These are my comments relating to some of the articles found at www.forerunner.com.
Check back for my random thoughts on eschatology, world missions, God's Law and Society, theonomy, Christian Reconstruction, pro-life activism, evangelism testimonies, Neo-Puritan theology and social theory, revival and spiritual awakening, church history, and so on.
NBC's Law & Order "Dignity" episode takes script material from pro-life website
"Two weeks ago, my son had less rights than a dog or a cat."
- Gaulberto Garcia Jones, Director, Personhood Colorado
Press Conference, July 2, 2009
Speaking to District Attorney Jack McCoy, Michael Cutter (Linus Roache) says, "My God, cats and dogs have more rights than the unborn. Roe v. Wade wasn't written in stone. It could stand another look."
- Law & Order, "Dignity," air date: October 23. 2009
"The timing is perfect because the polls show now that more people are pro-life then pro-death."
- Leslie Hanks, Vice President, Colorado Right to Life
Press Conference, July 2, 2009
"Its time to face the facts, the tide has turned. Most Americans are pro-life now."
- Law & Order, "Dignity," air date: October 23. 2009
Can a pro-life video save unborn children? A friend of mine, Patte Smith, has been using this video at Dr. Pendergraft's abortion clinic, where she stands for the unborn as a sidewalk counselor and evangelist. I've been blessed to hear a few people changed their mind on abortion by viewing these videos I have put together in the past few years. Many have been convicted that abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy is a heartless policy. Below is one such testimony Patte received by email. Dr. Pendergraft owns the clinic where little baby Rowan was born alive and left to die.
My name is KC and I’ve been pro-choice as long as I can remember. Yesterday, I took my dear friend to Orlando Women’s Health Center for an abortion. To my surprise, you and a few other demonstrators were there. Of course, my friend and I ignored your calls out to us and went inside. But, then I needed a cigarette. When I went outside to smoke, I was listening to your pleas, just taking it all in. After four hours of waiting @ OWHC, the staff told my friend that they couldn’t do the procedure there. We were instructed to go home and get $300 more and meet the Dr. @ EPOC. We did as instructed. The doctor started the procedure and then told my friend to be back @ 9am the next day (today). They sent her home in the middle of an abortion. So while we were getting the runaround by Dr. Pendergraft’s employees, I couldn’t get your pleas out of my head. After a long and trying day, I came home and tried to get some sleep. Instead, I tossed and turned as your cries nagged at me.
So I gave up and went to youtube.com as you instructed. I typed “baby rowan 911” into the search bar but couldn’t find the courage to press to search button. What was I so afraid of? I’m pro choice. There is nothing anybody can say that will change that, right? So after this little battle with myself, I pressed search. I listened to the horrific 911 call and cried. I couldn’t believe it, so I did more research. I couldn’t believe to horror stories that I found. I was mortified when I found that it is not uncommon for aborted babies to be born alive and the staff just leaves them alone to die. I guess I just figured when babies are aborted they don’t even look like babies yet. I always figured they just kind of looked like a blob of tissue and cells. As I did a little research, my heart broke and my opinion changed. So I wanted to thank you. Thank you for being the voice of these dead babies. Because of you my views are changing. You made me more aware. Keep doing what your doing and try not to get discouraged. Even if people don’t let you know it, you are touching lives. Again, thank you.
Amazingly, this is an investigative video report, fairly well-done, that critiques one of my articles on Witchcraft and Abortion. In the video, the videographer claims he came to Melbourne to investigate the claims of my articles. I am fascinated by lengths to which people will go who are fascinated by me.
Due to a misquote in the field, the international director of the evangelical Forerunner.com was referred to as “Jay Roberts” in Scene 3 of the Beyond Logic Network’s experimental film series. The correct spelling of his name is “Jay Rogers.” We apologize for any misrepresentation or confusion this may have caused. The original summary of this episode reads as such: Following yet another lead he had picked up during his work with the preachers in Turlington Plaza, [Aries] Ashkuff investigates a so-called “witch cult” that has taken root in Palm Bay, and visits the private residence of their high priest.
BTW: I finished watching Lake of Fire and in it Pat Windle is seen standing in front of my house claiming (not naming names of course) that I got a voyeuristic sexual thrill out of watching women come to get abortions because I never had had sex myself -- (or maybe she was talking about someone else?)
Of course, that is nothing new. It was one of Pat's favorite temper tantrum talking points. But it was kind of surreal to see my house in the background and her pointing at it.
My response: These people can say whatever they want, just as long as they spell my name right!
Here is an experimental bumper for a video documentary on how the Reformed theology of the Puritans has influenced culture and politics. It's loosely related to the online publication, The Puritan Storm.
The Forerunner YouTube Channel hits the "one million video views" and "one thousand subscribers" mark.
As of this week, The Forerunner YouTube Channel surpassed the "one million video views" and "one thousand subscribers" mark.
If you operate a YouTube channel, you know that the beginning is slow going, but as the number of videos posted and number of subscribers increases the total numbers begin to snowball.
This is only a drop in the bucket compared to YouTube users who have gone viral. The all time favorite, of course, is "The Evolution of Dance" with the unlikely number of over 117,000,000 views (as of this posting Avril Lavigne has pulled slightly ahead). My most popular video to date is the first one I posted on YouTube in November of 1996 and in fact the first video I ever made. Abortion Clinic 911 Calls has a mere 223,000 views, which is .2 percent of some of the most "viral" videos.
Suffice it to say, competing with pop stars' latest music videos and such silliness as "Charlie bit my finger" is a huge task. That is not to say it cannot be done. A friend of mine hit the 2.5 million mark with a video about Barack Obama and late term abortion: I Invented the Internet (Ep. 4: Kill and Destroy).
Another guy I know makes several hundred dollars a month just from Google Adsense with videos produced by other people (including a few of mine) that he got permission to use. This is with a 5000 subscriber base.
Doing some simple math comparing our numbers, I am guessing that a monetized video with hundreds of millions of views is going to make its producer a few thousand dollars a month -- maybe tens of thousands -- for doing nothing beyond possessing the rights to the video. Strangely, several of the most popular YouTube videos are not monetized -- at least not with the YouTube/Adsense partnership program.
The future of all video is on-line channels that make their money from ad placement. I expect it will expand far beyond YouTube, but this is "Life After Television."
Abortion: The Religion of Witchcraft and Child Sacrifice (OPENING)
This is the rough cut of a future DVD release based on the script: Massacre of Innocence: The Occult Roots of Abortion by Eric Holmberg and Jay Rogers. It will be an update to the 1987 production of Massacre of Innocence.
INTRODUCTION
(Sound of shutter drive)
(Photos of Pat Windle)
Caption:
Patricia Baird-Windle, Founder and owner of Aware Woman Center for Choice
You practice your religion and let me practice mine.
(Sound of shutter drive)
My religion is a holy ritual child sacrifice.
(Shot of WRCF incorporation papers.)
On August 4, 1992, two employees of Aware Woman Center for Choice, Veronica Jordan and Rebecca Morris, registered a non-profit religious corporation known as the Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida (WRCF). The stated purpose of the WRCF is to provide an umbrella organization for witch covens throughout the state of Florida. The incorporation papers list two abortion clinic employees as directors of the Wiccan organization. Aware Woman Center for Choice is one of Florida's largest abortion clinics.
(Shot of book invoice)
Shortly after the Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida was founded, Carol Ebbing, another Aware Woman abortion clinic employee, ordered this book entitled: The Sacrament of Abortion.
(Shot of book cover The Sacrament of Abortion by Ginnette Paris)
The book, authored by Ginnette Paris, presents abortion as "a sacred act."
(Shot of Ginnette Paris picture from Pacifica Graduate Institutes web site)
Paris calls abortion "a sacrifice to Artemis, who refuses to give life if the gift is not pure" (that is innocent or preborn life).
The January 1993 issue of the Wiccan Open Circle newsletter described the founding of the Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida:
(Shot of cover of newsletter Open Circle)
A year ago the dream of an umbrella group under which many covens would function and be committed to peace and harmony For The Good Of All, was just that, a dream. But now it is a reality and a very, very big part of the lives of many people.
(Shot of text from newsletter page 5)
This same newsletter, published at the time the pro-life organization, Operation Rescue National, held an event in Melbourne, Florida, alerted Central Florida area Wiccans and Pagans.
... steps are being taken to protect not only Aware Woman, but a woman's right to choose. Work is being done mundanely, financially, and magically, to help get through the next few months and beyond.
(Shot of text from newsletter pages 6 and 7)
Readers of Open Circle were encouraged to become "clinic escorts" -- and were told how they could help fund the South Brevard National Organization of Woman's program to help low income women have abortions.
Wiccans were also encouraged to work their magic on the area surrounding the Aware Woman abortion clinic:
... many individuals and groups have been helping to magically protect the building and property ... This has been done by magical and psychic shielding being put on and around the property....
Is this just one abortion clinic that happens to have ties to a witches coven? Or is it indicative of something deeper and more sinister within the abortion rights movement? In focusing on the subject of abortion, much has been contended from a medical and social perspective. But when we pull the lid off and look at abortion from a biblical and spiritual perspective, the implications are far more profound and staggering.
As we view the ties between occult religion and the abortion industry, the conclusion will become obvious. The promotion of abortion is not just a political and social issue; it is part of a religious and spiritual agenda -- the religion of witchcraft and child sacrifice.
(Music, sound effects)
(OPENING TITLE) ABORTION: THE RELIGION OF WITCHCRAFT AND CHILD SACRIFICE
It is ironic. I sat down today to capture the audio for a video I have started on "Witchcraft and Abortion." I was searching to see if there were any photos of these Wiccan abortionists on the Internet. I found these .mp3 files by chance. I wrote and edited the articles in 1993 and later combined this with Eric Holmberg's Massacre of Innocence video script. There was a period of time in 1996 when I first posted my website that I would get up to 30 emails a day from enraged Wiccans who protested these articles. It was at that time that Forerunner.com was "discovered" by a mass audience of Wiccans and Pagans. Ironically their attention helped the fledgling website's overall popularity in the search engines.
