Saturday, September 12, 2020

Mark Galli, former Christianity Today editor and Trump critic, to be confirmed a Catholic

 No surprise there. I've been writing about Christianity Today's pro-catholic bias for over 10 years

Mark Galli, former Christianity Today editor and Trump critic, to be confirmed a Catholic

Mark Galli receives Communion during Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church early Sept. 8, 2020, in Wheaton, Illinois. Add caption

By Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service, September 10, 2020

CHICAGO (RNS) — On Sunday (Sept. 13), Mark Galli will stand before Bishop Richard Pates in the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet, Illinois, to hear these words:

“Francis, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Pates will then dab Galli’s forehead with anointing oil (using a cotton ball instead of his thumb due to COVID-19). And with that, Galli — who has chosen his confirmation name after St. Francis of Assisi— will become a Roman Catholic.

As traditionalists, opposed to gay ordination, the Gallis joined Church of the Resurrection, part of the Anglican Church in North America, the breakaway group that left the Episcopal Church. Barbara, who resettles refugees for World Relief, remains an Anglican.

Galli’s journey to Catholicism is notable, in part because of the nation’s political climate. A former Presbyterian pastor, Galli spent seven years as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, the premier publication for evangelicals whose founder was the legendary evangelist Billy Graham.

But for a few days last December, Galli was perhaps the most well-known evangelical in the country – after penning an editorial calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment and removal from office and arguing he was “profoundly immoral.”

It went viral, earning a rebuke from Trump on Twitter, and bringing Galli — who retired from the magazine in January — a tsunami of publicity. Some of his fellow evangelicals praised the editorial as courageous, given their movement’s overwhelming support for the president.

Trump’s evangelical supporters labeled it misguided and out of touch.

Now, two months before the election, with evangelical allegiance to Trump polling as strong as before, Galli is leaving the fold.

As with most conversions, however, Galli insists his is personal, not political.

Now 68, he had already decided by the time he wrote the 2019 editorial that he would quit the Anglican Church he had attended alongside his wife, Barbara, for 20 years. His conversion was one reason he decided to retire from Christianity Today on Jan. 3, after 30 years as a writer and editor in the news outlet’s stable of publications.

“I’m not rejecting evangelicalism,” he said recently in an interview from his home, a few blocks away from Wheaton College, the preeminent evangelical school. “I’m only taking Anglicanism deeper and thicker.”

A contrarian who can be at turns gruff and tender, Galli is not embracing liberalism. Politically he remains an independent and considers himself a Burkean conservative — one who believes in honoring tradition and in slow and cautious change.

In that spirit, Galli’s late in life conversion has been gradual and carefully considered.

The first inkling came in 1994 when he served as editor of a magazine called Christian History and wrote a cover story on St. Francis of Assisi, whom he admired for his message of simplicity, poverty and submission to church authority even when he knew the church was not always right.

In the intervening years, Galli has slowly moved away from the evangelical mainstream. He started out a Presbyterian, then became an Episcopalian and an Anglican. For a time he attended an Orthodox church.

Two years ago when Galli expressed an interest in attending the course of study for Catholic converts called Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, his teacher John Ellison, himself a convert, knew Galli’s mind was made up.

“Once something commends itself to you as true and real, even if it’s inconvenient, you either look the other way and pretend you didn’t see it,” said Ellison, “or you do something about it.”

A storied tradition

About 34% of American adults have adopted a religious identity different from the one in which they were raised, a Pew Research study found.

For Catholics, most of the switching is away from the faith, not toward it. Among U.S. switchers, Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses. For every convert to Catholicism, six others no longer identify as such.

But there is also a long and storied tradition of Protestants converting to Catholicism. They include Elizabeth Ann Seton and John Henry Newman, now saints. There’s Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement, who is being considered for sainthood. Then there’s the English essayist G.K. Chesterton and the English actor Alec Guinness and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Some converts are drawn to the beauty of Catholic ritual. Others to the church’s rich intellectual tradition or the centrality of the Eucharist, the bread and wine used for Communion, which Catholics believe becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

For Galli, all those things were important. So was a certain weariness with the constant theological polemics and splinters in the evangelical world.

