Concerned Citizens Coalition of North Alabama

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2006-09-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

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Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

2006-07-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Enfield, Connecticut
July 8, 1741

--Their foot shall slide in due time.--
Deuteronomy 32:35

In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful works towards them, remained (as vers 28.) void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceding the text. -- The expression I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.
That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 72:18. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction."

It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also expressed in Psalm 73:18,19. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!"

Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.

That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.
The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. -- "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." -- By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. -- The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.
There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. -- He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?

They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" Luke 13:7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.

They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John 3:18. "He that believeth not is condemned already." So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John 8:23. "Ye are from beneath:" And thither he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him.

They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell.
So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.

The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them as his goods, Luke 11:12. The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.

There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isa. 57:20. For the present, God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;" but if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.

It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God's hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case.

Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from death; that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world, and others, with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death: but how is it in fact? Eccles. 2:16. "How dieth the wise man? even as the fool."

All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.
But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another reply, "No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself -- I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief -- Death outwitted me: God's wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me."

God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant.
So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.
So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.

Application
The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. -- That world of misery, that take of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies. God's creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope. There are the black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff on the summer threshing floor.

The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.

The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, Peace and safety: now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. -- And consider here more particularly,

Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Prov. 20:2. "The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul." The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4,5. "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."

It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in Isa. 59:18. "According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isa. 66:15. "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in many other places. So, Rev. 19:15, we read of "the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God," the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and wrath of almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!
Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezek. 8:18. "Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them." Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only "laugh and mock," Prov. 1:25,26,&c.

How awful are those words, Isa. 63:3, which are the words of the great God. "I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, viz. contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favour, that instead of that, he will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will have you in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end, that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is, and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great God is also willing to show his wrath, and magnify his awful majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Rom. 9:22. "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" And seeing this is his design, and what he has determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it. Isa. 33:12-14. "And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire. Hear ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites," &c.
Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isa. 66:23,24. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For "who knows the power of God's anger?"
How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there before tomorrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural condition, that shall keep out of hell longest will be there in a little time! your damnation does not slumber; it will come swiftly, and, in all probability, very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known, that never deserved hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give for one day's opportunity such as you now enjoy!
And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ?

Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generality persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God. -- And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. -- And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favour to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire.

Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: "Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed."

Was Jesus Married?

2006-05-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

http://alabamastoptheaclucoalition.blogspot.com/2006/05/was-jesus-married.html

What if you died Today?

2006-02-27T03:59:00.000-08:00

Imagine that you died today,

That you stood before God

And God asked you,

"Why should I let you into heaven?"

What would you say?

This is an important question, isn't it?

If You Want to Answer it Correctly Then You Must Think About Several Things

Be sure that you know what God is like. God created you and is your rightful owner. God is loving, merciful, and kind. But we often do not think about the fact that God is holy. The Bible says that "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5) This means that God is perfectly holy. God always does what is right, and His laws are perfect. God never makes a mistake. God never approves of or ignores evil. Because God is holy, He hates all sin. (Psalm 5:5) Anything that is sinful or wrong cannot even come near God -- it would be burned away by His holiness. The Bible says that God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." (Habakkuk 1:13; "iniquity" is another word for "sin"). God is so holy that the Bible compares Him to a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29)

God's holiness is an awesome thing. The Bible says, "who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For thou only art holy." (Revelation 15:4) This pure, holy God who hates sin is your Judge. The Bible says, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" (1 Samuel 6:20)

God's holiness is the opposite of our sinfulness.

Everybody admits that they are not perfect. We all know that we have done some bad things in our lifetime. But most people do not understand what the Bible teaches about sin.

What is sin?

The Bible says that "Sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4). In other words, sin is rejecting or disobeying God's laws. We sin any time we do not do what God wants us to do. If we disobey God's laws, then we sin. If we fail to do the good things God commands us to do, then we sin. Some people think sin is only really horrible things like murder, adultery, getting drunk, or robbing a store. These are sins, but the Bible says that we sin when we disobey any of God's laws. The Bible also says that our attitudes and thoughts can be sinful -- so things like pride, lust, selfishness, greed, and hatred are sins, too.

Here are a Few of God's Laws Have You Broken Any of Them?

"Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matthew 22:37) This means that God must be the most important thing in your life.

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matthew 22:39) This means that it is not enough to put up with other people. God commands us to love them.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." (Exodus 20:7) This means that we cannot use God's name in a joking way or to curse with.

"Thou shalt not steal." (Exodus 20:15) Even stealing little things is a sin.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." (Exodus 20:16) Telling lies and deceiving people are sins.

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill will be in danger of judgment; but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment." (Matthew 5:21-22) This means that feeling hatred or strong anger toward someone is usually a sin.

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28) This means that lust is a sin.

If you did one sin every day, in ten years that would add up to 3,650 sins. In forty years, you would be guilty of 14,600 sins. And this is if you did only one sin a day!

This is why the Bible says that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) The Bible also says "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." (Ecclesiastes 7:20) Is there such a thing as a righteous man who never sins? The Bible says, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar." (1 John 1:10) It is true that no one is perfect. But the Bible teaches that we are not even close to being perfect! All of us have broken God's laws many, many times. All of us are guilty sinners.

Stop and think for a moment. How many sins have you done in your lifetime so far? 100? 1,000? 10,000? More than that?

WHY DO WE SIN SO MUCH?

The Bible says we sin over and over again because we have a sinful heart (or, as some people call it, a sinful nature).

