Monday, May 30, 2011

The Underground -- Caner leaves Liberty University for Arlington Baptist College

http://theundergroundsite.com)" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-size: 22px; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">The Underground -- Caner leaves Liberty University for Arlington Baptist College

Caner leaves Liberty University for Arlington Baptist College

Posted: 25 May 2011 06:38 PM PDT


Ergun Caner, the controversial religion professor at Liberty University, is leaving LU to join Arlington Baptist College in Texas, where he will serve as its provost and vice president.

Caner, the former president and dean of Liberty Theological Seminary was demoted when it was discovered that he was lying and exaggerating about his Muslim childhood, according to the Associated Baptist Press.

Arlington Baptist College, a fundamental bible Baptist institute, was founded in 1939 by J. Frank Norris and is affiliated with the World Baptist Fellowship. Caner, aside from serving as provost and vice president of academic affairs, will also teach theology, apologetics and church history, the ABP said.

Caner has coauthored many books, including “Why Churches Die,” “Unveiling Islam,” and “When Worldviews Collide.” He  was taken into Arlington on a unanimous vote from the board of directors of the college, Baptist Press said.

Ron Godwin, LU’s administrator said, “We wish Ergun the very best in his new assignment and would have been delighted to have him continue serving here. We will miss his contribution,” The News & Advance reported.

Of his new assignment, Caner said, “I am thrilled to be joining the Arlington Baptist College. This is an historic institution, founded by one of Christianity’s most courageous voices, Dr. J. Frank Norris,” ABP reported.

Norris, founder of Arlington Baptist College and the World Baptist Fellowship, was a Texas fundamentalist Baptist leader and one-time editor of the Baptist Standard. He was once called the “Texas Tornado” over a long-term feud with the Southern Baptists, ABP said.

Norris founded his own independent fundamentalist group, originally called the Pre-millennial Baptist Missionary Fellowship but renamed the World Baptist Fellowship after a split, ABP said.

Caner said, “The vision of President Moody is profoundly exciting — to train a generation of Christian warriors who are prepared for ministry on every level, intellectually and spiritually,” The News & Advance reported.

9/11 circuits

Caner rose to fame after 9/11 when he shared his testimony of being a trained jihadist terrorist before his conversion to Christianity in several speaking engagements and during the Southern Baptist Convention, ABP said.

However, blogs and news reports emerged that he was actually raised in Ohio. Liberty trustees investigated his case, and, among other things, reviewed recordings of Caner’s speeches, according to ABP.

LU determined that “factual statements … are self-contradictory.” In 2010 Caner was demoted after a committee headed by Godwin looked into the professor’s claim of having grown up Muslim and converted to Christianity as a teenager, The News & Advance said.

The committee determined that there seemed to be no doubt that Caner had converted to Christianity. However, Caner did make “factual statements that are self-contradictory,” and demoted Caner, giving him a one-year teaching contract, ABP said.

Caner often said he is a Turkish immigrant and said in speeches he gave in other states that he was trained as a teenager in Islamic jihad. However, documents of his parents’ divorce which are filed in an Ohio courthouse indicate otherwise, The News & Advance said, indicating that Caner was born in Sweden and the family moved to the U.S. when he was four years old.

Last fall, Caner taught two online cases, and in the spring taught two classes in LU.

Utmost confidence

President D.L. Moody of Arlington Baptist College presented Caner to the Texas school’s board of directors and said, “I have the utmost confidence in Dr. Ergun Caner,” according to The News & Advance.

Moody said, “I believe that he has the abilities, wisdom and passion to enhance the work and ministry of Arlington Baptist College as we prepare a ‘Generation of Giants for Jesus Christ.’ He shares the values that I have for biblical authority, evangelistic fervor, and godly example,” BP reported.

Experimental therapy helps paralyzed man stand, do limited movements

Posted: 25 May 2011 06:38 PM PDT


A man from Portland, Ore., who has been afflicted with a spinal cord injury for four years is suddenly back on his feet after receiving experimental treatment that uses an electric stimulator, lending new hope for the paralyzed.

