EDITOR’S NOTE: “Signs and Wonders” is a column that shares thoughts on news items that either do not rise to the level of a news story for MinistryWatch or are slightly (perhaps even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” My goal is to be punchy, opinionated, and not to worry much about being slightly off-brand. If that is not for you, no hard feelings. But if it is…read on.
Peter Thiel, the Antichrist, and Armageddon. Peter Thiel has been in the news lately because of a lecture series at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club that’s been reported by The Wall Street Journal and others.
Thiel is a tech billionaire who claims to be a Christian. He also proclaimed in a 2016 speech to the Republican Nation Convention that “I am proud to be gay.” Thiel has been in a long-term relationship with Matt Danzeisen, whom he married in 2017 in Vienna, Austria. The couple has two young daughters via surrogacy. Given that, it’s hard to take seriously his claim that Christianity “is the prism with which I look at the whole world.”
For these reasons, I can’t quite bring myself to be a fan-boy, but I do find him fascinating. If you do too, I recommend this article by Christianity Today’s Bonnie Kristian (though this article is not at CT, but at her Substack). I also recommend this interview with Ross Douthat from the New York Times.
Zambian Sorcery. In September, a court in Zambia sentenced two men to two years of hard labor in prison for attempting to kill Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema with sorcery. The men were arrested when a hotel worker in Lusaka heard strange noises coming from a room. She reported the incident to authorities, and the two men in the room had a live chameleon, a mysterious white powder, a red cloth, and the tail of an unidentified animal found among their possessions. They were accused of being “witchdoctors” and were charged under Zambia’s Witchcraft Act with “possession of charms,” “professing knowledge of witchcraft,” and “cruelty to wild animals.”
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More than 95% of Zambians self-identify as Christians, but at least half of evangelicals in the country also believe in witchcraft, animism, and other syncretistic and extra-biblical beliefs. A study by the Zambia Law Development Commission in 2018 found that 79% of Zambians believed in witchcraft. Witchcraft is officially illegal in Zambia, punishable by up to two years in prison.
This news story was interesting to me because a myth has taken root that the “global south” is the “next Christendom.” Philip Jenkins, an American historian and professor I have learned much from, coined the phrase in his 2002 book “The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity.” I now think his assessment may have been naïve. A form of Christianity is growing there, but it might be more accurate to call it “Christian-ish” than “Christendom.”
Camp Mystic Parents Unhappy. Camp Mystic, the for-profit Christian camp where more than two dozen children died in severe floods in July, says it plans to reopen next year. But the decision left many parents unhappy, NBC News reported.
“For my family, these months have felt like an eternity. For the camp, it seems like nothing more than a brief pause before business as usual,” Cici Steward said in a statement to The New York Times. Her daughter Cile still has not been found.
“Camp Mystic is pressing ahead with reopening, even if it means inviting girls to swim in the same river that may potentially still hold my daughter’s body,” Steward added.
Blake Bonner, father of 8-year-old flood victim Lila Bonner, said the victim’s families “were not consulted about and did not approve this memorial.”
Camp Mystic, sprawling over 725 acres, was appraised for more than $8 million in 2012, though the property could be worth more than $25 million today, based on the significant appreciation of riverfront real estate in the area.
You can read our full coverage here.
John Huffman Spoke Truth to Power. John Huffman, who told President Richard Nixon he should confess during the crisis of the Watergate scandal, died in California at the age of 85. According to an obituary in Christianity Today, “Huffman was the minister of an evangelical Presbyterian church in Key Biscayne, Florida, where the president frequently went to relax in the 1970s with his close friend businessman Bebe Rebozo.” When Rebozo wouldn’t let Huffman confront Nixon personally, Huffman preached a sermon on Acts 26 and how the Judean king Agrippa was judged for feigning ignorance. According to CT, “Nixon fled the church without stopping to shake hands and retreated to Camp David. A year and a half later, he resigned in disgrace.”
Huffman said, “Rebozo never forgave me, but Nixon knew I told the truth.”
Huffman became a well-known pastor on the west coast, serving St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in 1977, an ECO congregation in Newport Beach, California. He remained there for more than 40 years, retiring in 2019. Huffman also served on the board of Christianity Today from the late 1970s until 2015.
For a fuller (and fascinating) story of John Huffman’s life, I recommend Daniel Silliman’s obituary, which you can find here.
MinistryWatch in the News. I was quoted extensively by the Associated Press in an article on Sean Feucht. You can read that story here. Our story on David Taylor has also captured the attention of the mainstream media. You can find our work on that story cited here.