Just like it is the nature of a fish to swim and it is the nature of a bird to fly, it is the nature of a human to disobey God and reject His laws. This is the source of our sin problem. Deep down inside our heart, we really want to sin. We like to sin. That is why we do it so much. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) Have you ever noticed that you do not have to teach a child how to lie or how to be selfish? They will do that on their own! That is because we are all born with a sinful heart. The Bible says that our sins (things like evil thoughts, lying, stealing, cursing, greed, lust, and pride) come "from within, out of the heart of men." (Mark 7:21-22)

Because we have a sinful heart, we refuse to let God be the Boss of our lives. We do not want anyone -- including God -- telling us what to do. We want to live our life the way we want to. We want to be the boss of our lives. We might believe in God, and we might even go to church or get baptized or sing songs about God, but we do not want Him to run our life. Either we do not want to obey God, or we will only obey God when it is easy. We do not care about God. We all have this attitude, and it comes from our sinful heart.

God created us and is our rightful owner. He demands that we love Him, obey Him, and live the way that He wants us to live. It is a serious sin if we will not let God be the Boss of our lives and if we insist on running our lives the way we want to. If we say, "God, You won't be my Boss! You won't tell me what to do! I'll do whatever I want to with my life, and I'll live my life the way I please!", isn't this just as serious as slapping God in His face?

Do you have a sinful heart? Is God the boss of your life?

Because God is Holy He Must Judge All Sin

God cannot ignore our sins or pretend like our sins never happened. Because we have broken God's laws, we deserve God's punishment. Look at these Bible verses:

"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

"God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day." (Psalm 7:11)

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4)

"The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)

A holy God must judge sin. If God allowed our sin to go unpunished, He would be saying that sin is okay. God will punish all sin because He is a God of justice.

We all know that this is fair. What if a murderer stood before a human judge and the judge knew that the murderer was guilty. What would you think if the judge just let the murderer go free? He would not be a very good judge, would he? He would be a bad judge! A good judge must punish people who are guilty -- he cannot just forget or ignore their crimes. In the same way, a holy God must judge all sin. When God punishes people for their sins, He is only giving them what they deserve.

The Bible says "it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27) You will stand before God one day. You have broken God's laws many times. You deserve God's punishment. The Bible uses the word "wrath" (which means "anger") to describe God's punishment. "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." (Romans 1:18) "The day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners out of it." (Isaiah 13:9) When you disobey God and reject His laws, the Bible says you "treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." (Romans 2:5)

If God judged you for your sins, what would you deserve?

Here Are Some Common Mistakes That People Make About Heaven

Some think, "Yes, I have sinned, but I've done many good things in my life. My good deeds will make up for my bad deeds. I'm good enough to get into Heaven." This kind of thinking is wrong. The Bible never says that good deeds can pay for sins. Only the shedding of blood takes away sins. (Hebrews 9:22) The Bible says "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:6) This means that our good deeds are not very good when we compare them to God's holiness. Our good deeds still come out of a sinful heart that refuses to let God be our Boss. That is why they are not better than "filthy rags." When the Bible says "a man is not justified by the works of the law," (Galatians 2:16) it means that our good deeds or good works can never take away our sins and get us into Heaven.

Some think, "I'm not really bad. I'm not as bad as some people. So God won't judge me too hard. I'm good enough to get into Heaven." But God does not judge based on how we compare to other people. He judges by how we compare to His perfect standards of holiness. Maybe you are more kind or more honest or more religious than most people, but that does not matter. God will punish all sin. You need to ask yourself: Have I broken God's laws? Have I refused to let God be the Boss of my life? What do my sins and disobedience deserve?

Some think, "I'm doing the best I can. God will let me into Heaven because I'm doing my very best. And I'm going to try harder." The Bible never says that God will let you into Heaven if you do the best you can or if you try harder. Doing your best and trying harder can never take away sins. But have you really done the best you can? Do you always love God with all your heart? Do you serve God as much as you should? Do you do all the good things that you know you should do? None of us have done our very best!

Many think they are saved because they belong to a certain church, because they were baptized, because they attend church regularly, because they pray, or because they have had religious feelings. The Bible does not teach this. Things that we do, like joining a church or getting baptized can never take away our sins. Only God can take away sins!

You understand sin and God's holiness correctly when you realize that you can never be good enough to deserve to get into Heaven.

King David was a man in the Bible that God was pleased with. David knew that he was a sinful man. (See Psalm 51) David also knew that God is a holy Judge who hates sin. David prayed, "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." (Psalm 143:2) David knew that he would be in big trouble if God judged him for his sins and gave him what he deserved. "If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" (Psalm 130:3)

Your sins are so many, and God is so holy, that you could never be good enough to get into Heaven. You can never earn or deserve God's forgiveness. There is nothing you can do to get into Heaven because you cannot erase or get rid of your sins. You have broken God's laws many times. You have refused to let God be the Boss of your life. Because of your sins, God's wrath is upon you. You are in big trouble! If you ever stand before God and He judges you for your sins, you will get what you deserve: everlasting punishment in Hell.

Has the fact that you have disobeyed God many times ever really bothered you?

These are important questions because you can only come to the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness if you know that you are a guilty sinner. Jesus said, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Luke 5:31-32; see also Luke 18:9-14) Jesus is saying that you must realize how serious your sin problem is before you can be forgiven. If you are not convinced that you are a guilty, lost sinner, then Jesus will not forgive you.

