Several years ago when restorers finished cleaning Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescos, the paintings seemed to come alive, sporting vibrant colors that for years had been muted by dust and pollution. Art experts were astounded to see what Michelangelo had originally created.

In this issue of CT, a team of scholars, preachers, and writers has undertaken a similar task with one of the best known of Jesus' parables: the Prodigal Son. Because evangelicals have sometimes been accused of spending more time arguing over the role of Scripture than actually reading Scripture, we have chosen to delve deeply into a single text: Luke 15:11-32. By approaching Jesus' parable from different angles, we hope to rediscover its many brilliant facets.

According to biblical scholar Kenneth Bailey, a seasoned expert on Middle Eastern culture, familiarity with the parable has dulled our perceptions and made us draw the wrong lessons from it (see "The Pursuing Father," p. 34). He knocks loose the cultural accretions that distort the parable's original jarring message. He notes that his Muslim friends object to, and Christians often miss, the profoundly theological and Christological message of the parable.

Even Rembrandt's portrait of the father's embrace of his lost son can seem dull and clich‚d-until it is paired with the spiritual insights of the late Henri Nouwen, who allows us to see a masterpiece anew (p. 39).

To remind us of the radical implications of the parable, we interviewed Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf on how he found the father's embrace of the Prodigal Son a model for loving his Serbian enemies (p. 65).

Other contributors looked at the parable from other provocative points of view: writer Wendy Zoba shares her journey while parenting a prodigal in "The Missing Mother" (p. 76); preacher Barbara Brown Taylor counsels us not to be too quick in our judgments in "The Other Brother Had a Point" (p. 70); and theologian Christopher Hall explores the early church debate over whether apostate Christians could be forgiven as prodigals in "Rejecting the Prodigal" (p. 73).

Our restorative project would not be complete without the interpretive efforts of the contemporary artists whose work accompanies the articles. In unique ways, Carol Bomer, Brent Morris, Bruce Herman, Tanja Butler, Mary McCleary, Ward Smith, Rebecca Ross, and He Qi, too, are expositors of the text. The combined effort, we feel sure, will make plain why this gospel parable is indeed good news to twentieth-century sinners like us.

Several years ago when restorers finished cleaning Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescos, the paintings seemed to come alive, sporting vibrant colors that for years had been muted by dust and pollution. Art experts were astounded to see what Michelangelo had originally created.

In this issue of CT, a team of scholars, preachers, and writers has undertaken a similar task with one of the best known of Jesus’ parables: the Prodigal Son. Because evangelicals have sometimes been accused of spending more time arguing over the role of Scripture than actually reading Scripture, we have chosen to delve deeply into a single text: Luke 15:11-32. By approaching Jesus’ parable from different angles, we hope to rediscover its many brilliant facets.

According to biblical scholar Kenneth Bailey, a seasoned expert on Middle Eastern culture, familiarity with the parable has dulled our perceptions and made us draw the wrong lessons from it (see “The Pursuing Father,” p. 34). He knocks loose the cultural accretions that distort the parable’s original jarring message. He notes that his Muslim friends object to, and Christians often miss, the profoundly theological and Christological message of the parable.

Even Rembrandt’s portrait of the father’s embrace of his lost son can seem dull and cliched-until it is paired with the spiritual insights of the late Henri Nouwen, who allows us to see a masterpiece anew (p. 39),

To remind us of the radical implications of the parable, we interviewed Croatian theologian Miroslav Volt on how he found in the father’s embrace of the Prodigal Son a model for loving his Serbian enemies (p. 65).

Other contributors looked at the parable from other provocative points of view: writer Wendy Zoba shares her journey while parenting a prodigal in “The Missing Mother” (p. 76); preacher Barbara Brown Taylor counsels us not to be too quick in our judgments in “The Other Brother Had a Point” (p. 70); and theologian Christopher Hall explores the early church debate over whether apostate Christians could be forgiven as prodigals in “Rejecting the Prodigal” (p. 73).

Our restoration project would not be complete without the interpretative efforts of the contemporary artists whose work accompanies the articles. In unique ways, Carol Bomer, Brent Morris, Bruce Herman, Tanja Butler, Mary McCleary, Ward Smith, Rebecca Ross, and He Qi, too, are expositors of the text. The combined effort, we feel sure, will make plain why this gospel parable is indeed good news to twentieth-century sinners like us.

Biblical “Myth”

* I really enjoyed “Did the Exodus Never Happen?” [Sept. 7]. I find the assumption that history as recorded in Scripture is myth unless it can be verified by secular sources to be laughable. Anyone who has tried to follow the news stories of the past few years knows that news disseminated in the mainstream press must be seen with a critical eye. The number of retractions of inaccurate and even bogus reports and stories have been frequent and numerous. Are we to believe that records of events written hundreds and thousands of years ago are to be taken uncritically simply because they were written on papyrus or etched in stone? “Let God be true and every man a liar.”

