Church On The Net

Iran Warns of Preemptive Strike

2012-02-21T08:45:00.001-05:00

TEHRAN - Iran would take preemptive action against its enemies if it felt its national interests were endangered, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic's armed forces was quoted by a semi-official news agency as saying on Tuesday.

"Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran's national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions," Mohammad Hejazi told Fars news agency.

Iran is facing increasing international pressure and isolation over its disputed nuclear activity. Expanded Western sanctions aim to block its economically vital oil exports and Tehran has said it could retaliate by shutting the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane vital to global energy supplies.

Still, a top US intelligence official said last week that while US spy services believed Iran would respond if attacked, they thought it was unlikely to start a conflict.

Israel and the United States do not rule out military action against Iran if sanctions and diplomacy fail to rein in its nuclear energy campaign.

Senior UN inspectors have begun their second round of talks in Tehran in three weeks, seeking Iranian explanations with respect to intelligence about "possible military dimensions" to the Iranian nuclear program.

The European Union enraged Tehran last month when it decided to slap a boycott on its oil to take full effect on July 1.

On Sunday, Iran's oil ministry announced a retaliatory halt in oil sales to French and British companies, though that step will be largely symbolic as those firms had already greatly reduced purchases of Iranian crude.

On Monday, the European Commission said Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands had already stopped buying Iranian oil, while Greece, Spain and Italy were cutting back purchases.

Tighter sanctions including the pending embargo on Iranian oil imports into the EU have helped push oil prices up to $119 a barrel from $107 at the start of the year.

Nations Assemble Against Israel

2012-02-20T07:43:00.002-05:00

--Jerusalem Post
British Foreign Secretary William Hague advised Israel on Sunday not to attack Iran, saying that the international sanctions against Iran should be given a chance to work.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague

His comments in a BBC interview came as US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem for talks focused on Iran.

“I think Israel, like everyone else in the world, should be giving a real chance to the approach we adopted: very serious economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and the readiness to negotiate with Iran,” he said.
Hague said that there were two possibilities if Iran went ahead with its nuclear program.
“Either, they [Iran] will be attacked, and there will be a war, or there would be a cold war, in which Iran for the long term would be subject to very intensive economic sanctions. They would find that other nations in their region developed nuclear regions, and they would be in permanent standoff with those countries.”
This would be “like the Cold War, but without many of the safeguards against accidents and misunderstandings that we had in the Cold War,” he said.
Hague’s comments came the same day that CNN aired an interview with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who said an Israeli attack on Iran would be “destabilizing” and “not prudent.”
Meanwhile, UN nuclear inspectors headed to Iran on Sunday for talks.
“We hope to have a couple of good and constructive days in Tehran,” Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, said at the Vienna airport, as the five-member team prepared to depart.
“The highest priority remains, of course, the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program,” he told reporters, making clear he wanted to see concrete results in the discussions with Iranian officials.
Western diplomats have played down any hopes of a major breakthrough in the February 20-21 meeting, even though it comes just a few days after signs of a possible opening for diplomacy in the long-running nuclear dispute.
“I’m still pessimistic that Iran will demonstrate the substantive cooperation necessary,” one envoy said.
The outcome, after an inconclusive first round of discussions last month, could determine whether the international standoff over Iran’s uranium enrichment program escalates further or tensions reduce.
But the US and EU expressed cautious optimism on Friday over prospects that Iran may be willing to engage major powers in new talks. They stressed that any resumed negotiations must be sustained and focus on the nuclear issue.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Iran’s letter to Ashton last week might mark a step forward.
Iran’s letter to Ashton – who handles contact with Iran on behalf of the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany – proposed resuming the talks and said Tehran would have “new initiatives” to bring to the table.
“In these negotiations, we are looking for a way out of Iran’s current nuclear issue so that both sides win,” Iranian state television quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying on Sunday.

Marriage Redefined: Implications

2012-02-17T07:49:00.001-05:00

--WorldMag.com

Only last Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that California’s voter-approved Proposition 8—a state constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between a man and a woman—was unconstitutional.
Already it seems like old news, but the implications of marriage redefined are anything but old news. Left in the court decision’s wake are the implications of homosexual “marriage,” some of which are obvious.
A universal and divinely ordered institution, marriage also is legally recognized by the state. Marriage is a public legal act and the foundation that orders society, builds families, and supports the rearing of children. Marriage is a social contract between complementary sexes, and children greatly benefit from such unions. Generally, children living with their married, biological parents are physically safer and report better emotional health than children who don’t. They engage in fewer risky behaviors, including substance abuse and delinquency. They’re less likely to have premarital sex or to become pregnant out of wedlock.
Marriage is a relationship of opposites. In redefining it to include people of the same sex, marriage is rendered meaningless, and children are deprived of a normal family. Children from same-sex unions, begat through a known or unknown sperm donor or womb, are deprived of what they long for, even if they can’t articulate it: a mother and father, not two mothers or two fathers.
Allowing courts to redefine marriage as between two men or two women will lead to courts further expanding the definition of marriage. Do you think it’s silly to suggest homosexual “marriage” paves the way to legal recognition of polygamous and incestuous relationships? Not long ago, the mere thought of homosexuals openly declaring their behavior normal seemed just as ludicrous. Now they claim marriage is a civil right, a matter of equality.
Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, wrote that once the equality principle is codified, “the next step will be to use the law to stigmatize, marginalize, and repress those who disagree with the government’s new views on marriage and sexual orientation.” Homosexuals have the same civil rights as everyone else, and restricting marriage to one man and one woman doesn’t deprive them of any. But as Gallagher notes, redefining marriage certainly will deprive us of ours.
Homosexuals argue that “marriage” between two men or two women is like interracial marriage. They attempt to co-opt the historic struggle to combat legal racial segregation. The two are not even close. Loving v. Virginia (1967) lifted the racial restriction on heterosexual marriage. Government segregation was about maintaining a subordinate class of citizens based on race, and no one can claim, with a straight face, that homosexuals in the United States are a subordinate class.
The implications of marriage redefined are neither harmless nor alarmist. They are tangible and happening right now. Christians should speak out loudly and often against this wholesale reordering of society while we still can. If we continue down this path, marriage will be meaningless.

Ginsburg To Egyptians: I Wouldn't Use U.S. Constitution As Model

2012-02-16T08:09:00.001-05:00

As Egyptian officials prepare to send to trial 19 American democracy and rights workers, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg visited Cairo last week where she suggested Egyptian revolutionaries not use the U.S. Constitution as a model in the post-Arab Spring.

"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012," Ginsburg said in an interview on Al Hayat television last Wednesday. "I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, have an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."

As Egypt prepares to write a new constitution, Ginsburg, who was traveling during the court's break to speak with legislators and judges in Egypt as well as Tunisia, spoke to students at Cairo University, encouraging them to enjoy the opportunity to participate in the "exceptional transitional period to a real democratic state."

Queen of Sheba's Lost Gold Mine Found?

2012-02-15T13:29:00.002-05:00

A British archaeologist working in northern Ethiopia believes she may have discovered an ancient goldmine that holds clues about where the Queen of Sheba obtained her storied wealth.

Louise Schofield, a former curator at the British Museum, told The Observer she was alerted to the mine by a gold prospector while working on an environmental development project in Ethiopia's Tigray region.
The shaft, buried some four feet (1.2 meters) underground with an ancient human skull embedded in its entrance, apparently had not attracted much attention, even though locals panned for gold in a nearby river.

The site is within the former territory of the nearly 3,000-year-old Sheba kingdom, which scholars believe spanned from Ethiopia to Yemen. Schofield pointed to nearby clues that suggest the site was an important place in the ancient civilization, including a 20-foot (six-meter) stone slab carved with a sun and crescent moon -- a "calling card of the land of Sheba," she told The Observer.
"I crawled beneath the stone -- wary of a nine-foot [three-meter] cobra I was warned lives here -- and came face to face with an inscription in Sabaean, the language that the Queen of Sheba would have spoken," the archaeologist told the paper.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Queen of Sheba is described as arriving in Jerusalem to greet King Solomon with "a very numerous retinue, and with camels bearing spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones."
"One of the things I've always loved about archaeology is the way it can tie up with legends and myths," Schofield told The Observer. "The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary."
She added that she hopes to begin a full excavation of the mine, whose entrance is blocked by boulders, once she has the funds.

So It's All Jesus' Fault?

2012-02-14T07:42:00.002-05:00

--Dr. Jerry Newcombe

Dr. Jerry Newcombe

How well is President Obama doing on fixing the nation’s financial crises? Not very, say most Americans. A Rasmussen poll notes that only 36 percent of Americans feel the president is doing a good job on the economy.
But now we know who’s really to blame for all this -- Jesus.
The president spoke about his faith, as a professing Christian, at the National Prayer Breakfast last week, and said that it was Jesus Christ who inspired him to pursue all the big policies that conservatives would argue are hurting our economy.
For example, Obamacare -- his centerpiece legislation.
President Obama said: "... when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren’t discriminating against those who are already sick ... or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren’t taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody. But I also do it because I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God’s command to 'love thy neighbor as thyself.’"
The president went on to qualify the notion that the Golden Rule is found in other religions too. He added, "But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that 'for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.'"
However, before he became too non-inclusive for his progressive base, he added that Jews and Muslims essentially teach the same as well. Islam does? Tell that to the Christians being murdered in Muslim lands, as described in Newsweek’s cover story.
I won't argue about the Jewish teaching on that point. After all, "love thy neighbor as thyself," which is emphasized in the New Testament is a quote by Moses in Leviticus from the Old.
The president is certainly correct that Jesus cared for the downtrodden and the poor and told us to do likewise. But things go astray when the government tries to do it.
The president goes on to say that all of his policies, including foreign aid, are informed by the notion of caring for the least of these. This is based on what Jesus said in His parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 -- that when people care for the least of these, they care for Him. Of course, Obama doesn’t see the unborn as among the least of these.
Backing up for a moment, let’s consider the wider question of letting the Bible have a say in our government. Not too long ago, a politician derisively said that it can't be used to fashion any meaningful politics. He noted: “Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policies? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery’s OK? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount, a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its applications? [Laughter] Folks haven’t been reading their Bibles.”
Who said these things?
That was Senator Barack Obama, June 28, 2006.
I disagree with his interpretations and his examples. [1]
But based on his recent revelations, I guess the moral of the story is that if one uses the Bible to promote a liberal agenda, then that's fine. Not so a conservative one.
As I see it, the president is basically hiding behind Jesus to promote a form of big government dependency. Socialism light, if you will. The problem with socialism, said Maggie Thatcher, is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.
Did Jesus teach socialism? No.
Jesus taught the sinfulness of man. Socialism is predicated on the alleged innate goodness of man. Socialism has never worked and never will work because man is not basically good. Capitalism works because it conforms with our nature as it is. Hard work and enlightened self-interest help the poor far more than big government does. Let big government get out of the way, so more people can get back to work.
Also, Jesus put His seal of approval on the law, that is, the Old Testament. Of course, the Ten Commandments tell us that it’s wrong to steal. Implied in that commandment is private property. The Decalogue also states, “Thou shalt not covet.” Socialism is built on the twin pillars of state envy and theft.
In addition to these considerations, nowhere does the Bible say that the state (which is ultimately brute force) is responsible for taking care of the needy. That’s the family’s job, the church’s role, and individuals’ duty -- all on a voluntary basis.
The Bible also condemns illegitimacy. Yet the welfare state, in the name of helping the poor, has subsidized illegitimacy -- thus plunging tens of millions of Americans into perpetual poverty. The family is the key to upward mobility, but welfare has destroyed the urban family. Many people, gifted by God with all sorts of abilities, essentially waste their lives -- just barely getting by on government handouts.
We have decades of proven experience that welfare as we know it keeps the recipients down. Using the force of government to take from one citizen the fruit of his labor in order to give to another citizen is a form of theft and promotes laziness.
While a young man in Hawaii, Obama was mentored by a man he called "Frank." Research has uncovered that it was Frank Marshall Davis. History professor Dr. Paul Kengor, author of the book Dupes, documents that Davis was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA. Would that the president unlearn those heresies.
However well-intentioned, all government redistribution of wealth ends up with virtually everyone losing. No, it’s not Jesus’ fault -- just misinterpretations thereof.
Jerry Newcombe is the co-host and spokesman for Truth that Transforms with D. James Kennedy (formerly The Coral Ridge Hour). He has also written or co-written 23 books, including The Book That Made America: How the Bible Formed Our Nation and Answers from the Founding Fathers. Jerry co-wrote (with Dr. Peter Lillback) the bestselling George Washington's Sacred Fire. He hosts the website www.jerrynewcombe.com.
[1] The “slavery” okayed in Leviticus is closer to indentured servitude, not anything remotely like American slavery, which was a violation of everything the Bible stands for. Also, as I understand it, the civil laws of ancient Israel went out of date when the theocracy ended, after the death and resurrection of Christ; therefore, draconian measures to keep the faith, as found in ancient Israel, no longer apply. And the Sermon on the Mount speaks to personal ethics, like turning the other cheek, not to national policy.

Four Practical Reasons for Small Groups

2012-02-13T09:31:00.004-05:00

-Rick Warren
We may attract attenders through preaching, but disciples are made in small groups.

Small groups provide the kind of accountability and support we need to mature as believers, so I want to give you four reasons why they are important to your congregation.
As you’re doing 40 Days in the Word, or any time in the future as you lead your congregation toward a deeper relationship with Jesus, you’ll want to explain to your members why small groups are so important to their spiritual growth and why they are more than just a Bible study.
1 – Small groups are relational.
You can’t have a conversation with 600 people or 60 people, but you can have a conversation with 6 people. Generally, when there are more than 10 in a group, people stop talking. It is impossible to learn how to love your neighbor as yourself unless you are involved in a small group of some kind. You don’t need a lot of friends in life, but you do need a few good ones, and you find those solid, supportive friendships in small groups.
Sometime I hear someone say they don’t want their church to grow larger because, if it does, they won’t know everybody in the congregation. The reality of that is it means the church shouldn’t grow beyond about 60 people. The average person knows 67 people.
Small groups allow you to know people, regardless of how big the congregation becomes. You don’t have to know everyone in the church as long as you know somebody in the church. If you miss a weekend service, not everyone will know you weren’t there, but your small group will know. Even the largest congregations seem small when your members are in small groups.
2 – Small groups are flexible.
Small groups can meet anywhere. They can meet in a library, at a coffee shop, in a park, outside, inside, in an office during lunch, or in a home. The Bible says, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them”. (Matthew 18:20 NIV)
3 – Small groups are expandable.
You will run out of space and money if you try to build enough classrooms for your groups to meet at church. On the other hand, if your small groups are meeting across the community, then you will never run out of space.
We have small groups spread over 100 miles around Saddleback Church. Don’t let buildings limit the number of small groups you can have. That’s like letting the shoe tell the foot how big it can be. Buildings are just a tool for ministry. Invest in people; they will last forever.
4 – Small groups are economical.
When people meet at the church, we pay for the lights, and we pay for the janitors to clean up. But if a family hosts a small group in their home, they don’t expect the church to pay for utilities that night or to send a janitor over to clean up. In fact, they’re usually glad to take care of those things as part of their ministry to others.
Here’s another thing: you bring a guy into the church for a meeting and he might sit there like a bump on a log, but you put him in a home and give him a cup of coffee, and he may talk his head off. Why? Because you’ve put him in an environment that encourages fellowship.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

2012-02-11T13:12:00.005-05:00

Pentagon Calls for 'urgent' Upgrade of Bunker Busters

--FoxNews.com
The military's so-called Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bunker buster bomb, requires an "urgent" upgrade, according to Pentagon officials who are trying to ensure that 20 of the bombs are battle-ready -- possibly for use against Iran, though officials have been tight-lipped on potential targets.
The Air Force developed the bomb in conjunction with Boeing to attack concrete bunkers and tunnel facilities, and the Pentagon has requested $81 million in reallocated funds from Congress to get it ready for use.

