Thursday, September 27, 2012

A new, sick way to get drunk. Through your butt

Guess what? In order to get drunk faster, people are not taking it through the mouth, but through their butts!! The Washington Post reports.


Early Saturday morning, an unresponsive University of Tennessee student was dropped off at a medical center with a blood alcohol content that local police say was “well over .40,” the point at which death can occur. How did the 20-year-old student get that dangerously drunk?
Campus police went to the student’s fraternity house, Pi Kappa Alpha (aka Pike), to find out. They found at least three males passed out — and this scene, as described by a Knoxville police spokesman in a Monday statement that was obtained by The Post: “Upon extensive questioning it is believed that members of the fraternity were utilizing rubber tubing inserted into their rectums as a conduit for alcohol as the abundance of capillaries and blood vessels present greatly heightens the level and speed of the alcohol entering the blood stream as it bypasses the filtering by the liver.”

A new way of getting drunk? Wait and see a lot of people dying out of this new, and sick way of getting drunk.

And what's the name of this new way of getting wasted?

The act of getting wasted in that way is also referred to as “butt chugging,” “alcohol enema” and, well, “completely idiotic.” 

And to top it all, the father is mad, not at his son for almost getting killed by doing such a stupid thing, but he is mad a the reporting of the incident:
The student’s father is irate that news of his son’s trip to the hospital has made headlines and told the student newspaper, the Daily Beacon, that there “are significant errors that have been reported and we will correct them.” The father did not elaborate on what those errors were, but told the paper that his son is back in class and “livid with the defamation of his character.” 

So he is more worried about his character, than his life. Total crazy dad.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Well, this blog didn't make it in the top 200. You want to know who did?

If you blog, you may do it out of love for the church, or just because you enjoy letting others know what you think.

This is the list of the top 200 blogs that have to deal with religion, specifically Christianity.

If you want to know how things are going on in the blogosphere, you may want to take a look.


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Posting in Facebook could land you in jail

This is one example. Although the lady was drunk, and should have been sent to jail anyway, this is an example of how putting dumb things on Facebook may land you in jail. So be careful!!!!!


Facebook Posting Lands Woman A Contempt Of Court Charge 
Posted: Sep 10, 2012 6:03 PM 
A common acronym for "laugh out loud" on the internet is "lol." But a Woodford County judge wasn't laughing over comments a woman posted on her Facebook page regarding a serious DUI crash. A crash, police say, she caused. Now, the judge has held the woman in contempt of court. 
Woodford District Judge Mary Jane Phelps warned Paula Asher over her Facebook postings about a serious DUI crash that happened on July 20. Asher didn't listen, and ended up in jail. 
Police say Asher drove drunk and t-boned another car with four people in it, then left the scene of the accident. The crash landed her in hot water, but so did her Facebook comments. "I didn't think 'lol' would put me in jail," said Asher. 
After the crash, Asher posted the following on her Facebook page: "my dumb (expletive) got a dui and I hit a car...lol." 
Some parents of the teenagers in the other car read the comments and told the court. That's when Phelps ordered Asher to close her Facebook account, but she didn't. "I really wasn't trying to make fun of (the crash)," claims Asher. 
The judge found asher in contempt of court and put her in jail for two days when she ignored the order and kept her Facebook account. "I had to go pull my time in," said Asher. "I did and they said I'm not allowed to have Facebook." 
Asher says she's learned her lesson. "I apologize to everybody," she said. "i apologize to the judge. I didn't mean to hurt anybody." 
Asher will face the judge again September 27 on all the charges, including possession of a controlled substance.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Two examples how Islam raises kids to hate all else


This is what happened in Sydney in the last couple of days.

Today, the mother had to go to the police in order to inform if the child is doing well. I wonder if the child even knows how to read, and was just given the placard to carry.

All the violence in Sydney points out that the second generation muslims here in Australia just don't assimilate as well as our failed multiculturalism claims. 

Here it is the link if you want to to follow up this news.

