13/7/11 - SHOCKING DOCUMENTARY- False spirits invade the church - KUNDALINI WARNING - Andrew Strom

12/7/11 -Faith Groups calls for One World Religion

Faith groups call for greater efforts to promote tolerance

The Rev. In Jin Moon, president and CEO of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, speaks about her own experience with religious persecution Wednesday at a conference, “Stop Religious Persecution Now.” (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)


Religious leaders and activists from a variety of faiths called for tolerance of one another and said the U.S. government should step up efforts to fight faith-based discrimination and persecution around the world.

“Everyone should have the right to believe or not believe,” said Suzan Johnson Cook, who was confirmed this year as the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. “That is their God-given right.”

Several speakers at the daylong conference “Stop Religious Persecution Now,” held at The Washington Times, spoke in favor of a bill beforeCongress proposed by Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, that would boost the State Department’s role as an advocate for religious freedom abroad.

Provisions of the bill would give U.S. Foreign Service officers new training on promoting religious freedom, shine a brighter spotlight on countries identified as restricting religious liberties and reauthorize the independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Among those at the event were Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. Other religions also were represented. Speakers and participants included lawmakers and administration officials, religious freedom advocates and representatives from such groups as the Center for Understanding Islam, the Hindu America Foundation and ChinaAid.

The event was co-sponsored by the U.S. chapter of the Universal Peace Federation and The Washington Times Foundation.

The faith activists said there was strength in unity in the fight against religious discrimination.

“The problem is that no faith community is safe,” said Tina Ramirez, director of government relations at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “You might be the persecutor in one but the persecuted in another. So, unfortunately, religious persecution knows no bounds.”

This is a problem that is dividing world religions when they should instead be uniting, said the Rev. In Jin Moon, the keynote speaker. She is president and CEO of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity and the daughter of the founder of The Washington Times, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

“Do we not belong to one family?” she said. “How can you mistreat another faith group just because you don’t understand them, just because you don’t agree?”

She urged fellow religious leaders to do more than simply “tolerate” or “coexist” with people from different faiths.

“I certainly do not look at my children and say, ‘I tolerate you’ or ‘I think we can coexist,’ ” she said.

Participants at the conference said persecution is not so much of a problem in America, but discrimination remains an issue.

“The U.S. is surely one of the freest of countries,” said Ramesh Rao, human rights coordinator at the Hindu America Foundation, “but even we have discrimination problems.”

He said American Hindus have encountered problems getting permission to build temples in the country.

Hansdeep Singh, senior staff attorney for the United Sikhs, said people in his religion encounter prejudice at airports across the country. Oftentimes, Transportation Security Administration screeners make him feel like a “caged animal” when they call for someone to pat him down before he even goes through the metal detector because of the turban he wears. “What did I do wrong?” he asked.

Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis, Florida Republican, recalled the story of how his godmother was forced out of Turkey because she was a Christian.

“Religious persecution is an issue that has personally touched me,” he said. “I will always be there for you, I promise you, because this is an issue very dear to my heart.”

8/7/11 - 'God the Father' banished by mainline denomination

United Church of Christ prefers 'to leave that more open for different expressions of the Trinity'
By Bob Unruh

© 2011 WND

Sen. Barack Obama with Rev. Jeremiah Wright

TheUnited Church of Christ,the denomination whose Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright blasted the UnitedStatesand white people for years from the pulpit while Barack Obama sat in his pews, has decided to banish God "theFather" from its organizational documents.

A report from Eric Anderson on the denomination's website confirmed that delegates to the UCC's "General Synod 28" agreed late Monday to a series of proposed amendments to the constitution and bylaws. The vote was 613 in favor of the changes, 171 against and 10 abstaining.

The changes include a pointed deletion of a reference to God "as heavenlyFather," which has been part of Christendom's description of the Trinity for millennia – the three persons of God being the heavenly Father, Christ the Son and Savior, and the Holy Ghost, the counselor and comforter.

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In Article V, referencing local churches, the constitution previously said, "A Local Church is composed of persons who, believing in God as heavenly Father and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and depending on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are organized for Christian worship, for the furtherance of Christian fellowship, and for the ongoingworkof Christian witness."

The new language, which still must be reviewed by the denomination's conferences, would be changed to say, "A Local Church is composed of persons who, believing in the triune God, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and depending on the guidance of the Holy Spirit."

