The Circuit Rider

Spiritual Adoption-Its a Bible Thing

2012-02-04T15:47:00.003-06:00

“The Biblical Principle of Spiritual Adoption”

by Keith Kiper

A Message from Romans 8:18-25

Life sure goes by fast, doesn’t it? Our daughter Kristy is 22 years old and a college student. Those of you with children can relate I’m sure. Just seems like yesterday she was only a baby. I can still remember her first day of school, sweet sixteen birthday parties, and then High School graduation. But you see, December 15^th, 1989 was a very special day for Vicky and myself. Our daughter Kristy came into our lives that year. Although we will probably never meet her, Vicky and I thank God every day Kristy’s biological mother chose life. There were a couple of times the agency thought they had a child for us, but things just didn’t work out. At the time it was hard to understand why. We were even willing to take a child with medical problems. But you see, God always knows what is best for us, even when WE can’t see the big picture!

The Bible talks about adoption. When reading what Paul tells us in Romans chapter eight we quickly learn that Spiritual adoption is a very important Biblical principle. Our key verse 23 tells us, ”And it’s not only the Creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free.” (CEB) The NASB calls this being set free, ”the redemption of our body”

You see, the one who does yet not know Christ, or have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within-groans from their innermost being until they are adopted into the family of God. The Greek word used in this passage to describe adoption is arraboon. We can also find it in 2 Corinthians 1:22 and Ephesians 1:14. In the common Greek usage it would mean the same as a pledge, much so as with an engagement ring. In the Roman world of that time, an adopted son could not be deprived of his father’s inheritance. The son was recognized legally in the same way as one born naturally. Paul was explaining God’s love to them in a way that they could understand. The English word for adoption is derived from the Latin word meaning to choose - option is derived from the same word). The translation simply means the acceptance of another person's child as one's own. Adoption is very ancient, and is commonly found everywhere in the world among many cultures. The Bible perspective on adoption expands the principle of natural adoption to include national and spiritual adoption. The last one, spiritual adoption, is "the point" of God's offer of eternal life, made available to everyone of all nations who will exercise their option to genuinely repent and truly obey Him

Paul used adoption to illustrate his point because Natural adoption was common during Bible History. Some Bible examples are:

"And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said, "Because I drew him out of the water." (Exodus 2:10 RSV)

"He had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother; the maiden was beautiful and lovely, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter." (Esther 2:7 RSV)

Spiritual adoption is available to all who will repent and obey God:

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:3-4 RSV)

"But to all who received Him, who believed in His Name, He gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12 RSV)

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:15-17 RSV)

Romans tells us the whole earth groaned in travail after sin entered God’s perfect Creation through Adam’s disobedience. Because of Adam’s sin our sin separates us from God. Death, disease, sin, and sickness are in the world because of our spiritual death through our biological parents, Adam and Eve. Adam did not die immediately after he sinned, he lived to be several hundred years old. And yes, when we correctly understand Genesis, we know that Adam really lived this many years. Spiritual death was immediate for Adam, physical death came later. Physical death will come for all of us here today save the return of Christ.

You can stop watering a plant, or cut it from its stem. It will eventually die. It is the same way with all humankind. Sin separates us from God. Without Christ in our life, through Spiritual Adoption, we are dead spiritually and then will die physically. Just as we can water the dying plant, the Bible tells us Jesus is the living water! Jesus restores our relationship with the Heavenly Father. We are then justified. Remember the old familiar bromide, “Just as if I never sinned?”

When our daughter Kristy first came into our life, she was 2 ½ months old. There is a reason for this. The state of Florida has some of the best adoption laws in the nation. I believe that is one of the reasons why God led us there in 1983. When a child’s biological mother contacts an adoption agency, the child is placed with foster parents for 2 ½ months. After 2 ½ months the agency places the child with the adoptive parents. The main reason is this allows the mother and/or father time in case there is a change of heart. After this passage of time and the judge drops his gavel, it’s a done deal as they say. Not even the president of the United States can reverse his or the parent’s decision. If every state did this, it would save a lot of heartache. Kristy was our daughter the same as if she was biologically ours…birth certificate and all. Can you see the Spiritual application here? It’s the same with God’s love through Jesus His Son. When we accept Christ’s forgiveness, we are born into God’s family. We become His son or daughter. Just as if we never sinned! There is then the heavenly birth certificate called the book of life. Our name is entered there. No one can remove it but we ourselves.

This doesn’t mean we will then be without trials and tribulatioins. They will come but they will pass. God provides the Comforter the Holy Spirit to live in and through us if we will allow and submit.

From now on, our sense of significance derives not from our performance but our position in Christ. Who we are, and indeed what we are, derives from the fact that we are adopted by grace. From this knowledge flows our sense of value. No longer are we preoccupied with the way others see us. We are wholly taken up with the way God sees us.

Mark Stibbe the Vicar of St Andrew’s, Chorleywood. Mark was adopted as a child and has authored a book on the doctrine of adoption, From Orphans to Heirs. In closing, listen as I read his list of privileges from his book that we have when we are adopted into the family of God.

I have been given the right to be [called] a child of God (John 1:12).
I am no longer a slave but a friend of Christ (John 15:15).
I have been bought for adoption through Christ’s blood (I Corinthians 6:20).
I was predestined for adoption (Ephesians 1:5).
I am a child of Abba by adoption (Romans 8:15).
I am God’s work of art (Ephesians 2:10).
I am no longer under any condemnation (Romans 8:1).
I cannot be separated from the Father’s love (Romans 8:35).
I am loved by the Father himself (John 16:27).
I have been redeemed and forgiven (Colossians 1:14).
I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20).
I have not been given a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1: 7).
I am no longer a slave but a son (Galatians 4:7).
I am seated with the Son in heaven (Ephesians 2:6).
I am of the same family as Jesus (Hebrews 2:11).
I am a brother of the Lord Jesus (Hebrews 2:11).
I can approach the Father with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).
I am a brand new person in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17).

"Jumping the Shark!"-Part One

2011-10-29T18:19:00.005-05:00

What comes to your mind when you think of Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms? Was this an early form of a fad diet in 15^th century Germany? After all, just a few years ago you could find advertisements in magazines for tapeworms. Just swallow a few of these, the ad would say, and you can lose weight without really trying. Our brand is even hygienic for your good health, it would say! But, a Diet of Worms? Our form of the English language can be a fascinating thing. We can only imagine how strange it seems to others when they attempt to learn and speak our brand of English.

Martin Luther, as many of you well know was the father of the Protestant Reformation. Martin was born in eastern Germany in 1483. This was only some forty years after Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press. Martin Luther protested some of the practices in the Catholic Church of that time. A diet was a judicial hearing or court. Worms was the German city where the trial was to be held. And now, as the late Paul Harvey would often say, you know the rest of the story.

History demonstrates that at various times and different locations, the Christian church has veered off and even jumped the track. God calls out men and women, grounded in His Holy Word, the Bible, to steer the Christian Church back into the right direction. He has done this from Old Testament times until the present age in which we now live. The bigger question is whether or not the church of today will listen.

Recently, a well known television pastor and evangelist (Click for the interview) was asked what he thought about the Mormon faith. This was in response to recent criticism of a particular political candidate. The tele-evangelist’s answer seemed logical, and probably sounded OK to much of today’s Biblically illiterate culture. He said he probably would not agree with everything he Church of Latter Day Saints would teach. He went on to say that they were probably not the purest form of Christianity…that recognizing Jesus as the Son of God was the most important thing. The thing this well known evangelist neglected to consider is that the Mormon Church does not believe that virgin birth of Jesus Christ happened by any miraculous means.

All genuine Christianity is built on the foundation of what seemed to be a small detail to him. God sent His perfect, sinless Son, born of a virgin to be a sacrifice for mankind’s sin. Christ became sin for us on the cross at Calvary that we might have eternal life. The virgin birth is of utmost importance because sin is passed through the blood of each generation. Because Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit, Christ was born without sin!

Back in the 1970’s there was a popular television called Happy Days. As with most television shows, ratings decline the longer a program remains on the air. In an effort to gain a ratings boost, the Happy Days gang went on a beach vacation. In one particular scene Fonzi is seen wearing his famous leather jacket while on water skis. Still on the skis he then jumps over a shark to the cheers of everyone on the beach. Because of this particular scene, movie and television critics invented a new name for programs that leave common sense behind and go off into a strange direction. It’s called “Jumping the Shark!” My friends, there are many churches today that have jumped the shark!

The bigger question today is…how do we as a The Church get back on track? I would like to focus on several things today that I personally believe would get our church and nation headed back into the right direction based on God’s Word.

I. A Return to Christian Community: When I say church, I’m talking about the church as a whole. I’m not criticizing our church, Boonville Wesleyan Church. We are just a part of a much larger picture, Christ’s church, the entire Christian Community. Union with Christ establishes our membership in His Church, the community of the faithful. I’m afraid that because many times we as Christians have put so much emphasis on a personal relationship, that we forget we are all called to work together to be the light of the world. As an individual we belong to Boonville Wesleyan Church. Our church is part of the Indiana South District of The Wesleyan Church. Our district is part of The Wesleyan Church USA. And of course, all churches that believe that Jesus is Savior and Lord are part of the Kingdom of God. The first step the church of today must take in getting back on track is accountability. We must remain true to the Word of God and in fellowship with the entire Christian Community of believers that are striving to do the same.

II. A Return to Christian Social Witness: What do I mean when I speak of a social Christian witness? John Wesley once said, ”Any religion that can be concealed is not Christianity.” What do you think Wesley meant when he made that statement? As you study his life it becomes quite clear. The England of Wesley’s day had become very corrupt. Alcoholism was very rampant in the streets. Children could be hanged for stealing rabbit from a gentlemen’s estate. Not much different than today is it? Florida is the leading state to treat children as adults with over 300 under the age of eighteen in the adult prison system. Florida is followed closely by Texas. I’m sorry folks, regardless of the crime, a twelve year old boy is not an adult and does not deserve life in prison! I would not want to be in the judge’s shoes who sentenced a child for personal political gain when the King of Kings judges him. Jesus tells us about the fate of those who mistreat children. And just as the early Wesleyans constantly decried the evils of slavery…we should cry out to God for our leaders who justify the nearly 4000 thousand children who are murdered each day in their mother’s womb. God tells us clearly that the children’s innocent blood cries out from the ground to Him.

Early Wesleyans and like-minded Christians of other faiths worked to reform the prison system, end slavery, and feed the poor. A Social Gospel is putting into action what we believe and know in our heart is right based on what the Bible clearly shows us. . That is what it means to be salt and light. This is putting the golden rule into action. True revival brought about the needed social change in England. The answer to America’s problems is true spiritual revival, not more laws and political rhetoric.

Many would look for a political or presidential candidate to solve the problems.

Someone once said,” Why do we choose from just two people to run for president and fifty for Miss America?” Good question!

Both major political parties have had periods of time when they experienced complete control with the presidency and both houses of congress. If being democrat or being republican were the only answer, then our problems should have been solved by now. If you seek God in honest prayer, He will guide you in selecting a candidate, nationally or locally.

In spite of billions of dollars pouring in every year, our public school system has become a disaster. Abraham Lincoln said that the classroom of one generation will become the government of the next one. The great reformer Martin Luther recognized the problem nearly 500 years ago when he said, “I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.”

Dr. Leon Henson said, ”Whenever the Christian lives an authentic life, the world around is permeated with God’s presence… The pure in heart not only see God, but become letters through which society sees Him.”

Check back later for Part Two...God Bless -Keith 1 Cor 13

All Saint's Day...An Armchair Theologian's Opinion

2011-10-21T12:15:00.006-05:00

All Saints Day, the day on which Catholics celebrate all the saints, known and unknown, is a surprisingly old feast. It arose out of the Christian tradition of celebrating the martyrdom of saints on the anniversary of their martyrdom. When martyrdoms increased during the persecutions of the late Roman Empire, local dioceses instituted a common feast day in order to ensure that all martyrs, known and unknown, were properly honored.

Most Protestants churches other than some of the "mainline" churches focus more of their attention on days such as Mother's Day, Father's Day. Now there's even a Grandparent's Day and a Children's Day.. I'm not criticizing this practice, but would would personally like to see more of the day's on the Christian Calendar observed and explained to congregations also.

Retailers tell us that the pagan holiday of Halloween is second only to Christmas in total consumer spending! It is not uncommon to see as many houses decorated in ghosts and goblins as Christmas lights a couple of months later. Most conservative churches replace Halloween Parties with Hallelujah Parties asking that participants dress like Bible characters and such.

This a a good alternative so the children of church members don't feel like they are totally left-out as in the good 'ol days when everything was illegal, immoral, and it seemed a sin just to smile. Maybe there is another possibility to consider? Maybe we as the Church could focus more on church holidays like All Saint's Day in rememberence of those who died that Christianity, especially Protestant Christianity might live. Included in this is our many translations of the Bible into everyday language so that everyone can read it.

And while we are at it, maybe we can throw Maundy Thursday, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday in there also! That's my opinion anyway...keith 1 Cor 13

Exhortations on Holy Living-Then & Now...

2011-08-22T12:27:00.005-05:00

I enjoy reading quotes from revivalists and theologians of past years. More often than not, their advice is very timely and applicable to our world today. I presented a Bible Study recently from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. Sometimes the Bible does some "hard preachin'" Here are some parts of that presentation with some additional quotes of others from past years. First, let us look at the Scripture text:

¹² And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
¹⁴ Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. ¹⁵ See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies.* ²¹ Test all things; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil. NKJV

^*20 Don’t brush off Spirit-inspired messages,CEB

Rejoice Always: This can be a difficult one when going through trials and temptation. John Wesley stated that in the book of Job,"There are many things hard to be understood." Others have noted that Job's "patience" only lasted two chapters out of a forty-two chapter book!

Pray without ceasing: "The evangelization of the world depends first of all upon a revival of prayer."- Charles G. Finney, in Revival letters

Quench not the Spirit: "Catch on fire and others will come to watch you burn." -John Wesley

Despise not prophesyings (Preaching) The original Greek word here was analogia, meaning "according to the proportion of faith" This actually meant preaching, and not predicting the future. However, the early "evangelists" were spiritually in tune with God. Most preaching in the 1700's and later was expository in nature, much different than many of today's user "friendly" and topical sermons.

"Sermonettes make Christianettes."- Jack van Impe

"What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace." -John Wesley

Abstain from all appearance of evil: In today's "Grey" world, this rings more true now than ever! There are several quotes herewith a humorous one by the late George Carlin.

"Vice does not lose its character becoming fashionable."- John Wesley

"Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself."

Susanna Wesley, Mother of John and Charles

"The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse:
You cannot post “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt not lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment." George Carlin

Morning Trinitarian Prayer

2011-07-04T08:10:00.002-05:00

John Stott's Morning Trinitarian prayer.

Good morning heavenly Father,
good morning Lord Jesus,
good morning Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, I worship you as the creator and sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Savior and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, sanctifier of the people of God.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence
and please you more and more.

Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God,
have mercy upon me. Amen.

God Never Changes

2011-04-30T13:27:00.003-05:00

Five Things We Can Depend On!”

Text: Luke 12:22-33

By Keith Kiper

Why do bad things happen to good people? That question has been asked many times. A newly-wed couple are killed by a drunk driver as they leave the church for their honeymoon. Just this past week, evangelist Rev. David Wilkerson was killed in a head-on crash with an 18 wheeler. Wilkerson is best known as the founder of Teen Challenge ministries and as the author of “The Cross and the Switchblade.” Recently we have witnessed the devastation of the tsunami in Japan and the record setting tornadoes in the south. The death toll continues to climb into the 300’s. Contrast this with all the news coverage and the world’s fascination with the Royal Wedding which took place in London this week. Perhaps the world was ready for some good news for a change. Proverbs 11:10 tells us, ”When it goes well for good people, the whole town cheers, when it goes badly for bad people, the town celebrates.”