GOOD NEWS

God Himself Made a Way For Our Sins to be Forgiven

God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to earth 2,000 years ago. Jesus was both God and man at the same time. Jesus did many miracles while on earth. He taught us how God expects us to live. Jesus never sinned and always obeyed all God's laws perfectly. Most importantly, Jesus came to earth to die for our sins.

Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross and crucified. As the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, the sins of all God's people were put on Him. Jesus Christ bore or carried our sins in His body. The Bible says that "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities ... and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:5-6; "iniquity" means "sin") The Lord Jesus "His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree." (1 Peter 2:24, Galatians 1:3-4)

As Jesus hung on that cross, God poured out His holy punishment for sin on Him. Jesus did not deserve that punishment because He never broke God's laws. But He was carrying our sins, and God gave Jesus Christ the punishment that we deserved. He became our Substitute who died in our place. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all the sins ever committed by God's people. "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18)

This proves how much God loves us. The Bible says, "God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8; "commendeth" means "demonstrates" or "proves")

Jesus's death was a sacrifice for our sins. Because Jesus is God, His sacrifice was big enough to fully pay for all those sins. Jesus did not just pay for some sins -- He paid for all the sins of God's people. Jesus Christ satisfied the demands of God's holiness and justice. That is why the Bible says that Jesus "taketh away the sin of the world," that Jesus "shall save His people from their sins," and that Jesus is "able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." (John 1:29, Matthew 1:21, Hebrews 7:25)

Jesus did not stay dead. God raised Him back to life, proving that Jesus fully paid for all the sins of God's pelple. He then returned to Heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ will come back to earth some day to judge the world. Though we cannot see Him, Jesus Christ is alive today. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. (Revelation 19:16) The Lord Jesus Christ today has all power in Heaven and earth. (Matthew 28:18) The Bible says that "Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living." (Romans 14:9) Lord means Master, Boss, or Owner. Jesus Christ is our Savior, but He is also our Lord. "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11) People today who disobey, ignore, or reject Jesus Christ are rebelling against the Lord and Ruler of the Universe! You must bow before Jesus and give Him your whole life!

Do you remember the two parts to our sin problem? First, we have done many sinful things. Second, we have a sinful heart or nature that causes us to keep on sinning. The Lord Jesus Christ takes care of both parts of our sin problem. This is what the Bible means by "being saved" or "salvation." It is true that God saves people from Hell, but being saved also means being freed or rescued from living a life of sin.

First, all your sins can be forgiven. Because God fully punished sin when He poured out His punishment on Jesus Christ, there is no need to punish sin again. That is a debt or a bill that is already paid. "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) Second, the Lord Jesus can change your sinful heart. This change makes you want to live a holy life -- you do not want to sin and you want to please God in everything you do. Jesus can make you into a new person! This is why the Bible says the "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Coming to Jesus Christ to be rescued from your sins produces big changes. All your sins are forgiven. You receive a new heart. God accepts you as a child in his family and becomes a Father to you. You are justified, or declared righteous, in God's sight. It is like starting your life all over again -- or, as the Bible says, being born again. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)

Has your sin problem been taken care of by the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know that you are totally forgiven of all your sins?

There is nothing that you can do to have your sins forgiven and to receive a new heart. You do not earn God's forgiveness by being good. The Bible teaches that God gives this as a gift to guilty, undeserving sinners like you and me. Being saved or rescued from your sins requires God's grace. Grace means "blessing or gifts that someone does not deserve." The Bible says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) It also says that through Jesus Christ "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." (Ephesians 1:7) The Bible also says that we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24; "justified" means "declared right with God") How does someone become a Christian? Only through God's grace.

The Bible says there are two conditions we must meet to receive this grace.

We Must REPENT of Our Sins

God "now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." (Acts 17:30) The Lord Jesus Christ said, "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3,5) "Repent" means to be so sorry for your sins that you stop doing them. When you repent, you realize that your sins are evil and you feel bad about them. (2 Corinthians 7:10-11) Someone who repents hates their sins; they do not keep on doing them! When you repent, you must make two turns: you must turn away from your sins and you must turn to the Lord Jesus Christ to obey Him. Our biggest sin is that we do not want God to be the Boss of our life. To repent means to turn around and go the opposite way: we now make the Lord Jesus the Boss of our life and we live the way He wants us to.

Is there some sin in your life that you will not give up? Repenting is a matter of ALL or NOTHING. If you will not stop doing your sins, then you cannot be forgiven. God only saves people who really repent.

Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." (Matthew 16:24) This is what repentance is: we say "no" to our old way of living and our sins, and we follow Jesus Christ. Our old life of disobeying God is over.

Do you feel so sorry for your sins that you will stop doing them?

We Must Have FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ

"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1) You must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on the cross to rescue people from their sins, and that His death on the cross completely pays for sin. You must believe that Jesus Christ has the power to save you from your sins. You must trust the Lord Jesus Christ to take away your sins and change your heart.

When you sit in a chair, you trust that chair to hold you up. You prove you have that trust when you put your full weight on the chair. If you sit on the chair but hold on to something else, then you prove that you do not really trust the chair. In the same way, you must trust or put your full weight on the Lord Jesus Christ. You must rely on Him and Him alone for the forgiveness of your sins. If you think that God will let you into Heaven because you were baptized, or because you belong to a certain church, or because you are living a good life, then you are not really trusting Jesus Christ. All your hope must be in Him. You cannot hold on to anything else.

It is not enough to believe the facts about Jesus Christ. The devil believes all the facts about Jesus Christ, but he is not forgiven. (James 2:19) What is the difference between the Devil's faith and the faith that results in salvation? Real faith is always mixed with repentance Real faith means you surrender to Jesus Christ. If you have real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will love Him, you will obey Him, and you will live the way He wants you to live.

