250,000 visitors and counting for my Family Matters website; Thanks to everyone who have browsed this site

According to my Sitemeter.com tracker, my website “Legal issues and family matters” reached over 250,000 visitors more than a week ago. Soli Deo gloria!

The website became online December 17, 2005. It contains the complete text of the Family Code of the Philippines and numerous laws relevant to the Filipino family.

It has been averaging 240 plus visitors daily since last week (see the graphic below). Google Analytics, my other website tracker, reports that, for the past month, visitors have come from 84 countries. The top ten countries with the most number of visitors are the Philippines with 83%, and the remaining 17% divided among the US, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Qatar, India, and Japan.

“Legal issues and family matters” contains numerous Gospel links and my website trackers report that these have been clicked.

What bothers me, however, is that the 2nd most browsed page in this website is that on RA 9262, our country’s law on anti-violence against women and their children (see the Google Analytics report below).

How you can help “Legal issues and family matters”

[1] If your church or ministry would like to sponsor the web hosting fees for “Legal issues and family matters” and its co-hosted website “Better English for everyone”, please email me at gtgalacio@yahoo.com for more information. My current web hosting plan with dot.PH Domains is US $66 per quarter with a monthly bandwidth limit of 15 GB.

Because of the increasing number of visitors, I need to upgrade to the next higher plan of US $155.40 quarterly billing (US $41.80 monthly) with a bandwidth limit of 30 GB per month. With annual billing, the cost is lower at US $38 monthly or a total of US $458.00.

[2] More than 78% of visitors reached “Legal issues and family matters” through search engines like Google and Yahoo. You can help increase traffic to this website by posting links to it from your websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.



Internet ministries

My Internet ministries consist of two websites www.familymatters.org.ph and www.betterenglish.org.ph, and several blogs, namely, “Salt and Light” (articles on relationships, marriage, family), “Baptist Churches in the Philippines” (directory of churches); “Legal Updates”, “Campus Connection”(youth-oriented articles including photography), “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and “Baptist Distinctives, free online Bible Institute for Asia, Africa and Latin America”. I also have free PDF newsletters available for download on legal issues affecting the Filipino family.

How I became involved in Internet ministries

I have always been interested in reading and writing. During my grade school days in the 1960’s, I woke up early everyday to go to the guardhouse and read all the English newspapers delivered to a Chinese business tycoon who owned the compound I grew up in. Afternoons after my classes, I would again go to the guardhouse to read the Evening Post (if I remember the newspaper’s title correctly).

That Chinese business tycoon had in his garage a room filled, from floor to ceiling, with hundreds of Reader’s Digest, Life Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines. During school breaks, I would spend hours there reading. Whenever I missed lunch, my mother would begin looking for me and she would always find me in that room.

During my high school years (Rizal High School, 1969-1973), I continued my habit of reading newspapers; I spent part of my lunch breaks in the library. In my junior year, I became a sports reporter for our schoolpaper “The Rizalian”. The adviser, Miss Consolacion Constantino, patiently edited my articles, but none of my articles was ever published.

After I lost my NSDB mining engineering scholarship in UP Diliman, I followed the UP guidance counselor’s advice that I should go into writing as a college course and career. I graduated in 1979 with an AB English degree from Philippine Christian University.

I became an English grammar teacher (Dona Aurora High School in San Mateo, 1981-1983), and then a journalism teacher and schoolpaper adviser (Quezon City Science High School, 1983-84, and Rizal High School, 1984-1995). In 1985, I enrolled in a BASIC programming course in my alma mater PCU. In my work, I learned desktop publishing (Pagemaker 4), word processing (MS Word 2), and graphics (Coreldraw 3), using our school’s 486 computer, Brother laser printer, and flatbed scanner. (My first computers were a Texas Instrument 99/4A with 16k of memory and a Commodore 64, both gifts from my nephew Ken.)

I was admitted into the Philippine bar in 1995 and practiced law until 2005 when I stopped accepting cases.

In 2003, as I was surveying the ministries still open to me considering my age and circumstances, I learned that online writing was a viable ministry. I canvassed several schools and institutions where I could possibly learn website design. One company in Shaw Boulevard (opposite Jovan Condominium) charged Php 60,000 for its website design course. Too expensive. Genetics Computer Institute had a website design program costing Php 16,000 while Informatics offered its program at Php 20,000. Their curriculum was not what I really needed. Meralco Foundation offered an HTML course at only Php 4,000 but by that time, I had already learned how tedious and error-prone hand coding was.