To think I spent several hours doing the audio for a video (that will later have to be redone by Eric Holmberg anyway) and I found a pastor on the Internet who had already done the same thing! I'll be posting the video in segments on YouTube prior to the production of the final DVD.
Stay tuned.
You can subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to get updates via email.
I have several pro-life videos on YouTube warning about the dangers of elective abortion.
I occasionally get a comment from a viewer who tells me first to stop being so judgmental because she was "raped and pregnant." It seems the perfect retort because who can argue with that? It's truly an example of a "crisis pregnancy" and I don't doubt it's a horrific ordeal to go through. But my response is usually the same.
"You were never raped and pregnant."
How can I say that so callously?
I just find it unlikely that on one vlog (for example) of 115 comments, I would have even one person who was raped and pregnant. It is claimed that about one percent of all abortions are due to rape. And even these numbers are based on false testimony.
One percent of 1.3 million would be 13,000 abortions due to rape.
Is that possible?
Justice Department statistics for 2004 had approximately 0.4 rapes per 1,000 people. And that is from a broad definition of "rape" that would include various types of sexual assault. According to the Justice Department, of the average annual 200,780 sexual assault victims in 2004-2005, about 64,080 were victims of "completed rape."
Obviously, only a "completed rape" could result in a pregnancy.
To arrive at the "raped and pregnant" statistic of even one percent of all abortions, 13,000 (or over 20%) of these 64,000 rapes would have to result in a pregnancy.
Then to get to the number of even 1 percent of 1.3 million, 100% of those pregnancies would have to be aborted.
I've heard of other studies that show the number of rape-pregnancies leading to abortions is less than 500 per year.
That's why if you tell me you were "raped and pregnant," I am skeptical.
22 Weeks Premiere: Babies born alive after failed abortions!
The Orlando premiere of 22 Weeks was attended by about 200 people. This is part of the question and answer session after the film was shown. Film maker Ángel Soto, lawyer John Stemberger (Florida Family Policy Council) and sidewalk counselor Patte Smith (Sanctuary Ministries) took questions from the audience after the showing.
Hollywood: Tearing Down the Idols of the Entertainment Industry (Russian language video documentary)
In 1999 and 2000, I spent several weeks working with the staff of LOZA-TV, the first Christian video ministry in Russia. I proposed that their first video should be a critique of the many videos coming from the west into Russia. Hollywood: Tearing Down the Idols of the Entertainment Industry is an examination of the American entertainment industry, particularly the western films that are immensely popular in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
Few Americans realize the influence of our art, music and film on Russian culture. To many Russians, American freedom means nothing more than financial affluence coupled with sexual promiscuity, drug use, and criminal activity. This is exactly what they see portrayed on American television shows such as Beverly Hills 90120, Santa Barbara, and Dynasty. This is what they see in music videos and a myriad of films. Many Russians believe that this is an accurate portrayal of the American lifestyle. Yet freedom comes self-control and a responsibility born from a strong faith in God.
Hollywood was produced in Vladimir, Russian in the summer of 2000, and later won “Best Documentary” at the Christian Broadcasters Awards in Moscow. The pastor of Loza Church and Ministries, Victor Victorov, narrates a script that has been translated and adapted from Reel to Real’s Hollywood series written by Eric Holmberg. I’ve included the entire video here with the script that was translated from English into Russian.
You can view the video series with the entire script in English at my website:
I recently wrote a 70-page script called: "The Harrowing of Hell" -- which is the unlikely title of a proposed new video about postmillennial eschatology.
Read an excerpt from my script:
The Harrowing of Hell
The term “Harrowing of Hell" refers to idea that Christ descended into Hell, as stated in the Apostles’ Creed. It is further thought (by many) to mean that He made warfare against Hell releasing its captives, particularly the righteous men and women of Old Testament times.
The Greek wording in the Apostles’ Creed is katelthonta eis ta katôtata ... and in Latin descendit ad inferos.
The Greek ta katôtata means "the lowest" and the Latin inferos means “those below.” This is where we get the Italian word inferno (the word Dante used for “hell” in The Divine Comedy.) Inferos may also be translated as “the underworld,” “the netherworld,” or “hell.” So this phrase is usually translated in most English versions of the Apostles Creed as “descended into hell.”
The English word “harrow” is a form of “harry,” a military term meaning “to make predatory raids or incursions” against an enemy in warfare.
We get the term “harrowing of hell” from numerous Old and Middle English sermons on the triumphant descent of Christ into hell between the time of His crucifixion and His resurrection, when He brought salvation to souls held captive there.
In support of this view, Acts 2:27 and 2:31 declare in effect that Hades (the “place of the dead” or “hell”) could not hold the crucified Christ.
1 Peter 3:19-20 says that Jesus “went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah.”
1 Peter 4:6 says, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead.”
2 Corinthians 2:14 may also be interpreted to speak of the harrowing of hell.
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
— 2 Corinthians 2:14
We should point out that this doctrine is controversial. Not all theologians agree that these scriptures mean that Jesus visited hell in person after He died on the cross. Some rightly argue that Christ did not need to make warfare over an already defeated foe. But it is clear from the plain meaning of scripture that Jesus certainly triumphed over hell. At the cross, He defeated sin and death once and for all defeating Satan and all his works.
Central to this credo is a statement made by Jesus: “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you” (Matthew 12:28). This casting out of demons or the “harrowing of hell” was the preeminent sign that the kingdom had come on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is already here, but it has not yet grown to its fullness. The kingdom is likened to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field until it grew into a great tree (Matthew 13:31). It is also likened to leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened (Matthew 13:33). The kingdom of God is already here, but it is always progressing and growing until it spreads into the whole world.
The role of the Church during history is to bring all things into captivity to Christ. Satan and the forces of hell have already been defeated – and yet still greater victory lies ahead.
Now if we are going to work for the kingdom of God with an eye toward winning, we must have an eschatology of victory. If we are to bring everything into captivity to Christ, we must have a theology that tells us it is impossible to lose. Ideas have consequences. We must believe that we are the people of victory and Christ is going to triumph in history. Only when all things are put under His feet will the last enemy, death, be destroyed.
As 1 Corinthians 15:25,26 tells us:
For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
— 1 Corinthians 15:25,26
Now this is a remarkable truth. And yet few people have taken it this at face value and have considered its plain meaning. According to this passage, Christ is reigning now from heaven. He will do so until all enemies of the Gospel are put under His feet. Through the conversion of the nations of the world, God's enemies will be destroyed. The last enemy, death, is destroyed only at the Second Coming. Until that time, we can look forward to great victories. We are told that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ” (Revelation 11:15).
And the exciting part of this promise is that we Christians are to be used of God to put His enemies into submission. The idea that the Lord has entrusted the stewardship of the world to His people is found in the parable of the talents in Luke 19. Here the Lord says to His servants, “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13). The Lord is gone for a long time, while His most faithful servants work to increase the wealth of their Master's kingdom.
When the Master returns, He rewards those who have done the best job with the wealth entrusted to them in advancing the kingdom in their Lord's absence. Those who work for the advance of the kingdom receive rulership over entire cities. But the enemies of God who would not work to increase the wealth of their master are slain with the sword (Luke 19:27).
So ideas do have consequences. If we believe that Satan is already bound according to Revelation 20:2 and Christ is seated on the throne of heaven, then what type of stewards should we be? Should we tirelessly work for the increase of the kingdom of God in history? – Or should we act like the unfruitful servants hide our talents in hope that we won’t lose the little that God has given us?
Jesus further elaborated on this promise: “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house” (Matthew 12:28-29).
The New Testament speaks of the binding of Satan in various places. Satan falls from heaven (Luke 10:18); he is cast out of heaven (John 12:31); he was crushed under our feet (Romans 16:20); he was disarmed (Colossians 2:15); he was rendered powerless (Hebrews 2:14); his works were destroyed (1 John 3:8).
Are we, the people of God, to live in the shadow of fear of the devil and a world system bent on evil and destruction content to be rescued only at the Second Coming of Jesus? Or are we to be active participants, soldiers in the war against hell, following in the train of Christ to plunder the strong man’s house?
While much is made in recent years of different and competing theories on the end times, we are going to confine our discussion to one central issue.
And that is this: Does the defeat of Satan’s kingdom and the great increase of the kingdom of God occur before or after Jesus returns?
If we look at God’s promises to Israel in the Old Testament of a Golden Age of great peace and prosperity in the “last days,” does this promise extend to the Church within our present history – or is it confined to a future thousand-year reign of Christ on earth after His return? While all Christians should believe in the victory of Jesus Christ and the rule of God’s people during the millennium, this only begs the questions:
How much victory are we to expect in the here and now?
Is Satan already bound or is he alive and well on the planet earth?
If Jesus Christ truly “harrowed hell,” how should we then live?
And that is what this presentation is about.
In short, we want to provoke and challenge your thinking here to consider the question:
I went to the 22 Weeks premiere in Orlando. This is a film about the Baby Rowan story.
I was asked to videotape the question and answer session after the showing. Film maker, Ángel Soto, Patte Smith of Sanctuary Ministries and John Stemberger of Florida Family Policy Council were on the panel. Three other people brought camcorders, so the resulting videos should be interesting.
It occurred to me right now that technology is making it easier for people to work together towards a cause in a grassroots manner. I have loose ties to all three of these people, but I find it interesting that the Q&A video itself is a cooperative project that will now be seen by thousands of people that cost virtually nothing but our time to put together. That could never have happened ten years ago.
For now, you need to see this series I did earlier this month based on Patte Smith's interviews we shot in the spring of 2007.
I was vaguely aware when I signed up for the YouTube/Adsense partnership program that not only would I make money on clickable ads placed on my YouTube video logs, but when others would embed my "video units" on their site there would also be a three way revenue sharing. But I had forgotten I would make money this way until I started seeing money show up in this strange category on my Adsense page called: "AdSense for Content Host."
I am seeing a considerable spike in my Adsense income since I started the YouTube/Adsense partnership program. Although this started out slowly, August's income in this category more than tripled from the previous months' averages and it has stayed consistent since then. From my understanding of the program, YouTube partners are paid by impressions and not just clicks on ads shown on YouTube pages. But Google is very secretive and publishes no statistics on the YouTube partner ads, so I am not 100 percent sure how this works.
