Election season has been cancerous to the U.S. Body of believers. You’ve no doubt seen or engaged in political and religious discussions that have heated up to a frothy hot mess of gross generalizations and polarizations. Sides must be chosen. Votes must be cast. Vote for Christ or the antichrist.

I’m grateful for the discussion, because how candidates do or do not uphold Biblical values in their policy-making is a worthy discussion. Yet we are part of One Body, and we’re not acting like it. When we don’t like what the other person says, we get ugly. We get savage. We slice each other. But because we are One Body, we both bleed.

A big percentage of ministry funds from the United States goes down the drain because of corruption. Please use discernment when you give.

They called K.A. Paul “the Billy Graham of India.” During his heyday in the 1990s, some Christian leaders in the United States gave big donations to the evangelist, assuming he was using the money to feed thousands of orphans and widows.

As it turned out, most of the funds Paul raised were used to buy a huge 747 outfitted with a second-floor cabin that contained his own bed, complete with a red and gold lamé bedspread. Paul flew the oversized aircraft to Third World nations where he grabbed as much publicity as possible by staging photo ops with politicians. He tried to convince them that his Houston-based organization, Gospel to the Unreached Millions, was alleviating world poverty.

In actuality, Paul was stealing from Christians to feed his monstrous ego.

The Remnant featuring dispatches from our writers in Dallas, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Penn State and the Profits of Sin

Should hot dog, hotel, and hoodie sales be more important than the NCAA’s sanctions against Penn State University? For 15 years top officials at Penn State—including the university’s famed former head football coach, Joe Paterno, or “Joe Pa,” as he was called—squashed allegations that Paterno’s assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, raped and sexually assaulted 10 boys.

In June a jury found Sandusky, 68, guilty. Others complicit in the abuse were Paterno (who persuaded officials to stay silent), former university president Graham Spanier, two other university executives, a graduate assistant, campus police, and a janitor. None spoke up for the voiceless, vulnerable children. No one in authority lifted a finger to stop it. Paterno continued to stride onto the field, accumulating wins. The university and community of State College continued to boast, “We are Penn State!”

 Three years ago a book caught my eye titled The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies, & Possibilities. I had just seen a special on the History Channel about Nostradamus and his prophecies concerning the year 2012, so I couldn’t resist the intrigue. I bought the book and immediately began reading it.

      Here’s an excerpt from the introduction: “Highly intelligent and serious spiritual practitioners…believe that 2012 offers a ‘gateway of possibility,’ an opportunity for awakening that requires our immediate attention…If there was ever a time to investigate the possibilities of 2012 and prepare ourselves for its opportunities, that time is clearly now.”

      Well, this will be problematic for us because of our addiction to all forms of media. We are “always on” and consequently can’t fathom living 15 minutes without access to our personal electronics. One psychologist submits this rhetorical question: “If our minds are always worrying about what we are missing then how can we focus attention on what we are getting?”