The God vacuum

«In the Old Testament of the Bible, God is shown time after time chastising the House of Israel, His chosen but often disobedient people, by allowing barbarians to invade and plunder their cities and put many of them to the sword.

That is what the Western World, including America, is starting to experience today, having likewise turned away from God.

This raging conflict between Islam and the West, this "clash of civilizations" that many are calling World War III, is at root a spiritual war»

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A Neuroscientific Look at Speaking in Tongues - New York Times

«The passionate, sometimes rhythmic, language-like patter that pours forth from religious people who “speak in tongues” ... now have some neuroscience to back them up.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania took brain images of five women while they spoke in tongues and found that their frontal lobes — the thinking, willful part of the brain through which people control what they do — were relatively quiet, as were the language centers. The regions involved in maintaining self-consciousness were active. The women were not in blind trances, and it was unclear which region was driving the behavior.

The images, appearing in the current issue of the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, pinpoint the most active areas of the brain. The images are the first of their kind taken during this spoken religious practice, which has roots in the Old and New Testaments and in charismatic churches established in the United States around the turn of the 19th century. The women in the study were healthy, active churchgoers»

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Ted Haggard's fall: Lessons to be Learned

Some think that pastors are so important that the devil targets them for special attack, therefore we must be especially understanding and forgiving with them. That's true to a point, but most of the falls today are like Jim Bakker's and Jimmy Swaggart's: not due to the devil, but to the pastor's own flesh.

We can blame Ted for not seeking help. But there is a much greater blame in this case, and it must be aimed at the pastor-centered church system that does not and cannot provide ongoing help and correction. Sure, there are many retreat centers (ranches and other getaways) where a pastor and wife can go during pre- or post-burnout. But what is needed is a whole new system, a flow-through church where gifted, motivated "laymen" are allowed to naturally grow into greater and greater spheres of service.

Good article and dialogue for the church to be having!