Established By God And Other "Facts"

Another post on the IAMNAC site caught my eye today. I am always amazed at the statements people make, especially when they are put forth plainly, as if it was a known fact that anyone could find if they simply opened their Bible to the correct page and started reading. The discussion referenced can be found here, the following statement was made by an utterly deluded New Apostolic member:

Robert Sprague: The New Apostolic Church was established by Christ to prepare the His Bride. The scriptures support this. If you do not believe this, that is up to you.Your Pastors would have it some other way because they have no authority under God.

Fascinating! The scriptures support this! I knew that Jesus established a church, but I had no idea it was the New Apostolic Church! And according to Sprague, pastors in other churches "have no authority under God", the inference being that only New Apostolic ministers have such authority. Amazing - billions of people must have missed the part where it specifically mentions the NAC in the Bible! Perhaps Robert Sprague could save everyone the trouble of searching through their Bibles by pointing it out exactly where Jesus establishes the New Apostolic Church, it would be greatly appreciated by the thousands of other churches and faiths that obviously have it all wrong!

Of course, intelligent people know that the Bible doesn't mention the NAC anywhere, so how could the claim of "Godly authority" be proven? Obviously there's no scriptural evidence to support Sprague's idiotic claim, and he knows it because he uses the following weasel words: "If you do not believe this, that is up to you." Ahh! It's a matter of belief then, not a fact! I should have known! What about testing the New Apostolic "apostles", would that prove their Godly authority? What about the challenges I've issued to the NAC "apostles", both here on New Apostasy and in other posts of mine on the NACBoard? Why, Sprague already has an answer for that, a little further up in the same post:

Who would put the Lord and His servants to the "test"? Satan.

So we can't even test the "Godly authorities" in the New Apostolic Church because any test could only come from that other imaginary being: Satan. That's right, kids - no test of Sprague's claims will ever be considered, because all tests of "Godly authority" come from Satan. At least for that bit of nonsense he offers up a Bible quote (Matthew 4:5-7, if you're interested), but I still don't understand how praying for a sign from God - with the hope and expectation that he'll give you a sign - is substantially any different than "putting God to the test". Do you?

Update: just when you think it couldn't get any more bizarre, Sprague posts this gem:

We cannot base our belief in something that is not said.

Unbelievable - apparently you can base your belief on whatever you feel like, as long as you're Robert Sprague. Where was the New Apostolic Church established by Jesus in the scriptures again? Sheesh.

UPDATE: I see Robert Sprague has deleted just about every "conversation" that existed on the IAMNAC site. He replaced everything with his boring, deluded monologues. What a complete dipshit.

The Burden of Proof - Proving Prayer Works

Recently, another blowhard has shown up on the NACBoard, this one going by the name "Robert Sprague". After a lot of silly blustering about how God had "taken care of" his enemies and those who "opposed him", and how we should put God to the prayer test so we can see that "he won't be stingy", I issued a challenge to Robert, which he completely (and purposely) misunderstood and misrepresented. Other than accepting the challenge - or even showing any curiosity regarding what the challenge I had in mind might actually be - he posted this:

Robert Sprague: "First don't threaten me. If you want to do something, have the guts to do it. Don't wast your time and mine with idle threats. It's childish. Secondly, you are the one who continually denies the existence of God which places the burden of proof on you. So prove it. If you cannot then be man enough to admit you are wrong. Thirdly, It takes more faith to believe that the universe started out as matter so dense that it could fit on the head of a pin and then for no apparent reason explode than it is to believe in God. Further it takes immeasurably more faith to believe in the Theory of Evolution than to believe that God created Heaven and earth. So in reality you have more faith then any of us."

I have no idea where Cosmology and the Theory of Evolution (he seems to think these things are one and the same) fit in a challenge about proving the efficacy of prayer, but I was struck by the way he demanded that I prove a negative as he went on to make a number of baseless assertions. I'd be glad to debate Robert about evolution, but that's not what this challenge was all about. Can I get even one person to accept a challenge about prayer without having them rant about evolution or demanding that I prove a negative or calling me "childish"? Why is it childish to want to test something? In fact, isn't it more childish to claim that you bow your head and speak to a deity that never talks back to you, and never does what his believers claim he can do?

Why is it so hard to set up an Elijah-like challenge with God's believers? Scrolling down the NACBoard link, you can see that I made a little altar out of basswood, and bought some sacrificial animals (a plastic lamb, cow, and dinosaur) in order to test God's almighty power, to see if Robert truly had God on his side, if God really bothered to listen to his prayers. Would he "take care of" his enemies (for the purposes of this challenge, I'll consider myself his "enemy") by making that little wooden altar burst into flames? It's a simple challenge, and not one without biblical precedent. Can your God make that little wooden altar burst into flames and consume the sacrificial animals within 24 hours? The believers can get as many people as they want to pray for this, I simply want to document it happening. Is that too much to ask?

One of these days I'm going to get a webcam and set that little altar up in my driveway . . . I won't wet it first like Elijah did, I just want to see God burn up it up in a display of his awesome omnipotent power. He'd definitely gain me as a new convert, and perhaps some of the people watching the live video feed. Isn't gaining new converts and saving their souls what it's all about? Is there even one believer out there who will accept this simple challenge? Robert Sprague - or anyone else - here's your chance!