One assumes the inaccuracy or falsehood of the Bible at one’s own peril. It is the wise man that begins his research with the assumption that the Scriptures are true, and other types of evidence should be judged based on that assumption. I would much prefer to meet the Lord one day and have him perhaps call me on the carpet for taking his word too literally than to have to explain why I couldn’t find the Scriptures plausible until I had verified them by other, human sources.

Keven Fry Houston, Tex.

I wish to commend Kevin D. Miller for his timely and informative article on the Exodus. It should be noted that Kenneth A. Kitchen, who is the world’s leading authority on Ramesses II, the pharaoh of the Exodus, and on the later history of Egypt, has detailed his reasons for defending the Old Testament in “The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?” Biblical Archaeology Review 21.2 (1995). I addressed some of these same issues in Faith, Tradition, and History (D. Baker, J. Hoffmeier, and A. Millard, eds.). Professor Hoffmeier’s colleague Alfred Hoerth has just published an excellent survey, Archaeology & the Old Testament (Baker), and I have edited Peoples of the Old Testament World (Baker, 1994), to which Hoffmeier contributed the chapter on the Egyptians.

Prof. Edwin Yamauchi Miami University Oxford, Ohio

* The article begins with a reference to my colleague Baruch Halpern, who is currently out of the country and unable to respond directly; it lists him among the so-called minimalists who deny the authenticity of large sections of the Old Testament narrative. It is misleading for you to confuse the skeptical, scholarly work of Halpern and others with the extreme minimalists like Thomson and Lemche, particularly when Halpern himself is the author of a widely read article which excoriates the minimalists for their cavalier treatment of historical evidence.

The mainstream scholarly position raises serious questions about the Exodus narrative but accepts the broad truth of the biblical account of the kingdoms attributed to David and Solomon, while the minimalists deny basically everything before the sixth century B.C. That is a basic and radical difference, and it is disturbing that your article does not make that distinction clear.

Prof. Philip Jenkins Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pa.

* When I was in graduate school I would have given all I owned to read an article like this, or a book like Hoffmeier’s Israel in Egypt. I had to find out for myself that some of my professors were biased and did not decide on the basis of the evidence what to believe about the Bible. They made it clear to me that I could never be considered an intellectual unless I agreed with their biblical revisionism. In all my college teaching, I did my best to prepare students to face such professors without losing faith or courage.

Kenneth E. Jones Louisville, Ky.

* When I read essays on this subject, minimalist and maximalist, I often have the feeling I’m reading attacks on straw men. In reality, few conservative authors take everything in Genesis literally, and few liberal authors argue that everything is fiction.

Donald V. Etz Dayton, Ohio

A Jewish Olive Tree

Thank you for the article explaining Messianic Judaism [“The Return of the Jewish Church,” Sept. 7]. As the article pointed out, nearly every form of Protestant and Jewish expression of worship is represented within the Messianic movement. But it is not so much this diversity that causes discomfort for many outside observers. Many simply dislike the fundamental message, “Christianity is Jewish.” Many Christians don’t like the implication that the church is closer to Judaism than it would care to admit. And unbelieving Jews do not like the message that Christianity is in essence a Jewish olive tree growing to fruition in Messiah (with an accommodation of the Gentiles). It hits too close to home!

As a Gentile believer, I always appreciated the niche being filled in Messianic Judaism by providing a place for Jews to worship their Messiah without forsaking their cultural traditions and ethnic heritage. In fact, their Jewish heritage becomes more fulfilling and meaningful in Messiah. However, it was a bit of a letdown when I realized that Scripture suggests the real recipient of accommodation is the “wild olive branch” of the believing Gentiles. It was ten chapters into the Book of Acts before the major grafting of Gentiles was initiated, and not until the Jerusalem council that the Nazarene Jews met to decide how to accommodate the Gentiles into this new (renewed) covenant of promise with Israel. Over the course of history, the roles have become reversed as the Gentile-dominated church has, in effect, erased its Jewish roots.

The net effect of church history has been to accomplish implicitly what the heretic Marcion tried to do explicitly in the second century as he tried to eliminate anything Jewish from the Scriptures. A Gentile bias pervades today’s covenantal and dispensational theological frameworks as they relegate the “natural branches” as irrelevant in the present age.

Messianic Judaism, by its very existence, points to the need for a new unifying theological paradigm based on the growth of the body of Messiah throughout history in which the Gentiles are demoted to a single branch grafted into an olive tree that continues to be Jewish. Ironically, such a theological framework has great potential for unifying the church and ultimately ushering in the time Paul talks about in Romans 11 when “all Israel will be saved.”

Charles McGrath Kehilat Ariel Messianic Congregation San Diego, Calif.

The article left the impression that, prior to 1967, “there was not a single Messianic Jewish congregation in the world.” This is not accurate. One or more congregations of Yiddish-speaking Jewish believers existed in Warsaw prior to World War II. The leader of one congregation in Romania, Isaac Feinstein, was martyred by the Iron Guard. Congregations in Odessa and Kiev were established long before the Communist takeover. Jewish believers in Budapest formed their own independent Messianic movement during the 1920s.

The existence and viability of a Messianic movement, especially in Europe during the first half of our century, should be noted and explored. Some, perhaps, would have been quoted in this article, but their voices were silenced as they made the ultimate sacrifice as Jews—they identified unto death.

