Supplemental Posts on Todd Bentley and Lakeland

When I posted 4 Posts on Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival, I noted that all the posts were positive or neutral and I promised to post some additional links if negative posts turned up on the Moderate Christian Blogroll.

So herewith some links to posts that are considerably more negative:

The following two are from Dave Warnock’s blog, 42.
Reflecting on cancer healing - Todd Bentley style

Todd Bentley Links

One might think this post had nothing to do with the revival, but the author tagged it as such, and I think it is relevant:  A Grand View of God, from The Pen of the Wayfarer.

New RSS Feeds and Blogroll Options

I have revived and completed some software I originally started when I created the Moderate Christian Blogroll, and thus have new and improved options for displaying the blogroll, including a site list via RSS that will display properly in WordPress.com sidebars.

You will have noticed (I hope), the posts about problems with the current feed. It has been leaving out a number of sites, including almost all blogspot blogs. The new feed seems to be including them properly, so it’s time to start using it.

I will leave the old RSS feed active for a couple of weeks so this information can percolate, but you should change to the new feed, as many sites are not included in the old feed. Here are your options:

Display all sites in random order:  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php (The default is to display site names and do so in random order.)

Display sites with most recently updated first:  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php?order=recent (order can also = alpha, but that is not particularly useful as there are more than 50 sites on the blogroll.)

Limit the number of posts (maximum and default are both 50):  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php?order=recent&max=10

List posts rather than sites:  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php?type=posts.

Note that you can limit the number of posts in the same way.  If you are going to display it on your sidebar, most widgets are going to limit the number, and you’ll probably want to do so anyhow.

All options that worked through ncs.hneufeld.com should no longer be used.

You can still use the blogrolling:

Javascript: <script language=”javascript” type=”text/javascript” src=”http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=0705fa51be540e1725e02706416a59df”></script>

RSS:  http://rpc.blogrolling.com/rss.php?r=0705fa51be540e1725e02706416a59df

Remember that the requirements for inclusion in the blogroll are that you include at least 5 blogroll members on your blogroll, or use one of the methods above to display that many.  The links should be no more than one click from your homepage, thus it is acceptable to simply link to http://www.moderatechristian.com which displays the aggregator.  It is more helpful to your fellow bloggers, however, to include a few more links than that.

If you don’t want to be included in the aggregator, which displays extracts, please e-mail me at pubs@energion.com.  I will be glad to exclude your site from the aggregator while leaving it in the blogroll.  You can also choose to be in the aggregator only.

Also, please report any errors to me.  This software is in testing, and is only implemented here.  I’m going to use it one other place which will also help, but I need error reports if I’m going to work out the remaining kinks.

Thanks!

Continuing to Work on RSS

Just so nobody thinks I died or decided this wasn’t important, some calls have kept me from completing the work, and I also found that there was some cleaning up to do on the blogroll. I will have that done soon, and will then add all the new members.

I believe the new RSS feed options will be more useful than the ones they’re replacing as well.

I have also found some more “4 Posts” ideas as I worked, so hopefully I will post one or two of those tomorrow, including 4 Posts Involving Photography and 4 Posts on N. T. Wright.

RSS Feed Problem Update

Due to an emergency call from a client that took several hours out of my day, I did not complete the new RSS feed fix, but I did find out what needed to be done and how it could be done. With any luck I will manage to complete it by the end of the day.

I will post again on this blog when all is finished, and the new feeds are available, along with instructions as to how to use them.

For those who many have missed earlier posts, the problem is that all blogspot feeds, and some feedburner feeds are being incorrectly parsed by the software I was using. I found that the aggregator software I wrote for moderatechristian.com is still picking them up correctly, and I will be providing a set of RSS feed options from there.

RSS Feed Problems

The combined RSS feed is not correctly including blogs on Blogger or Blogspot. If your blog is missing from the most recent posts, that is the most likely reason. If you’re not on one of those services and you aren’t showing up, let me know. The best way to check is to look at the aggregator, which lists the last 50 posts. If you have a recent post and it’s not in there, let me know.

I expect to have something working yet today. Unfortunately the wordpress plugin I’ve been using to aggregate has not been updated for some time, so I can’t really check that way. I’ll probably either find another aggregator, or finish up the one I was already writing, but abandoned since there was such an easy option to use a wordpress plugin.

4 Post on Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival (v. 0.6)

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

Note: I started this post before really checking, and it turns out there has been less interest in this on the blogroll than I thought. Thus I will have to complete the four with a post that I wrote and one from a group blog to which I’m a major contributor, though written by someone else. I note with interest that I see no outright hostile posts on this topic from the blogroll.