Defense appropriators on Capitol Hill agreed to the request on Wednesday, just one month after Iran announced it would begin uranium enrichment at a hardened underground facility near the city of Qom in the Fardow mountain range. The tunneled facility is thought to be beyond the range of the bunker buster in question -- the largest non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. Air Force's arsenal.
A Pentagon spokesman said the funding was needed to "make the system more survivable."
The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, is delivered by a B-2 or B-52 bomber plane. According to Boeing, it "allows the warfighter to hold adversaries' most highly valued military facilities at risk, especially those protecting weapons of mass destruction."
Publicly, the Air Force denies this weapon is being rushed for use in the Middle East. Air Force Chief General Norton Schwartz dismissed suggestions that the upgrades are tied to tensions with Iran.
Former Rep. Ike Skelton, who once served as House Armed Services chairman, was at the Pentagon on Friday to dedicate a new Navy ship in the name of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He was asked whether the MOP faced problems when his committee was responsible. He said, “no,” adding that the U.S. has the conventional firepower to stop Iran's nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Israel successfully tested upgraded radar for its Arrow Missile Defense shield that it jointly developed with the Pentagon. The Blue Sparrow 2 missile was fired from an undisclosed location deep in the Mediterranean Sea towards Israel.
The test comes just days after Iran tested its Shahab 3 missile, which is capable of hitting Israel, and on the same day that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran to improve ties.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

2012-02-09T07:49:00.002-05:00

Behind James MacDonald's Resignation

--ChristianityToday.com

The recent resignation of a prominent pastor from a parachurch organization raises questions about the role such organizations can and should play within evangelicalism.

James MacDonald, pastor of the six-campus Harvest Bible Chapel, abruptly resigned from the Gospel Coalition on January 24 because of "methodological differences." MacDonald told Christianity Today his resignation was partly prompted by an invitation he extended to popular black preacher T. D. Jakes to appear in a debate event MacDonald sponsors.

Many evangelicals have accused Jakes of heretical views of the Trinity and of preaching a prosperity gospel theology. Observers questioned his planned appearance at MacDonald's conference, the Elephant Room, when MacDonald extended an invitation to Jakes last fall.

"I think what it really came down to was, I felt that what I was doing was right," said MacDonald, who said he wasn't expecting the backlash. "I wasn't going to be pressured into uninviting [Jakes] under any circumstances."

MacDonald said he wants to help Jakes approach an orthodox view of the Trinity.
"I don't think that throwing grenades in his lap as he seeks to ascend the hill of biblical orthodoxy represents the behavior ethic of Christ," he said. "I believe that face-to-face conversation between people in the family of God is a way of advancing the mission of unity that Christ gave to us."

The Elephant Room is a day-long event where pastors discuss theological beliefs. Jakes said at the January gathering that he has moved away from a "Oneness" view of the Godhead and embraces an orthodox definition of the Trinity.

In a statement a week after MacDonald resigned, Gospel Coalition leaders Tim Keller and D. A. Carson disagreed with MacDonald's approach to the Elephant Room invitation.

"There is always a place for a Paul to reason with pagan philosophers in the Areopagus," the statement said. "That is a bit different from trying to reform another's theology in a public setting where the trappings and attitudes largely suggest everyone is already on the same side." Keller declined interview requests for this article. Carson did not return calls for comment.

The disagreement over how to relate to church leaders with different beliefs points to a deeper problem the Gospel Coalition faces, said Carl Trueman, a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary.

Though Gospel Coalition leaders say the organization is not intended to be a church, the organization has church-like functions with a confessional statement, a network of regional chapters, and an online church directory.

"When you're allowing churches to be listed as Gospel Coalition churches, when you start issuing statements of faith, you start on the road of looking like a church," he said. "[The Gospel Coalition] is the kind of organization that could rapidly morph at the functional level into a new denomination."

The problem with functioning like a denomination is that the self-appointed coalition board of the Gospel Coalition does not have a church-like accountability structure to manage disagreements, Trueman said.

The fact that the Gospel Coalition is not a church and does not have any formal membership makes it difficult to respond to Jakes and MacDonald, said Owen Strachan, a church history professor at Boyce College who blogs for the Gospel Coalition.

The Gospel Coalition can remove people from its council, but people who connect with the coalition do not join the same way they might become a member of a church. MacDonald said his church will stay on the congregation list on the Gospel Coalition website.

"This is almost a perfect storm of evangelical confusion. It fits in with our historic identity," said Strachan, who thought MacDonald should not have asked Jakes to the Elephant Room, or MacDonald should have asked more pointed questions at the January 25 event. "We sort of rush in where angels fear to tread and then we're left to sort everything out in public."

Part of the solution to the perfect storm is for groups like the Gospel Coalition to clearly limit their mission, Trueman said. Clearly defined parachurch groups such as missions organizations and campus ministries avoid the need for church-like order, he said.

"Trans-denominational organizations should set their ambitions very low. Be a group that puts on a great conference every two years. Be a group that runs a super website," Trueman said. "Never, ever try to make yourself anything that looks vaguely like a church or like a denomination, because then you're starting to tread into territory where it's not going to be good enough to have a self-appointed leadership."
Read more on T.D. Jakes "Trinity" views...

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

2012-02-08T07:59:00.000-05:00

Rick's Hat Trick

--WorldMag.com
At the end of Tuesday’s three state races, Rick Santorum was hoping to say, “Move over Newt Gingrich.” Instead, after a three-state sweep, the former senator from Pennsylvania ended the night saying, “Move over Mitt Romney.”

With victories in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, Santorum went undefeated Tuesday night, declaring himself to be the most viable challenger to Romney for the GOP presidential nomination. At least for this week.
“Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota,” Santorum said to supporters in St. Charles, Mo., prior to adding Colorado to his victory column. “Tonight was a victory for the voices of our party, conservatives and the Tea Party.” It was one of the more surprising days in what has already been a volatile race.
Claiming 55 percent of the vote, Santorum pounded Romney in Missouri’s primary by 30 percentage points, with Ron Paul finishing third with 12 percent of the vote.
With 93 percent of the precincts reporting in Minnesota, Santorum led with 45 percent of the vote. Ron Paul was in second at 27 percent, while Romney was a distant third at 17 percent in a state contest he won by nearly 20 percentage points in 2008.
In Colorado, Santorum took a narrower five-percentage-point victory over Romney (40 percent to 35 percent). But Romney won the state with more than 60 percent of the vote in 2008 and as recent as a few days ago was expected to win handily again this year.
Santorum’s trifecta on the race’s first multi-state day slowed Romney’s hopes of taking control of the Republican Party’s White House push. Continuing his free fall, Gingrich ran a distant third in Colorado, a distant fourth in Minnesota, and did not appear on the Missouri ballot.
Santorum’s wins do not come with delegates. Minnesota and Colorado will apportion their delegates at future party meetings. Called a “beauty contest” by pundits, Missouri’s primary was mostly symbolic. The state will hold a caucus to direct its delegates next month.
But more important than delegates, Tuesday’s results send a clear signal that many conservatives are not comfortable with a Romney-led ticket. Facing momentum-halting defeats, Romney appeared at his Colorado campaign headquarters in Denver Tuesday night and tried to downplay the results.
“This was a good night for Rick Santorum,” he said. “But I expect to become the nominee with your help. I look forward to the contests to come. We’re going to take our message of liberty and prosperity to every corner of this country. We have a long way to go.”
Sensing the coming Santorum surge earlier in the day, Romney’s camp began appeals to social conservatives. So far this year, Romney has stuck to an economic heavy message. While he has attacked President Obama for burdening the nation’s businesses with too many regulations, Romney has let Santorum and Gingrich battle it out for the religious vote.
But that changed earlier Tuesday when Romney included in his usual stump speech detailed attacks on Obama mandates, including a requirement that religious institutions provide contraception and abortion pills.
“Think what that does to people in faiths without sharing those views. This is a violation of conscience,” Romney said to a gathering in Centennial, Colo. “We must have a president who is willing to protect America’s first right, a right to worship God, according to the dictates of our own conscience. We’ll either have a government that protects religious diversity and freedom, or we’ll have a government that tells us what kind of conscience they think we ought to have.”
The former Massachusetts governor also assailed the Obama administration for arguing against religious freedom in a recent Supreme Court case.
“I’m just distressed as I watch our president try and infringe upon our rights,” Romney said. “The First Amendment of the Constitution provides the right to worship in the way of our own choice. Did you understand that this administration argued before the Supreme Court that a church should not be able to determine who their ministers are but that government should decide who qualifies as a minister?”
Santorum and Gingrich, both Catholics, have long used such rhetoric on the campaign trail. Gingrich, who was largely silent on Tuesday night after a day spent campaigning in Ohio, frequently uses the phrase “war on religion” during his campaign speeches. On Tuesday afternoon, Gingrich added Romney to his religious hit list.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the Obama administration’s attack on the Catholic church,” Gingrich said at a restaurant in Cincinnati. “Well, the fact is, Gov. Romney insisted that Catholic hospitals give out abortion pills, against their religious beliefs, when he was governor.”
Romney, in 2005, required all Massachusetts hospitals, including Catholic ones, to provide emergency contraception to rape victims, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Paul has largely stayed out of the religious rhetoric, sticking instead to his “cause of liberty” theme.
“We have permitted our government to undermine our liberty for safety and security,” Paul said Tuesday night in Minnesota, where his runner-up finish was his best since coming in second behind Romney in New Hampshire. “You never have to sacrifice your liberty if you want to be safe.”
But Tuesday was clearly Santorum’s night. Just days ago he had claimed he wanted to “endanger” Gingrich. But during his victory speech Tuesday, Santorum looked past Gingrich and took aim at Romney … and then at Obama.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t stand here to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney,” he said. “I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”
The crowd erupted in cheers.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

2012-02-07T08:10:00.002-05:00

Money Still Talks

-cnn.com

In a change of position, Barack Obama's reelection campaign will begin using administration and campaign aides to fundraise for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing the president.

Obama has been an outspoken critic of current campaign financing laws, in particular a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the creation of super PACs. Until now he has kept his distance from Priorities USA Action.
But in the wake of the group's anemic fundraising, made public last week, the campaign decided to change its position, and announced the new stance to members of its national finance committee Monday evening.
Two Obama campaign aides confirmed that senior campaign and administration officials who participate at fundraising events for the president's campaign will also appear at events for Priorities USA Action, the PAC supporting Obama.
"This decision was not made overnight,” one campaign official said. “ The money raised and spent by Republican super PACs is very telling. We will not unilaterally disarm."
The president, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will not appear at super PAC events, the aides said.
In an e-mail to supporters, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said, "The campaign has decided to do what we can, consistent with the law, to support Priorities USA in its efforts,".
"We will do so only in the knowledge and with the expectation that all of its donations will be fully disclosed to the extent required by law to the Federal Election Commission."
"The President opposed the Citizens United decision," Messina wrote. "He understood that with the dramatic growth in opportunities to raise and spend unlimited special-interest money, we would see new strategies to hide it from public view.
Priorities USA Action posted receipts of $4.4 million through December 31, 2011.
In an e-mail blast, Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for the conservative groups American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, called the Obama campaign's move a "brazenly cynical" reversal for a president who just two years ago called spending by these outside groups a threat to democracy.
Collegio highlighted a quote from an October 2010 rally in Philadelphia, when the New York Times quoted Obama as saying, "You don’t know, it could be the oil industry, it could be the insurance industry, it could even be foreign-owned corporations. You don’t know because they don’t have to disclose. Now that’s not just a threat to Democrats, that’s a threat to our democracy."

Monday, February 6, 2012

2012-02-06T07:52:00.005-05:00

Obama Says Israel Undecided on Iran

-Jerusalem Post

President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Israel had not yet decided what to do in response to the escalating tension but was "rightly" concerned about Tehran's plans.

The US president explained that there were important risks to consider before any military strike against Iran and made clear he does not want to see more conflict in the oil-producing Gulf region.

In a television interview, Obama also said he did not believe Tehran had the "intentions or capabilities" to attack the United States, playing down the threats from Tehran and saying he wanted a diplomatic end to the nuclear standoff.

"Any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us. It could have a big effect on oil prices. We've still got troops in Afghanistan, which borders Iran. And so our preferred solution here is diplomatic," Obama said.

His comments echoed concerns expressed by earlier by Iran's neighbor Turkey that an attack on Iran would be disastrous.

"My number one priority continues to be the security of the United States, but also the security of Israel, and we are going to make sure that we work in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this, hopefully diplomatically," he told NBC.

Responding to Obama's comments, former IDF chief of General Staff Dan Halutz said that while Israel should do everything to avoid any clash with its "only long-term ally (the United States)," when it comes to issues critical to Israel, Jerusalem need not sacrifice its interests for Washington.

With that in mind, Halutz said, Israel is waiting to see the effectiveness of international sanctions against Iran without taking any options off the table.

The former Air Force commander also criticized the US and Israeli security and political establishments for "talking too much" about a possible strike on Iran.

"The fact that senior officials in the security establishment drop fragments of information every once in a while is irresponsible," Halutz said in an interview with Army Radio on Monday.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

2012-02-04T12:23:00.002-05:00

Obama: Turning Truth Into Lies

Many of us who are biblical scholars have watched Mr. Obama's use, or should I say abuse, of the Bible with dismay.

Who can forget when he gave a speech mocking the ceremonial law of the Old Testament then saying something to the effect of, "How can you govern by the Sermon on the Mount?"

Well, he did it again at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. I never understood that name since very little prayer, if any, takes place. Instead, perhaps it should be called the National Breakfast Gathering.

The president quoted the Bible to justify punishing those who have worked hard, and most of whom are very generous givers, in order to take their money and give it to many of his constituencies who are always standing outside the doors of the White House with out-stretched hands.

Mr. Obama, in justifying his misguided policy, quoted Jesus in Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

No, you do not have to have a seminary degree to know that Jesus is talking about individual stewardship in an individual's relationship with God.

For it is God who gives each person different portions of gifts, talents, and treasure to manage according to His sovereign will. It is God who entrusts people with what they have, not the government.

God is the One who will judge the faithfulness of each individual's stewardship and blessing, or lack thereof. In Luke 12:48, Jesus, God the Son, is exhorting individuals to be faithful and give generously without regret.

Understanding this, one has to wonder if Mr. Obama has replaced God with his administration. He must believe that when he says "much is given," he refers to what is given by the government; and "much is demanded," as that which is demanded by the government. This is 180 degrees opposite to the truth.

This is a very dangerous precedent. We have had egotistical presidents before, from both political spectrums, but never to my knowledge have we had one who saw himself as replacing God, or one who views his administration as acting on God's behalf or instead of God.

Misquoting the Scripture is a common practice by some politicians to advance their cause, but this abuse of the Scripture and viewing one's administration as the judge and executioner -- not for crimes, but for personal stewardship -- has reached a new low in egotism.

Mr. Obama needs to issue an immediate and urgent apology for his misuse and mangling of the Scripture.

from Perspectives by Dr. Michael Youssef

Friday, February 3, 2012

2012-02-03T12:53:00.000-05:00

Gunmen Kidnap Two American Women in Egypt's Sinai

-Jerusalem Post

CAIRO - Gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula kidnapped two American women on Friday in an apparent attempt to hold them for ransom, security sources said.

Security in the isolated desert region has deteriorated since the overthrow of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising last February. South Sinai's Red Sea coast is a major tourism hub for Egypt.

The two tourists were among a party of five traveling from Saint Catherine's monastery in central Sinai to the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh when a vehicle carrying men armed with machineguns stopped their small bus, the sources said.

The gunmen first took all the tourists' money and valuables and then, as an apparent afterthought, grabbed the two women, forced them into their vehicle and fled into the mountains, the security officials said.

Two army and police search parties had gone into the area to try to track them down, the officials said.

Bedouin in the Sinai, who complain of neglect and discrimination by the authorities in Cairo, have attacked police stations and blocked access to towns to show their discontent and press for the release of fellow tribesmen from prison.

Last month, Bedouin seized 50 German and British tourists whose coach accidentally crossed a roadblock they had set up as a protest against the governor of South Sinai.

Those tourists, who were also on a trip to the monastery, were released a few hours later.

Four armed men also attacked a hotel in an Egyptian Red Sea resort popular with Israeli holidaymakers last month before fleeing when police returned fire.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

2012-02-02T08:04:00.002-05:00

War Through Weakness?