“I want to submit myself to something bigger than myself,” Galli said.

“One thing I like about both Orthodoxy and Catholicism is that you have to do these things, whether you like it or not, whether you’re in the mood or not, sometimes whether you believe or not. You just have to plow ahead. I want that. If it’s left up to me, I am one lazy son-of-a-bitch. I will not do anything unless someone comes along and says, ‘You need to do this. This is really important. This will shape your life. Come on, Galli. Get off your butt.’”

Mark Galli kneels during Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church on Sept. 8, 2020, in Wheaton, Illinois.

For the past two years, Galli has been attending the daily 6:30 a.m. Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church, a large parish with about 3,000 families about two miles from his home. He goes to confession twice monthly. Lately, he has been volunteering to welcome people to the confession room, and sanitize chairs and door handles in between sessions.

He said he was “miserable” during the first two months of the pandemic when the church was closed.

“The Mass is a perfect Mark Galli service,” he said. “There’s no singing. There are no hymns. The homily is five minutes. The whole service is 25 minutes. They give you a single thought, a single illustration, a quote, and you’re done. Wow.”

‘I can’t do it anymore’

In some ways, Galli is not a convert. He’s a revert.

Born in California, Galli was baptized a Catholic and underwent First Communion, mostly, he said, to please his grandmother. By the time he was 7, his parents quit going to church.

But the summer Galli turned 13, his mother had a born-again experience while watching Billy Graham on TV.

After that, he and his mother attended a “very conservative” evangelical church where Galli answered an altar call and accepted Jesus. In his teens, and later at the University of California Santa Cruz, where he majored in history, Galli attended Presbyterian churches. After graduating from Fuller Theological Seminary, he pastored churches in Mexico City and Sacramento.

While still a pastor, Galli discovered the Book of Common Prayer, the devotional used in the Anglican Communion, and began using it in his morning prayers instead of formulating his own unscripted version.

“I was tired of the trite phrases I used all the time,” he said. “The Book of Common Prayer had these magnificent prayers of praise and confession and thanksgiving, and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to say!’’’

In 1989, Galli accepted a job as associate editor at Leadership Journal, a onetime staple of Christianity Today’s roster of publications, and moved his family from California to the Chicago suburbs. There, the family joined St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, where Galli fell in love with the sacraments and the liturgy. He turned in his Presbyterian ordination credentials.

But the struggles over homosexuality beginning in 2003 when the Episcopal Church ordained its first openly gay bishop, and later, his quest as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today to hold an increasingly fractious evangelical world together, took a toll.

As traditionalists, opposed to gay ordination, the Gallis joined Church of the Resurrection, part of the Anglican Church in North America, the breakaway group that left the Episcopal Church. Barbara, who resettles refugees for World Relief, remains an Anglican.

Mark Galli.

Then for the past seven years as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Galli worked to provide readers a broad tent for Christian concerns, even as white evangelicals became inextricably intertwined with Republican politics and Donald Trump.

It was a source of ongoing frustration.

“On the whole, he wanted to lead and shape a magazine that reminded evangelicals of the good things about their movement, especially at a time when many of us have seen ugly dimensions of the movement,” said Katelyn Beaty, a writer and editor who was managing editor of Christianity Today from 2006 to 2016.

Up until Galli’s editorial calling for the president’s removal, Christianity Today was mostly quiet about Trump. The directive was to remain above the fray.

Even as Galli decided Christianity Today should publish an editorial ahead of the president’s impeachment — as it had in the run-up to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 — he was still unsure he wanted to rattle the cage.

“I sat down to write a typical Mark Galli: ‘On the one hand, on the other hand. Let’s listen to one another,’” he said. “I thought about it for a little bit and decided, ‘You know, I can’t do it anymore.’”

