堪薩斯市國際禱告殿（International House of Prayer）的同工路易斯‧卡達多（Luis Cataldo）是本次禱告日活動的負責人。另有多位榮譽協辦人如美南浸信會倫理及宗教自由委員會會長理查德‧蘭德博士（Richard Land）、 愛家協會杜布森博士夫婦（Dr. James and Shirley Dobson）、美國橡樹崖聖經教會東尼‧伊凡斯牧師（Dr. Tony Evans）、華盛頓家庭研究委員會（Family Research Council）主席帕金斯博士（Tony Perkins）及福音派全國西裔基督教領導會議主席羅德里格斯（Samuel Rodriguez）牧師等人一同出席本次禱告日活動。
卡達多透露，禱告日通過網路現場直播，全國有超過1,300衛星直播站供當地民眾同步參加是次活動。
The Response的異象來自約珥書2章描述希伯來先知向處在危機裡的國家提供來自神的一個答案：所有人民當聚集在一起，為他們的罪而悔改，禱告神親自來工作。在那一天，所有人都要停止自己手上的工，來到嚴肅會中「禁食、哭泣、悲哀、一心歸向神」。 （珥2：12）
Texas Governor Rick Perry』s prayer event 「The Response last weekend raised plenty of eyebrows for coming on the heels of much presidential speculation, and for featuring a number of pastors with some controversial views. On her program tonight, Rachel Maddow tried to find the common thread among these pastors, and she argues it is not that they have all 「just had a moment where they said something that sounded strange.」 They are members of the New Apostolic Reformation, she argued: a small religious group plotting world domination.
Maddow noted that for Perry to have invited many of the characters that appeared at his event was enough of a threat to any potential campaign– not because of the prayer itself, but 「the risk for his President campaign was… that the particular stadium prayer event he held was with these guys.」 She then played a montage of clips in which the pastors warned of the 「whore of Babylon」 and the threat of Oprah Winfrey and several other extreme comments. 「These are not just one-off comments,」 she argued, 「they are saying things that are sounding a lot like each other.」 The thematic similarities, she noted, were because they were all part of the New Apostolic Reformation, a group of 「modern day prophets and apostles」 who 「believe they have a direct line to God.」
This information she got from an extensive article in the Texas Observer that explained the group was out to take over the government in order to make the world ready for the Rapture. Their goals, Maddow explained, were to conquer 「the seven mountains of society: family, religion, arts and entertainment, media, education, business, and government.」 That last one, she argued, was Perry』s domain to conquer.
While it is true there are similar narratives to these Christian sermons and Perry is intent on gaining the presidency, there』s just something a little too 「Illuminati」 about a small group of religious leaders plotting to take over the world. That』s not to say it may or may not be true– certainly there hasn』t been enough journalism released on the matter to take a stand– but arguing that a self-appointed elite is trying to take over the world always carries the risk of sounding a little off, especially in the context of a Presidential election.
The segment via MSNBC below:
作者: hellman 時間: 2011-8-12 06:31
The New Apostolic Reformation has Pentecostal and Charismatic origins, with those traditions' interpretations of the nature of the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit within a believer. Unlike mainstream Protestant Christianity, these include the performance of miracles (such as healing), prophecy and the direct revelation of Christ to each believer.
Although the movement regards the church as the true body of saved believers, as most Evangelical Protestants do, it differs from the broader Protestant tradition in its view on the nature of church leadership, specifically the doctrine of Five-Fold Ministry, which is based upon a non-traditional interpretation of Ephesians 4:11.
The New Apostolic Reformation has been connected to Kingdom Now Theology and has been called a "damnable heresy" by Marsha West of EmailBrigade.com.[3] Leaders such as Cindy Jacobs and Lou Engle have been criticized for what have been interpreted as homophobic or otherwise intolerant statements.[4]
The other day, we talked about the New Apostolic Reformation's plan for a prayer rally in Washington, DC, and a number of readers commented that these folks have the same rights as we do to call upon their god. While that's true, it's important to distinguish between "I'm praying to my god for peace, tolerance, and understanding," and "I'm praying to my god to wipe out all religions I disagree with." It's a very significant difference.
I received one email, in particular, that struck me as important, because the writer asked, "Why can't you let the evangelicals have the same religious freedom as you want for yourself?"
Well, because what they're asking for is NOT the same as what I want, or what most non-Christians (or atheists, or agnostics) want. The members of the NAR are *not* praying for you or me to have religious freedom. They are *not* trying to establish a respectful interfaith dialogue between religions, or even between the various sects of Christianity. They are trying to legislate religion, influence the laws of this country based upon their religious beliefs, and turn America into a country ruled not by the Constitution, but by the Bible.
I could go into a long explanation of why groups like this should be on our radar, if they're not already, but fortunately, Jason Pitzl-Waters has summarized it nicely over at The Wild Hunt: What's the Big Deal with the NAR?
This is not a movement that's going to go away if we ignore them. This is not a group of people who will fade into the woodwork when we don't pay attention to them. The NAR is a growing, well-organized, well-funded, and powerful movement of people who would like nothing more than to see people like you and me reduced to a second-class status. That's why we cannot, and should not, ignore them any longer. 作者: hellman 時間: 2011-8-12 06:39
"I'm praying to my god for peace, tolerance, and understanding," and "I'm praying to my god to wipe out all religions I disagree with."
