Saw most of it and thought it was phenomenal. Coulter's presence was great for dispelling the myth that Darwinism and conservatism are mutually inclusive.
Posted on 12/29/2006 4:53:07 PM PST by Tim Long
75-year-old founder of Coral Ridge Ministries in 'grave condition'
D. James Kennedy, author, theologian, biblican scholar, pastor of the 10,000-member "Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church" in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and founder of the highly influential Coral Ridge Ministries, suffered a major heart attack last night and is in grave condition, ministry officials tell WND.
According to Mary Ann Bunker, Kennedy's long-time personal assistant, the 75-year-old religious leader had a "severe" cardiac arrest last evening.
"He was home at the time," she said, noting that "the last time he preached was on Christmas Eve. He was home in the kitchen. He fell, and his wife caught him, and gave him CPR until the ambulance arrived."
(Story continues below)
Kennedy was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale. "The ambulance got [to Kennedy's home] in four to five minutes," said Bunker, "and the hospital was less than five blocks away. And the doctors were ready for him before the ambulance even arrived."
Although Kennedy's condition is classified as "grave" as he remains on life support, including a ventilator, this afternoon he is "showing signs of improvement," Bunker told WND, "recognizing people, [and] he had reflexes in his hand and feet."
"He is more cognizant today," nodding in acknowledgement, making eye contact with visitors, and is "very conscious," Bunker added.
Fortunately, a CAT scan turned out normal, not disclosing any brain damage or other complications resulting from the heart attack.
Coral Ridge Senior Producer Jerry Newcombe, who has co-authored many books with Kennedy, told WND another Presbyterian minister visited Kennedy and read scripture to him – to which he responded strongly.
In fact, on the Reformation 21 website, a blog of the Alliance of Confession Evangelicals, Rev. Richard Phillips posted the following:
I want to thank everyone who is praying for Dr. D. James Kennedy. His condition is improved, though very serious. I spent a good deal of time with him today, praying and reading Scripture. He recognized me and was clearly responsive, although his condition remains very serious. Please pray for continued improvement and a full restoration to health. I was able to assure him of the prayers of many Christians and he was able smile in response. Another post by Phillips referred to Kennedy's deteriorating health condition in recent times:
Please pray for Dr. D. James Kennedy, his wife and daughter, and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. Dr. Kennedy is in grave condition following a heart attack last evening. Jim's health has deteriorated markedly in the last several months, and he has manfully continued his ministry to the best of his ability. During all my interactions with him even during this trying time, he has exhibited his characteristic good cheer, charm, and force of mind. Along with being a man with great vision for the kingdom of Christ, Jim Kennedy is a true Christian gentleman. Please pray for God to restore him to full health and give him grace as his situation should require.
In 1978, Kennedy launched his weekly one-hour television show, "The Coral Ridge Hour," which is broadcast nationally every Sunday morning on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, as well as syndicated on various other networks. Available to 81 percent of the nation's television households, "The Coral Ridge Hour" has the greatest number of TV station affiliates of any religious program in the U.S.
This Sunday's "Coral Ridge Hour" will feature a special documentary titled "What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?"
Hosted by Kennedy and filmed in Europe, South America, India, and the United States, the program consults scientists, historians, philosophers, and theologians to weigh the impact of Jesus on the last 2,000 years. It shows how the rise of science, mass education, a high regard for human life, hospitals, charity, representative government, and the elevation of women can all be traced to the impact of Christ and his followers in the last two millennia.
"We're going to tell the truth – withheld from most Americans for the last half century – that Christ has been the greatest benefactor to the human race that the world has ever known," said Kennedy.
Saw most of it and thought it was phenomenal. Coulter's presence was great for dispelling the myth that Darwinism and conservatism are mutually inclusive.
I pray for his recovery but asknowledge that he has run the good race and if his time has come, I certainly accept his Homegoing. We would be diminished by his earthly loss but he would surely gain.
Well I guess we'll have to agree to disagree...still I hope he recovers.
He's a great guy.
My brother-in-law works for him.
Prayers for his recovery.
Does anybody know about the declining health referred to in the WorldNet article? I've noticed he's not been as strong and forceful in his sermons lately. I missed his Christmas Eve sermon.
Are you one of those 'Christians' who knows who will go to hell and who won't? I was married to one of those once. She talked a good talk, but fell on her face every time she tried to 'walk' - the biggest hypocrite I ever met.
Tell me something - how do you sleep in your glass house, Tim? By now I am sure there's not enough tape and flanel in your whole town to patch up all of the holes from the rocks you've thrown in your glass house.
