Apostolic Fellowship Hall

Connecting Apostolics

With the advent of social media networks (SMN), online meeting places are the new forums of the early part of this decade.  It started with the popularity of such sites as My Space and Yahoo 360.  Now we find our conversations sprinkled with terms such as tweeting and check your PM…

The latest rage in Social networking is Facebook and Twitter.  These sites are great for reconnecting with long lost high school buddies, or from people you knew from a church attended long ago.  Their limitations, as far as Apostolics are concerned, is their intimate connection with worldliness.

In this vein, several social networking sites have sprung up for Apostolic Pentecostals including the wildly popular Everyone’s Apostolic SMN.  Just recently, as reported on The Apostolic Report, EA has decided to charge a fee for all but the most basic of features.  Because of this, several alternatives to EA have recently arisen.  Several sites have sprung up using Ning, the software which powers EA.  Another alternative is Apostolic Fellowship Hall.

Apostolic Fellowship Hall has been created with the purpose of providing a free, safe alternative to Facebook and EA.  Features of AFH at the present time include the ability of users to create Blogs, add posts to Groups as well as create their own groups,  add photo albums, and videos to their home page. Advertise in the classified section, create pages,  post to the wire (a twitter like feature), add and share bookmarks (similar to sites such as stumble upon, digg and reddit), And post questions which other users may then answer.

There is also a new website using Ning which calls itself “Unashamedly Conservative Apostolics,” and only allows conservative Apostolics to join. Your Pastor (or someone he trusts) must also join this network. This new “conservative” network requires an invitation to join it.

Other new ones include “Apostolics Online” and “My Apostolic Network.”

Social networking seems to be gaining strength, and for right now at least is the ‘in’ thing on the WWW.  Who knows what the next big craze will be, but when it rolls along, The Apostolic Report will be there to cover it.

Is there another Apostolic social network that you use? Leave a comment below…

Talk Show Host Attempts Television Abstinence

Mark Daniels
Talk Show Host

The year was 1999. 9/11 was still a long way off; most had not yet heard of George W. Bush, and the digital revolution was still in its relative infancy. Regardless, I struggled mightily with a television addiction, that day I introduced our “Big TV Turnoff.” Now, I wasn’t completely successful, a decade ago…nor 100% faithful in my handful of attempts since…but years later, I’m preparing to make an attempt at television abstinence once again. Not just as an anniversary gimmick, or publicity stunt, but for a lot of the same reasons I took my first fast from the “boob tube” so long ago.

Why? Well, I continue to struggle with finding time to read my Bible. I still prioritize watching TV over exercising, doing chores, playing with my daughter, dating my wife, preparing my Sunday School lesson—all the other challenges I was facing as a 36-year-old youngster, back then. The sexual, language, and violence content on TV are even worse, but they’re not the main reason I’m taking another month’s vacation from the tube.

This time, the motivating concern is a problem with contentment. As I wring my hands over Fox News in the morning…or linger too long over promos on the E! channel at night, or simply switch the thing on whenever it seems there might actually be 5 seconds of silence in my home…I’m realizing that my TV is making me believe I’m not wealthy enough, or thin enough, or young enough to appreciate the exceeding and abundant blessings in my life! No…largely because of my TV fixation, I’m feeling sorry for myself, a lot of the time. Not just sorry, but desperate! Without hope. Just where my enemy wants me: on the ropes, and too tired or depressed to change. And I know I’m not alone.

Now, again: I realize that television is not THE exclusive, or even primary, source of evil in our culture! I’m not blaming my personal shortcomings on what Fred Allen referred to as the “idiot box!” I’m only acknowledging anew that I frequently–no, make that usually–elevate watching TV over praising and serving my Lord, and reading His Word. How crazy is that?

So, once again, this Monday (2/2), I’ll pull the plug on my habit for at least a month. Care to join me? Can you offer encouragement, or your own “TV Turnoff” success story? Email me today at markdanielsshow@wfil.com! I’d enjoy hearing from you!

Original Story

Facebook Connection Results In Salvation

A couple of Bible School students have used a social networking website to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Brian Dennis is not your regular convert or Bible Study student. Brian was contacted by two Apostolic Bible Institute students via the popular social networking website, Facebook.  Brian has received the gift of the Holy Spirit and was baptized in Jesus’ on Sunday morning, January 11th, 2009.

You can view his baptism here.
(You can fast forward to the 31 minute mark).

Most Americans Say ‘Merry Christmas’

ChristianNewsWire.com

A Fox News poll reveals most Americans say “Merry Christmas.” The poll taken December 9-10 shows 77% of Americans prefer “Merry Christmas” as opposed to saying something with less meaning.

The poll found that larger numbers of Republicans (87%) say “Merry Christmas”, but Christmas numbers were lower with Democrats at 72%.

Many have stopped doing business with companies who are “scrooge-like” and only want to make money on Christmas but don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, these companies are likely to offend the large majority of Americans as 85% of Americans say they are Christians. After all, what day does America and the world open presents on? Christmas!

Read the full article HERE.

‘Gay Bible’ to be published

Alison Flood – guardian.co.uk

A gay version of the Bible, in which God says it is better to be gay than straight, is to be published by an American film producer.

New Mexico-based Revision Studios will publish The Princess Diana Bible – so named because of Diana’s “many good works”, it says – online at princessdianabible.com in spring 2009. A preview of Genesis is already available, in which instead of creating Adam and Eve, God creates Aida and Eve.