Many will blame God when tragedy comes into their lives. The pundits and talking heads on the nightly news are always looking for a cause or an explanation.

Things like climate change must be to blame. Others would point to what the Bible tells us about the last days. Perhaps both these statements are true. After all, the Bible tells us in Romans that the whole earth groans in travail because of man’s sin.

We may never have the answers to all these questions in this short life here on earth. But as Job and others in the past well knew, they could trust God whatever the outcome. That’s what I would like to focus on today. We can find five things that set us apart as Christians. Like God the father, these don’t change and will provide us with comfort regardless of what’s happening in our life.

During a British conference on the World’s religions, experts from around the world were discussing the Christian faith. They wanted to know if there was one particular belief that belonged only to the Christian faith. One by one they began to eliminate the possibilities. Incarnation they said? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of someone returning from the dead. They debated for some time until the great Christian author C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the rumpus about? He asked.

The other experts in the room told him they were discussing what made Christianity different from all the other religions. In his usual forthright manner C.S. Lewis responded, Oh that is easy. It’s grace.”

Grace alone can save us. This is one of the major teaching of the Protestant Church. Grace sets us apart as Christians from the other religions. That is why we celebrated Resurrection Sunday this past week. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection means that only by the unmerited favor of God that Christ went to the cross and paid for our sins. That’s what grace is all about! Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone. Man is depraved by nature and alienated from God his Creator. It is through God’s grace alone through the Holy Spirit that we can be drawn to God through Christ. The only mediator between God and man is Jesus. We can go directly to God in pray. Grace spells out “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” Jesus paid the price at Calvary for our sin. It has been paid for. We cannot pay or bargain for our Salvation through any human being. We can just simply confess and accept this free gift. Grace means that the cruelest, most vile and evil person can find favor with his Creator. All are equal at the foot of the Cross.

The Human mind can no more grasp that concept than it can understand the Holy Trinity. We can know its true. How? True because of the experience in our heart and the changed lives and testimony of others. It doesn’t matter what is happening in the world or in our personal life. When we trust in Jesus, He will always be there. In this life and the next.

The Bible tells us in the last days that false prophets will arise. Liberal pastors will tell us that certain ways of living are acceptable to God. As Christians we realize that Scripture alone speaks authoritatively and it speaks to all believers. The Bible speaks to the individual. As Protestant Christians we believe that we do not need an interpreter or so-called modern day prophet. The Bible speaks to us independently of church leaders and organizations. I realize that different denominations may have differing ideas as to what certain passages mean. Sometimes this is because of what we call proof-texting nor taking a single verse out of context to suit what a certain group wants to believe. But I do believe that as Christians, especially Protestant ones, that we will agree on the central teachings of the Bible. Someone once asked the late Dr. Bill Bright what he thought about some of the things in the Bible that we sometimes wish had a better explanation. He replied, “Well, The plain things are the main things and the main things are the plain things. If it isn’t a plain thing, then it probably isn’t a main thing.”

Ignoring the main things can have disastrous consequences. When we don’t accept the Bible as literal and whole it affects our respect for human life and how we view others. When we don’t accept the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, then it becomes easy to accept certain evolutionary ideas.

When society ignores the truth in God’s Word they will set their own standards. No society in the history of the world has survived long after making that disastrous choice.

One of the most fascinating, yet sad chapters in American history is the story of Ota Benga. Ota Benga was a Pygmy who was put on display in an American Zoo along side a Chimpanzee in the early 1900’s. Darwins theory had so gripped the minds of some scientists that they believed Ota Benga was some form of inferior race. Pygmies were hunted down and killed as portrayed in the movie “Quigley Down Under.“ The word “race’ itself is a result of evolutionary ideas. Even more horrifying examples of this type of thinking can be seen in the concentration camps of WW2. This is what happens when society picks and chooses from the truth found in God’s Word and distort what it really says.

In his letter to the Colossians, we see that Paul is helping a newly established church know that its foundation is the inerrancy of Scripture. He tells them that Scripture living richly within them will keep them united in the faith and strong and focused on the task. Paul writes in Colossians 3:16:

“The word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Listen to the keys words as Paul proclaims in Romans 1:16,”I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

We are all equal at the foot of the cross. Jesus sees all of us through the same eyes. Whatever we are going through, we still have God’s promises and His plan for our lives. We have it in His unchanging Word.

Another Biblical concept we can always keep with us is our faith. Our faith that only God can be completely trusted. The Bible teaches us that only total righteousness is acceptable to God. This righteousness is found in Christ only, not in man. Man is justified by faith alone in the finished work of Christ.

That very familiar verse in Hebrews 11:1 tells us, ”Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.” Verse six goes on to tell us that, “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

At first glance, these statements made by Paul would seem to contradict each other. The Bible tells us that faith must begin in the heart. Yet, God above is the one who puts that measure of faith there in the first place. This kind of faith, or trust in God, springs from the Christian’s innermost being. This kind of faith allowed early Christians and Reformers to endure torture and persecution. They were sawn in half and burned at the stake. Some died a slow, painful death, so that everyone could have the very Bible we read from today.

Our words seem inadequate to describe this kind of faith. The Bible describes many individuals whom God worked through to do great things.

Why? Not because they were somehow superhuman. They accomplished great things because they took that leap of faith and took God at His Word.

Christ alone is our way to heaven! All other teachings of Christianity hinge on this statement. Salvation is accomplished by Christ alone. Jesus plainly told us that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. We have direct access to Him through prayer. Angels, saints, sacraments, priests, churches, and teachers may direct us to Jesus. But Christ alone was the perfect Saviour, and we have direct access to our heavenly Father only through him.

The angels cried Glory to God in the Highest! God told Moses at Mt Sinai,”I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Duet. 20:1,2)

Religion should be God-centered, not man-centered. Anything else is just a good set of rules to live by. Christianity is the bridge between God and man. It doesn’t matter what the other religions tell us, or what we believe personally.

Dag Hammarskjold said,

“God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a Wonder, the Source of which is beyond all reason.”

We should glorify God in everything that we do. In Old Testament times, the Hebrews would take their portable tabernacles with them as they traveled. In the New Testament Paul tells us we are the tabernacle in which Christ through the Holy Spirit dwells.

Several years ago there was a popular chorus named “Sanctuary.” You may have heard it or even sang it. I may have read the words to this here before. I believe these words speak to our heart and are worth repeating. Whatever is going on around us, we can have peace in our heart. As we close today, think about the words as I read them to you. (I am not a singer by any means)

Sanctuary

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living
Sanctuary for You

It is you, Lord
Who came to save
The heart and soul
Of every man
It is you Lord
who knows my weakness
Who gives me strength,
With thine own hand.

Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and Holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving I'll be a living
Sanctuary for you

Lead Me on Lord
From temptation
Purify me
From within
Fill my heart with
You holy spirit
Take away all my sin

Lord prepare me to a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living
Sanctuary for You

Let us pray: We thank you and praise you today for sending us Your Son. We thank you for your Holy Word you have given us to guide us in truth. We pray that in your light, we might see light. You promised us that no matter what is going on around us, You are there with us when we trust in You. Cleanse us each day that we might be the sanctuary and the light that would draw others to you.

And the people said,” Amen.”

Christian View of Labor Unions...

2011-02-25T00:04:00.004-06:00

A Christian View of Labor Unions

July 1978 • Volume: 28 • Issue: 7 • Print This Post • 1 comment

By Dr. Gary North

Dr. North is editor of Biblical Economics Today, from which this article is reprinted by permission. Biblical Economics Today is available free on request: P.O. Box 8567, Durham, N.C. 27707.

Why should we speak of a Christian view of labor unions? The best reason is that almost all Christians have some opinion on the place of work in the life of a Christian. Max Weber, the German social scientist, wrote an important book at the turn of the century, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he argued that the idea of the calling—one’s vocation—was a central feature in the attitudes of Protestant laymen who helped lay the foundations of modern production methods and organization. If the idea of work is central to the Christian tradition, and this tradition led to the creation of modern capitalism, then we ought to pay attention to a related topic, the labor union. Labor unions are not the major part of the total American labor force, contrary to popular opinion. They are important in the large industries such as autos, steel, and television, but only about 25 per cent of the American labor force belongs to any union, and many of these are weak, rather insignificant organizations. As I hope to demonstrate, it is almost impossible for trade unionism ever to control over half of a nation’s labor force in a democratic country, and where unions control more than this, labor mobility will be reduced markedly.

Do unions raise wages? Unquestionably they do. Do monopolies in business raise prices? Unquestionably they do. Labor unions raise wages in exactly the same way that a business monopoly raises prices: by artificially restricting the supply of a particular resource. Over the long run, with rare exceptions, no monopolist can keep prices raised in this fashion apart from direct government interference into the market. If the government keeps out competitors, then it is possible for monopolists to keep prices above what they would have been in a free market for years or even decades. In the case of diamonds, the DeBeers oligopoly has kept diamond prices up throughout the twentieth century, but it takes the collusion of the South African government to maintain this monopoly (or at least it took such collusion originally).

Monopoly Pricing

The economics of monopoly pricing is the foundation of all modern trade unionism. This is either not understood by the supporters of trade unions, or else it is rejected as irrelevant. You will search your days in vain trying to find a supporter of trade unions who is also a supporter of business monopolies, yet the economics of each is identical. The labor union achieves higher than market wages for its members by excluding non-members from access to the competition for the available jobs. In other words, those who are excluded must seek employment in occupations that they regard as second-best. They bear the primary burden in the marketplace; they are the ones who pay the heaviest price for the higher than market wages enjoyed by those inside the union.

How can unions exclude outsiders from the bidding process? There are many ways, all used effectively by unions over the decades. First, there is raw power. They beat up their competitors. They throw paint bombs (paper bags filled with paint) at the homes of their competitors. They threaten the children of their competitors. Their children exclude the children of the competitors from social activities at school, meaning public (government) school. They shout "scab" from their picket lines. (Strange, isn’t it, that those who defend labor unions seldom shout "scab" at Ford salesmen who are challenging the so-called monopoly of General Motors?)

Second, and most effective, trade unionists have been able to convince legislators to enact legislation that excludes non-union workers whenever 50 per cent plus one worker vote to choose a particular labor union as the sole bargaining agent in a plant or industry or profession. The skilled trades were the first to get state governments to pass such legislation, and immediately blacks in the South disappeared from the skilled trades. Then professional associations got such legislation passed, most notably lawyers, physicians, and dentists. Then, in 1935, the Wagner Act was passed at the national level. It established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a consistently pro-union bureaucratic Federal agency. As far as the favored unions are concerned, 75 per cent of all workers are potential "scabs," and the NLRB keeps them in their second-choice jobs.

There is a third, less evident, means of insuring labor union monopoly pricing. This is the minimum wage legislation. This legislation is always supported by trade union officials, whose members are always earning wages higher than the proposed minimum wage. This legislation sees to it that regions that have less developed unions, such as the South—in fact, primarily the South—cannot attract industry so easily from the more heavily unionized Northeast. The minimum wage was the primary means of warfare by unions against non-union workers after World War II until very recently. It still may be the primary weapon. The primary loser is, of course, the urban teenage male black, who cannot get into the Northern union, or migrate to the South, or offer services to employers that are worth the minimum wage.

Employers pay higher wages than the market would have dictated when their labor force is unionized.

Of course, employers outside union domination pay lower wages, since they are not compelled by competitive market forces to bid away labor from unionized firms. Since 75 per cent or more of all workers are not in a union, they cannot gain legal access to the labor markets where 25 per cent of the workers are employed. They have to work elsewhere. Thus, non-unionized employers are granted a subsidy from government: lower priced workers.

When was the last time you heard a supporter of labor unions argue that the reason why unions are wonderful is because they grant a subsidy to the employers who employ 75 per cent of the American labor force? Yet this is precisely the economic effect of compulsory government-enforced trade unionism.

The Law of Market Competition

"Buyers compete against other buyers. Sellers compete against other sellers." Not that difficult a concept, right? Apparently it is the most difficult concept in economics, if we are to judge by the arguments people use in favor of increased government intervention into the free market.

Buyers of labor services compete against other buyers and potential buyers of similar (substitutable) labor services. This means that employers are in constant competition against other employers in the labor markets. They are forced to bid up the price of labor until the point that they can no longer afford to hire any more laborers, or, in the case of the most successful bidder, until all the competition has dropped out of the field. This is the explanation for the curious phenomenon that labor unions subsidize non-unionized industries that are buying labor services from those excluded by law from competing for jobs in unionized industries. The buyers of labor in unionized industries have been compelled by law to depart from the "labor auction" in which 75 per cent of American workers are offering their services to the highest bidder.

On the other hand, sellers compete against sellers. This means that those who are harmed by trade unionism are those excluded from union membership. They are denied the right to compete for jobs in certain segments of the economy. They have been denied their right to bid, just as the employers in the unionized markets have been denied their right to bid.

The biblical view of man is work-oriented. It affirms that man was placed on the earth to subdue it to the glory of God (Gen. 1:28; 9:1-7). It is not each man’s right to work. It is his duty to work. What is his lawful right is his right to compete for the job he wants, his right to compete for the labor services he wishes to purchase. No one has a right to my job, including me. Anyone should have the right to compete for my job, including me. And I have the right to compete for his.

Strikes

The striker argues that he has the right not to work, but his employer does not have the right to hire someone to replace him. Modern compulsory trade unionism is based on the wholly immoral premise that the worker owns his job (can exclude others from the position) even though he refuses to work for his employer. To add insult to immorality, most trade unionists also want government food stamps, unemployment benefits (tax-free), and other forms of taxpayer-financed benefits while they are striking. The consumer is supposed to finance his own funeral, and the coercion of law then becomes total.

Obviously, nobody inside the union could reap monopoly wages if everyone were in the union who wanted to compete for the available jobs. The union would then become superfluous. It is only because of the artificial barriers set up against other workers that the union members reap their monopoly gains. This is the reason why, economically speaking, the trade union movement in its present, coercive form will never be more than a minority movement. The union needs the majority of workers outside the union movement, since the union membership has to have victims among the working class in order to reap its monopoly returns.

Once a man’s contract has expired, he should have the right to walk off the job if he wants to. He should not have the right to keep his employer from hiring a replacement. Similarly, any employer should have the right to fire a worker, once the contract has expired. But he should not have the right to exclude that worker from competing in other labor markets. Trade unions deny both these premises.

Voluntary unionism is lawful, so long as the civil government does not do more than enforce the contracts agreed to by employers and laborers. A union can help to spread information of better wages or better jobs, thereby helping its members to keep alert to the true value of the services they are offering for sale. Unions can be self-help societies. But when compulsory, under coercive civil law, they are immoral. They must be recognized as such by orthodox Christians.

For further reading, see Prof. Sylvester Petro’s many books, including Labor Policy of the Free Society, Power Unlimited: The Corruption of Union Leadership, The Kohler Strike, and The Kingsport Strike. Also of interest: W. H. Hutt, The Strike-Threat System.

***

Let the Market Decide

If you believe that the state should not intervene in dealings between employers and employees, then that means not only no Wagner Acts, but no right-to-work laws and no administrative review of wage settlements as well. Yet we seem to be headed for ever more intervention by the state in dealings between employers and employees, in the internal affairs of unions, and in the wage-price relationships in industry. Having created our Frankenstein, we are now going to break him to our will.

In the process the state is almost certain to undertake to dictate decisions about matters that should be left to the market place, and to create authoritarian patterns of action that will be degrading and debilitating to employers and employees alike.

I Know You Are...But What Am I?...

2011-01-28T10:46:00.002-06:00

A Commentary

"A group of nine Hawaii senators held hands, bowed their heads and sought God's blessing Wednesday, signaling that they'll still pray despite a vote last week to abandon official invocations.
Fears of court challenges compelled the state Senate to end prayers, making it the first legislative body in the nation to do so."