1: Gentle Wisdom - Numerous Posts on the Revival

Peter Kirk has been the most prolific member of the blogroll on this topic. I’m going to link to just one post, A Theological Defense, and let you follow links from there.

2: Kouya Chronicle - What is Success?

Eddie Arthur (I think–it might have been Sue!), asks just how one would measure success in the church. He is not hostile to the revival, but he thinks we need to look at things other than the media image and spectacular things in measuring success.

3: Pacesetters Bible School Newsletter - Todd Bentley’s Angel in Lakeland

Hannah May, an occasional contributor to the Pacesetters Bible School Newsletter contributed Todd Bentley’s Angel in Lakeland.

4: Threads from Henry’s Web - Lakeland Revival Notes

I present my own post Lakeland Revival Notes, because it contains a copy of an e-mail I received from Rev. Perry Dalton who has actually been to Lakeland. Eyewitness reports are quite valuable.

Since all of these vary from neutral to positive, I will note that if anyone has written or does write something negative, I’ll be happy to include links to it for balance. My own view is cautiously positive, so I must be careful not to bias these “four posts” entries.

Aggregator Problems

I am having some problems with the aggregator software. There are numerous posts missing from the aggregator as displayed at moderatechristian.com. I have my old aggregator that I wrote here, and I may simply revive it. It only lacked ordering by posting date and its own RSS feed generator, and I have most of the code for those.

The problem is that all blogspot blogs and a number of feedburner feeds are not updating correctly, which removes most of the blogroll from both the main aggregator page and the RSS feed. I will update you on the progress here over the next couple of days. I apologize for any inconvenience.

4 Posts on Politics

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

1: Levellers - National Summit on Torture

In what could as easily be included under the categories of ethics or morality in general, Michael L. Westmoreland-White informs us of a National Summit on Torture. This provides an opportunity not only to talk, but to act.

2: Sub Ratione Dei -

In Hegemony or Survival Sub Ratione Dei looks at Noam Chomsky’s book Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance, which he says ” . . . raise[es] important issues regarding foreign policy and also global survival.”

3: Gentle Wisdom - Cutting out the nonsense about petrol (gas) prices

Proving that the moderate Christian blogroll is not just a U. S. operation, I bring you Cutting out the nonsense about petrol (gas) prices, in which Peter Kirk explains some basic economics and its application to gas (petrol) prices. There are some advantages to these high prices after all.

4: Quiet Paths - Freedom Via OSI

Christine, responding to the poetry prompt, is thinking about freedom and gives us both a poetry and prose version.

4 Posts on Prayer (v. 0.4)

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

It was a bit harder to find the right set of posts to include today, so I hope I did justice to everyone’s postings. Let me remind everyone that you can email me with suggested posts and topics.

1: Everyday Liturgy - Praying Throughout the Day

Thomas brings us Praying Throughout the Day, which is a very short post, but one that brings up a very important thing about prayer–when, where, how often, and what are all questions that are wrapped up in this brief one.

2: Whispers from God’s Spirit - Have You Told God Your Secret Joys?

This is a rapid repeat appearance for a single blog, but the post is too good to miss if one is talking about prayer, so here is Have You Told God Your Secret Joys? from April Lorier at Whispers.

Well, have you?

3: St. Paul’s Collegiate Church - One Prayer

St. Paul’s Collegiate Church is joining in One Prayer. This sounds like an interesting idea.

4: Wayne Brown - Pilots land on a wing and a prayer

Wayne passes on a story about how Pilots land on a wing and a prayer.

I haven’t decided on my next topic yet. Note that I’ll be traveling for the next week, but I do expect to blog. I just don’t know how regularly.

4 Posts - Devotionals (v. 0.3)

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

OK, today’s four, which are either devotionals or about personal devotional activities:

1: Heaven’s Highway - Four Minute Devotionals: Living with Lions

Living with Lions starts with Psalm 34:10 and then gives some thoughts that resulted from watching a Discovery Channel program on lions.

2: Bible Money Matters - Wisdom and Understanding: Better than silver or gold

This is a good meditation on the value of wisdom in making decisions.

3: Thoughts from the Journey - Jealous

God is a jealous God, but is this good or bad?

4: Pen of the Wayfarer - The Deception of Idolatry: The False Promises of False Prophets

This is a slightly heavier devotion taken from Ezekiel, but well worth reading. The wayfarer reminds us to “[b]eware of the prophet who is too popular.” Good advice!

I’m currently collecting posts on prayer for the next 4 Posts.