Sunday, April 01, 2007

Gospel for Asia















Gospel for Asia is a mission organization involved in evangelism and church planting in the unreached regions of Asia. It's missionary vision relies on the belief that in some countries, specially in eastern countries where the cultural barrier is the strongest hindrance to the preaching of the Christian Gospel, local missionaries work are far more effective than of foreign Christian groups.

They focus their work on selecting, training and equipping native missionaries for long term missions at the scattered small villages of countries like India, China, Bangladesh, Nepal and others. Those men of God are supported by external donations, mostly from western countries and they are more effective in their work because they are more familiar with the language and culture and they live at the level of the people they serve.


It's amazing to see how God has so powerfully worked through those missionaries, in places never reached before, either because of the hostilities to alien religions and due to the cultural and language barriers commonly found by foreign Christian missionary groups. K.P. Yohanann, founder and president of the organization accounts for great achievements both in the social and spiritual fields, conquering the pagan and spiritually thirsty souls of those unreached regions for Christ.

GFA's website www.gfa.org offers detailed information on their work and on how one can contribute to this highly valuable endeavor. This is a wonderful opportunity for Christians worldwide help reaching those people for Christ.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Tales from the Crypt: Do We Have the Bones of Jesus? 2

Kerby's follow up 2/28/07

My commentary was a brief (two-page) summary of some of the criticisms and concerns that many people surfaced in the first few hours after the announcement. Now that we have a few days of reflection on the claims by James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, I think we can begin to provide an even more detailed perspective.

Here are some good commentaries and blogs posted by experts in the field as well some news articles that quote these people. Some of these experts have been able to see the Discovery Channel special "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" and thus can give even more detail than I was able to do when I first wrote my commentary on Monday, February 26. The first two links are for commentaries by Dr. Darrell Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary. He was on my radio program "Point of View" and provided some great insight. The next link is for a commentary by Ben Witherington, Asbury Theological Seminary. The following three are news articles quoting from experts:

Hollywood Hype: The Oscars and Jesus' Family Tomb, What do they share?
http://dev.bible.org/bock/node/106

No need to yell, only a challenge for some who need to step up and could:
http://dev.bible.org/bock/node/107

The Jesus Tomb? Titanic Talpiot tomb theory sunk from the start:
benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/02/jesus-tomb-titanic-talpiot-tomb-theory.html

'Jesus tomb' documentary ignores biblical & scientific evidence, logic, experts say
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=25053

Ten reason why the Jesus tomb claim is bogus:
http://www.christiannewswire.com/index.php?module=releases&task=view&releaseID=2336

Remains of the Day: Scholars dismiss filmmakers' assertions that Jesus and his family were buried in Jerusalem:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/februaryweb-only/109-33.0.html

Quoted from:http://www.probe.org/commentaries/tales-from-the-crypt-do-we-have-the-bones-of-jesus.html

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Tales from the Crypt: Do We Have the Bones of Jesus?

The last week in February started out with an incredible announcement. James Cameron (director of the film “Titanic”) and Simcha Jacobovici announced that they have found the bones of Jesus! At their news conference, they promoted their Discovery Channel special “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” that will air on March 4th and also promoted the book by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino entitled The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History released by Harper-Collins.

We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. Back then, Israeli construction workers were digging the foundation for a new building in a Jerusalem suburb. Their digging revealed a cave with ten limestone ossuaries. Archeologists removed the limestone caskets for examination.

When they were able to decipher the names on the ten ossuaries, they found: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua. At the time, one of Israel’s most prominent archeologists (Professor Amos Kloner) didn’t associate the crypt with Jesus. He rightly argued that the father of Jesus was a humble carpenter who couldn’t afford a luxury crypt for his family. Moreover, the names on the crypt were common Jewish names.

None of this has stopped Cameron and Jacobovici from promoting the tomb as the family tomb of Jesus. They claim to have evidence (through DNA tests, archeological evidence, and Biblical studies) to prove that the ten ossuaries belong to Jesus and his family. They also argue that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah. However, a number of biblical scholars say this is really just an old story now being recycled in an effort to create a media phenomenon that will sell books and guarantee a large audience for the television special.

Quoted from: http://www.probe.org/commentaries/tales-from-the-crypt-do-we-have-the-bones-of-jesus.html

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Reaching Out With the Word -- and Technology - washingtonpost.com

"The culture has changed now," said the Rev. Deron Cloud, founder of the Soul Factory, a Forestville church, who now preaches to his 4,000-member flock via a satellite hookup from a new Soul Factory branch in Atlanta. He has raised $1 million and plans to open sites in North Carolina and Alabama this year.

"People used to talk on the telephone and meet in person, but now the culture is satisfied with e-mails and BlackBerries," Cloud said. "We as a congregation made a decision that if we are going to embrace people, we must leave the four walls of the church."

Nationwide, one in four megachurches, those with more than 2,000 worshipers, hold services at satellite locations, up from 5 percent in 2000. The number of megachurches with multiple sites is expected to double in the next few years, according to Scott Thumma, a professor of the sociology of religion at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Reaching Out With the Word -- and Technology - washingtonpost.com.

Where are you going to spend the eternity?