Beebe, AR — Saying he thinks his discovery will settle the Christian nation debate, Rev. Cyrus Jones revealed in a press release that he has found the words of the Bible in the United States Constitution. Pastor of the Patriot Baptist Church, Jones said he was skeptical at first but was encouraged to seek the truth by listening to historical document collector, David Barton.
“Barton has 100,000 pre-1812 documents in his library. Because of that, I figure he knows something about old words,” Jones said. “For sure, the Bible has old words and so does the Constitution. I decided to see if Barton was right when he said the exact words of the Bible are in the Constitution.”
Jones said that he found many exact words. “‘The,’ ‘and,’ and, ‘an’ are especially common in both the Bible and Constitution, but the clincher was words like ‘blessings’ and ‘liberty’ and ‘faith’ and ‘numbers.’ Those exact words are in both the Bible and the Constitution.”
Jones is preparing a multi-part sermon series with a sermon on each exact word in common. “It is going to be anointed,” he said.
For more on the exact words of the Bible in the Constitution, watch the video below:
See also this and this.
(I hope it is obvious that Cyrus Jones is made up and the story is a spoof. Sadly, however, David Barton’s claim is very real (hat tip to RWW).
Year: 2016
A New Argument for the Existence of God!
Christian apologetics – 2016
Tim Tebow's HR in his first pro at-bat is just God's way of messing w/atheists's heads –making them wonder: "Yikes! What if He DOES exist?"
— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) September 28, 2016
Atheists trembled until Tebow went hitless in his next 5 at-bats. Another promising argument spoiled by the rest of the story.
Donald Trump, Rosie O'Donnell, Alicia Machado, and Evangelical Women (UPDATE: It got worse)
There were many articles out yesterday and today regarding Monday night’s debate and much has been said about Donald Trump’s attitudes toward women as indicated by what he said about Rosie O’Donnell and Alicia Machado.
I wonder if evangelical women are paying attention.
About O’Donnell, Trump said:
“You know, Hillary is hitting me with tremendous commercials. Some of it’s said in entertainment. Some of it’s said – somebody who’s been very vicious to me, Rosie O’Donnell, I said very tough things to her, and I think everybody would agree that she deserves it and nobody feels sorry for her.
About Machado, Clinton reminded Trump about a former Miss Universe.
CLINTON: And one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them. And he called this woman “Miss Piggy.” Then he called her “Miss Housekeeping,” because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name.
TRUMP: Where did you find this? Where did you find this?
CLINTON: Her name is Alicia Machado.
Machado has spoken out about how Trump treated her at he time.
In an appearance by phone on Fox News yesterday morning, Trump doubled down saying at 47 seconds into the clip Machado “gained a massive amount of weight” after she won the contest:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UdqZmNy4o0[/youtube]
I looked and asked around to find out if any evangelicals condemned this gross disrespect toward these two women and by extension to all women who aren’t perfect. I found nothing. Evangelical supporters of Trump seem to be accepting everything Trump does. His disgusting attitudes toward women was in full display during the debate and has been throughout the campaign.
Trump ridiculed O’Donnell and essentially urged others to do so as well (“she deserves it”). He demeaned Machado for her race (“Miss Housekeeper”) and appearance (“Miss Piggy”). Will evangelicals stand for this?
Although some evangelicals have admitted Trump lost the debate, I have not heard a direct condemnation of him over his disrespect for women. I have to believe when many evangelical women enter that voting booth, they will remember what he said and how he bullied and demeaned women. Closer to home, evangelical men should worry that evangelical women will remember that their men said nothing about it.
UPDATE – Steve Deace is a pretty conservative and a Never Trump person. He had something to say:
Overweight old white guys with 6 wives between them fat shaming women is every liberal stereotype of Republicans ever.
Morons.— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) September 29, 2016
Trump tripled down on his attacks on Machado, now suggesting people watch a sex tape that apparently doesn’t exist.