Rob Summers, 25, is now taking steps on a treadmill thanks to therapy that shows, surprisingly, that lower limb movement is possible without receiving signals from the brain, CBS News said.

The treatment lends hope to some five-and-a-half million others who are partially paralyzed from spinal cord injury, according to CBS News. Dr. Susan Harkema, who heads the experiment at the University of Louisville, said that while Summers’ progress is remarkable, They still have a long way to go.

Harkema, director of rehabilitation research at the University’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center told CBS News, “There’s technology that needs to be developed and more research, and testing it in other people. But it just opened up a whole new set of opportunities.”

Summers, the first spinal injury patient who was able to stand and move purposefully using an electric stimulator, told The Oregonian, “I hope my story will motivate others with spinal cord injuries and revitalize their hopes for the future.”

Whether or not the treatment can meaningfully improve daily life functioning, and whether or not Summers’ experience can be replicated in others, remains to be seen. But experts agree this is a landmark, more so as it is done without any brain signal and through electrical stimulation, The Oregonian reported.

Hit and run

Five years ago Summers was a student at Oregon State University and a pitcher in its baseball team. One night in July 2006 as he grabbed his duffel bag inside his car, a drunk driver crashed into him and sped off, The Oregonian said.

Summers recalls trying to crawl, collapsing and waking up the next day in a hospital. He told CBS News, “The car drove off, leaving me there with nothing and no help, no hope.”

Doctors said he was paralyzed from the chest down and he would never walk again. But Summers, who dreamt of playing baseball, trained for three years but still could not stand, walk independently, or move his legs, The Oregonian said.

Experiments on cats

Summers learned of an experiment in the University of Louisville that showed that cats with severed spinal cords could stand and take steps, as could rats, with the help of electrical stimulation.

Harkema and her team also pinpointed evidence that human spinal nerves can preserve some capability to control movement even after a disabling spinal injury. She wanted to see if electric stimulation could agitate the spinal nerves in a way that would promote standing and stepping, The Oregonian said.

Summers volunteered, and some 16 tiny electrodes were implanted directly over his lower spinal cord segments connected by wires under his skin that went to a unit as large as a small cell phone that was implanted over his hip. Through a wireless remote, electrical pulses were sent to the spine, The Oregonian said.

The devices are already in use to control chronic pain and cost from $20,000 to $57,000, with maintenance at $5,000 to $7,000, according to The Oregonian. The experiment was financed by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, according to CBS News.

Summers told The Oregonian, “[I]t feels like a tingling that goes from my abs down to my toes. Once I got used to it was fine. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable.”

Three days after implantation, both Summers and the research team were surprised that he could stand up unassisted. Harkema told The Oregonian, “This result was really unexpected.”

After 80 sessions and a period of seven months, Summers can take a few steps on a treadmill, has motor control in his toes, ankles, knees and hips. He cannot walk yet but with help, can take a few steps, The Oregonian said.

Other benefits noted by Harkema and her team was improved body temperature regulation, increased muscle mass, decreased body fat, bladder control and a greater sense of wellbeing in the patient, The Oregonian said.

The research has been published in the medical journal, Lancet. Susan Howley of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, who financed the experiment, told CBS News, “I think Christopher Reeve would be very, very pleased.”

Harkema told CBS News, “It was gratifying to know that decades of research by many scientists had reached a point where it might help people with paralysis,” adding, “A lot of scientific decisions went into (our decision). … We trained him intensely to make sure that there wasn’t any possibility of recovery before we took this next step.”

Summers told CBS News, “Now I can stand. I’ve gotten my confidence back to just go out in the public, and be out in the world again. As well as I work on standing for one hour a day, as well as voluntary movement. I can move my toes, ankles, knees and hips, all on command. And that’s just an amazing feeling to be able to get that back.” His next goal is to stand and walk “completely normally.”