We hear much about so called tolerance on a daily basis from the pop- psychiatrists to the talking heads on the nightly news. After reading the above story about the Hawaii senators, I had to pause and say a few things. As most Christians realize, society at large is "tolerant" of almost everyone except the true Christ confessing Born Again Christian. When someone is allowed on one of the so called news programs, the liberal-progressives try to shout them down sounding like Pee Wee Hermon and his, "I know you are, but what am I routine!"

I am reminded some of the facets Wesleyan Quadrilateral when considering the Christian history and background of our great nation. The Bible clearly outlines the consequences of nations and kingdoms that ignored God and continued in their pagan practices. History also paints a clear picture of nations who rejected God. Sadly our nation persists in continuing down this path that leads to nowhere at warp speed. Abortion on demand, same sex "marriage", spending like drunken sailors. I am thankful this group of senators had the backbone to stand up for what they believe. I hope and pray the rest of us will join them.

Christmas Reflections...

2010-12-11T22:27:00.003-06:00

As I sit here writing they are predicting our first snowfall of the season here in Southern Indiana. As a lover of snow this puts me in a better mood even though my joints crack and pop! I can remember a couple of times over the years when it snowed on Christmas. I can remember living in Fort Lauderdale when it seemed harder to get in the mood when it was 80 degrees outside, although that would feel really good right about now. With all the "Holiday" hype on television we hardly hear mention of the real Reason for the Season. They don't mention that some 2000 years ago God became man in the form of His Son so that we could have eternal life and someday meet Him face to face.
With all the advertizing and such, there is still something magical about this time of year. The most hardened cynic must notice there must be something better than chasing after material things. As I pause and reflect, my prayer is that we don't forgot what Christmas is really about, be thankful for what we have in this nation where all seem wealthy compared to the way people live in some countries of the world. And that most of all that everyone would receive the greatest Gift of all, eternal life through Jesus, God's Son.

Merry Christmas to all; Keith/Circuit Rider

America Wants Pro-Life Majority!

2010-10-22T12:53:00.001-05:00

Majority of Americans Want Pro-Life Republicans Running House, Senate

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 22, 2010

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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A majority of Americans say in a new poll released today that they want pro-life Republicans running the House and Senate instead of the current pro-abortion Democrats who control the majority and work with pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

With Democrats pushing for the government-run health care reform bill that allows abortion funding and overturning other limits on abortion funds in other situations, Americans apparently have had enough.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of likely voters say that if their vote next month determined which political party wins control of the Senate, they'd like that party to be the Republicans. Another 42 percent disagree and want pro-abortion Democrats to remain in charge.

With pro-life elected officials in the top leadership positions in the GOP in both the House and Senate, changing who controls Congress will change key abortion policy and approach.

"This marks a noticeable turnaround from just before the midterm elections in November 2006 when 47% wanted their vote to throw control of the Senate to the Democrats, while 37% preferred putting the GOP in charge," pollster Scott Rasmussen noted.

The identical numbers hold true when voters are asked which party they would like to see controlling the House of Representatives if their vote was the determining factor: 51% say the Republicans; 42% say the Democrats.

"Over 90% of GOP voters want to see their party regain control of the House and Senate, as do 12% of Democrats. Just over 80% of Democratic voters want their party to be in charge of both houses of Congress," Rasmussen noted. "Voters not affiliated with either party want to see Republicans in control of the Senate by a 50% to 35% margin and the House by a similar 52% to 36% margin."

There appears to be more intensity in this election cycle, too, Rasmussen indicates.

"Eighty-nine percent (89%) of voters now say in terms of its impact on their own lives, it is at least somewhat important which party controls Congress after next month's election. That includes 66% who say it is Very Important, 17 points higher than the finding four years ago. Only eight percent (8%) say it is not very or not at all important which party is in charge," he said in his analysis of the poll.

A Democratic-controlled Congress has had a major impact on the lives of unborn children.

In addition to passing the ObamaCare bill that authorizes abortion funding, Congressional Democrats approved establishing an Office for Global Women's Issues, headed by an ambassador-at-large who will report directly to pro-abortion Secretary of State Clinton and promote abortion as an international right.

The current Congress approved overturning the policy against taxpayer funding of abortions in the District of Columbia, which will increase what is already one of the nation's highest abortion rates.

The Democratic Congress defeated a measure to cut funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business and moved abstinence education funding from abstinence groups to Planned Parenthood.

The Senate also started the process of overturning the longstanding ban on abortions at taxpayer-funded U.S. military base hospitals both domestic and abroad.

The Senate defeated a measure to restore the Mexico City Policy to prevent taxpayer funding of groups that promote and perform abortions in other nations and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denied pro-life advocates a vote in the House.

Buzz up!

Fetal Pain Abortion Law...A National Trend?

2010-10-15T15:10:00.002-05:00

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 15, 2010

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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new fetal pain law is taking effect today in Nebraska that targets late-term abortions based on the pain an unborn baby will likely feel during the abortion procedure. The law could set a national trend of other states and Congress considering such measures and could lead to a Supreme Court battle.

The Nebraska law, Legislative Bill 1103, relies on significant medical research and expert testimony to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on the basis that unborn children feel pain.

The legislation has been hailed by pro-life advocates across the country for its innovative approach and focusing the public's attention on unborn babies who have been medically documented as pain capable at 20 weeks gestation.

“This will take off like wildfire,” Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, predicted in comments to the Omaha World-Herald newspaper.

The Nebraska bill has already inspired Sen. Mike Johanns, a Nebraska Republican to press for a similar measure on the national level -- and he used it to challenge pro-abortion president Barack Obama.

“How does anybody -- pro-life or pro-choice -- oppose this?” asked Johanns. “If the baby feels pain ... then it is an issue of human compassion.”

The expected opposition -- in the form of lawsuits from pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood or the Center for Reproductive Rights, have yet to materialize.

Mary Spaulding Balch, a pro-life attorney who is the state legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, says abortion advocates may not want to have a national discussion on the pain unborn children feel because it draws attention to their humanity and need for legal protection.

But Crepps, deputy director of the New York-based CRR law firm, told the newspaper to expect a legal battle.

“National Right to Life Committee can speculate as much as they want, but it is just that — speculation,” she said. "We will file a challenge to this unconstitutional law when the circumstances are appropriate. We will not, however, discuss our decision-making process publicly.”

The pro-abortion law firm worked with late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart, who operates out of the Omaha area, to challenge the state's partial-birth abortion ban in 2000. That case ultimately resulted in the first Supreme Court opinion saying such bans are unconstitutional. The high court later reversed itself and upheld a national ban Congress passed during the Bush administration.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland confirmed to the Omaha paper that it would not file a lawsuit against the new law.

But a lawsuit, Balch told LifeNews.com previously, would give the pro-life movement a chance to push back against prior Supreme Court opinion on abortion.

Balch says the law could make its way to the Supreme Court to alter national abortion law further and set a wide-ranging precedent.
"Although it will be a case of first impression, there are strong grounds to believe that five members of the current U.S. Supreme Court would give serious consideration to Nebraska’s assertion of a compelling state interest in preserving the life of an unborn child whom substantial medical evidence indicates is capable of feeling pain during an abortion," she said.

The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act could see the same group of five members of the Supreme Court who backed the partial-birth abortion ban uphold it as constitutional and allow more abortions to be prohibited.

Balch says the genius of the measure is the scientific fact that unborn children can feel pain.

"By 20 weeks after fertilization, unborn children have pain receptors throughout their body, and nerves link these to the brain," she told LifeNews.com. "These unborn children recoil from painful stimulation, which also dramatically increases their release of stress hormones. Doctors performing fetal surgery at and after 20 weeks now routinely use fetal anesthesia."

A first of its kind in the United States, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prohibits abortion after 20 weeks gestation except when the mother "has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert death or to avert serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function or...it is necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child."

When looking at abortion case law, NRLC says it hopes a new analysis can be established that would ultimately lead to overturning Roe.

Balch says the pro-life group wants the Supreme Court to redraw the line away from the viability standard about when abortions can be prohibited.

“What I would like to bring to the attention of the court is, there is another line,” Balch said. “This new knowledge is something the court has not looked at before and should look at.”

Fetal pain is not a new concept and the leading national expert on the topic confirms unborn children definitely have the capacity to feel intense pain during an abortion.

Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand of the University of Arkansas Medical Center has said he and other specialists in development of unborn children have shown that babies feel pain before birth as early as 20 weeks into the pregnancy.

Anand said many medical studies conclude that unborn babies are "very likely" to be "extremely sensitive to pain during the gestation of 20 to 30 weeks."

"This is based on multiple lines of evidence," Dr. Anand said. "Not just the lack of descending inhibitory fibers, but also the number of receptors in the skin, the level of expression of various chemicals, neurotransmitters, receptors, and things like that."

Anand explained that later-term abortion procedures, such as a partial-birth abortion "would be likely to cause severe pain."

Dr. Jean Wright, an anesthesiologist specializing in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, has also confirmed the existence of fetal pain during Congressional testimony.

“[A]n unborn fetus after 20 weeks of gestation, has all the prerequisite anatomy, physiology, hormones, neurotransmitters, and electrical current to close the loop and create the conditions needed to perceive pain. In a fashion similar to explaining the electrical wiring to a new house, we would explain that the circuit is complete from skin to brain and back," she said.

And Dr. Richard T.F. Schmidt, past President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, confirms, “It can be clearly demonstrated that fetuses seek to evade certain stimuli in a manner which an infant or an adult would be interpreted as a reaction to pain.”

An April 2004 Zogby poll shows that 77% of Americans back "laws requiring that women who are 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancy be given information about fetal pain before having an abortion."

Only 16 percent disagreed with such a proposal, according to the poll, commissioned by the National Right to Life Committee.

Related web sites:
National Right to Life Committee - http://www.NRLC.org
Nebraska Right to Life - http://www.nerighttolife.org

Buzz up!

God the Rule and Measure

2010-07-31T01:30:00.019-05:00

Five Major Teachings of the Protestant Reformation

As Delivered at St John's UCC Boonville Indiana

A Sermon by Keith Kiper

During a British conference on the World’s religions, experts from around the world were discussing the Christian faith. They wanted to know if there was one particular belief that belonged only to the Christian faith. One by one they began to eliminate the possibilities. Incarnation they said? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of someone returning from the dead. They debated for some time until the great Christian author C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the rumpus about? He asked. The other experts in the room told him they were discussing what made Christianity different from all the other religions. In his usual forthright manner C.S. Lewis responded, Oh that is easy. It’s grace.

Throughout history, humanity has changed opinions on what they believe to be the “truth.” The Reformation was an event in history that was sparked by Martin Luther in his search for the truth. Luther realized that much of that which was being taught in the Roman church wasn’t true. The church teachings in Luther’s day had departed from the truth. Real truth can be found only on the inerrant Word of God, the Bible. Truth never changes, regardless of what we believe truth to be. God’s Word is truth, and His Word states in Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven.”

All Protestants may not agree with everything Luther wrote. Luther did, however, bring the focus back from man’s opinions to the truth found only in God’s unchanging Word. Luther and the early reformers agreed on five major teachings which distinguished them from the Roman church of that time. We can find that these five Central teachings still set us apart as Protestant Christians today. Our goal today is not to criticize our Catholic friends nor demean theirs or any other group that call themselves Christian. We want to focus on what it means to be a Protestant. Some of the early reformers died for these beliefs and our church fathers thought they reflected what the Bible teaches us. Recently Christian author Randy Alcorn (Heaven) mentioned on his blog five characteristic points that he believed shaped the Protestant Reformation. (His words are in italics following each point with my comments following.) I would like to expand on these five points and offer my own input as to their great importance in Christian worship today. . There were other ideas brought forth in the Protestant Reformation concerning the Holy Sacraments and the Priesthood of Believers.I would like to focus on the five points previously mentioned, as I agree with Randy Alcorn that these should still set us apart today from the myriad of pick and choose religions out there today. Let’s take a look at these together.

(1.) Sola Scriptura: This simply means -The Bible alone. -"Scripture alone speaks authoritatively and it speaks to all believers. The Bible speaks to the individual. As Protestants we believe that we do not need an interpreter or so-called modern day prophet. The Bible speaks to us independently of church leaders and organizations." I realize that different denominations may have differing ideas as to what certain passages mean. There are different types of worship services in our world today. I do believe that as Christians, especially Protestant ones, that we will agree on the central teachings of the Bible. Someone once asked the late Dr. Bill Bright what he thought about some of the things in the Bible that we sometimes wish had a better explanation. He replied, “Well, The plain things are the main things and the main things are the plain things. If it isn’t a plain thing, then it probably isn’t a main thing.” Ignoring the main things can have disastrous consequences. When we don’t accept the Bible as literal and whole it affects our respect for human life and how we view others. When we don’t accept the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, then it becomes easy to accept certain evolutionary ideas. When society ignores the truth in God’s Word they will set their own standards. No society in the history of the world has survived long after making that disastrous choice. One of the most fascinating, yet sad chapters in American history is the story of Ota Benga. Ota Benga was a Pygmy who was put on display in an American Zoo along side a Chimpanzee in the early 1900’s. Darwins theory had so gripped the minds of some scientists that they believed Ota Benga was some form of inferior race. Pygmies were hunted down and killed as portrayed in the movie “Quigley Down Under.“ The word “race’ itself is a result of evolutionary ideas. Even more horrifying examples of this type of thinking can be seen in the concentration camps of WW2. This is what happens when society picks and chooses from the truth found in God’s Word and distort what it says. In his letter to the Colossians, we see that Paul is helping a newly established church know that its foundation is the inerrancy of Scripture. He tells them that Scripture living richly within them will keep them united in the faith and strong and focused on the task. Paul writes in Colossians 3:16: “The word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Listen to the keys words as Paul proclaims in our key verse from Romans 1:16,”I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” We are all equal at the foot of the cross. Jesus sees all of us through the same eyes.

(2) Sola Gratia: The second major teaching of the Protestant Church is Sola Gratia or Grace alone. -"This means that only by the unmerited favor of God that Christ went to the cross and paid for our sins. Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone. Man is depraved by nature and alienated from God his Creator. It is through God’s grace alone through the Holy Spirit that we can be drawn to God through Christ." The only mediator between God and man is Jesus. We can go directly to God in prayer. As we mentioned earlier, Salvation is “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” Jesus paid the price at Calvary for our sin. It has been paid for. We cannot pay or bargain for our Salvation through any human being. We can just simply confess and accept this free gift. Grace means that the cruelest, most vile and evil person can find favor with his Creator. All are equal at the foot of the Cross. The Human mind can no more grasp that concept than it can understand the Holy Trinity. We can know its true. How? True because of the experience in our heart and the changed lives and testimony of others.

(3) Sola Fide: The third major teaching of the early reformers is Sola Fide. This means by faith alone. "The Bible teaches us that only total righteousness is acceptable to God. This righteousness is found in Christ only, not in man. Man is justified by faith alone in the finished work of Christ.-" That very familiar verse in Hebrews 11:1 tells us, ”Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.” Verse six goes on to tell us that, “without faith it is impossible to please God.” At first glance, these statements made by Paul would seem to contradict each other. The Bible tells us that faith must begin in the heart. Yet, God above is the one who puts that measure of faith there in the first place. This kind of faith, or trust in God, springs from the Christian’s innermost being. This kind of faith allowed early Christians and Reformers to endure torture and persecution. They were sawn in half and burned at the stake. Some died a slow, painful death, so that everyone could have the very Bible we read from today. Our words seem inadequate to describe this kind of faith. The Bible describes many individuals whom God worked through to do great things. Why? Not because they were somehow superhuman. They accomplished great things because they took that leap of faith and took God at His Word.

(4) Sola Christus-“Christ alone.” "This is the fourth major teaching of the Protestant Reformation. All other teachings of Christianity hinge on this statement. Salvation is accomplished by Christ alone. Jesus plainly told us that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. We have direct access to Him through prayer. Angels, saints, sacraments, priests, churches, and teachers may direct us to Jesus."- But Christ alone was the perfect Saviour, and we have direct access to our heavenly Father only through him.