Some years ago, a preacher talked with a young girl about giving her life to the Lord Jesus Christ. The girl admitted that she was not a Christian but said that she wanted to become one. The man asked her, "Why do you want to be saved?" The girl answered, "Please, sir, I don't want to live a life of sin." That girl had the attitude of a person who is ready to be saved: they do not want to disobey God any longer.

If you have ever had a checking account, you know what a "blank check" is. Signing a "blank check" is dangerous, isn't it? If you sign a check but do not fill in the amount, someone else can fill in any amount they want to (and it might be all the money you have!) Repenting of your sins and having faith in Jesus Christ is like giving God a "blank check" with your life. You say, "God, You take my whole life. I will do whatever You want me to do. You are my Boss from now on." That is what real faith is!

God's forgiveness is a free gift. If you repent and have faith in Christ, however, you will have to change many things. The first thing the Apostle Paul said after God saved him was "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6) If God saves you, that will be your attitude. You will have to give up things you have done all your life and begin doing things that you have never done. You must live your life the way God wants you to, which means you must live according to His rules. (Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:15-16) You must find a church where the Bible is taught and be a faithful part of that church. (Hebrews 10:25, 1 John 3:14) Friends and family members may laugh at you. Being a real Christian is not easy. Jesus Christ said that coming to Him will cost a great deal. He said, "Whosoever he is of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be My disciple." Before you come to Christ, you must "count the cost" -- be sure you are willing to stick it out! (Luke 14:25-33) This is what true faith includes. But it is worth it because the Lord Jesus Christ is worth it. Jesus is worthy of all you could ever give Him. Jesus Christ deserves your whole life.

Will you repent of your sins?

Will you have faith in Jesus Christ?

Will you give God a "blank check" with your life?

Being saved from your sin is something between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. No church or preacher can save you. You will have to talk to Jesus Christ yourself. There are no "magic words" or special prayers that you should pray. You must seriously, honestly cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot see Him, but he is alive today and hears you. Jesus Christ has all power in Heaven and earth; He (and He alone) has the power to save you from your sins!

If you are serious, you can be sure that the Lord Jesus Christ will hear you. The Bible says "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13) The Lord Jesus Christ said, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37; "in no wise" means "by no means" or "never")

If You Reject Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Then You Will One Day Face Him as your Judge

We will all die one day and stand before God. The Bible says that God's wrath or anger is upon those people who refuse to obey the Lord Jesus Christ and refuse to trust Him for the forgiveness of sins. (John 3:36) Those people will face an everlasting punishment in Hell. (Revelation 20:11-15, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9) God's people -- those who repent of their sins and trust the Lord Jesus Christ -- will live forever with God in His holy Heaven. (Revelation 21:1-22) But everyone will live forever in either Heaven or Hell.

What would happen if you died tonight and stood before God for Judgment?

If God judged you for your sins, where would you spend eternity?

Nearly 3,000 years ago, God said, "Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13) That is a great promise! If we really search for the Lord with all our heart -- if we are really serious -- then we will find Him. But if we do not search for Him with all our heart -- if we are not serious -- then we will not find Him.

Isn't it time you really got serious about God?

If you believe that God is real, then shouldn't He be the most important thing in your life?

Few things in this world are really a matter of life and death. Your relationship with God is that serious. Today is the day that you need to repent of your sins and trust Christ to save you. You may not have tomorrow.

How Can I Know if I am a Christian Already?

Religious feelings and miraculous experiences are not enough. Walking the aisle and shaking the pastor's hand does not make someone a Christian. Many people who have been baptized are not real Christians. Membership in the best church in the world does not make someone a Christian. "Praying through" on a mourner's bench does not necessarily mean that you are saved. You can know many things about the Bible and not be a Christian.

The Bible tells us how we can know whether or not we are really saved. The book of 1 John contains several "tests" that show whether God has truly saved someone or not.

Here are a few of the Bible's tests:

"By this we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, "I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:3-4)

Real Christians keep the Lord's commandments. Of course, Christians do sin. But real Christians are determined to obey God in all areas of their life. People who are not Christians frequently disobey God. They often do not care about God's commandments.

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." (1 John 5:3; "grievous" means "burdensome" or "difficult")

Real Christians want to obey God. They enjoy obeying God. People who are not saved find it very difficult to obey the Lord's commands.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)

Real Christians live for the future world, not this one. They reject many things that this world does. People who are not Christians find it very hard to give up the joys and pleasures of this world. When given a choice, non-Christians choose the world instead of the things that God approves of.

"He that doeth the will of God abideth forever." (1 John 2:17)

Real Christians do or obey God's will, which means that God is the Boss of their life. People who are not Christians are their own bosses and they run their own lives. People who are lost often disobey God's will or simply do not care about God's will.

"He that doeth righteousness is righteous .... He that committeth sin is of the devil ... whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin .. whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God." (1 John 3:7-10)

Real Christians do righteous things over and over again. The pattern of his life is one of holiness. Someone who is not a Christian does wrong things over and over again. The pattern of his life is one of disobedience to God's laws.

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." (1 John 3:14)

Real Christians love other Christians. That is why real Christians are always faithful members of their local church. Christians enjoy being with other Christians, so they see going to church as a privilege and not a duty. Non-Christians either do not attend church or go to church only once in a while.