Why Christianity became the Roman Empire's religion



Christianity became the Roman Empire’s designated religion in less than 300 years from Christ’s resurrection. Its success came from opposing abortion and female infanticide, treating women almost equally and giving them more opportunities, loving neighbours and caring for the sick and poor, and having courageous martyrs (Herald Sun 17/9/12 p20, 21).

Scalia calls Roe v. Wade a "lousy opinion"

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Calvinsim: more like Schmalvinism!


Written by: Simon on 23/06/2012.
Calvinism must be one of the most overused and abused terms going around in church circles. Much of what I say below I really mean, but it is rather tongue-in-cheek. Also, the way I box people into categories is very fluid, as I will explain later. Finally, I should also apologise to anyone who goes by the name Schmalvin; any confusion is completely unintended.
There are quite a number of streams of Calvinism. Each of the groups I describe below all locate themselves in the theological heritage of the French Protestant reformer, John Calvin. It is very confusing. I hope this helps.
You have the New Calvinists: John Piper is like the grandfather, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler and co. are the hipsters who tow the line behind him and a few other grandfather figures. They are the world’s biggest fans of the TULIPacronym. You may have heard the phrase “5 Point Calvinism” thrown around. Most of these people say they are Calvinists, and then you usually discover that they are “4 points Calvinists,” or “4-and-a-half-point Calvinists.” John Piper is a 17 point Calvinist, I think. I suppose that the MacArthur-peddling boys at Team Pyro would fit into this category as well. They tend to be Baptists. Their books get endorsed by D. A. Carson, J. I. Packer and Albert Mohler.
Then you have the Neo-Calvinists. The confusing thing about that title is that “neo” means “new” and so you have two types or Neo-Calvinists floating around. It’s like R. C. Sproul, and R. C. Sproul Jr. More on them later. These Neo-Calvinists descend from the Dutch Calvinist stream, whose figurehead isAbraham Kuyper. Modern exponents include Douglas Wilson, philosopher Nick Wolterstorff, R. C. Spoul Jr, and less explicitly, Tim Keller. They like to use snappy catch-phrases like “All of life under Christ” and use crazy terminology like “sphere sovereignty.” They also emphasise having a Christian worldview, Christian education, and the story arc of the Bible being “Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consumation.”
There are also those whom I enjoy labeling Grumpy Calvinists. I include folk like D. G. Hart, Michael Horton and the White Horse Inn guys, and Carl Truman in this lot. These folk enjoy pointing out everyone else’s shortcomings as Calvinists/Reformed Christians. They tend to freak out about the Neo-Calvinists being too interested in politics and cultural engagement, and they get annoyed by the New Calvinists being not really that Calvinist. They quote the Westminster Confession a lot, and talk about Two-Kingdom theology like it is their theological grid for everything. They also like quoting J. Gresham Machen.
Finally, there’s all of those people who follow the thought of Calvin who either don’t realise it, don’t make a big fuss about it, or don’t care. I would call them the Comfortable Calvinists. They don’t tend to feel the need to prove their ‘Reformed-ness” by arguing with everyone else about how un-reformed they might be. I would say that people like Kevin de Young, the lads over at theCalvinist International, R. C. Sproul, John Frame, and J. I. Packer could be included here.
All of that being said, some of these parties overlap, and individuals who sit under one banner might also happily sit under more than one banner. It is also worth noting that even though these camps might have a dig at each other, they often share the podium at conferences and dialogue about various issues very helpfully. They have more in common than it appears. I have learnt a stack from all of the above-named people, and others within each of the Calvinist camps.
That’s it. Enjoy continuing to be confused.

Incredible!! Unemployed professors who write your term papers, for a fee of course

This is just a sign of how desperate people are for making a dollar, and how desperate are some students who don't study and just party hard.

These people should have their degrees taken away. But they already have the skills to write, so it would be useless if people try to defrock them.

Just to show how low some people may go in order to survive, and how students today are not willing to take up study.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

For those who live in Los Angeles, a conference they can't miss

For those go to the Together for the Gospel, or the Wheaton Conference, this is a good opportunity for those of the West Coast to finally have a conference of their own.