But hold the phone!
Last month, my "AdSense for Content Host" category started spiking and this month it is spiking even more. I had to Google what the term, "AdSense for Content Host," actually meant and I found a plethora of people who were puzzled by this sudden spike in their earnings as well.
This income comes from my YouTube videos that are embedded on other people's websites. Here is how YouTube explains it:
In AdSense Reports Overview, 'YouTube' refers to revenue earned on your channel at www.youtube.com.
'AdSense for Content Host' refers to revenue earned from embedded videos ads and AdSense for Video Ads. AdSense for Video ads can run both on your videos on YouTube.com, and on your videos on an AdSense publisher's website. These ads consist of text overlay ads contextually targeted to a combination of signals in your videos and on the site.
In other words, I am making money from ads on my YouTube pages, which is a separate category, but I am also making money from "video units" -- that is, my YouTube videos shown on other websites.
In fact, if the trend I am seeing this month continues, the income from YouTube may top my regular Adsense income from ads on my website.
A friend of mine who does web development for a living first implored me to try AdSense in 2006. Around the same time, he suggested that I use YouTube to stream my videos. This was a few months before YouTube's jump in popularity. I had complained that I had more video I wanted to show than I had server space. I was kind of shocked that YouTube allowed me to stream video for free. I got into it not even thinking there could ever be a profit in it on my end.
I have to learn to take such suggestions more seriously, no matter how esoteric and impractical they may sound to me at first. It's the curse of being a genius: No one understands you at first, but people who do may end up cashing in on your brilliance.
"You can't push your beliefs about abortion on someone else!"
The following is a comment on one of my YouTube Vlogs on the pro-life issue and my response.
This shows you how confused is our postmodernist generation of the 21st century. When someone says, " I can't push my beliefs on someone else," they are actually stating a belief.
Not pushing your beliefs on someone is pushing your beliefs.
As Nietzsche (who was right sometimes) said: "Not to decide is to decide."
Or as Cornelius Van Til argued, there is no such thing as a statement of belief that contains moral neutrality.
_________________
missmelpol: I don't believe in having an abortion, but that is MY BELIEF. I can't push my beliefs on someone else. I thought that was why we had a freedom of religion or speech and all that good stuff.
jcr4runner: The question is: "Why do you think abortion is wrong?" Is it because:
1. You don't like abortion?
- or -
2. Abortion is murder?
If it is simple a question of likes and dislikes, then no you don't have the right to enforce a mere opinion. But if abortion is murder, it is a moral law that transcends personal opinion. It can't be "murder" for one person and "not murder" for another depending on how one feels at the moment.
"The 1970 revival at Asbury College will go down n history as one of the greatest supernatural events of the last half of the 20th century. Millions of people across the United States and the world were impacted by it. This simple video odes a wonderful job of conveying something of the outpouring's heart and power. Everyone we have ever shown this to have an immediate impartation of faith for revival and the power of prayer. What God did once at this campus, we believe He will do again on every campus where a group of students will open their hearts to Him."
- Bob and Rose Weiner, Weiner Ministries International
What is true Revival and Spiritual Awakening?
Discover the answer in this eyewitness account by Dennis Kinlaw, President of Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky, who recounts the story of a visitation of the Holy Spirit in 1970. If you are a student who longs to see a spiritual awakening at your school, you must see this video!
This is the presentation that has continued to spark the flames of Revival in the hearts of people around the world. Contains eyewitness footage from the Revival at Asbury College in 1970 in Wilmore, Kentucky. Certain to challenge you to greater holiness and a deeper commitment to full-scale revival. Original news and private footage has been included.
WILMORE, Kentucky -- One morning in 1970, without warning, all heaven broke loose during Asbury College's 10 a.m. chapel service.
"When you walked into the back of Hughes Auditorium ... there was a kind of an aura, kind of a glow about the chapel," said Dr. David Hunt, a Louisville physician who was then a student.
"I always have been reminded of the verse 'Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.' You just walked in and sensed that God had indeed sent His Spirit."
The service, a routine meeting, was scheduled for 50 minutes. Instead, it lasted 185 hours non-stop, 24 hours a day. Intermittently, it continued for weeks. Ultimately, it spread across the United States and into foreign countries. Some say it is being felt even today.
This year marks the 21st anniversary of the landmark 1970 Asbury College revival, an unplanned, unled display of fervor that has been compared to the Great Awakenings of 1740 and 1800. This year is also the 41st anniversary of a strikingly similar revival Asbury experienced in 1950.
A bigger outbreak -- a global revival, in fact -- will begin soon, says David McKenna, president of adjacent Asbury Theological Seminary, in his new book, The Coming Great Awakening.
The revival might not start at Asbury, but it probably will begin on campuses, says McKenna, a noted author. He travels to many colleges and says, "I see the signs wherever I go."
Those signs include a generation of students wounded by family breakdowns and searching for spiritual fulfillment. Much of the coming revival will be a delayed reaction, McKenna thinks, to what happened at Asbury College 20 years ago.
Can you make good money on the YouTube/Adsense Partnership program?
Here's an interesting question posed by a YouTube user named Kevin:
Hi Jay,
I saw that you are a member partner on YouTube. I am a Bible teacher at Christian High School and I was thinking about becoming a partner on YouTube to make some extra money. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of compensation does Google//YouTube provide to you for that? Youtube is kind of vague as far as the compensation is concerned.
God bless your ministry!
I am supposed to not reveal my earnings as part of my YouTube contract. I will tell you this: I have 126 videos posted on YouTube and about 30,000 views per month for all videos. That's based on 511,706 views since November of 2005. My goal is to increase this to 100,000 per month.
Google does not as of yet post detailed data on YouTube Adsense as they do for their other types of ads. So statistically speaking I am in the dark about impressions versus earnings.
But I can estimate based on views.
I also have a website of about 15,000 pages with Adsense. I make most of my Adsense money here at this site.
My current page views per month for this website are at about 250,000. So if you compare that with the 30,000 YouTube views per month it explains why I make a little more than ten percent of my total revenue from YouTube. The ratio is about even.
So this is to be expected even though I had hoped to do better with YouTube. I look at it as just another stream of revenue. Each video is like adding another page to my website -- just a lot more work! I started on YouTube because I wanted an audience and thought I could drive more people to my site. I also was glad to find that this was free server space on which to park an unlimited amount of video which takes up a lot of server memory even in flash format. I started by posting videos and then embedding them in my blog and other places on my website.
Then the YouTube/Adsense partnership program came two years later. I just started receiving money from this a few months ago.
However, I believe it is a good idea for the future especially if you own copyrights to video or have permission to use them. Eventually we will see a shift toward Internet based TV. Google and YouTube are positioning themselves to be the brokers of both the advertising and the medium.
Here's why it's good to start with the partnership program now:
As you know, many of the videos on YouTube are illegal copyright violations. As the ad money starts to surge, there will be a strong push by the copyright owners to ban users who post illegal videos. Right now it is an annoyance, but then it will be thought of as stealing ad revenue. I think in fact that the Adsense strategy is a way to deal with the inevitable. There is big money in ad revenue on-line and YouTube wants to attract the major television producers as well as small time producers of video to their site. Eventually the illegal stuff will be weeded out. And consequently there will be a smaller offering of videos to watch. The simple rule of supply and demand spells an increase of income for the legal users.
The Real Jesus: A Defense of the Historicity and Divinity of Christ
Who is the Real Jesus?
Ever since the dawn of modern rationalism, skeptics have sought to use textual criticism, archaeology and historical reconstructions to uncover the "historical Jesus" -- a wise teacher who said many wonderful things, but fulfilled no prophecies, performed no miracles and certainly did not rise from the dead in triumph over sin.
Over the past 100 years, however, startling discoveries in biblical archaeology and scholarship have all but vanquished the faulty assumptions of these doubting modernists. Regretably, these discoveries have often been ignored by the skeptics as well as by the popular media. As a result, the liberal view still holds sway in universities and impacts the culture and even much of the church.
This presentation explodes the myths of these critics and the movies books and television programs that have popularized their views.
Presented in ten parts -- perfect for individual, family and classroom study -- viewers will be challenged to go deeper in their knowledge of Christ in order to be able to defend their faith and present the truth to a skeptical modern world – that the Jesus of the Gospels is the Jesus of history -- "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). He is the real Jesus.
Speakers include: George Grant, Ted Baehr, Stephen Mansfield, Raymond Ortlund, Phil Kayser, David Lutzweiler, Jay Grimstead, J.P. Holding, and Eric Holmberg.
Although the DVD is completely finished, we have the DVD inserts on order. This is the insert here. However, it will take a week or two to get them in. You can pre-order the video or if you want the DVD right away without an insert, I can send it right away and will send the Amaray case later.
I am also looking for people to write reviews of The Real Jesus. If you order the DVD and write a review of it on Amazon.com, we'll be giving a free copy of Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism or God's Law and Society absolutely free. Send me an email if you are interested in this "two-for-one" offer. Then look for the product on Amazon in a week or two.
This offer is good through January 30th, so do it now. Over 100,000 people have viewed the 10 parts of The Real Jesus on YouTube. You can watch the V-log "podcast" version here:
The DVD version has more than an hour of additional materials than the "podcast version" and is hosted by Eric Holmberg of the Apologetics Group. We've had literally hundreds of comments from atheists and skeptics on YouTube. So if you order this product, you'll also be helping to make other videos like this available to believers, seekers and skeptics alike. The scripts for The Real Jesus parts two and three are already written and production has already begun!
Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism, is a DVD produced by The Apologetics Group. I recently helped to remaster the DVD and I have about 100 copies on hand for the special price of $12.95 -- a great deal for a four and a half hour presentation.
Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism (DVD) Two discs, three parts, over four hours of instruction!
Just what is “Calvinism?” Does this teaching make man a deterministic robot and God the author of sin? What about free will? If the church accepts Calvinism, won’t evangelism be stifled, perhaps even extinguished? How can we balance God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? What are the differences between historic Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism? Why did men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards and a host of renowned Protestant evangelists embrace the teaching of predestination and election and deny free will theology?
This is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. Hosted by Eric Holmberg, this fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten “Sunday-school-sized” sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer.