Mitch Glaser, President Chosen People Ministries Charlotte, N.C.

A small number of Messianic congregations (maybe four or five) were already in existence in 1966 when I first went [to Jerusalem] to study. They had been going on for some time. Furthermore, there were also four or five such congregations in the U.S., established decades earlier. They may have been called “Hebrew Christian,” but they were definably Jewish congregations.

The author also states: “There are well over one million Jews in the United States who express some sort of faith in Yeshua.” From his mouth to God’s ears! If only that were true! The total Jewish population in the U.S. numbers a little under 6 million Jews. This would mean that one of every six Jews in the U.S. is a believer in Yeshua. That figure is simply far too exaggerated.

Third, the author claims “The MJAA [Messianic Jewish Alliance of America] wing of Messianic Judaism is not interested in any of the cultural trappings of Gentile Christianity, unless those cultural practices reflect a specific, biblically prescribed practice.” Such a statement is probably true of a very small minority of Messianic congregations, but not really totally true of the MJAA movement as a whole (of which I am a member). Much of the theology and practice is directly borrowed from traditional Pentecostal theology, and other elements have been incorporated from the more recent charismatic movements of a variety of kinds. The most accurate statement is from Eliezer Maass: that “there are many different models of messianic congregations; there is a lot of diversity in this movement.”

Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Director Ariel Ministries Tustin, Calif.

Your article refers to Catholic sympathy for the movement by citing Cardinal Lustiger of Paris calling himself “a Jew” (since he is a convert from Judaism). You need to be aware of the Association of Hebrew Catholics, a voluntary organization of Jewish and Gentile Catholics founded in 1979 by Elias Friedman, a convert from Judaism, now a Carmelite monk living in Israel. This association aims at ending the alienation of Catholics of Jewish origin from their historical heritage by the formation of a Hebrew Catholic community approved by the church. Jewish ethnic identity and many practices will be preserved in this community whose members will also be fully Catholic. Members are already found in many countries of the world.

Jerome F. Tracy Highland, N.Y.

The return of the Jewish church is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Why not make the title “Let’s Go Back to the Things Paul Said Are Dead”? We who have been born again are believers in the Lord Jesus, and hyphenating ourselves is spiritual immaturity. It is noteworthy that the Book of Hebrews is not addressed to Jews or Israel, but to Hebrews.

God has declared “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek”; for “all have sinned.” There are Jewish or Hebrew believers, whichever term you may prefer, but from a New Testament point of view, there are no such things as Messianic Jews, or Hebrew Christians, spiritually speaking. God is no longer offering a Messiah to the world but the Savior.

I have no desire to make Jewish believers Gentiles, but I oppose any attempt to make the Lord’s redemptive work somehow incomplete for Jewish people if it does not incorporate Jewish tradition as a spiritual part.

The offense of the cross is no less today than in Paul’s day.

Richard Ellison Elmwood Place, Ohio

* Whether Jew or Gentile, those who profess Messiah as Lord are baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body (1 Cor. 12:13). First used in Antioch (Acts 11:26), the name Christian was given to professing believers signifying a new life under grace. That name has remained in use to this present day. Do we really need another division within the body?

Vincent G. Gustafson Westminster, Colo.

* I do not feel repulsed by “Messianic Jew.” I want to be sensitive to my Jewish people as I have a witness in their lives, but the word Christian is biblical. I do not refer to myself as a Jewish Christian, but I do not shy away from that reference either. As I speak in churches throughout the year (and have for 25 years), I find that Gentile believers assume that if you are a “Messianic Jew” you automatically attend a Messianic congregation. The fact is, a large portion of Jewish believers attend mainline or independent churches. On page 68 you say that in the early seventies “some of the Jews who became believers in Jesus were ‘assimilated’ into Gentile churches. Others began joining Messianic congregations.” You did not provide for any middle ground. I came to faith in the early seventies when I started attending the base chapel at the air force installation where I was stationed and never felt “assimilated.” In fact, the beauty of being in a “regular” church all these years is that it has provided a natural springboard to the rest of the body for teaching and consulting, because other believers have felt that I am a part of who they are.

Stan Kellner Sheresh Ministries Colorado Springs, Colo.

To most of my extended family, almost all of whom are believers, having Jewish ancestry is interesting trivia. They would say that being Jewish is something their ancestors were.

Can it plausibly be God’s will that each Jewish person who comes to faith melts into the body as a whole, losing all identity? If so, why do Paul and James take such trouble to disabuse fellow Jews—believers and nonbelievers alike—that Paul did not encourage Jewish believers to forsake the Torah?

Instead of being the only one of my family in a Messianic congregation, what would the movement look like today if most of my family members had been in Messianic congregations for the last 70 years?

Rob Gray Franklin Square, N.Y.

The Tabernacle as Model?

* I found Tim Stafford’s article [“God Is in the Blueprints,” Sept. 7] very thought provoking. In dealing with the problem of the tension between “horizontal” and “vertical” emphases in church architecture, building committees and architects should perhaps consider the simple form of the wilderness tabernacle with its larger outer court (emphasizing the horizontal) and its smaller inner sanctuary (focusing on the vertical).

