gorman was willing to make a deal with Swaggart (essentially blackmailing him) but ultimately Swaggart was too arrogant, spurred on by his steely wife Frances, to keep his end of the deal.

This information comes from Ann Rowe Seaman’s excellent biography Swaggart – which also tells us that the photos were taken by Gorman’s son Randy and…Garland Bilbo (p. 331). Gorman also won a $10 million defamation case against Swaggart, who had made other accusations of adultery against him. Gorman has since stepped down from his position at Praise Church in favour of Bilbo.

According to the profile on his church website

Garland has had the honor of being featured speaker at the Brownsville Assembly of God Pastor’s Conferences, as well as other pastors and leadership conferences. He has also written curriculum and training manuals for church leadership.

Garland Bilbo is the author of the book entitled, “The Jezebel Spirit”, which has proven to be an effective tool for ministers and leaders. It is an expose’ of the traps that Satan uses to abort the anointing and revival in an individual and in the corporate body of Christ.

“The Jezebel Spirit” is a Pentecostal idea that can be taken two ways – it can refer to the church being seduced by “worldliness” (as here), or can mean women behaving in ways that they shouldn’t – particularly disagreeing with their husbands. Bilbo’s book is obscure, but someone who attended a talk by Bilbo’s wife reports the following:

A week before the conference I almost influenced my husband to leave the ministry. I never realized that I was allowing the spirit of Jezebel to influence me. I just thought my nagging and berating of my husband was a behavior that self-control could help. But in my heart I knew something more was at work. When Ms. Bilbo spoke on the Jezebel spirit, my heart started to beat fast.

There’s also this interesting titbit from Louisiana’s Department of Transportation and development:

BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, June 1 [2004], for the new I-10 Pump Station in New Orleans . Gordon Nelson, DOTD Assistant Secretary for the Office of Operations, served as Master of Ceremonies for the event, which was held on June 1 to coincide with the first day of Hurricane Season. The ceremony took place at Praise Church, located on Academy Drive , directly across from the Pump Station…Pastor Garland Bilbo, of Praise Church , provided the Invocation and the Benediction.

That would be one of the pumps that failed, then… Bilbo now has a site dedicated to the reconstruction of the city.

Kim Clement, meanwhile, has a higher profile, with frequent appearances on Trinity Broadcasting and a CV-full of previous prophecies. The Blade notes this one:

In the 1996 prophecy, which made headlines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Mr. Clement said America “will go to the place of the east and we will go and we will bring them down for what they did to our people as they flew in the air over Long Island.”

However, these have made him a target for criticism, and there are a number of websites that are unimpressed with some of his previous predictions, and his theological perspective (the 1996 prophecy is debunked here: the author notes that it “was only 8 days after TWA flight 800 exploded in the air OFF THE COAST OF LONG ISLAND”.)

Clement’s website gives some biographical details, beginning with his 1973 conversion when he was delivered of “strong demonic oppression”. A spell in the army and Pentecostal ministry followed, with full-time ministry work from 1977. He soon after joined Fred Roberts’s Full Gospel Church of God in Durban, later the Durban Christian Center, which he says was actively opposed to apartheid. Then (link added):

During 1983 Prophet Bill Hamon confirmed my call as a Prophet while I was in Durban. Pastor Fred Roberts and the leadership of Durban Christian Center released me to obey this call. I was ordained through Christian Fellowship International and I acquired my credentials through CBTC, Durban, South Africa. I received an honorary Doctorate in 1996 in Houston, Texas.

Now based in Dallas, Clement adds:

After a bad accident in 1994, in which both of my arms were broken, I was left scarred from surgeries on my hands. During my recovery from surgery, the Lord visited me with visions. I received specific instructions regarding my ministry…After these visions, I founded a movement called ‘Warriors of the Millennium’ and the ‘Kick Devil Butt Generation’.

MinistryWatch has further details about Clement here. It notes:

Most disturbing is Clement’s claim to a gift of prophecy and the unmistakably pretentious air with which Clement issues his prophetic harangue, indicting virtually anyone who might take exception.

That indictment now apparently includes the “spiritual leaders” of New Orleans that didn’t get along with his friend Garland Bilbo, and who should be blamed for the hurricane’s consequences.

So what’s next? Clement’s site has his most recent prophecies here.

(Tip via Bulldada Newsblog)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Staying in the allegedly “Holy Land”, an interesting report from ASSIST:

Messianic Jews have called for international protests against violations of religious freedom in Israel. Orthodox Jews have harassed a congregation in the desert town of Arad in Southern Israel for more than 18 months.