Part One explores the history of the debate. It begins with the pivotal dispute between Augustine and Pelagius and continues through the semi-pelagian controversy; focusing particularly on the debate between Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus. The history section ends with a definitive historical explanation of the issues that arose during the Calvinist/Arminian controversy. By examining the five points of Arminianism and the Synod of Dort’s response, the viewer will clearly see that the Protestant Church understood how the Gospel would be compromised if Arminianism prevailed.
Part Two opens the Word of God, our ultimate authority for life and faith. The five points of Arminianism are put on trial as what would later come to be known as the “five points of Calvinism” are clearly and forcefully presented.
Part Three asks and answers the provocative question: If Calvinism is true, if God is absolutely sovereign; then why should we evangelize? It also explores the vital issue of how to and to whom the gospel should be presented so as to be faithful to the great doctrines of God’s sovereignty, man’s depravity, and the miracle of amazing grace.
Rich in graphics, dramatic vignettes, and biblical analogies, this presentation also features many of the finest reformed thinkers and pastors of our time: Dr. R.C. Sproul, Dr. D. James Kennedy, Dr. George Grant, Dr. Stephen Mansfield, Dr. Thomas Ascol, Dr. Thomas Nettles, Dr. Roger Schultz, Pastor Walt Chantry, Dr. Joe Morecraft, Dr. Ken Talbot, Pastor Walter Bowie and Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Two discs, three parts, over four hours of instruction. Price: $12.95
I first did the YouTube experiment just to see what type of feedback I'd get and it's exceeded my expectations. Of course, I'd like to have millions of viewers, but for now I'll settle for tens of thousands.
Now the big question is: How would the presentation do in the market if it were kicked up a few notches and given to distributors?
We live in a world where more and more people are "Jesus crazy" -- young people talk about Jesus more than in any other time in recent history. At the same time, most of the current young generation of believers are more clueless than any generation that has come before them.
On one level the popularity of Dan Brown's books and programs such as "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" illustrate the point that people are hungry to know more. Controversy about Jesus sells. Hollywood and Madison Avenue understands this. What we have not done as Christian witnesses is to present "pop apologetics" on the same level of quality as these books, movies and TV shows. Instead we present pale and palsied televangelism.
One basic reason for this is that Christology is a lost area of study.
As you might know, I have script materials for at least three to four more hours on The Real Jesus -- Examining the Christological Heresies of Pop Culture.
Most of the Real Jesus (part 1) was written in the fall of 2000. I think the material that I've written more recently is a lot better and more interesting. I've also begun a series of short 3 to 5 minute segment called "Apologetics Talk" -- in which I answer the many comments, questions and objections from atheists, skeptics and seekers who have responded to The Real Jesus series.
I started the Apologetics Talk Vlog to answer some of the many comments I’ve been getting on The Real Jesus videos.
In the past, my videos have been seen mainly by Christians. But now with YouTube I am excited that I’ve had tens of thousands of viewers, many of who are skeptics and non-believers. I wanted you to know that your comments have challenged me to go deeper and examine my own beliefs.
This is where I want to give back some reactions to the comments.
First, let’s talk about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This was the archaeological find of the 20th century, not only did it tell us some important facts about the ancient Judaism, but it also proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Hebrew scriptures we have today are exactly the same as the scriptures in the centuries before Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
Now some people still don’t get this. For instance:
sirvega280 wrote:
The Dead sea scrolls don't prove anything that Peter Jennings "failed" to mention. The Jewish authorities that possess the Dead Sea Scrolls will not give the academic world access to the Dead Sea Scrolls so that they can analyze it themselves. The Jewish authorities will only tell us what it supposedly reads, and we are supposed to take their word for it, I guess. Or could it be that the Judeo-Christian community does not want us to find out anything that would undermine this religion?
I don’t know where he got this information, but it is wrong.
Photos of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been available to everyone for study for about ten years on the Internet. These are now public documents.
The Dead Scrolls prove that the Bible hasn't changed in over 2000 years.The Hebrew scrolls of the Old Testament written before the time Christ are virtually identical to the Bible we have today.
Now for years, I’ve been writing in my articles in The Forerunner that the Dead Sea Scrolls prove the reliability and the unchanging quality and the unchanging quality of the Bible. But after getting Sirvega’s comment, I wanted to know for myself.
So I ordered this book, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible - Translated from Hebrew for the First Time into Modern English. What I found was amazing. Not only did it conform everything I’ve been writing and teaching about on the Dead Sea Scrolls, but it also boosted my faith in the integrity of scripture. It showed me that today’s biblical text is even more accurate than I thought it was.
Consider this. The last of the Old Testament books – Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi – were written before 400 B.C. so we have copies within about 250 years of the originals. That’s pretty amazing.
Besides the Bible, there is no other ancient writing that has surviving manuscript copies within 900 years of the originals.
900 years!
And yet historians accept many of these other ancient accounts of history as accurate. The very existence of the Dead Sea Scrolls is providential – a sign that the scriptures are the Word of God – post dating some of the originals by only 200 years.
So the next time you hear someone say: “The Bible we have today has been changed and altered and we don’t even know what the originals said.”
Tell them to check out this book on The Dead Sea Scrolls and see for themselves what’s true.
John Dominic Crossan: “Was Jesus even buried at all? ... I feel terribly sympathetic toward the followers of Jesus because I hear hope there and not history.”
In his book, The Historical Jesus, John Dominic Crossan is clear about the agenda behind his attack on the truth of the resurrection. Remember that in Crossan’s mind, the resurrection is not plausible and the Gospel accounts are not reliable. Therefore, he uses historical reconstructions based upon what he believes might have happened. Again, there are no written historical records to back up his claims. Instead, he writes:
"If you cannot believe in something produced by reconstruction, you may have nothing left to believe in" (John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, p. 426).
Crossan’s attack on the truth of the resurrection, in the big picture, is really an attack on the nature of truth itself. According to Crossan, truth fluctuates from generation to generation. He writes:
"It is not … that we find once and for all who the historical Jesus was way back then. It is that each generation and century must redo that historical work and establish its best reconstruction ... it is that Jesus reconstructed in the dialogues, debates, controversies, and the conclusions of contemporary scholarship that challenges faith to see and say how that is for now the Christ, the Lord, the Son of God" (John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, p. 217).
In Crossan’s reconstructed version of the story, Jesus’ death was accidental — the type of execution that the oppressive and arbitrary justice of the Romans might carry out on any given day. In the days following the crucifixion, one or more of the Apostles may have invented a story about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead in order to give themselves some credibility. And then some followers of the Apostles, who just happened to be scribes, may have recorded the event as though it were history -- another unfortunate accident -- according to Crossan.
But Crossan fails to answer some obvious questions: If the resurrection were a hoax, why would there be a Christian movement in the years after Jesus’ death? If Christ’s death were an accident, why would there even be a scribe who would want to record a distorted record of Jesus’ death?
Lacking answers to these questions as well any real evidence for their claims, the scholars of the Jesus Seminar speculate endlessly as to how and why the resurrection story came about.
Jennings: “Some scholars think that the resurrection stories were borrowed from eastern pagan cults called mystery religions.”
Jennings: “The mystery cults had an influence because the people who wrote the Jesus story took an earlier story and passed it on via Jesus.”
The writers of the New Testament also mention the “mystery religions” that Peter Jennings refers to here — most notably, the Apostles Peter, John and Paul. What is being described here is Gnosticism — an eastern cult that had followers the world over at the time of the Roman Empire. At the time of Jesus, even Judaism had succumbed to the effects of the ancient mystery religions.
But do similarities among stories told among cults and mystery religions disprove the resurrection of Jesus? Let’s look at some evidence:
According to the Apostle Paul, writing in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8, there were over 500 eyewitnesses, including the Apostles, who saw Jesus after the resurrection. Many preached the Gospel and a few of them wrote books and testimonies.
There is also the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the blood of the martyrs in the first century. Many of the eyewitnesses to Christ’s resurrection died as martyrs for their faith. It would be hard to imagine people dying for what they knew was a fraudulent claim.
[J.P HOLDING INTERVIEWS: “What are the evidences for the resurrection?”]
In contrast to this strong evidence, Marcus Borg of the Jesus Seminar states:
“If we don’t understand why he could be executed, then we miss the political passion that animated his mission ... When we turn Jesus’ death instead into the eternal sacrifice for sin that makes our forgiveness possible, then we really set aside that which mattered so much to Him ...”
The epitome of liberalism is the false dichotomy between the social Gospel and eternal salvation. Of course, there is no contradiction between the two.
Christ lived a perfect life, not only as an example for us, but actually according to scripture to be the “second Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45) to fulfill the covenant of righteousness so that His righteousness may be imputed to us.
In Christ’s death we find forgiveness for our sins, not only because he died as a martyr for the truth, but also because He became sin on our behalf. His eternal sacrifice through his death for sin does not in any way obscure the message of His perfect life.
Myth #6: The miracles of the New Testament were invented by the Gospel writers.
Jennings: "Most scholars think these stories were invented by the Gospel writers as advertisements for Christianity in its early years."
Jennings: "Did Jesus really heal people?"
[INTERVIEWS WITH APOLOGIST J.P. HOLDING: "Did Jesus heal people?" Refer to Mat. 11:2-6]
And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" (Mat. 11:2-6 NKJ).
Note that Jesus is declaring himself to be the Messiah, the Son of God, by showing John the Baptist that specific prophecy is being fulfilled. Hundreds of years before, Isaiah wrote of the Messiah:
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah (Isaiah 35:5-6).
Myth #5: The Gospels contradict one another and contain fiction
Jennings: "Scholars don't take everything that they read in the New Testament literally because there are four different and sometimes contradictory versions of Jesus' life."
Yes, there are differences in the Gospel accounts. Let's begin with the first obvious difference that seems to concern Jennings so much -- the story of Jesus birth. First, there are different genealogies of Jesus. The Jews knew that the Messiah was to come from the house of Judah and specifically must be a descendant of David. Up to this point, Matthew and Luke agree with one another.
