Memphis Mess: Bellevue Baptist, Another Mega-church in Trouble!

Mess in Memphis: Bellevue Baptist, Another Mega-church in Trouble!

Don Boys, Ph.D.

Now we have the Memphis Mess as Bellevue Baptist, the flagship church of Southern Baptists is embroiled in a major battle that involves charges against a longtime associate pastor--charges of incest, molestation, sodomy, and rape; a major cover-up by the new pastor and his alleged trespassing on a critical deacon’s posted property; lying; intimidation; misuse of church credit cards; and on and on and on! As the crisis continues in the cornerstone church of the SBC, the world laughs and points with scorn to a church with an incredible history under three big league pastors.

Dr. Steve Gaines took the pulpit at Bellevue on Sept. 11, 2005 after serving as pastor for 14 years at Gardendale First Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Ala.

SNIP, follow the link at the top to read the story!

Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Rick Warren "Soul Winning is not Job One."

The interview with Warren is at the above link.

the Steve Gaines/Bellevue Baptist situation

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This is a very sad situation. Members who object to Steve Gaines financial secrecy and his attempts to inject Warrenism into the "church method" have been told to leave the church.

Gaines took it upon himself to call a deacon on the phone and tell the deacon he was "Hezbollah" and that he would answer for that. Gaines then took a contingent of men with him and broke into the gated community where this deacon lives to try and "have a little talk with him."

He has also kept a pedophile on staff for six months (who has access to children) and did not inform the congregation until he was forced to admit his actions.

He has forced out the long time music minister and brought in a man that he claims to have a "covenant relationship" with. Choir members who were not comfortable dancing, raising hands on command and clapping to the new rock styled music were asked to leave the choir.

The list is long. If you are interested, click here http://msinterviewcomments.blogspot.com/

and here savingbellevue.com

Bellevue was the long time home of Pastor Adrian Rogers and before that, R.G. Lee "Pay Day Some Day"

The Future of Europe

Revelation 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

Eurabian Nights: A Horror Travelogue. (or "How Europe Was Lost to Islam")

Thousands of young Muslims, armed with clubs and sticks and shouting, “Allahu akbar!” riot and force the police to retreat. Windows are smashed; stores are looted; cars are torched. Europeans unlucky or careless enough to be trapped by the mob are viciously attacked, and some are killed.

The scene could be Mogadishu in the aftermath of Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address; or Tripoli during the Danish-cartoons fury; or Karachi, Kabul, Gaza, and countless other cities in Dar al-Islam’s heartland, on any number of occasions. Yet a year ago, such scenes were unfolding, for weeks on end, in places with such names as Clichy-sous-Bois, Argenteuil, and La Courneuve.


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The trouble in the banlieus finally ended, as various Muslim “community leaders” had claimed it would, only when various levels of French officialdom quietly accepted that there were de facto no-go areas within the country, mini-Islamistans run by the dominant local majority. “Mon Clichy à moi, c’est ça!” just about sums it up, on the official website of Clichy-sous-Bois, whose population is 80-percent Muslim.

In practice, this means that local groceries refrain from selling wine, and young Muslim men feel emboldened to use violence against “sluts”—women who do not follow Islamic ways. Many more French-born Arab girls wear the hijab today than did so a year ago: It is their protection against mutilation and gang rape. Failing to do so makes them fair game for both: A knife slash across the scarfless girl’s cheek from the lip to the ear is especially common and known as a “smile.”

The demand for communal self-rule is not new, and it will be made with increasing frequency in the years to come. Of some 25 million Muslims in Western Europe, the majority already consider themselves autonomous, a community justifiably opposed to the decadent host society of infidels. This demand is but the first step: It will lead to the clamoring for the adoption of sharia within segregated Muslim communities and, finally, for the imposition of sharia on the society as a whole.

Europe’s elite class is prepared for this challenge. Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner—a Christian Democrat—sees the demand as perfectly legitimate and argues that sharia could be introduced “by democratic means.” Muslims have a right to follow the commands of their religion, even if that included some “dissenting rules of behavior”: “It is a sure certainty for me: if two thirds of all Netherlanders tomorrow would want to introduce Sharia, then this possibility must exist. Could you block this legally? It would also be a scandal to say ‘this isn’t allowed’! The majority counts. That is the essence of democracy.”

The same “essence” was reiterated in similar terms last July by Jens Orback, the Swedish Integration [sic] Minister, who declared in a radio debate, “We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, they will be so towards us.” Yes, when we become a minority; the fact that, four months later, both Orback and his Social Democratic government remain in power aptly illustrates Sweden’s political and cultural scene.