Here are the details of the the conference, for those who may be interested in attending.

It is a topic that it is very close to me, Christology. The Conference is held by two of the most respected seminaries in the West Coast, Fuller Theological Seminary and Biola University.


CHRISTOLOGY, ANCIENT AND MODERN: EXPLORATIONS IN CONSTRUCTIVE THEOLOGY
Christology was the central doctrine articulated by the early councils, and it remains the subject of vigorous theological investigation today. The doctrine of Christ is a field of broad ecumenical convergence, inviting theologians from all denominational settings to fruitful collaborative exploration. In the contemporary setting, it is especially crucial for theologians to investigate the scriptural witness afresh, to retrieve classical criteria and categories from the tradition, and to consider the generative pressure of soteriology for Christology proper. This first annual Los Angeles Theology Conference seeks to make a positive contribution to contemporary dogmatics in intentional engagement with the Christian tradition. A panel of accomplished plenary speakers will survey the field and articulate the sources, norms, and criteria for constructive theological work.


Is America blessed by God?

This is a Catholic Perspective, but is a balanced one.

First Things has done a good thing publishing this article.


Is America Blessed by God?
In 2008, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly released a survey on how Americans view their country’s relationship to God: “Sixty-one percent agree that America is a nation specially blessed by God,” it revealed, “and 59 percent believe the United States should be a model Christian nation to the world.”

William Doino Jr.These are the kind of results that inspire many Americans—and make others shudder with fear.

Ever since Europeans came to America, the idea of the United States as a land of special blessings has animated America’s soul. John Winthrop, the Puritan governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, famously drew upon the Bible to describe the early New England settlers: “We shall be as a City upon a hill, the eyes of all people upon us.”

Subsequent generations have voiced similar themes to propel America’s narrative: their country was thought to have a “manifest destiny;” to represent “an empire of liberty;” to offer the “last best hope on earth;” and above all, to embody “American exceptionalism.”

All this talk of America’s unique stature, however—especially when combined with a supposed mandate from Heaven–has unnerved critics, both Christian and secular. They have a point.

Biblically speaking, all human beings are blessed by God by virtue of the fact they are created in his image, and fundamentally equal. Even when the Lord honored the children of Israel as his chosen people, it was done to fulfill his divine plan foreveryone, and in the context of his boundless love for a unified human race. Further, nothing is more alien to the Old and New Testaments than to sacralize the unholy, or divinize material things. To regard secular America as some kind of Messiah nation, or geo-political golden calf, is sheer idolatry.

The secular critique is just as pointed. In an article for Foreign Policy magazine, Harvard University’s Stephen Walt assails “the myth of American exeptionalism,” pointing out that America’s sins at home and abroad undercut this “self-congratulatory portrait” of a country superior to others and consistently beneficial. Excessive nationalism, he argues, can lead to hubris, and hubris to something dangerous and destructive. “Americans,” he writes, “are blind to their weak spots, and in ways that have real-world consequences.”

This critique has validity, but suffers from selective indignation, and ignores moderating factors. While American Christians have never been shy about assuming God’s blessings, they have invariably seen them as conditional and under God’s judgment. In the very speech in which he spoke about the “City upon a hill,” Winthrop qualified it by cautioning that “if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.”

Furthermore, as historian Donald Scott notes:

In the decades following Winthrop’s speech most New England divines preached less about New England’s divine mission, than issue deep laments—Jeremiads, subsequent historians have called them—about how far New Englanders had fallen from fulfilling the requirements of their Covenant with God and how all the woes and turmoil that had befallen them—Prince Phillip’s war, the loss of New England’s charter, the witchcraft phenomenon, droughts and dreadful winters, etc—were the signs and result of God’s wrath over their failings.

America’s sense of mission was never higher than during World War II, but it was at that moment when Venerable Fulton Sheen warned his fellow countrymen not to allow the justice of their cause to minimize their personal sins:

Our greatness is conditioned upon our earnestness in examining our own faults and remedying them. America will be reborn when it stops its roaring self-righteousness, and begins to examine its conscience, not its newspaper editorials: begins to judge itself not by the degeneracy of warring dictators, but by what we ought to be in the eyes of God. . . . Let us give up Stephen Decatur’s ‘my country right or wrong,’ and substitute for it the promise that the world will never be wrecked by faults of ours.