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
Tullian Tchividjian Posts Possible Book Excerpt at Expastors.com
At the expastors.com website an article appears under Tchividjian’s name (oddly with his name spelled incorrectly in the first line and image – How does that happen?) which promises a vulnerable look at the recent history of the troubled ex-pastor.
There was no mention of his recent remarriage in the expastors article.
Tchividjian reveals that he went through a suicidal period. It sounds like he is on the mend. Good for him and I wish him well.
In the comments section, there is a good deal of arguing back and forth about the nature of this article. Some are skeptical and others are angry. Some wonder if this is a part of the comeback prior to an upcoming book release with David C. Cook.
Many of my readers have shown interest in Tchividjian’s career and this seems to be an interesting turn of events.
Incidentally, the Churchill quote at the end is has not been found in Churchill’s written works.
UPDATE: 9/28/16 – Since I posted this yesterday, I have seen a text thread with an early draft of the expastors.com article. The material was circulated by Tchividjian to friends in March of this year (prior to his non-speaking speaking engagement at a CA church). You might recall that Tchividjian’s Liberate Network was revived and then abruptly closed down in March due to new revelations at the time. Apparently, this expastor.com article is a re-worked segment of an upcoming book, tentatively titled, Finding Grace in a Hopeless Place. The last paragraph in the March version reads:
This is a book about sin and grace, desperation and deliverance. This is a book about brokenness and the glorious fact that God’s grace runs downhill and meets us at the bottom in ways that we simply cannot know or experience when we’re at the top. This is a book about finding grace in a hopeless place.
The two documents aren’t identical but the latter appears to be a re-written version of the former. In the March text, this paragraph again falsely quotes Winston Churchill but does not mention a suicide note.
That admission takes suffering, crashing and burning, collapsing, a running out of our own steam. It takes being exposed—a real confrontation with ourselves that we fight to avoid, delay, push back, and mitigate at all costs. As one of my counselors told me early on, circumstances don’t create the condition of the heart. Rather, circumstances reveal the condition of the heart. And what was revealed to me about my heart in the fiery hotness of dire circumstances was scary and destructive. As Winston Churchill once said, “The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.”
From the expastors article:
The truth is, though, that we are very good lawyers when it comes to our own mistakes, but very good judges when it comes to the mistakes of others. As one of my counselors told me early on, circumstances don’t create the condition of the heart. Rather, circumstances reveal the condition of the heart. And what was revealed to me about my heart in the fiery hotness of dire circumstances was scary and destructive. This disgusting truth about myself (and the desperate aloneness that I felt because of it) made me want to commit suicide.
Tchividjian has attributed the “human heart” quote to Churchill before. Max Lucado just used the quote without attribution. It has been attributed to Adrian Rogers and Oswald Smith as well as Churchill. I can’t find any primary source for the quote.
Update: The inaccurate spelling of Tchividjian’s name has been corrected.
Big Influential Names Gather in Alabama @LeadNet #400Gathering
In other news…
Mark Driscoll is speaking at what Ed Stetzer calls “a private meeting of the most influential churches in the country.” He tweeted that the meeting is in an undisclosed location but I found it pretty easily (Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, AL). The blurb for the next gathering at Saddleback in January, 2017 says:
The theme is Religious Freedom and Conscience Rights in the New Season, and the event will serve as a forum for leading church Senior and Executive Pastors to discuss topics such as:
• What should our stance, practical tactics and preaching look like in our own local contexts in a country where “freedom to worship” has seemingly replaced “freedom of religion?”
• How will new norms impact outreach, guest services, personnel policy, marriage and communication strategies?
• How will Christian leaders be marginalized, ostracized and put on legal defensive and what should the response be?
• How will we equip our congregational leaders (especially lawyers, teachers, medical personnel and small businesspersons) to be salt and light in the new cultural environment?
Looks like a scarefest to me.
Since it is apparently secret, I don’t know what the theme of this one is.
If you want to know what the influential churches are talking about, you can follow along at #400gathering.