Messianic Jews are Jews who have become Christians, but who maintain a Jewish identity and worship in a Jewish style. ASSIST notes that there are about 6,000 in Israel (I previously blogged on Israeli Christians here), and continues:

An orthodox group called Gur Chassidim has been persecuting 30 messianic Jews in Arad. They have been insulted in public as Nazis, whores and dirty Christians. According to eyewitnesses the police have turned a blind eye or even sided with the persecutors. An assembly hall has been burnt down.

A fuller account by one of the Messianics can be read here.

Haaretz covered the problem last year, noting:

In the past few weeks, the Haredim in Arad have been harassing the 15 Messianic Jewish families in the Negev town. Hardly anyone has come to their aid. The police gave the Haredim a permit to hold demonstrations opposite the homes of the Messianic Jews, the mayor is ignoring the harassment, and the members of the municipal council, including those who are secular, support the Haredim, who have representatives in the local governing coalition.

The local Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Ben-Zion Lipsker, is also quoted:

“You disguise yourselves as sabras and smile at us, but you’re just waiting for the first chance to grab us and crucify us. Get out of here, hypocrites. At least if you wore robes and large crucifixes, we would be able to be careful of you. You are the ones whose forefathers burned Jews to death throughout all the years of history. You are an abomination in Israel, and therefore you must be spewed out of here.”

Lipsker told the journalist that because two residents of Arad had converted, the Messianics had broken the law. The Messianics responded with a police complaint against Lipsker, local Shepardi Chief Rabbi Yosef Elbo, and the ultra-orthodox anti-missionary organisation Yad L’achi. Given that this was a year ago, the police do not appear to have exerted themselves.

Gur Chassidim (or “Gur Hassidim”) is dominant within Agudat Israel, a body which represents many Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and has a long history of militancy that goes back to nineteenth-century Poland. Here’s a passage from a website devoted to the Jewish history of Mlawa, a Polish town:

The Gur Hassidim were very zealous and far more militant than the Alexandrower Hassidim…In later years, the Gur Hassidim stormed the building in which the Hebrew gymnasium was housed and made it into a “Talmud Torah.” The Gur Hassidim went en masse to capture the building, ready to sacrifice their lives, if necessary. Their aim was to take over all the public institutions and to rule them with an iron hand.

In Israel, the group enjoys considerable support from the Religious Affairs Ministry, to the annoyance of other Jewish strands.

Yad L’Achim, meanwhile, is well-known for targeting religious groups. Its work has been reported in a number of Jerusalem Post stories by Larry Derfner. One article notes that:

Yad L’achim mainly targets the two largest Christian sects seeking to convert Jews – the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Messianic Jews – but also goes after Scientology, Hare Krishna, Falun Gong, Landmark Forum and other cults operating in Jerusalem and elsewhere.

“Over the years we’ve brought back hundreds of Jews who had gone over to Christianity, and we’ve prevented the assimilation of many thousands of others who had started the process by going to a lecture or two from the missionaries,” says Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifschitz, who co-founded Yad L’Achim in 1950. He emphasizes repeatedly that Yad L’Achim “has nothing whatsoever against Christians in Israel, just against missionaries.”

Their methods, however, are pretty ruthless:

“When we find out a missionary is working at a company, we go to the boss and explain to him that there are plenty of ways to fire the worker without anybody being the wiser. This way there’s no trouble with the courts, the media, and with Meretz.

“Some bosses are smart, they understand, and they deal with the problem quietly. I’d say we’ve done this with nearly 10 different companies,” said Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifschitz, head of Yad L’Achim.

There are also claims of violence:

…The most publicized attack took place last November [2003] when the Holon apartment of Jehovah’s Witnesses Yossi and Sima Levy was broken into by assailants who spray-painted death threats and swastikas all over the walls, slashed their furniture, and destroyed their books.

…The group’s ringleader, who [JW spokesman Mark] Einstein said has been identified by a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses who’ve been attacked, is Alex Artovsky of Netanya.

Artovsky runs Yad L’Achim’s desk.

Maybe the Messianics and JWs should have a word with Don Feder, the right-wing American pundit who recently set up “Jews against anti-Christian Defamation”. Feder’s main target was the ADL, which he felt shouldn’t be criticising conservative evangelicals who are pro-Israel. I’d be interested to see if Feder would be willing to take on powerful groups in Israel itself.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 16 Comments »