Fredric McCormick Coon Rapids, Minn.

* As a pastor, I church hop when I’m on vacation. What I found this year was growth in the God-is-here-for-you model of worship. So when I read Tim Stafford’s article on church architecture, I thought of Marshall McLuhan’s aphorism “the medium is the message.” Here is the message of most new church buildings: Everyone can be comfortable in God’s presence. While I want to do what I can to draw people into God’s presence, the fact is that few true encounters with God are comfortable. Everyone in Scripture who meets God, even an angel, falls down in fear. New believers I meet tell me their own recent experiences in prayer and worship speak little of comfort and more of reverence and awe. They yearn to be in the presence of holiness. CT’s own Frederica Mathewes-Green speaks of her conversion in a church in Dublin, Ireland, as a “confrontation” that set her “reeling” [CT, May 18, 1998, p. 54]. Honestly, I think most Americans are sick of everything being essentially “relaxed-fit.” But when we hear of the seraphim crying out “Holy, Holy, Holy,” we are filled with an aching desire.

Eric Irwin Issaquah, Wash.

Drawn to Lewis

* I really appreciated the commentary on C. S. Lewis by J. I. Packer [“Still Surprised by Lewis,” Sept. 7]. Packer does not explicitly state that Lewis appeals to evangelicals today because he (Lewis) was not one, but that is precisely why I am so drawn to him. Lewis’s faith was shaped by the Anglican Church with its orthodoxy and centuries of experience, and he was enabled to admire the depth and mystery of God. Few modern evangelical writers (especially of fiction) display the fullness and majesty of God. Our more subjective faith may actually limit God.

Rebecca C. Hughes Avon, Conn.

* The article brought to my mind the quotation by David Luvell: “On the day that both John F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis died, we can remember one as a monument, Kennedy, along the road and the other, Lewis, as a signpost, pointing to the greater hope.”

Don Mechlin Philadelphia, Pa.

Veggie Tales or Freddy Krueger?

* Your David Grossman article [“Trained to Kill,” Aug. 10] completely stunned me. Thanks for publishing it. I have a six-month-old son who loves watching Veggie Tales Christian videos. I shudder to think of him watching Freddy Krueger or Jason Vorhees movies with the same glee—yet I watched and enjoyed some of those violent movies myself as a teenager. I don’t watch tv much anymore.

Dennis G. Jerz Eau Claire, Wisc.

It was undoubtedly a shrewd marketing decision to print such a sensational article, and then to choose to use it as your cover story. Violence is a hot topic that sells—a source of revenue these days—because it’s not easy to navigate through the deep waters of our times. Grossman is right to say that “this virus of violence is occurring worldwide,” but it does not logically follow that “the explanation for it has to be some new factor that is occurring.” Modern Christians are falling for easy answers and looking for places to lay blame instead of swallowing the bitter pill of our humanity’s fallen nature.

I thought Grossman described beautifully and accurately the way God designed his creatures with a natural aversion to killing their own kind. He’s right that the increase of “desensitization and brutalization” of our youth is a cause of the increase in violence in our culture. But he’s wrong to let the blame fall squarely on the forms of entertainment our kids have access to instead of on the homes the children are being reared in that leave their children in front of the tv, on parents who give any place for such damaging entertainment at inappropriate ages, or on the acceptance of abortion, and an attitude, even among Christians, that children are a negative, an inconvenience, and a burden in an otherwise happy adult life.

Why would we think that outlawing some games will make better kids? We need to stop all this “alarmist” thinking that these kinds of articles promote.

Mrs. Amy Mosby Jacksonville, Fla.

* As an Anabaptist, I’d like to ask my fellow evangelicals: Why haven’t Bible-based churches taught pacifism for the last 20 centuries, let alone 20 years? Why don’t you even teach and then apply the nonscriptural “Just war theory,” rather than ignore the subject? Why have almost all evangelical groups blessed WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War? If I were a betting Christian, I’d bet 99 percent of American believers are still in denial about New Testament pacifism.

Frank Moore Houston, Tex.

* Thank you so much for this long awaited explanation of why my convictions are founded.

Lynn Thelen Minnesota City, Minn.

Reconcilers in Turkey

* I was excited to read the article about Turkey [“In Search of the Lost Churches of Paul,” Aug. 10]. I found it accurate with one exception: the Reconciliation Walk is not sponsored by Youth With A Mission. We participated in the Reconciliation Walk and were implicitly instructed not to evangelize in any way (including giving out New Tesatments). The walk is totally committed to apologizing for the Crusades. To say they are affiliated with a missions organization undermines their work of repentance and seeking forgiveness.

Pennye Konderla Baytown, Tex.

Brief letters are welcome. They may be edited for space and clarity and must include the writer’s name and address if intended for publication. Due to the volume of mail, we cannot respond personally to individual letters. Write to Eutychus, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188; fax: 630/260-0114. E-mail: cteditor@christianitytoday.com ( * ).