-Cal Thomas

Decline in Defense Spending

One of the memorable slogans from the Reagan administration was “peace through strength.” Reagan believed a strong defense was a safeguard against enemy attacks and the best hope of victory should America go to war.
President Obama is taking the opposite approach. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced cuts in defense spending of $487 billion over the next 10 years. Supposedly, these cuts will reduce the federal deficit, but Congress always finds new ways to spend money, so I am not optimistic.
The cuts were announced before critical questions were asked: What is America’s role in the world in the 21st century? Where does the military fit into that role? The administration thinks a sleeker, more mobile military—like SEAL Team Six, which has had recent successes taking out Osama bin Laden and rescuing hostages from Somali pirates—is the way to go, but even the highly trained SEALs can’t confront, say, a nuclear threat from Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or China’s increasing military power. The administration says it will preserve its manpower and weapons systems in the Middle East and shift resources to Asia.
Ships and planes take time to build. If America is not building them to ward off present and future threats, someone else—like the Chinese—will. The world does not remain stagnant and threats are not always obvious.
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, says he is “deeply concerned” by the announced defense reductions, including the elimination of “at least 12 new Navy ships over the next five years and retiring at least nine ships earlier than planned.”
Akin also worries about what will happen to the estimated 100,000 soldiers and Marines who will become unemployed in a struggling economy.
According to the website USGovernmentSpending.com, defense spending fluctuated in the last century. It hit a peak of 42 percent of gross domestic product during World War II, declining to 10 percent during the Cold War to about 5 percent today.
Reagan’s defense buildup followed cuts during the Carter administration. Reagan increased defense spending from 5.6 percent of GDP in 1979 to 7 percent of GDP by 1986. President George W. Bush’s administration increased defense spending from 3.6 percent of GDP near the end of the Clinton administration in 1999 to 6 percent in 2010 to confront Islamic extremism.
The Obama administration, usgovernmentspending.com adds, plans to drop defense spending to 4.6 percent of GDP by 2015.
Do these reductions parallel a decline in the threats against America and American interests? Quite the opposite. The administration engages in wishful thinking about the so-called “Arab Spring,” which is devolving into a religious tornado, with the radical Muslim Brotherhood calling the shots in Egypt and elsewhere, and the Taliban poised to regain control in Afghanistan.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai have agreed that NATO should pull out all combat forces from Afghanistan by next year, not 2014, as planned. This can only encourage the Taliban, who have recently been sending signals they are not the bad guys most people rightly think they are.
A recent Wall Street Journal story noted that public statements by the Taliban make them sound more “moderate,” adding, “The big unknown is whether this new rhetoric represents a meaningful transformation—or is merely designed to sugarcoat the Taliban’s real aims.”
It’s a safe bet to say it’s the latter.
The “big unknown” is what a sound U.S. defense strategy should take into account. As former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once put it, “There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns … there are some things we de not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
It is to protect not only against the “known knowns,” but the “unknown unknowns” that a credible defense strategy should be maintained. Cutting our defenses without a plan of action is an invitation to war.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

2012-02-01T07:18:00.001-05:00

Democrat Controlled Center for American Progress Blamed for 'Jewish Conspiracy'

-Jerusalem Post

The scandal-plagued bloggers at the US think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) were blamed for triggering last week an outbreak of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment by asserting that Orthodox Jews in Israel are responsible for a film denigrating Muslims.

After the blog post appeared on the think tank’s website, ThinkProgress, an employee scrubbed the anti-Jewish language from the post without citing an explanation for the deletion.

CAP is affiliated with the Democratic party, and seeks to influence the Obama administration’s policies toward Israel.

CAP’s decision to attack religious Jews in Israel comes on the heels of an almost two-month scandal, prompting in January a White House official, who coordinates outreach to the American Jewish community, to reject CAP’s anti- Israel policies.

Last week, CAP bloggers Eli Clifton and Ali Gharib, who have been accused by prominent Jewish American and Israeli NGOs of fomenting anti- Semitism, wrote a CAP ThinkProgress blog accusing the Clarion Fund, the team behind the film The Third Jihad, of supporting a Jewish right-wing agenda.

Gharib and Clifton wrote, “Clarion was started by Israeli- Canadian Raphael Shore, who, along with other early Clarion employees, is tied to the Israeli Orthodox evangelist organization Aish Hatorah, which works within Israel’s right-wing and settler movements.”

Writing on The Weekly Standard’s blog, editor Daniel Halper criticized on Thursday Clifton and Gharib for embracing intemperate language against Jews.

Halper wrote, “a group [the Center for American Progress’s Think Progress] with a suspected Jewish problem is creating an international conspiracy theory — starring Jews, naturally — of shady folks who have disproportionate influence over others.”

The Jerusalem Post exclusively obtained a mass e-mail sent from the account of CAP’s ThinkProgress blogger Ben Armbruster, who repeated Clifton and Gharib’s message. Neera Tanden, CAP president, did not answer a Post e-mail query about the organization bashing Israeli Jews on their website and in the Armbruster e-mail. CAP offered no explanation as to why the center deleted the anti-Israel language.

In early January, the Post published an e-mail from Faiz Shakir, head of the CAP blog, who admitted that “terrible anti- Semitic language” came from a ThinkProgress writer, who has since left the think tank.

After the publication of a Washington Post report on anti-Semitic discourse at CAP, the center issued a January 19 statement on its website.

According to the statement, CAP said it has a “zero-tolerance” policy for anti-Semitism and takes allegations of it seriously.

“A very small number of tweets on the personal accounts of ThinkProgress staff were inappropriate, and the authors have publicly apologized for using objectionable language,” the statement said.

Josh Block, a former spokesman for US president Bill Clinton’s administration and pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, has raised warning flags about hostility toward Israel and Jews stemming from a number of CAP writers.

Block, who is based in Washington, wrote in an e-mail to the Post, that the deletion this week from a CAP post of “offensive comments about Judaism and Israel,” and publishing a post on the Palestinian mufti’s comments justifying killing Jews, shows CAP could be changing course.

“Then again, as long as CAP chooses to have people writing the organization’s day-to-day views on national security and Middle East issues, like the authors of the scrubbed item, who have long records of trucking in language and theories more at home on White Power and anti-Jewish conspiracy websites than in the mainstream of the Democratic party, these problems will obviously continue, and CAP’s work will be judged accordingly and continue to see its credibility erode,” Block wrote.

CAP officials have remained largely tight lipped about Judeophobia coming from their group of writers on the Middle East and the focus on the State of Israel.

Matt Duss, Director of Middle East Progress at CAP, compared Israel’s security policies to the segregated South in the US. Critics of CAP see Duss as creating an anti- Israel atmosphere at CAP which permits anti-Semitism to flourish.

Duss declined to answer repeated Post e-mails about his writings.

Block said he hopes “we will continue to see more meaningful corrective measures in the future [from CAP].

“This kind of demagoguery, anti-Israel invective, and in some cases actual hate speech, is absolutely wrong whether it comes from the extreme Right or Left, and like cancer, and in line with CAP’s new zero-tolerance policy, has to be cut out before it metastasizes and destroys the whole body.”

According to Halper, the fact that CAP, an organization involved in American policy discussions and with the Democratic party, had to remove content shows that it is “pushing troubling rhetoric.”

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

2012-01-31T07:27:00.000-05:00

Delegitimization of Israel the New Antisemitism

-Jerusalem Post

Israel has no greater friend in the world than Canada, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said during a warm address at the opening of the 12th-annual Herzliya Conference on Monday night.

Ottawa stood with Israel because it was a Canadian tradition “to stand for what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is popular, convenient or expedient,” Baird said

The Canadian government supported Israel so strongly, he said, because it embodied the values Canada held dear and respects, and because it was “a beacon of light in a region that craves freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”

Slamming the “constant barrage of rhetorical demonization, double standards and delegitimization” of Israel, Baird characterized this as the new anti-Semitism.

“Harnessing disparate anti- Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western ideologies, it targets the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel, as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and uses, perversely, the language of human rights to do so,” he said. “We must be relentless in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is.”

Joining the anti-Israel sentiment would be the “easy thing to do” and it would be much simpler to just “pretend that engaging in anti- Israeli rhetoric is being somehow even-handed,” Baird said. But Canada would not “go along to get along,” and would not remain silent while “the Jewish state is attacked for defending its territory or people.”

He likened terrorism to fascism and communism, and cautioned against appeasing it. Quoting Winston Churchill, he said “an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

Turning to the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, Baird made clear that Canada supported a two-state solution “that is negotiated by the two parties in good faith and without preconditions.”

Palestinians and Israelis “deserve free states of their own. They deserve to live in peace, security and human dignity,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Baird met with President Shimon Peres. At the start of the meeting, the president said “Israel is very lucky to have your friendship, which we appreciate very much.”

Baird told Peres, “You have no better friend in the world than Canada, no stronger ally who will stand up [for you]. We won’t stand behind you; we will stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel.”

The two leaders discussed bilateral cooperation in the field of science and advanced technologies.

“Israel is currently cooperating in these fields with [the provinces of] Ontario and Nova Scotia, but we are interested in broadening this cooperation to a federal level,” Baird said.

Peres replied, “There is much potential to enhance our collaboration in the fields of science and technology. Israel and Canada complete each other; Israel is small and lacks in natural resources whereas Canada is spacious and has been blessed with many of them. Our two countries have much to benefit from collaborating in those areas.”

Monday, January 30, 2012

2012-01-30T07:54:00.000-05:00

No video? Click Here for Newt's latest commercial.
Gingrich in it to win it

LUTZ, Fla. -- With just one full day of campaigning left until the Florida primary and polls indicating that Mitt Romney has substantially widened his lead in the Sunshine State, Newt Gingrich told reporters Sunday he is prepared to fight out the Republican presidential nomination all the way to a brokered convention.
"We have no evidence yet that Romney anywhere is coming close to getting a majority and I think when you take all the non-Romney votes, it's very likely that at the convention there will be a non-Romney majority and maybe a very substantial one. My job is to convert that into a Gingrich majority," Gingrich said.

Florida's delegates are pledged as winner-take-all in the primary, meaning whoever wins the vote there gets the state's 50 delegates (reduced from 99 after the state was punished by the Republican National Committee for holding an early primary). Asked whether he was comfortable with the idea of getting no delegates with a second place finish, after previous contests had awarded them proportionally, Gingrich said he wasn’t going to get "involved in an RNC procedural fight."

"I'll play by whatever the rules are that are given to us. I just think it will be very, very clear, increasingly clear over the next few weeks, that this party is not going to nominate somebody who is a pro-abortion, pro gun control, pro tax increase liberal. It's not going to happen," he said.
Some party members have deplored the increasingly heated rhetoric between the Republican candidates but Gingrich argued that a long campaign would not make the party weaker.

"The long campaign of 2008 between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led them to win the presidency," he said. "There's no reason a long campaign has to be a bad thing. Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush had a long campaign in 1980 … This is a campaign about the future of America and the future of the Republican Party."

Gingrich spoke with reporters after attending a service at Idlewild Baptist Church, which the Catholic said was "tremendous" given that it is Sanctity of Life Sunday; the candidate is scheduled to visit another Baptist church in the afternoon in Jacksonville.
"The case that has been made all weekend among evangelical leaders in Florida is that the only vote that can stop Romney is for Gingrich, and we'll see where we stand probably after the primary here," he told reporters.

While Rick Santorum has lobbied the evangelical community to support him, he was off the trail on Sunday after his youngest daughter Bella was hospitalized. Gingrich, who said it "would be a totally inappropriate time” to ask Santorum to drop out, said he believed the former Pennsylvania senator would secure a "decent vote."

"I have no doubt the two of us are going to collectively outscore Romney," Gingrich added, predicting "a straight-out contest for the next four or five months" between "grassroots Republicans" and an "establishment" he has actively tried to associate with the former Massachusetts governor.
FoxNews.com

Friday, January 27, 2012

2012-01-27T10:41:00.000-05:00

Tired and broke, Santorum heads home to do taxes

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) -- Rick Santorum is tired, almost broke - and going home.

The former Pennsylvania senator is taking a pause from Florida campaigning just days before the Tuesday primary that even he expects to deal him a third consecutive loss.

Santorum says he would rather spend his Saturday sitting at his kitchen table doing his taxes than campaigning in a state where the race for the Republican presidential nomination has become a two-man fight between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.
The cash-strapped candidate acknowledges that he simply can't keep up with the GOP front-runners in Florida.
"We're going to talk about the Constitution and talk about being a strong conservative," Santorum said at an event here this week. "And that's all we can do."
Outside advisers are urging him to pack up in Florida completely and not spend another minute in a state where he is cruising toward a loss. But Santorum insisted on Friday that he would return once he has readied his taxes for public release.
"I'm coming back within 24 hours, and I'm here through up to election day," Santorum told Fox News. "I've spent every minute here in Florida, and I'm going to work in Florida."
Santorum has yet to announce his schedule for Florida's primary day. He says it was a mistake for him to remain in South Carolina on its voting day.
"We can't let grass grow," he told reporters Thursday. "South Carolina Election Day was sort of a wasted day for us."
He pledged to continue his campaign regardless of the Florida outcome.
It's a grim period for Santorum, who just three weeks ago was riding high on a strong finish in the Iowa caucuses; after first saying the result was a virtual tie with Romney, the Iowa GOP ultimately declared Santorum the winner. The victory was short-lived. He lost big in both New Hampshire and South Carolina.
He faced an uphill battle even before the race turned to Florida. He doesn't have the money to spend on television ads in Florida's expensive media markets. He couldn't compete with the thousands-strong crowds his rivals have been drawing. And he wasn't able to find a moment here that crystalized the rationale for his candidacy.
"Other candidates tell you they need your help," Santorum told Florida Republicans this week, almost pleading. "They're lying. I really need your help."
But help didn't come - at least in this state - for a candidate who is visibly exhausted and running on, at most, four hours of sleep each night.
So Santorum is going home to Pennsylvania, which he represented in the Senate, and Virginia, where he lives with his wife and seven children, to get some rest and, he says, prepare his own taxes. He also plans fundraisers in both states as he works to rebuild his campaign account to pay for upcoming contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.
Santorum also is looking at Arizona and Michigan, states that vote at the end of February - if he makes it that far.
His inner circle of advisers is looking at the campaign checkbook. They say they can keep a lean campaign rolling in case Gingrich or Romney implode.
"This race is just starting. It's a three-man race," Santorum insists. "We're going to be in this race for the long term."
For now, at least, polls show Santorum dramatically trailing in Florida, the largest and most diverse state in the early nominating schedule. And he seems to be coming up short as he tries to win over voters with his everyman persona.
"I wish he had a little more passion in the belly," said Don Waldt, a Punta Gorda retiree who attended a Santorum rally at dusk this week. "He is conservative and authentic. But he isn't on top and doesn't seem to have a clear path to the top."
From WorldMag

Thursday, January 26, 2012

2012-01-26T07:50:00.002-05:00

The Truth About the Federal Tax Burden
-Elizabeth MacDonald, Fox Business News

You wouldn’t be at fault if you thought President Barack Obama could make a rainbow sound defeatist if you listened to his State of the Union address. He once again pushed for higher taxes on the pot at the end of that rainbow as a way to solve the country’s problems, in a bid to win re-election.

"You can call this class warfare all you want," President Obama said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."

Most Americans would also call common sense not letting the government borrow $4.6 trillion — equal to Germany and South Korea combined — on the President’s watch to spend on failed companies like Solyndra or on the Chevy Volt or on bailing out of failed companies like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Motors, Chrysler, GMAC, or the multiple bailouts of AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup and numerous faulty banks.

Not to mention the trillions of dollars in bailout help from the Federal Reserve, which is adding to the monetary base.

All taxpayers face higher taxes in order to pay the annual $450 billion interest on the government’s $15 trillion debt, or else another downgrade to the U.S. debt looms.

But what the president failed to tell you is that taxpayers in the lower brackets, including secretaries, do not pay more federal income taxes than the upper brackets, including millionaires or billionaires. Their effective rates may be the same, but their portion of the federal tax revenue pie is much smaller.

The federal tax burden in this country disproportionately falls on the upper bracket, including small businesses who create most of the jobs, which pay wages to taxpayers who pay federal income taxes the government overspends.

