Perry's brand of "christianity" believes in continuing prophecy. Don't close the Cannon yet boys, more books in development. Paul is thankfully orthodox, respecting the jurisdictional line God drew for the civil magistrate.
“ Great Sermon! ” What an incredible message of explaining the ever-ending sinner that we are and how God can keep us in the game of Godliness, "Living for Christ". The flip side is how the ungodly choose to turn there backs on Him.
“ Great Sermon! ” It Is Finished!!! How exciting it is to watch World Series that goes to the 7th game in the ninth inning scored tied 2 outs your team is at bat the manager calls on his Best hitter. He is about to take the next pitch and hits a walk off game winning home run and the World Series for this year is FINISHED, that is how I can compare this Great Sermon. Thank You Pastor Hatfield..
I think as Christians, our most important sphere of influence to change the world, should not be politics or anything else. But spreading the LIFE-CHANGING Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we have done that first and FOREMOST, then we can look at also impacting through other areas. But I think that the sphere of witnessing is far from where it should be in the lives of most Christians.
“ Great Sermon! ” This series is some of the most profitable preaching I have listened to in a long time! Baptist pastors and churches have lost much of their Baptist heritage and distinctives, and most of them are no different than the "evangelical" or "bible" church down the street.
However, do you honestly believe that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has religious freedom? If it does, it is only within the confines of the Marxist-Leninist framework. In other words, pastors can say what they want as long as they proffer grain offerings on the altar of Ho Chi Minh; provided that they extol the virtues of scientific socialism and deride the "evil capitalist imperialism" of the civilized world, they will continue enjoying tax-exempt status (and of course, secret police agents within the congregations will ensure conformity).
Personally, I don't care what the newspapers are saying about China and Vietnam "liberalizing" their economies and "embracing multiparty democracy". It's all a veneer. Read "State and Revolution" by Lenin and you'll see that what's happening in those countries is nothing new to Communist strategy (compare what they're doing to Lenin's NEP and you'll see striking similarities). If you disagree and wish to debate this I will gladly do so.
At the end of the day, Christians are still being killed over there. The only difference is that today we're led to believe that's not happening.
Given that during the Cold War, the Vietnamese were allied with the Soviet Union (they even engaged in a border war against the Chinese in 1979) and have a cultural heritage distinct from their northern neighbours, I will grant that your statement has merit. However, since the late 1980s both China and Vietnam have pursued almost identical economic policies and have subsequently put aside many of their differences (that there are few communist countries left in the world forces them to consolidate their resources).
So the Vietnamese government officially "recognized" two churches? Big deal. Communists in Vietnam are cut from the same cloth as their masters in China and their tactics are exactly the same: say or do anything in order to attract foreign investment that can be used to build infrastructure (and line the pockets of party cadres) while the "people's republic" retains control of the economy's commanding heights.
Besides, what loss is this to us? These churches are probably certified because they advocate the so-called "scientific" principles of Marxism-Leninism. I say good riddance.
I don't think we should be surprised by this, although let us not interpret their denunciations of "western culture" and their supposed concern for "eastern culture" at face value. Remember, China is still very much under the iron grip of "scientific Marxism-Leninism" and as such, many hardliners (many of whom are in academic circles) naturally recoil at any expression of the free market system, which is really what this is all about.
9/8/11 8:42 PM
5/11/11 10:50 PM