There could be several reasons why Matthew and Luke contain different genealogical accounts. The church historian Eusebius, writing in the early fourth century, records that separate genealogies appear for the following reason. Jesus had both a biological mother, Mary, and a legal (but not biological) father, Joseph. Matthew records Jesus' genealogy by "law" through his adoptive father, Joseph, and Luke records the genealogy of "nature" through his biological mother, Mary. According to Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Julius Africanus, a third century church father, explained this alleged contradiction in his Letter to Aristides (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book I, chapter 7).
[CONTRAST JENNINGS' FOLLOWING CLAIMS WITH RESPONSES BY APOLOGIST J.P. HOLDING]
Jennings: "The Gospels give different versions of what happened on the day that Jesus was baptized ... "
Jennings: "Historians differ about what happened a the Last Supper. Some people think His whole speech about the Body and Blood was added by the Gospel writers."
Jennings: "The Jewish leaders take Jesus to Pilate and pressure him before he will pass the sentence. Many historians don't believe it."
Jennings: "Jesus is not an heroic figure at all until He gets into the hands of all the people who are going to write and embellish him."
The idea that Jesus did not claim to be God is often put in a more subtle way.
Jennings: “The word Messiah did not mean the Son of God. It simply meant ‘the anointed one.’”
[INTERVIEWS WITH J.P. Holding: “Did Jesus claim to be God?” “Is the Old Testament Messiah divine?”]
The idea that the Jewish Messiah is God himself is not something that first century Christians made up. The divinity of the Messiah is something we find throughout the Old Testament.
The great Reformed scholar Benjamin Warfield wrote:
“It is quite clear, at the outset, that the writers of the New Testament and Christ Himself understood the Old Testament to recognize and to teach that the Messiah was to be of divine nature. For example, they without hesitation support their own assertions of the Deity of Christ by appeals to Old Testament passages in which they find the Deity of the Messiah afore-proclaimed.” (Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield, The Divine Messiah In The Old Testament)
As an example of this, let’s look at Psalm 110, which happens to be the most quoted Old Testament passage by New Testament writers.
“The Lord said to My Lord, sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.” — Psalm 110:1
Jesus himself brought this prophecy into focus when He confronted the skeptics of his day.
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?"
They said to Him, "The Son of David."
He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him "Lord,' saying:
"The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?
If David then calls Him "Lord,' how is He his Son?" And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore. (Matthew 22:41-46)
Let’s look at Psalm 110 carefully: God addresses the Son as God. He tells us that the Lord Jesus sits upon God’s own throne. We have to ask: Who except God could sit upon God’s throne? Jesus sits on God’s throne because He always was and always will remain God in every sense of the word.
Amazing Grace: The story of how William Wilberforce, John Newton and Olaudah Equiano stopped the English slave trade in the early 19th century.
Another subtitle to this movie could be: How a British production company produced an uncannily evangelical film. If you haven’t seen Amazing Grace, go to your local theater this week and see it. It’s not likely to be in theaters for long. It’s not the most riveting action packed film in the world and at over two hours it drags on in places.
As a low production budget film, it is excellent on several counts. The main one being its fairly accurate portrayal of the faith of William Wilberforce and how he was initially torn between a calling to the ministry and political life as a member of the British Parliament at the turn of the 19th century.
The best lines of the film for me were delivered by the abolitionists sent to recruit Wilberforce to the cause, “Mr. Wilberforce, we understand you’re having problems choosing whether to do the work of God or that of a political activist. We humbly suggest, that you can do both.”
But this is not intended as a review. Pro-life advocates have long held Wilberforce as a patron saint of sorts. Here I want to outline how a “Model for Reformation” in the life of Wilberforce. The obvious parallel between Wilberforce and the modern pro-life movement is how the two are set apart by almost exactly 200 years – February 23rd, the films release date, being the 200th anniversary of the initial legislation against the slave trade. The full ban on slavery did not take effect in Great Britain until July 26th, 1833. Ironically, Wilberforce died of influenza three days after the news reached him.
On a side note, most people don’t know that today, even at a conservative estimate, there are 27,000,000 slaves worldwide. This is far more than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. For more information, I encourage you to check out the excellent web site: www.williamwilberforce.com
A lot of people also don’t know that William’s son, Samuel Wilberforce, debated with Thomas Huxley, criticizing the theories in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Here again, there are obvious parallels to the debate over abortion -- the murder of hundreds of millions of children in our lifetime -- the greatest holocaust in world history.
We see in the British anti-slavery campaign a slow toil fraught with seemingly endless setbacks. Almost all hope seemed lost during the Napoleonic Wars, when members of Parliament argued that a withdrawal from the slave trade would guarantee a French dominance in West Indian plantation profits.
Wilberforce still plodded on with only a handful of supporters. According to Wikipedia.com:
“A change of tactics, which involved introducing a bill to ban British subjects from aiding or participating in the slave trade to the French colonies, was advised by maritime lawyer James Stephen in early 1806. It was a smart move, as the majority of the ships were, in fact, now flying under American flags and were manned by British crews, sailing out of Liverpool. The new Foreign Slave Trade Act was quickly passed and the tactic proved successful. The new legislation effectively prohibited two-thirds of the British slave trade. This was in part enabled by Lord Nelson's victory at the Trafalgar which had given Britain the sea power to ensure that any ban could be enforced.”
What this did was to hit the slave trading industry in its most vulnerable spot -- its profits. With the money of the slave trading lobbyists cut off, Parliament was able to proceed to pass a more universal Slave Trade Act just a year later.
We see a modern parallel in the federal law, the Born Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA) and other federal and state legislation that limits the abortion industry. Such laws are flouted and violated at every turn by killing chains such as Planned Parenthood and others such as those owned locally by Dr. James Scott Pendergraft. If we will simply keep pressing our advantage, it may be possible to shut down many if not most of the clinics who perform dangerous surgery as an outpatient procedure.
In the meantime, the negative press generated by abortuaries that routinely violate health and medical codes, doctors who delivery viable babies alive and leave them to die, and other atrocities, can work in favor of turning public opinion. This strategy of enlightening the public to what is really happening can work. Even if we put only a small dent in the abortion industry due to litigation, we can change public opinion. Even “pro-choice” Americans draw the line at infanticide. Yet most are unaware that abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason.
The tactic should proceed as follows:
1. The public will be made aware that actual infanticide is going on in these killing places. Abortionists will be prosecuted. 2. A variety of other health and medical code violations in these killing chains will be publicized. Abortionists will be prosecuted. 3. Public sentiment against abortions of viable unborn children will rise as stories of premature birth success stories are published. 4. State by state, second and third trimester abortions will be outlawed as infanticide. 5. State by state, abortion can be pushed back to the original intent of Roe v. Wade, which is to limit abortion to the less than three percent of all abortions currently procured for the so-called “exceptions.” 6. A Constitutional Amendment banning all abortion will be enacted.
I have heard many pro-lifers hold a hard-line against this type of “incremental” approach as cowardly compromise and an accommodation with the culture of death. I myself am sympathetic to this viewpoint. However, what we need to be aware of is the vast amount of money taken in by the killing chains owned by Planned Parenthood. These resources are used in lobbying and the creation of false polls, such as those by Planned Parenthood’s Alan Guttmacher Institute, which effectively maintain the status quo distortion of “a woman’s right to choose” even though a vast majority of Americans support a ban on second and third trimester abortions and abortion in the first trimester as a matter of convenience.
Another thing that convinces me that we are at a pivotal point, is the number of recent news stories that are systematically exposing abortion -- at least in the latter stages of pregnancy -- as infanticide in the national consciousness. I believe that this is the work of God now moving through the Holy Spirit to change the American consciousness. Our “ground troops” need to seize our advantage even while the “air support” is still striking. I also find it significant that many of these stories are focusing the nation’s attention on Florida and especially Orlando and Miami.
A British newspaper recently carried the story of the huge number of babies who are surviving late term abortions and a current move is under way to rewrite abortion laws in that country. I encourage you to go to this link and check out the comments – all by Europeans who are mostly “pro-choice” -- that show that this is pushing people slowly but surely toward a pro-life position.
Another story that astonished Americans was the Miami, Florida baby born at 20-weeks who has survived even though she weighed less than one pound at birth. This baby was actually younger than Baby Rowan who was left to die in an Orlando killing center owned by James Pendergraft.
As William Wilberforce was forced to alter tactics in order to win, we must now seek to break the back of at least one-third of the abortion industry and cripple their financial resources. Once the “abortion-for-profit” killing places are limited, we will be better able to work on changing the hearts of churches. The initial step can be won a lot sooner than most people think. We actually have cut the abortion rate by one-third in America due in part to the efforts of Crisis Pregnancy Centers and street activism. With public opinion on our side, we could gain further ground if we will keep pressing our advantage.
What is most amazing to me is that in April 1791, when Wilberforce introduced the first Parliamentary Bill to abolish the slave trade, it was easily defeated by 163 votes to 88. Yet Wilberforce continued to move bills throughout his career until on February 23, 1807, a bill limiting slave trade was carried by 283 votes to 16.
We can expect to see much the same turning of the tide in the pro-life effort if we will only remain faithful and settle for nothing less than a total outlawing and criminalization of abortion without exception or apology.
Here is the new and improved version of the Joel and Ariel MTV pro-life video. Joel and Ariel are brother and sister pro-life missionaries who started taking part in sidewalk counseling and peaceful protest at abortion clinics when they were teenagers. The video was done at a time when a lot of sidewalk and street activism at abortion clinics was being squelched by the media's portrayal of a few violent protesters.
In the early '90s several doctors and abortion clinic workers were shot. However, when compared with other social protest movements in American history, the pro-life movement has been by far the most peaceful. This video was shown repeatedly on the Unfiltered program and went a long way to show young people what really happens in front of abortion clinics.
Ariel ended the piece by saying that "we are just peaceful people" and challenged viewers to come out to the abortion clinics to see for themselves what is happening and not to accept any "pro-choice" media bias. We know that the video actually led to some young people getting involved in pro-life activism.
Since I was a full-time Christian worker who actually owned the property across the street from the Aware Woman abortion clinic, I taped about half of the "b-roll" shots you will see in the video. It was interesting because at the time I was praying about moving to Cantonment, Florida to work with Reel to Real Ministries in order to get training in non-linear video production. I took it as a small miracle (or more accurately: a providential event) that the first production I helped with ended up being a positive portrayal of pro-life activism on MTV's reality show Unfiltered -- of all programs!
