Ironically, I find myself knowing that claims and concerns regarding Stabile’s experience were and still are accepted uncritically, as fact and they lack verification.

Is our concern for what ‘might have taken place’ and our belief for ‘what often does take place’ more important than ‘what did take place”?

It doesn’t seem to matter, as long as one is impressing one’s view upon another or reinforcing their own view.

The true facts don’t seem to be the goal.

The point seems to be… ‘just that’… to make a point or to impact others with a shared view or personally held view.

Could it be that if we let the truth speak for itself, it would’nt give our agenda the same ‘ZING’?’ Mud splatters further than truth when it hits!

If there are legitimate concerns that the church was using James’ video testimony for publicity or to have some ‘zing’ attached to a supposed agenda…. then, for certain they wouldn’t have let Joe out there on camera, in his white ‘fruit of the loom’ t shirt.

I mean… secondly, there is another video on Youtube that was filmed during a Heartland Purity Seige. It became available to be viewed the same week that the ‘Heartland on CBN’ video became available on Youtube. This Heartland video clearly shows a man ‘NOT’ claiming a miraculous, sudden freedom from Homosexuality and it’s been airing for 2 weeks under the title ‘Jesus moves in Dallas, Cedar Springs.’

They seem to love homosexuals and if I sense any agenda it’s seems to be that, “if you want it, there is hope.”

I for one… I get irritated real quick from a society that tells me “you have to stay the same way you are’. And who is anyone else to tell me what I am? And if I want to interpret the Bible to indicate that I’m in sin and that there’s an urgent need for change, then I’m gonn’a interpret the Bible like so. And if these Christians love me, then they had better show up on that street corner every Friday night on Oaklawn.

And they had better not give up on me, if they find out that I lots of problems or mental issues. And they had better not give up on James.

AND how much research and follow up should be in place before reports of a bi-polar man who is a compulsive liar and loves “attention” as stated by his own father in another article, are shared through the media?

Just a thought…..

1. Should Christian efforts to perform magic upon subjects be handled differently than similar efforts by persons of other faiths?

2. Is the belief in a geocentric god (especially one that is conveniently headquartered in one’s own vicinity, perhaps one’s own church) a kind of past or present-day heresy? Should Christians globally do more to challenge such deviation from a universal God?

1. Healing. What are we to make of claims of healing, even if we are not talking about sexuality? In what contexts might such healing take place? Is this the kind of experience (attraction to the same sex) that is healed? Should it be? What happens if healing does not take place or does not meet expectations?

2. Psychopathology and spiritual interventions. What is the relationship between psychopathology (in this case bipolar disorder) and spiritual interventions that might be used as either treatment or as adjuncts to treatment? If they are used, what guidance can be provided so that they are used ethically? What about paraprofessional organizations and ministries and their use of spiritual interventions? What guidelines might be useful particularly if there is a pre-existing psychopathology?

3. Follow-up care. What is best practice for care once someone has reported a conversion experience? How does that care integrate information on and assumptions related to psychopathology, sexuality, and spirituality?

4. Media. How much research and follow-up should be in place before reports of healing are shared w/ a global audience?

Thanks, Warren. There is certainly a lot here to think about.

Looks like that are having an impact.

On this, you and I agree 😉

This was just funny, but honest to me – thank you for saying it outloud so we didn’t have to :

“There is the no-wonder-people-outside-the-church-think-Christians-are-looney angle and there is the sexuality angle. But, for now, I think it best to just get it on here and see what develops.”

wow, it all I can say. Being a christian isn’t always easy…but sometimes it’s those making claims like this, that make it all the more…interesting.

This story makes it appear that all of them believe in ‘instant deliverance’–and for every person. Yet, when I was a student, there were approximately two dozen others I knew of who ‘came from homosexual backgrounds’. Of these, only a handful seemed to have no further with struggles with homosexuality whatsoever. (I must admit, though, that I was one of those who seemed to have no further struggles. Yet, it was there that I wrestled with the fact that I had fallen in love with my male ministry partner. For years afterwards though, I was still regarded as one of those who was ‘completely free’. It’s a matter of Christian/Charismatic Christian/Pentecostal Christian terminology.)

While I attended the school and, several years later, when I returned to Dallas for a few years, the Dean of Men referred a number of students to me for counseling and support. I say him rather than the school, because when a prominent married staff person was busted for soliciting a male prostitute, the higher ups sent him for ‘inner healing’ and ‘deliverance’ rather than for practical counseling. (I wasn’t able to find out how that went. He and his wife disappeared quietly into oblivion. I’m sure someone followed up on them but I, personally, never heard another word.)

When I was invited to attend my first Exodus Summit, it was while I was at CFNI, as we called it. I was strongly cautioned by several in leadership that I needed to be wary about being ‘re-ensared’ 1) by contact with some who might have mixed motives and 2) by moving into the ‘front lines’ and thus ‘drawing the enemy’s fire’. On one hand, they viewed me as someone who was ‘completely free’ but, when push came to shove, they recognized that ‘it ain’t over til it’s over’.

So, I saw a good part of the prophets video the same way I did when I attended. You hear it, you measure it against the bible, you consider those parts that are open for interpretation (i.e. the entire I-35 connection), and you measure the words by the outcome. It’s now 3 years later and that wave must be having a hard time pushing it’s way further north than Kansas. (Did he speak of any place north of Kansas? Or is that where he couldn’t find anymore visible ‘signs of revival’ to support his I-35 connection?) I’m in Minnesota where I-35 splits and comes together again and I see no signs of any renewed wave of spirituality. (LOL. Makes me wonder how we interpret the I-35 bridge collapse. Has God given up on North Minneapolis in favor of the northern suburbs of St. Paul?)

I’d love to comment specifically on the 2nd video but mine gave me a message that ‘it was no longer available’. (Spooky! And, then my MSN actually crashed twice! Rather than casting out a demon though, I sent an ‘error report’ and logged back in. Seems to have worked. 🙂 )

I was just about to ‘submit’ this when I realized something else. CFNI sits right next to I-35. Literally! They sit on a wedge of property where I-35 and another highway split. I want to say 635…but it’s been a long, long time. Anyway, if you’re thinking up a sermon and you’re wanting to connect with your audience, their physical location would be one factor that might influence your ‘inspiration’. Prophets words need to be measured against their fulfillment; the vessels are human.