I began buying books on website design; the books were very expensive, with prices ranging from Php 500 to Php 1,700 (Vincent Flanders’ Son of web pages that suck). I read through the books even though I could not really understand what I was reading. I then bought from a computer bookstore in SM Megamall and SM Centerpoint several tutorial CDs on Dreamweaver and Microsoft Frontpage.

In 2005, I designed and printed out using Pagemaker 5 a sample page of what I wanted my website to look like. To inspire and challenge myself, I brought the printout wherever I went and looked at it from time to time; I also showed it to friends, telling them that I was designing a website. Applying what I learned from designing yearbooks in my work as a schoolpaper adviser, I did a detailed storyboard for each page of my website. Starting that January, I spent my mornings reading my Dreamweaver book and studying the tutorial CD. I thought that I did not have to understand or learn everything about website design. I only had to learn whatever I needed for the website as I conceptualized it. All this time, I also began learning what blogs were.

By late October 2005, I already had created my first blog (“Legal Updates”). I finished designing my website www.familymatters.org.ph by late November. Although I had registered the domain name and paid the web hosting fees by early December, I did not know how to upload the files from my computer to the server. I did not know what FTP (file transfer protocol) was.

900,000 visitors and counting for “Better English for everyone” website

Note as of May 16, 2012: Special thanks to the following churches for their love gifts for the 2nd quarter web hosting fees of my websites: [1] Maranatha International Baptist Church in Parang, Marikina, led by Ptr. Manny Orara (Php 5,100); and [2] Amazing Grace Bible Baptist Church, Block 27 Lot 77 Phase 2, Greengate Homes, Malagasang II-B, Imus, Cavite, led by Ptr. Florentino Chua (Php 500).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

According to my Sitemeter.com tracker, my website “Better English for everyone” reached over 900,000 visitors late last night. Soli Deo gloria!

The website became online September 27, 2007. It has been averaging 1,700 plus visitors daily since last week (see the graphic below). It reached 3,000 visitors (first time ever) on November 29, 2011.

Google Analytics, my other website tracker, reports that visitors have come from 195 countries or territories. The top ten countries in number of visitors are the USA, Philippines, India, United Kingdom, Brazil, Thailand, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and Australia.

“Better English for everyone” contains numerous links to Gospel websites and my website trackers report that these have been clicked, even by visitors from Restricted Access Nations. Thanks to everyone who have browsed this site.

Note: Please read “How you can help this website” or “How I became involved in Internet ministries”.

The Sitemeter graphic above shows the number of visitors (yellow bars) and page views (red bars) from December 24, 2011 to early morning January 23, 2012.

Are church clerks, ACE teachers, drivers, janitors, etc. considered “employees” under the Labor Code of the Philippines?

Summary: The US Supreme Court, voting 9-0 in the landmark case of “Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church And School vs. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Et Al” recognized the “ministerial exception” to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Under this exception, churches cannot be charged with employment discrimination by its ministers. The Court said, “It is impermissible for the government to contradict a church’s determination of who can act as its ministers.” (Jump to “US Supreme Court ruling in the Hosanna-Tabor case: A victory for religious freedom” or “Are church staff considered ‘employees’ under the Labor Code of the Philippines?”)

Who has the right to call himself a pastor, a minister, or a missionary? As Baptists, we believe in the Biblical distinctive of the autonomy of the local church. If a local church calls a man to be its pastor, that man is its pastor, despite his lack of ordination or even Bible school training. Likewise, if a local church commissions a man as its missionary to a local or foreign field, the decision stands and cannot be questioned by other churches. (I recall hearing on DZAS this remark by a black American pastor: “Were you sent or did you just went”?)

(Churches are divided on the issue of single females serving as missionaries. Some pastors actively send out or support single female missionaries. On the other hand, some pastors refuse to support them. One American missionary based in Metro Manila whom I counseled on a legal matter a couple of years ago says that only men can be missionaries because women cannot establish churches. The Asian Baptist Clearinghouse accredits single females as missionaries on the condition that they serve under the leadership of a male pastor. I don’t remember if it’s John Piper who said that single female missionaries may fall under “sunergoi” in 1 Corinthians 3:9.)