Copyright © 1998 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Henry J. Lyons, beleaguered president of the National Baptist Convention USA, was forgiven by his board during a September annual session in which he confessed he had an “inappropriate” relationship with a female employee.

But the unanimous decision by 195 board members to forgive Lyons did not put an end to his problems. He faces trial in Florida state and federal courts on charges he used his position to steal millions of dollars from big corporations. A decline in donations has brought about a financial crisis within the denomination, which claims 8 million members. Critics contend the convention has inflated statistics and really has fewer than 1 million members.

In his annual address, Lyons, 56, said he has made “serious miscalculations in judgment” in his personal and professional lives. “From the bottom of my soul, I am truly sorry. I want you to forgive me. I ask for your mercy,” he said. The convention proved merciful. After forgiving Lyons, it passed a resolution forgiving President Clinton for his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. “We stand firmly behind our President,” Lyons said. “We’d like to see the majority Republican Congress get off his back. We’d like to see Mr. Starr get off his back.”

BEGINNING OF TROUBLES: Lyons’s troubles began in July 1997 when his wife of 26 years, Deborah, set a fire that damaged a $700,000 waterfront house in Tierra Verde, Florida, near Saint Petersburg. Lyons owns the home with Bernice V. Edwards, a former convention public-relations director once convicted of embezzling $60,000 from a school for at-risk students. Deborah Lyons told police she started the fire in a fit of anger after learning Lyons and Edwards own the house together. She later pleaded guilty to arson and was placed on five years’ probation. The fire prompted a series of news reports about Lyons’s personal and financial dealings (CT, Sept. 1, 1997, p. 94). Records showed he and Edwards also own a $22,500 time-share condominium in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and had been negotiating to buy a $925,000 mansion in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lyons and Edwards also bought a $36,200 diamond ring from a Saint Petersburg jewelry store.

The ring was purchased with a check written on the Baptist Builder Fund, an account not mentioned in the convention’s financial audit. By the time Lyons went to the convention’s 1997 annual meeting in Denver, he was under investigation by Florida and U.S. government officials. But he survived as president even after dissident members of the convention seized the floor and tried to force him out (CT, Oct. 27, 1997, p. 102). In February, Florida officials charged him with racketeering and grand theft, saying he stole millions of dollars from an insurance company, a funeral company, and numerous other entities that did business with the convention. Edwards was charged as his accomplice. Five months later, federal prosecutors charged Lyons with 54 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, extortion, money laundering, and conspiracy. Also charged were Edwards and convention meeting planner Brenda Harris. All pleaded innocent and are free pending trial.

RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONED: Questions about Lyons’s relationship with Harris were first raised last year. According to news reports, Harris’s Nashville neighbors said the two introduced themselves at a 1997 social gathering as Brenda and Henry Harris, an engaged couple who happened to share the last name. Both later denied they were romantically involved. But at last month’s convention board meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, they acknowledged the reports were true. Both said they were sorry. Harris also apologized to Deborah Lyons, who was present for the meeting. “Dr. Henry Lyons is an innocent man and will continue to be that until he is proven guilty,” said E. V. Hill, a board member and consistent supporter of Lyons. “Afro-Baptists are a peculiar people. We aren’t just sellers of the gospel; we’re users.”

Not everyone has been so forgiving. “At this point, if Dr. Lyons had any love left for himself and the National Baptist Convention, he would step down,” Charles Kenyatta of New York City said. “To drag millions of people through all this mud is a shame. In the 118 years of our existence, we’ve never had a president this dumb.”

COMING CHALLENGE: Lyons, elected to a five-year term as president in 1994, will face at least five challengers when he runs for re-election next September. (He announced his candidacy in Kansas City.) These candidates are emphasizing honesty, integrity, and financial accountability—all of which, they say, have been missing under Lyons.

In the aftermath of the scandal, donations are down sharply, leaving the denomination little choice but to cut back on its missionary work and gifts to historically black colleges. Lyons announced the convention was behind $300,000 on its mortgage on the Baptist World Center in Nashville, with another $664,000 payment due soon. Still, many members responded generously when Hill asked them to donate to Lyons’s legal defense. In one remarkable 20-minute stretch, supporters collected more than $40,000, much of it coming in checks of $500 or more. Lyons said he was humbled by the expressions of support. “I have not given all of the sterling, without-flaw leadership that I came to this office to give,” he said.

Copyright © 1998 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Though churches in Canada differ dramatically on many theological, social, and political fronts, one battleground is bringing together Left, Right, and center. Across the spectrum, churches are alarmed by the social costs of legal gambling and the growing dependence of government on its cut of gambling revenues. They have been fighting back, and in a few cases, church leaders have turned down their share of gambling receipts.

Late last year, the Toronto-based Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) released “Gambling: A Bad Bet,” calling the habit “an insidious form of evil which takes advantage of the poor and disadvantaged and undermines a healthy and just society.” More recently, the United Church of Canada, the country’s largest and most liberal Protestant denomination, called for a federal inquiry into the social, economic, and legal impact of gambling.