Harkema said her goal is to be able to use these therapies for the mainstream market. She told CBS News, “An important aspect is that there’s knowledge we have now that can make incremental changes in people’s lives. And so we need to start there, and then just continue to learn more about the circuitry and how we can take advantage of it to improve function and people’s quality of life.”

Church pastor teaches Christian Karate to youth, community

Posted: 25 May 2011 06:38 PM PDT


A pastor in New London, WI, is transforming the lives of young people, their families and a community by combining karate lessons with scripture.

Pastor Bill Stiebs, founder of Cornerstone Christian Church, opened up a successful karate school in the 1980s, but one decade later, when he and his wife Lynn were born again, they transformed it into a Christian Karate school, according to Appleton Post Crescent.

Stiebs has been studying karate since 1975 when he was 15 years old. Karate was a good outlet for his aggressive personality because it is an individual sport rather than a team activity, Appleton Post Crescent reported.

In the early 80s he started his own karate school and by 1985 taught traditional classes in kickboxing karate to 50 students. He became successful, working out with world champions such as Jeff Smith, Joe Lewis and Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, who acted in movies starring Chuck Norris, according to Appleton Post Crescent.

But in 1991 he and wife Lynn were on the brink of a divorce. This led others to share their faith with the couple, and as they focused on the love of Jesus, it filtered into the details of their lives, including their marriage, Appleton Post Crescent said.

Christian karate

It also led Stiebs to introduce Christian karate in his school. Stiebs told Appleton Post Crescent, “Well, at that time we went from 40 or 50 students up to 80 students. So it actually increased in size. People wanted that. They were looking and searching for something in life that was more solid, that they could count on and God was part of that whole process.”

A video of Stiebs’ class helps one to understand why it works so well. One remembers an old movie, Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams who inspires his students to love literature by embedding it in their experience, for example, kicking a football while saying a line of a poem.

Stiebs’ class runs in similar fashion, only the tool for teaching is karate. As children do certain movements, they memorize applicable bible verses. Because there is such a spirit of love and encouragement the children learn happily. Eventually they also enjoy mentoring other new students in both the sport and bible.

Stiebs also made sure that the children didn’t bow to each other, a normal practice in karate sessions. He told Appleton Post Crescent, “We believe the only master that we have is Jesus and we would bow to Jesus. To each other, we do high-fives and handshakes. We just encourage each other in our lives.”

Stiebs also told Appleton Post Crescent that meditating had to change too. “[I]nstead of meditating upon how we could clear our minds and think of the power within ourselves, we begin to think about the power of Jesus in our lives. We begin to pray instead of meditate upon other things. And so prayer was an integral part of the karate along with learning and teaching scriptures from the Bible that would help and enable people to get through their lives in hard times.”

Karate also became a venue by which Stiebs came to know the children in the neighborhood. Young people would stop by for lessons at his karate school and as trust was built, he could share the bible with them, Appleton Post Crescent said.

Stiebs has degrees in Biblical studies, theology and Christian counseling, according to the Cornerstone Christian Church website. He is a Board Certified Pastoral Counselor and a certified Life Coach.

Stiebs is also a fourth degree black belter who has trained with many world champions of karate. He has taught a “Dangers of Strangers” program in schools throughout Wisconsin, and “Women’s Assault Awareness” in colleges and for corporate clients. He has also helped in the training of police officers and prison guards in WI, the Cornerstone Christian Karate website said.

Churches in New York city: An opportunity unnoticed

Posted: 25 May 2011 06:38 PM PDT


New churches are booming in New York City today, but they do not cater so much to the unsaved, as to the un-churched, a study said.

The New York City Leadership Center, a nonprofit organization that studies developing Christian ministries, noted that in 1975 only 10 evangelical churches existed in Manhattan. By 2000, four out of every 10 was an Evangelical Christian church, and today there are more than 200.

People going to these churches

Thousands are drawn to these churches on Sundays, catering primarily to Christians who have left their home towns to go to bigger cities like New York, Christianity Today said.