"By this we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit whom He hath given us." (1 John 3:24)

Real Christians have the Holy Spirit living in them. This is why they find spiritual things interesting and they enjoy studying the Bible. People who are not saved do not have the Holy Spirit. The Bible is often boring to them and hard to understand.

"Whatever is born of God overcommeth the World." (1 John 5:4)

Real Christians have victory over sin. They can break bad habits and see real change in their life as they pursue holiness. People who are not Christians often cannot break bad habits.

Do You Pass These Tests?

Be honest. If you do not pass these Bible tests, then you probably are not a Christian and have never been saved. Jesus said there will be many on the Day of Judgment who think they are Christians but are not. He said, "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father, Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23) What is the mark of someone who is really saved? Jesus said that he "doeth the will of My Father , who is in Heaven." In other words, he obeys God and lives a life that is pleasing to God.

Make sure that you really are a Christian!

Sheffield businesses applaud bid to pursue Sunday Alcohol Sales

2006-01-29T03:59:00.000-08:00

Ready to serve

Sheffield businesses applaud bid to pursue Sunday alcohol sales

By Tom SmithSenior Staff Writer

SHEFFIELD -- Local restaurants and hotel officials believe Sunday liquor sales could be a potential boost for their businesses.“We have lost business because we don’t serve alcohol on Sunday,’’ said Mark Smith, managing partner of Outback Steakhouse.“I’d say 95 percent of the people who are coming into our market are coming from an area that serves alcohol on Sunday now,’’ said Linda Whitaker, manager of the Holiday Inn.

“We’ve had people laugh when they sit down to each dinner and ask for a drink and we’d say we didn’t sell alcohol on Sunday. They couldn’t understand that because where they come from they sell on Sundays.’’

On Monday, the Sheffield City Council took a step toward allowing Sunday liquor sales for restaurants and hotels in the city. The council approved a resolution to local legislators asking that a bill be introduced that would allow the council to have approval over the measure.“We’ve had people come in on Sunday evening and then turn around and leave when they find out we can’t serve liquor,’’ Smith said

.If the bill passes the Alabama Legislature, it would affect nine businesses in Sheffield.

Jim McDivett, general manager of Webster Hotel and Suites, said Sunday alcohol sales would put Sheffield businesses on a level playing field. Florence voters approved Sunday alcohol sales in restaurants and hotels in May.

“I’ve had several groups who were really bothered by this issue and ... chose not to stay with us,’’ McDivett said. “It may be something as simple as having a champagne toast at an event on Sunday evening, but because we couldn’t sell alcohol on Sundays, we lost the business.”Some of the Sheffield businesses that could be affected by the bill if it’s approved are not open on Sundays.“I don’t think it would help us that much, so we probably wouldn’t open just for that, but when special occasions fall on a Sunday, we might want to look at it,’’ said Frank Vafinis, owner of George’s Steakhouse.Randal Perkins, owner of Cajun’s Seafood Restaurant and Sports Lounge, said he could see where Sunday sales could be beneficial.“We’re not open on Sundays right now, but if this happens, it’s something we might want to look at,’’ Perkins said.Whitaker said she believes the city has lost some convention business by the lack of Sunday alcohol sales

.“And what happened in Florence really put us on a different playing field,’’ she said. “But I think there is a window of opportunity here for getting more revenue here.’’Smith said that normally, Sunday evenings are very slow at Outback.“But this, if it passes, I could see it helping increase sales,’’ he said. “And more people means more revenue and it would allow us to keep some of the revenue here in Sheffield and not go other places.’’Vafinis said he believes the council’s action could be a plus for the city and help bring in more commercial establishments.

Response from Local NBC Station on airing "Book of Daniel"

2006-01-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

The following is from Lee Meredith, Vice President and General Manager of WAFF 48. Thank you for taking the time to write us about your concerns regarding the new NBC show, "The Book of Daniel."

We appreciate your position on this and we will also be providing a copy of your email to the NBC Television Network. After careful consideration of the pros and cons of airing "The Book of Daniel," I have decided that it will air on WAFF 48 this Friday as scheduled.

Obviously, this is a program that is not for everyone, but I am very uncomfortable acting in the role of censor. In this situation, I believe it is better to err on the side of letting viewers make their own choices about whether the show is offensive. If you believe this program will offend you, I encourage you to vote with your remote control and not watch it. If enough of your neighbors feel as you do about this show, it will be canceled due to poor ratings.

I understand that you may be disappointed with my decision on this. I do want you to know that I did carefully consider the opinions of those opposed to this program. While we did not agree on this specific matter, your comments will help guide our future programming decisions. Thanks again for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,
Lee Meredith
Vice President and General Manager
Leigh Michal
WAFF 48 Programming
1414 N. Memorial ParkwayHuntsville, AL 35801
phone 256-564-5649
fax 334-223-1826

Chip's Comment:

I believe that if this series was about say Muslims and making a mockery of the Muslim religion as programs do the Christian faith they would take a different approach. They have the power to not air this program but they choose not to. It's ok to offend the Christians in this country but let a show that would be totally Christian that calls sin, sin and tell everyone that Jesus is the Only Way be airing this Friday then my friend it would be censured.

NBC Series"Book of Daniel" Mocks Jesus

2006-01-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

"The Book of Daniel," debuting Friday, depicts an Episcopal priest and his dysfunctional family and is raising concern among Christians who fear the false depiction of Jesus and his teaching could mislead viewers.
"The Book of Daniel," a new NBC series premiering Friday, tells the story of an Episcopal priest who regularly communes with a white-robed Jesus to get advice about the many problems he faces within his congregation and within his own family.