In Canada, churches can benefit financially from gambling receipts. Provincial governments collect a portion of the winnings from all casinos and video lottery terminals (VLT). Then, part of those funds are distributed to charitable organizations, which apply for grants.

Yet several denominations have publicly refused to accept funds from gambling. The bishop of a Roman Catholic diocese in northern Canada went so far as to ban bingo in his jurisdiction when he realized some people were spending grocery money on gambling. Vancouver’s Anglican mayor has staunchly refused to allow casino expansion in the west coast city.

Antigambling efforts are getting results. In other issues, says political scientist Geoffrey Hale of London, Ontario, Christians often feel that dealing with politicians is futile. “It’s like Sysiphus rolling the rock up the hill over and over again. A lot of Christians are feeling the boulder is getting heavier and people aren’t listening.” But with gambling, says Hale, who participated in a successful anticasino lobby in his city, “There’s a feeling that other people are listening.” Indeed, community lobbies, many of them led by Christians, have managed to keep casinos away from 39 out of 44 Ontario communities holding referenda.

The main target of church and community groups is the VLTs, the biggest revenue producer in the industry. In one province alone, oil-rich Alberta, government revenues from VLTs are expected to exceed half a billion dollars this year—up tenfold from five years ago.

PROTESTS ACCELERATE: The Alberta government has been forced to respond to the petitions of communities upset with the unasked-for presence of VLTs. The protest started in the small town of Rocky Mountain House, where pastors, weary of witnessing the destruction gambling causes in families, asked the town council to remove the machines. The council refused, but determined pastors gathered enough names to force a plebiscite on the issue. A record turnout led to the removal of the VLTs from the town in April 1997.

That victory gave other Alberta communities fortitude to fight, according to Christian Reformed pastor Phil Stel, who led the movement in Rocky Mountain House. “It’s certainly gone far beyond any of our expectations.”

Similar successes came in the province’s two largest cities, Calgary and the capital of Edmonton. “We collected more names on our petition than people who voted in the last civic election,” says Calgary Baptist pastor Jim Wallace.

On October 19, when cities throughout the province hold elections, 70 percent of voters will be eligible to decide in plebiscites whether to keep or remove VLTs from their communities.

COALITION BUILDING: Those involved in the fight are quick to point out that although churches play a key role, they are not working alone. In Alberta, church leaders have formed an alliance with big business. That alliance works, says Wallace, because many citizens “have become concerned about the continual erosion of social restrictions.”

Church leaders are careful not to use spiritual beliefs as an overriding factor in their antigambling arguments. “We didn’t present it as a moral issue,” Stel says. “We presented it as a community issue.”

Hale says, “In this case, the economic arguments, social arguments, and moral arguments all converge to bring together a fairly broad cross section of people.”

THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS: The EFC says there are theological reasons to avoid gambling, and Christians “have often failed to discern the spiritual dynamic behind gambling.” In “Gambling: A Bad Bet,” the EFC’s Social Action Commission outlines several reasons why gambling is wrong: it appeals to greed; it contravenes the Christian duty to care for neighbors instead of taking from neighbors; it encourages the reckless investment of God-given resources; it undermines a healthy philosophy of work, industry, and saving; and it can become habit-forming and addictive.

When governments sponsor gambling, even if the revenues are used to help finance hospitals, education, and charities, they give “an implicit endorsement of greed, materialism, and the denigration of the value of productive work,” according to the EFC. The commission urges governments to withdraw from all forms of direct involvement in gambling, regulate and restrict gambling as much as possible, and heavily tax gambling businesses and winnings.

The tussle over government-sponsored gambling has forced the church to do some soul-searching. Several churches and denominations have reversed policies on accepting money from gambling. One Ukrainian Catholic church sent back an $80,000 check it had received from the government to help build a cultural center.

Copyright © 1998 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

President Clinton’s admission of moral failure has spurred a national conversation on sin, forgiveness, and repentance and engaged many American pulpits and Sunday-school classes that normally steer clear of politics.

“This has hit a raw nerve deep in the soul of millions of people,” says Walt Kallestad, senior pastor of Community of Joy Lutheran Church in Glendale, Arizona.

Kallestad’s 4,000 plus- member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation devoted all of its services to the subject on the weekend following Clinton’s August 17 confession of an “inappropriate relationship” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Pastors fielded questions from the congregation after the reading of a “letter to Bill Clinton from Jesus.”

Parents streamed to an open microphone, asking questions such as: How do I talk to my children about oral sex? and How do I build trust again in leaders?

“We said: If you have personal questions, you can e-mail, you can fax, you can write, you can call,” Kallestad says. “We wanted to make ourselves available, because it has had an impact on people of all ages.”

In Tacoma, Washington, Bill Wolfson, pastor of Bethel Church, an independent charismatic congregation, drew lessons from the White House crisis in a three-part sermon series presented to his multiethnic congregation. “I got a lot more questions about Clinton than I ever got during the [Jimmy] Swaggart debacle and during the moral failure of [Jim] Bakker,” Wolfson says.

