More About Amsterdam Vineyard Mission

Outrageous: patenting pigs!

Outrageous!





You can follow all the story in youtube or here

This is Gods original commandment:

Gen 1.27-31 (NIV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

I wonder what part of "God saw all that he had made" is non-understandable. He made all things, and made humanity the steward of creation. Shame on the Corporations that put themselves in service of money! Soon they will want to patent the human genome so that every baby that is born has to pay a fee for existing! Outrageous!

UK banned the father and allowed mixing animal and human genetic material

I have been following via BBC (at home) and Anglican Mainstream (through internet) the current debate in the UK about the recent bills under consideration. I don't know where common sense has fled. Maybe Her Gracious Majesty can still veto the recent bills.

So, to start, Times Online reported that the new right of women is to have children without a father. The full article can be read here or here. It is one of the main social victories of single women and lesbian couples, or is it? The paradoxical part of this story, for those who have ever been involved in pastoral care, is the fact that many manifestations of inner brokenness are actually the consequence of dysfunctional families, and definitely due to the absence of the father figure. Shame! The worst part of this story is that nobody will tell these children about the Christian God that is a father for the fatherless ...

The other story had to do with the hybrid embryo research. The full story can be found here. Some of the advocates say that use of hybrid embryos could be good for finding cure to degenerative diseases such as Parkinson. Gordon Brown's own child is affected by a chronic degenerative disease. This bill also allows the "production" of "saviour siblings", or more clearly to make viable children to be used to save the life of the older sick sibling.

Finally, the legislators have also kept the 24 weeks term where abortions can be performed. Full story here. I want to quote MP Edward Leigh words:

In modern Britain the most dangerous place to be is in your mother's womb. It should be a place of sanctity

I wonder, have the common Brit ever seen a youtube video on abortion? The series on the Silent Scream are available here, here, here, here, and here. There are also videos on the results of abortion, see here. This testimony could help.



Other video about the abortion business in Spain (Warning: it's a shocking video!!!) ... Shame!

Is 57.1 The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.

2 Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

3 "But you—come here, you sons of a sorceress,
you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

4 Whom are you mocking?
At whom do you sneer
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,
the offspring of liars?

5 You burn with lust among the oaks
and under every spreading tree;
you sacrifice your children in the ravines
and under the overhanging crags.

6 The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
they, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings
and offered grain offerings.
In the light of these things, should I relent?

7 You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill;
there you went up to offer your sacrifices.

8 Behind your doors and your doorposts
you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you love,
and you looked on their nakedness.

May God be merciful! Jesus is Lord! Marantha, come Lord Jesus with your restoring righteousness!

Evangelical Manifesto

Few days ago Filip brought the attention to the recently launched Evangelical Manifesto. After reading it, I found it worth of promotion and to further consider it as a good reference.

The Summary can be found here
The full document can be found here

Flemish Vineyard Day 2008

Psalm 119

This famous photo, taken on 5 June 1989 by photographer Jeff Widener, depicts an unknown man trying to stop the PLA's advancing tanks.

The first time i saw the previous picture was on the newspaper. It was impressive to see one man standing against the powers of this age, the powers who only know ruling by force and oppression.

When I was adolescent, several testimonies of radical Christian men and women coupled with definitely sound Kingdom teaching, also inspired me to live my Christian life in a radical way, standing firm on the Scripture. It was a challenge particularly in an environment where the Bible wasn't really appreciated. But it was also a challenge in the midst of a Church that was growing exponentially in numbers, but not even arithmetically in Bible knowledge, and in the doctrine of the Apostles. All winds of doctrine came further as hurricanes to the Body: "prosperity" and "faith" gospels, neo-gnosticism with escapist theories, biased Calvinism mixed with biased Arminianism and Pelagianism, or the recently discovered "Gehena" doctrine (which is the equivalent of purgatory for some Evangelicals), revivals with lots of external manifestations ... Wonder why it was so difficult for many, including myself, to have a safe haven, a safe port. When I look this small list, I can see many of my old days friends having taken one or the other or all roads at different times. The only safe place has been for generations and generations the Bible.

But during my life, I discovered that compromising the Bible and the teachings of Gods Kingdom normally had a negative effect in my life. Each time i not only had the intention to live according to the "majority", following the current of the thought of this world, but actively did so, found myself in places where I now wish I would have never been. My youth friends went all also to explore different spiritualities, religion, places and philosophies. And we all learned, each time followed by the next, that the only safe place to go back was and remains the Bible.

Of course, I would not have ever dreamed those days that once in the far future (almost 20y later) I would be living in Europe, in the intellectual environment of Darwinian science, neo-liberal economy and flexible orthodoxy. Since nothing is new under the sun, I found in the Bible (of course), that other men in the past experienced with similar challenges.

Psalm 119
g Gimel
17 Do good to your servant, and I will live;
I will obey your word.

18 Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.

19 I am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me.

20 My soul is consumed with longing
for your laws at all times.

21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed
and who stray from your commands.

22 Remove from me scorn and contempt,
for I keep your statutes.

23 Though rulers sit together and slander me,
your servant will meditate on your decrees.

24 Your statutes are my delight;
they are my counselors.

So from this humble blog, a single voice lifted to encourage those like Greg Venables or Tom Wright who stand firm in the faith! Your example is followed by many, and your testimonies are an encouragement to believers all over the world.

Venables will attend Lambeth

Finally, after lots of "I won't attend Lambeth" and probably following the request of several orthodox bishops in the UK, +++Greg Venables, the Primate of the Southern Cone will indeed attend Lambeth.

The full story here.

In any case, due to all the turmoil surrounding the schism between Orthodox (Bible believing) and Liberal (open minded, easy going and not really Bible believing) Anglicans, Venables' presence in Lambeth is of utmost importance. He must stand for those who still hold the Bible as final source of doctrine and faith, as the Reformers did. At least, the Orthodox Anglicans should make their voices heard.

Songs of praise - Hail the day that sees Him rise