Linkathon!
When the smoke from our prayers for revival smother real revival…
Have Pentecostals outgrown their name? (CT)
 When Pastors and Pews disagree on reopening church (CT)
 Pastors, Printers, and the Priesthood of the Believer (CT)
 Calls for Falwell Jr. to resign from Liberty U for blackface joke (CT)-Â
Here’s Throckmorton’s take w picture
 What would it take to convince doubters that America is turning into a police state? (Roger Olson)
 Racism, Riots, and the Future (SBC Voices) perspective of someone in the Heartland
https://sbcvoices.com/racism-riots-and-the-future/
 NT Wright on the gift of tongues (Premiere Christianity)
Why God heals and does miracles (Seedbed)
https://www.seedbed.com/why-god-heals-and-does-miracles-five-more-biblical-reasons/
Not as bad as 1968…yet (Internet Monk)
https://internetmonk.com/archive/91822
Another leader with a fake Dr degree (Julie Roys)
https://julieroys.com/dr-bryan-loritts-touts-questionable-doctorate-from-school-with-f-rating/
Historic St. John’s Episcopal Church torched in riots (Christian Post)
https://www.christianpost.com/news/historic-st-johns-episcopal-church-set-on-fire.html
Big thanks as always to EricL and Reader Hill for the link help!
Michael,
Very informative link-a-thon. Thanks for posting it.
Not as bad as 68′?
Almost is almost.
Roger Olsen, as usual, has a good piece. I posted it on my social media, yet because Olsen used a stock photo of Finnish police, it was called a conspiracy. Sad story though.
Similarly, one of my very white buddies was hassled during a traffic stop. The young cop was being belligerent and confrontational, accusing him of having alcohol in his Big Gulp type soda cup. After a while, the rookie let him go. My friend was a well known and well liked small businessman in that rural county. My buddy asked the older cop *who knew my friend* what that was all about and was it necessary. The cop kind of apologized and said that the rook was in training, *yet the veteran never stepped in to defuse the situation— escalated by his trainee– even while standing right there*
My friend was also an elder at a local church, well known, liked and regarded.
The New Victor,
That’s because the Blue Line of Silence and Code of OmertĂ takes precedent over EVERYTHING else. Doesn’t matter if the locality is Mayberry or NYC. Just ask Frank Serpico.
The New Victor,
Which of course means that a case can be made that in many ways the Mafia is better than the government.
Great piece in Washington Post by Michael Gerson (the whole piece is worth pondering), about Trump’s misuse of the Faith when he held up a Bible last week (with apologies to Constantine):
Trump is attempting something ambitious and revolting. He is trying to reshape the content of Christian social engagement in his own image. He is making the claim that brutalizing protesters, disdaining migrants, excluding refugees, discriminating against Islam and treating opponents with casual cruelty are the natural elements of a biblical ethic. And he is using the Bible itself as a kind of talisman or fetish, carried into culture war conflicts. “In this sign,” Trump seems to be saying to his followers, “you will conquer.”
Trump is our cut-rate Constantine. He seeks to employ the sacred as a means of political influence. And more than that, he is now using the Bible to sanctify the physical abuse of peaceful protesters. It is a strategy that doubles as blasphemy. Trump is, in effect, proposing his own bent Beatitude: Blessed are the brutal, for they shall dominate the battlespace.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-wants-to-turn-his-opponents-into-infidels-to-be-destroyed-not-defeated/2020/06/04/d0d5c516-a690-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html
I have been troubled to see many people who I looked up to disregard the arrest of the CNN crew. These are the same people who were discussing how they felt the government was overstepping with the COVID measures. One even posted the 1st Amendment along with his belief that our rights were being taken away before our eyes. We literally watched our rights (freedom of press) be violated on live TV. None of them were saddened by this. When I brought this up I was silenced because of my age. I acknowledge I lack the years of experiences they have. I’m still troubled by what happened. The patheos/Roger Olson piece was thought provoking and in a lot of ways helped me put words to thoughts I’ve been holding onto, but wasn’t sure how to express. Thank you for sharing that!