Wolfson says some parents in his church are extremely distressed. “They come to me asking, ‘How can I raise my children with a President like this?'”

The inevitable discussion of appropriate consequences for the President’s behavior has perplexed some Christians, says Kent McCulloch, rector of Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in Lakewood, Washington. “They don’t quite know how to be citizens and also Christians and whether to forgive or not forgive and what all that means,” he says.

PARTISAN THEOLOGY? Several church leaders have urged the President to resign, including heads of the Assemblies of God, Church of the Nazarene, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Reformed Church in America, and President Clinton’s own Southern Baptist Convention.

One of the country’s more politically savvy pastors, Ed Dobson, thinks those resignation statements are inappropriate. At Dobson’s Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, mention of the White House crisis from the pulpit has been limited to pastoral prayer. “We were not called of God to interpret the Constitution,” says Dobson, who served as Jerry Falwell’s close associate in the development of the Moral Majority in the 1980s (CT, Aug. 11, 1997, p. 26). “We were called upon by God to preach Scripture.”

Dobson believes that many pastors have become embroiled in “partisan theology,” which detracts from their primary purpose. “If you are a supporter of the President and his politics, you’re most likely to speak of forgiveness, healing, and let’s move on,” Dobson says. “And if you’re not a supporter of the President and his politics, you’re most likely to call for his resignation. I believe that pastors are called upon to be nonpartisan.”

Humility and prayer are prevailing in many churches, regardless of whether pastors mention the President’s future job status. Rick Ragle, pastor at Hilo (Hawaii) Church of the Nazarene, has not cited the President’s situation from the pulpit, but the subject has arisen in small groups and Sunday-school classes, leading to times of prayer.

“That’s what we’re doing, no matter what our own individual political biases are—our response to leadership needs to be prayer,” he says.

DIFFICULT WORK AHEAD: Saint Mary’s McCulloch says the President’s predicament raises “transcendent issues” that cannot be ignored. He believes Clinton is emblematic of a larger cultural problem that began with the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

In an August 30 sermon that received a prolonged standing ovation, McCulloch said, “For so long ignored, finally the subject of our nation’s sexual immorality is unavoidable.”

McCulloch told CT, “I think my church felt gratified that morality is being pronounced from the pulpit as important and significant, and they weren’t hearing it from anywhere else.”

But McCulloch points to a sharp division in his congregation between the views of younger and older generations. “Regardless of whether they’re conscientious Christians, for the generation under 35 this is a nonissue—they don’t believe there’s any connection between [Clinton’s] private behavior and his public policy,” he says. “Whereas the older have a much more holistic view of character.”

Kallestad thinks the church needs to seize the moment by addressing America’s moral decline. “There is a fundamental root cause, and to get at that is hard work,” he says. “You can’t just wave a magic wand to rebuild trust, relationships, and integrity and to restore honor and recover biblical values. A lot of people want to give up and not do the hard work, but that is part of the healing process of our nation.”

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Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Evanston, Illinois, has filed suit against the city of 75,000 people for what it calls punitive use of zoning laws to restrict religious freedom.

At issue is a long-vacant 36,000-square-foot office building bought by Vineyard in May 1997 for $1.1 million. The purchase ended a 10-year search for a permanent home for the 22-year-old church, one of Evanston’s largest and most ethnically diverse congregations. The church asked the city for a zoning variance, which would allow the congregation to use the commercial office building not only for offices, counseling, and community outreach activities, but also for Sunday worship services.

Despite support for the request by the Evanston Zoning Board and Evanston Plan Commission, the City Council denied the variance. Vineyard executive pastor William Hanawalt says the request fell prey to “the politics of taxes.” Increasingly, churches around the country are facing opposition to construction or expansion plans because many city officials wish to maximize property tax revenues (CT, April 28, 1997, p. 72).

Evanston is home to five colleges, universities, and seminaries and more than 70 houses of worship, all of which have tax-exempt status. The city has the highest property-tax rate in the state.

Those on the council who opposed the variance say the city has accommodated within its boundaries more than its fair share of nonprofit groups. The church argues that it is an unequal application of zoning laws to allow its space to be used for concerts, theatrical performances, and other “cultural uses,” but not to be used by the same number of people for religious gatherings. Such zoning restricts religious speech and religious assembly, guaranteed by the Constitution, the suit says.

LOCAL SOLIDARITY: Earlier this year, the Illinois Department of Revenue made the lost tax revenues a moot point when it granted Vineyard’s request for a property-tax exemption on the office building. But the church must still rent Evanston Township High School’s auditorium-for $100,000 a year-for its Sunday services. The city is asking for a state hearing to appeal the church’s exemption.

A surprising amalgam of Evanston nonprofit organizations has come together in support of the Vineyard. In July, 1,200 people demonstrated solidarity with Vineyard at a gathering sponsored by a citizen’s coalition of Evanston churches, unions, and community groups.

At the August 24 city council meeting, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish leaders presented 600 signed postcards to council members, protesting the city’s use of taxpayer dollars to fight a church.