Overview of the case: Cheryl Perich was a “commissioned minister” of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church in Redford, Michigan. Perich taught a religion class, led her students in daily prayer and devotional exercises, and took her students to a weekly school-wide chapel service. She led the chapel service herself about twice a year. Besides these duties, Perich also taught math, language arts, social studies, science, gym, art, and music in Hosanna-Tabor’s elementary school. After Perich got sick, Hosanna-Tabor did not allow her to teach again. When she threatened to file a case of employment discrimination, Hosanna-Tabor rescinded her calling as a minister and then fired her. “Perich filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming that her employment had been terminated in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC brought suit against Hosanna-Tabor, alleging that Perich had been fired in retaliation for threatening to file an ADA lawsuit. Perich intervened in the litigation. Invoking what is known as the ‘ministerial exception,’ Hosanna-Tabor argued that the suit was barred by the First Amendment because the claims concerned the employment relationship between a religious institution and one of its ministers.” (From syllabus of the Supreme Court ruling). The District Court ruled in Hosanna-Tabor’s favor but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision. Based on extensive decisions of the various courts of appeals, the Sixth Circuit recognized the existence of a ministerial exception for pastors, priests, and rabbis based on the First Amendment. But it concluded that Perich did not qualify as a “minister” under the exception. It noted that in her seven hour workday, she spent about six hours and fifteen minutes teaching these secular subjects and only 45 minutes for her religious duties. Hosanna-Tabor appealed to the Supreme Court. It asked the Court to rule on the question of “whether the ministerial exception applies to a teacher at a religious elementary school who teaches the full secular curriculum, but also teaches daily religion classes, is a commissioned minister, and regularly leads students in prayer and worship”. In its groundbreaking decision written by Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court recognized for the first time the “ministerial exception” to anti-discrimination laws. The Supreme Court ruled that Perich was a minister even if she was performing secular duties and thus, the government cannot intervene in the dispute between her and Hosanna-Tabor.

US Supreme Court ruling in “Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church And School versus Equal Employment Opportunity Commission” (No. 10-553, decided January 11, 2012)

Facts of the Hosanna-Tabor case; Difference between “called teachers” and “lay teachers”

[1] Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. The Synod classifies its school teachers into two categories: “called” and “lay.” “Called” teachers are regarded as having been called to their vocation by God. To be eligible to be considered “called,” a teacher must complete certain academic requirements, including a course of theological study. Once called, a teacher receives the formal title “Minister of Religion, Commissioned.”

“Lay” teachers, by contrast, are not required to be trained by the Synod or even to be Lutheran. Although lay and called teachers at Hosanna-Tabor generally performed the same duties, lay teachers were hired only when called teachers were unavailable.

Cheryl Perich was a commissioned minister but performed secular duties

[2] After Cheryl Perich completed the required training, Hosanna-Tabor asked her to become a called teacher. Perich accepted the call and was designated a commissioned minister. In addition to teaching secular subjects, Perich taught a religion class, led her students in daily prayer and devotional exercises, and took her students to a weekly school-wide chapel service. Perich led the chapel service herself about twice a year.

Perich’s sickness and eventual firing

[3] Perich developed narcolepsy and began the 2004–2005 school year on disability leave. In January 2005, she notified the school principal that she would be able to report to work in February. The principal responded that the school had already contracted with a lay teacher to fill Perich’s position for the remainder of the school year. The principal also expressed concern that Perich was not yet ready to return to the classroom. The congregation subsequently offered to pay a portion of Perich’s health insurance premiums in exchange for her resignation as a called teacher. Perich refused to resign.

In February, Perich presented herself at the school and refused to leave until she received written documentation that she had reported to work. The principal later called Perich and told her that she would likely be fired. Perich responded that she had spoken with an attorney and intended to assert her legal rights.

In a subsequent letter, the chairman of the school board advised Perich that the congregation would consider whether to rescind her call at its next meeting. As grounds for termination, the letter cited Perich’s “insubordination and disruptive behavior,” as well as the damage she had done to her “working relationship” with the school by “threatening to take legal action.” The congregation voted to rescind Perich’s call, and Hosanna-Tabor sent her a letter of termination.

Perich files case for discrimination; Hosanna-Tabor’s defense of “ministerial exception”

[4] Perich filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming that her employment had been terminated in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC brought suit against Hosanna-Tabor, alleging that Perich had been fired in retaliation for threatening to file an ADA lawsuit. Perich intervened in the litigation.