The top 5% of earners in this country pay 58.72% of all federal income taxes, according to the National Taxpayers Union. The top 10% pays 70%. The top 1% pays 38.02%. The bottom 50% pay 2.7%.

That means about half the country currently pays no taxes at all. That likely includes some secretaries, unless they are very well paid.

What you didn’t hear is this: taxpayers in the lower brackets are not always stuck there, and many in the upper brackets don’t stay there for the rest of their lives.

A 2007 Treasury Department study says almost 58% of U.S. households in the lowest-income quintile in 1996 achieved success and moved to a higher level by 2005. And more than 57% of households in the top 1% in income dropped to a lower-income group by 2005.

Every day in America, the poor achieve success and join the upper brackets, while the rich don't stay rich.

The recession increased the ranks of these “no federal tax” taxpayers, as wages plunged and as the Administration gave temporary tax breaks to the lower brackets.

In a typical year, 35% to 40% of households owe no federal income tax, says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group.

Many of these households are senior citizens, the disabled or students. And they do fork over payroll, state and local taxes. About 14% of households paid neither federal income tax nor payroll tax in 2009, according to data from the Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

The poorest fifth of households paid 12.3% of their incomes in state and local taxes in 2010, says the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Factor in all federal, state, and local taxes, the bottom fifth of households paid 16.3% of their incomes in taxes, on average, in 2010, according to the Tax Policy Center. The second-poorest fifth paid 20.7%, says the Tax Policy Center.

But who shoulders the tax burden obscures a much more important point. The president linked tax cuts for the upper bracket as unfair to college students, seniors or families. But that’s misleading.

Again, the president added $4.6 trillion in spending on his watch to the nation’s $15 trillion debt burden, and the nation still lost a net 1.9 million jobs.

What’s really at stake is how the government has wasted your tax money, and how the government needs more of your money just to pay the interest costs on the U.S. debt, which the president has worsened, so as to avoid the bond markets enacting fiscal austerity on the U.S. via demanding higher interest rates on U.S. bonds.

There was little mention of this in the State of the Union address, or of the country’s poor economic growth, the country’s $15 trillion in debt, or that tax hikes on the upper bracket would barely pay a fraction of the $450 billion in annual interest costs on the U.S. debt.

The president’s policies have created the worst economic recovery since government officials first made a serious crack at tracking this data beginning in the Great Depression.

Despite spending all that money, the U.S. is in the ultimate jobless recovery, with a net 1.9 million jobs lost. The labor force is now smaller than before the President took office.

Companies are sitting on $2.9 trillion in cash and are moving operations overseas at a faster rate, before a flood of new, costly rules from health reform, Dodd Frank and other reform measures kick in. (Bills that many in Congress have not read.)

And that’s only federal rules; state and local rules on businesses are increasing, too.

So the president’s "Buffett Rule", a capital gains tax hike on the upper bracket, would hardly pay for his deficit spending either.

The president also failed to mention in his address that firms that pay their executives in the form of capital gains from the firms' investments have first paid corporate taxes at a 35% rate on those gains, before making these payouts.

The president also didn’t mention that higher capital gains taxes would mean higher taxes on angel investors who plunk money into startups like Apple, Google or Facebook. Higher taxes here would mean less money from them to invest in startups, icing over economic activity.

Raising everyone’s capital gains tax rates to get more money from executives at hedge funds or private equity firms would be tricky to execute. It would involve writing new measures in an already tangled pile of a U.S. tax code.

Instead, charging income taxes on these gains for just these workers, instead of raising everyone’s capital gains taxes, can be done.

In the U.S., partners at these firms are not taxed when they get these gains as income, because it is difficult to ascertain the present value of their percentage stake in future profits.

But it could be doable, and once those gains are shelled out to these partners as part of their salary, the company could withhold taxes at the federal income tax level, instead of capital gains. The United Kingdom assesses income taxes on such gains paid as income to directors or workers at investment shops.

A line item on taxing this “carried interest” at ordinary income rates was included in the Obama Administration's 2008 Budget Blueprint, and has been part of the Administration’s budget plans since 2010.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

2012-01-25T07:52:00.000-05:00

Obama's 2012 State of the Union

WASHINGTON – It was a wish list, not a to-do list.

President Obama's array of plans in his State of the Union speech was light on a key piece of context -- namely, that his hands are so tied until after the election that it is doubtful many if any of them can be done in the remainder of his term. There can be little more than wishful thinking behind his call to end oil industry subsidies -- something he could not get through a Democratic Congress, much less today's divided Congress, much less in this election year.

A look at Obama's rhetoric Tuesday night and how it fits with the facts and political realities of the day:

OBAMA: "We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That's long enough. It's time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that's rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that's never been more promising."

THE FACTS: This is at least Obama's third run at stripping subsidies from the oil industry. Back when fellow Democrats formed the House and Senate majorities, he sought $36.5 billion in tax increases on oil and gas companies over the next decade, but Congress largely ignored the request. He called again to end such tax breaks in last year's State of the Union speech. And he's now doing it again, despite facing a wall of opposition from Republicans who want to spur domestic oil and gas production and oppose tax increases generally.

OBAMA: "Our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a government program."

THE FACTS: That's only half true. About half of the more than 30 million uninsured Americans expected to gain coverage through the health care law will be enrolled in a government program. Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people, will be expanded starting in 2014 to cover childless adults living near the poverty line.

The other half will be enrolled in private health plans through new state-based insurance markets. But many of them will be receiving federal subsidies to make their premiums more affordable. And that's a government program, too.

Starting in 2014 most Americans will be required to carry health coverage, either through an employer, by buying their own plan, or through a government program.

OBAMA: "Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last - an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values."

THE FACTS: Economists do see manufacturing growth as a necessary component of any U.S. recovery. U.S. manufacturing output climbed 0.9 percent in December, the biggest gain since December 2010. Yet Obama's apparent vision of a nation once again propelled by manufacturing -- a vision shared by many Republicans -- may already have slipped into the past.

Over generations, the economy has become ever more driven by services; not since 1975 has the U.S. had a surplus in merchandise trade, which covers trade in goods, including manufactured and farm goods. About 90 percent of American workers are employed in the service sector, a profound shift in the nature of the workforce over many decades.

The overall trade deficit through the first 11 months of 2011 ran at an annual rate of nearly $600 billion, up almost 12 percent from the year before.

OBAMA: "The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home."

THE FACTS: Obama is more sanguine about progress in Afghanistan than his own intelligence apparatus. The latest National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan warns that the Taliban will grow stronger, using fledgling talks with the U.S. to gain credibility and stall until U.S. troops leave, while continuing to fight for more territory. The classified assessment, described to The Associated Press by officials who have seen it, says the Afghan government hasn't been able to establish credibility with its people, and predicts the Taliban and warlords will largely control the countryside.

OBAMA: "On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world's number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs."

THE FACTS: He left out some key details. The bailout of General Motors and Chrysler began under Republican President George W. Bush. Obama picked up the ball, earmarked more money, and finished the job. But Ford, which Obama mentions as well, never asked for a federal bailout and never got one. It's managed to get along on its own. Also, as part of its restructuring, Chrysler is not really a U.S. automaker anymore. Italian automaker Fiat now owns a 30 percent share, and it will eventually go to 51 percent under terms of the U.S. bailout and its bankruptcy restructuring.

Source: FoxNews.com

An Unfortunate Debate

2012-01-24T07:30:00.001-05:00

It was pretty much as expected. Romney and Gingrich sparring, Santorum giving a solid third place effort and Ron Paul in his own world, but the real 'loser' in the debate was Brian Williams, the NBC moderator. He demonstrated why he sits behind a desk wearing makeup and reading a teleprompter. Not everyone can handle the task of keeping a debate moving along and interesting and Williams showed he was definitely not up to the task. [replay]

After getting trounced in South Carolina being unwilling to face a similar outcome in Florida, Mitt Romney went on the offensive against a surging Newt Gingrich on Monday, calling the former speaker a failed leader who resigned in "disgrace."

Romney, arguing that he's learned from the primary election in South Carolina that he can't just sit back and take attacks from his rivals, went on the attack right at the top of Monday night's Republican presidential primary debate, saying Gingrich was forced out of Congress because of ethics problems and an inability to corral his caucus.

"I think it's about leadership, and the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994. And at the end of four years, he had to resign in disgrace," Romney said at the debate held in Tampa, Fla., home to the Republican National Convention this summer and a key voting center in the Sunshine State's Jan. 31 primary.

Gingrich responded that Romney was wrong on the facts.

"I left the speakership after the 1998 election because I took responsibility for the fact that our results weren't as good as they should be. I think that's what a leader should do," Gingrich said.

"The fact is, every single ethics charge of substance was dismissed and in the end, the only thing we did wrong is our lawyer (wrote a letter) ... and the one letter was in error. I didn't pay a fine. I paid the cost of going through the process of determining it was wrong," he said. [more . . .]

Prior to the debate, Romney began airing a harshly critical new campaign ad and said Gingrich had engaged in "potentially wrongful activity" with the consulting work he did for Freddie Mac after leaving Congress in the late 1990s.

"His contract with Freddie Mac was provided by the lobbyists at Freddie Mac. I don't think we can possibly retake the White House if the person who's leading our party is the person who was working for the chief lobbyist of Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac was paying Speaker Gingrich $1,600,000 at the same time Freddie Mac was costing the people of Florida millions upon millions of dollars," Romney said.

Gingrich, who released his contract with the mortgage giant ahead of the debate, retorted that Romney as a businessman surely knows the difference between his company earning money and him personally collecting on the contract. He also defended the work as being consulting, not lobbying.

"The governor did consulting work for years. I have never suggested his consulting work was lobbying," he added.

The former Massachusetts governor has said the 2010 tax returns and estimate for 2011 that he was releasing on Tuesday would show that he paid about a 15 percent effective rate. Romney said he wouldn't pay a penny more because no one wants a candidate who thinks he ought to give the government more money than it is owed.

Romney added that he's proud of his success because he started without wealth and he built it by helping people get jobs.

"I earned it the old fashioned way, by working hard," he said.

While Romney and Gingrich fought one another, they also had to cede time to Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, the other candidates in the final four who've strongly influenced the race but who have not received as much face time lately as the front-runners.

Asked to explain how he could win the presidency when he couldn't win re-election in his own Senate race in Pennsylvania, Santorum, the winner of the Iowa caucuses, said it was a "meltdown" year for Republicans, who had historic losses in the statehouse, lost five congressional seats in the Pennsylvania delegation and lost 23 out of 33 U.S. Senate seats nationwide.

"Probably unlike a lot of other candidates, when you're running in an election year that you know you're running against a headwind, a lot of folks crouch down, they get out of the way of the wind and try to sneak in. I stood tall, stood for what I believed in," he said. "There's one thing worse than losing an election, and that's not standing for the principles that you hold."

Paul who called the Iowa results not much more than a "straw vote" said he has more support from people under 30 than any of the other candidates and can give President Obama a run for his money on it. Paul said he is not thinking of becoming a third party candidate because he is not an "absolutist."

Paul added that while he and Gingrich agree on some items, they disagree on fundamentals of foreign policy.

"He keeps hinting about attacking the Fed, and he talks about gold. Now if I could just change him on foreign policy, we might be able to talk business," Paul said.

Paul also separated himself from his rivals on Cuba, a big issue for Florida voters, including many Cuban-Americans in the state who are Republicans. The Texas congressman, who served in the military in 1962 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, said the United States propped up Cuba's Castro regime because "we put on these sanctions and this -- only used as a scapegoat."

But Romney said that relaxing relations with Cuba is "dangerous" at this point.And Gingrich said U.S. policy should be to "aggressively" pursue overthrowing the regime. Santorum said sanctions should remain "until the Castros are dead."

From FoxNews.com

The FULL Gospel

2011-12-06T10:44:00.001-05:00

In the Melanesian islands of the South Pacific during WWII, the natives watched closely as the American and British engineers came in and built airstrips. The islanders were amazed to see that when the airstrips were completed, planes began to arrive filled with cargo: food, building materials, machinery, even vehicles. This, they decided, was something they wanted in on.

The Melanesians deduced, that if they built airstrips, then planes would come to them, too, likewise bringing cargo. They accordingly hacked makeshift runways out of the jungle and built mock-up control towers out of grass and mud. They put fires along the sides of the runways, and put a man in the grass-hut control tower, with two coconut halves on his head for headphones--he’s the controller--they rigged antennas out of bamboo and then they waited for the airplanes to land. As far as they could see they were doing everything right. The form was perfect. It looked exactly the way it was supposed to. But it didn’t work. No airplanes ever came. Nevertheless many “cargo cults” have sprung up across the islands and exist to this day.

Thislesson is meant to help us learn that:
Salvation isnot a destination to abide in but a journey to be traveled.

Are we making the mistake of theMelanesians and building an imitation grace? While we have often heardthe very basics of “What must I do to be saved?”, I think what perhaps islending to some deal of confusion is a lack of understanding of the full Gospel-- and I don’t mean the Pentecostal experience. Indeed once a person isconvinced he or she is in peril from some great, future disaster, those peoplewill generally accept that they need a Savior. This absolute focus on theinitial act of accepting the need and the remedy has, however, created a verydangerous quasi religion within a religion, making the Truth a lie (Romans1:25). --It is probably best to establish here at the beginning that itis not Christ who needs to be accepted by us but we who need to be accepted bythe Father. While we may accept the good news (2 Corinthians 11:4) ortruth (1 Timothy 1:15), it becomes rather arrogant to presume that Jesus shouldbecome acceptable to us. I know it is only semantics, but an unhealthytrend is becoming wide-spread because of a lack of specifics. Some usethis as a loophole to say that all that is required to be saved is acceptingthe person of Jesus Christ, when the reality is that being saved includesrepentance. It’s like saying I’m goingto go to the gate at the airport where my flight is leaving. Aren’t you boarding for the flight? Oh no! I’m just going through the gate!

“But go and learn what thismeans: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, torepentance.” (Matthew 9:13)

In the Old Testament, “save” isfrom the Hebrew ²⁴²¹chayahand means to be liberated or to be victorious. In the New Testament, the Greek word is ⁴⁹⁸²sozo meaning to rescue from penalty,danger or destruction. The redemption ofthe jailer and his family in Acts 16 exemplifies both the Christian’s need tomake the lost aware of the destruction that lies ahead of them and theredemption available to them in Christ.

Paul frequently referred tosalvation as present. That was his faithconfession, because he also knew that we were traveling toward salvation(Romans 13:11; 2^nd Corinthians 7:10). We must not only tell others this message,but we must also convey God’s desire that all men be saved →and←that they come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4). “That they come to theknowledge” describes a journey, theGreek word ²⁰⁶⁴erchomaimeaning to move from one place to another. Paul uses a conjunction to join two separate things. Using the conjunction ‘and’ he employsgrammatical logic, meaning that in order for the whole statement to be true thestatement on each side of the conjunction must be true. A person can indeed be saved, but God’s wholedesire is not satisfied unless they are saved and are journeying towardthe Truth (Philippians 3:12).

It is vitally importantthat we remember that all of us are very unique, with different lifeexperiences and different needs and motivations. As such we each have ourown path to follow, each intricately tailored for us by God (Jeremiah 29:11;Psalm 139:13-14). It is folly to think that as complex as God’s creationis, the straight and narrow path is travelled identically by every individual. We must be careful not to try to compel othersto walk the same way we are walking. Paul makes this plain in Philippians 2:12, “Therefore, my beloved, as you havealways obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” This does not contradict Jesus as the onlydoor into the Kingdom (John 10:9; John 14:6). Do not limit God by missing the truth of these statements. When Jesus, in John 14:6, said He is the way,the Greek there is ³⁵⁹⁸hodoswhich means a way (i.e. manner) ofthinking, feeling, deciding. That’swhy Paul told us “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which isyour reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but betransformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that goodand acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)

These verses are clear, youcan’t even start the journey without a decision to make the whole journey (readLuke 9:23-26). Every flight starts at agate. The trip may encounter delays, butonce through the gate you’re on your way. When we ask someone if they are ready to be saved, let’s be precise andask if they are ready to begin their salvation journey, the first step of whichis to be released from judgment and penalty through the blood sacrifice ofJesus (justification). Once we’ve begunwe must then continue our journey through sanctification.