Hanawalt sent a letter to every council member saying, “If you’ll just let us worship in our building, we’ll drop our claim for damages.” The Vineyard’s suit asks for $500,000 in compensatory damages to help recoup the protracted legal fees. Hanawalt says, “We would rather spend the Lord’s money on ministries to the poor and to our community’s youth. But we will not back down in the face of the city’s opposition to our right to worship in our own building.”

Alderman Art Newman accuses the church of using “strong-arm tactics” to win the zoning fight. Evanston Mayor Lorraine Morton is reticent to speak until the litigation has been resolved. “Let’s just say that it is the responsibility of the city council to act in the best interest of all the citizens of Evanston,” Morton says. “Clearly, we feel the decision we made met that criteria [SIC].”

Christian zoning attorney John W. Mauck of Chicago says the use of zoning laws to restrict churches is a growing national trend. “There are many reasons cities oppose churches, and a lot of them are unspoken because they would be politically incorrect.” Mauck says municipalities often view churches as only slightly more desirable than landfills.

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One year after Russia enacted a controversial law restricting religious freedom, Protestants and Roman Catholics say the measure has had a chilling effect on religious activity nationwide.

Russia’s controversial law on religion, signed a year ago by President Boris Yeltsin (CT, Nov. 17, 1997, p. 66), has produced what attorney Vladimir Ryakhovsky, president of the Christian Legal Center, calls “an atmosphere of intolerance.”

The law has initiated a season of religious harassment and discrimination, while official favors are visited on Russia’s dominant Orthodox church and other “traditional” religions.

Although abuse most often has occurred in rural areas and Russia’s remote East, religious minorities in Moscow have not been spared. Baptist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Catholic believers—both Russian nationals and foreign missionaries—have experienced problems. There have been evictions and restrictions on teaching, publishing, and distributing literature. Church registrations have been revoked. Taxation has been excessive, and attempts to close down churches or other ministries through the courts have been implemented.

Discrimination has come mainly at the hands of local government officials, federal agents, Orthodox priests and parishioners, local police, Cossacks, Communists, nationalists, and fascists. Religious-rights attorneys in Moscow appealed to the Constitutional Court in July, citing four cases of violations.

Language in the new religion law is considered to be unconstitutional in at least 16 instances. Additionally, the law violates international human-rights standards and agreements signed by the Russian Federation.

VISA LIMITS: In June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs implemented instructions limiting visas for foreign missionaries to a three-month maximum. The action, which had an impact only on religious workers, violated both international agreements and Russian law. Foreign religious workers and their families had to make costly trips outside the country to renew visas to comply with the new rule, which also exacted a high cost in morale and in work disruptions.

In August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reversed the rule and allowed missionaries again to receive one-year multiple-entry visas. The change came only after attorneys from the Institute of Religion and Law and the Christian Legal Center intervened.

LEGAL WRANGLING: A case against Pentecostal Word of Life Church in Magadan, in the far eastern part of Russia, illustrates the religious bias problems. For now, it appears that church has triumphed in court.

The district prosecutor tried to take registration and legal rights away from the church, a member of the centralized Russian Associated Evangelical Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostal), first legally registered in 1970, reregistered in 1989, and again in 1990 under Russia’s previous religion law.

The prosecutor accused the pastor of using hypnosis to influence people who attended the church, saying the faith was “nontraditional” and only a Russian under hypnotic influence would attend a church that is not Orthodox or Muslim. Tithing was also viewed as a problem. The prosecutor concluded a “normal” person would not sacrifice 10 percent of his income to support a church.

The 400-member church was accused of destroying families and the mental health of its members. Only one case was presented as evidence in which a nonbelieving husband protested that his converted wife wanted to raise their children according to biblical principles.

In an attempt to prove that attendance at the church destroyed psychological health, the prosecutor singled out one woman in the congregation receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital. But witnesses testified that she had a history of psychiatric treatment.

Ryakhovsky, the attorney representing the church, refuted the charges, and the prosecutor claimed he “hadn’t prepared enough” and indefinitely postponed the trial. Ryakhovsky remains confident the case will not resurface.

“We’re proving that we can defend religious freedom through the courts,” says Anatoly Pchelintsev, director of the Institute of Religion and Law (IRL).

REOCCURRING THREATS: Another situation in Vanino, also in the far east, in Khabarovsk, faces an uncertain outcome. American Independent Baptist missionary pastor Arthur Bristol lives under almost daily threats of imprisonment or deportation.

Bristol has tried since July to pastor a small, autonomous church. Officials initially refused to register him and ordered him to leave the country, even though he possessed all required legal paperwork. Bristol came to the United States, obtained another visa, and returned to Vanino in August. Since arriving, Bristol says he has been harassed daily by local officials, who make threats, monitor phone calls, tamper with his e-mail, and force him to undergo prolonged interrogations.

Russian Christian leaders in his church are being threatened by Russian agents who have advised them to stop attending.

Vladimir Nikulnikov, director of Khabarovsk’s ministry of culture and religion since the Soviet era, admits that he would like to rid the region of foreign missionaries. He equates missionaries with foreign spies trying to brainwash children with a goal of overthrowing the country.

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