Until a generation ago, Sweden used to be one of the safest and most law-abiding countries in the world. Today, in the southern city of Malmö, the authorities are no longer able to deal with the problem of crime among Muslim immigrants, 90 percent of whom are on welfare. They make up one third of the city’s 300,000 people; at the city’s Rosengrad School, of 1,000 students, only 2 were Swedes last year. “If we park our car it will be smashed—so we have to go very often in two vehicles, one just to protect the other,” says policeman Rolf Landgren. Both vehicles are needed to escort Swedish ambulance drivers into certain neighborhoods. Robberies of all sorts increased by 50 percent in 2004 alone, with gangs of young Muslims specializing in mugging old people visiting the graves of relatives. Thomas Anderberg, head of statistics for the Malmö police, reported a doubling of “rapes by ambush” in 2004. Almost all of the increase is attributable to Muslim men raping Swedish women.

Next door in Norway and Denmark, two thirds of all men arrested for rape are “of non-western ethnic origin”—the preferred euphemism for Middle Eastern and North African Muslims—although they account for under five percent of their residents. The number of rapes in Oslo in the summer of 2006 was twice that of the previous summer. All “gang rapes” in Denmark in 2004 were committed by immigrants and “refugees.”

The victims are overwhelmingly Scandinavian women, yet only one in twenty young Muslim men say they would marry one. Their reluctance is explained by an Islamic scholar, Mufti Shahid Mehdi, who told an audience in Copenhagen that European women who do not wear a headscarf were “asking to be raped.” His view is shared by Unni Wikan, a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo and a self-described feminist; she holds that “Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes” because Muslim men found their manner of dress provocative: “Norwegian women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and they must adapt themselves to it.”

Swedish courts are adapting by introducing sharia principles into civil cases. An Iranian man divorcing his Iranian wife was ordered by the high court in the city of Halmestad to pay Mahr, Islamic dowry ordained by the Koran as part of the Islamic marriage contract.

In the judicial sphere, Britain has gone even further, legitimizing sharia compliance even in criminal cases. A key tenet of sharia is that non-Muslims cannot try Muslims, or even testify against them; and this has been upheld by Peter Beaumont, QC, senior circuit judge at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey. Before the trial of Abdullah el-Faisal, a preacher accused of soliciting the murder of “unbelievers,” Justice Beaumont announced that, “[f]or obvious reasons, members of the jury of the Jewish or Hindu faith should reveal themselves, even if they are married to Jewish or Hindu women, because they are not fit to arbitrate in this case.” (One can only speculate what would be the reaction if equally “obvious reasons” were invoked in an attempt to exclude Muslims from the trial of BNP Chairman Nick Griffin for “Islamophobia.”)

(Snip, rest of the artricle at the link. by Srdja Trifkovic)

Latinos find a new spiritual home, Pentecostal and charismatic churches drawing Catholics away

Perhaps its the Ted Haggard factor? More information at the link above.

My personal thoughts are that very few people actually leave Rome. There is a practicing witch posting at AL.com who was raised Catholic and she will fight you to the bitter end defending Romanism. She just incorperates the parts she wants to keep from Rome into Paganism. (They are not that far apart anyway.)

KAZAKHSTAN: Foreign Baptist forced out for "illegal" bible discussion

After seven law-enforcement officials secretly filmed a foreign church member taking part in a bible discussion at a state-registered Baptist church, he was forced to leave the country Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Dan Ballast, an American who belonged for 11 years to the Spring of Water Church, was fined the equivalent of three months average salary and given a deportation order. This is the latest in a series of expulsions known to Forum 18........

"We are all pig eaters! We are all pig eaters!"

Click on the link above and scroll down.......

Bibles banned on British Arline

An air stewardess is claiming religious discrimination against an airline which she says banned her from taking the Bible to Saudi Arabia.

The stewardess has been told by BMI that it is against the law of the insular Middle Eastern country to bring in religious books other than the Koran..... more at link

Rocky Balboa Returns to Rome

It sounds ok in the beginning..........

"So, what's the spiritual message of "Rocky Balboa"? According to Stallone, "It's not over till it's over" is one, and "we cannot do it alone" is another. "Even in your darkest hour," he says, "if you adhere to certain Christian values — if you put yourself in the hands of Jesus and in the hands of God, follow the Scripture and follow the teachings of Jesus — you're gonna come out of this pipeline, out of this darkness, where you should be. And if you try to do it alone ... you can struggle and feel very, very alone in this."

But then the baptism of the unsaved appears in the conversation, as if it's a positive thing........

""I was influenced by every temptation there is in Hollywood," Stallone says. "I lived a life and I lived it with just charlatans and people who were there for the money and didn't care about me. And that was just spiraling downward badly, badly. And it wasn't until maybe nine or 10 years ago, when I turned 50, that I finally got back on the path again. I realized that I can't go this alone." So he reclaimed his spirituality, began to pray, returned to church, and had his children baptized. "Everything changed," he says".