More recently, Richard Land, the well-known Evangelical leader, expressed his deep appreciation for America’s blessings, but stressed that “those blessings invoke a reciprocal obligation and responsibility,” and cautioned fellow Christians: “We cannot assume ‘God is on our side.’ We are not God’s gift to the world. America does not have a special claim on God.”

If excessive self-flattery is embedded in America’s tradition, so too is self-reflection and self-criticism. One cannot walk into an American bookstore without finding a plethora of books, from every different angle, decrying some national problem or crisis, and advocating changes for the better.

Walt’s Foreign Policy article is flawed because it ignores this corrective aspect of American history, just as it downplays American generosity: whenever a catastrophe strikes the world—an earthquake, tsunami, famine, epidemic, or emerging genocide—America is the first to be called upon. And for good reason: despite its errors, and need for self-examination and penance, America is, at its best, a giving and caring nation.

Curiously, though Walt’s article castigates America for its transgressions, it is silent about its most serious one: the ongoing slaughter of the unborn. Is that a part of an “American exceptionalism” that critics are now ready to accept?

Pro-life Christians never will, and it is abortion, more than anything else, that has shaken their faith in America as “one nation under God.”

As they ponder that question, and vacillate between idealism and despair over the United States, they can reflect on a message sent to them at the end of the Second World War. At that time, the world was still in a state of disorientation, having witnessed the deaths of tens of millions of people, hoping to recover some sense of its humanity. Because of their leading role in the world—first in winning the war, then in rebuilding the peace—Americans were highly regarded, and Pope Pius XII sent them a letter, expressing his admiration and expectations: “The American people,” he began,  “have a genius for splendid and unselfish action, and into the hands of America, God has placed the destinies of afflicted humanity.”

Ronald Reagan liked quoting that line, and Walt criticizes Reagan (and by implication, Pius XII) for suggesting “the United States has a divinely ordained mission to lead the rest of the world.” But neither the well-intentioned Reagan nor the disapproving Professor Walt mentioned the title of Pius’s letter—“Wisdom—not Weapons of War,” nor did either quote the rest of Pius XII’s message, which reveals it was a call for selfless Christian witness and universal love:

May the noble flame of brotherly love be kindled in your hearts. Let it not die quenched by an unworthy, timid caution in the face of the needs of your brethren, let it be not overcome by the dust and dirt of the whirlwind of anti-Christian or non-Christian spirit. Keep alive this flame, increase it, carry it wherever there be a groan of suffering, a lament of misery, a cry of pain, and nourish it evermore with the heat of a love drawn from the Heart of the Redeemer

Armed with the arms of spirit and heart, the merciful weapons of peace: wisdom, justice and charity, we must stand united against the wanton weapons of war: tyranny, hatred and greed. Then the griefs of the world’s bereaved . . . will be sealed with the tranquility and the glory of God’s peace.

This is the kind of America we should strive to build: an America that walks humbly with the Lord, in charity and prayer, seeking truth, and hoping to live honorably enough to receive his immeasurable blessings.

William Doino Jr. is a contributor to Inside the Vatican magazine, among many other publications, and writes often about religion, history and politics. He contributed an extensive bibliography of works on Pius XII to The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XIIHis previous “On the Square” articles can be found here.

RESOURCES

Survey: Most Americans Believe God Uniquely Blessed U.S.,” The Christian Post, October 23, 2008.

The Myth of American Exceptionalism,” by Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy, November, 2011.

John Winthrop (1588-1649) on the “City Upon a Hill,” Bartleby.com.

The Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny,” by Donald M. Scott, National Humanities Center.

A Declaration of Dependence by Fulton J. Sheen (Bruce Publishing Company, 1941).

A God-Blessed America: Obligations and Responsibilities,” by Richard Land, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, July 2, 2010.