Sen. Barack Obama with Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Other constitutional changes in the package approved by delegates meeting in Tampa, Fla., over the holiday weekenddealt with issues such as modifications in the church structure, the responsibilities of boards and committees.

Denomination spokeswoman Barb Powell told WND today that the change was made because the reference to "heavenly Father" was too restrictive.

"In the UCC, our language for God, Christ and the Holy Spirit … is preferred to be more open for different expressions of the Trinity," she said. "Heavenly Father is just one vision."

She told WND the denomination seeks to be "inclusive" in its language, "so therefore we will tend to change language that is more traditional to be more inclusive."

She said some of the denomination's pastors refer to God with terms such as "Creator" and "Father and Mother."

"There are a lot of people who decided, if God still is speaking to us, there is more light and truth to break forth," she said.

However, a group within the denomination,the Biblical Witness Fellowship,was critical of the editing.

"Rejecting God as Father in an age of fatherlessness is unthinkable," said David Runnion-Bareford, a leader of the fellowship organization. "God acted toward us in amazing grace when He offered to be our Father through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ who offers us life in his name.

"This is not something we as humans made up in some other time. Rejecting our Father is [an] act of arrogant rebellion in the name of cultural conformity that only further alienates members, churches, but more importantly God himself."

He noted the constitution had contained the reference since its founding in 1957, and said it "remains the covenant connection with the basic truths of Christianity that keeps many churches affiliated who are otherwise alienated by the denomination's very liberal agenda."

The organization, a group inside the denomination, warned that the UCC is "the leader among Protestant denominations in member loss."

"This is indeed a powerful confession by the Synod of the UCC that, having rebelled against the word of God, is on sinking sand – with our members, churches, historic witness, and identity in Christ washing away before our eyes," Runnion-Bareford said.

The organizationexplains on its websitethat it was "formed in alarmed response to decades of continued denominational decline that has resulted from the UCC's theological surrender to the moral and spiritual confusion of contemporary culture."

"The BWF attempts to network with renewal movements in other 'mainline' denominations as well as to expose churches to the rich diversity of resources available in the wider fellowship of the evangelical mainstream of the American church. In doing so, we hope to spark new vitality and faithfulness in the life of a denomination which seems to have strayed from its first love," the organization explains.

"We are deeply concerned about the alarming rate at which the UCC is encouraging the ordination of those who choose 'alternative' lifestyles (i.e., homosexuality, bisexuality and sexual activity outside of marriage), embrace moral relativism, seek authority in human experience, or are ambivalent about such basic beliefs as the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the reality of the Resurrection and other doctrines of the church which are the foundation of our faith. Continued ordination of ministers who cannot accept even the simplest truths of the Christian faith will only contribute to the further collapse of our church to the prevailing mythologies of the culture."

Anderson's report from the Florida meetings said delegate Robb Kojina of Hawaii urged adoption of the changes. According to Anderson, Kojina said, "This structure of governance is a missional model for us to do ministry in a post-modern world, that makes us responsible to discern God'svoicein our settings."

The UCC and its prominent Chicago pastor Wrightmade headlines during the 2008 presidential election because of Obama's 20-year membership in the church.

Wright famously condemned America in God's name and blamed the U.S. for provoking the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan in World War II and supporting Israel since 1947.

ABC News reviewed dozens of Wright's sermons, finding repeated denunciations of the U.S., based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans.

"Thegovernmentgives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God d--- America, that's in theBiblefor killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. "God d--- America for treating our citizens as less than human. God d--- America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

In addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the U.S. had brought on al-Qaida's attacks because of its own terrorism, ABC News reported.

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands inNewYorkand the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said in a sermon Sept. 16, 2001. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

WND has reportedthe church itself has been revealed to have astrongAfrican-centered and race-based philosophy.

Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago is where Obama was baptized as a Christian two decades ago. Obama even borrowing the title for one of his books, "The Audacity of Hope," from a sermon by Wright.

During the campaign, the first paragraph of the"About Us" section of the church's websitementioned the word "black" or "Africa" five times:

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian. ... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.

On another page on the website, Wright explained that his theology was "based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone'sbook, 'Black Power and Black Theology.'"

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