(5) Soli Deo Gloria-Which means to God be the glory! "God told Moses at Mt Sinai,”I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Duet. 20:1,2) Religion and theology should be God-centered, not man-centered."- It doesn’t matter what the other religions tell us, or what we believe personally. Dag Hammarskjold said, “God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a Wonder, the Source of which is beyond all reason.” We should glorify God in everything that we do. In Old Testament times, the Hebrews would take their portable tabernacles with them as they traveled. In the New testament Paul tells us we are the tabernacle in which Christ through the Holy Spirit dwells. Several years ago there was a popular chorus named “Sanctuary.” You may have heard it or even sang it. As we close today, think about the words as I read them to you.

Sanctuary...
Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for You
It is you, Lord Who came to save The heart and soul Of every man
It is you Lord who knows my weakness Who gives me strength,
With thine own hand.
Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and Holy,
tried and true
With thanksgiving I'll be a living Sanctuary for you
Lead Me on Lord From temptation
Purify me From within
Fill my heart with You holy spirit
Take away all my sin
Lord prepare me to a sanctuary Pure and holy,
tried and true With thanksgiving,
I'll be a living Sanctuary for You

Let us pray: We thank you and praise you today for sending us Your Son. We thank you for your Holy Word you have given us to guide us in truth. We pray that in yur light, we might see light. Cleanse us each day that we might be the sanctuary and the light that would draw others to you. And the people said,” Amen.”

Blood Money...

2010-05-12T11:48:00.000-05:00

Remembering Terri Schiavo...

2010-03-16T11:41:00.000-05:00

...Five Years Ago This Week*

The culture of death advances

By Patrick J. Buchanan
© 2009 Creators Syndicate, Inc

On Good Friday, as Terri Schiavo lay dying of thirst in Woodside Hospice, Gabriel Keys took her a cup of water. Gabriel was arrested, handcuffed and taken away.

Apparently, no one taught Gabriel that you do not disobey a judge's order, even to bring water to someone dying of thirst. As he is 10 years old, he is probably not yet conversant with the new morality, where a corporal work of mercy can be a crime. Perhaps his parents filled his mind with such subversive texts as, "Whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water" shall not lose eternal life.

Before this column appears, Terri Schiavo may well be dead. If so, another milestone will have been passed in the long retreat of Western Civilization from a Christian-rooted culture of life to the pagan culture of death of pre-Christian Rome.

For Terri Schiavo will not have died a natural death. She will have been put to death by the state. The coroner's report should read: This was a state-sanctioned killing of a woman because she was brain-damaged, and the method of execution was by starvation and denial of water. These are methods most of us would protest if imposed on the Beltway snipers.

Why did Florida put Terri Schiavo to death? Because that was the demand of a husband who refused to divorce her and denied her medical care, while he lived with another woman. Michael Schiavo is the ACLU poster boy for family values.

In the Old Testament, King Solomon ruled that the mother who had been willing to give up her baby to the woman who had kidnapped the child rather than see the baby cut in half should have the child. Our Florida Solomon ruled that the husband who wanted Terri dead should have custody of her, not the parents who wanted her alive.

"Should Congress have intervened?" is an issue that has divided conservatives. But conservatives are constitutionalists. Under the Constitution, no person may be deprived of life without due process of law. This has traditionally meant a trial of one's peers, proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a heinous crime and no cruel or unusual punishment. Though she committed no crime, Terri was put to death in a manner most decent men and women would not use to put a suffering animal out of its misery.

Most conservatives believe in a God who is the Author of Life and has given us the laws by which we must live. Among the first of these is that we must not shed innocent blood. For that is forbidden by the teachings of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and the laws of all the civilizations erected on these faiths. In all nations, killing of the innocent is the most despicable of crimes. Done on a vast scale, these are what were called at the Nuremberg trials, "crimes against humanity."

Americans must face a hard truth. The state of Florida put Terri Schiavo to death. Before Holy Week, she was neither dead nor dying. For 15 years, she had been cared for by nurses and visited by loving parents. She was not dying until the judge ordered her dead, by ordering her feeding tube removed. Then it has taken her nearly two weeks to die, as he blocked the reinsertion of the feeding tube and ordered police to prevent anyone from giving her water.

When the courts failed Terri, and Congress and the Florida Legislature failed Terri, the governor of Florida, who took an oath to defend the constitutional rights of Florida's citizens, should have taken custody of Terri, ordered the tube reinserted and let the federal courts proceed with the de novo hearing of the evidence, while Terri was still alive.

When Gov. John Peter Altgeld of Illinois came to believe that those convicted of murder in the infamous Haymarket Massacre of 1886 were innocent, that a judicial outrage had been committed, he pardoned them. "I am a dead man politically," he told Clarence Darrow.

Jeb Bush should have done the same thing, the right thing. He should have rescued Terri from the death sentence unjustly imposed upon her. If the court held him in contempt, so what? Who does not hold that Florida court in contempt?

From abortion on demand in 1973, to a right to die in Oregon, to a right to suicide in Holland, to involuntary euthanasia in the old folks homes on the old and dying continent of Europe, to America's death sentence for Terri Schiavo, the West advances steadily toward its own death.

As we find more and more justifications for ending life, we also find that not one Western nation has a native-born population that is growing. All are dying. Before century's end, the West ends, as T.S. Eliot wrote, "Not with a bang, but a whimper."

Its interesting that this same week, four years (and now five) after Terri Schiavo's senseless death,Assisted Suicide is approved in several states, Harry Reid wants abortion covered under a National Socialized Healthcare plan, and Joe Biden is given an A-plus rating on his treatment of animals...("change" we can believe in?)...keith 1 Cor 13

*I first published this a little over a year ago... With all the attention recently on government "healthcare" I thought I would re-post this article. The way our courts treated Terri should be a warning of things to come under a government run plan.

What John Wesley so aptly said about slavery, still applies today"Where is the justice in inflicting the severist of evils on those who have done us no wrong?"

Obama's ‘New’" Health Care Plan" Would Use Tax Dollars to Pay for Abortions

2010-02-23T15:45:00.004-06:00

CNSNews.com

Monday, February 22, 2010
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama unveiled his plan for health care reform on whitehouse.gov on Monday, but pro-life legislators and advocates said the “new” proposal mostly mirrors the Senate bill and, in particular, would allow for tax dollars to be used to fund health plans that cover abortion. “The health bill passed by the Senate in December (H.R. 3590) had become, by the conclusion of the Senate amendment process, the most expansively pro-abortion bill ever brought to the floor of either house of Congress since Roe v. Wade,” Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), said in a statement issued on Monday.

Johnson said Obama’s bill will not include the same prohibitions set forth in the Stupak amendment--named after Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.)--which was part of the health care legislation passed earlier by the House of Representatives. Instead, Obama’s bill allows federal funds to subsidize abortions through the structuring of programs and insurance plans.

“If all of the President's changes were made, the resulting legislation would allow direct federal funding of abortion-on-demand through community health centers, would institute federal subsidies for private health plans that cover abortion-on-demand, including some federally administered plans, and would authorize federal mandates that would require even non-subsidized private plans to cover elective abortion,” Douglas said.

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio points out changes in the Senate health care bill during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the release of Obama’s health care proposal ahead of Thursday’s televised discussion among the president, Democrats, and select Republicans could be counterproductive. He also said pro-life legislators are committed to creating legislation that reflects what Americans want in health care reform. “Republicans are also standing with the American people by calling for health care reform to protect human life and not use taxpayer money to fund abortion,” Boehner said in a statement. “The Republican bill would codify the Hyde Amendment and prohibit all authorized and appropriated federal funds from being used to pay for abortion, which the President’s proposal would allow.” “Pro-life Democrats in the House have already pledged to vote against this provision,” said Boehner. “Health care reform should be an opportunity to protect human life--not end it--and the American people agree.” When asked about the issue by ABC’s Jake Tapper at Monday’s press briefing at the White House, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the president does not want to pay for abortions but does not want to limit women’s choices. “And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions," Gibbs said. "And I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test---that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions but, on the other hand, that we're not restricting women's insurance choices….” Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said that with today’s release of the president’s health care plan, he can no longer say it is Congress that is promoting federally funded abortions. “Every time President Obama’s spokesmen are asked about the Senate health care bill that authorizes federal funds for abortion, they reply that none of the bills put forth are the president’s own,” Donohue said. “Moreover, the president has said that he would never sign a health care bill that funds abortion.”
“While it is true that the pro-abortion camp will not be happy with the president for not striking some restrictions it deplores, the fact remains that President Obama could have adopted the pro-life friendly language of the House bill,” Donohue said. “The fact that he didn’t is what matters most.”

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2010-02-13T13:31:00.001-06:00

Do We Really Believe People are Lost?

A Three part series by Keith Kiper

It seems live in a day and time when everything around us is relative. Things that were once considered to be settled black and white issues have blended into areas of gray. Even certain mainline church denominations endorse lifestyles that are contrary to what the Bible teaches about sin and sinful living.
Much of today’s generation could be considered Biblically illiterate, especially when it comes to the matter of a literal heaven and a literal hell. We hear a lot about heaven in our popular culture. After all dogs do go there, don’t they? Most people would tell us they want to go there, even if not right now. It seems we don’t hear much about hell anymore. Sometimes we will hear someone tell another person they should go there. Most would believe that someone like Adolf Hitler should be there. My biggest concern today is that I am afraid that we as the church have neglected what the Bible says about the matter. Scripture doesn’t leave any doubts about who will someday be there.

The subjects of Heaven and hell are often referred to as “last things.” Our Wesleyan Discipline lists these under Basic Principles...
” Heaven with its eternal glory and the blessedness of Christ’s presence is the final abode of those who choose the salvation which God provides through Christ Jesus. Hell with its everlasting misery and separation from God is the final abode of those who neglect this great salvation.” Discipline 2000/ Section 250

Let us look at what the Bible says about heaven and hell. Many theologians will often use these various methods to examine something to consider whether or not it is true. These would include reason, history, experience, and of course Scripture. This is often referred to as The Wesleyan Quadrilateral. I would like to use some of these as we take a look at heaven and hell today. We have different church denominations and political parties today. This is because people have certain beliefs and ideas which they consider important. Many times they believe there is no other way but their way. Sometimes this is true when placed under the light of the Bible. Sometimes we can be wrong, even when we are so sure we are right. Listen to what happened recently in Sarasota Florida.

"An elderly Florida lady did her shopping, and upon returning to her car, found four males in the act of leaving her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun. She screamed at the top of her lungs, I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!” The four men didn’t wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into her car. She got into her car and was so shaken she couldn’t get her keys to work. Suddenly she realized why her keys wouldn’t work. It was the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a Frisbee and two twelve packs of beer on the front seat. A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down. She loaded her bags into her car and drove to the police station to report her mistake. The police sergeant couldn’t stop laughing when he heard her story. He then pointed to the end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking by a short elderly woman, with glasses and white curly hair. She was also carrying a large handgun. No charges were filed. Moral of the story? If you are going to have a senior moment…make it worthwhile."

That says it all, doesn't it? The Barna Research Group recently compiled some recent numbers.

Eight out of ten Americans (81%) believe in an afterlife of some sort. Ten percent believe there is no form of life after death.
79%, a large majority of Americans agreed with the statement "Every person has a soul that will live forever, either in God's presence or absence."
Only one half of one percent expect to go to hell upon their death.

Interesting numbers when compared with what the Bible has to say about the matter aren't they? Much of this can be attributed to the absence of sound Biblically based preaching and the rise of entertaining "Sermonettes" in our churches today. Rev. Dr. Jack Van Impe recently said, "Sermonettes make Christianettes!" When the entire Bible is not taken literally, it only takes a generation or two to see the results. Next time in Part Two, we will be looking at what scripture says and some of the first hand experiences of others. I'll leave you with this verse:

"The Spirit makes it clear that as time goes on, some are going to give up on the faith and chase after demonic illusions put forth by professional liars. These liars have been lying so well and for so long that they've lost their capacity to tell the truth." 1 Titus 4:1-2 The Message

2010-01-20T02:41:00.004-06:00

CNSNews.com

God to Palin: ‘You Go, Girl’
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
By Ben Shapiro
Listen to Commentary Podcasts

Over the weekend, former John McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt told “60 Minutes” something shocking about McCain’s former running mate, Sarah Palin. It seems that when Schmidt met Palin after McCain selected her, he was surprised that she was so calm. Schmidt apparently asked her how she could remain so tranquil in the face of such a monumental life change. She responded, “It’s God’s plan.”

Naturally, the media went bonkers over this revelation. The New York Times approvingly reported comic Jimmy Fallon’s one-liner: “God responded: ‘What? Really? Don’t bring me into this.’” The Week asked whether Palin was “simply devout—or delusional?” The Nation suggested that Palin was “a little bit dimmer than we thought.”

Nothing is quite as shocking to media establishment types as someone who actually believes that God takes an active part in individual human destinies.

If you thought the media’s reaction to this was absurd, think what their reaction would have been if they had been around during the days of Moses. One can envision the headlines from local newspapers: “Exiled Prince Claims God Sent Him to Free Slaves: Advisers Say Moses’ Staff Flying at Half-Mast.” (British newspapers would report it slightly differently: “Jewish Nut Job Invades Royal Palace On ‘God’s Mission’: Pharaoh Tells Him to go Jump in the Bloody Nile.”)

The truth is that it is a common article of faith in virtually all major religions that God guides the footsteps of each and every human being. Benjamin Franklin, a not-so-religious theologian, said that the American Revolution could be successful only with the direct help of God. As he put it, “The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”

Yet nowadays, it is considered trite to point to the influence of God in human lives—unless you are liberal. Then it is considered perfectly normal. How many athletes do we see who thank God after each touchdown? How many actors who win Oscars thank God?

Even certain beloved socialist presidents believe in divine intervention on a personal scale. For example, when then-Sen. Barack Obama gave an anti-war speech, Sen. Harry Reid approached him to congratulate him. “That speech was phenomenal, Barack,” said Reid. Reid describes what happened next: “Without the barest hint of braggadocio or conceit, and with what I would describe as deep humility, he said quietly: ‘I have a gift, Harry.’”

It is worthwhile asking: a gift from whom? Gaia? Santa Claus? The Easter Bunny?

Clearly, even our atheistic President Obama—a man who avers that religious folk cling bitterly to their God because they’re poor and downtrodden—believes that occasionally, the Deity rests his hand on someone’s shoulder. Unfortunately, unlike Sarah Palin, Obama also believes that God’s presence is redundant to his own.

There’s a reason the media elites allow liberals to get away with God-talk. It’s because the media elites know that liberals aren’t particularly serious about their God-talk. Everyone could see Bill Clinton crossing his fingers behind his back when talking about God, just as everyone can see President Obama laughing behind his hand when he mentions religion.

It’s those benighted morons of the religious right who truly threaten the media elites. The right’s suggestion that God stands behind the vast flow of history scares the living daylights out of the liberal establishment because it threatens their own sense of control. After all, it is not God who made Barack Obama president of the United States—it is the editorial board of the New York Times. And it was not God who discarded Hillary Clinton like a used tissue—it was the brilliant men and women of the alphabet networks.

If the media elites are wrong—if God is indeed a driving factor in history—then things may not go as the media elites plan. Sarah Palin may indeed meet with success rather than media-ordained failure. The tea parties may indeed become a mainstream movement, rather than the fringe movement the media wishes them to be.

And that scares liberals. Because in the liberal view, no divine presence can be directing things. For the left, the only gods behind history are the gods of economics (see Thomas Friedman and Karl Marx), multiculturalism (see John Dewey), genes (see Richard Dawkins) and environment (see Al Gore and Jared Diamond).

Here’s a newsflash for liberals: Incredible as it may seem, Palin’s view represents that of the vast majority of mankind. People across the globe agree with Palin that their lives fit into God’s grand scheme. When liberals laugh at Palin on this score, they risk laughing at billions. And even liberals should understand that billions can impact the flow of history.