We Will be a City Upon a Hill,” Ronald Reagan, Speech of January 25, 1974, to the First Annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

A Post-Christian America,” by Father C. John McCloskey III, The Catholic Thing, August 19, 2012.

Reflections on the Institute on Religion and Democracy,” (speech on Christianity in America) by Father Richard John Neuhaus, October 2005.

Wisdom—Not Weapons of War,” Message of Pope Pius XII to the American People, Colliers Magazine, January 5, 1946. 

Mohler doesn't get it Wright




I like Mohler. But it sounds more like Luther cannot be wrong on any front!!!
Luther is one of my heroes, but if Mohler would have hold to his view of Justification by faith, that alone (no pun intended) would not have been enough to spare him of Luther's wrath because Mohler stands for believer's baptism, as well as Mohler's view of the Lord's supper. Therefore, Luther would not care if he held to the Gospel, as we saw in Zwingli's case.
Tradition, and a bad one at that!!!!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

A good message for my fellow pro-lifers

I always say the same thing, but this lady put it better.  Those who are so desperate to defend the unborne,  seem to have no interest in kids once they get out of womb. Saving a kid in the womb will not cost a cent for them, but once that child gets out of the mother, they don't want to fight to keep that baby alive.

One sided morality if you ask me.

As the nun says, that's not being pro-life, rather, pro-birth.

Yousef Nadarkhani has been freed

I know the guy has a heretical view of Jesus, which in my view makes him just as pagan as any Muslim in Iran.

Nevertheless, I am happy he has been freed. No one should go to jail just for having a different religious belief.

Now hopefully, nobody kills him at his home.

Here it's the link, if you want to confirm:


CSW has been informed that Yousef Nadarkhani, the Church of Iran pastor  sentenced to death for apostasy, has been released and is at home with his family.
According to reliable sources, during court proceedings that took place today, Pastor Nadarkhani was acquitted of apostasy,  but found guilty of evangelizing Muslims. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment for the latter charge, but released because he had already served this time.
Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in his home city of Rasht in 2009 soon after questioning the Muslim monopoly of religious instruction for children, which he felt was unconstitutional. He was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2010, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.  Although the  Iranian penal code did not specify death for apostasy, a constitutional loophole allowed judges to refer to Shari’a law and authoritative fatwas to justify such a sentence. Today the pastor had been expected to face new charges for unspecified crimes, but was instead released.
CSW’s Chief Executive, Mervyn Thomas said, "CSW is delighted to learn of Pastor Nadarkhani’s release after a long incarceration. We commend the Iranian judiciary for this step, which is a triumph for justice and the rule of law. While we rejoice at this wonderful news, we do not forget hundreds of others who are harassed or unjustly detained on account of their faith, and CSW is committed to continue campaigning until all of Iran’s religious minorities are able to enjoy religious freedom as guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is party.”

Phone Evolution


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

I always smelled a dead rat when I heard Joseph Prince, now I know why!

If you want to give your money so your church can by a $775 million mall complex, go ahead, but don't fool yourself you are giving money to God or his work.


Singapore Mega-Church Christian Faithful Invest In Malls



At “Miracle-Seed Sunday” in Singapore’s New Creation Church last month, the pastor’s sermon was preceded by PowerPoint and video presentations, and donations were overseen by auditors.
The Star Performing Arts Centre nears completion in Singapore. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
Members of New Creation Church worship during Sunday prayer service in Singapore. Photographer: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Traffic passes the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre in Singapore. Photographer: Jonathan Drake/Bloomberg
Centuries after Catholics established missions in Asia, Singaporeans are flocking to a new species of churches making appeals more in common with “Material Girl” pop-singer Madonna than the Jesuits. Wearing a white leather jacket and jeans, Senior Pastor Joseph Prince asked God to reward a crowd of about 1,200 with houses, cars, jobs, pay raises and holidays if they contributed to New Creation’s multimillion-dollar funding drive.
Prince’s 24,000-strong flock belongs to a flourishing breed of churches from Houston to Sydney winning followers with a focus on personal well-being. As the rise of so-called mega churches helps make Christians the fastest-growing religious group in majority-Buddhist Singapore, their fundraising prowess is also making its mark, allowing groups including New Creation and City Harvest Church to invest in some of the island’s biggest commercial properties.
“Mega churches have been able to articulate Christianity in a very contemporary manner,” said Terence Chong, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies who has researched such groups. “Being able to adopt the language of pop culture, mass consumption -- we think this appeals to the new middle class, people who are aspiring middle class.”
In a city state of 5.2 million people occupying a quarter of the area of Rhode Island, the mega churches stand out with their gatherings of thousands, near-celebrity leaders and outreach methods that range from magic shows and concerts to musical worship backed by electric guitars.

