Rev Sun Myung Moon, Self-proclaimed Messiah, Dead

Gapyeong, South Korea — The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who turned his Unification Church into a worldwide religious movement and befriended North Korean leaders as well as U.S. presidents, has died, church officials said Sunday. He was 92.

Moon died Monday at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul, two weeks after being hospitalized with pneumonia, Unification Church spokesman Ahn Ho-yeul told The Associated Press. Moon’s wife and children were at his side, Ahn said…

Rest here.

 

Canadian ‘Punching’ Preacher Banned from UK

Good!

A Canadian preacher, who claims to cure sick people by hitting them, has been refused entry into the UK for a controversial tour.

Todd Bentley, who is based in the US and founded the revivalist organisation Fresh Fire USA, had planned to hold a string of meetings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

He is currently in Norway for an event called Miracles, Signs and Wonders.

However, Mr Bentley has been told he was “not conducive to the public good” and was not allowed to enter the country.

The former drug addict, who describes receiving “prophetic and miracle-healing anointing” from God, has previously used his shows to “cure” cancer by kicking his followers in the face or stomach.

In clips, he is heard telling an audience: “And the Holy Spirit spoke to me, the gift of faith came on me. He said, ‘kick her in the face with your biker boot’. I inched closer and I went like this – bam! And just as my boot made contact with her nose, she fell under the power of God.”

Writing on his website, Mr Bentley, 36, said: “The passion of Todd’s life and ministry to the nations is souls and to see others experience the transferable, tangible anointing of the Holy Spirit.”

But according to the Guardian, the Home Office did not see fit to allow him to visit the UK.

“We can confirm that Mr Bentley has been excluded from the UK,” a spokesman told the newspaper.

“The government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they are not conducive to the public good.

“Coming here is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who might seek to undermine our society.”

Mr Bentley criticised the decision online, calling on his followers to pray.

Crazy!

House Built for Jesus Christ for Sale

The Chapel Hill Mansion in Riverdale, N.Y. has hit the market for $13.588 million.

The home, built in 1928, has seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

The head of the New York Theological Society commissioned the house for the preparation of the “second coming of Jesus Christ,” according to The Real Deal.

The home would house “the Christian savior once he returned to earth to judge the living and the dead,” listing broker Sean McPeak of Prudential Douglas Elliman, told The Real Deal.

The 15,000-square-foot house sits on 2.3 acres of land.

Manhattan College previously owned the property, and had planned to use it as dormitories or a seminary, but is now in the hands of a private owner who is an attorney, The Real Deal reported.

There are more photos of the house here. Almost unbelievable!

HT:  Ad Orientem

 

Pastor Dies from Snake Bite During ‘Serpent-Handling’ Service

NY Daily News:

A West Virginia preacher famous for holding dangerous snakes during sermons  has died after a rattlesnake bit him last weekend.

Mark Randall “Mack” Wolford, 44, was bitten during a Memorial Day gathering  at park, the Washington Post reported.

“His birthday was Saturday, and all he wanted to do is get his brothers and  sisters in church together,” his sister, Robin, told the newspaper.

Wolford was profiled in the Post last year for his unconventional ways of  testing faith. He believed that the Bible says Christians must handle serpents  to test their faith in God.

“Anybody can do it that believes it,” he told the Post last year. “Jesus  said, ‘These signs shall follow them which believe.’ This is a sign to show  people that God has the power.”

Lauren Pond, a freelance journalist who had recently worked with Wolford on a  project, told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that there were about 25  people in the park for Wolford’s ceremony.

She told the newspaper that Wolford was bitten in the thigh, but members of  the congregation seemed unfazed.

“I don’t think anyone necessarily expected it, but they’ve dealt with it  before so it’s not such a huge shock maybe,” she said.

He was eventually transported to Bluefield Regional Medical Center, where he  was pronounced dead.

Serpent handling is controversial and illegal in many states. But according  to a 2003 National Georgraphic report, it shows no signs of going  away.

“Serpent handling is maintained through powerful families whose children have  carried on that tradition for up to four generations,” one expert told the  magazine at the time. “There are a small number of converts, but they generally  maintain themselves through these families, and by people marrying into the  tradition.”

Wolford, according to the Post, was passionate about keeping the tradition  alive.

“I promised the Lord I’d do everything in my power to keep the faith going,” he said in October. “I spend a lot of time going a lot of places that handle  serpents to keep them motivated. I’m trying to get anybody I can get  involed.”

Park officials told the Charleston Gazette that poisonous snakes are not allowed in  the park where the church cermony was held.

“We do not allow people to bring poisonous snakes into the park,” State  Division of Natural Resources spokesman Hoy Murphy said. “If they did it, it was  without the park people’s knowledge.”

What a strange practice. Pentecostal madness…

 

Where are the Catholics?

