Dep. Chris Dewey's Birthday, Biblical Truth, & More

Fellow Sheepdogs:

Now don’t have a heart attack, but I’m going to try to keep this brief for a change (!!). First, remember that we’re back “at it” this week for our regular Thursday evening profession-relevant Bible study, prayer and fellowship meeting (2/11, 1900, Calvary South Denver, Room #7, Littleton). We’re set to meet on the 18th and 25th as well. This week we’ll explore “The Power of Credibility.” Tell, invite, and/or bring your friends, colleagues and spouses!

Secondly, Mahnomen County (MN) Deputy Sheriff Chris Dewey’s 27th birthday is this Tuesday (2/9)!! We are therefore asking everyone in the Denver-metro area to take some time out of their day and come by Craig Hospital in Englewood (3425 S. Clarkson Street) to wish Chris a “Happy Birthday.” As Chris loves to be visited by fellow officers, please come in uniform if you can. I will be unable to attend due to a prior commitment but I visited and prayed with Chris today. Michelle Jones, a Centurion Ministry regular, will be bringing a cake and, inasmuch as Chris will be in therapy much of the day, suggests folks come in the late afternoon through early evening. Remember also that Chris was recently moved to the east building but still on the 2nd floor -- check with the staff for his room number. While we’re at it, please continue to pray for Chris (healing, restoration, health…) and his loved ones – Emily and Ross in particular – who are valiantly fighting with and for our brother. Go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/chrisdewey for regular updates and to leave a message for Chris and Emily. As Chris will soon be headed home to Minnesota, I also wanted to encourage folks to donate for his long-term care:

Deputy Chris Dewey Fund
First National Bank of Mahnomen
103 N. Main Street (or P.O. Box 378 )
Mahnomen, MN 56557


APOLOGETICS QUESTIONS (truth and false teaching):

I get theology and bible questions from time-to-time and will respond to them in this forum as appropriate. Here are two of the most common.

(1) What do you think about the book “The Shack” and is it something you would recommend?
Answer: Let me be subtle hear -- NO! Quite simply, the “god” and “Jesus” of The Shack is NOT the God and Jesus of the Bible. My pastor, Gino Geraci, likes to say, “If you’re wrong about Jesus, it doesn’t matter what you’re right about." Gino, widely considered to be something of an expert on cults and false teaching, has written a superb apologetic on The Shack that I highly recommend: http://www.calvarycsd.org/mediafiles/discernmentandtheshack.pdf. You can also find some great resources on this and other subjects (as in #2 below) at http://www.calvaryaurora.org/resources/apologetics/.

(2) Are Mormons Christians and is the LDS (Latter Day Saints) a cult?
Answer: NO and YES. I have a number of dear friends and colleagues who are Mormons but, both for their sake (salvation) and because it is what God calls us to do, we MUST tell the truth in love. Strictly speaking, the Mormon “Jesus” is not the Jesus of the Bible. Mormons believe, among other things, that Jesus is Satan’s "spirit brother" and that He is not God but rather “a god.” In short, the Mormon belief system does not meet the biblical definition of what it means to be a Christian while at the same time does fall into the definition of a cult. Here are some great resources that provide the truth about this issue: http://www.gotquestions.org/Mormons.html; http://www.calvaryaurora.org/resources/apologetics/ -- scroll down to “Mormonism;” and Ron Rhodes outstanding book, Reasoning from the Scriptures with Mormons. There are also some excellent apologetics resources on our website, http://www.thecenturionlawenforcementministry.org/.

Finally, check out this great short article written by Pastor Gino on the subject of false teachings: http://blog.christianpoliticalview.com/2009/04/19/false-teacher-profile-jude-4-by-gino-geraci.aspx. Pray for those who have been led astray.


PRAYER REQUESTS (as always, we welcome your prayer requests and will post them here as appropriate):

(1) Pray for an officer in NM who is seeking a transfer to an agency that will allow him to better provide for his family and take some of the pressure off his wife.
(2) Englewood PD Ofc. Jason Pearson is scheduled for knee surgery in the morning to repair an injury sustained in the line-of-duty. Pray for a successful procedure and a quick recovery.
(3) Pray for a Federal corrections officer who sustained some serious medical issues during training (healing, provision, etc.).
(4) Pray for a colleague who is waging a heroic battle with cancer and a host or cancer-related medical issues (healing, strength, health, courage, etc.).
(5) Pray for Denver PD Officer Allison Casias (see http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/allisoncasias). Allison’s recovery to date has been nothing short of a miracle of God but she still needs prayer and Christian support.
(6) JeffCo Dep. Art Peterson, with whom readers should be familiar (see previous posts on our website and related articles such as http://bulletin.aarp.org/states/co/2009/50/articles/woman_who_allegedly_dragged_jeffco_deputy_truck.html) recently accepted Christ as his Savior (praise God)!! However, Art’s wife is now fighting cancer. Please be in prayer!

Let’s “run to the battle” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL7cL_p5_84), stay in the fight and finish strong (2 Timothy 4:6-8).