The Decline of Christianity

2011-09-13T08:23:00.000-04:00

The Decline of Christianity

In reviewing what many of today's scribes are publishing concerning Christian faith, it is becoming more and more apparent that the apostle Paul's prediction of an apostate church is upon us (2 Thessalonians 2). Educators like Marcus Borg are relegating Biblical writers to poorly educated men coping with a highly superstitious culture. While that alone is nothing new, what is new is the compelling way in which they now present their message. Attempting to shed the pompous air of superiority they often conveyed, many better scholars are remaking their image into more of a caring "Dr. Dobson" styled mentor. Rather than lambasting hearers with diminutives they now are more consoling. "Here's what the poor unfortunates of the past believed, but here's what we know through our voluminous research today." Without producing a single evidentuary resource, it is presented as documented fact that the overwhelming majority today hold their view. The intent is evident. No rational, thinking person wants to be in the minority opinion.

Believing In Unbelief

Modern paganism now presents itself as true faith. It is not that we stop believing, but that we believe what can be measured or quantified. "Jesus was one of many prophets. He, like the Caesars, was deified by his peers in response to Rome's deification of their emperors." There is of course no documentation of this. In reality it was quite the opposite as heads of nations sought to be worshipped with the same esteem their subjects worshipped their gods.
Jesus wondered if, on His return, "will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8) As more and more evangelicals step away from the polarizing effects of preaching on personal sin and eternal judgment, we must also wonder, will He indeed find faith?

Religious Leaders Appeal for Calm After Quran Burning | Religion | English

2011-04-06T10:49:00.000-04:00

Religious Leaders Appeal for Calm After Quran Burning
Jerome Socolovsky
Last fall, when Florida pastor Terry Jones first threatened to burn a copy of the Muslim holy book, a group of Christian ministers met with him and urged him not to do it.

Geoff Tunnicliffe was among them. He's International Director of the New York-based World Evangelical Alliance, which represents 600 million Evangelical Christians around the globe.

He says he told Jones: "If you continue with your action and violence occurs, pastors are killed, churches are burnt down, would you actually come with me and sit with widows and explain to them why you had to take the action you did?"

That statement is thought to have helped persuade Jones to abandon his plans last fall. But when Jones made it clear earlier this year that he would go ahead after all, Tunnicliffe again tried to stop him and failed. Jones burned a Quran on March 20. And despite condemnations by U.S. President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, angry mobs there have staged deadly protests including an attack on a U.N. compound,killing seven U.N. workers.

Christian and Muslim religious leaders in America are condemning the burning of a Quran by a Florida pastor and the deadly violence it triggered in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They also are appealing for moderation as the pastor plans to escalate his anti-Muslim activities.

Tunnicliffe says Jones' small church is not even a member of the World Evangelical Alliance. "The message that we're trying to get out is that Terry Jones operates a tiny fringe congregation that is not representative of mainstream church Evangelicalism or Christian belief," he said.

While Christian leaders condemn the desecration of Muslim scriptures, a number of Muslim leaders in America have condemned the violent reaction.

Daisy Khan is the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. She's also the wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, whose proposal to locate a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks stirred controversy last year.

She said Jones cannot be accused of committing a crime. "Well, burning the Quran is not a crime because God doesn't need any defense," Khan said. "The Quran is the word of God. That's like saying when Pastor Terry puts the Quran on trial, did he invite God to come down and defend himself?"

Khan said Muslims everywhere should remember their faith is about moderation.

Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute in Washington said most Americans are moderate in their view of Islam.

In a February poll by his institute, 62 percent of respondents said American Muslims are an important part of the U.S. religious community. He said Americans also have a high regard for scripture.

"So there's an intense respect for religion in the general public that in itself cuts against these sorts of acts being okay with many in public," said Jones.

Out on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., visitors from around the country said what the Florida pastor did was inexcusable.

"I don't know why anybody would burn a holy book, for any reason," says Marylin Paul of Virginia.

James Gibson, who is from Georgia, said he agrees, for the most part. "But I do find it kind of ironic that they can scream, 'Death to infidels,' but if we do anything we're just, you know, the devil."

As for Florida Pastor Terry Jones, his web site says he's now planning a protest in front of one of America's largest mosques in Dearborn, Michigan. He's also quoted as saying he wants to put Islam's prophet Mohammed on trial.

Study Finds Religion May Be Heading for Extinction in Parts of World - FoxNews.com

2011-03-24T07:43:00.000-04:00

Study Finds Religion May Be Heading for Extinction in Parts of World

"'In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40 percent, and the highest number was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60 percent.'"

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. 2 Thess. 3:3

Judge for Yourself - NPR's Ron Schiller | James O'Keefe's Project Veritas

2011-03-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

Judge for Yourself - NPR's Ron Schiller

Project Veritas, in order to offer transparency in reporting, has released the full two-hour video later today related to Part 1 of our NPR Investigation.

The video, which is largely the raw video and audio of the entire conversation with NPR Foundation's President Ron Schiller, does contain one brief section in which the audio is redacted in order to ensure the safety of an NPR overseas correspondent. "

Millions of dead fish overwhelm marina - U.S. news - Environment - msnbc.com

2011-03-08T16:19:00.000-05:00

Millions of dead fish overwhelm marina - U.S. News -

LOS ANGELES — Millions of anchovies, mackerel, sardines and other small fish washed up dead overnight in the harbor area of Redondo Beach, Calif., just south of Los Angeles, puzzling authorities and triggering a cleanup effort.

Biologists have tentatively concluded that the fish died from oxygen deprivation after being driven by a storm into a closed-off pier area, California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Andrew Hughan told Reuters.

"It looks like they just swam in the wrong direction and ended up in a corner of the pier that doesn't have any free-flowing oxygen in it," Hughan said.

High winds might then have kept the fish from leaving the harbor and they all crushed up against the harbor wall, where they used up the oxygen and suffocated.

"There's nothing that appears to be out of sorts, no oil sheen no chemicals, no sign of any kind of illegal activity," Hughan said. "As one fisherman just told me, this is natural selection."

Hughan said such incidents were rare but not unheard of.

AQAP Looking To Attack U.S. Food Supply? « Liveshots

2010-12-21T10:56:00.000-05:00

AQAP Looking To Attack U.S. Food Supply?

The group behind last year’s failed Christmas Day bombing and the recent attempt to send two explosives-laden packages to the United States wants to attack U.S. food supplies.
Read more: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/12/21/aqap-looking-to-attack-u-s-food-supply/#ixzz18lJxdOka

WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | The temptation to dictatorship

2010-06-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | The temptation to dictatorship

“Love is patient.” We know the truth of this when examining ourselves personally. But does it apply to politics? We see how it does when prominent public figures go beyond expressing impatience with the democratic process to openly advocating the suspension of the Constitution so that President Obama can really get down to the business of hope and change unencumbered by the rule of law.

Woody Allen was recently quoted as saying, “It would be good . . . if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly.” Granted, we’re accustomed to Hollywood personalities making bizarre political statements, and so we don’t take them as speaking for the political left in general.

But when three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says the same thing, and when NBC’s David Gregory and veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell agree with him, as they did recently on Meet the Press, it is time to oil up the Second Amendment to make sure it’s in good working condition. Only Paul Gigot interjects to point out that what everyone at the table is blithely considering is insane.

2010-04-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

A Contrite Heart

21. April 2010 by Helps.

What’s This Lesson About?

Movies and television shows often follow a standard outline with stereotypical characters and familiar plots. From the beginning we recognize the hero and the villain. We watch as the tension builds, knowing a showdown is coming. We know who is going to prevail even if we can’t see how. We nod as the events play out to their conventional conclusion.

In this week’s lesson, the people gathered for a meal at a Pharisee’s house become the audience in a divinely directed drama. The characters are easily identifiable, and the audience fully expects events to follow a predictable pattern. But they are in for a surprise as roles are suddenly reversed, and their perspective is turned upside down. To see the story unfold, see this Sunday’s (April 25, 2010) lesson in detail at http://sermons.churchonthenet.com

Future Hope

2009-07-08T08:22:00.001-04:00

There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:18

Warnings abound. The economy is in for another great crash. Pandemics are headed our way. Planet Earth is on the brink of destruction. For some these serve as wake up calls. Warnings to mend our ways or suffer dire consequences. Even those in religious circles chime in with foreboding coming doom. While God foretells of a future day of wrath and judgment, far more often His Words are for peace, health and security. It is in the nature of the carnal being to be drawn aside to fables, rumors and tales of doom. You hear the call of the Siren and are drawn to it.
It's time to follow the instructions of the Apostle Paul. "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5) Escape fear. Flee from doomsayers. "Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you." (Zechariah 9:12)
[For a new verse of hope every weekday, follow me on Twitter]

Transcript of President Obama’s Turkey Address

2009-04-14T13:28:00.001-04:00

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 6, 2009
JOINT PRESS AVAILABILITY WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA
AND PRESIDENT GUL OF TURKEY
Cankaya Palace
Ankara, Turkey
1:55 P.M. (Local)

PRESIDENT GUL: (As translated.) We are very pleased to host the President of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, in Turkey. It would not be wrong to say that our discussions began in Strasbourg, and the discussions that we began in Strasbourg, we continued with them today, both during our meeting and then over lunch. And it was very beneficial.

At the outset of my remarks, I would like to say that we heard that there's been an earthquake in Italy -- we just heard. And I would like to express my condolences to the people who lost their lives. We share the sorrow of the Italian people.

We are very appreciative of the fact that Mr. Obama, having been elected President, made Turkey one of his stops in his first overseas visit, and we have been very happy with that -- the Turkish people have been very happy with that.

We have had opportunity to review the strategic dimension of our relations. Most of our relations seem to be on a military and political dimension, but we are also determined to move forward on the economic dimension of our relations. On the area of technology, we'll continue to support development of economic and technology cooperation. These are areas which we place importance on.

In we look at Turkish-American issues, we see that the United States is very much interested, and must be interested, in important issues around the world as a superpower, and Turkey is an important country in her region, and Turkey is very much interested in many subjects. So if we were to make two separate lists of the issues that our countries are interested in, we would see that they are very much alike. And so I'm very pleased to say that Turkey and the United States have great understanding for each other and they work in cooperation with each other.

Of course, fighting against terrorism is one of the most important issues for both of the countries, and the cooperation that we've had so far will be further developed, and in many geographies, from Afghanistan to the Caucuses to the Balkans to the Middle East, we are working together and we are determined to continue to work together. And the President has also shown great interest to Turkey's relations with the European Union. We appreciate that very much. We thank him very much for his words in that regard.

I think that this visit has been very beneficial. I'd like to welcome the President once again and wish him success.

Please.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, thank you very much. And, President Gul, you could not be a better host, and we are grateful to you and your team, as well as all the people of Turkey for the extraordinary hospitality that you've extended to us.

As you mentioned, we just heard the news of the earthquake in Italy, and we want to send out condolences to the families there and hope that we are able to get rescue teams in and that we can minimize the damage as much as possible moving forward.

I have now spent a week traveling through Europe. And I've been asked,are you trying to make a statement by ending this weeklong trip in Turkey? And the answer is, yes, I am trying to make a statement. I'm trying to make a statement about the importance of Turkey not just to the United States but to the world. This is a country that has been often said lies at the crossroads between East and West. It's a country that possesses an extraordinarily rich heritage, but also represents a blend of those ancient traditions with a modern nation state that respects democracy, respects rule of law and is striving towards a modern economy.

It is a member of NATO and it is also a majority Muslim nation, unique in that position, and so, as a consequence, has insights into a whole host of regional and strategic challenges that we may face. And I've been extraordinarily impressed with President Gul and the quality of his leadership, as well as Prime Minister Erdogan, and so, as a consequence, I'm excited about the prospects of us working together.

As the President noted, we had a wide-ranging conversation. We thanked Turkey for its outstanding work in Afghanistan, and we discussed our strategic review. We have a similar perspective in terms of how to move forward, and Turkey's contributions to ISAF and the overarching effort is going to be critical.

We discussed the progress that's been made in Iraq and how we can continue to build on that progress as the U.S. begins to draw down its troops.

We talked about Middle East peace and how that can be achieved. And we discussed the need -- a shared view for us to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation not just in the region, but around the world. And as President Gul noted, we also talked about business and commerce, because all too often the U.S.-Turkish relationship has been characterized just by military issues and yet there's enormous possibilities for us to grow the economy and to make sure that trade between our countries and commerce and the lines of communication between our two countries continually strengthen, because we think that that's going to be good for Turkey, but it's also going to be good for the United States.

So we also discussed the issue of terrorism more broadly. And I reiterated my support to make sure that we are supporting Turkey in dealing with terrorist threats that may -- they may experience.

So, overall it was an extremely productive meeting, and it gives me confidence that, moving forward, not only are we going to be able to improve our bilateral relations, but as we work together we're going to be able to I think shape a set of strategies that can bridge the divide between the Muslim world and the West that can make us more prosperous and more secure.

And so I'm proud that the United States is a partner with Turkey, and we want to build on that partnership in the years to come.

PRESIDENT GUL: Thank you.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Okay. We were going to call on one --

PRESIDENT GUL: One and one, yes. Sorry.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Do you want me to start, or you?

PRESIDENT GUL: You can start, yes.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Christy Parsons, Chicago Tribune -- hometown -- hometown newspaper.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. As a U.S. senator you stood with the Armenian-American community in calling for Turkey's acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide and you also supported the passage of the Armenian genocide resolution. You said, as President you would recognize the genocide. And my question for you is, have you changed your view, and did you ask President Gul to recognize the genocide by name?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, my views are on the record and I have not changed views. What I have been very encouraged by is news that under President Gul's leadership, you are seeing a series of negotiations, a process, in place between Armenia and Turkey to resolve a whole host of longstanding issues, including this one.

I want to be as encouraging as possible around those negotiations which are moving forward and could bear fruit very quickly very soon. And so as a consequence, what I want to do is not focus on my views right now but focus on the views of the Turkish and the Armenian people. If they can move forward and deal with a difficult and tragic history, then I think the entire world should encourage them.

And so what I told the President was I want to be as constructive as possible in moving these issues forward quickly. And my sense is, is that they are moving quickly. I don't want to, as the President of the United States, preempt any possible arrangements or announcements that might be made in the near future. I just want to say that we are going to be a partner in working through these issues in such a way that the most important parties, the Turks and the Armenians, are finally coming to terms in a constructive way.

Q So if I understand you correctly, your view hasn't changed, but you'll put in abeyance the issue of whether to use that word in the future?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: What I'd like to do is to encourage President Gul to move forward with what have been some very fruitful negotiations. And I'm not interested in the United States in any way tilting these negotiations one way or another while they are having useful discussions.

Q Thank you.

PRESIDENT GUL: (As translated.) Let me also share my views on this subject. This is an issue under great discussion. But it is not a legal or political issue, it's a historical issue. What is being discussed is a situation that was experienced in 1915 under the conditions of World War I, when the Ottoman Empire was battling on four fronts. And unfortunately, some citizens of the empire then were provoked by some other countries and there were many internal clashes and many people lost their lives. And we share the sorrow of all those who lost their lives, but we have to remember that the Muslim population also suffered greatly at the same time.

And at the time from the Balkans, from the Caucasus, there were millions of Muslim Turks who were displaced, who were having to come to travel to Turkey, and there were many losses as they traveled. So the losses there took place during the chaotic times of the situation then.

But when the Turkish republic -- the modern republic was established, the Turkish republic did not create this into big issue in order not to create greater hatred or hostility in future generations. But unfortunately, these issues politically, especially by the diaspora, have been brought to the agenda as a way to perhaps cling to their identity.

And our view to that has been that we should let the historians, the experts on the subject, sit down and talk about this issue. We are ready to face the realities, the facts. It cannot be the politicians and the legal experts who can make decisions here as to what happened when, under what conditions, and who lost more lives, and who is right and who is wrong. It is not a parliamentarian, a politician, who can make a decision on this without knowing the circumstances to the situation.

So that's why we suggested that a joint history commission be established and that we would agree to the results or the conclusions of this commission. And Turkey opened -- made its archives available for that purpose.

And we invited everyone, including the Armenians, and we took one more step forward and we said that if another country, for example, the United States or France, if they are very much interested in this issue, then they, too, could be a part of this joint commission and we would be ready to listen to the conclusions of that commission.

