A disturbing article pointed out by Glenn Beck on his website:
"A terrorism symposium featuring leading experts will begin with presentation of 'tangible proof' al-Qaida not only has developed an arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons but also has begun to deploy them for use in its jihad against the United States and Israel. "
You can access the entire article from the above link, and I highly recommend reading it. This is a terrifying situation if indeed al-Qaida has obtained such weapons. I will definentaly update on this scenario as more news becomes available.
~Tribal~
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Happy Easter Everyone!
The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed!!!! Ok, so Jesus has been in a cosntant state or risennesss for close to 2000 years, but it's still wonderfully exciting to celebrate and remember that wonderful first Easter morning when the angels proclaimed the news that He was not in tomb but was risen! It makes me super excited and to smile loudly just thinking about it. Man oh man. This is my favorite day of the year...I'm just so happy and excited. Anywho, just wanted to wish all of you a happy and wonderful Easter, and may the Lord and Savior of us all bless you and keep you and bring a loud toothy smile to your face!
~AndyJams~
~AndyJams~
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The Gospel of Deception
Being initially informed of the current "gospel of Judas" quagmire while at Liberty, I decided I should write a post regarding the issue. I did some research, and found it to be more beneficial to the reader to just post exactly what I found. Got Questions has the best explanation that I have thus far found. Here is the entire article about the false book.
"Sometime in the 1970's, in a cave in Egypt, a copy of the 'gospel of Judas' was discovered. The circumstances of the discovery have been described as shady, with those who possessed the copy asking for exorbitant amounts of money for the codex. For decades, no institution was willing to pay for the purchase due to its dubious origins. Eventually the codex of the gospel of Judas was purchased by a foundation in Switzerland. The existence of the gospel of Judas codex was made public in 2004, but the actual release of the content of the codex has been repeatedly delayed, with the now expected release date of April, 2006. The dating of the gospel of Judas codex is likely the 5th century A.D. Up to one-third of the codex is missing or illegible.
Prior to this discovery, the only reference to the gospel of Judas was in the writings of a 2nd century Christian named Irenaeus. Irenaeus essentially wrote that the gospel of Judas was the 'invented history' of a long line of heretics and rebels against God. The essential message of the gospel of Judas is that Jesus wanted Judas to betray Him because it was necessary to fulfill Jesus' plan. If it was Jesus' plan for Judas to betray Him, why would Jesus label Judas the 'son of perdition' (John 17:12), and state that it would have been better if Judas had never been born (Matthew 26:24). If Judas was simply following Jesus' instructions, why would he commit suicide once he saw that Jesus was condemned (Matthew 27:5)?
The gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel, espousing a Gnostic viewpoint of Christianity. The gospel of Judas is simply a heretical forgery, much the same as the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Mary, and the gospel of Philip. Just as Judas Iscariot rejected Jesus and betrayed Him with a kiss, the gospel of Judas rejects the true Gospel and truth of God with a fraudulent appearance of validity."
Honestly, would God really allow His church to continue on for two thousand years with an incomplete instruction book? A respectable manufacturer would include the entire manual with his product -- at least everything that a consumer would need to operate that product. Certainly God is more than a "respectable manufacturer" when it comes to creating humans, so would it not follow that a truly loving God would not lead us astray by allowing a book of the Bible to be excluded from the cannon of scripture for so long? The gospel of Judas is a lie, and Christians need to keep a closed enough mind that our brains don't fall out in matters of such importance.
~Tribal~
"Sometime in the 1970's, in a cave in Egypt, a copy of the 'gospel of Judas' was discovered. The circumstances of the discovery have been described as shady, with those who possessed the copy asking for exorbitant amounts of money for the codex. For decades, no institution was willing to pay for the purchase due to its dubious origins. Eventually the codex of the gospel of Judas was purchased by a foundation in Switzerland. The existence of the gospel of Judas codex was made public in 2004, but the actual release of the content of the codex has been repeatedly delayed, with the now expected release date of April, 2006. The dating of the gospel of Judas codex is likely the 5th century A.D. Up to one-third of the codex is missing or illegible.
Prior to this discovery, the only reference to the gospel of Judas was in the writings of a 2nd century Christian named Irenaeus. Irenaeus essentially wrote that the gospel of Judas was the 'invented history' of a long line of heretics and rebels against God. The essential message of the gospel of Judas is that Jesus wanted Judas to betray Him because it was necessary to fulfill Jesus' plan. If it was Jesus' plan for Judas to betray Him, why would Jesus label Judas the 'son of perdition' (John 17:12), and state that it would have been better if Judas had never been born (Matthew 26:24). If Judas was simply following Jesus' instructions, why would he commit suicide once he saw that Jesus was condemned (Matthew 27:5)?
The gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel, espousing a Gnostic viewpoint of Christianity. The gospel of Judas is simply a heretical forgery, much the same as the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Mary, and the gospel of Philip. Just as Judas Iscariot rejected Jesus and betrayed Him with a kiss, the gospel of Judas rejects the true Gospel and truth of God with a fraudulent appearance of validity."
Honestly, would God really allow His church to continue on for two thousand years with an incomplete instruction book? A respectable manufacturer would include the entire manual with his product -- at least everything that a consumer would need to operate that product. Certainly God is more than a "respectable manufacturer" when it comes to creating humans, so would it not follow that a truly loving God would not lead us astray by allowing a book of the Bible to be excluded from the cannon of scripture for so long? The gospel of Judas is a lie, and Christians need to keep a closed enough mind that our brains don't fall out in matters of such importance.
~Tribal~
Monday, April 10, 2006
Politically Incorrect Since 1971
Well, I have returned from my long awaited College For A Weekend (CFAW) visit to Liberty University, and I must say I am quite impressed with what I have seen. I was able to get a very comical t-shirt with the title of this post written underneath LIBERTY. We also saw a car with a bumper sticker reading "Totalitarians for Bush" -- funny stuff. On a deeper level, everything on that campus really is for the spiritual edification of the students and the glory of God.
The first class I sat in on was the honors section of the philosophy department. We walked in and I expected a harsh, cold professor who did not care for individual students and their wellbeing, but rather merely for their academic qualifications; I was very gladly proven wrong. The first matter of business was PRAYER. The professor even asked if any students had specific prayer requests before he began. I knew Liberty was one of the nation's most outstanding Christian higher education centers, but I seriously was not expecting this. I later learned from a student that they actually pray before every single class, and that the teachers care for the wellbeing of students even if it does not involve the class! A guy like me could get used to a place like that.
Despite some shortcomings in the content of the philosophy class (although perhaps it is not appropriate to judge by only one class period), everything else I involved myself in this past weekend was highly enjoyable, informational, and uplifting. Each hall in the dorms has a sort of prayer/devotional time Thursday nights where students go into someone's room to talk, pray, read scripture, and just share what's on everyone's heart. The other class I shadowed while at Liberty was Terrorism. It sounded very interesting and proved to be highly intriguing. The class analyzes reasons for terrorism, forms of terrorism, and the history/current events of terrorist groups in the world.
The highlight of the entire weekend though had to be the time spent with friends, the Casting Crowns concert, and surprisingly enough, the campus church service in the Vines Center. There was lots of singing! And people weren't complaining! And people were actually into worshipping!!! Including myself, might I add, and I learned volumes about myself and my life from the pastor. I really felt conviction this weekend, and I felt God's presence on campus. The whole University was just amazing (despite a few less than kind students, but everyone has a bad day). I highly recommend a visit to this school if you or someone you know is about to enter college. Their website can be found here, but the campus is so much better than anything on the website could show you. I hope Liberty is able to continue its tradition of excellence in areas of academics and spirituality, and I hope to possibly one day add to that atmosphere by attending myself.
~Tribal~
The first class I sat in on was the honors section of the philosophy department. We walked in and I expected a harsh, cold professor who did not care for individual students and their wellbeing, but rather merely for their academic qualifications; I was very gladly proven wrong. The first matter of business was PRAYER. The professor even asked if any students had specific prayer requests before he began. I knew Liberty was one of the nation's most outstanding Christian higher education centers, but I seriously was not expecting this. I later learned from a student that they actually pray before every single class, and that the teachers care for the wellbeing of students even if it does not involve the class! A guy like me could get used to a place like that.
Despite some shortcomings in the content of the philosophy class (although perhaps it is not appropriate to judge by only one class period), everything else I involved myself in this past weekend was highly enjoyable, informational, and uplifting. Each hall in the dorms has a sort of prayer/devotional time Thursday nights where students go into someone's room to talk, pray, read scripture, and just share what's on everyone's heart. The other class I shadowed while at Liberty was Terrorism. It sounded very interesting and proved to be highly intriguing. The class analyzes reasons for terrorism, forms of terrorism, and the history/current events of terrorist groups in the world.
The highlight of the entire weekend though had to be the time spent with friends, the Casting Crowns concert, and surprisingly enough, the campus church service in the Vines Center. There was lots of singing! And people weren't complaining! And people were actually into worshipping!!! Including myself, might I add, and I learned volumes about myself and my life from the pastor. I really felt conviction this weekend, and I felt God's presence on campus. The whole University was just amazing (despite a few less than kind students, but everyone has a bad day). I highly recommend a visit to this school if you or someone you know is about to enter college. Their website can be found here, but the campus is so much better than anything on the website could show you. I hope Liberty is able to continue its tradition of excellence in areas of academics and spirituality, and I hope to possibly one day add to that atmosphere by attending myself.
~Tribal~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)