Pocketless Aprons

At the New Creation service, PowerPoint slides showed attendees how to write checks to the church, while armed security guards watched the cash. RSM Chio Lim LLP provided the auditors overseeing the donations, according to E-Sah Woo, an audit partner at the Singapore-based accounting company and Kelly Lim, a New Creation spokeswoman. Staff in the counting room, including the auditors, wore specially designed pocketless aprons, according to the church’s website.
Worship and Holy Communion were followed by a video about a woman who donated on Miracle Seed Sundays even when her husband’s cancer treatments saddled the couple with debt. Images of a Volkswagen and a condominium showed the rewards that came to them for giving.
“As they come forth Lord to sow, release upon them Father the power to get, to create, to receive wealth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Prince said in the rented Rock Auditorium at the Suntec City Mall. “Prosperity is right. Amen. We prosper to prosper others. We prosper to prosper God’s kingdom, so come believing.”

Chaka Khan

The special session sought to raise funds for the church’s half of a S$976 million ($783 million) retail and entertainment complex, which includes a 5,000-seat auditorium. The venue, which will double as New Creation’s meeting place, is set to open in November with concerts by musician and producer David Foster and friends including Chaka Khan and Babyface, according to a statement from the theater.
The joint venture with CapitaLand Ltd. (CAPL)Southeast Asia’s biggest developer, would be among the 10 largest commercial properties by value and the biggest investment by any religious organization in Singapore, according to Nicholas Mak, executive director at SLP International Property Consultants.
The Miracle Seed event in 2010 raised S$21 million in a single day from 22,272 attendees, according to New Creation’s website, and the church planned three such sessions this year. It had raised S$348 million for the property project as of July 2012, the website said.

Suntec Investment

It’s not alone. City Harvest Church, a non-denominational church founded by senior pastor Kong Hee, 48, has attracted a reported 20,619 members as of last year. It proposed in 2010 to spend S$310 million for a stake in the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre as well as related rents and renovation costs. The building was the venue for the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2009.
At a July 21 church service, Executive Pastor Aries Zulkarnain told followers the group raised a record S$22 million for its building fund last year, and had doubled its stake in the property to 39.2 percent for an additional S$54 million. He used PowerPoint slides to instruct churchgoers how to give offerings via cash, check and credit card, and highlighted the online donation system.
These churches are “beyond any doubt” the fastest fundraising bloc among religious organizations in the city state, said Gerard Ee, former President of the National Council of Social Service who was previously a partner with Ernst & Young. “The message here is: The more you give, the more you get back from God. It’s like an investment.”

Sunday Tickets

New Creation, whose website reports 24,000 church members, convenes at several locations in the city every week because it’s outgrown the Rock Auditorium. At the Suntec City Mall, which houses retailers including Carrefour SA (CA), restaurants and a “Fountain of Wealth,” tickets are given out starting at 6:45 a.m. on Sundays for those wishing to see Prince speak in person.
Those who don’t have tickets watch him remotely via video feeds from other venues, such as the Marina Bay Sands casino resort and convention center or a nearby movie theater.
Prince, who sports a black leather jacket and bronze highlights in his hair on the church’s website, speaks at four sessions throughout the day, and recordings of his sermons reach millions across North AmericaEuropeAfricaAustralia and Israel, according to his podcast’s iTunes page. Websites unaffiliated to the church put his age at 49, though New Creation declined to confirm the information.
Singapore’s 2010 census showed that Christians make up the largest share of university graduates, and the proportion of citizens who defined themselves as Christians increased the most in 10 years compared to all other religions.