We, as Turkey, we would like to have good relations with all the countries in our region. Our relations with Armenia, unfortunately, did not exist so much, although there are some Armenian citizens in Turkey now -- there are more than 70,000 Armenians who work -- live in Turkey, who send money back to their families and there are some cultural activities. But we didn't have other relations. And our goal in order to normalize these relations, as Mr. President has just said, we initiated some discussions to normalize relations and we would like to see a good resolution of these discussions.

No doubt there's a new situation in the Caucasus. We saw how potential events could flare up in the Caucuses last year. So it's important that in this process we work together to try to resolve the issues in the Caucasus. We should work to resolve issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and all the conflict in the region so that the area becomes fertile ground for greater cooperation.

And we have a lot of work, with the best of intentions, in that regard, and I do believe that when we reach a conclusion we will have resolved many issues.

Q A question to both Presidents, both leaders. Mr. Obama, during the Bush presidency there were some difficulties in Turkish-American relations, and certain steps were taken to resolve those difficulties. We are in the third month of your presidency and there is a high expectation in the Turkish public opinion, as well, about Turkish-American relations. So what will be changes in your outlook on Turkish-American relations as opposed to the previous administration?

Another question to both Presidents. You said that you discussed fighting against terrorism. There's, again, a lot of expectation in the Turkish public opinion regarding the elimination of the PKK. What sort of concrete steps will we see in that regard?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: As I mentioned at the outset, I think despite some of the problems that we saw, beginning in 2003, that you have seen steady improvement between U.S.-Turkish relations. I don't think they ever deteriorated so far that we ceased to be friends and allies. And what I hope to do is to build on what is already a strong foundation. As I indicated earlier, commercial ties can be improved. That's an area where I think the President and I share a vision.

I think when it comes to our cooperation on terrorism, I've been very clear that PKK is on our terrorist watch list. As a NATO ally of Turkey's, we are very comfortable with providing them the assistance they need to reduce the threat. We have seen that cooperation bear fruit over the last several months, over the last year. You've seen a lessening of the attacks that have been taking place. We'll continue to provide that support, and President Gul and I discussed how we can provide additional support on that front. But we have been very clear that terrorism is not acceptable in any circumstances.

I think that where -- where there's the most promise of building stronger U.S.-Turkish relations is in the recognition that Turkey and the United States can build a model partnership in which a predominantly Christian nation and a predominantly Muslim nation, a Western nation and a nation that straddles two continents -- that we can create a modern international community that is respectful, that is secure, that is prosperous; that there are not tensions, inevitable tensions, between cultures, which I think is extraordinarily important.

That's something that's very important to me. And I've said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is -- although as I mentioned, we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.

I think Turkey was -- modern Turkey was founded with a similar set of principles, and yet what we're seeing is in both countries that promise of a secular country that is respectful of religious freedom, respectful of rule of law, respectful of freedom, upholding these values and being willing to stand up for them in the international stage. If we are joined together in delivering that message, East and West, to -- to the world, then I think that we can have an extraordinary impact. And I'm very much looking forward to that partnership in the days to come.

Okay.

PRESIDENT GUL: Okay. Thank you.

END 2:16 P.M. (Local)

Socialism In America

2009-03-30T10:02:00.001-04:00

The Obama administration used the threat of withholding more bailout money to force out General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and administer harsh medicine to Chrysler LLC, marking one of the most dramatic government interventions in private industry since the economic crisis began last year.

Associated Press

DETROIT IN CRISIS: The ouster of Rick Wagoner, shown at a February news conference, is a milestone in the state's intervention in the economy.

The administration's auto team announced the departure of Mr. Wagoner on Sunday. In a summary of its findings, the task force added that it doesn't believe Chrysler is viable as a stand-alone company, and suggested that the best chance for success for both GM and Chrysler "may well require utilizing the bankruptcy code in a quick and surgical way."

The move also indicates that the Treasury Department intends to wade more deeply than most observers expected into the affairs of the country's largest and oldest car company.
from the Wall Street Journal

Swift, steep downturn crosses globe - Washington Post

2009-02-18T08:18:00.001-05:00

NEW YORK - Markets around the world plunged Tuesday as evidence mounted that the global economic crisis is worsening.

Japan is suffering its worst downturn in 35 years. The British economy is facing its sharpest decline in almost 30 years. Germany is slumping at its worst pace in nearly 20 years. Meanwhile, the job market in the United States, at the epicenter of the global downturn, is the worst in decades. And emerging economies are contracting at a pace few had predicted just months ago. Even China, whose economy still is growing at a 6.8 percent annual pace, is grappling with vast numbers of the unemployed, raising fears of unrest.

The sharpness of the global slowdown has alarmed economists, who see no obvious engine for recovery.

Swift, steep downturn crosses globe - Washington Post- msnbc.com

Washington Times - CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul

2009-02-13T12:58:00.001-05:00

Washington Times - CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul

President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.

CBO estimates that by 2019 the Senate legislation would reduce GDP by 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent on net. [The House bill] would have similar long-run effects, CBO said in a letter to Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, who was tapped by Mr. Obama on Tuesday to be Commerce Secretary.

The House last week passed a bill totaling about $820 billion while the Senate is working on a proposal reaching about $900 billion in spending increases and tax cuts.

But Republicans and some moderate Democrats have balked at the size of the bill and at some of the spending items included in it, arguing they won't produce immediate jobs, which is the stated goal of the bill.

The budget office had previously estimated service the debt due to the new spending could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the bill -- forcing the crowd-out.

CBOs basic assumption is that, in the long run, each dollar of additional debt crowds out about a third of a dollars worth of private domestic capital, CBO said in its letter.

CBO said there is no crowding out in the short term, so the plan would succeed in boosting growth in 2009 and 2010.

The agency projected the Senate bill would produce between 1.4 percent and 4.1 percent higher growth in 2009 than if there was no action. For 2010, the plan would boost growth by 1.2 percent to 3.6 percent.

CBO did project the bill would create jobs, though by 2011 the effects would be minuscule.

Washington Times - CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul

Bacon Hunt: Stimulus Bill Contains Many Items That May Not Boost Economy - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

2009-02-12T15:11:00.001-05:00

Democratic leaders are hailing the economic stimulus bill as a way to "invest quickly into the economy," but according to a Wall Street Journal estimate, only about 12 cents of every dollar will actually go to "something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus."

President Obama has defined stimulus as money that would go into creating jobs and moving the economy in the next two years.

"From the beginning, this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea: Let's put Americans to work doing the work America needs done. It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, all across the country," he said during his radio and Internet address last Saturday.

The following measures in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have not been included in this list based on any scale of worthiness but merely on whether they fit the definition given by the president of helping stimulate the economy in the next two years. The provisions were identified by FOX News readers prior to the final conference agreement, which is scheduled for votes in the House and Senate in the next two days

Tucked in among the vast construction projects and tax relief programs is an effort to revive a law that's been dead for over 60 years that would provide up to $198 million in pensions for Filipinos who fought alongside the U.S. during WWII. U.S. citizens would get $15,000 a year, but even non-citizens would still get $9,000 a year.

The bill also invests heavily in research and technology. NASA is set to receive $450 million for "Science" and another $200 million for "Aeronautics."

More than $28 billion is being provided to put kids in special education, Head Start and child care and development programs for disadvantaged children.

FOXNews.com readers pored over the package and found a host of expenditures that might not pump money in any time soon. What follows is a list of some of the more fascinating -- if less stimulating -- items in the bill:

-- $100 million for the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program
-- $200 million to the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program
-- $300 million for "Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Programs"
-- $900 million for the IRS for the "Limitation on Administrative Expenses"
-- $1 million for the Railroad Retirement Board for administrative costs
-- $2 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Act
-- $50 million for Health and Human Services to carry out injury prevention programs
-- $1.1 billion for studies on the effectiveness of different medical treatments -- $200 million to upgrade labs and facilities for the Department of Agriculture "to improve workplace safety and mission-area efficiencies"
-- $10 million for urban canal inspection
-- $16 billion to pay for student financial aid
-- $1 billion to pay for the U.S. Census
-- $600 million to pay for a fuel-efficient federal auto fleet
-- $650 million for the Digital Converter Box Program to help the constantly delayed transition from analog television
-- $485 million to the Forest Service for "hazardous fuels reduction and hazard mitigation activities in areas at high risk of catastrophic wildfire"
-- Up to $1 billion for "summer activities" for youths as old as 24
-- $40 million for the occupational research agenda
-- $3 billion for the Centers for Disease Control wellness programs and vaccinations
-- $410 million for Indian health facilities
-- $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstrations

2009-02-06T12:17:00.002-05:00

Bought With A Price

Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God

I’ve been teaching Romans for some time but this part won’t leave me alone. It comes down to three words. Faith (pistis), Believe (pisteuo) and Faithful (pistos). Three forms of one word, the noun, the verb and the adjective. What do these have to do with selling out to God? That’s a phrase you don’t hear much these days, but it makes all the difference. In the course of this study we will see the recurring theme of Christianity; we are saved by grace through faith (Eph.2:8). When you first become a Christian it probably goes something like this. After your spirit experiences conviction for sins committed in the body, sorrow ensues and repentance follows. Not to burst any bubbles, but if that’s where it stopped we have a big problem.

What seems to have been lost over time is servitude. We think it’s optional. After all, we’re not under the Law anymore so it’s ok if we live indifferent lives, as long as we at least try to be good people.

Time to wake up!

You begin with faith, a free gift, apply faith (believe), but next comes living it (faithfulness). 1 Corinthians 6:20 says “For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”. The first step then is that to become a Christian you must understand that you are selling your body and spirit to God for the redemption of your soul. As a result you are to glorify God in both body and spirit. In Romans 7:4 we’ll study that Paul taught “you become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” To the Colossians (1:10) Paul wrote, “That you might walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all you do, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God”.

Sounds more like works and less like faith? Remember, the initial work of cleansing us from our sins is indeed totally paid for by Jesus Christ. We only have to believe His sacrifice cleanses us.

But what about faith? Faith comes by hearing (understanding) the WordRomans 10:27. Faith without works (corresponding actions) is deadJames 2:20. Picture this. It’s a cold, dark snowy winter. Outside the temperature is 10 degrees and falling. Your electric goes out. Just in time the National Guard shows up with a free generator and fuel. They set you up, get your heat going and you’re warm and happy. Until the gas runs out. You begin to grow cold. The generator and fuel are free, why aren’t you warm? At some point (soon) you’re going to have to participate in your salvation and add fuel to the generator. The bottom line is that if you think you can maintain your faith by being a nice person most of the time and enduring a few church services, you may be losing faith.

You may say, “Of course I believe!” but I remind you that mental agreement with something is not the same as believing. Believing (a verb) provokes action. Psalm 5:9 says “It is not faithfulness in their mouth, but flattery;…” Proverbs 20:6 echoes, “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?” What Paul told the Colossians in chapter 1 was, “9For this cause we also, since the day we heard of it (your love in the Spirit), do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10that you might walk worthy of the Lord…” So it still isn’t a matter of works but of faith. Works then becomes the barometer by which we can measure the health of our faith. Not legalistic religious activity. You can fake works until you burn out. Paul said here that as you are filled with the knowledge of God’s will, in both wisdom and spiritual understanding, you will walk worthy of the Lord. Jesus said we will recognize wolves in sheep’s clothing by watching their fruitMatt. 7:16, showing that saying you are a believer does not make you a believer.

Jesus said to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against you, because you have left your first love.” The Greek word for left is aphiemi which means to disregard; to allow to expire. That first fire of faith can expire just like any fire that is not fueled. How do we fuel our faith? Jesus continues in 2:5 “Remember therefore from where you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come to you quickly (suddenly), and will remove your candlestick out if his place, unless you repent”. When He says in verse 7 that He’ll give the fruit of the tree of life to him who overcomes, He’s telling us in His positive, loving way that if we fail in this we will not partake of eternal life.

Downloads | Ernie's Web Log

2009-01-22T08:08:00.001-05:00

Ernie has made available for a very small donation what he describes as the common man’s perspective on the Septuagint or LLX. The earliest version of the Old Testament Scriptures which is extant, or of which we possess any certain knowledge, is the translation executed at Alexandria in the third century before the Christian era. The earliest writer who gives an account of the Septuagint version is Aristobulus, a Jew who lived at the commencement of the second century B.C. He says that the version of the Law into Greek was completed under the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and that Demetrius Phalereus had been employed about it. Now, Demetrius died about the beginning of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and hence it has been reasonably inferred that Aristobulus is a witness that the work of translation had been commenced under Ptolemy Soter.
Regardless of your personal perspective, these writings are valuable research tools for any true student of the Bible.

Downloads | Ernie's Web Log | Online Version

An Obama Administration & Keeping An Eye on the U.N.

2008-11-25T13:23:00.001-05:00

ACLJ: The new president is moving fast, naming Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his new chief of staff as well as beginning to float names for his Cabinet. He has also made clear what his first 100 days will look like, pledging to sign as many as 200 executive orders. With these orders, President-elect Obama is promising to overturn President Bush’s ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, restore the ban on offshore drilling and reinstate taxpayer funding for the United Nations Population Fund, an organization committed to coerced abortions. There’s already movement in reshaping the nation’s Federal Communications Commission, the agency that would be critical in re-launching the so-called Fairness Doctrine, a measure that would cripple Christian and conservative talk radio.
     While we’re focused on the new developments unfolding in Washington, we’re also concerned about what’s taking place at the United Nations.
     In recent months, we’ve talked a lot about the resolution on the Defamation of Religions - a measure that protects the religion of Islam while targeting other religions including Christianity - a measure being pushed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
     As our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has reported in the past that the OIC uses the concept of “defamation of religions” as both sword and shield. In Islamic countries, blasphemy laws are used as a shield to protect the dominant religion; but even more dangerously, they are used to silence minority religious believers - especially Christians - and prevent Muslims from converting to other faiths, which is still a capital crime in many Islamic countries.
http://www.aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=693

How Redemption Works

2008-09-16T13:42:00.001-04:00

Truth: The sacrifice of God's Son satisfied the demands of the Law, specifically that if any should violate the Law, they would die. No more, no less.
Detail
I. When did God's Law begin? We want to put a date on it like 'on Mount Sinai' or 'when Moses received the 10 Commandments'. The truth is God's Law began with God. That may now be an obvious answer, but it's one we usually fail to consider. The Law is an expression of the character and nature of God. When God first put man in Eden He chose to make him aware of His purposes. It is not known how long man successfully lived in agreement with the nature, character and purposes of God. Up until the moment man violated the nature, character and purposes of God time was irrelevant. Much stock is put in the identification of days in the process of creation, but as we can see from 2 Peter 3:8 that days are not always measured the same by God. Further assumptions are made that the rotation of the earth was the same at creation as it is today. Nevertheless, time was irrelevant to man in that he was created ageless. After he violated God's nature, character and purpose, in that day he died, his vital connection to the life spirit of God was severed and his battery began to run down, so to speak. Time was now very relevant

II. Life is in the Blood

The time would come that man would understand that in order to redeem his life he would have to offer life to God. Years later God would explain that life is in the blood and the blood of certain animals would provide a temporary atonement for man (Leviticus 17:11). Barnabas, in his letter to the Hebrews, would go into great detail explaining this process, its temporary nature and how Christ fully satisfied its requirements with the one time sacrifice of his own innocent blood (see 9). In the meantime it was imperative that man understood the nature, character and purpose of God, so the law was given. It's function was not to make adherents righteous, but to instruct man on where they were lacking in their union with God (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:24-26).

III The End of the Law

In his letter to the Romans Paul creates a quandary for us. In 10:4 he writes, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." In his letter to the Galatians he writes, "Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law." (Galatians 3) To the Ephesians he wrote that Christ abolished the law (Ephesians 2:15) However in his instruction concerning women speaking out in the church he tells the Corinthians, "women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says." (1 Corinthians 14:34) Well, if we're not under the law, if it has been abolished, how can Paul write what appears to be contradictory instructions to the Corinthians?

