Alice Cooper Has Become a Member of the Church of Satan?

Rock musician Alice Cooper has become a member of the Church of Satan?????  For years, he has claimed to be a “born-again Christian.”  Cooper’s actual religious heritage is Bickertonite.  The Bickertonites are a small Trinitarian Mormon sect named for Wlliam Bickerton, but actually formed by the fascinating Sidney Rigdon. (Rigdon was a ubiquitous American religious figure from the nineteenth century who was quite fractious, becoming involved in one religious argument after another and moving rapidly among religious denominations and then quickly becoming a prominent leader in each of them.  Rigdon was in rapid succession, a leader among the Baptists, the Campbellites (Disciples of Christ), the main Joseph Smith Mormon group, and several Mormon schismatic sects.  Rigdon usually ended up disassociated or excommunicated by his former affiliative groups.)

Bickertonites  http://www.thechurchofjesuschrist.org/index.cfm

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=113546

http://www.mormonwiki.com/Bickertonites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_(Bickertonite)

http://graceforgrace.com/2008/02/18/lds-church-vs-church-of-jesus-christ-bickertonites-vs-rlds-community-of-christ/

For the record, many people believe that this is an elaborate April Fools Joke being perpetrated by Alice Cooper for the publicity it will engender.

To Flow By Alongside

παραρυῶμεν

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Hebrews 2:1

The New American Standard Bible translates it as “so that we do not drift away from it.”

The American Standard version: “lest haply we drift away from them .”

Young’s Literal Translation comes the closest: “lest we may glide aside”

Some see the verb as passive, unmoving as we are “drifted by,” with the idea of one floating in the water as a boat passes by.  The idea is that the lapsed believer does not move along with the group, but instead, stays behind.

παρα (3844) beside, by the side of, alongside of,

ρέω (verb, 4482) to flow

παραρρέω (verb, 3901) gradually drift away, to flow by alongside

http://biblesuite.com/greek/pararuo_men_3901.htm

Iranian Pastor Freed

Youcef Nagarkhani (b. 1977, Iran), a pastor of the Protestant evangelical Church of Iran, was released three days ago after spending the last three years in an Iranian prison under the threat of a death sentence.  What was his crime?  Pastor Nadarkhani was originally charged with the capital crime of apostasy; leaving Islam to follow another religion.  The punishment in Iran for apostasy is death.  Though apostasy is not officially a crime in Iran, judges may still level the charge against a person based on religious fatwas.  Nadarkani insisted that he was never a Muslim; even though he was raised in a Muslim family, he never accepted Islam and, instead, became a Christian as a teenager.  He steadfastly refused to convert to Islam.

Youcef Ndarkhani's wife, Fatemah Pasandideh, was also arrested and charged with apostasy.  She received a sentence of life imprisonment but was released after four months.

International criticism of the charges against Pastor Nadarkani was raised loudly from around the world.
United States president barack Obama said, "The United States condemns the conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.  Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people."  The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, also condemned the sentence.

During the three years of his imprisonment, the charges continued to change and eventually included charges of rape, extortion, and baptizing converts.  The charges, in the end, became that Nadarkhani had attempted to evangelize Muslims.  The penalty for this crime was set at three years and the pastor was released for the time he had already served in prison.

Christians around the world are rejoicing that their prayers for Youcef Nadarkhani's safe release have been answered.  Pastor Nadarkhani is to be admired for his absolute refusal to betray his faith.