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Aida, and she slept: and he took one of her ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from woman, made he another woman, and brought her unto the first. And Aida said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of me. Therefore shall a woman leave her mother, and shall cleave unto her wife: and they shall be one flesh.’ And they were both naked, the woman and her wife, and were not ashamed.”

The film studio said it would also adapt and direct the revised Bible as a two-part mini-series, The Gay Old Testament and The Gay New Testament, once it is completed.

Read the full article HERE

Jesus on Facebook: Churches use social-networking sites

Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are redefining the way many Americans build and maintain relationships—and also how their churches communicate.

In the last few years, relating to social contacts through such sites has become practically ubiquitous among the under-30 crowd, and the practice quickly is spreading upward along the demographic spectrum.

Simultaneously, Christian leaders are realizing the sites can be useful tools, particularly for youth ministry and college groups, enabling group members to reach each other consistently and instantaneously.

That’s because social-networking sites are the new coffeehouses and community centers of the Internet. They are places where people can stay connected—in some cases, practically constantly—with what is going on in the lives of their friends, family and colleagues.

Full Story Here by By Rachel Mehlhaff, Associated Baptist Press

Pentecostal fired for refusing to wear short skirt

By Robert Patrick/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

A woman was fired from her job at the Hollister clothing store in the St. Louis Galleria for refusing to wear short skirts, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

The suit says that the Hollister clothing company refused to allow LaKettra Bennett to wear a skirt that covered her knee, in keeping with her Pentecostal religious beliefs.

Hollister’s “Look Policy” requires employees to wear skirts that fall above the knee, the suit says.

Bennett, now 23, worked for Hollister from June to September last year, said Melvin Kennedy, senior trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit in federal court in St. Louis.

Representatives of Hollister could not be reached for comment. David Cupps, general counsel for the parent company, Abercrombie & Fitch, would not comment directly on the suit, but said the company “has a long-standing committment to fostering diversity and inclusiveness.”

Kennedy said Hollister’s policy did not spell out clothing length but required employees to “wear clothes that kind of look like the clothes they sell” and said Hollister at the time did not sell long-enough skirts.

Bennett now attends Indiana Bible College in Indianapolis, Kennedy said. She could not be reached for comment.

The suit asks for back pay and compensatory and punitive damages, and says Hollister and the EEOC were unable to work out a settlement. If successful, the suit would require Hollister to accommodate employees’ religious beliefs.

Federal law requires employers to make reasonable accommodations of workers’ sincerely held religious beliefs.

“Allowing a sales associate to wear a skirt that covers her knees will not injure Hollister’s business,” said EEOC regional attorney Barbara Seely in a prepared statement.

Church Billboard Takes Aim at “I Kissed A Girl” Song

COLUMBUS, OH — Mixed feelings. That’s the best way to describe how people feel about a controversial church sign that was seen in Blacklick this past week.

For 24 hours, the message board outside Havens Corners Church, 6696 Havens Corner Rd., read, “I kissed a girl and I liked it, then I went to Hell.”

The message refers to the chart-topping song by pop artist Katy Perry “I Kissed A Girl.”

Pastor David Allison said he didn’t put up the sign to draw attention to the church. “We didn’t intend to get into all this, but it’s become a bigger thing,” Allison said. He was just very concerned about the implications of the song for teenagers and what he called a music video so suggestive it borders on pornography.

“If anyone’s seen the video and understands how lewd and suggestive the video is for this song, that is not something young people should go toward,” Allison said. He thought the message would be a loving way to remind teenagers that the Bible denounces homosexuality. Taking a look at the other side of this story, some people can’t believe the church displayed that message so publically.

A viewer sent us a picture of the sign with the subject title “Worst Church Sign Ever.”

The sign was removed Thursday.

Pastor Allison said it was not due to outrage. He said he received volumes of support from throughout the state.

Instead, he said, it was confusing to many people who called in or e-mailed because they didn’t know to what he was referring. They were unaware of the song.

Click here to read the full story.

Bill Maher’s new anti-religious film

If you’ve read anything about Bill Maher’s upcoming film, Religulous, opening October 3, you know that the movie, directed by Larry Charles (Borat) and starring Maher, does not hold religious faith in very high esteem. Indeed, according to Los Angeles Times blogger Patrick Goldstein, the movie presents religion as “a big crock of spit,” “a destructive force,” and “a neurological disorder.” Maher doesn’t mince words either, which makes it all the more perplexing that the movie—a pseudo-documentary—contains interview footage and willing participation from a number of deeply pious people.

Goldstein offers a simple explanation for how Maher and Charles got these people to participate in the movie: “Subterfuge and trickery.”

Maher explains his tactics this way: “It was simple: We never, ever, used my name. We never told anybody it was me who was going to do the interviews. We even had a fake title for the film. We called it A Spiritual Journey. It didn’t work everywhere. We went to Salk Lake City, but no one would let us film there at all.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Maher was asked who would be most offended by the movie. His answer: “Any religious person. The point is to question what is usually made to be unquestionable in this country. Normally if you say the word ‘faith,’ the debate is over—no matter what incredibly nonsensical, destructive, ridiculous tenet comes out of your mouth. I could say, ‘My faith is the tooth fairy and Klingons are coming.’ But I’m not going to play by those rules.”

FULL STORY