Fr Z with a searching post:

I am sure you have heard that on Sundays the largest Catholic congregations are actually at fundamentalist mega-churches.

I saw this on Catholic Culture:

Roughly one-fifth of the Catholics in the US are not associated with a parish, a new study has found.

While there are about 75 million Catholics in the US, “fewer than 60 million are associated with a specific Catholic church,” reports Clifford Grammich of the Glenmary Research Center. Thus at least 15 million people who identify themselves as Catholic but not with any parish.

The Glenmary study found that drop of 3.1 million in the Catholic population since the 2000 census. There are now 58.9 million Catholics registered in 20,589 parish congregations. The number of congregations, like the number of registered Catholics, has dropped by about 5% since 2000.

If you are reading Catholic blogs, you are more than likely dedicated to your Catholic faith and identity, or you are trying to be more dedicated.  One of the most urgent dedicated and practicing Catholics need to do right now – whether their parish priests or bishops have a program to help them or not – is to do concrete things to help fallen-away or non- practicing Catholics back into the fold.

We all know people who are not practicing their faith or who have drifted into some nearly doctrineless sect.

 

A Kansas ‘Pope’?! Leading a Flock in Exile

David Bawden, who is also known as Pope Michael, claimed ascendancy to the papacy in 1990. He lives on a farm near Delia where he runs the Annunciation Seminary that has one full-time and one part-time student.

Total lunacy I tell you:

Attired in a black cassock that covered all but the bottom of a pair of red pants and Nike flip-flops, David Bawden on a recent Sunday afternoon reclined on a couch in the living room of his Vatican in Exile, a wooden-frame farm home in southwestern Jackson County, and talked about events that led to what he said was his election as pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

Bawden matter-of-factly reflected on the 21 years that have passed since 1990, when he was voted in as pope by six people who gathered at his parents’ second-hand store in nearby Belvue.

His biggest beef with the Roman Catholic Church, which he said led to his papacy, was its move toward modernism, starting with Vatican II, which included doing away with the traditional Latin Mass.

By now, Bawden has heard the whispers and out-loud criticisms that have come his way since he declared himself the head of the Roman Catholic Church and its 1 billion adherents worldwide.

Yet he remains committed to his papacy, saying it was ordained of God, and that nothing will stop him from being pope…

Bawden in the late 1970s had attended St. Pius X schools but was asked to leave. Despite his efforts to return, he was barred from being a student again.

“There was some infighting in the seminary, and I got in the middle of it,” Bawden said. “I was dismissed because of that.”

While continuing to pursue his vocation, Bawden held fast to his belief that Rome no longer had authority for the Catholic Church, that popes it elected were heretics and therefore the papal position was vacant.

It was Bawden’s belief that if the College of Cardinals wasn’t equipped to elect a pope, the duty fell to laypeople in the church.

Before he staked his claim to the papacy, he outlined his problems with the modern Catholic church in a 1990 book titled “Will the Catholic Church Survive the 20th Century?” He said he wrote the book to appeal to other traditionalists like himself.

After his book was published, he sent notices of an upcoming papal vote to traditionalists around the globe. But only six people showed up for the pivotal vote that took place July 16, 1990.

One was Bawden’s late father, Kennett, who died in 1995. One was his mother, Clara “Tickie” Bawden, 83. One was Bawden himself.

Then there were three others, all of whom, Bawden lamented, since have “fallen away” from the Catholic Church that he leads.

Bawden said he had an inkling he might be voted in as the pontiff that day…

Read on here (if you are so inclined).

Only in Kansas…

 

Hate Speech Charges Laid Against Racist Reverend

The Witness reports:

A Self-Proclaimed minister who wrote on Twitter that a “material number of whites” had to be killed to end racism, yesterday  said he should have thought twice before tweeting this message.

Premier of the Western Cape and DA leader Helen Zille laid a charge of hate speech with the police in response to the provocative message from Kemo Waters, who calls himself “reverend Kemo Waters” on Twitter early on Saturday morning.

In his following tweets, Waters wrote white people should be ashamed that something like the ANC was needed and that  racism is a form of heresy as it questions God’s creation of Africans.

Zille did not delay and charged Waters with hate speech on Twitter on the same night.

The singer Steve Hofmeyr also took on Waters after he had accused Hofmeyr of having a “racist soul” and that the song De la Rey is his lullaby.

Many joined the debate and  Waters was criticised by people of all colours.

Waters yesterday told Beeld he has, since his tweet, received three anonymous threats over the phone.

His number is still available on the Internet because he moved from Johannesburg to Cape  Town as founder of the KemoTherapy Institute of Truth.

He manages the institute from his home and plans to change it into a church in which he will be a minister.

Waters yesterday tweeted his apology to anyone affected by his words.

He said he wrote it to get Helen Zille’s attention and to get people talking about racism in Cape Town.