Is Mandatory "Healthcare" Constutional?

2010-01-08T09:27:00.002-06:00

2010-01-06T09:34:00.001-06:00

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Prolife video: For Women Who Are Considering an Abortion

This prolife video, "For Women Who Are Considering an Abortion," is very powerful. The woman is excellent, composed and yet vulnerable, and the human dimension is very strong. Her words about those who have had abortions, after being victims of rape and incest, are right on. Wow.

(Click here if the video doesn't show up for you.)

Those who are preparing for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on January 24 might like to browse the prolife article section on the Eternal Perspective Ministries website, which has dozens of prolife articles. Here's some selected resources from EPM related to this topic:

Is Abortion Right When Pregnancy is Due to Rape or Incest?

Can God Forgive Abortions?

50 Ways to Help Unborn Babies and Their Mothers

www.facebook.com/randyalcorn
www.twitter.com/randyalcorn
www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com

www.epm.org

And Now, The Rest of the Story...

2009-12-11T09:57:00.007-06:00

Most of us were shocked recently, if that's still possible, with Harry Reid's comments comparing those opposed to a government run health plan which would pay for abortion on demand to those who opposed slavery and civil rights for African-Americans. This misspeak was aimed specifically at the Republican Party. Really! I wonder if Harry received an "F" in U.S. History. It was Harry's party that resisted these rights for over 100 years! (Don't believe me, Click here:) I'm not surprised that politicians are getting by with comments like this since we no longer teach true History in our public school system. The following from Wallbuilder's reveals what really happened in recent years regarding the two parties:
"When Democrat John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960, he had been less willing than Eisenhower to utilize executive orders to promote civil rights. He even delayed for more than two years the signing of an executive order to integrate public housing. However, following the violent racial discord in Birmingham in 1963, Kennedy sent a major civil rights bill to Congress – a bill based on the findings of Eisenhower’s 1957 Civil Rights Commission. Kennedy worked aggressively for the passage of that civil rights bill but was tragically assassinated before he could see its success. Democratic presidential successor Lyndon Johnson picked up the civil rights measure, but like his predecessors, he faced stiff opposition from his own party. In fact, Democratic Senators Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Richard Russell of Georgia led the opposition against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, including lengthy and extended filibuster speeches. Republican Senator Everett Dirksen resurrected language proposed by Eisenhower’s Attorney General in 1960, thus breaking the filibuster of the civil rights bill and allowing Johnson to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, followed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These two important civil rights acts were signed into law under a Democratic President, but it was the Republicans in Congress who made possible the passage of both acts, for Democratic President Johnson had been unable to garner sufficient Democratic support to pass either bill. At that time, Democrats had 315 members in Congress, holding almost two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate. President Johnson needed only a majority – only 269 votes – to get those bills passed; but out of the 315 Democrats, only 198 voted for passage. Democrats had it completely within their power to pass those bills and did not do so. The bills passed because Republicans overwhelmingly came to the aid of Democrat President Johnson: in fact, 83 percent of Republicans voted for those bills, a percentage of support almost twenty points higher than that of the Democrats. If not for the strong support of Republicans, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would never have become law – not to mention the fact that the heart of both bills came from the work of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 1964 Civil Rights Act had banned discrimination in voting, public accommodations, education, federal programs, or employment. The 1965 Voting Rights Act had banned literacy tests and authorized the federal government to oversee voter registration and elections in counties that had used such tests. Those two Acts – along with the 24th Amendment to the Constitution – were the final culmination of a century of civil rights legislation, and of even a longer period of attempts to secure equal rights and racial justice for African Americans. What was the effect of these three measures? The positive impact of these changes was immediate. For example, within a year, 450,000 new southern blacks were successfully registered to vote and voter registration of black Americans in Mississippi also rose sharply – from only 5 percent in 1960 to 60 percent by 1968. The number of blacks serving in federal and state legislatures rose from only 2 in 1965 to 160 by 1990. The disenfranchisement laws and policies long enforced by southern Democratic legislatures had finally come to an end."

And now, as the Late Paul Harvey would say,"You know the rest of the story."

2009-12-09T09:25:00.002-06:00

"Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name IMMANUEL, God with us."-Isaiah 7:14

Famous Quotes

2009-11-18T10:27:00.002-06:00

"The grand reason why the
miraclous gifts were so soon withdrawn was not only that faith and
holiness were well-nigh lost, but that dry, formal, orthodox men began
then to ridicule whatever gifts they had not themselves and to cry them
all [down] as evil madness or imposture."-John Wesley

Thoughts on Pastor Appreciation Month...

2009-10-25T21:59:00.006-05:00

We celebrated Pastor Appreciation Month today at Boonville Wesleyan Church. Pastor and Mrs Ames have been with us since the early nineties. How time flies. In that time we have seen such ministries as Indiana Wesleyan Academy. It has not been that long since we moved into our new sanctuary. Currently we minister on Wednesday evenings at Woodmont. I appreciate the different Pastors who have ministered to me personally over the years. Especially those who visited me when I underwent surgery back on February 2007. When Pastors are mentioned I always think of John Wesley who rode horseback enough miles to circle the globe several times. He gave up a life of comfort to bring the Gospel to many who would never be able to enter the great social churches of 18th century England.He often met great and violent resistance from those who didn't want to hear his message. Many churches of today probably couldn't handle some of the truths of which he spoke. As the Rev'd Dr. Jack Van Impe says,"Sermonettes usually produce Christianettes." Preaching the Word isn't always easy in today's world. When your Pastor does, be sure to give him or her a pat on the back and tell them how much you appreciate them...God Bless...keith..1 Cor 13.

Kudos to Bart Stupak

2009-10-25T21:47:00.000-05:00

2009-10-08T11:00:00.001-05:00

Senators Reject Stronger Pro-Life Language
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press

Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., during the markup of health care legislation on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Washington (AP) - In a vote with far-reaching political implications, senators writing a health care overhaul Wednesday rejected a bid to strengthen anti-abortion provisions in the legislation - which could reach the Senate floor in the next two weeks.

The 13-10 vote by the Senate Finance Committee could threaten support for the health care bill from some Catholics who otherwise back its broad goal of expanding coverage. But women's groups are likely to see the committee's action as a reasonable compromise on a divisive issue that is always fraught with difficulties.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, argued that provisions already in the bill to restrict federal funding for abortions needed to be tightened to guarantee they would be ironclad.

But his amendment failed to carry the day. One Republican - Olympia Snowe of Maine - voted with the majority. One Democrat - Kent Conrad of North Dakota - supported Hatch.

Separately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said that the full Senate could start voting on health care legislation the week of Oct. 12, after the Columbus Day holiday. Reid has to meld the Finance bill with legislation that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved this summer.

Conservatives also are determined to strengthen prohibitions against illegal immigrants getting federal funding to buy insurance.

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa offered an amendment that would have helped cut fraud in health care programs for low-income people. It would have required applicants to present a government-issued ID when applying for Medicaid or the children's health care program.

But Democrats said unscrupulous medical providers - not beneficiaries - are usually the ones responsible for fraud. They said current ID requirements for beneficiaries are strong enough. The vote was 13-10, against the amendment.

Emotions ran high over the health care issue in Congress.

In the House, a Democratic lawmaker angered Republicans when he summed up their health care alternative as the GOP wanting Americans to "die quickly" if they get sick. Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida has refused to apologize for his remarks on the House floor Tuesday night in which he called GOP health care proposals a "blank piece of paper."

Republicans are likening the remarks to Rep. Joe Wilson's widely criticized shout of "You lie!" during Obama's address to Congress earlier this month. They say Democrats should insist that Grayson apologize just as they insisted Wilson, R-S.C., should.

The abortion debate in the Senate Finance Committee is certain to be waged again - with higher stakes and greater intensity - on the Senate floor.

Finance chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., argued that his bill already incorporates federal law that bars abortion funding, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. It would require health plans to keep federal subsidies separate from any funds used to pay for abortions in all other cases.

A major concern for abortion opponents - including Catholic bishops - is that those underlying restrictions have to be renewed every year. If Congress fails to renew the ban one year, plans funded through the health care overhaul would be allowed to cover the procedure, abortion opponents contend.

Abortion rights supporters respond that adding a permanent restriction on abortion funding to the health bill would actually go beyond current federal law - in which such curbs have to be renewed every year.

"This is a health care bill," said Baucus. "This is not an abortion bill. And we are not changing current law."

Hatch said his language, "would codify it, so we don't have to go through it every year."

Abortion rights supporters said the Hatch language could deny coverage for abortion to working women signing up for coverage through private plans.

Its approval would be a "poison pill ... if it is hung on this legislation," said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The committee also rejected 13-10 a second Hatch amendment that would have strengthened current legal protections for health care professionals who refuse to perform abortions or other procedures on grounds of moral or religious objections.

Abortion and immigration are also pending controversies in the House, where Democratic leaders hope to finalize legislation this week that would merge the work of three separate committees into one. House Democrats are struggling over how to pare the bill down to $900 billion over 10 years - Obama's preferred price tag and about how much the Senate Finance version costs.

___

AP writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

Fight the Fight!

2009-10-06T12:17:00.001-05:00

Scott Wesley Brown shared this on facebook...thought you would like it!

God is Still at Work... in Many "Denominations"

2009-10-04T20:09:00.011-05:00

I had a busy day today, but it was one filled with many blessings. The Churchman Gospel Bluegrass group were at Boonville Wesleyan Church for the morning service. Several residents from Woodmont were there also.I then visited an afternoon Homecoming service with Vicky and her 90 y/o aunt at Flint Street Church (Pentecostal) in Boonville Indiana.
Pictured on left is Rev. Basil Embry and wife, my wife Vicky, and her Aunt Leona Sharp. The meal was followed by a singing and testimony service pictured below.

This evening I decided to walk a couple of blocks to Tennyson General Baptist Church for a kickoff to a four day revival service. Rev. Charles Greene shared his testimony how God has miraculously saved him from cancer three times! I am thankful there will be no denominations in Heaven. I have had the privilege of serving within different denominations over the past 25 years ranging from Interdenominational and Nazarene in South Florida to General Baptist and Wesleyan in Southern Indiana. I have learned we are more alike than different. God still works today despite some of the limitations we try to place on Him because of conceptions we have of Him based on what we have been taught. As has often been said, "God is good...all the time!" God bless, keith 1 Cor 13.

2009-10-02T13:41:00.000-05:00

A Heart Problem
By Warren Wiersbe

Read Psalm 5:1-12
It's imperative for us to meet God in the morning if we want to have a good day. Jesus got up early in the morning to pray, according to Mark 1:35. Here we find the psalmist saying, "My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up" (v. 3).

When I used to work the night shift, I would sleep in the morning. So when I got up in the afternoon, I would meet with the Lord. Meeting with God is not an appointment on a clock but an appointment in your heart. Does God hear your voice in the morning? When He looks on you at the beginning of your day, does He look on you as a priest who has come to offer Him sacrifices of praise? That's what direct means (v. 3)--"to order my prayer." It means to arrange the sacrifice on the altar.

When you wake up in the morning, remind yourself that you are one of God's priests. How did you become a priest? Through faith in Jesus Christ. "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father" (Rev. 1:5,6). You're one of God's priests. That means wherever you are is God's temple, because your body is His temple.

The first thing we do in the morning is the first thing the high priest used to do every morning. He laid the burnt offering on the altar. The burnt offering is a picture of total dedication to God. If you want to have a good day, start by giving yourself to the Lord as a burnt offering, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Rom. 12:1). A good day begins in the morning, and it begins at the altar.

Does your day begin with God? If not, decide to start each morning by dedicating yourself to Him as a living sacrifice and ask His guidance for the day's decisions and actions. He wants to direct your life. So view each day as a gift from God and determine to be a good steward of the day's resources. Make your time with Him a daily appointment.

Back to Warren Wiersbe index of articles.

2009-09-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Remembering September 11, 2001

It was one of those crisp, sunny, nearly perfect September mornings. I was working at Sears in Evansville that day. Sometimes I would listen to the morning news as I prepared myself for work, both mentally and physically. Those of you you have worked in sales know what I'm talking about. Then those images flashed across the television screen. I still remember them as the planes hit the twin towers and then the Pentagon.

They say you always remember what you were doing when events like these happen. Believe it or not, I remember what I was doing when John Kennedy was assassinated. I was at recess in third grade at Oakdale Elementary. The teacher called us inside and gave us the news. I remember the live black and white images on our television. I remember watching the funeral procession with my parents as most people were not working the day of the President's funeral.

Flashing back to September 11, 2001, I remember some other things also in the weeks after that day.. I remember that the late night comedians weren't hurling the usual crude humor at us. I remember American flags everywhere as people showed their support for our country. Words like God and prayer were even mentioned by the nightly newscasters. Party politics were set aside for a while as senators and congressmen and women came together as one voice. The new President that so many of the comedians had been making fun of amazed many with his leadership. It didn't matter whether or not his grammer was as polished as some. The nation listened to the message he gave the world as terrorists around the world realized there was a new sheriff in town. Those in the military were heroes once again.

Then a few weeks passed...The comedians gradually started telling their jokes again. We didn't hear so much about God, prayer, and love of country from those in mainstream media. The American flags started coming down one by one in our towns and across America. Shades of Viet Nam come to mind when the media discussed those returning from war and offered their "expert" advice. Experts came out of the woodwork as it seemed that anyone who had ever been a miltary commander was now on the payroll of big media. ...How soon we forget. We forget that God still loves us and is still in control, even when the world is falling apart all around .We as a nation forget about the One who made the ultimate sacrifice that we might live...forever...God bless-keith 1 Cor 13

Commentary from Life News.com-By Steve Ertelt

2009-09-06T18:46:00.003-05:00

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama supports abortion and has done everything possible to expand the number of abortions during his brief tenure as president. While Obama may not have racist motivations for backing abortion, black pro-life advocates are saying that is the outcome.

Two African-American pro-life leaders are saying that, because abortions disproportionately target the blackcommunity, expanding abortions brings a racial result.

Day Gardner, the president of the National Black Pro-Life Union, tells LifeNews.com that Obama's abortion promotion is evident.

"In less than nine months he has overturned the Mexico City policy -- which means American tax dollars will be used to pay for foreign abortions. Most of those killed will be the children of my beautiful brothers and sisters in Africa," she explained.

'President Obama's most recent effort is to push a health care bill that will mandate taxpayer funding of abortions. He has gone on record to deny this fact, which leaves many Americans wondering if he has bothered to read the 1000 plus-page monster circulating Congress," she says.

Gardner points out that, since the 1973 Supreme Court decision allowing the destruction of more than 50 million unborn children, 17 million of them were black. That represents a larger percentage of the abortions than black Americans as a portion of the American population.

"Today, for every black baby born, another black baby is killed by abortion," Gardner says.

'I find Mr. Obama's abortion push especially strange because the abortion industry purposefully targets black people," Gardner continued. "The Alan Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Disease Control, (CDC), show that Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion chain, has planted its clinics -- more than 75 percent --strategically in our urban and minority dense neighborhoods."

"Every day Planned Parenthood manages to convince pregnant black girls, especially in urban areas to abort by making them believe their pitiful lives will be better if their unwanted, unloved, worthless black ghetto child dies," she said.

"They are wrong! We come from a strong stock of people who survived slavery and Jim Crow. We don't have to kill our children to have better lives," Gardner told LifeNews.com.

"So, how can President Obama support an industry that goes to such great lengths to kill black children?" she asks.

The black pro-life advocate believes Obama is beholden to pro-abortion groups that strongly supported his presidential bid.

Meanwhile, Fox News host Glenn Beck had Dallas-area pastor Stephen Broden, who made some of the same points.

Broden argued that the health reform bill being debated in Congress will lead to a campaign to exterminate black people in America.