Invoking what is known as the “ministerial exception,” Hosanna-Tabor argued that the suit was barred by the First Amendment because the claims concerned the employment relationship between a religious institution and one of its ministers. The District Court agreed and granted summary judgment in Hosanna-Tabor’s favor.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recognized the existence of a ministerial exception rooted in the First Amendment, but concluded that Perich did not qualify as a “minister” under the exception. The Court of Appeals noted that she “spent approximately six hours and fifteen minutes of her seven hour day teaching secular subjects, using secular textbooks, without incorporating religion into the secular material.”

Highlights of the ruling: “It is impermissible for the government to contradict a church’s determination of who can act as its ministers.” “Requiring a church to accept or retain an unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to do so, intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs.” “The purpose of the (ministerial) exception is not to safeguard a church’s decision to fire a minister only when it is made for a religious reason. The exception instead ensures that the authority to select and control who will minister to the faithful—a matter “strictly ecclesiastical,” — is the church’s alone.” “The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important. But so too is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission. When a minister who has been fired sues her church alleging that her termination was discriminatory, the First Amendment has struck the balance for us. The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way.”

US Supreme Court ruling: A victory for religious freedom

[1] “The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment bar suits brought on behalf of ministers against their churches, claiming termination in violation of employment discrimination laws.”

[2] “Since the passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other employment discrimination laws, the Courts of Appeals have uniformly recognized the existence of a “ministerial exception,” grounded in the First Amendment, that precludes application of such legislation to claims concerning the employment relationship between a religious institution and its ministers. The Court agrees that there is such a ministerial exception. Requiring a church to accept or retain an unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to do so, intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs. By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group’s right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments. According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions.”

[3] “This Court first considered the issue of government interference with a church’s ability to select its own ministers in the context of disputes over church property. This Court’s decisions in that area confirm that it is impermissible for the government to contradict a church’s determination of who can act as its ministers.”

[4] “Because Perich was a minister within the meaning of the ministerial exception, the First Amendment requires dismissal of this employment discrimination suit against her religious employer.”

[5] “The ministerial exception is not limited to the head of a religious congregation. The Court, however, does not adopt a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister. Here, it is enough to conclude that the exception covers Perich, given all the circumstances of her employment. Hosanna-Tabor held her out as a minister, with a role distinct from that of most of its members. That title represented a significant degree of religious training followed by a formal process of commissioning. Perich also held herself out as a minister by, for example, accepting the formal call to religious service. And her job duties reflected a role in conveying the Church’s message and carrying out its mission: As a source of religious instruction, Perich played an important part in transmitting the Lutheran faith.”

[6] “The case before us is an employment discrimination suit brought on behalf of a minister, challenging her church’s decision to fire her. Today we hold only that the ministerial exception bars such a suit. We express no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct by their religious employers. There will be time enough to address the applicability of the exception to other circumstances if and when they arise.”

If Perich had merely been a lay teacher, then she could have not been fired under the law. But as the US Supreme Court ruled, Perich was a commissioned minister and therefore, the government cannot intervene in the dispute between her and the church.

Implications of the Hosanna-Tabor case: Are church staff “employees” protected by the Labor Code of the Philippines?

(Note: The freedom of religion clause in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines is patterned after that of the US Constitution. The Philippine Supreme Court has repeatedly cited rulings of the US Supreme Court on freedom of religion. Please read my discussion of the Estrada versus Escritor case, the landmark decision on freedom of religion in the Philippines.)

Baptist churches in the Philippines have people serving as ACE teachers, secretaries, drivers, messengers, janitors, etc. Most churches do not pay them salaries but instead give them financial “love gifts” on a regular basis. Some churches additionally provide them with SSS and Philhealth coverage. These churches tell them that they are not employees and that their work is a ministry.

The question is, can church staff claim that they are employees protected by and entitled to benefits under the Labor Code of the Philippines like regularization, security of tenure, 13th month pay, overtime pay, etc?

Many years ago, one of my law school classmates (a GCF member) handled a case involving a janitor in a Baptist church in Metro Manila. When the pastor saw that the janitor failed to clean up a spot on the church floor, he fired the janitor right there and then. My classmate helped the janitor file with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) a case of illegal termination against the church. As far as I know, the janitor and the pastor settled the case amicably. The labor arbiter did not have the opportunity therefore to rule on whether someone working as a janitor in a church is an employee protected under the Labor Code.

