Reinhard Bonnke and the Case of the Evil God

"When you grasp what we are saying here, then you join the army with the battering ram of the Word of the Cross. It will pulverise the strongholds of the devil. It is the drum-roll thunder of God’s invincible army on the march."

 "No matter how brilliant a sermon may be, in a form as perfect as the bullet case of a tank cartridge, if you do not fill it with explosives it will simply bounce off the hardened hearts of the unbelievers."

"Witnesses should witness; it is our nature. Soldiers are not fitted with uniforms and equipped with weapons simply to go on parade; their true place is on the battlefield." (Wasser und Mehr)

There are religious books that only provide heat when put on a bonfire. (Evangelism by fire.)

The church was never constructed for defensive purposes. The gates of hell should be invaded, not avoided. Offence is the best defense. Instead of waiting to ward off the devil's onslaught, turn the tide of battle and launch an invasion of the devil's territory. Jesus is with you. (Official Facebook page) 

Many years ago I spent a rather enjoyable week working in Istanbul. It was my first time in a Muslim majority country and much less of a difference than I had perhaps naively expected. I avoided alcohol, pork, and long conversations on unstunned Halal slaughter. I'd heard a rumour that showing the sole of one's shoe could be considered offensive. This was prudish of me - I have no doubt that I would still have been welcome had I indulged in all the above perceived vices - but it seemed only fair that I make a moderate effort when visiting.

But what of Reinhard Bonnke? A close associate of the very rich huckster Benny Hinn, Bonnke was called in a dream (naturally) to minister to Africa, where his performances are billed under the ill-advised heading of crusades.

I feel certain that Bonnke must work late into the night in his efforts to provoke reactions when he 'invades the Devil's territory'. Crusades are not looked upon with kindness by Muslims and they have strong historical precedent for adopting this position. Couple this with Bonnke's incessant, dreary repetition of analogies with soldiers, guns, explosives, invasions, tanks and so on and you're left quite certain that he is not a chap interested in interfaith dialogue.

But could it get worse?

Dawit Molalegn and FBI's Miracle Church

By the time I reach the end of this sentence you'll likely be asking why I'm suddenly concerned with a Megachurch in Ethiopia. I have a radio show coming up where I'll be discussing miracles, and as part of my background reading I've been investigating those listed as reliable witnesses of the miraculous. The FBI church is not my strongest case, but I'm working through these in rough chronological order so it managed to come up trumps.

Although originally named Faith Baptist Church, self-styled megachurch President Dawit Molalegn rebranded his ministry to Faith Bible International Church. The more astute among you will already have noticed the logo in the bottom right corner of all screenshots - he's stolen his livery wholesale from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A documentary made by the megachurch is available on ethiotube.net and the comments make for interesting reading:

"This man is so fat, because of this poeple's money and fat life. But full of lie. He drive, he eat, he talk(bussiness), and live like he is popstar. There is no way he look like pastor. He did not even mentiion one word from bible. 
all is money, dollar, dollar, dollar, dollarhow paster take the stage to talk about dollar???"

Comments on Molalegn's weight may seem a little ill spirited, but if you watch the video you won't find anyone else who's managed to acquire such a quintessentially Western complaint.

Gunning for God (John Lennox) - Hitler and the atheist baptisms

You may be aware that Mohandas Gandhi was posthumously baptised into the Mormon faith. The same industrious folk also converted the parents of famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The noteworthy are not their sole targets; their net is cast so wide that a performer in this proxy baptism charade sued the church for back injuries sustained while performing two hundred immersions.

When first I heard of these tales I pictured two fresh-faced elders of the Mormon church, dressed in trademark black slacks and short sleeve shirts, knocking at the doors of hell and asking politely if they could take the insipid word of Joe Smith to the complex's residents. I dismissed it as an oddity, peculiar to the Latter Day Saints.

Until I found John Lennox trying a similar trick.

Considering the multitudes in his ambitious plan I hope he has opted not to perform proxy immersions. Rather than attempting to swell the ranks of Christianity his goal is to deplete them. Throughout Gunning for God he strives to separate the wheat from the chaff. The True Christians^TM are kept and celebrated, those he discards as failing his almighty judgement are assigned to the atheist pile.