Q. The S&P downgraded America』s credit ranking, the country remains engaged in two wars, millions are unemployed and approval ratings for Congress are at historic lows.
It was against this backdrop that Texas Governor Rick Perry held The Response, a prayer event in which he prayed for the economy, among other areas of 「darkness」 in America.
In a critique of the revival, Frank Bruni wrote in his New York Times column that when it comes to fixing out country』s problems, 「faith and prayer just won』t cut it. In fact, they』ll get in the way.」
Is Bruni right?
A. Rick Perry embodies the tragedy and the scandal of the modern United States. A country that has led the world, dominated global economics, politics, even science - but which is turning its back on reason and rushing headlong to embrace a new Dark Ages, in which superstition is not only followed, but hallowed. A country which could be great, but which is rapidly turning itself into an embarrassment, the laughing stock of the developed world.
I do understand the feeling that sometimes things are all just too much: the wish that there could be a greater power who will make all things well if only we can find the right ritual, the right magic words, to trigger its beneficence. Humans have been abasing themselves to such wishful thinking since the days of prehistory, building temples of various shapes, sizes, materials and orientations, worshipping their handmade idols, mumbling incantations, brewing potions and making sacrifices, whether of time or comfort, doves or people, all in the vain and frightened hope that they will thereby pacify an angry god or flatter it into looking kindly upon them. On a purely emotional level it is an understandable response to the reality of a world which can be frightening, unpredictable, even overwhelming. Understandable - but unworthy. Understandable - but undignified. Understandable - but completely, utterly, definitively futile. And as I see it, no person who dares to think of himself as educated or civilized - let alone as worthy to be the potential leader of the developed world - has any business surrendering himself to a fictional fairy godfather.
It is time that we, as a species, grew up. It is time that we, in the civilized world, demanded of our politicians that they face up to their responsibilities in a clear-eyed, clear-minded way, and stop debasing themselves - and us, by association - through their deliberate spurning of the most powerful force at our disposal: the force of human reason and intellect.
The human brain is almost certainly the most highly developed, most sophisticated, most astonishing entity on Earth. For all we know, it could be the most highly developed, most sophisticated, most astonishing entity in the entire universe. That is not to claim that it is perfect: like all other components of life, it is the product of evolution, and its different parts bear witness to our evolutionary history, charting our course from unreasoning, purely instinctive pre-human animals, through to the sophisticated, reasoning, intelligent beings we are capable of being today. The more sophisticated parts of our brain have not replaced the ancient, unreasoning ones: they have merely supplemented them. In practice, this means that the ancient parts of our brains, the unreasoning, emotionally driven parts, are activated first, with our more recent, reasoning, civilized capabilities only kicking in afterwards. These reasoning parts of our brains are what truly distinguish us from the other animals. Yet it is precisely these brain functions that religion would have us subdue and conquer.
This is what Rick Perry is proposing as the solution to America』s problems: that we turn our backs on the very reasoning processes which, in reality, offer our only hope and which are the very source of human dignity; that we reject them, spurn them, cast them aside as though they were shameful and unclean. It is the equivalent of proposing that we put out an inferno by discarding our fire extinguishers; that we save the occupants of a stricken ship by sinking the lifeboats; and that before ejecting from a stalled aircraft, we should first carefully ensure that we cut the cords on our parachutes.
What responsible driver, seeing a multiple pile-up on the road ahead, responds by taking his hands off the steering wheel? Yet this is precisely what Rick Perry would have the United States of America do.
The human brain is perfectly capable of creating seemingly intractable problems. We do not always reason perfectly. We often make flawed decisions. As a result, we all too often find ourselves in situations that can almost overwhelm us with their severity and urgency. But the human brain is the best we have. It is our only tool when it comes to solving the problems that face us. Crises require cool heads, clear thinking, expertise and the deepest possible commitment to rational thinking. To claim that they actually require us to throw ourselves on the mercy of a mythical deity is a cop-out - and a disgracefully irresponsible cop-out at that. Making supplications to a magic friend is not any way for the leader of a modern, civilized, developed nation to proceed.
The people of the United States need to decide what kind of future they want for their nation. Do you want it to continue to be respected and admired? To be a beacon of education and learning, and civilization? Or do you want to surrender your role in history, throw in the intellectual towel, and become a global laughing stock as the first nation to have tasted the fruits of civilization and to have rejected them in favor of comforting but childish myth?
There is no magic friend. There is only us. We are not perfect, we are not all-powerful, we are not infallible; but we are all we have. No amount of wailing to an empty sky (to borrow a friend』s expression) is going to solve a thing. And the very least we have the right to demand of our would-be leaders is that they proceed on the basis of reason and intellect, and that they don』t simply sacrifice our futures to the imagined whims of fictional ghosts and goblins, myths and magic, spells and potions, demons and deities. It is time to grow up, Rick Perry. If you lack rational proposals for the solution of America』s problems, what makes you think you』re fit to be its leader?
Paula Kirby | Aug 11, 2011 5:38 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/bl ... IQA2p0S9I_blog.html作者: hellman 時間: 2011-8-12 22:26
這位州長，總統競選人解決美國經濟問題的辦法就是讓全民祈禱。