That doesn't sound so bad, until you hear the answers provided by the show's "Jesus."
Take, for example, the advice "Jesus" gives to the Rev. Daniel Webster (played by Aidan Quinn) about his teen-age daughter's involvement in using and selling marijuana. "She'll be fine; she's a good kid," he says.
Webster's 16-year-old son is depicted as promiscuous, regularly engaging in pre-marital sex. The "Jesus" character's advice? "He's a kid; let him be a kid."

Not to mention the fact that Webster's father, also a priest, is involved in an adulterous relationship. Webster's secretary, a lesbian, is sleeping with his sister-in-law. His oldest son is gay. And Webster, himself, is hooked on prescription painkillers.

Steve Isaac, online editor of Plugged In at Focus on the Family, said "The Book of Daniel" is television's latest attempt to cash in on controversy.

"It's not the first time TV has taken Christian clergy and rolled it around in the mud," he said. "This show is 'Desperate Housewives' in the sanctuary."
The show's writer Jack Kenny, who is openly gay, said much of his inspiration for the show came from watching his partner's family.

"I recognize there are going to be people who have an issue with a gay man writing about Jesus," he said. "I'm not making fun of Jesus. I never want to poke fun at religion or at Jesus."
Kenny may very well believe his show is harmless fun, Isaac said, but the reality is it and others like it erode truth.

"These kinds of portrayals, gradually, cumulatively, over time, subtly change the way all of us in the culture think about Christ," he said. "Shows like this continue to change the mainstream's opinion."
"It's just a fallen person's attempt at comedy—the residual affect of not having a moral compass."
While Kenny claims that his characters are spiritual people—"They believe in God, they believe in Christ as their savior, and I think that's wonderful," he said—Isaac worries about the representation of Jesus and the impact on the culture.

"They have Jesus portrayed as less than milquetoast. He's not interested in sin at all. Sin is irrelevant to this particular Jesus," Isaac said. "He's interested in hangin' out and being a consoling companion to Daniel."
Just how much will the show influence viewers?

"People have become so accustomed to getting their information from entertainment," Isaac said, "it's reasonable to assume that in a person's heart who doesn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, that—while it may not completely form their opinion of Jesus—it does tug at their perceptions of Jesus."

TAKE ACTION

Please take a moment to let NBC officials know of your disgust over "The Book of Daniel." You can do this in two ways:

1) Call and e-mail NBC Entertainment President Jeffrey Zucker.

2) Contact your local NBC affiliate via phone and e-mail and encourage management not to air "The Book of Daniel." You can find contact information by visiting the CitizenLink Action Center and typing your ZIP code into the space provided.

How to Witness to family and friends during Christmas

2005-12-09T04:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.angelfire.com/al4/cornerstone/frontlineevangelism/index.blog?entry_id=1127626

A Thanksgiving Message for all of you

2005-11-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

http://alabamastoptheaclucoalition.blogspot.com/2005/11/to-all-my-readers.html

Five Key Questions From the DaVinci Code

2005-11-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

1. Was Jesus’ divinity really invented in the 4th century?
"Indeed," Teabing said. "…During this fusion of religions, Constantine needed to strengthen the new Christian tradition, and held a famous ecumenical gathering known as the Council of Nicaea."…

"At this gathering," Teabing said, "many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon—the date of Easter, the role of the bishops. The administration of sacraments, and of course, the divinity of Jesus."

[Sophie] "I don’t follow. His divinity?"

"My dear," Teabing declared, "until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet… a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal."

"Not the Son of God?"

"Right," Teabing said. "Jesus’ establishment as ‘the Son of God" was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea."

"Hold on. You’re saying Jesus’ divinity was the result of a vote?"

"A relatively close vote at that," Teabing added….1

What did Jesus and His disciples believe about His divinity?

Jesus:

I and the Father are One. (John 10:30)

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. (John 8:19)

He who has seen Me, has seen the Father. (John 14:9)

The Disciples:

John 20:28—Thomas said to him [Jesus] "My Lord and my God."

Romans 9:5—"Christ, who is God over all, forever praised."

2 Thessalonians 1:12—"Our God and Lord Jesus Christ."

1 John 5:20—"Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."

Colossians 2:9—"In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form."

Others:

The Jews: "You a mere man claim[ing] to be God" (John 10:33).

The High Priest: "You have heard the blasphemy" (Mark 14:61-64).

Church Fathers PRIOR to the Council of Nicea:

Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) wrote of Jesus, "who,… being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God."2 In his Dialogue with Trypho, he stated that "God was born from a virgin" and that Jesus was "worthy of worship" and of being "called Lord and God."3

Irenaeus (120-202 A.D.), wrote that Jesus was "perfect God and perfect man"; "not a mere man…but was very God"; and that "He is in Himself in His own right…God, and Lord, and King Eternal" and spoke of "Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour and King"4

Tertullian (145-220 A.D.), said of Jesus "Christ is also God" because "that which has come forth from God [in the virgin birth] is at once God and the Son of God, and the two are one…in His birth, God and man united."5

Athanasius (293-373 A.D.), the keen defender of New Testament teaching against the early Arian heresy, which taught that Jesus Christ was not God, declared of Jesus, "He always was and is God and Son" and "He who is eternally God,… also became man for our sake."6

To learn more about this topic, see these articles:

• Is it True that Jesus’ Divinity was Invented by Constantine at the Council of Nicea?

• Just How Unique is Jesus When Compared to Other Religious Leaders?