Embracing Prosperity

By making their services enjoyable and embracing prosperity, groups such as New Creation, City Harvest and Hillsong in Australia are able to attract followers, said Jeaney Yip, a lecturer at the University of Sydney Business School who has studied the marketing practices of mega churches.
“Market-friendly ideologies associated with individualism and self-empowerment are often blended with selective Christian theologies to emphasize positive living and blessings, while deflecting overtly negative Christian doctrines such as suffering, judgment, sacrifice, hell or death from sin,” Yip said. “Their church services are scripted and ‘produced’ with deliberate use of contemporary music, sound and lighting.”

Army Recruit

Axel Ng, 20, a recruit serving his mandatory National Service with the Singapore Army, attends Prince’s 8:30 a.m. Sunday services, after waking up before 6 a.m. to get in line for tickets. At New Creation’s Miracle Seed service on Aug. 19, he gave $50 to the building fund from his $510 monthly pay.
“Pastor Prince is one of the reasons why I come to church, but we believe he is just a messenger,” said Ng, who was introduced to New Creation by his mother in 2005. “The music is liberating, it speaks to me.”
Faith Community Baptist Church, founded in 1986 by Senior Pastor Apostle Lawrence Khong, provides “celebration services” for its 10,000 members, according to its website. Khong, born in 1952, is pictured on the site with gelled hair and a black leather jacket and matching bracelet. He also fronts the group’s entertainment arm, staging shows that “combine magic, music, drama and dance to establish God’s Kingdom in the marketplace.”
Faith Community’s attendance compares with a weekly congregation of more than 38,000 at theLakewood Church in Houston, Texas, according to the U.S. church’s website.
The communications divisions of City Harvest, New Creation and Faith Community all rejected interview requests from Bloomberg News with their leaders.

Mass Networking

Mega churches thrive in urban, newly-developed countries where they create networking opportunities and a sense of identity, according to Hoon Chang Yau, an Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at Singapore Management University who researches Christianity in Indonesia.
City Harvest, which says the average age of its congregation in 2010 was 29, has affiliate churches in MalaysiaIndia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Brunei. It lists business awards won by its members as well as statistics measuring their academic performance against the national average on its website.
At the July 21 City Harvest service, singers led the congregation in song during the worship session, featuring contemporary-styled music backed by a band with drums, electric guitar and bass. The founder, Kong, read Bible verses from an iPad and then invited the crowd to talk to God “in tongues,” leading almost a minute of unrecognizable spoken sounds.

Conspiracy Charges

The boom in fundraising has been accompanied by concern over how the money is used. Kong and five other City Harvest officers were charged this year with conspiracy to misuse S$50.6 million of the church’s funds, including using a portion of the money to finance the music career of Ho Yeow Sun, Kong’s wife. Kong denied the charges. The church has said it stands by the accused leaders.
In contrast to the U.S., where churches often champion political and sometimes anti-government views, religious groups in Singapore refrain from criticizing those in power. The laws “provide a broad framework to ensure that these pastors stay clear from discussing the politics of the day,” said Mathew Mathews, a research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore who has written about mega churches.
The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act allows authorities to stop religious leaders from addressing or advising groups, to prevent them from inciting hostility between different religions and disaffection against the government, among other offenses.

Services Continue

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said in a June statement the City Harvest case involved charges against the individuals, not the church or Christians, adding that the group was free to continue its services and activities.
Irene Hii, a former atheist, became a believer after hearing Prince speak at a conference organized by Hillsong, a mega church in Sydney, and has been a New Creation follower since she was a university student in 2000. She gives 10 percent of her income to the church every month, known as a tithe.
“It’s my way of telling my God: You’ve given me my blessings, so this is the portion that I’m giving back to you, but I’m keeping the 90 percent,” Hii, a 34-year-old doctor, said after one of New Creation’s services.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sharon Chen in Singapore at schen462@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net