Four-fold test to determine if there is employer-employee relationship: Right to hire or to the selection and engagement of the employee; Payment of wages and salaries for services; Power of dismissal or the power to impose disciplinary actions; and Power to control the employee with respect to the means and methods by which the work is to be accomplished. Right of control test: There is an employer-employee relationship when the person for whom the services are performed reserves the right to control not only the end achieved but also the manner and means used to achieve that end.

Another lawyer (in preparation for a seminar we gave together way back in 2003 for the alumni of Bethany Makati’s Bible college) asked a labor arbiter if church staff could be considered as employees. The arbiter’s answer was yes because:

(1) they perform work necessary and desirable for the church, as defined in Article 280 of the Labor Code, and

(2) they are under the control of the church with respect to the means and methods by which their work is to be done.

It did not matter, the arbiter said, whether these people are paid only with “love gifts” and not salaries.

Because the NLRC or our Supreme Court has not had the occasion to rule on this issue, the question remains unanswered. Based on the Hosanna-Tabor ruling, however, we can draw some preliminary conclusions or pose some additional questions:

[1] If a church fires its pastor or associate pastor, the courts cannot intervene as long as the church follows its own rules or established procedures. As the US Supreme Court ruled, “It is impermissible for the government to contradict a church’s determination of who can act as its ministers.”

[2] Church staff who are not commissioned or ordained ministers and are performing secular duties (like a driver for the pastor and his family, or a janitor) may possibly qualify as employees with rights and privileges under the Labor Code. ACE teachers who are not commissioned or ordained ministers may also conceivably qualify as employees.

What about so-called “church workers”? Churches oftentimes get Bible school students or graduates to help in soulwinning, visitation, Sunday School, etc. If they are not commissioned or ordained, then they may conceivably qualify as employees under the Labor Code.

[3] What if the church, in learning from the Hosanna-Tabor ruling, commissions as religious ministers everyone in the church staff? Will this prevent anyone in the church staff from claiming protection under the Labor Code? As I stated above, churches tell these people at the outset that they are not employees but are engaged in ministry.

During the oral arguments before the US Supreme Court, Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor who represented Hosanna-Tabor, said that “a church can’t simply declare all of its participants as ministers as a pretext to avoiding government intrusion”. He explained: “The fact that you’re expected to witness to the faith when the occasion arises doesn’t make you a minister. We think there should be deference to good faith understandings. But we are not arguing for a rule that would enable an organization to fraudulently declare that everyone is a minister when it’s not true.”

[4] If a church provides SSS and Philhealth coverage for its staff, this can possibly be taken as proof that they are employees of the church.

[5] The Labor Code provides for “project employment” where a person works only for a specific period of time. Can a church resort to putting its church staff on “project employment”? I once counseled an American missionary who established a nationally-known ministry (not a church). Besides mismanagement, the numerous labor cases filed by its employees doomed the ministry. The missionary told me that he could have avoided all the problems if only he had known about “project employment”.

(Note: Please don’t misunderstand me on no. 4 above. I am not saying that churches should not provide these benefits for the church staff. I am just pointing out a potential legal issue. Many years ago, the president of a large Christian school asked me to implement a forced resignation or early retirement plan for its teachers. The school, as a cost-cutting measure, wanted to contractualize its teachers. I refused to accept the case.)

Relevant articles:

[1] US Supreme Court Judges cannot get involved in church dispute (Associated press)

[2] Church Wins Firing Case at Supreme Court (Christianity Today)

[3] Due process and two-notice rule in termination of employment; five calendar days to answer the charges and hearing required

[4] Transcripts of the oral arguments before the US Supreme Court

Are you single and in ministry?

If you are single, don’t despair. As someone said, “It’s better to be alone and single, rather than married and miserable.”

But if you are single and in ministry, then you should read “Missionary Single Issues” from Missionary Care (Resources for Missions and Mental Health). You can download this resource as a PDF file (267 kb) or as a Word file (261 kb). Topics include:

• Love
• Celibacy and Chastity
• Loneliness
• Identity
• Sexual Fantasy
• The Ticking Clock
• Housing
• Matchmakers
• Contentment & Comparison
• The New Singleness
• Is Singleness OK?
• Single Again
• Arranged Marriage

This free PDF was written by Ronald L. Koteskey, Member Care Consultant for GO InterNational (an interdenominational world-wide Christian mission organization involved in organizing short-term missions, among other projects). While Ron wrote this material specifically for unmarried missionaries, his insights, comments, and suggestions are valuable for singles in a cross-cultural environment. Ron and his wife (former teachers with 35 years experience in Bible colleges, public and Christian schools) maintain two websites www.missionarycare.com and www.crossculturalworkers.com which provide free resources like brochures and e-books for two culture-kids, marriage issues, and reentry for missionaries.