Broden plugged a documentary, Maafa 21, that points out how the founders of Planned Parenthood, such as Margaret Sanger, had racial motivations for promotion abortion.

“What’s going on in that documentary is what’s going to happen in the health care package,” Broden told Glenn Beck.

“I believe what we're seeing is an orchestrated attempt to radically change this country from what the founders had in mind,” Broden said. “There is a deliberate attempt on the part of Marxist, socialist and … Darwin atheists who are changing this country.”

Ultimately Gardner says abortion must be strongly opposed in the same manner as genocide in African nations.

"If we are truly the America that holds life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness so dear -- then we must obliterate the scourge of abortion from our midst otherwise we are no better than the those who perpetrate the conflict in Darfur, Rwanda, or any other country where human beings are enslaved, butchered or denied their rights just because they are meeker or weaker," she says.

Related web sites: National Black Pro-Life Union - http://www.NationalBlackProLifeUnion.com

A Glimpse of Government Run "Healthcare."

2009-08-26T14:51:00.001-05:00

Two pro-life pharmacy owners have won the right, for now, to refuse to stock and dispense the morning-after pill.

The Circuit Court in Springfield, Il. has issued a preliminary injunction in the case, stating that the two pharmacists "are suffering irreparable harm in the form of an ongoing chill of their free exercise rights."

For the last four years, Glen Kosirog and Luke Vanderbleek have been facing off against the state of Illinois over their conscience rights. Both men oppose the morning-after pill because it can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.

Illinois boasts one of the strongest conscience protection laws in the country, but then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich overturned it in 2005.

CBN News spoke with Vanderbleek earlier this year about the issue.

"If the government says that Luke Vanderbleek can't enter his pharmacy without a moral conscience and do what my heart and the Spirit tells me to do with good conscience I won't be a pharmacist anymore in this state," he said.

2009-08-24T17:28:00.004-05:00

Gay is O.K. According to Lutheran Vote

On Friday, the nation's largest Lutheran church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), voted to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. Individual congregations now have the ability to select pastors or lay leaders in monogamous and lifelong same-sex relationships. Last month, the Episcopal Church lifted a similar ban on non-celibate gay bishops.

Hmmm...I wonder how they interpret Romans Chapter One. Must not be the same Bible I read...,"Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either-women who didn't know how to be women, men who didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men-all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it-emptied of God's love, godless and loveless wretches." Romans 1:26,27 The Message

"But false prophets also arose amomg the people..."

2009-08-18T10:51:00.007-05:00

In a USA Today opinion piece titled “We Believe in Evolution—and God,” two "Christian evolutionists" send a broadside our way. But do they bring up anything new?

www.answersingenesis.org

The authors of the piece are Eastern Nazarene College professor Karl Giberson (whom we wrote about last November) and Point Loma Nazarene University professor Darrel Falk. Both are co-presidents of the new BioLogos Foundation established by Christian evolutionist Francis Collins (see the May 16 edition of News to Note).

The two begin with an unsurprising assertion: “We find no contradiction between the scientific understanding of the world, and the belief that God created that world. And that includes Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.” They add that molecules-to-man evolution “unifies the entire science of biology,” and that “evolution is as well-established within biology as heliocentricity is established within astronomy.” Then they bring out their biggest guns:

The “science” undergirding this “young earth creationism” comes from a narrow, literalistic and relatively recent interpretation of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. This “science” is on display in the Creation Museum in Kentucky, where friendly dinosaurs—one with a saddle!—cavort with humans in the Garden of Eden. . . . Science faculty at schools such as Bryan College in Tennessee and Liberty University in Virginia work on “models” to shoehorn the 15 billion year history of the universe into the past 10,000 years.

And hence the misinformation begins, which we will answer in turn. Here, we wonder if Giberson and Falk dismiss plain readings of other Bible passages as “narrow” and “literalistic” even if those passages, like Genesis 1 show the hallmarks of being plainly worded historical accounts. And the early church fathers’ supposed doubt concerning a literal Genesis has also been dramatically exaggerated (see The Early Church on Creation). Also, as we have explained before, the saddled dinosaur in the Creation Museum is not an exhibit, but rather a fun photo opportunity for young children; it is in the basement, far from the Garden of Eden display. And the authors merely beg the question when they write that our friends at Bryan College, Liberty University, and elsewhere must “shoehorn” old-earth ideas into a young-earth framework.

Challenging accepted ideas is how America churns out Nobel Prize-winning science and patents that will drive tomorrow’s technology. But challenging authority can also undermine this country’s leadership in science, when citizens reject it. . . . [We aim] to counter the voices coming from places such as the website Answers in Genesis, which touts creation scientists, and the Discovery Institute, a think tank in Seattle, that calls on Christians to essentially choose between science and faith.

First of all, the professors have conflated operational science with origins science—a common problem we point out. Also we have made clear many times that we certainly do not reject science; we just do not believe that everything labeled “science” or that everything believed by scientists actually is good, objective science. Likewise, we regularly emphasize that the supposed dichotomy between religion (or faith) and science is false. The issue is not that we fight the encroachment of science; rather, we believe that one’s starting point is an inherently religious belief that determines how one interprets the results of the scientific method.

Darwin proposed the theory of evolution in 1859 in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. This controversial text presented evidence that present-day life forms have descended from common ancestors via natural selection. Organisms better adapted to their environments had more offspring, and these fitness adaptations accumulated across the millennia. And this is how new species arose.

Natural selection is a readily observed, experimentally verified scientific fact that requires no historical speculation, and as such, our Creation Museum has an exhibit that explains it. We agree that natural selection can lead to new species within a kind as it reduces the genetic information in a population, resulting in sexual incompatibility where there previously was none. But Darwin and those who follow him extrapolate backward from these observations all the way to a single ancestor of all life. That assertion can never be proved right or wrong from fossils or any other present-day scientific study.

We are trained scientists who believe in God, but we also believe that science provides reliable information about nature. We don’t view evolution as sinister and atheistic. We think it is simply God’s way of creating. . . . Evolution is not a chaotic and wasteful process, as the critics charge.

We agree that the scientific method can show certain hypotheses to be more reliable than others through the process of attempted falsification. However, “science” does not provide anything—saying as much is to commit the fallacy of reification. We also would ask if the authors believe in the true, bodily resurrection of Jesus, given that such is as “scientifically” unverifiable as creation. Next, by using the word “sinister,” the authors imply that young-earth creationists are afraid of evolution. Rather, we understand the idea of evolution; it is simply that we don’t believe it is true for biblical and logical reasons. And the authors seem to be deluding themselves by writing that evolution is not “chaotic and wasteful,” given that young-earth creationists believe God created a world of life in one week without any death. The fossil record, however, is a record of death and includes evidence of violence and disease, such as cancer. Why would God call that “very good” if death is an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26) introduced by sin, which could not have occurred before man (Romans 5:12–14)?

We understand science as a gift from God to explore the creation, a companion revelation enriching the understanding of God we get from other sources, such as the Bible. Many do not realize that making the Bible into a textbook of modern science is a recent development. What we learn from science cannot threaten our belief in God as the creator. If God created the universe in a [b]ig [b]ang 15 billion years ago, guided its development with elegant mathematical laws so that eventually there would be big-brained mammals exploring things such as beauty, morality and truth, then let us celebrate that idea, not reject it.

Again, we agree that science can help us explore creation. But the authors’ description of it as a “companion revelation” forces a question: is everything reported in a scientific journal automatically as valid as Scripture? What about when the two come into conflict—such as if an archaeologist alleges that the Bible’s history is inaccurate? Again, the church fathers overwhelmingly believed in a recent creation as the Bible taught. And of course we do not make the Bible a “textbook of modern science,” since it is a book of history. And again, the authors fallaciously reify “science.” What Richard Dawkins believes the scientific method shows certainly does threaten one’s belief in God. Finally, there is the word if: “If God created the universe in a [b]ig [b]ang 15 billion years ago . . . .” The authors seem to misunderstand our perspective entirely, again, falsely implying that our position is due to fear or unwillingness to consider what it would mean to celebrate the big bang, etc.

Sadly, the visibility of Giberson and Falk’s piece will surely misinform many who don’t actually know what we and other young-earth creationists believe. Even while lobbying tired old defenses of theistic evolution, the authors did not answer a single of our substantive problems with compromise (which are documented in the articles linked below). Still, we are thankful for the continued attention on the Creation Museum, which continues to be the best chance many have for beginning to understand the creationist’s perspective—and for meeting the Creator.

I'm sure these guys don't represent the views of most Nazarenes. Not the ones I know anyway. This just shows what happens when some within the church try to compromise with the worldviews espoused in institutions of "higher" learning. Evolution is a religion, not a science.Science has natural laws and reasonable explanations to back it up. Its a matter of which religion we choose.Personally I believe in the literal six day creation.Some believe in longer periods of time. When we use the Bible first to interpret events, things tend to make more sense than when trying to make science "fit" the Bible. 2 Peter 2:1 gives us some surprising insights about our day,"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you...What do you think?"keith 1 Cor 13

Remembering Terri Schiavo

2009-08-15T20:21:00.003-05:00

Monday, March 30, 2009

Remembering Terri Schiavo-Five Years Ago This Week*

The culture of death advances

By Patrick J. Buchanan
© 2009 Creators Syndicate, Inc

On Good Friday, as Terri Schiavo lay dying of thirst in Woodside Hospice, Gabriel Keys took her a cup of water. Gabriel was arrested, handcuffed and taken away.

2009-08-05T11:45:00.001-05:00

I Am the Lord That Healeth Thee
By Smith Wigglesworth

"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James 5 :14, 15) .

We have in this precious word a real basis for the truth of healing. In this scripture God gives very definite instructions to the sick. If you are sick, your part is to call for the elders of the church; it is their part to anoint and pray for you in faith, and then the whole situation rests with the Lord. When you have been anointed and prayed for, you can rest assured that the Lord will raise you up. It is the word of God.

I believe that we all can see that the church cannot play with this business. If any turn away from these clear instructions they are in a place of tremendous danger. Those who refuse to obey, do so to their unspeakable loss.

James tells us in connection with this, "if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death." Many turn away from the Lord, as did King Asa, who sought the physicians in his sickness and consequently died; and I take it that this passage means that if one induces another to turn back to the Lord, he will save such from death and God will forgive a multitude of sins that they have committed. This scripture can also have a large application on the line of salvation. If you turn away from any part of God's truth, the enemy will certainly get an advantage over you.

Does the Lord meet those who look to Him for healing and obey the instructions set forth in James? Most assuredly. Let me tell you a story to show how He will undertake for the most extreme case.

One day I had been visiting the sick, and was with a friend of mine, an architect, when I saw a young man f from his office coming down the road in a car, and holding in his hand a telegram. It contained a very urgent request that we go immediately to pray for a man who was dying. We went off in an auto as fast as possible and in about an hour and a half reached a large house in the country where the man who was dying resided. There were two staircases in that house, and it was extremely convenient, for the doctors could go up and down one, and my friend and I could go up and down the other, and so we had no occasion to meet.

I found on arrival that it was a case of this sort. The man's body had been broken, he was ruptured, and his bowels had been punctured in two places. The discharge from the bowels had formed abscesses, and blood poisoning had set in. The man's face had turned green. Two doctors were in attendance, but they saw that the case was beyond their power. They had telegraphed to London for a great specialist, and, when we arrived, they were at the railway station awaiting bis arrival.

The man was very near death and could not speak. I said to his wife, "If you desire, we will anoint and pray for him." She said, "That is why I sent for you." I anointed him in the name of the Lord and asked the Lord to raise him up. Apparently there was no change. (God often hides what He does. From day to day we find that God is doing wonderful things, and we receive reports of healings that have taken place that we heard nothing about at the time of our meetings. Only last night a woman came into the meeting suffering terribly. Her whole arm was filled with poison, and her blood was so poisoned that it was certain to bring her to her death. We rebuked the thing, and she was here this morning and told us that she was without pain and had slept all night, a thing she had not done for two months. To God be all the praise. You will find He will do this kind of thing all along.)

As soon as we anointed and prayed for this brother we went down the back staircase and the three doctors came up the front staircase. As we arrived downstairs, I said to my friend who had come with me, "Friend let me have hold of your hands." We held each other's hands, and I said to him, "Look into my face and let us agree together, according to Matthew 1$:19, that this man shall be brought out of this death." We laid the whole matter before God, and said, "Father, we believe."

Then the conflict began. The wife came down to us and said, "The doctors have got all their instruments out and they are about to operate." I cried, "What? Look here, he's your husband, and I tell you this, if those men operate on him, he will die. Go back and tell them you cannot allow it." She went back to the doctors and said, "Give me ten minutes." They said, "We can't afford to, the man is dying and it is your husband's only chance." She said, "I want ten minutes, and you don't touch his body until I have had them."

They went downstairs by one staircase and we went up by the other. I said to the woman, "This man is your husband, and he cannot speak for himself. It is now the time for you to put your whole trust in God and prove Him wholly true. You can save him from a thousand doctors. You must stand with God and for God in this critical hour." After that, we came down and the doctors went up. The wife faced those three doctors and said, "You shan't touch this man's body. He is my husband. I am sure that if you operate on him he will die, but he will live if you don't touch him."

Suddenly the man in the bed spoke. "God has done it," he said. They rolled back the bed clothes and the doctors examined him, and the abscesses were cut clear away. The nurse cleaned the place where they had been. The doctors could see the bowels still open and they said to the wife, "We know that you have great faith, and we can see that a miracle has taken place. But you must let us unite these broken parts and put in silver tubes, and we know that your husband will be all right after that, and it need not interfere with your faith at all." She said to them, "God has done the first thing and He can do the rest. No man shall touch him now." And God healed the whole thing. And that man is well and strong today. I can give his name and address to any who want it.

Do you ask by what power this was done? I would answer in the words of Peter, "His name, through faith in His name, made this man strong." The anointing was done i7. the name of the Lord. And it is written, "The LORD shall raise him up." And He provides the double cure; even if sin has been the cause of the sickness, His Word declares, "If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven,"

You ask, "What is faith?" Faith is the principle of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word, is called the Spirit of Truth, and, as we receive with meekness the engrafted Word, faith springs in our heart-faith in the sacrifice of Calvary: faith in the shed blood of Jesus; faith in the fact that He took our weakness upon Himself, has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains, and that He is our life today.

God has chosen us to help one another. We dare not be independent. He brings us to a place where we submit ourselves to one another. If we refuse to do this, we get away from the Word of God and out of the place of faith. I have been in this place once and I trust I shall never be there again. I went one time to a meeting. I was very, very sick, and I got worse and worse. I knew the perfect will of God was for me to humble myself and ask the elders to pray for me. I put it off and the meeting finished. I went home without being anointed and prayed with, and everyone in the house caught the thing I was suffering with.

My boys did not know anything else but to trust the Lord as the family Physician, and my youngest boy, George, cried out from the attic, "Dadda, come." I cried, "I cannot come. The whole thing is from me. I shall have to repent and ask the Lord to forgive me." I made up my mind to humble myself before the whole church. Then I rushed to the attic and laid my hands on my boy in the name of Jesus. I placed my hands on his head and the pain left and went lower down; he cried again, "Put your hands still lower." At last the pain went right down to the feet and as I placed my hand on the feet be was completely delivered. Some evil power had evidently gotten hold and as I laid my hands on the different parts of the body it left. (We have to see the difference between anointing the sick and casting out demons.) God will always be gracious when we humble ourselves before Him and come to a place of brokenness of spirit.

I was at a place one time ministering to a sick woman, and she said, "I'm very sick. I become all right for an hour, and then I have another attack." I saw that it was an evil power that was attacking her, and I learned something in that hour that I had never learned before. As I moved my hand down her body in the name of the Lord that evil power seemed to move just ahead of my hands and as I moved them down further and further the evil power went right out of her body and never returned.