According to the NYCLC website, there are vastly under-churched areas in Greater New York, and millions of people are drawn to the new Evangelical churches to fill their spiritual gaps and rediscover the faith they already have in them. However, there are still many more churches that need to be built to address migration.

David Fitch, associate professor of evangelical theology, Northern Baptist Seminary, agrees with NYCLC. He told Christianity Today that most churches, like the megachurch of Tim Keller, is reaching out to Christians who are pre–churched, but who are new to New York and who need a new place to worship.

Fitch told Christianity Today, “The attractional dynamics that often typif[y] these kinds of church planting depend largely on existing Christianized populations,” he wrote in a blog post in January.”

The changing trend in church goers is unmistakeable. In 2008 sociologist Scott Thumma of Hartford Seminary studied 400 megachurches and asked where their members came from. One out of five said they had either been un-churched for a long time, or had dropped out of church for several years then came back, Christianity Today said.

Keller, in a comment that he put in Thumma’s blog, noted that the first attendees in his church were indeed largely un-churched people, because there were so few evangelicals in Manhattan at that time (1980s).

Things changed in the 1990s and Keller said, “for every one New Yorker/secular person who came to Christ, we saw 2-3 others join who were coming from other churches. Without that, we would be a quarter to a third the size we are now,” Christianity Today reported.

Churches today in New York start and grow simply by bringing in Christians who are looking for a place where they can worship, rather than by evangelizing. Thumma told Christianity Today, “[A]lmost no one going to megachurches is truly from the ranks of the unsaved, or entirely unchurched.”

Intensify faith

This new trend does not mean that evangelical churches have a diminished purpose nor can it imply that the churches do not exert effort in ministering to unbelievers, Christianity today said.

By drawing in people who are already Christians, there is often the experience of having an intensified faith, a greater love of God. There is a feeling of conversion and a decision made, oftentimes, to become more serious in one’s faith.

Thumma, a co-author of The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church’s Spectators into Active Participants, sees this as a good thing and a good purpose for both older churches and newly-planted churches, Christianity Today said.

NYCLC views this as an opportunity to evangelize. Its web site said, “Our research among Christian financial industry leaders in Manhattan indicates that 2/3 of those surveyed are not actively integrating their faith with their vocation. The NYCLC seeks to gather Christ’s followers for fellowship, encouragement and engagement in exercising their faith and influence in every sector of society.”

Social networks

Many people in churches today are marginal, but they can be used by God to reach out to the un-churched, Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research in Nashville told Christianity Today.

Rodney Stark, co-director, Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, says a church needs strong members to grow, as these are the kinds who will invite friends and neighbors to church. He told Christianity Today, “Churches really are social networks.”

The need for leadership training of church members is also noted. NYCLC provides training and resources for ministry leaders who would not have the finances to pay for such training, Christianity Today said.

The circumstance lends room for the opportunity. Reaching the un-churched and empowering them through leadership training to reach non-Christians is an opportunity that is well presented in the current setting of migration.

Doomsday moved to Oct. 21

Posted: 25 May 2011 06:37 PM PDT


Radio station owner Harold Camping said recently that he wasn’t wrong when he predicted that rapture would take place on May 21, but it just wasn’t obvious because the rapture took place in a spiritual sense.

Camping said on his radio program Open Forum that even though we hadn’t seen it, and nothing different seems to have taken place, God indeed bore judgment on the whole world last May 21, according to International Business Times.

Camping said, “On May 21, this last weekend, this is where the spiritual aspect of it really comes through. God again brought judgment on the world. We didn’t see any difference but God brought Judgment Day to bear upon the whole world,” International Business Times reported.

For months Camping had been predicting that 200 million Christians will be physically taken up to heaven on May 21, last Saturday. This would be followed by five months of tremendous suffering, also known as the Great Tribulation, The Washington Post said.

The suffering would end on Oct. 21, Camping said in his original prediction. Last Monday, he suggested that maybe God, in his mercy, decided to spare humanity of the five months of tribulation, The Washington Post said.