Ron’s terms of use for this e-book: “Permission is granted to copy and distribute this book in its entirety without charge. Send it to anyone you believe may benefit from reading it. Please do NOT post this book anywhere else on the Internet.”

Notes: [1] Related post: Free PDF on marriage issues for missionaries (also for pastors and other persons in ministry); [2] This ministry does not necessarily endorse the opinions or beliefs of the resources cited here.

800,000 visitors and counting for “Better English for everyone” website

According to my Sitemeter.com tracker, my website “Better English for everyone” reached over 800,000 visitors last Tuesday afternoon. The website became online September 27, 2007. It has been averaging 2,000 plus visitors daily since last week. Google Analytics, my other website tracker, reports that visitors have come from 195 countries or territories. The top ten countries in number of visitors are the USA, Philippines, India, United Kingdom, Brazil, Thailand, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and Australia.

“Better English for everyone” contains numerous links to Gospel websites and my website trackers report that these have been clicked, even by visitors from Restricted Access Nations. Thanks to everyone who have browsed this site. Soli Deo gloria!

Note: Please read 700,000 visitors and counting for “Better English for everyone” website; jump to “How you can help this website” or “How I became involved in Internet ministries”.

The Sitemeter graphic above shows the number of visitors (yellow bars) and page views (red bars) from October 28 to early November 27.


Note: The website reached 3,000 visitors (first time ever) as of Tuesday, November 29, 2011.

The Gospel According to Twilight; Twilight’s Mormon connection

The Darkness of Twilight, by Sue Bohlin (Probe Ministries)

The Twilight saga is a publishing and movie phenomenon that sweeps tween and teen girls (and a whole lot of other people) off their feet with an obsessive kind of following. Millions of Christian girls are huge fans of this series about love between a teenage girl and her vampire boyfriend-then-husband. But it’s not just a love story made exciting by the danger of vampires’ blood-lust. I believe the Twilight saga, all four books and their corresponding movies, is spiritually dangerous. I believe there is a demonic origin to the series, and the occult themes that permeate the books are a dangerous open door to Satan and his hordes of unholy angels.

Twilight is also spiritually dangerous in the way it presents salvation. When Daddy Vampire Carlisle turns Edward into a vampire, it is described as saving him. He ended a 17-year-old boy’s physical life and turned him into an undead, stone cold superbeing, which Edward describes as a “new birth.” Vampire Alice describes the process as the venom spreading through the body, healing it, changing it, until the heart stops and the conversion is finished. Poison heals, and changes, and converts to lifelessness? Healing poison? This is spiritually dangerous thinking. Isaiah warns us (5:20), “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

This upside-down, inside-out way of thinking is rooted in Stephenie Meyer’s strong Mormon beliefs. Twilight’s cover photo of a woman’s hands offering an apple is an intentional reference to the way Mormonism reinvents the Genesis story of the Fall. LDS (Latter Day Saints) doctrine makes the Fall a necessary step, called a “fall up.” At the beginning of the book you will find, alone on a page, Genesis 2: 17—”But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Read the complete article)

The Trouble with Twilight, Christianity Today interview by Laura Leonard of Beth Felker Jones, Wheaton College theology professor and author of “Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga” (Random House, 2009)

John Granger wrote in Touchstone magazine that the Twilight novels are “an allegory of one gentile seeker’s coming to the fullness of Latter-day Saint faith and life.” Are there any particularly Mormon themes in the books that might be at odds with a Christian worldview?