OBTW - if you want to find your way out of self-serving heresy you might consult with either of the arms of the true Church - Catholic or Orthodox. Both have a long tradition going back to the time of Christ, and neither have priests who can just make it up as they go along, a la American evangelical cretins.
That's French, Tim. Might want to look that one up as well.
My husband and I were fortunate enough to be sent by our church to take the training from Dr. Kennedy and his staff. That training was the basis for all the other theology I learned. I am sorry to hear he is so gravely ill.
That would be Dr. Donald Barnhouse, I presume.
I pray the Lord grants him more time. He is a true man of God, in a world of phonies.
You've got a lot of hatred in your heart, my friend. And your rejection of the gospel as it's expressed through many Evangelical churches is puzzling. Why such hatred?
"American evangelical cretins"? You know that "evangelical" means "good news," right? Surely you're not rejecting the good news (the "gospel") of Jesus, are you?
I hope he recovers. He seems to be a great man. I'm honestly surprised he's still alive. People tend to just drop dead from massive heart attacks. I've witnessed this.
Dr. Kennedy is a courageous champion for the cause of Christian conservatism. Drop the "Christian" and its still true, he is conservative through and through. Freepers should know they have a great ally in Dr. Kennedy.
They don't make 'em like him anymore. A vanishing breed.
God bless him and his family.
If you read between the lines of my comment on this subject on my home page you can figure it out.
The most despicable and abusive person I have ever had to suffer under - for more than a decade - hid her (lack of) character behind an avalanche of 'born-again' lingo, and dismissive statements as to who was and was not burning in hell, as well as who was or was not a 'good Christian'.
Interestingly, she was convinced that 'Ronald Reagan isn't a Christian' because she had not heard him bible-thumping like she did. Turned out that remark of hers has been pretty conclusively debunked, hasn't it?
In my opinion, American evangelical Christians are often prey to a multitude of snake oil salesmen who make up doctrine as they go along, and for that I pity them and urge them to wake up!
I do not place Dr. Kennedy in that category, and this whole line of comments got going when that 'Tim Long' fellow started hurling personal insults in reply to my own positive statement and tribute to how Dr. Kennedy had impacted my life.
For the record, I have absolutely no clue who this fellow Long is - someone emailed me that he and I had 'locked horns before' - presumably on a 'Crevo' thread, but I have no such recollection. I'm glad if I can remember what I had for breakfast this morning!
Maybe that's why he sprung so quickly to imply that I was 'Spawn' (of satan, I presume).
I took it as a truly bizarre insult from someone I had no recollection of ever 'sparring with'....
But if you choose to get in the ring with me, you'd better be prepared to take it like a man instead of disingenuously whining about being misunderstood after I have metaphorically eviscerated you.....
Prayers for Dr. Kennedy, his family, and his flock.
Do you want me to judge all of the Roman Catholic church because of some pedophile priests and Mary-worshiping parishoners?
I didn't think so.
You really should re-evaluate your doctrine. There are hypocrites in every "faith." And we all need a Savior.
You can judge all you want at your own peril. My doctrine is that I trust in God and not in any man who claims to knows him 'personally' - or who claims 'infallibility' on matters of faith...although I might add that I'd take the spiritual advice of either of the last 2 Popes over 99% of all Protestant preachers... (Billy Graham and a few other folks like him excluded)...
You want to know what real heresy is? Its going to a revival where Kenneth Coleman regales the crowd about how "God told him to buy a million dollar jet", and then tells how his Congregation ponied up the money for it.
Or going to a revival where Creflo Dollar preaches the gospel of "Success" and actually invites folks at the end to come and lay $$$ bills at the feet of John Haggee, the pastor at whose church he's preaching his revival.
Anecdotal? Nope. I was personally present at both events in the late 1990s.
What about Haggee? I admire his oratory and iron-spine in the face of political correctness, but I've been at several sermons where he explained how dinosaurs could have existed millions of years ago because if you read Genesis carefully there was a creation BEFORE Adam and Eve - essentially, you can both be a Bible-literalist re: the geneology AND accept that dinosaurs lived 100 million years ago!!!
THAT, my friend, is twisting yourself into a theological pretzel!!
I accept and agree with what Pope John Paul The Great concluded: that the theory of evolution and the Gospel are not mutually exclusive. I think he MIGHT have had a LITTLE more credibility on the subject than the armies of know-nothing 'new-earth evangelicals' do.
Oh, and St Augustine also wrote extensively about Genesis not being a literal account, and about the danger of Christians driving unbelievers from the faith by spouting idiocy on subjects (read: SCIENCE) that they know nothing about, but their listeners DO.
That should read "Kenneth COPELAND" in the above post...
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