• Crash Goes the Da Vinci Code

For further study, check our catalog to order

• Evidence for the Historical Jesus (DVD/VHS)

• Jesus: The Search Continues (DVD/VHS)

• The Case for Jesus the Messiah (DVD/VHS)

• Fast Facts on Defending Your Faith (book)

2. Was Jesus married?

…Jesus as a married man makes infinitely more sense than our standard biblical view of Jesus as a bachelor… Because Jesus was a Jew… the social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried. According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find a suitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible’s gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood.7 —Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p. 245.

The greatest cover-up in human history. Not only was Jesus Christ married, but He was a father. My dear, Mary Magdalene was the Holy Vessel. She was the chalice that bore the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ. She was the womb that bore the lineage, and the vine from which the sacred fruit sprang forth.8 —Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p. 249.

Is it true that it was socially unacceptable for a Jewish man to be single?

It has long been believed that Jesus was single. Every detail of Scripture indicates this. When he was in ministry, there is no mention of a wife. When he was tried and crucified, there is no mention of his having a wife. After his death, there is no mention of a wife. Whenever Jesus’ family is referred to, it is his brothers and sisters who are mentioned, but never a wife. Nor is there any indication that he was widowed.9

… two factors make this argument [that Jesus was "required" to be married] weak. First, Jesus was not technically a rabbi, nor did he portray himself as one. The apostles addressed him as such to say he was their teacher, not because he held any kind of official Jewish office. The Jews asked Jesus "by what authority" he did certain things because he did not hold any kind of formal office within Judaism. He did not have an official position that would have permitted him to do things like act within the temple (Mark 11:28). As far as the Jewish leaders were concerned, Jesus had no recognized role within Judaism.…

Second, the example of the call to be "eunuchs for the kingdom" appears, in part, to be rooted in Jesus’ own commitment and example not to be married (Matthew 19:10-12). In fact, the rationale for the Roman church’s later view that priests should not be married partially stems from the view that Jesus was not married.10

The Jewish atmosphere of Jesus’ day clearly had a tradition of celibacy for those who devoted their lives to God, as exemplified by the unmarried prophets Jeremiah and Elijah and as expressed by New Testament-era groups such as the Essenes and figures such as John the Baptist and Banus the prophet (Josephus, Life 2.11). Celibacy and singleness were indeed exceptional, but contrary to Brown, they were not forbidden by any "social decorum."11

Specifically, there is not a shred of historical evidence that Jesus ever married Mary Magdalene (or anyone else) or ever fathered children. As Darrell Bock points out in his recent Christianity Today review (January 2004, 62), such information would certainly have been included in 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul appeals to the fact that Peter and various other apostles had wives when they received material help from the churches. In supporting his right to receive such help, Paul would have wanted to appeal to an even more convincing example—Jesus—if it were available.12

To learn more about this topic, see these articles:

• Was Jesus Married? Who Was Mary Magdalene?

• Crash Goes The Da Vinci Code

3. Is it true that the Bibles we have in our homes do not contain the earliest and most accurate information about Jesus?

More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John among them. —Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p. 23113

"Fortunately for historians," Teabing said, "some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert. And, of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms.… The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda—to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base." —Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p. 23414

What did the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal?

These ancient texts, hidden in pots in cliff-top caves by a monastic religious community, confirm the reliability of the Old Testament text. They provide significant portions of Old Testament books—even entire books—that were copied and studied by the Essenes. These manuscripts date from as early as the third century b.c. and so give the earliest window so far found into the texts of the Old Testament books and their predictive prophecies. The Qumran texts have become an important witness for the divine origin of the Bible.15

Even the deity of the Messiah is affirmed in the fragment known as "The Son of God" (4Q246), Plate 4, columns one and two: "Oppression will be upon the earth… [until] the King of the people of God arises,… and he shall become [gre]at upon the earth. [… All w]ill make [peace,] and all will serve [him.] He will be called [son of the Gr]eat [God;] by His name he shall be designated…. He will be called the son of God; they will call him son of the Most High."16

What did the Nag Hammadi documents reveal?

The Nag Hammadi Texts, … are named after the place they were found on the west bank of the Nile. A library was found containing forty-five texts written in the Coptic language. These were written from the early second century to the fourth century AD. Examples of texts included The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Philip, The Acts of Peter and others. These texts were Gnostic in character and found in a library of Gnostic works….17

…Gnosticism may be described generally as the fantastic product of the blending of certain Christian ideas—particularly that of redemption through Christ—with speculation and imaginings derived from a medley of sources (Greek, Jewish, Parsic; philosophies; religions, theosophies, mysteries) in a period when the human mind was in a kind of ferment, and when opinions of every sort were jumbled together in an unimaginable welter. It involves, as the name denotes, a claim to "knowledge," knowledge of a kind of which the ordinary believer was incapable, and in the possession of which "salvation" in the full sense consisted. This knowledge of which the Gnostic boasted, related to the subjects ordinarily treated of in religious philosophy; Gnosticism was a species of religious philosophy (Early Church History to AD 313, II, 71).18

Are the Gnostic Gospels earlier and more accurate? Why were the Gnostic Gospels not included in our New Testament?

The assertion by Brown that these are secret gospels is false. We have known of these for centuries. The early church fathers wrote about the texts and rejected them as uninspired and non-apostolic. Iraneaus (130-200 AD) and Tertullian (160-225 AD) mentioned the texts in their letters and stated their rejection of them. These texts were never considered part of the inspired writing of the Apostles for several reasons.