Upcoming Radio Appearances

I'll be taking to the air, literally and figuratively, when I fly to London to record three shows with Premier Christian Media next month.

Two shows will be with Dr Craig Keener. He's a Professor of New Testament studies who has recently released Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. He's written fourteen other books including one which has sold over a half a million copies. His articles are published widely and he's taught in several countries.

For my part I have a blog.

In the first show we'll be discussing Keener's belief in modern-day miracles and my absence thereof. In the second, we'll discuss the miracles surrounding the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus.

Gunning for God (John Lennox) - Chapter 2 Part B. Pilate, Prophecies and Lost in Translation

 
Chapter 2: Is Religion Poisonous? - Part B Pilate, Prophecies and Lost in Translation

<-- Previous Chapter

I ended my last blog post halfway through chapter 2. I did this partially because there is much to discuss, but also because I was rather happy with the closing line and did not wish to see it wasted on a midway point.

In the previous section Lennox went to great lengths to refute himself and then failed to seriously engage with what we Irish euphemistically call "the troubles". There followed a clean division whereafter he returned to Biblical interpretation. Lennox plays a game of association, often enlisting atheists to his cause to confirm the existence of a historical Jesus who was crucified in first century Judea, then making reasonable arguments for an empty tomb. But then he'll glide on to a discussion that presumes the accuracy of all New Testament texts, often with his own interpolations or additions, as seen by his modification of the Ten Commandments and unsubstantiated discussion of Peter's swordfighting ability discussed in previous posts.

Gunning for God (John Lennox) - Chapter 2. Lennox refutes Lennox, Northern Ireland conflict.

Chapter 2: Is Religion Poisonous? - Part A, Lennox refutes Lennox, Northern Ireland conflict.

<-- Previous Chapter

Reviewing a book in-depth can be a time-consuming task, so it's always a joy when the author takes the time to refute themselves. Take this quote from Lennox:

"However, the New Atheists undermine their own case in astonishingly naïve fashion by lumping all religions together indiscriminately, as if all religions were equally guilty of the charge of fomenting dangerous behaviour. One would not expect such unscholarly, crass oversimplification to come from authors who loudly praise their “scientific approach”. In this connection it is to be noted that Prospect magazine, which had earlier voted Dawkins a world-class intellectual, described his book The God Delusion as “incautious, dogmatic, rambling and self-contradictory”. After all, it does not take one to be at the cutting edge of academic research into religious thought, to see that classifying the peace-loving Amish with Islamic fundamentalist extremists is culpably and dangerously naïve." (Page 61)

From this it is reasonable to assume that all "New Atheists" consider all religions to be equally dangerous. He cites the example of Amish and Islamic fundamentalists. Let's contrast this with some later quotes:

"It should be noted, however, that Sam Harris appears to have grasped the inadequacy of his colleagues’ approach — possibly because he seems to have certain quasi-religious notions of his own. Consciously breaking ranks with Dawkins and the others, he calls on them to attend to the differences among the world’s religions..." (Page 64)

 Lennox has lost one of the four horsemen. Let us proceed a little further, to where he quotes Dawkins in support of non-violent nature found in Christianity:

Gunning for God (John Lennox) - Introduction and Chapter One

I recently had the pleasure of finishing Gunning for God by John Lennox. Read into my phrasing what you will.

Introduction

Lennox opens by listing some of the atheists who have earned his ire. Dawkins takes the lead, a seemingly odd choice for primacy as he is followed by Hawking to whom Lennox recently devoted an entire book. The "lesser calibre" atheists that follow are Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and the "more junior Sam Harris". His targets are spread further afield when he lists Frenchman Michel Onfray and Italian Piergiorgio Odifreddi. Note at this time that Richard Carrier and Dan Barker are not listed. I'll come back to this.

He makes a reasonable criticism of Dennett's attempt to rebrand the godless as 'Brights'. This stillborn move never garnered the sympathy Lennox implies; all he can offer in support of his profession of its popularity is the fact that they possess a website. Is that really a mark of overwhelming adoption? And have the religious not similarly erred? Could we point to a single individual who describes himself as simultaneously the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God, and say that we are not alone in occasionally letting marketing get the better of us?