We have had this video clip on The Forerunner Pro-life Videos website for the past seven years. Then recently I asked Joel and Ariel to offer a critique of the content and quality of the program. Watch the program and see for yourself. And I also challenge YOU to come out to the local abortion clinic to see what happens on a "killing day." I don't think everyone is called to do sidewalk counseling or be there on a weekly basis (as I was 24/7 for a few years) but it is always a powerful life-changing experience to take even a small part in saving a human life.
After taking a little break to do some pro-life videos and a series on my cousin Keith the sculptor, I am trying to finish the Real Jesus video this month.
Below is the script:
Myth #3: There was no virgin birth and Jesus was not born in Bethlehem By Jay Rogers
Jennings: "We cannot tell you whether or not Jesus is the Son of God, that is a matter of faith. But if you have difficulty with the idea that the Virgin Mary could get pregnant without a man involved, there are a number of ways to explain why in Luke it is written that way."
Jennings: "Some scholars think that Jesus was illegitimate and that the story was a cover-up."
That Jesus was born of a virgin is confirmed by both Matthew and Luke. In his Gospel, Matthew writes that this miracle was a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14:
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."
The name Immanuel in Hebrew means literally "God-With-Us." In other words, God himself was to be incarnate in human form. And the miraculous sign would be that He would be born of a virgin.
Now some have said that the word "virgin" in Hebrew can simply mean a maiden or an unmarried woman. The problem with this speculation is the context of Isaiah's prophecy. A "sign" in the Hebrew language is simply another way of translating the word "miracle." And the exclamation "Behold!" means to look with wonder. Both Isaiah and the Gospel writers meant to say that the Messiah would be born of a virgin and the witnesses would look in wonder at the event.
Peter Jennings is right about one thing. There is no physical evidence other than the scripture left to us today to determine the miracle of the Incarnation. But not only is the virgin birth called into question, but also the place and circumstances of Jesus' birth also prophesied in scripture.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"
-- Matthew 2:1-6
According to prophecy given hundreds of years before Jesus was born, not only would He be born of a virgin, but He would also be born in the city of David, his forefather, in Bethlehem. Of course, Peter Jennings disagrees.
Jennings: "Luke writes that Joseph and Mary came here to Bethlehem from Nazareth because the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus had ordered a world wide taxation. Now there is no record outside the Gospels that the Emperor Caesar Augustus ordered such a tax. Roman tax records do show that a man is to be taxed where he lives and where he works and Joseph lived and worked in Nazareth. Tax records also show they didn't count women. And so why would Joseph have brought Mary on this very difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem through the desert especially when she was very pregnant?"[10:33-11:06]
But let's look at what the Gospel of Luke actually says:
"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered" (Luke 2:1-6).
Some translations have the word "taxed" for the Greek word apographÈ, a word that comes from the Greek verb meaning to enroll or to register. What Luke actually wrote is not that Joseph came to Bethlehem "to be taxed," but that he came "to register" in a census. In the ancient world, a census was often used to assess the amount of able-bodied males eligible for military service.
According to ancient historians, this census was for a renewal of loyalty in the form of an oath of allegiance to Caesar Augustus. In order for the oath to be taken, all adult men had to be registered and actually sign their names to the oath of allegiance.
Josephus states, "The whole Jewish nation took an oath to be faithful to Caesar and to the interests of the king [Herod] ..." He adds that "above 6000 Pharisees refused to swear." Based on Josephus' writings, this oath was sworn in the year 3 B.C. This was the census for the taking of the oath to which Luke refers. The actual census may have been conducted the year before in 4 B.C. which is in accord with most reliable dates for the time of Christ's birth and stay in Bethlehem.
Furthermore, the fact that Josephus knew the number of Pharisees who did not take the oath indicates that some sort of record was made of who did and did not take the oath. This too, seems to prove that a registration or census took place.
Other ancient historians note that the census took place in other parts of the known Roman world as well. An inscription was found in Paphlagonia (a region in North Central Asia Minor) dated to 3 B.C. stating that an oath of obedience was "taken by the inhabitants of Paphlagonia and the Roman businessmen dwelling among them."
For a fascinating look at the historical reliability of the Gospels' nativity accounts, we recommend the Ernest L. Martin's book, The Star That Astonished the World, (1996, ASK Publications, Portland, OR).
So it is even more amazing that Peter Jennings would sweep aside this evidence only to tell his viewers:
"Now there is no record outside the Gospel that the Emperor Caesar Augustus ordered such a tax."
In order for Jesus to claim to be the Messiah, the Son of God, He would have to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem according to Old Testament prophecies.
Here is the promised Baby Rowan video. This was difficult to edit on an emotional and spiritual level. Before you view it, you should be prepared because it is both shocking and heart-breaking.
This video illustrates some 911 calls when a baby was born alive in an Orlando abortion clinic and left to die. The abortionist who owns the clinic, Dr. James Pendergraft, has a history of illegal activity. He has done time in prison for an extortion conviction. He has had several of his abortion clinics closed for health violations and he has had his license suspended for performing illegal abortions. Yet this month he is back in business in Orlando.
Although killing a baby born alive after an abortion is a crime, law enforcement has yet to begin an investigation of the death of Baby Rowan. A common method of killing babies born alive is either to drown them in a toilet or to let the harsh effects of premature birth take its eventual toll.
If you don't believe that this is happening in America, consider the following. A British newspaper reports that each year 50 babies are born alive after abortion. Since America is almost five times as large, where are ours?
I am currently working on a Baby Rowan video that will probably be in three or four parts. This will be even more sensational and harder to refute than the several videos we did about Aware Woman.
Rowan was a baby born alive in about the fifth month (22 weeks) of pregnancy and left to die at the EPOC abortion clinic in Orlando. The abortionist? None other than convicted felon James Scott Pendergraft. This is more common than people think. In this case, there are police reports, an autopsy, several photos of a perfectly formed baby and several 911 calls to corroborate this woman's story. How can anyone say that this was not homicide? If people see this with their own eyes and still try to refute it, the only thing they can really say is that the murder of a viable infant ought to be legal.
Look for these videos in a few weeks on YouTube. You can be alerted when these videos become available by subscribing to my VLog at YouTube.
In the last few weeks, the traffic for the Aware Woman 911 Emergency Calls (1 of 4) has picked up. This was the first pro-life video I posted on YouTube. It looks like it's at more than 100 views per day now up from 50 just a few weeks ago. These things have a way of snowballing as the word gets out. The total views topped 4,000 today. That's not bad for a two month audience. Let's hope it accelerates and reaches 100,000 this year. Check it out:
This is the composite of the 911 calls we knew about when several women at the Aware Woman abortion clinic suffered perforations of their uteruses and severe bleeding and had to be rushed to the hospital. The video hard to refute because it shows the ambulances arriving and leaving. It shows that a lot of abortion doctors, like William Philip Egherman, are either incompetent or in a hurry. (By the way, that's Egherman in the last frame of the video.) Common sense should tell people, pro-life or pro-abortion, that this is a dangerous procedure that harms woman and takes the life of a baby.
I don't discount the total depravity of man, but most people still care about injuring themselves. It didn't have a single negative comment until recently:
"Wow, how dare they invade the privacy of the ambulance drivers, the children, the neighborhood. This just goes to show the vicious nature of these so-called pro-lifers who are simply looking for a way to control others. How does this talk women out of having abortions? Having two or three calls for an ambulance is supposed to deter us? More mothers die from childbirth. Trust me, abortion is very very rarely regretted."
The attitude is, "You can't stop us. We are committed to abortion and none of your reporting and research into its dangers and is going to change that!"
Let's ignore the fact that this was at only one clinic in the space of 18 months. There were several other botched procedures that we know of as well. This is by a doctor who rarely performed more than 20 abortions a week at that clinic.
There is a growing segment of people who have become hardened, but on the whole people are not that heartless. A more typical "pro-choice" response is:
"Powerful piece of footage. Well put together. Have mixed views on Abortion myself, but clearly this clinic needs closing down. One thing they are not is AWARE. Sending my thoughts to all who need."
and
Well just saying someone's life won't be happy isn't reason enough to terminate it. I'm pro choice but for the reason of safety for women who will have one regardless if its legal or not. But I am certainly not pro choice as a way of eliminating poor people. You can't justify abortion as a way of getting rid of undesirable people.
Would you be willing to do me a BIG favor that requires only a little effort on your part?
Watch The Great American Sculptor video on Current.TV. Then vote for the video to be broadcast. That will be another step toward getting this video series on the satellite network.
If you haven't seen Current.TV, it's a satellite channel that broadcasts viewer created mini-documentaries. Viewers upload their video "pods" to the Current.TV website and other viewers vote on them. If the video is popular enough, it will be shown on the air.
While not overly preachy, the Christian message of this video comes across as Keith Johnson presents sculpture and art as a way of pointing people toward God and toward the principles that make a nation great.
Go to Current.TVand vote for the video by clicking on the "greenlight" bar. You will have to register, provide a user name and password. But that is quick and easy. Just a couple hundred greenlights should get us on satellite TV. Tell your friends and family to do the same.
Here is the email Current.TV sent me:
Good news! Your video is now posted on the Current site. You can find it here:
If you haven't seen the new version of The Great American Sculptor, then watch this improved version with four shorter programs. I've made a few edits and added a music track. I like this version much better.
PREDVESTNIK - The Russian Forerunner & LOZA-TV - The Vine TV
This is a fundraising video I produced about six years ago for two missionary projects I was involved with from 1991 to 2000. Although I am not funding these projects currently, the video is important from a historical standpoint. Predvestnik was only the second nationally distributed evangelical Christian newspaper or publication in the history of the Soviet Union. The Perestroika reforms made this publication possible in early 1991. Prior to this there was no freedom of religion or press in the Soviet Union.
Likewise, LOZA-TV was the first Russian video ministry of any Protestant Church in the Russian Federation. Only CBN, based in Kiev, was producing evangelical Christian video in the Russian language at the time that LOZA-TV was founded. Our first production, Hollywood, won an award at a Christian Broadcasters event in Moscow in the fall of 2000. I hope to upload all of this Russian language video at a later time. Contact me for more details.