IV. Once In Grace...One Strike You're Out...No Law No Sin

When we read and understand only bits and pieces of scripture we can easily come away with distorted answers. Some have used fragments to promote the idea that once a person accepts Jesus' sacrifice they can continue or return to sin and still be saved. When confronted with scripture to the contrary, many have moved to a doctrine in which you're saved, but if you return to sin you weren't really saved after all. From there many are now jumping to another extreme, believing that once they are saved it is impossible to commit a sin -which is akin to the original once you're saved you're always saved doctrine. Then there's the opposite end who chose to make the doctrine of grace into the law of grace. Once violated you are lost forever. It's all simple really. When taken as a whole instruction we see Paul teaches that the penalty of sin is gone. His reasoning then was, without a penalty the Law has no hold over a person, thus setting them free. He persistently maintains that we are not free to sin just because there is no penalty. Returning to the Galatians letter he goes on in 5:13 to explain, "You my brothers were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love." In Romans 2:12 he wrote, "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law." There's many more, but the point is, when you take all the scripture together,

Jesus sacrificed Himself to pay the penalty for sin. All who accept are redeemed, or removed from death row. Now you are free, but it is free to obey the law without suffering loss by curse when you mess up. To continue willfully sinning is to miss the whole point and thus void your salvation (Hebrews 6:4-6).

An Immerging Pattern?

2008-09-11T10:45:00.001-04:00

Major quakes hit Japan and Indonesia

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake rattled Japan on Thursday, within minutes of a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Indonesia, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from either quake, but both prompted tsunami warnings, although Japan's Meteorological Agency predicted it would be small, about 50 centimeter (20 inches).

The Indonesian quake occurred at exactly 9 a.m. (0000 GMT), the USGS said. Its epicenter was offshore, about 75 miles (120 km) north of Ternate in the province of Moluccas in eastern Indonesia. The quake was strongly felt in Ternate.

The Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysical Department issued a tsunami warning shortly afterward -- standard procedure for a quake of magnitude 6.6 or higher with an epicenter offshore.

Don't Miss

The Japanese quake occurred at 9:21 a.m. (0021 GMT). The USGS initially classified its magnitude as a 7.2, but later reduced it.

The quake's epicenter was offshore, about 80 miles (125 km) south-southwest of Kushiro on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, and about 21.7 miles (35 km) below the Earth's surface.

The Indonesian quake was much deeper -- about 57.9 miles (93 km). In general, earthquakes centered closer to the Earth's surface produce stronger shaking and can cause more damage than those further underground.

Earthquakes between magnitude 6.0 and 6.9 are considered "strong" by the USGS.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said neither quake posed a Pacific-wide tsunami threat. However, "earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers of the earthquake epicenter," the administration said.

The science of the LHC

2008-09-10T12:05:00.001-04:00

"The LHC is arguably the most complicated and ambitious experiment ever built; the project has been hit by cost overruns, equipment trouble and construction problems. The switch-on itself is two years late."
| The science of the LHC

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will smash two beams of particles head-on at super-fast speeds, recreating the conditions in the Universe moments after the Big Bang, writes BBC science reporter Paul Rincon.

     Scientists hope to see new particles in the debris of these collisions, revealing fundamental new insights into the nature of the cosmos. They will be looking for new physics beyond the Standard Model – the framework devised in the 1970s to explain how sub-atomic particles interact.
     The Standard Model comprises 16 particles – 12 matter particles and four force-carrier particles. The Standard Model has worked remarkably well so far. But it cannot explain the best known of the so-called four fundamental forces: gravity; and it describes only ordinary matter, which makes up but a small part of the total Universe.
     Also, one of the most important particles in the Standard Model – the Higgs boson – has yet to be found in an experiment.
     Today, the Standard Model is regarded as incomplete, a mere stepping stone to something else. So the LHC should help reinvigorate physics' biggest endeavor: a grand theory to explain all physical phenomena in Nature.
     The Atlas and CMS experiments are both designed to see it, if it is there. This means that scientists working on these respective experiments will be competing to see it first, once the LHC begins its "science run" sometime in 2009.
     In addition to the four dimensions we already know about, string theory predicts the existence of six more. Some physicists even think the existence of these extra dimensions could explain why gravity is so much weaker than the other fundamental forces. Perhaps, they argue, we are not feeling its full effects. This might be explained if its force was being shared with other dimensions. If these extra dimensions do exist, the LHC could be the first accelerator to detect them experimentally. At high energies, physicists could see evidence of particles moving between our world and these unseen realms. For example, they could see particles suddenly disappear into one of these dimensions. Alternatively, particles originating from an extra dimension could suddenly appear in our world.
     According to some physicists, the LHC can operate at high enough energies to generate mini-black holes. However, the vast majority of particle physicists say there is no need for alarm. If any should be created, they should evaporate quickly. A recent report dealing with the collider's safety acknowledged the possibility that the LHC could create these primordial black holes. The report says: "If microscopic black holes were to be singly produced by colliding the quarks and gluons inside protons, they would also be able to decay into the same types of particles that produced them.” The suggestion that black holes could be made in the LHC has stoked fears that one of these micro-black holes could swell in size, swallowing up the Earth. In March, plaintiffs requested an injunction in a US court stopping the LHC from switching on. Physicists associated with the project stress that any such phenomena would be short-lived and thus would pose no threat to our planet.

2008-08-27T14:19:00.004-04:00

The "So-Called" Prophet Movement
By using "so-called" in the title I've set the tone for this post as a critical thesis, when in reality it is a blend of both. These notes are more for personal reference than anything, but realizing someone may stumble across it I lead with this disclaimer.
I've seen much lately about the Apostolic/Prophetic movement. Mostly it's critical and generally for good cause. I am wearied however by the endless rantings of those who consider themselves enlightened enough to bring railing accusations against the recognized leaders of this group. First it's notable that they only attack the well known, giving them the appearance of jealous backbiters. But then what value is there in attacking the obscure? On the other hand, what value is there in attacking at all? They present themselves as Watchmen, warning the unsuspecting populace of this hoard of demon possessed soul slayers.
Unfortunately I have yet to see any of them present the convincing arguments they claime to hold. Their commentaries are disjointed, uninformed and weak. They argue against out of context comments without understanding the full intent of the message given. They make wild claims of what these people are saying, when it could be no further from the truth. They scream that orthodox theology must be adhered to yet denounce the oldest and most established of all, the Roman Catholic Church.
For example, one Internet author (I know, we Internet writers are the least reliable source of dependable truth) claims to uphold the true nature of apologetics. Yet when quoting Rick Joyner he pulls one line from a whole chapter and attaches his own meaning. The line is "Jesus is not a man. He was and is Spirit." This writer then sinks into a quagmire of orthodoxy concluding that based on Ephesians Jesus is both Spirit and man. The result is supposed to somehow lead us to the understanding that Joyner is some form of demon. The failure to include Joyner's full context is misleading and inaccurate. Biblical teaching is pretty clear that Jesus, as God, is Spirit. He lowered Himself to take on the form of a man, then ascended back to His position of Supremacy. To take on the form of a man means that He wears it like a robe. Jesus is Spirit in man clothes. He set aside deity to take on manhood, but to believe He is not deity now is indeed blasphemous.
Another example concerns a 'prophecy' given by Joyner concerning Y2K and how it would be a reflection of the conditions in the Church. Every critic I've read proclaims Y2K to have been a non-event so Joyner proves to be a false prophet. Sorry. I've worked in the IT industry for more than 30 years. Only someone totally ignorant of the issue would dare say Y2K was a non-event. To the uninformed outsider, the recipients of technological advancements it may well have seemed so. But on the other side of the wall IT personel labored for thousands of hours to repair, replace and redesign all time sensitive equipment and software. It was a non-event (which in itself isn't an altogether accurate statement)because thousands of skilled craftsmen labored to avert what could have proved disasterous. Comparing that with Joyner's prophecy indeed reveals much about the 21st century Church.
Nevertheless, I must stop short of endorsing the Morningstar Ministries and Elijah List group. I can deal with misstatements and misquoted Bible verses. Who hasn't had an occassion when their tongue tripped over their eye tooth. But to proclaim that the only way to be successful is to honor and obey them is frightening to say the least. They now put themselves on such a pedistal as to make themselves lords over the little people, the body of Christ. Their insistance on subservience of the masses or suffer the wrath of God has nothing to do with pre-grace ministry and certainly not the age of grace. You never find Paul or Barnabas making such threats.
Whatever happened to receiving the Spirit of Truth with humility and living self-sacrificing lives that witness (gr. martus) of Christ?

2008-06-02T13:10:00.002-04:00

The "Lakeland Outpouring"

I've been resisting posting any comments on this. Bentley needs neither my critique or my endorsement, or anyone else's.
While I'm a very conservative, some say even cynical Christian, I've learned to hold my peace where this revival is concerned. It is very uncomfortable to my conservative ways, but I know for a fact that there have been healings. I know for a fact some who were proclaimed healed turned for the worse and I understand some have even died. But to sit back doing nothing but judging others from afar. Sorry, I'd rather be stirring people to faith and repentance.
No I do not like all I'm seeing there, but God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. Not at all saying either that Bentley is foolish or I am wise! The tendency is that those who are wise in their own eyes judge and mock things they have declared foolish. God works all things for good... so even the erroneous scripture quotations, ego wars, and using the Lord's name in vain can, and appear to be working around to good for many. I've been in ministry over 30 years now and have watched these "waves" come and go. Most of the ones hurt are those who wanted something for nothing or who followed copycat ministries, getting hooked on the high of the movement rather than God. So it shall be with Lakeland. Now I said most. A few are hurt when their hopes have been deferred and there is no pastoral followup to help come to grips with why that person was healed and I, or my loved one, was not. That is not a fault with the revival, but with the local church. Far too many local churches have opted for teaching fear and unbelief rather than to trust in God regardless. As I age I am acquiring physical problems that I hate to see. In spite of that I will always believe God for healing. One problem in particular I've been seeking Him for healing in for all the more than 40 years of my Christian life. I will not stop. I will go to my grave believing God loves to heal His children.
Why are some healed and some not? Only God can say. Why are people proclaimed as healed when they're not? If you watched the event instead of edited outtakes you'd know by far that's not the case. Bentley merely repeats what people are telling him. He isn't there to call people liars and spread fear and unbelief like his critics do. He's there to motivate them to believe what they are saying. That's how miracles are born. On the contrary I have seen him frequently question people about their proof that first of all they were ill, and second that they were healed. I've watched him ask repeatedly for people to bring proof of their healing. Faith doesn't say 'maybe God will heal you'. Faith doesn't say 'is any sick among you? let him go to a doctor, but never, ever go to God'.
Even from a purely secular perspective, much of what Bentley is doing is sound medicine. Many are the medical studies now that state that 80% of all sickness could be overcome if people would develop positive attitudes. One recent one even included some forms of cancer.
People are being re-energized and are finding hope in dark situations. There will always be slanderers, back bitters and talebearers who will speak evil of anything positive, especially when it's greater than they are. They point to the many who have been left in the wake of these movements hurt and broken. But they refuse to accept responsibility for failing to follow up in the local church with sound doctrine and positive, Biblical teachings of love and hope.
Is it all hype and emotionalism? Obviously not all since many are being healed and delivered. But something I've learned from nature is, it's hard to get a raging fire going on cold embers without some hot air and fanning!
Let it rain.

Inspiration from

2008-04-24T19:21:00.000-04:00

Inspiration from Rick Warren
The following interview took place a couple years ago when Rick Warren's wife was found to have cancer. She is now cancer free, but the inspiration of these words still holds.
In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life," Rick Warren said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond, In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillion of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act, the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.
The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you got to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or....... you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people... You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for you to own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence.

He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, 1 Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiativewe call The Peace Plan - to plant churches, equip leaders,assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?
Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt?
Bitterness?
Materialism?
Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better .... God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings,not human doings

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2008-03-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

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2007-12-12T08:54:00.001-05:00

(posted by digg subscriber)
They do, as printed in their own literature - “The appointment of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons of God – Lucifer. This spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind” (Milton R. Hunter, First Council of Seventy, The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15).

added by churchonthenet:
Are Jesus and Satan Brothers?

Mormons publicly deny this claim, but their teachings are so full of misleading double-speak that it is easy to see why people would assume this to be their teaching. Take the following exerpt from their web site:

"A Savior and Leader Was Needed

When the plan for our salvation was presented to us in the spirit world, we were so happy that we shouted for joy (see Job 38:7).

We understood that we would have to leave our heavenly home for a time. We would not live in the presence of our heavenly parents. While we were away from them, all of us would sin and some of us would lose our way. Our Heavenly Father knew and loved each one of us. He knew we would need help, so he planned a way to help us.

We needed a Savior to pay for our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father. Our Father said, "Whom shall I send?" (Abraham 3:27). Two of our brothers offered to help. Our oldest brother, Jesus Christ, who was then called Jehovah, said, "Here am I, send me" (Abraham 3:27).

Jesus was willing to come to the earth, give his life for us, and take upon himself our sins. He, like our Heavenly Father, wanted us to choose whether we would obey Heavenly Father's commandments. He knew we must be free to choose in order to prove ourselves worthy of exaltation. Jesus said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever" (Moses 4:2).

Satan, who was called Lucifer, also came, saying, "Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor" (Moses 4:1). Satan wanted to force us all to do his will. Under his plan, we would not be allowed to choose. He would take away the freedom of choice that our Father had given us. Satan wanted to have all the honor for our salvation." (http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,11-1-13-6,00.html)

Sounds pretty much like the Mormon teaching is that Jesus and Satan are brothers, Jesus the good, humble and honored son and Satan the evil, self-seeking and dishonored son.

Mormons quickly say they are not brothers in a literal sense but only in the sense that all of God's creation are brothers. This of course deviates from the accepted Christian teaching which establishes a difference between God the Creator and God the Father. Christianity teaches that while God created all that exists, only a select group are chosen to be adopted and spiritually reborn as His children.

Mike Huckabee's question is a very legitimate question. His rapid rise in the polls is causing concern among liberals who are fighting back with their usual distortions, both of information and pictures. (Ever notice how the candidates favored by the press have flattering photos while those they oppose have distorted photos?)

read more | digg story

2007-12-04T07:50:00.000-05:00

Pastor D, what's your impression of "The Golden Compass"?

The long answer is, The Golden Compass is part of a trilogy of books by an avowed atheist. The series were written to target children and sow seeds of rebellion against God in them. Their goal is to incite children to rebel against the Christian teachings of their parents concerning God and to unite in declaring there is no God. Pullman's main attack is against the Catholic church and its leaders, but from that stems his belief that God is a myth and Christians racists.
The Golden Compass is somewhat of a compilation of the three but is primarily from Northern Lights, the first in the series. The Golden Compass is the least offensive of the three books. The Subtle Knife is more obvious in its hatred of Catholicism and The Amber Spyglass even more blatant.
Pullman strongly campaigned to prevent C.S. Lewis' books from being made into movies on the grounds they were racist and promoted hatred of women, a characteristic he associates with all Christianity.
The movie producers removed much of the religious overtones and assertions in fear of the backlash, but Pullman, though disappointed, was still pleased about the movie, saying it will encourage people to by the books and his message would reach more than the movie alone ever would. Obviously the liberal press loves him and has poured many, many high awards and commendations on him and his books.
Here's a quote from an interview with Pullman after he finished the second book: "The figure of The Authority is rather easier. In the sort of creation myth that underlies His Dark Materials, which is never fully explicit but which I was discovering as I was writing it, the notion is that there never was a Creator, instead there was matter, and this matter gradually became conscious of itself and developed Dust. Dust sort of precedes from matter as a way of understanding itself. The Authority was the first figure that condensed, as it were, in this way and from then on he was the oldest, the most powerful, the most authoritative. And all the other angels at first believed he was the Creator and then some angels decided that he wasn't, and so we had the temptation and the Fall etc - all that sort of stuff came from that. And the figure of Authority who dies in the story is well, one of the metaphors I use. In the passage I wrote about his description, he was as light - in other words he has a reality which is only symbolic. It's not real, and the last expression on his face is that of profound and exhausted relief."

The series culminates with a war against God and God's subsequent defeat and death.

The short answer though is yes, this is one movie the church should be strongly opposing. Unfortunately, like the fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the publicity around it will cause curiosity and another box office hit.