He also said he felt terrible and that last Saturday he and his wife took refuge in a motel, the AP said. But he also said that he is certain that the world will end on Oct. 21, 2011, and that his numerological timeline is accurate.

Camping said, “It won’t be spiritual on October 21st. The world is going to be destroyed all together, but it will be very quick,” The Washington Post reported. Camping said that the globe would be taken up in a fireball, according to the AP.

Through Camping’s personal ministry, Family Radio International, millions were spent to set up to 5,000 billboards and for some 20 RVs to go around with signs announcing the May 21 apocalypse, the AP said.

Camping’s followers also put their personal funds into advertising the May 21 apocalypse. Jeff Hopkins, 52, told the AP that he spent on gas to drive his van back and forth between New York City and Long Island, so that people could see the warning sign on his van.

Hopkins, a former TV producer told the AP, “I’ve been mocked and scoffed and cursed at and I’ve been through a lot with this lighted sign on top of my car. I was doing what I’ve been instructed to do through the Bible, but now I’ve been stymied. It’s like getting slapped in the face.”

Followers Adrienne Martinez and her husband quit their jobs and spent all their savings so that they would leave nothing behind after May 21. She is pregnant with her second child, International Business Times said.

Christians believe, as the bible says, that the exact time of Jesus’ return cannot be prophesied. Tim LaHaye, a co-writer of the apocalyptic novel series “Left Behind” cited Matt. 24:36 which says, “[B]ut about that day or hour no one knows,” except God, AP said.

LaHaye wrote on his website, “While it may be in the near future, many signs of our times certainly indicate so, but anyone who thinks they ‘know’ the day and the hour is flat out wrong,” AP reported.

No responsibility

Camping said he feels no responsibility for those who left their jobs or spent their savings because of his prophecy. He said on his radio station, “They should have relied on God and not me. Family Radio is not in the business of financial advice,” International Business Times reported.

Camping implied that these people need to go on with their lives saying, “People cope,” according to International Business Times.

This is actually the second time that Camping predicted a doomsday and that failed. The first time he predicted the Apocalypse was in 1994. Camping later said that it was a mathematical error, according to the AP.

In 2009, Family Radio, which is a nonprofit endeavor, filed its IRS report stating it had assets of over $104 million (including $34 million in stocks and other securities), and received donations of $18.3 million, the AP said.

Britain’s Got Talent contestant was bullied by classmates for his faith

Posted: 25 May 2011 06:37 PM PDT


A young Christian man who impressed the judges of the television show, Britain’s Got Talent, said recently that he used to be bullied at school because he read the bible.

Paul Gbegje, 19, was taunted by classmates because he would bring his bible with him to school while his classmates were reading Playboy magazines, according to The Christian Institute.

Gbegje said, “I was different because of what I believed in. In year eight I would bring my Bible for reading time and they would bring Playboy and stuff like that. They would call me Jesus Freak,” The Christian Institute reported.

Gbegje told The Christian Institute, “I didn’t swear, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t bunk. They were listening to things in the charts, whereas me I was listening to piano.”

He spent most of his lunch breaks in the music room, where he would play the piano and experimented with composing music. He said, “I’m not a good talker, but I do it through music. What I like from playing the piano is the feeling you get from it. It’s like a high. As soon as I got a piano, I’m just happy,” The Christian Post reported.

He also practiced on the church piano, sometimes for up to 10 hours straight. He had to make up for lost time, having only gotten started on the piano when he was 14 years old, The Christian Post said.

Gbegjo has received basic formal training but largely his output is the work of creativity and personal passion. Even before he had a piano, he used to think about music in his head, and he would play the tune on a ‘keyboard’ that he drew on a piece of paper, according to The Christian Institute.

Gbegjo said to The Christian Institute, “People didn’t understand my passion and they saw it as strange and weird. But now I am so glad I stayed true to myself.” He impressed the judges with his performance, and afterwards, some of the bullies contacted him and congratulated him.

Gbegjo told The Sun, “Some of them even emailed me on Facebook saying, ‘Well done.’ I feel like I’ve had some form of victory. I had the last laugh.”