Waters said he did not intend for people to take up weapons and start a civil war.

He added he did not want to kill any white people, but he saw why people could interpret his tweet as murderous. He said he was angry and let rip.

“If I sat and thought about it, I probably would not have written it.”

Waters mentioned racism against black people is not taken seriously enough in Cape Town and that he as a black man often receives inferior service. He said he wants to move back to a “friendlier” Johannesburg.

Zille said there were several other ways for Waters to get her attention.

‘Self-Proclaimed’ minister says it all! Burning with hate, there is no place for such within the Church. Go to the KemoTherapy Institute of Truth sect and risk being fed unbiblical detestations and lies. Such an obtuse mentality does much to undermine the hard fought for democracy of our country.

 

Sweden Recognises New ‘File-sharing Religion’

How bizarre. It’s called: The Church of Kopimism.

A “church” whose central tenet is the right to file-share has been formally recognised by the Swedish government.

The Church of Kopimism claims that “kopyacting” – sharing information through copying – is akin to a religious service.

The “spiritual leader” of the church said recognition was a “large step”.

But others were less enthusiastic and said the church would do little to halt the global crackdown on piracy.

Holy information

The Swedish government agency Kammarkollegiet finally registered the Church of Kopimism as a religious organisation shortly before Christmas, the group said.

“We had to apply three times,” said Gustav Nipe, chairman of the organisation.

The church, which holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V (shortcuts for copy and paste) as sacred symbols, does not directly promote illegal file sharing, focusing instead on the open distribution of knowledge to all.

It was founded by 19-year-old philosophy student and leader Isak Gerson. He hopes that file-sharing will now be given religious protection.

“For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore copying is central for the organisation and its members,” he said in a statement.

“Being recognised by the state of Sweden is a large step for all of Kopimi. Hopefully this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution,” he added.

The church’s website has been unavailable since it broke the news of its religious status. A message urged those interested in joining to “come back in a couple of days when the storm has settled”…

The BBC has more.

 

Six Dead After Pastors Claim To ‘Cure’ HIV Through God

The Huffington Post:

At least six people have died from HIV after being told by evangelical pastors they were “cured” and could stop taking their medication, Sky News is reporting.

There is evidence churches in four of the UK’s biggest cities, including London, are claiming to be able to cure HIV through God. Three Sky reporters went undercover to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), based in Southwark, South London, and told pastors they were HIV positive.

All three were told they could be “healed”. According to the reports, once a month the church holds a “prayer line” where people from across Europe congregate to be cured of their illnesses. At a registration session, the sick have to hand over a doctor’s etter as “evidence” to prove they are ill.

They are then “healed” by pastors shouting for the devil to leave their body while spraying water at the “patient”.

One pastor, Rachel Holmes, allegedly told a reporter the church has a 100% success rate.

“We have many people that contract HIV. All are healed.”

Patients are told if symptoms synonymous with the disease persist it is actually a sign of the virus leaving the body.

“We’ve had people coming back saying they are not healed. I have to stop them and say ‘No please, you are free.”

The “healed” patients are then told they are free to start a family.

In a statement released to Sky, the church, which is a registered UK charity despite having branches across the globe and its own TV channel, said:

“”We are not the Healer; God is the Healer. Never a sickness God cannot heal. Never a disease God cannot cure. Never a burden God cannot bear. Never a problem God cannot solve.

“To His power, nothing is impossible. We have not done anything to bring about healing, deliverance or prosperity. If somebody is healed, it is God who heals.”

The church is led by “prophet” TB Joshua, who claimed to be responsible for the Ghana Under20 football tean’s win in Egypt in 2009 due to “divine intervention”. He has also allegedly claimed to have healed Nigerian and Arsenal player Nwankwo Kanu in 2000 (pictured).

Pat Robertson: Divorcing a Spouse with Alzheimer’s is Justifiable

What ever happened to ‘in sickness and in health’?!? This is damnable heresy in the extreme!

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his 700 Club viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is justifiable because the disease is “a kind of death.”

During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.

“I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her,” Robertson said.

The chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs the 700 Club, said he wouldn’t “put a guilt trip” on anyone who divorces a spouse who suffers from the illness, but added, “Get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer.”

Most Christian denominations at least discourage divorce, citing Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark that equate divorce and remarriage with adultery.

Terry Meeuwsen, Robertson’s co-host, asked him about couples’ marriage vows to take care of each other “for better or for worse” and “in sickness and in health.”

“If you respect that vow, you say ’til death do us part,’” Robertson said during the Tuesday broadcast. “This is a kind of death.”

A network spokesman said Wednesday that Robertson had no further statement.

How can anyone follow a ‘pastor’ who teaches that which is totally devoid of any Scriptural substance or even the most basic of Christian judgments? Pillaging the Gospel is the only thing that he is doing here. And he really needs to shut his mouth.