Living under a structure

If Galli had one gnawing frustration with Protestant Christianity, it was the ceaseless splintering and divisions. He tried to work toward unity.

It left him exhausted.

Still, Galli takes seriously Jesus’ desire for unity in his farewell prayer.

That left him with a choice, he said — to join the institution that claims to be the one true church.

“True unity requires not just a mental and emotional assent, but actually an agreement to live under a structure, an ethos, a way of doing things together,” he said.

To be sure, the Catholic Church is also beset with factions and theological controversies, but now retired and a layman, he’ll be a step removed from the squabbles.

Galli conceded that some Catholic doctrines still sit uncomfortably with him.

Then there’s the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal. Galli made his decision to join the Catholic Church the very week a Pennsylvania grand jury issued a report showing at least 1,000 cases of abuse by 300 predator priests spanning seven decades.

“The church is deeply in need of reform,” he conceded. “I’m not joining this holy institution that has it all right. I want to be one with these Christians who I think represent the true church in some sense.”

Francis Beckwith, a philosophy professor at Baylor University who was president of the Evangelical Theological Society before becoming a Catholic, said conversion can’t be easily rationalized.

“We’re not simply rational beings; we’re also emotional and spiritual beings,” Beckwith said.

Galli, who had planned for his confirmation at Easter before the coronavirus hit, has not wavered.

He said he reminds himself of the breadth and depth of the Catholic saints: Augustine, Aquinas, Benedict, Ignatius and, of course, Francis of Assisi, about whom he wrote a book. And he’s dazzled.

On Sunday, Ellison, his sponsor, will join him at the cathedral in Joliet. COVID-19 rules do not allow Galli to bring guests. The 22 adult confirmands will wear masks and sit at a distance. It’s not the confirmation he envisioned. But it’s one he’ll live with.

On Monday morning, he’ll go to Mass.

This article first appeared HERE.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Don't condemn others, and God won't condemn you. Matthew 7:1

This is actually the most accurate translation from the Greek out of all the English bibles I've seen. It is the Contemporary English Version (CEV) We all use judgment. We all judge everything. That is normal (and important) human behavior. So, it's not that we'll be "judged" because we perhaps judged someone's actions. Otherwise, the words of Jesus would clash with any court system that includes judges. The fact of the matter is, every human being who is born and reaches the age of accountability will be judged by God based on our whole life's actions, our thoughts and even every word. Therefore, the way this scripture is often translated ("Judge not, that ye be not judged."), doesn't really make sense. We will all be judged anyway, regardless if we judged others or didn't judge others. However, if we CONDEMN people (like so many do in this world), we are in another level of danger on our judgment day. Matter of fact, Jesus is pointing out that could very well end up being the case. Jesus is teaching us to live a life of mercy, love and forgiveness. That is God's most important lesson to us and the world. It is the "greatest command" from God which was powerfully reiterated by Jesus and His apostles. And this is how hate should be countered in this world. Love is the answer. And this love is taught to us by God and shown clearly through the life and death of the Christos (anointed) Son of God (Jesus or Joshua). Here is the rest, which is also very important (context). 2. God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them. 3. You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye. 4. How can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you don't see the log in your own eye? 5. You're nothing but show-offs (hypocrites)! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend's eye. ~Matthew 7:1-5 God bless you all in and through Christ Jesus, the Son of the Father. Amen.
Tommy Richards

Monday, June 29, 2020

Food for thought



"If you think you are better than others, when you really aren't, you are wrong." Galatians 6:3 CEV

Why do people think they are better than others? God looks at everyone with love and desire to be their God. If you think God loves you, know this: He loves everyone, and sent His Son to die for them all.

 We have a huge responsibility as believers. If we really are believers. If we're not true believers, then we need to stop falsely professing faith. Because we will all be held accountable for this sort of thing.

“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” John 9:41

This one statement by God tells us we need to be brutally honest with ourselves and be very careful what we say and the claims we make. Especially if we are claiming to represent GOD.