2007-06-05T13:41:00.000-04:00

Burger Shop Owner Puzder Defends Soft Porn
Not only did Puzder defend his soft porn ads, he told critics to "get a life" and admited showing soft porn to his children, ages 7, 9, and 12. Now he's released yet another soft porn ad. If you've not stopped eating fast food burgers for the sake of your physical health, at least stop eating at Hardee's and Carl's for the sake of the children. Granted, Hardee's is a small fish in a big pond, but common sense decency has to be imposed by the public sometime.

2007-05-15T09:23:00.000-04:00

The Emerging Church Fad

Here we go again. Another Christian fad.

This one goes by various forms of 'The Emerging Church', 'The Emerging Generation' and 'The Post-Modern Church'. I suppose what disturbs me the most is that it appears to prey on our youth. It calls on them to isolate themselves from the Church of their parents, the Church of their forefathers, and form their own church in opposition to what is established. In that one sentence though are two problems. That they prey on the youth, and that they call for separation and division in the Body of Christ. Then we see kids leading kids.

This fad has all the earmarks of past fads. High emotionalism, self fulfillment, and compromise. Not that there isn't some good in it. There are indeed many churches that have isolated themselves too far from the world they were established to reach. More love and less condemnation is definately the call of the hour. But it is the church that must be revived. Anything that promotes division in the Body of Christ is not inspired by God. Anything that would isolate the youth from the elders is birthed in Hell, not the throne of God.

Jesus and his disciples established the church in peoples homes, not in bars and drug houses. He said 'go into the world and preach' Mark 16:15. He said 'come out from among them and be separate' 2 Corinthians 6:17.

Romans 10:2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. [3] Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. [13] for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." [14] How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? [15] And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" [17] Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
It's time for the church to be the church. Love one another. Love the sinner. Hate the sin. Be separate from sin. What fellowship does light have with darkness (2 Cor.6:14)? Eating with sinners and fellowshipping with them are two distinctly different things.

2007-05-03T09:49:00.000-04:00

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
(Revelation 2:20 KJV)

I know this is a "worn out" topic. Unfortunately the same attitudes that were so troublesome in the church at Thyatira are still causing problems today. Like the Thyatira church we can choose to ignore it. We can fall back on "We'll just pray about it." and hope that God will deal with it in our church. Do you really want a Jezebel Judgement in your church? It starts at the top with the Pastor being removed, then all manner of sickness will fill the congregation. I believe this is the same spirit that prompts Paul's warning to the Corinthians that if they don't stop their carnal feasts and return to true Communion, sickness will come upon all who drink of the cup and eat of the bread unworthily.

The Jezebel spirit is not difficult to recognize. It's a spirit of self gratification. It masquerades as one who is concerned about the true well-being of the church and subtly offers suggestions and direction. It uses flattery and sensual persuasions to win the favor of leaders.

Rebuking or casting out efforts are futile. The only way to win over this is basic James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Bold, firm resistance to the temptations of this spirit is the only solution. Revelation 12:11 tells us how, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." We must walk in the saving blood of Jesus Christ and change the way we talk. Philippians 4:8 has to govern our thinking and our tongues. We must stop falling in love with ourselves to the point that we grant our every desire. Take up fasting and bring the sensual appetites back under control. This type of resistance will drive out the Jezebel spirit.

2007-03-01T09:05:00.000-05:00

Helping Hollywood
Hollywood needs your help again. Apparently revenues have reached a point that folks like National Geographic and Discovery Channel felt they must resort to sensationalism to sell their programming. These once trusted companies have turned to lies and Christian bashing to promote their material. You know the latest. A Hollywood film producer and a thrill seeker team up to declare themselves expert archaeologists and historians, then proceede to promote their latest production and book. The best response is to cancel all ties with both the authors and the networks and media outlets that promote them. Remember the world outcry when Muslims thought their Mohammed on a shirt was a slap in the face? Remember the outcries against anyone who points a finger to the written text of the Koran used to promote terrorism? But where is the outcry when Christianity is mocked?
Talk is cheap. Turn off James Cameron. Turn off all of the Discovery Channel's various networks. Turn off all National Geographic networks. Cancel all subscriptions to all their publications. Send letters to them and all their carriers (such as DirecTV and Dish) explaining why you are blocking their channels.
--------The following is reprinted from an AFA bulletin---------
Tales from the Crypt

Do we have the bones of Jesus?
by Kerby Anderson
The last week in February started out with an incredible announcement. James Cameron (director of the film “Titanic”) and Simcha Jacobovici announced that they have found the bones of Jesus! At their news conference, they promoted their Discovery Channel special “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” that will air on March 4th and also promoted the book by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino entitled The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History released by Harper-Collins.
The foundational claim is that they have discovered the family tomb of Jesus Christ. But is this really the tomb of Jesus or his family? There are many good reasons to believe this tomb has no relationship at all to Jesus and his family. Many are asking what to think about these claims. Therefore, I put together a quick two-page summary of some of the criticisms and concerns that surfaced in the first few hours after the announcement. Before we look at those criticisms, let’s first review the history of this tomb.
We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. Back then, Israeli construction workers were digging the foundation for a new building in a Jerusalem suburb. Their digging revealed a cave with ten limestone ossuaries. Archeologists removed the limestone caskets for examination.
When they were able to decipher the names on the ten ossuaries, they found: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua. At the time, one of Israel’s most prominent archeologists (Professor Amos Kloner) didn’t associate the crypt with Jesus. He rightly argued that the father of Jesus was a humble carpenter who couldn’t afford a luxury crypt for his family. Moreover, the names on the crypt were common Jewish names.
All of this hasn’t stopped James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici from promoting the tomb as the family tomb of Jesus. They claim to have evidence (through DNA tests, archeological evidence, and Biblical studies) to prove that the ten ossuaries belong to Jesus and his family. They also argue that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah. However, a number of biblical scholars say this is a really just an old story now being recycled in an effort to create a media phenomenon that will sell books and guarantee a large audience for the television special.
First, does it really make sense that this would be the family tomb of Jesus? Remember that Jesus was in Jerusalem as a pilgrim and was not a resident of the city. How would his family be able to buy this tomb? As we already mentioned, Joseph (who probably was not alive and died in Galilee) and his family did not have the funds to buy such an elaborate burial site. Moreover, they were from out of town and would need time to find this tomb location. To accept this theory, one has to believe they stole the body of Jesus and moved it to this tomb in a suburb of Jerusalem all within about a day’s time.
Second, if this is the family tomb of Jesus and his family, why is Jesus referred to as the “son of Joseph?” As far as we can determine from history, the earliest followers of Jesus never called Jesus the “son of Joseph.” The record of history is that it was only outsiders who mistakenly called him that.
Third, if this is the family tomb of Jesus, why do we have the name of Matthew listed with the rest of the family? If this is the Matthew that traveled with Jesus, then he certainly was not a family member. And you would have to wonder why James (who remained in Jerusalem) would allow these inscriptions as well as allow the family to move the body from Jerusalem to this tomb and perpetrate a hoax that Jesus bodily rose from the grave. Also, the fourth-century church historian Eusebius writes that the body of James (the half-brother of Jesus) was buried alone near the temple mount and that his tomb was visited in the early centuries.
Fourth, there is the problem with the common names on the tombs. Researchers have cataloged the most common names at the time. The ten most common were: Simon/Simeon, Joseph, Eleazar, Judah, John/Yohanan, Jesus, Hananiah, Jonathan, Matthew, and Manaen/Menahem. These are some of the names found on the ossuaries and thus suggest that the tomb belonged to someone other than Jesus of Nazareth and his family. In fact, the name Jesus appears in 98 other tombs and on 21 other ossuaries.
Finally there is the question of the DNA testing. Apparently there is evidence that shows that the DNA from the woman (in what they say is the Mary Magdalene ossuary) and the DNA from the so-called Jesus ossuary does not match. So they argue that they were not relatives and thus must have been married.
But does the DNA evidence really prove that? It does not prove she is his wife. In fact, we really don’t even know who in the ossuaries are related to the other. Moreover, we do not have an independent DNA control sample to compare these findings with. At best, the DNA evidence shows that some of these people are related and some are not.
All of this looks like sensationalism from Simcha Jacobovici (who has a reputation as an Indiana-Jones type) and James Cameron (the director of the “Titanic.”). The publicity is certain to sell books and draw a television audience, but it is not good history or archaeology.

2006-12-22T12:58:00.000-05:00

ECUSA's Incoming Leader: Homosexuality Not a Choice, Jesus Not the Only Way
(AgapePress) - She says she doesn't consider Jesus Christ to be the only way to God. She says she believes God makes some people "gay." And she's soon to be the leader of a mainline Protestant denomination in America.
On Bible's "one way to heaven, Jesus Christ"
Jefferts-Schori says she views salvation as the healing of all Creation through holy living. "I understand salvation as being about the healing of the whole creation. Your part and my part in that is about holy living," she offered. "As Christians we understand [salvation] as relationship with God in Jesus, but that does not mean that we're expected to judge other people's own commitments."
On Homosexuality:
"Sexual orientation is pretty clearly defined at a very early age, before the age of reason. It's not a choice," she said. "In that case, a person of faith would need to say that it's a piece of how one is created." Consequently, she says, the Church should offer what she calls "a sacramental container" to help homosexuals find "holy ways of living in relationship."
Run, Don't Walk
Canon David Anderson is president of the American Anglican Council, a group of conservative clergy and lay people from the Episcopal Church. Anderson says he's not surprised at the recent comments by Jefferts-Schori, and offers what he sees as the only option for those still in churches aligned with ECUSA.

"I think they need to run, not walk, to the exit and find an orthodox Episcopal church," suggests Anderson.

2006-08-24T07:26:00.000-04:00

ISTANBUL – In an attempted land-grab, Muslim attackers have terrorized a predominantly Christian village in Pakistan’s Punjab province over the past two weeks and demolished its church.

Three Christian men were hospitalized with serious hatchet wounds from an initial August 7 attack on Mominpura Thaiki village near Sharaqpur, 20 miles southwest of Lahore. The Muslim aggressors came from a neighboring village.

Another critically injured Christian, Bashir Masih, was abducted and remains missing since a second assault on the village on Saturday (August 12), when he tried to stop armed attackers from stealing his cattle.

2006-08-23T15:57:00.000-04:00

Luke 11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."

2006-07-31T10:12:00.000-04:00

Many Questions Surround Qana Bombing
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com ) - Images from southern Lebanon - television footage of dead children being pulled from the rubble of a bombed-out building -- show that Israel's military effort to stop unprovoked attacks on its own civilians and soldiers is working to the terrorists' advantage.
Fury erupted around the world on Sunday, particularly in Lebanon, after Israel bombed what it believed to be a missile-launching site in southern Lebanon -- but killed around 57 people, many of them children, in the process.

2006-05-17T14:04:00.000-04:00

Crosswalk.com - Shedding Light on The Da Vinci Code's Fiction
"Part of the appeal of The Da Vinci Code is its claim that the story is based on historical facts. As the author states, “The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction. While the book’s characters and their actions are obviously not real, the artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals depicted in this novel all exist.” "

2006-04-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

Quote for Thursday, April 20, 2006

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." Theodore Roosevelt 1907

2006-03-13T06:53:00.000-05:00

My friend Gary Bauer brought to my attention an ad which ran in
Wednesday's New York Times. "These Religious Leaders Have A Serious
Gambling Problem." The ad viciously attacks a very good friend of mine
who is a leader in the pro-family movement—Dr. James Dobson. The
"problem" is Jack Abramoff, and the ad goes to great lengths to
connect Dr. Dobson to Abramoff.

Anybody who knows Dr. Dobson knows this is nothing more than a
libelous charge of guilt by association. Dr. Dobson has opposed
gambling all his life. He served on the congressionally mandated
National Gambling Impact Study Commission in the late 1990s, which
recommended a moratorium on gambling expansion. To date, no one has
even demonstrated, much less proven, any connection between Jack
Abramoff and Dr. Dobson – because there isn't one.

While this ad reads like an indictment against Dr. Dobson, it is in
reality a declaration of war against the entire pro-family movement.
The ad was paid for by the Campaign to Defend the Constitution or
DefCon. Its advisory board includes the executive director of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a former director of the ACLU,
the former president of the pro-abortion group NARAL, and a number of
"religious Left" leaders, including a homosexual pastor.

DefCon is a project of the Tides Center, a clearinghouse for liberal
money, which according to its website has distributed "nearly $400
million to thousands of nonprofits" in the last ten years. The Tides
Center is funding DefCon to "become the premiere voice of Americans
who are disturbed by the growing power of the religious right..."

The goal of DefCon is to depress religious conservatives by smearing
good men like Dr. Dobson. They want to bring down the pro-family
movement in the fallout of the Abramoff scandal, hoping values voters
won’t go to the polls in November. If they succeed, liberals will not
have to filibuster judges because they will have a majority in the
Senate. And the Marriage Protection Amendment will be dead on arrival
in a House run by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). This ad is
another sign of how low the left wing will stoop.

To see the ad.
http://www.afa.net/pdfs/defcon_religiousright.pdf

To read Dr. Dobson's response to the ad.
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0039768.cfm

TAKE ACTION

To sign the letter of appreciation to Dr. Dobson.
https://secure.afa.net/afa/afapetition/signpetition.asp?id=1530

He is the target of the leftwing groups and needs to know we are
standing with him in his battle for the family, and that we appreciate
his nearly 30 years of fighting for the family.

Thank you for caring enough to get involved.

Sincerely,

Don

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

P.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!

2006-02-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

Merriam-Webster's Word Of The Year
What's Merriam-Webster's most queried word of 2005? Integrity.
Now there are either a whole lot of people who have been betrayed and are seeking to define integrity in their own or another's lives, or there are a lot of people seeking to overcome a lack of integrity in their life. Either way I find it a remarkable fact that so many people are seeking to find honor and truth in the world...

2005-09-28T07:46:00.000-04:00

Free Office Suite
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.

2005-08-31T16:50:00.000-04:00

Free Annual Credit Report
No, really! By federal mandate all credit reporting companies must provide you with your credit report one time per year. This is available in all 50 states beginning September 1, 2005.

2005-07-13T07:26:00.000-04:00

Photo Story 3 for Windows
"Create slideshows using your digital photos. With a single click, you can touch-up, crop, or rotate pictures. Add stunning special effects, soundtracks, and your own voice narration to your photo stories. Then, personalize them with titles and captions. Small file sizes make it easy to send your photo stories in an e-mail. Watch them on your TV, a computer, or a Windows Mobile based portable device. Best of all it's free!"

2005-05-13T13:44:00.000-04:00

Free Undelete Utility Recovers Deleted Files, Unerases Lost Data "FreeUndelete is a freeware data recovery program for deleted files.
In case of accidental deletion of files on a NTFS file system (used by default in Windows XP, 2000 and NT) FreeUndelete is the utility to help. "

2005-02-16T11:34:00.000-05:00
PCWorld.com - CWShredder v2.1
Even if your PC has Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, you still can't stop some versions of an insidious and virus-like pest called CoolWebSearch. Fortunately, a Dutch student who goes simply by the name Merijn wrote a tiny free tool called CWShredder that specializes in removing dozens of CWS variants. InterMute bought the program and now maintains it as a standalone download and bundled with SpySubtract Pro. The following link downloads the standalone version of CWShredder.

2005-02-16T11:15:00.000-05:00
Spybot Search And Destroy
The latest version of Spybot - Search & Destroy adds some truly useful features to an already excellent app. The program still checks your system against a comprehensive database of adware and other system invaders, but it works much faster now (in our testing, three minutes versus 10 minutes previously). It also features several interface improvements. Scan results now appear arranged by groups in a tree, and a sliding panel lets you instantly view information about a selected item to help you decide whether to kill it or not. The Immunize feature blocks a plethora of uninvited Web-borne flotsam before it reaches your computer. Other useful tools, including Secure Shredder, complement the program's basic functionality for completely destroying files. Hosts File blocks adware servers from your computer, and System Startup lets you review which apps load when you start your computer. The functionality makes Spybot - Search & Destroy a must-have for all Internet users, and this version is a worthwhile upgrade.

2005-02-16T10:26:00.000-05:00
Avant Browser
A tabbed browser with Flash Filter, Popup Stopper, Cleaner and Web Search