And then of course we have the obligatory recommendations from the ecumenical Focus on the Family crowd, assorted Catholics and other apostates. Click Here

Samford University President, Dr. Andrew Westmoreland welcomes Baptist/Catholic ecumenical group to campus of SBC supported school

"In Birmingham Alabama, the buckle on the US Bible Belt, is being held the inaugural session in the International Baptist-Catholic Conversation from December 11-15. Hosted by the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, this will be the first in a planned five-year series of meetings that have been called by the Baptist World Alliance and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity."

Pictured:Westmoreland president@samford.edu



The joint commission was welcomed by Samford University President, Dr. Andrew Westmoreland, and Beeson Divinity School Dean, Dr. Timothy George. The joint commission was also welcomed by a number of faculty and administrators of both Beeson Divinity School and Samford University .



Other Baptist participants included Dr. Denton Lotz, General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, Rev. Dr. Neville Callam of Jamaica, Rev. Dr. Fred Deegbe, Calvary Baptist Church, of Ghana, Dr. Lilian Lim, President of Asia Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary of Singapore, Dr. Nora Lozano, Baptist University of the Americas of Texas, Professor Dr. Tomás Mackey, Baptist Seminary of Argentina, Dr. Fausto Vasconcelos, Director of the BWA Division of Study and Research, and Professor Tadeusz Zielinski, Christian Academy of Theology of Poland. Also present as observers were Dr. Curtis Freeman, Duke University Divinity School, North Carolina, and Dr. Alan Stanford, General Secretary, of the North American Baptist Fellowship.

The President at work.....

"Bush: "Happy" for Cheney's pregnant, unmarried lesbian daughter."
Oh silly evangelicals, how easy it was for GWB to fool you.

Why Have People Have Stopped Memorizing Scripture??

Scripture memorization is a lost art. Find out why by reading the short article at the link!

Bar-coded babies and tons of doughnuts--Evangelical Megachurches [guess which Saddleback does?]

As a sidebar to a story on the religious right, The Independent newspaper from the United Kingdom offers a brief review of some of the incredibly large Evangelical churches that are at the forefront of the movement:

Radiant Church Surprise, Arizona; members: 6,000

Radiant spends $16,000 annually on Krispy Kreme donuts. Pastor McFarland told the New York Times: ''We want the church to look like a mall, so you come in and say, 'Dude, where's the cinema?'


Brentwood Baptist Church Houston, Texas; members: 12,000
Has its own McDonald's, complete with golden arches and a drive-thru.


Saddleback Church Lake Forest, California; members: 22,000
Pastor Rick Warren wrote the best-selling non-fiction book in the US's history: The Purpose Driven Life. Bar codes are assigned to babies in the nursery to avoid losing them.


The Potter's House Dallas, Texas; members: 28,000
Led by the influential African-American pastor, TD Jakes, it has its own publishing house, daily talk show, a prison ministry that broadcasts to over 260 prisons, and a recording studio that has produced a Grammy-award-winning record.


Lakewood Church Houston, Texas; members: 30,000
The largest megachurch in the US. Joel Osteen's church meets in the former home of the Houston Rockets and has already outgrown the arena. Plans have been discussed to "franchise" the church in other cities.

Osteen however does not know the Gospel and is unable to share it when given the chance before millions of people on live TV.

Jimmy Carter Anti-Semite

"In his unrelenting attack against Israel - beginning with his screed Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and continuing in his media blitz - Jimmy Carter frequently invokes religion, in an apparent effort to turn religious Christians against the Jewish State."

Jimmy Carter has his own man-made religion. He doesn't believe the Bible.

CARTER: Some Christians who I know very well, very devout people, believe a certain interpretation of Revelations, that in my opinion are quite weird, in that in the coming of Christ that the holy land has to be occupied by the Jews and not by anyone else...

Earth to Jimmy Carter, is there someone else he wants to "occupy" the God given homeland of the Jews? Does Jimmy Carter think he can override God Himself?

Jimmy Carter's Legacy of Failure

A must read from Cinnamon Stillwell.

More Southern Baptist Apostasy

Beeson Divinity School will host a meeting of the International Baptist-Catholic Conversation on the Samford University campus, Dec. 11-15.

It's the first meeting in a five-year plan for dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The team will include 10 Catholic leaders and 10 Baptist quislings from around the world. They will discuss theology, shared beliefs and ecclesiastical differences and seek "greater mutual understanding on a variety of issues," said Beeson Divinity Dean Timothy George.

Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, a Baptist college in Birmingham, Ala., wrote recently that "it is time for evangelicals to recover a fully biblical appreciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in the history of salvation, and to do so precisely as evangelicals." George's comments appeared in the December 2003 issue of Christianity Today and in a 2004 collection of essays by various theologians, "Mary: Mother of God."

2 Corinthians 6:14

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Rick Warren of SaddleBack promotes Pelvic Thrusting of Young Girl Dancers
Rick Warren of SaddleBack promotes Pelvic Thrusting of Young Girl Dancers

Click on the video to watch the whole disgusting thing.