I read a quotation the other day from a Mormon woman suggesting the books could be used as a Mormon evangelism tool, saying, “Perhaps we could say to people, ‘We can promise you will be together forever and no one will even have to bite you.’” I can see this theme of eternal family as the place where salvation happens as an “in” to Mormon evangelism, as it is very much part of Mormon thought. As is the way goodness is approached in the books: the vampires in the books are struggling against their darkest desires [to drink human blood] and they talk quite a bit about their souls—whether they have souls, and whether God might reward them for their attempts to be good. What’s missing is the Christian gospel, the idea that we can’t overcome our darkness on our own, that no matter how hard we work to be good, we're going to fail, and we’re going to need Jesus. The picture of goodness in the books is a salvation by works. “I’ll try hard enough and perhaps God will be pleased.” (Read the complete interview)

Twilight, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz and the Wiccan Revival, from Good Fight Ministries, by Joe Schimmel, pastor of Blessed Hope Chapel, an evangelical non-denominational fellowship in Simi Valley, California

Very few people are aware of the shocking truth that both Stephenie Meyer, who authored the Twilight saga, and J. K. Rowling, who authored the Harry Potter series, appear to have channeled their novels as evil spirits directed them. Like Rowling, Meyer has set her sights on our vulnerable youth; the Wall Street Journal reported, “Twilight has targeted the collective soul of teenage America, and will surely have its way.”

Meyer claims that she was compelled to write Twilight after the story was first communicated to her through a dream in June of 2003. Meyer admitted:

“I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately… I typed out as much as I could remember, calling the characters ‘he’ and ‘she.’” (Source: www.stepheniemeyer.com)

This dream was so significant to the Twilight saga, that Meyer produced a transcript of her dream in Chapter 13 of her book, Twilight, entitled "Confessions." Meyer claims that sometime after she “received” the revelatory dream she heard incessant voices in her head that wouldn’t stop until she would type, "Bella and Edward [the vampire] were, quite literally, voices in my head. They simply wouldn't shut up. I'd stay up as late as I could stand trying to get all the stuff in my mind typed out, and then crawl, exhausted, into bed … only to have another conversation start in my head.” (Read the complete article)

The Gospel According to Twilight, by Elaine A. Heath, from Youthworker.com

Elements of the relationship between Edward and Bella make the hair stand up on feminist Christian necks, especially when adding in the bit where Bella scarcely survives the violence of her wedding night. Though broken and bruised the next morning, she begs for more. This part of the story is terrible news for girls and women—unless you read it through another lens, such as Stephenie Meyer’s.

The Eve story has an entirely different meaning in LDS theology, with Eve as a moral heroine who sacrifices her life so others can live. What is going on here? Is Bella a Christ figure, offering her body and blood for others’ salvation? Or is she a sex-hungry temptress who’s willing to go to hell if she can just have her guy? Is Bella fallen, redemptive or both? (Read the complete article)

22nd Fundamental Bible Conference in Metro Manila

Dates: October 25-28, 2011, 6 to 9:30 PM

Venue: Integrated Bar of the Philippines Julia Vargas, #15 Julia Vargas Ortigas Center, Pasig City

Theme: Loving The Living New Testament Church

Theme Verse: “... know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, ” 1 Tim 3:15.

Conference Committee Chairman: Roberto-Jose M. Livioco, D.D., D.Min (candidate)

One-Time Registration Fee: P160

For inquiries, contact 636-5535, 801-6789, 829-4474 or fbc_ministries@yahoo.com

Seminar Topics:

1. “The Church and Authentic Worship” by Dr. Phil Kamibayashiyama, Bob Jones Memorial Bible College, Quezon City
2. “The Church and Her Fellowship” by Dr. Roberto-Jose Livioco, Foundation Baptist Church, Pasig City
3. “The Church and Trials: God’s Sovereignty in Suffering” by Pastor Gary Jones, Light House Bible-Believers Church, Paranaque City
4. “The Church’s Need for Prevailing Prayer” by Pastor Leo Lorenzana, Promised Land Baptist Church, Malabon City
5. “The Church and Her Finances” by Pastor Jun Gonzales, Las Pinas Baptist Church, Las Pinas City
6. “Male Spiritual Leadership in the Home and the Church” by.Pastor Cornelio Sacramento, Christian Baptist Church, Bulacan, Bulacan
7. “The Role of Women in the Home and the Church” by Mrs. Denise Peterson, First Baptist Church, Land O’Lakes, Florida
8. “The Church and the Devil’s Strategies” by Pastor Carl Gormley, Calvary Baptist Church, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan

Service Messages by Dr. David Peterson, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Land O’Lakes, Florida:

1. “The Primacy of the Local Church”
2. “The Purity of the Local Church”
3. “A Passion for the Local Church”
4. “The Purpose of the Local Church Amid a Lost World”

Preachers and Workers Fellowship, Friday, October 28, 3 to 5 PM. Topic: “The Pastor’s Responsibility to His Flock”