Part of missionary work is learning to be creative with the resources God gives you. Still this production is close to my heart as it represents the work I accomplished in eleven short-term missionary trips to Russia and Ukraine. I am involved in another project in Ukraine right now that is in its beginning stages. I hope to make another trip to Ukraine sometime before too long.
This is the "extended version" of the opening to The Beast of Revelation: IDENTIFIED. The first 48 seconds I cut from the final release. I wrote, produced and edited this 145-minute presentation during the "last days" millennial bug furor of the fall of 1999 while working in cooperation with Reel to Real Ministries.
Special thanks to featured speaker Ken Gentry, host Eric Holmberg and associate producer Erik Hollander who worked on this even while braving the dreaded specter of Y2K! Remember that?
The video is not what most people think it will be. If you are curious, go to The Beast of Revelation: IDENTIFIED website and read some of the articles. The entire introduction to the video is posted there in written form along with articles that give the basic outline of the video.
Here's an excerpt from the back cover --
Who is the dreaded beast of Revelation? Now at last, a plausible candidate for this personification of evil incarnate has been identified -- or more properly, "re-identified." Ken Gentry's insightful analysis of scripture and history is likely to revolutionize your understanding of the book of Revelation -- and even more importantly -- amplify and energize your entire Christian worldview!
Historical footage and other graphics are used to illustrate the lecture Dr. Gentry presented at the 1999 Ligonier Conference in Orlando, Florida. It is followed by a one-hour question and answer session addressing the key concerns and objections typically raised in response to his position. This presentation also features an introduction that touches on not only the confusion and controversy surrounding this issue -- but just why it may well be one of the most significant issues facing the Church today.
Ideal for group meetings, personal Bible study -- for anyone who wants to understand the historical context of John's famous letter "... to the seven churches which are in Asia." (Revelation 1:4)
Not that debates on the Westminister Confession and exclusive Psalmody are not important, but sometimes I wonder what is the time ratio most Reformed eggheads like myself spend on debating the finer matters versus warring against Godlessness in our culture.
I recently started posting a lot of short video segments to YOUTUBE and in just a few weeks found an immediate audience of thousands -- and potentially tens of thousands of people. It's a great opportunity to let our voice be heard in the public debate over the "culture wars." Note that the buzz words that only we so-called "theocratic" Christians used a few years ago are now making it into the mainstream!
One of the cool things about YOUTUBE is that using any cheap web cam you can post live video responses to other people's videos. You can stage a debate on-line not just in words but with "live" video. In my short involvement with this medium, I never cease to be impressed by the limitless possibilities.
I woke up this morning to find that a homosexual man had posted an eight-minute response chastising me for my five minute video REVOLUTION. Great! I always appreciate the antithesis. That is what I am here for -- to create dialectical tension.
He "dared me" to approve his response. As long as there is no profanity or blasphemy, I believe in open and honest debate. Well, I just double-dog-dared him to post my video as a response to his response!
A few years back, I created this admittedly over the top provocative video called REVOLUTION in which there are a lot of graphic and disturbing images. The purpose of it was to show that like righteous Lot we are continually vexed by evil men. But also like Lot we do nothing to reform Sodom. And we bow down to people who chastise us for being "unloving" and "unChristian" when we dare to tell the truth.
See my video and the antithesis video response at:
Jennings: “There is no reliable evidence about who the authors actually were. It is pretty much agreed that they were not eyewitnesses. In fact, the Gospels were probably written 40 to 100 years after Jesus’ death.”
Jennings is simply echoing a popular myth: some of the theologians of the Jesus Seminar have suggested that writers pretending to be Matthew, Mark, Luke and John took a historical person, Jesus of Nazareth, and invented a genealogy and added historical references as time went by thus “improving” the authenticity of their story.
There is no evidence that the earliest manuscripts of the Bible were altered to be more “historic.” In fact, there is proof that little of the New Testament has been altered. If we look at early copies of the New Testament books, we find that there are some differences between variant manuscripts. But these are mainly misspellings and scribal errors in copying small words, prepositions and numbers.
In addition, most modern translations make note of these differences in the form of footnotes. In fact, you could take all the variant readings of the most reliable New Testament manuscripts and fit them all on one page. There is no major Christian doctrine that would be affected or changed by these small differences. Therefore, even with minor textual variations in the older manuscripts, Christians can still view scripture as inerrant and inspired of God.
What of the charge that historical references and stories surrounding Jesus’ life were added later on?
The fact is that the Jews recorded exact historical references -- the best of all the ancient historians -- because they believed that God was trying to teach them something through history. In keeping with this tradition, the writers of the Gospels sought to record accurate historical events surrounding the life of Christ.
In Luke 2:1, we see that Jesus was born in the days when Quirinius was governor of Syria; and when Caesar Augustus was Emperor. In Luke 3:1, we are given the exact year of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar; Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea; Herod being tetrarch of Galilee; his brother Phillip the tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis; and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene.”
These were the rulers of the surrounding countries of Judea in the first century. These are all true persons and places that may be corroborated in other recorded histories.
And what of the charge that the Gospel accounts were written many years after Christ? The higher critics face a huge problem with credibility here. In dating the New Testament in the second century rather than the first, they must ignore the fact that there were a number of late first century and early second century writers who quoted extensively from the New Testament. The Christians of that era already thought of what we know today as the New Testament — as being authoritative — as scripture.
We have already seen that Christian writers named Clement, Barnabas, and Polycarp wrote about Jesus in the first century. There are other documents as well.
• The Didache, a late first century catechism, quotes extensively from the New Testament.
• Ignatius (A.D. 35-110), the Bishop of Antioch, quotes from 16 New Testament books.
• Irenaeus (A.D. 130 -200), the second century Bishop of Lyons, makes 1,819 references to New Testament scriptures.
• Tertullian (A.D. 160 -220) quotes from the New Testament 7,258 times.
The problem for the higher critics and those searching for a “historical Jesus” is that these people were writing in the late first and second centuries. Since they quote from the New Testament books extensively, we can know that the church in many areas of the Roman Empire had access to all of the New Testament scriptures. So the Gospels must have been written sometime in the first century, during the time of the Apostles.
William Foxwell Albright, one of the world’s foremost biblical archaeologists, said: “In my opinion, every book in the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew between the 40s and 80s of the first century A.D. (very probably sometime between about A.D. 50 to 75).”
In the 19th and 20th centuries, there have been thousands of archaeological discoveries of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament that are hundreds of years older than the manuscripts available prior to modern times. There are now more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and 24,000 manuscript portions available for study. In other words, there are more reliable New Testament manuscripts in the original Greek language available for direct translation into modern English today than ever before.
Sir Frederic Kenyon, who was the director and principal librarian of the British Museum, states, “The last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and general integrity of the books in the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.”
This short series of videos documents the ravaging damage that abortion causes for most women who abort.
In part four of the series, Lydia Baker of Florida Outreach Childbirth Education talks about her work with teenagers and women in crisis pregnancies. Together with Dr. Pat McEwen, she explains the various life threatening complications that can result from an abortion.
Common complications resulting from an abortion include: infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury, and endotoxic shock.
Sadly, many women are injured each year and some even die because they have bought the lie. Still the pro-abortion industry will not face the facts. Abortion is legal, but it is not “safe,” and it is certainly not “rare.” They refuse to debate except in shrill paranoid screeds portraying peaceful protesters and sidewalk counselors as people who “want to deny women the right to choose.”
On the contrary, the pro-life movement has done everything humanly possible to help mothers and fathers make the right loving choices for their baby boys and girls.
In recent months, more abortion clinics have been closed than ever before. How amazing it is that the abortion industry suddenly is collapsing in on itself!
Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics wrote recently: “It is increasingly obvious ... our resolve is no match for their cowardice…. I want to predict that a time will come when every preacher, every priest, and every politician in America will be pushing and shoving to get to the front lines of the pro-life effort. I can even tell you when that seemingly unlikely event will occur -- on the day it becomes obvious to them that victory over the abortion holocaust is at hand.”
I’ve had these video projects on the back burner since 1998 when non-linear editing became more accessible. But it hasn’t been until now that I have sensed the urgency of the hour.
You can help by posting these videos on your own website. More will become available in early 2007.
This short series of videos documents the ravaging damage that abortion causes for most women who abort.
In part 3 of this series, Pat McEwen Ph.D. focuses on some of the local abortion doctors who have performed abortions in Melbourne, Florida and elsewhere.
William Philip Egherman shockingly has left a trail of injured women. He has now been exposed to the public through this video series.
Another abortion doctor, James Scott Pendergraft, went to jail for extortion, had his license to practice medicine suspended, and had his chain of abortion clinics shut down health and legal violations.
Two other local abortionists, Randall Whitney and Patricia Baird-Windle, fought each other in court when one tried to open a clinic that would have competed with the other. It's ironic because for years Aware Woman claimed to want to offer a variety of "health services" in a convenient location. When another doctor wanted to do the same, Pat Windle actually told the pro-life activists where he would be opening his clinic. Some of the abortion clinic volunteers who protested in favor of Pat Windle’s clinic soon dropped their support of Aware Woman when they witnessed this hypocrisy.
So much for wanting to keep abortion “safe, legal and rare”!
Finally, Dr. Pat examines the link between abortion and breast cancer. She answers the propaganda campaign by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers who falsely claim that there is no evidence to suggest a link between abortion and cancer.
This short series of videos documents the ravaging damage that abortion causes for most women who abort.
Whether you are pro-life or “pro-choice,” the simple fact of the matter is that abortion is dangerous. It kills the innocent unborn child and damages the woman physically, emotionally and spiritually.
In part two of this series, we asked Pat McEwen Ph.D. some important and intriguing questions:
“What is pro-life sidewalk counseling?”
“Does abortion really damage most women who abort?”
“What are some documented examples of the danger of abortion?”
“What about the pro-choice slogan -- KEEP ABORTION SAFE AND LEGAL?”
“Is abortion ever safe?”