I was in Havre in France and the power of God was being mightily manifested. A Greek named Felix attended the meeting and became very zealous for God. He was very anxious to get all the Catholics he could to the meeting in order that they should see that God was graciously visiting France. He found a certain bed-ridden woman who was fixed in a certain position and could not move, and he told her about the Lord healing at the meetings and that he would get me to come if she wished. She said, "My husband is a Catholic and he would never allow anyone who was not a Catholic to see me."

She asked her husband to allow me to come and told him what Felix had told her about the power of God working in our midst. He said, "I will have no Protestant enter my house." She said, "You know the doctors cannot help me, and the priests cannot help, won't you let this man of God pray for me?" He finally consented and I went to the house. The simplicity of this woman and her child-like faith were beautiful to see.

I showed her my oil bottle and said to her, "Here is oil. It is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. When that comes upon you, the Holy Ghost will begin to work, and the Lord will raise you up." And God did something the moment the oil fell upon her. I looked toward the window and I saw Jesus. (I have seen Him often. There is no painting that is a bit like Him

no artist can ever depict the beauty of my lovely Lord.) The woman felt the power of God in her body and cried, "I'm free, my hands are free, my shoulders are free, and oh, I see Jesus! I'm free! I'm free!"

The vision vanished and the woman sat up in bed. Her legs were still bound, and I said to her, "I'll put my hands over your legs and you will be free entirely." And as I put my hands on those legs covered with bed clothes, I looked and saw the Lord again. She saw Him too and cried, "He's there again. I'm free! I'm free!" She rose from her bed and walked round the room praising God, and we were all in tears as we saw His wonderful works. The Lord shall raise them up when conditions are met.

When I was a young man I always loved the fellowship of old men, and was always careful to hear what they had to say. I had a friend, an old Baptist minister who was a wonderful preacher. I spent much of my time with him. One day he came to me and said, "My wife is dying." I said, "Brother Clark, why don't you believe God? God can raise her up if you will only believe Him." He asked me to come to his house, and I looked for some one to go with me.

I went to a certain rich man who was very zealous for God, and spent much money in opening up rescue. missions, and I asked him to go with me. He said, "Never you mind me. You go yourself, but I don't take to this kind of business." Then I thought of a man who could pray by the hour. When he was on his knees he could go round the world three times and come out at the same place. I asked him to go with me and said to him, "You'll have a real chance this time. Keep at it, and quit when you're through." (Some go on after they are through.)

Brother Nichols, for that was his name, went with me and started praying. He asked the Lord to comfort the husband in his great bereavement and prayed for the orphans and a lot more on this line. I cried, "O my God, stop this man." But there was no stopping him and he went on praying and there was not a particle of faith in anything he uttered. He did stop at last, and I said, "Brother Clark, it's now your turn to pray. He started, "Lord, answer the prayer of my brother and comfort me in this great bereavement and sorrow. Prepare me to face this great trial." I cried out, "My God, stop this man." The whole atmosphere was being charged with unbelief.

I had a glass bottle full of oil and I went up tea the woman and poured the whole lot on her in the name of Jesus. Suddenly Jesus appeared, standing at the foot of the bed. He smiled and vanished. The woman stood up, perfectly healed, and she is a strong woman today.

We have a big God. We have a wonderful Jesus. We have a glorious Comforter. God's canopy is over you and will cover you at all times, preserving you from evil. Under His wings shalt thou trust. The Word of God is living and powerful and in its treasures you will find eternal life. If you dare trust this wonderful Lord, this Lord of life, you will find in Him everything you need.

So many are tampering with drugs, quacks, pills and plasters. Clear them all out and believe God. It is sufficient to believe God. You will find that if you dare trust Him, He will never fail. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up." Do you trust Him? He is worthy to be trusted.

I was one time asked to go to Weston-super-mare, a seaside resort in the West of England. I learned from a telegram that a man had lost his reason and had become a raving maniac, and they wanted me to go to pray for him. I arrived at the place, and the wife said to me, "Will you sleep with my husband?" I agreed, and in the middle of the night an evil power laid hold of him. It was awful. I put my hand on his head and his hair was like a lot of sticks. God gave deliverance-a temporary deliverance. At 6 o'clock the next morning, I felt that it was necessary that I should get out of the house for a short time.

The man saw me going and cried out, "If you leave me, there is no hope." But I felt that I had to go. As I went out I saw a woman with a Salvation Army bonnet on and I knew that she was going to their 7 o'clock prayer meeting. I said to the Captain who was in charge of the meeting, when I saw he was about to give out a hymn, "Captain, don't sing. Let's get to prayer." He agreed, and I prayed my heart out, and then I grabbed my hat and rushed out of the hall. They all thought they had a madman in their prayer meeting that morning.

I saw the man I had spent the night with, rushing down toward the sea, without a particle of clothing on, about to drown himself. I cried, "In the name of Jesus, come out of him!" The man fell full length on the ground and that evil power went out of him never to return. His wife came rushing after him, and the husband was restored to her in a perfect mental condition.

There are evil powers, but Jesus is greater than all evil powers. There are tremendous diseases, but Jesus is healer. There is no case too hard for Him. The Lion of Judah shall break every chain. He came to relieve the oppressed and to set the captive free. He came to bring redemption, to make us as perfect as man was before the fall.

People want to know how to be kept by the power of God. Every position of grace into which you are led-forgiveness, healing, deliverance of any kindwill be contested by Satan. He will contend for your body. When you are saved, Satan will come round and say, "See, you are not saved." The devil is a liar. If he says you are not saved, it is a sure sign that you are.

You will remember the story of the man who was swept and garnished. The evil power had been swept out of him. But the man remained in a stationary position. If the Lord heals you, you dare not remain in a stationary position. The evil spirit came back to that man and found the house swept, and took seven others worse than himself, and the last state of that man was worse than the first. Be sure to get filled with God. Get the Occupier. Be filled with the Spirit.

God has a million ways of undertaking for those who go to Him for help. He has deliverance for every captive. He loves you so much that He even says, "Before they call, I will answer." Don't turn Him away.

"I slipped and fell on Broadway, San Diego, in February, 1921, and as was afterwards discovered, fractured the coccyx (the base of the spine), and so severely wrenched the hips and pelvic bones that I became a great sufferer. As the broken bone was not discovered and set until about two months after the accident, the constant pain and irritation caused a general inflammation of the nervous system, and the long delay in getting the bone set, made it impossible to heal, so that, my condition steadily grew worse, and I was taken to the hospital and the bone was removed about a month after it had been set. Though the wound healed rapidly, the nervous inflammation remained, and so for many months longer I was in constant pain and unable to get around without assistance. I was taken to the first service held by Mr. Wigglesworth on the 2nd of October, 1922. At the close of the service all those who were sick and in pain and had come for healing were requested to rise if possible. My husband assisted me to my feet, and as those were prayed for by the speaker I was instantly healed. How

I do not know. I only know the Great Physician touched my body and I was made whole, and freed from pain.

"After I got home I showed how I could sit down and rise with my hands above my head; when before it had taken both hands to push up my feeble body, and I had to have straps on my bed to pull up by. No more use for them now! I lay down and turned over for the first time without pain. I shall never cease to praise God for the healing of my body through the precious blood of Jesus and in His name. I walked to the street car alone the next day and attended the next service and have been "on the go" ever since. Can give names of friends who can substantiate all I have written. To Jesus be all the, praise and glory." -Mrs. Sanders, 4051 Bay View Court, San Diego, Calif.

2009-08-04T13:04:00.001-05:00

UK Government To Install Surveillance Cameras In Private Homes

State to spy on parents, make sure kids go to bed on time, attend school

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, August 3, 2009

The UK government is about to spend $700 million dollars installing surveillance cameras inside the private homes of citizens to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.

No you aren’t reading a passage from George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, this is Britain in 2009, a country which already has more surveillance cameras watching its population than the whole of Europe put together.

Now the government is embarking on a scheme called “Family Intervention Projects” which will literally create a nanny state on steroids, with social services goons and private security guards given the authority to make regular “home checks” to ensure parents are raising their children correctly.

Telescreens will also be installed so government spies can keep an eye on whether parents are mistreating kids and whether the kids are fulfilling their obligations under a pre-signed contract.

Around 2,000 families have been targeted by this program so far and the government wants to snare 20,000 more within the next two years. The tab will be picked up by the taxpayer, with the “interventions” being funded through local council authorities.

Another key aspect of the program will see parents deemed “responsible” by the government handed the power to denounce and report bad parents who allow their children to engage in bad behavior. Such families will then be targeted for “interventions”.

Both parents and children will also be forced to sign a “behavior contract” with the government known as Home School Agreements before the start of every year, in which the state will dictate obligations that it expects to be met.

The opposition Conservative Party, who are clear favorites to win the next British election, commented that the program does not go far enough and is “too little, too late.”

Respondents to a Daily Express article about the new program expressed their shock at the totalitarian implications of what is unfolding in the United Kingdom under the guise of social services initiatives.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

“Sorry, but what the hell? Why are people not up in arms about this?,” writes one, “This is a complete invasion of privacy, and it totally ignores the fact that the state does NOT own kids. It’s not up to them how parents choose to raise their children, as long as the parents do not actively harm them. Why on earth aren’t the public rioting? It’s completely anathema to basic British freedoms.”

“Excuse me!?! What an incredible intrusion into the privacy of a family! George Orwell must be spinning in his grave right now,” writes another.

“I have one comment to make: it completely violates Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Human Rights Act 1998). Has this minister and his lackies even done any basic homework on basic human rights and civil liberties? Or rather they’ve just decided to completely ignore them,” adds another.

The move to install surveillance cameras inside private homes is also on the agenda across the pond. In February 2006, Houston Chief of Police Harold Hurtt said cameras should be placed inside apartments and homes in order to “fight crime” due to there being a shortage of police officers.

“I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?” Chief Hurtt told reporters.

Andy Teas with the Houston Apartment Association supported the proposal, saying privacy concerns would take a back seat to many people who would, “appreciate the thought of extra eyes looking out for them.”

If such programs come to fruition and are implemented on a mass scale then the full scope of George Orwell’s depiction of a totalitarian society is his classic novel 1984 will have been realized.

The following passage is from Orwell’s 1984;

The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

Deathcare for the Unborn

2009-07-28T17:22:00.003-05:00

Government Takeover of Healthcare

DEATH CARE

FOR THE UNBORN

Pro-ABORTION Congressional Leaders Plan

The Greatest Expansion of ABORTION since Roe v. Wade

A health care plan was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee (HELP) on July 15. The Senate plan is called the Kennedy Bill because it is sponsored by Pro-ABORTION Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. The House of Representatives Health Care Plan is called H.R. 3200.

2009-07-22T15:50:00.002-05:00

10 Tragic Consequences for a Public Figure’s Private Failure

www.capitallife.org

The recent revelation of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s marital infidelities is tragic and it reveals something about the character of our country. Each political party has its “who’s who” of moral and ethical failures. Each scandal is quickly seized upon for political gain yet the greater story is found in matters of the heart. To be a public success but a private failure is to place image above character. One often neglects to measure the ripple affects of moral and ethical trespasses. The following are 10 tragic consequences for a public figure’s private failure:

1. The shattered heart of a spouse.

2. The vulnerability of the children.

3. The sense of betrayal in a staff.

4. The loss of moral authority.

5. The jeopardizing of a future.

6. The message sent out to the next generation.

7. The damage done to a constituency.

8. The embarrassment to a political party.

9. The undermining of trust in one’s future decisions.

10. The inability to reconcile public convictions with private actions.

Where Governor Sanford is concerned, healing and hope will begin with repentance and reprioritization. Family values are not at the mercy of any public official. The lesson learned is that failure is not found in having values but in failing to honor the same. It can be said that the greatest failure can be found, not in those who hold values and fail, but in those who embrace no values and succeed.

2009-07-21T09:31:00.001-05:00

What Would Wesley Want?

2009-07-14T13:14:00.008-05:00

I was reading the Miami Herald online today, as I like to keep up with what's happening in South Florida. I used to live there and it seems to be that the coastal cities are an indicator of what eventually happens in the Heartland. The article I was reading focused on some Haitian immigrants that had arrived in Pompano Beach Florida, which is about 20 miles north of Miami. Most travel on makeshift rafts or stowed away in watercraft. Many times children drown or die along with their parents. Thanks be to God, these arrived safely. Illegal immigration and immigration in general has become a controversial topic in recent years. We hear much about it at election time, a lot of hot air from both parties, but no one really wants to confront the issue. In the meantime, emergency rooms are overcrowded , government funds are stretched to the limit leaving innocent children caught in the "crossfire." The problem is that the denominations which have their roots in the Wesley brothers have either become a denominational church which remembers the legalistic side of Wesley's teaching and forgets social activism, or a church of good works that has lost its moral compass.As Wesleyans we have a unique Christian Heritage. John Wesley believed there was a balance between personal heart holiness and a social Gospel of caring for the poor and disadvantaged. John Wesley believed the Christian could and should have it both ways. It is easy to look to a political party or leader to solve the social ills of our day. As Christians, we should give to Ceaser what is his and vote responsibly with Christian values in mind, hoping and praying the politicos don't turn on us as so many have done in the past. When Wesley started a "poor house for destitute widows and children," he had set it up so that he and the other Methodist preachers would also live with them, thereby maintaining solidarity. Here are Wesley's own words:

For I myself, as well as the other Preachers who are in town, diet with the poor, on the same food, at the same table; and we rejoice herein, as a comfortable earnest of our eating bread together in our father's kingdom. (A Plain Account of the People called Methodists, VIII:265)

In this day when many tele-evangelists are being investigated for misusing millions of dollars, it would be hard to imagine them living like this with the poor among us. What do you think?

Its Still Good Advice!

2009-07-10T00:54:00.001-05:00

I Corinthians 13

1co 13:1	If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell.
1co 13:2	And if I have a prophet's power, and have knowledge of all secret things; and if I have all faith, by which mountains may be moved from their place, but have not love, I am nothing.
1co 13:3	And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me.
1co 13:4	Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride;
1co 13:5	Love's ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil;
1co 13:6	It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true;
1co 13:7	Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things.
1co 13:8	Though the prophet's word may come to an end, tongues come to nothing, and knowledge have no more value, love has no end.
1co 13:9	For our knowledge is only in part, and the prophet's word gives only a part of what is true:
1co 13:10	But when that which is complete is come, then that which is in part will be no longer necessary.
1co 13:11	When I was a child, I made use of a child's language, I had a child's feelings and a child's thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child.
1co 13:12	For now we see things in a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now my knowledge is in part; then it will be complete, even as God's knowledge of me.
1co 13:13	But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

United Methodist's Members Dying Faster Than Americans

2009-07-05T06:14:00.004-05:00

Audry Barrick/www.christianpost.com

Offering a new perspective on the reality of aging denominations, The United Methodist Church studied the death rates of Methodists and the general American population and found that the church is dying faster.

The death rates for members of the nearly 8 million-member denomination are about a third higher than the national average, according to the "Pockets of 'Youthfulness' in an Aging Denomination" report.

In 2005, the United Methodist death rate was 134 percent of the U.S. death rate among those 15 years and older.

Among UMC's 62 annual conferences, or regional bodies, in the United States, 34 of them (representing 41 percent of UMC membership) reported death rates 20 percent or higher than their general population.

"There is no future for The United Methodist Church in the United States unless we can learn to reach more people, younger people and more diverse people,” said the Rev. Lovett Weems, director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, which compiled the report, as reported by the United Methodist News Service.

The graying and declining membership has led to numerous multi-million dollar ad campaigns in an effort to reach more people, particularly young ones.

"Rethink Church" is the United Methodist Church's newest campaign targeting 19- to 34-year-olds who may not be familiar with the church or who are seeking to make their lives more meaningful.

More than $20 million in ads are being launched over the next four years.

"Reaching new populations – which tend to be younger and more diverse than traditional United Methodist constituents – needs to be a high priority," Weems told UMNS.

According to the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, members in mainline denominations were younger than the general U.S. population in the 1960s. But over the last several decades, membership has continuously grown older.

