Liberation theology is still alive and well & Nigerian priest wins fiction accolades

By Walter Altmann

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago, many critics have been quick to sign liberation theology's death certificate, says a leading Argentinian theologian. But its biblical concern with justice for all still continues to resonate in the neo-liberal, bi-polar era. To associate it with repressive communism is wrong. Read the full article here

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A Nigerian Roman Catholic priest who has appeared on Oprah Winfrey's television show and won praise for his fictional accounts of the lives of children in Africa, says that writing, like the priesthood, is a religious calling - writes Chris Herlinger.

"If you want your congregation to listen, that's where it begins: stories," author Uwem Akpan said during a recent reading and discussion at New York's Inter- church Center. Full story

From Crook to Choir Boy

Questions for Barry Minkow

From Scammer to Scheme Finder

One of the most infamous crooks of the 1980s, now a pastor and fraud detective, is preparing for his Hollywood debut as a pre-Madoff swindler.

» Interview by RANDY DOTINGA | Nov 25

'A Voice for Sanity'

J. Lee Grady doesn't want your gold. The journalist wants a 'Holy Ghost housecleaning' of the charismatic movement.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey | posted 11/23/2009

"Martin Luther had to say something, or they were going to keep selling indulgences. Now we have that going on in our midst," Grady told Christianity Today in his Orlando office. "If someone says, 'Send your $100 to be saved,' that is selling indulgences, and there are people doing that on Trinity Broadcasting Network." The TV corporation's fundraising appeals have been among Grady's most frequent targets. Read this interesting article here….

Healing Mission

Desert Call Ministries

The Anglican Church of the Resurrection

135 Vallecitos de Oro, San Marcos, CA 92069

www.resurrectionsanmarcos.org

Rev. Dr. Eric Menees, Pastor
San Marcos, CA

Is Hosting
Rev. Josh Acton

December 4 & 5, 2009

The cost of $40/person includes lunch

Schedule
Friday, December 4, 2009
6:30 p.m. Registration
7:00 Praise & Worship
7:15 Fr. Josh Acton
Saturday, December 5
8:30 a.m. Registration
9:00  Praise & Worship
9:15 Fr. Josh Acton
10:00  Break
10:15 Fr. Josh Acton
11:00 Workshop w/Gail Duffey
12:00p.m. Lunch
1:00 Induction of new OSL members
1:30 Soaking Prayer Session
2:30 Prayer time/Break
3:00 Fr. Josh Acton
Healing Mission will end around 4:00 p.m.

Information contact:

Carolyn Burns

carol.burns@earthlink.net

When a child dies, faith is no defense

 
Why do courts give believers a pass?

By Jonathan Turley
Sunday, November 15, 2009

"Suffer little children to come to me." So begins one of the most cited passages in the Bible. Yet, in cases involving the deaths of children in faith-healing families, the second half of Jesus's admonition from Luke 18:16 is at the heart of legal controversy: ". . . and forbid them not."
In the past 25 years, hundreds of children are believed to have died in the United States after faith-healing parents forbade medical attention to end their sickness or protect their lives. When minors die from a lack of parental care, it is usually a matter of criminal neglect and is often tried as murder. However, when parents say the neglect was an article of faith, courts routinely hand down lighter sentences. Faithful neglect has not been used as a criminal defense, but the claim is surprisingly effective in achieving more lenient sentencing, in which judges appear to render less unto Caesar and more unto God. Read the whole story here......

Emotional Healing from Toxic Emotions

By Mary Alice Isleib

Anger. Depression. Shame. Guilt. Fear. Thousands of people are suffering from toxic emotions that poison their souls, stymie their family lives, and hinder their relationship with God.

Countless Christians are saved, sanctified and set apart for God's use, yet toxic emotions sometimes rear their ugly heads to contaminate our lives. One of the strongest contaminates to Christian living is shame, the most painful of all the emotions. Where do these harmful feelings come from and, more importantly, how can we rid ourselves of these detrimental temperaments? It all started in the Garden and it can end with the love of Jesus.

Shame is not only an unhealthy emotion -- it's downright.... Keep Reading »

Questions for Robert Duncan

Is This Bishop Catholic?

By DEBORAH SOLOMON

The head of the Anglican Church in North America talks about the pope’s overture.

Does swearing relieve pain?

By Judy Foreman  |  November 9, 2009

Q. Does swearing relieve pain?
A. Holy @//!#!, does it ever! Or so concludes a British study published recently in the journal NeuroReport.
The idea for the study first occurred to psychologist Richard Stephens of Keele University in North Staffordshire, when he hit himself on the finger with a hammer and let loose with a few choice words. It solidified when his wife swore gustily during a breech delivery of their daughter and one of the midwives “mentioned that women often swear in childbirth, which I found intriguing,’’ said Stephens in an e-mail.
So he set up an experiment in which he compared the pain tolerance of 67 male and female undergrads when they uttered neutral words and when they cursed as they endured a painful stimulus, in this case, putting one hand into icy water and leaving it there as long as possible. In most people, swearing increased pain tolerance - they could keep their hands in the ice water much longer - and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing.
“It seems to [work] via the emotional content of swearing - people appear to shock themselves into a state of emotional arousal (the fight or flight response), which is known to have a pain-lessening effect,’’ Stephens said. Women and men both benefit from swearing, he added, but it’s likely that the more a person swears habitually, the less shock value it has during pain.
All this makes sense to Jamie L. Rhudy, director of the Human Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of Tulsa. “Swearing could reflect the activation of brain circuits involved in emotional processing,’’ said Rhudy. The emotion circuits connect to “descending’’ circuits - nerve signals that travel down from the brain to the spinal cord - which could alter the way in which pain is processed, he added.
So should you swear when you’re in pain? Go for it, said Stephens. “What’s the harm in swearing if it helps you cope? Provided there are no children around, of course.’’
E-mail health questions to globeanswers@gmail.com

Tongue Tied

For Pentecostals, A Generational Split over Speaking in Tongues- Tim Townsend

Elders in the Assemblies of God are worried about what a younger generation's more practical theology might mean for the future of the practice of speaking in tongues. Read all about it here.....