5 September 2007

Headlines:

[1] Dr. D. James Kennedy 1930 - 2007
[2] Ireland Stands by the Sabbath
[3] Presbyterians Turn Vandal in Kenya


[1] Dr. D. James Kennedy 1930 - 2007

Slightly over a week after learning that Pastor D. James Kennedy would not be returning to his pulpit at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, church members heard the report that America’s leading Presbyterian had gone on to be with the Lord. According to Executive Minister Ronal Siegenthaler, Dr. Kennedy died peacefully in his sleep around 3 am on 5 August with his wife Anne at his side.

Pastor of a 10,000 member congregation and founder of Evangelism Explosion, Kennedy insisted on urbane and cultured presentation of the gospel. Impeccably dressed and backed-up by a magnificent pipe organ and professional grade choir, Kennedy blended history, logic, and rhetoric to make the Bible bear on government, cultural, and academic leaders.

According to Kennedy, in 1953, while listening to Donald Grey Barnhouse of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, he heard the question, “Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and He were to ask you, ‘What right do you have to enter into my heaven?’ What would you say?’”

After obtaining theological training at the Southern Presbyterian Columbia Seminary, Kennedy moved South Florida in 1959 and in nine months turned a 45-member congregation into a 17 member congregation. Evangelism Explosion soon followed and the steady march toward 10,000 members began. Today EE as it is known is organized openly in 211 nations.

A founder or benefactor to many Reformed institutions, Kennedy served on the ministerial staff of the Christian Observer under Converse and Elliott in a period stretching more than 40 years.

Kennedy left this message:

“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.”

+ Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, 5555 N Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33308 (954) 771-3187


[2] Ireland Stands by the Sabbath

For the present, a 60-year ban on Sabbath football games remains in effect in Northern Ireland. Football enthusiasts have announced plans to sue for their human rights, charging the ban is a vestigial relic of Protestantism.

Proponents of change will have to walk over the Free Presbyterian Church, the Orange Lodge, and the Democratic Unionist party first. The most powerful of Ulster parties, the DUP is dominated by followers of First Minister Ian Paisley and members of the Lord’s Day Observance Society.

Objecting to charges of racism, Rev. Mr. David McIlveen, the Free Presbyterian moderator noted that many African Christians now living in the province consider the Sabbath special and sacred.

According to reports published in the Guardian, McIlveen further noted, “We feel that a number of Christian sportsmen would be discriminated against. This would in general be a backward step for sport.”

+ Irish Football Association, 20 Windsor Ave, Belfast BT9 6EG, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom


[3] Presbyterians Turn Vandal in Kenya

The Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) has vowed to continue pushing for the removal of "satanic" symbols from Kenya’s Parliament Buildings and other government institutions. Church Moderator Rev David Githii said he would press for the eradication of the "offensive" symbols despite opposition.

Accusing the Government of failing to take the issue seriously, Githii insisted that the word Harambee and other signs in the National Assembly were un-Christian. “Politicians have ignored the Church's calls because 70 per cent of MPs were involved in witchcraft,” he said.

Githii asked Kenyans to pray so that God can give them a government that would remove the symbols. Speaking on Monday at Dr Arthur Memorial Church in Nakuru during celebrations to mark 70 years since its founding, Githii blamed the signs for social and economic problems in the country.

Githii practiced his brand of revisionism on the church before moving to the state. A dispute with Freemasonry has split the PCEA, leading to the removal of priceless historical fittings from its prayer houses.

At least 30 stained glass windows and metal grilles more than a century old have previously been removed from St Andrews Church - the main seat of the PCEA - and destroyed by supporters of one faction, who claim the designs are similar to symbols used by Freemasons, said by their critics to worship an alien God and to hold un-Christian principles.

+ Presbyterian Church of East Africa, PO Box 27573-00506, Myayo Stadium, Nairobi GPO Kenya