Christian broadcaster and author Tom McMahon says evangelical pastor Rick Warren's belief that the church must take the lead in solving the world's problems of poverty, disease, and war cannot be reconciled with the scriptures.

Pastor Warren will be hosting an interfaith meeting next month with 30 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders "to discuss cooperation for the common good of all Americans." Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan mobilizes churches to address global problems. But McMahon, president of The Berean Call ministry, says the popular Christian author is introducing evangelical Christianity to the social gospel that he learned from his mentor, social scientist Peter Drucker.
 
"As a Christian, as a biblical Christian, I have real concerns about this because I don't find this in the scriptures," McMahon explains. "You see, it's true the world has all kinds of problems, but he's working on the symptoms and avoiding the root cause, which is the sin nature of humanity. So how can you work with all kinds of people [who are] called 'people of faith,' but it's not biblical faith?"
 
McMahon contends that only the biblical gospel can change the heart of man, and that Warren is compromising that by working with people who reject the gospel of Christ. He says that although Pastor Warren claims his life's calling is "to proclaim the gospel truth of salvation in Jesus Christ," it is doubtful that gospel will be proclaimed at the interfaith meeting.
 
"I believe that Rick has a low view of prophecy," McMahon contends. "Well, I think he needs to heed the words of Jesus [in Luke 18:8]: 'When the Son of Man cometh shall He find faith upon the earth?'  Well, 'people of faith' yes, but certainly not the faith that Jude exhorts true believers to contend for."

Singer Chris de Burgh is to play a concert in Tehran in November, the first show of its type in nearly 30 years, an Iranian satellite news channel reported on its website.

De Burgh, who has a large following in Iran, first visited the country in May and said that he hoped the authorities would let him play. He will be performing with the Iranian band Arian.

Majid Roqani, the head of public relations at Taraneh Sharqi Cultural and Artistic Company, talked to Press TV, Iran's state-owned, English-language satellite channel about the concert.

He said: "The concert is scheduled to be held in the last week of November at Azadi Indoor Stadium in Tehran which seats 12,000 people.

The Irish singer composed a special song for Iran. The melody enjoys an Iranian composition and its premiere will be held in Tehran."

This concert will be the first time since the 1979 revolution that a Western singer will play alongside an Iranian pop band in the country.

A Special song? Would some of the lyrics include, "Death to America", "Kill all the Gays", and "Who said you could take your Burka off,"? Nice to be a tool for the terrorists.

Diamonds May Have Jump-Started Life on Earth

one of the greatest mysteries in science is how life began. Now one group of researchers says diamonds may have been life's best friend.

Scientists have long theorized that life on Earth got going in a primordial soup of precursor chemicals. But nobody knows how these simple amino acids, known to be the building blocks of life, were assembled into complex polymers needed as a platform for genesis.

Diamonds are crystallized forms of carbon that predate the oldest known life on the planet. In lab experiments aimed to confirm work done more than three decades ago, researchers found that when treated with hydrogen, natural diamonds formed crystalline layers of water on the surface.

Water is essential for life as we know it. Also, the tests found electrical conductivity that could have been key to forcing chemical reactions needed to generate the first birth.

When primitive molecules landed on the surface of these hydrogenated diamonds in the atmosphere of early Earth, a few billion years ago, the resulting reaction may have been sufficient enough to generate more complex organic molecules that eventually gave rise to life, the researchers say.

The Truth About "A Common Word..." and "A Christian Response..."

21st century Christendom has received the historic equivalent of the same "Common Word" invitation and call that has echoed down through the ages from Muhammad's time until today-but it is instead being hailed by elements within Christianity as a benevolent "invitation" to dialogue and fellowship based on the common ground of "love of God and love of neighbour". In stark contrast to this wishful thinking, history tells a different story. All "Common Word" letters coming from Islamic authorities, such as one of the first sent during Muhammad's lifetime to the Emperor in Byzantium in the 630 A.D., are based on Sura 3:64 which defines the only kind of common word or common terms possible in seeking peace with Islam, so that the wordings have been essentially the same-starting soft, but ending always with the "either-or" of the spectre of the sword. That spectre appears to be missing in the current exchange of letters and follow-up dialogues between 138 Muslim clerics and 300 Christian leaders. But, is it? (more)

Front Royal, Va, Jul 27, 2008 / 12:37 am (CNA).- Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute (PRI), has charged that American feminists are refusing to address the problem of sex-selective abortions, a phenomenon in which unborn children of an unwanted sex are aborted. Mosher claims that over 100 million girls are missing, primarily due to parents who use ultrasound examinations to choose whether or not to abort the unborn child.

Speaking in PRI’s latest YouTube video, Mosher says the disparity is particularly noticeable in East and South Asia, but also in American groups of Asian descent.

In China, India, and other Asian countries, there is a strong preference for boys,” Mosher says.  “This combination of a preference for boys and modern technology—the ultrasound machine—has proven deadly for millions upon millions of baby girls.”

The PRI video cites a recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences.

“Where are the feminists when you need them?” Mosher asks, alleging that American feminists’ dedication to permissive abortion laws makes them unwilling to oppose sex-selective abortion.

“I challenge the National Organization of Women,” says Mosher, “and other feminist groups, to join us in the battle to ban this terrible form of sex discrimination that is killing so many unborn baby girls.  Their continued silence only facilitates the killing.”