PAUL even said, "For now we see through a glass, darkly." (1 Corinthians 13:12a) And in the same letter and context Paul tells us love is far more important than knowledge. So it may be wise to do less talking, and more loving [of God].

Paul, again says, "But the one who loves God is known by God." 1 Corinthians 8:3

But we can't love God if we don't know Him. But if we do know Him, God will pour out His love into our hearts through the holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) And this can't be hidden. (Matthew 5:14, 15)

Why do we pretend to be such big men and women of God, when we really aren't? Why can't we read God's written word, look at ourselves and be honest? And let that lack DRIVE US into prayer to God for help?

“Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’

Don't you see what Jesus is telling us here? We don't have the bread of God to give to our hungry neighbors!! Doesn't that hurt?? No?? Why not!!?? IT SHOULD HURT US VERY MUCH

And so we PRAY TO GOD. For our daily bread and bread for our neighbors.

If we truly have Christ in our hearts, we should be able to share Him with others.

Isn't that a beautiful THOUGHT? Well, it should be a REALITY. It MUST be a reality IF we profess faith. If we have no bread, then we have no faith. Or we are dormant, lukewarm or worse.

"And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’

I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet BECAUSE of the man’s PERSISTENCE, he will get up AND GIVE HIM AS MUCH AS HE NEEDS.

So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Luke 11)

Amen.

And may God bless you all in Christ Jesus His Son.

Tommy Richards​

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Colossians 1:28 and the Greek word νουθετέω ("noutheteó" - Strong's G3560)


The ancient fragments of Bible found throughout the world are primarily in Greek. That's because Greek was one of the most important languages in and around Israel before, during and after the time of the Christos (Greek word) Son of God. There was a very important Greek Old Testament collection of books at the time of the Christos too. This Greek old testament is primarily the source of old covenant/testament quotes in the New Testament writings! Yes, Jesus and the apostles and disciples quote old Testament Greek passages into the new covenant writings. Often (when studying the Greek), you will find these quotes exactly the same in both old and new testament writings, even though the ENGLISH translation can be very different. Why? So companies can put a COPYRIGHT on God's word and SELL God's word. 

This is why I study every Greek word in the old and new covenant writings and see where these words appear in both testament/covenant writings. This is called "syntax" and is very important in learning the meaning of these words [OF GOD].

One Greek word I want to share today is νουθετέω ("noutheteó" - Strong's G3560) and is often translated into the English word "admonish". But what does "admonish" mean? The answer to this question is very important. So we see it is beneficial for us to study Greek words AND their English counterparts! Doing this while staying in prayer to God is essential for growth in SOUND doctrine!

This word, νουθετέω ("noutheteó" - Strong's G3560), has a wonderful definition on biblehub . com. It reads,

3560 /nouthetéō ("admonish through instruction") especially appeals to the mind, supplying doctrinal and spiritual substance (content). This "exerts positive pressure" on someone's logic (reasoning), i.e. urging them to choose (turn to) God's best.

As we can see, when we understand these words, we can properly "admonish" OURSELVES and our neighbors, and therefore, LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS AS OURSELVES. We all need this admonishment from God's wonderful Word and Spirit. It is the Spirit that deals with the consciences of men! And this work is accomplished when we are born again, seeking God with all the heart and admonishing ourselves through careful STUDY of God's Words!

This Greek word νουθετέω ("noutheteó" - Strong's G3560), is a verb and appears 8 times in the New Covenant writings and 11 times in the Old Covenant writings. The passage I want to share today is in Colossians 1:28: Paul, by the holy Spirit says, "We proclaim Him (Christ), admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ."

You can all see how powerful this statement is and how important it is to understand what is being said so "we may present everyone perfect in Christ"!!

To prevent this message from becoming too lengthy, I will stop there.

May God the Father bless everyone's day in the Name/Reputation of the Christos Son Jesus. Amen!

Tommy Richards​


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