Dr. Pat concludes with some documented examples of complications that commonly occur during an abortion, which can permanently injure a woman.
The pro-abortionists have shunned debates on this issue constantly because all the scientific, statistical and medical information shows that abortion is never safe.
But you can help by posting these videos on your own website. Using the media resources you have available, you can help to explain that we are trying to get a debate going with pro-abortionists and none will step up to the plate to face us.
Myth #1: The "historical Jesus" is different from the Jesus of the Bible.
Peter Jennings: "Jesus was a real person."
It is good that Jennings admits that Jesus was a real person. Some have tried to make Jesus into a myth. But the evidence that Jesus lived in Judea in the first century is overwhelming. Jesus was a historical person recorded by Christian, Jewish and pagan historians. In fact, there are many well-known non-Christian historians who mention Jesus:
• Tacitus in his Annals (c.115 A.D.) mentions that Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate and gives detailed descriptions of Nero's persecutions — which are also alluded to in several places in the New Testament.
• The correspondence between Pliny the younger and the Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117 A.D.) corroborates the New Testament history including the persecution of the Christians under the Emperor Nero.
• Flavius Josephus (37-100 A.D.), the first century Jewish historian, makes mention of Jesus, John the Baptist and James, the brother of Jesus.
Scholars note that the New Testament corroborates Josephus in minute detail. Keep in mind that Josephus wrote his history after the time of the New Testament. In other words, both sources were written independently, but both agree with each other. So Josephus testifies to the historical reliability of many passages in the New Testament.
We know of many other early references to Christ by pagan writers, but there are also manuscripts from the first and second centuries written by Christians. The fact that early Christians recorded their own history does not discount their reliability. Christianity is not a religion that has its origin in shadowy legend, but has definite historical roots, strong personalities and a tremendous amount of source documents to prove it.
Other first and second century writers who wrote about Jesus as the Son of God, the promised Messiah and Lord of Creation, are:
• Clement (A.D. c. 30-100) the Bishop of Rome
• The writer of the Epistle of Barnabas (A.D. c. 70-130)
• Polycarp (A.D. 70-155) the Bishop of Smyrna, a student of the Apostle John
• Ignatius (A.D. 35-110) the Bishop of Antioch
• Irenaeus (A.D. 130 -200) the second century Bishop of Lyons
• Tertullian (A.D. 160 -220) a second century apologist
• Clement (A.D. 150 -215) the second century Bishop of Alexandria
Despite the overwhelming testimony from the early centuries that confirm the Gospel stories, the Higher Critics continue to search for a "historical Jesus."
Contrary to what the liberals of the Jesus Seminar tell us, we have far more than "likelihood" and "possibility" to confirm the reliability of the Gospel stories. We have substantial authentic evidence that the Jesus of history is the same person revealed to us in the Gospel accounts. We have the first and second century apologists who wrote extensively about Jesus and Christianity. Some of these were men who knew the Apostles. There were reliable second-generation historians who were taught by the Apostles who were in turn alive during the ministry of Jesus.
Here's a video that has been on The Forerunner pro-life videos web page since 1999. Just this week I re-edited it from scratch and rendered it as a medium band-width streaming video.
It consists of 8mm video I made when I owned a house across the street from an abortion clinic in Melbourne, Florida. I was able to video-tape several emergency calls when abortion doctor William Egherman injured several women.
See video of the fire engines, police cars and ambulances and listen to the 911 calls responding to Aware Woman five times in a 17 month period. Also hear a heart breaking telephone message left on our answering machine from a sorrowful mother who has come face to face with what abortion really is -- the killing of her baby.
Some might wonder why this man has not been prosecuted and has not lost his medical license. Amazingly, the State of Florida says that "perforation of the uterus is a known and common complication of abortion" and not malpractice.
This video speaks for itself. If you want to read the transcript of the 911 calls, go to the pro-life videos web page. Since posting this on YouTube yesterday, I've had several people tell me that they plan to embed the video on their own web pages. You are invited to do that too. Let's get the word out.
This is already becoming my most viewed YouTube video due to the shocking revelation of how common are abortion related injuries -- a supposedly "safe and legal" procedure.
Here is the latest video podcast. The following is from the script.
A Response to Peter Jennings' The Search for Jesus
On June 26, 2000, ABC television aired The Search for Jesus, a two hour-long special hosted by Peter Jennings. The program took viewers to Israel and interviewed locals, Christian pastors, clergymen and laymen, but Jennings focused mainly on seven experts in the field of researching the historical Jesus.
Four out of seven experts interviewed by Jennings hailed from the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who make it their life cause to disprove the divinity of Jesus. The other three "experts" interviewed in the program were also skeptics.
Jesus Seminar
There were a few voices of genuine faith in the Jesus of the Bible. But most of the so-called experts were liberal theologians, that is, those who do not believe the Bible to be the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Absent from the program were the great number of well-known and credible historians who have a deep, committed faith in the inerrancy of scripture and the deity of Jesus Christ.
Liberal Theology: The Higher Critical Method
The Search for Jesus relied almost solely on a school of thought called liberal theology or the Historical Critical Method. At the end of the 19th century, a school of liberal theologians arose in Germany. They were called the higher critics. Their proclaimed goal was to isolate the "historical Jesus" from the "God-man" who has been worshipped and adored by the Church for two millennia.
The divinity of Jesus Christ was presumed to be a myth. His many miraculous works were deemed to be legend. The circumstances of His life, His teachings and works were brought into doubt. The effect of these apostates has grown to the current day as they have stripped layer upon layer from the Jesus of the Bible, until they now have a common man.
The claims of the higher critics are nothing new. In the first and second centuries, early Christians had to deal with ridicule and abuse from Jewish rabbis and intellectual skepticism from Greek scholars and philosophers.
Throughout the early centuries, bold apologists for the Christian faith, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian and Justin Martyr, wrote volumes of practical wisdom defending the Gospel from the attacks of pagan critics. Succeeding centuries gave the Church many other brilliant experts in apologetics. But once Christianity had taken hold of the western world, a new breed of skeptics arose out of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.
"Voltaire, the noted French infidel who died in 1778, said that in one hundred years from his time, Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history. But what has happened? Voltaire has passed into history, while the circulation of the Bible continues to increase in almost all parts of the world, carrying blessing wherever it goes" (Sidney Collett, All About the Bible).
"Only 50 years after Voltaire's death, the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stacks of Bibles" (Geisler and Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible) a great irony of history!
The early American patriot, Thomas Paine, published Age of Reason, a popular book ridiculing Christianity. Although Paine was a Deist and not an atheist, he popularized the theory that the books of the Bible, especially the Gospels, were full of contradictions. This view continues to be popular among scholars even to this day.
In the 1800s, rationalists such as Hermann Samuel Reimarus and David Strauss published sensational works denying the supernatural miracles of the Bible. The philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who coined the phrase, "God is dead," is said to have lost his faith around the time he was reading Strauss's Life of Jesus Critically Examined.
The Jesus Seminar: Liberal Theology Repackaged
Most recently there was the Jesus Seminar, a council of liberal theologians who meet twice a year in an attempt to debunk the accuracy of the Gospels. Many of their "discoveries" are simply repeats of what the liberal theologians of the 19th century said. Strangely, these opinions are rigidly held even though 20th century archaeology and textual criticism has refuted many of their claims.
The Jesus Seminar's attempt to debunk the Gospels as invented history is not based on a thorough examination of the Bible's manuscripts. Unbiased examinations reveal ample evidence that the Gospel accounts are, in fact, historically accurate. But these "experts" are undaunted by facts. Even today, the skeptics continue to spread the error of a "historical Jesus."
Archaeological Evidence for the Validity of the Bible
Liberal scholars up until the time of the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 assigned a later date to many books of the Old Testament. They rejected the early date of books that accurately predicted the coming of the Messiah, because so many of the prophecies were fulfilled to the letter.
Since liberals rejected the supernatural in scripture, they presumed there must have been a later date to the writings that accurately described the life of Jesus.
For instance, the second half of Isaiah was deemed to contain forgeries by second century Christians because it contains so many prophecies accurately fulfilled by Jesus' life and mission. Then one of the main pillars of liberal theology fell in 1947 with the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls including a complete Isaiah scroll.
In his prime time special, Peter Jennings does note that Qumran exists.
With the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls, we now have an Old Testament in complete form that existed at least 150 years before Christ. All of the books of the Hebrew Bible except Esther are represented in the Dead Sea Scroll collection. Jennings fails to mention this in his documentary.
Jennings fails to mention that the Dead Sea scrolls give us evidence that the Hebrew Bible has been virtually unchanged over thousands of years, including the famous Isaiah scroll that contains many remarkable prophecies about Jesus the Messiah.
For many years, the Higher Critics held that the Bible both the Old Testament and the New Testament had been altered and changed over the years. Therefore, the critics tried to eliminate the myths and discover the historical Jesus.
"The Search for Jesus" rejects or ignores all of the archaeological evidence that supports the claims of the Bible. Throughout the special, Jennings ignores the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus. He also neglects to examine the overwhelming evidence that the New Testament has come down to us in virtually unaltered form.
I'll give a link in a later blog entry on how people can subscibe directly through an RSS feed. But I already know that out of the thousands of people who download this blog page, most are looking at the HTML web page and only a few dozen are accessing the RSS or XML code via a feedreader. Yes, it will be possible to directly access the videos as stand alone "Pods" to an IPod or a feedreader. You can see how to subscribe to The Forerunner video channel at the YouTube site. I'll write more on that later. I am new to all this myself!
There is some difference of opinion as to what constitutes a video podcast versus a video blog. Some use the terms interchangeably. But technically speaking a podcast is an RSS feed that may be accessed by a stand alone device such as an IPod, while a video blog -- or "vlog" -- is a website that may also be accessed directly through RSS or XML. We are told that eventually all people will subscribe to feeds and that RSS or XML will become the medium of all information and TV channels through high speed cable. We are seeing the beginning of that with Google's purchase of YouTube. Already, many television programs are publishing short excerpts from their programs through YouTube.
For now, I am going to begin by using the Forerunner.com website as the host from which to stream embedded videos. However, if you want to see The Real Jesus video blog, you can bookmark the following page.