Gbegjo is the son of preachers, and he hails from Dagenham, East London. Before performing in front of the judges he prayed backstage. When the judges gave him accolades he said, “I knew God was with me. He really came through for me,” The Sun reported.

Gbegjo’s piano performance was partly original, with the first and last portions composed by himself, and the middle being Bella’s lullaby from the movie, “Twilight,” The Christian Post said.

All three judges passed Gbegjo into the next round. Amanda Holden told him, “I just think you did an amazing job today.” Michael MacIntyre told Paul, “You were sensational,” according to The Christian Institute.

The show’s hosts, Ant and Dec were also impressed and lauded the young musician, The Christian Institute said.

A survey last year showed that Christians feel uncomfortable reading the bible at work in their free time. However, the same survey showed that most of their colleagues would not be bothered by it, The Christian Institute said.

In 2008, a report that was submitted by a charity on anti-bullying, which indicated that one out of every fourth child is bullied for their religion, The Christian Institute said.

British Doctor reprimanded for talking of Christian faith

Posted: 25 May 2011 06:37 PM PDT


A doctor in the U.K. might lose his job and his medical license because he talked about his Christian faith with a patient.

Dr. Richard Scott is one of six partners at Bethesda Medical Center, Margate. All the partners are Christian, and they have been open about this. Scott received a formal complaint from the General Medical Council because he told a 24-year-old patient that praying to Jesus could help him out of a difficult condition that he is in, NY Daily News said.

The complaint was filed by the patient’s mother, who has accused Scott of taking advantage of her son’s vulnerability by trying to push his religion on him, the NY Daily News said. The GMC is charged with regulating all British doctors.

Scott, 50, is a former missionary. His record as a doctor has been unblemished—until now. He said the conversation about Jesus only came as the consultation was coming to a close, and he did so with the permission of the patient.

Scott told NY Daily News, “I only discussed mutual faith after obtaining the patient’s permission. In our conversation I said that, personally, I had found having faith in Jesus helped me and could help the patient. At no time did the patient indicate that they were offended, or that they wanted to stop the discussion.”

Scott told NY Daily News that if the patient complained at the time, “I would have immediately ended the conversation.” He has decided to fight the GMC censure. In doing so he may lose his medical license, and this would spell the end of a 28-year profession, according to The New American.

In recalling the conversation Scott said the patient was “in a rut and in need of help.” Scott said the medical consultation was lengthy, during which he discussed various possible interventions, all of which the patient had already tried, The New American said.

The patient had requested consultation with other medical professionals, and Scott promised he would follow up those requests, The New American said.

The GMC complaint said Scott “harassed a vulnerable patient.” Scott said, “Absolutely not.  I’ve offered a needy patient a way out of his situation,” according to The New American.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of GMC said doctors must not proselytize or talk about religion with their patients, “unless those beliefs are directly relevant to the patient’s care. They also must not impose their beliefs on patients, or cause distress by the inappropriate or insensitive expression of religious, political or other beliefs or views,” the NY Daily News reported.

Scott decided not to accept the complaint as it would remain on his record for any future employer to see. “What’s happened to me is an injustice and I want to stand up for Christians who have been getting hammered in the workplace.” The Christian Legal Center is taking charge of his case, The New American said.

Andrea Williams of CLC said Scott, “acted within their own guidelines, and his unblemished record should not be tarnished — even by a letter [in] his file,” The New American reported.

Laura Sandys, MP for South Thanet told BBC News, “[M]onitoring and then sanctioning doctors on conversations with patients, that do not relate to their medical condition, must be a matter between the individuals and dealt with locally. The GMC has over-reacted and needs to put an end to misplaced activism that is putting a respected doctor’s profession on the line.”

Other Christian doctors have also rallied behind Scott. Dr. Peter Saunders of Christian Medical Fellowship told NY Daily News, “All good doctors try to treat their patients as whole persons, not just biochemical machines. Tha

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