While death rates may not be exact indicators of age, the Center – which set out to examine age trends in the United Methodist Church – pointed out that they do help show patterns that should correspond generally to age, considering that 75 percent of deaths in recent years occurred among people aged 65 and older.

The Lewis Center recommends that United Methodist churches not only reach new populations, but also begin new congregations as they tend to reach younger people at a higher rate than existing churches.

While more liberal in some areas, the United Methodist Church is one of our sister denominations in a sense. I posted this article as loss of members is a problem common to all major denominations in recent years.

Celebrating Independence Day-A Christian Perspective

2009-07-03T15:19:00.003-05:00

David Barton - 01/2000
www.wallbuilders.com

This year marks 230 years since our Founding Fathers gave us our National Birth Certificate. We continue to be the longest on-going Constitutional Republic in the history of the world. Blessings such as these are not by chance or accidental. They are blessings of God.

On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to approve a complete separation from Great Britain. Two days afterwards – July 4th – the early draft of the Declaration of Independence was signed, albeit by only two individuals at that time: John Hancock, President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress. Four days later, on July 8, members of Congress took that document and read it aloud from the steps of Independence Hall, proclaiming it to the city of Philadelphia, after which the Liberty Bell was rung. The inscription around the top of that bell, Leviticus 25:10, was most appropriate for the occasion: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof.” To read rest of article(Click here)

To learn more about the quest for our freedom, read WallBuilder resources such as Celebrate Liberty!, the Lives of the Signers and Wives of the Signers reprints, and the booklet, The Spirit of the American Revolution; or listen to the stories recounted by David Barton in America's Birthday. These, and many more, are available from our online store. To order or request a FREE catalog, call toll-free 800-873-2845; or you may write to us at P.O. Box 397, Aledo, TX, 76008.

2009-07-03T12:35:00.004-05:00

Helen Thomas: Not Even Nixon Tried to Control the Media Like Obama
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
By Penny Starr and Fred
Lucas(CNSNews.com)
Following a testy exchange during Wednesday’s briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press. “Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try. “What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.” Thomas said she was especially concerned about the arrangement between the Obama Administration and a writer from the liberal Huffington Post Web site. The writer was invited by the White House to President Obama’s press conference last week on the understanding that he would ask Obama a question about Iran from among questions that had been sent to him by people in Iran. “When you call the reporter the night before you know damn well what they are going to ask to control you,” Thomas said. “I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well--for the town halls, for the press conferences,” she said. “It’s blatant. They don’t give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.” During today’s briefing, Thomas interrupted a back-and-forth between Gibbs and Chip Reid, the White House correspondent for CBS News, when Reid was questioning Gibbs about who was going to decide what questions would be asked of President Obama in a townhall meeting that was scheduled to take place in Annandale, Va., today. Gibbs then had an exchange involving Reid and Thomas that went as follows: Gibbs: “… But, again, let's--How about we do this? I promise we will interrupt the AP's tradition of asking the first question. I will let you [Chip Reid] ask me a question tomorrow as to whether you thought the questions at the town hall meeting that the President conducted in Annandale—“ Chip Reid: “I'm perfectly happy to—” Helen Thomas: “That's not his point. The point is the control--” Reid: “Exactly.” Thomas: “We have never had that in the White House. And we have had some, but not-- This White House.” Gibbs: “Yes, I was going to say, I'll let you amend her question.” Thomas: “I'm amazed. I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency and—” Gibbs: “Helen, you haven't even heard the questions.” Reid: “It doesn't matter. It's the process.” Thomas: “You have left open—” Reid: “Even if there's a tough question, it's a question coming from somebody who was invited or was screened, or the question was screened.” Thomas: “It's shocking. It's really shocking.” Gibbs: “Chip, let's have this discussion at the conclusion of the town hall meeting. How about that?” Reid: “Okay.” Gibbs: “I think—“ Thomas: “No, no, no, we're having it now--” Gibbs: “Well, I'd be happy to have it now.” Thomas: “It's a pattern.” Gibbs: “Which question did you object to at the town hall meeting, Helen?” Thomas: “It's a pattern. It isn't the question—” Gibbs: “What's a pattern?” Thomas: “It's a pattern of controlling the press.” Gibbs: “How so? Is there any evidence currently going on that I'm controlling the press--poorly, I might add.” Thomas: “Your formal engagements are pre-packaged.” Gibbs: “How so?” Reid: “Well, and controlling the public—” Thomas: “How so? By calling reporters the night before to tell them they're going to be called on. That is shocking.” Gibbs: “We had this discussion ad nauseam and—” Thomas: “Of course you would, because you don't have any answers.” Gibbs: “Well, because I didn't know you were going to ask a question, Helen. Go ahead.” Thomas: “Well, you should have.” Reporter: Thank you for your support. Gibbs: “That's good. Have you e-mailed your question today?” Thomas: “I don't have to e-mail it. I can tell you right now what I want to ask.” Gibbs: “I don't doubt that at all, Helen. I don't doubt that at all.” Thomas, 89, has covered the White House during every presidency since John F. Kennedy’s.

Its it good thing God's Word doesn't shift with the wind like the media and government pundits.

2009-06-30T12:01:00.007-05:00

Eco-Friendly to the Grave: Japanese Manufacturer to Produce First Hybrid Hearse Tuesday, June 30, 2009
By Fadia Galindo

(CNSNews.com) - The Japanese hearse manufacturer Lequios is going green with its new model, the Toyota Prius Hearse. Lequios says it is responding to the increased demand for eco-friendly transportation.

The hearse, when production begins, is expected to cost about $80,000.

“It’s nice to know that every market niche is being catered for,” said Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

“Even people who are worried about their carbon dioxide emissions can rest easy, knowing that they are being transported to the cemetery in a Prius,” Ebell added, tongue-in-cheek.

In its design stage, the new hearse is rumored to be 21.34 feet long, which comfortably fits a large casket. At 44 miles per gallon, the hybrid has a decent fuel efficiency compared to most hearses in the market.

To view photos of the proposed Toyota Prius hearse, click here.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any environmental impact at all, even if you do believe in global warming alarmism,” said Steve Milloy, founder and publisher of JunkScience.com and a columnist at FoxNews.com.

“The only thing that I can see that the hearse is appropriate for is to bury the green agenda in,” he said. *

CNSNews.com contacted leading environmental groups for comment, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, who refused to respond.

*I agree!. Yes, as Christians we should care about the environment.States like California, however, want to take is as far to to you what color of car to buy.The "governator" should save the science fiction for his movies! Trouble is, its hard to separate the science from the socialism and outright lies. After all, God is still in control. Want to read God's take on "global warming", read 2 Peter 3:10! God bless...keith

2009-06-30T10:28:00.004-05:00

CNSNews.com

Pro-Life Democrats Urge Pelosi to Exclude Abortion Funding from Health Care Reform Bill Tuesday, June 30, 2009 By Monica Gabriel

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – Nineteen pro-life House Democrats signed a letter last week to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressing their opposition to any health care reform that includes abortion funding. “We cannot support any health-care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan,” the letter read. The congressmen did not take a position for or against the so-called “public option” feature of the health care reform bill, which involves the creation of a government-sponsored health insurance poll, but the congressmen were blunt about what they do not want. “Plans to mandate coverage for abortions, either directly or indirectly (are) unacceptable,” they wrote. “We want to ensure that the Health Benefits Advisory Committee cannot recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of benefits package,” the letter further stipulated. “Without an explicit exclusion, abortion could be included in a government subsidized health care plan under general health care.” “Nineteen Democrats breaking the fold is a sign that not everybody within the Democratic Party is completely sold out to the abortion lobby,” Shaun Kenney, executive director of the American Life League, the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States, told CNSNews.com. The fact is, taxpayer dollars are already going towards programs that fund abortion, Kenney said. “Planned Parenthood alone consumes about $349 million a year in federal and state tax subsidies,” he added. According to a report from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, research arm of Planned Parenthood, state policies restrict insurance coverage of abortion in only a few states. “A handful of states prohibit private insurers from covering abortion services, except in cases of life endangerment; more extensive coverage may be purchased at an additional charge,” the report said. Kenney told CNSNews.com that an amendment to prevent any and all taxpayer money going towards abortion and abortion-related programs would be a “rational next step” and “entirely consistent with the sentiments expressed in the letter.” Either way, Kenney expressed optimism no matter the speaker’s reaction to the letter. “What this ultimately is, is the spark, and whether or not Speaker Pelosi listens to them, it certainly is going to encourage the conversation as to whether or not the principles of social justice ultimately coincide with the principles of the abortion lobby,” he added. The letter was signed by Reps. Dan Boran (D-Okla.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), Colin Peterson (D-Minn..), Tim Holden (D-Pa.), Travis Childers (D-Miss.), Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), Mike Mclntyre (D-N.C.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Bobby Bright (D-Ala.), Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Charlie Melancon (D-La.), John Murtha (D-Pa.), Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), and Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-P

In Memorium of My Good Friend's Father

2009-06-29T21:14:00.001-05:00

Paul Boston

April 18, 1940 - June 29, 2009

Paul E. Boston Sr., 69, of Kentucky Avenue graduated to Heaven at 3:55 a.m. Monday, June 29, 2009, at Hospice of South Central Indiana Inpatient Facility.

Mr. Boston was a 1958 graduate of West Frankfort High School in Illinois and retired in 1995 from Cummins Engine Co. after 31 years of service. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran, attended the Salvation Army Church and was a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan.

He was “grandpa” to everyone but to his grandchildren he was “papaw” and he loved them all dearly.

Born in Paoli, Indiana April 18, 1940, Mr. Boston was the son of the Rev. O.C. Boston and Minnie Dillinger Boston. He married Mary Jo Creech Feb. 28, 1961.

Survivors include his wife; sons, Pastor Ed (Margaret Ann) Boston of Hope and David (Jane Lyons) Boston of Columbus; a sister, Doris Boston Crecelius of Boonville; grandchildren, Brock, Brook, Rachel and D.J. Boston, Amanda and Amber Lyons and David and Angel Stroud; and great-grandchildren, Isabella and Caeden Sych.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Elizabeth Boston Stroud.

Funeral Information

VISITATION: Calling will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at Jewell - Rittman Family Funeral Home and from noon until service time Thursday.

FUNERAL: The funeral will be conducted at 1 p.m. Thursday at Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home with his childhood friend, the Rev. Harvey Herring, officiating.

BURIAL: Burial will be at Garland Brook Cemetery with military graveside rites conducted by Bartholomew County Veteran’s Color Guard.

Donations Information

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hope First Wesleyan Church Building Fund.

2009-06-29T10:25:00.002-05:00

More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time
Also, fewer think abortion should be legal “under any circumstances”
by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.

The new results, obtained from Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, represent a significant shift from a year ago, when 50% were pro-choice and 44% pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46%, in both August 2001 and May 2002.

The May 2009 survey documents comparable changes in public views about the legality of abortion. In answer to a question providing three options for the extent to which abortion should be legal, about as many Americans now say the procedure should be illegal in all circumstances (23%) as say it should be legal under any circumstances (22%). This contrasts with the last four years, when Gallup found a strong tilt of public attitudes in favor of unrestricted abortion.

Gallup also found public preferences for the extreme views on abortion about even -- as they are today -- in 2005 and 2002, as well as during much of the first decade of polling on this question from 1975 to 1985. Still, the dominant position on this question remains the middle option, as it has continuously since 1975: 53% currently say abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances.

When the views of this middle group are probed further -- asking these respondents whether they believe abortion should be legal in most or only a few circumstances -- Gallup finds the following breakdown in opinion.

Americans' recent shift toward the pro-life position is confirmed in two other surveys. The same three abortion questions asked on the Gallup Values and Beliefs survey were included in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from May 12-13, with nearly identical results, including a 50% to 43% pro-life versus pro-choice split on the self-identification question.

Additionally, a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center recorded an eight percentage-point decline since last August in those saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, from 54% to 46%. The percentage saying abortion should be legal in only a few or no cases increased from 41% to 44% over the same period. As a result, support for the two broad positions is now about even, sharply different from most polling on this question since 1995, when the majority has typically favored legality.

2009-06-26T16:13:00.000-05:00

Facebook-A Witnessing Tool?

"On February 4th, 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook, a social network that was at the time exclusively for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the schools in the Boston area began demanding a Facebook network. Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskowitz and Chris Hughes to help build Facebook, and within four months, Facebook added 30 more college networks.

The original idea for the term Facebook came from Zuckerberg’s high school (Phillips Exeter Academy). The Exeter Face Book was passed around to every student as a way for students to get to know their classmates for the following year. It was a physical paper book until Zuckerberg brought it to the internet.

Over 1 million new users signed up every week, 200,000 daily, totaling over 50 million active users. Facebook received 40 billion page views a month. Long gone were the days of Facebook as a social network for college students. 11% of users are over the age of 35, and the fastest growing demographic is users over 30. Facebook has also seen huge growth internationally; 15% of the user base is in Canada. Facebook users’ passion, or addiction, to the site is unparalleled: more than half use the product every single day and users spend an average of 19 minutes a day on Facebook. Facebook is 6th most trafficked site in the US and top photo sharing site with 4.1 billion photos uploaded. "

This Brings me back to the question at the beginning. Have you thought of Facebook as a witnessing tool? Many people have. Its easy to set up an account. Its free. People can only have access to your page and info if you approve them. You control what information is available to others. We hear many horror stories about this or that. Truth is, if someone wanted to "stalk" you, they can usually find you in the phone book.

I've been able to connect with old friends I haven't seen in years and meet new ones with similar church and networking interests. Some of my friends are Christians and/or pastors. Some are not. What a great way for unchurched friends to be exposed to those who are, as many churches are in an individuals profile or favorites page.Most people I know with a Facebook page also post church events and Bible verses from time to time. Jesus told us to be the salt and light in this world. I believe that he would want us to use any and all means at our disposal while we have the opportunity. With all the recent attacks on free speech, we don't know how long these opportunities will be available. That's something to think about.(To check out my page, just click on my name above my Facebook badge in the left-hand column of this page.) ...God bless, keith 1 Cor 13

Getting it Right for a Change!

2009-06-25T13:31:00.001-05:00

AP/ACLU

Savanna Redding talks to the media in Safford, Ariz., in this March 2009 photo provided by the ACLU.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a school's strip search of an Arizona teenage girl accused of having prescription-strength ibuprofen was illegal.

The court ruled on Thursday that school officials violated the law with their search of Savana Redding, who lives in Safford, in rural eastern Arizona.

Redding, who now attends college, was 13 when officials at Safford Middle School ordered her to remove her clothes and shake out her underwear because they were looking for pills. The district bans prescription and over-the-counter drugs and the school was acting on a tip from another student.

Ibuprofen is an over-the-counter pain reliever sold commonly as such brands like Advil and Motrin.

The high court, however, said the officials cannot be held liable in a lawsuit for the search. The justices also said the lower courts would have to determine whether the school district could be held liable.

A schoolmate had accused Redding, then an eighth-grade student, of giving her pills.

The school's vice principal, Kerry Wilson, took Redding to his office to search her backpack. When nothing was found, Redding was taken to a nurse's office where she says she was ordered to take off her shirt and pants. Redding said they then told her to move her bra to the side and to stretch her underwear waistband, exposing her breasts and pelvic area. No pills were found.

A federal magistrate dismissed a suit by Redding and her mother, April. An appeals panel agreed that the search didn't violate her rights. But last July, a full panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the search was "an invasion of constitutional rights" and that Wilson could be found personally liable.

The case is Safford Unified School District v. April Redding, 08-479

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"The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse:
You cannot post “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt not lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment." George Carlin

"The grand reason why the
miraclous gifts were so soon withdrawn was not only that faith and
holiness were well-nigh lost, but that dry, formal, orthodox men began
then to ridicule whatever gifts they had not themselves and to cry them
all [down] as evil madness or imposture."-John Wesley