Many of the texts are dated well after the death of the apostles. The teachings are inconsistent with previous revelation of Jesus and apostolic teaching. The teaching of Gnostic dualism is what the gospels of John and Epistles appear to be reacting against. Additionally, the church fathers knew of these texts and never regarded them as equals to the gospels.19

To learn more about this topic, see these articles:

• Should Additional Gospels Have Been Included in our Bibles?

• The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas

• Crash Goes The Da Vinci Code

4. Was Jesus’ original message that men should encounter God through sexual rituals?

The once hallowed act of Hieros Gamos—the natural sexual union between man and woman through which each became spiritually whole—had been recast as a shameful act. Holy men who had once required sexual union with their female counterparts to commune with God now feared their natural sexual urges as the work of the devil, collaborating with his favorite accomplice…woman.20—Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, p. 125.

Did the church make sex the original sin?

The church has not recast sex as a shameful act. Sex within marriage is good (see Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31). Sex was a part of God’s "good" creation. Indeed, God created sex and "everything created by God is good" (1 Timothy 4:4). But it is good only within the confines of the marriage relationship (1 Corinthians 7:2), which He Himself ordained (see Hebrews 13:4). The Song of Solomon indicates that God desires married people to have truly fulfilling sex.

Christians, however, are to abstain from fornication (Acts 15:20). Paul said that the body is not for fornication and that a man should flee it (1 Corinthians 6:13,18). Certainly the sex ritual depicted in THE DA VINCI CODE (a copulating couple surrounded by chanting people) constitutes a form of fornication and is thus condemned by God.

Scripture is quite clear: "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient" (Eph. 5:5-6).21

Do men "encounter God" through sexual rituals?

Sex was never intended as a means of achieving "gnosis." Man is not to seek revelation or knowledge in altered states of consciousness related to the sex act, but rather from God’s Word. Scripture alone is the supreme and infallible authority for the church and the individual believer. Jesus always used Scripture as the final court of appeal in every matter under dispute. We must do the same.

Instead of a view that says individuals can receive individual insights from God during sexual ecstasy, Scripture indicates that a definitive body of truth was objectively communicated to man. This is why Jude 3 admonishes us to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." In the Greek text, the definite article "the" preceding "faith" points to the one and only faith; there is no other. "The faith" refers to the apostolic teaching and preaching which was regulative upon the church (see Acts 6:7; Gal. 1:23; 1 Tim. 4:1).

This body of truth is referred to in Jude 3 as that which was "once for all delivered to the saints." The word translated "once for all" (Greek: apax) refers to something that has been done for all time, something that never needs repeating. The revelatory process was finished after this "faith" had "once for all" been delivered.

The word "delivered" here is an aorist passive participle, indicating an act that was completed in the past with no continuing element. There would be no new "faith" or body of truth communicated through people in sexual ecstasy.22

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this manner no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 4:3-8).

The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."...So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep…. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Gen. 2:18,21-24).

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies…. "For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the Church. (Eph. 5:25-32, emphasis added)

To learn more about this topic, see these articles:

• Did the Church Recast Sex as a "Shameful Act"?

• Crash Goes The Da Vinci Code

5. Is Christianity nothing more than a copy of older mystery religious beliefs and practices?

The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholic saints. Pictograms of Isis nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual—the miter, the altar, the doxology, and communion, the act of "god-eating"—were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions.23

Did Christianity borrow from pagan rituals?

Many alleged similarities between Christianity and the Greek pagan religions are either greatly exaggerated or fabricated. Liberal scholars (such as those in the Jesus Seminar) often describe pagan rituals in language that they borrowed from Christianity, thereby making them appear to be "parallel" doctrines.24

New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger is quoted by Nash: "It must not be uncritically assumed that the Mysteries [i.e., pagan religions] always influenced Christianity, for it is not only possible but probable that in certain cases, the influence moved in the opposite direction." Nash notes that it should not be surprising that leaders of cults that were being successfully challenged by Christianity should do something to counter the challenge. What better way to do this than by offering a pagan substitute? Pagan attempts to counter the growing influence of Christianity by imitating it are clearly apparent in measures instituted by Julian the Apostate.25

The mysticism of the mystery religions was essentially nonhistorical. The religion of Christianity is grounded in history.26

To learn more about this topic, see these articles:

• Did Christianity Arise Out of the Mystery Religions?

• Crash Goes The Da Vinci Code

Notes

1 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code ( ), p. 233.

2 Justin Martyr, "The First Apology," Chapter 63, in Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1 184.

3 Justin Martyr, "Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew," Chapters 64, 68, in Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 1, 231-233.

4 Irenaeus, "Against Heresies" Book III, Chpt. 16, Title; Chpt. 19, Title, para.2; Book I, chapt. 10, para. 1, in Roberts and Donaldson (eds.), The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, 440, 448-49.

5 Tertullian (Quintus Tertullianus), "A Treatise on the Soul," Chapter 41, and "Apology," Chapter 21, in Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3, Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian (Grand Rapids, MI: Erdmans, 1978), 221, 34-35, respectively.

6 Athanasius, "Against the Arians," III, para.29, 31, in Maurice Wiles and Mark Santer (eds.), Documents in Early Christian Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 52, 54.

7 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), p. 245.

8 Ibid., p. 249.

9 Darrell L. Bock, Ph.D., "Was Jesus Married?" http://www.leaderu.com/theology/wasjesusmarried.html

10 Bock, "Was Jesus Married?"

11 James Patrick Holding, A SUMMARY CRITIQUE - THE DA VINCI CODE: Revisiting a Cracked Conspiracy, www.equip.org

12 Craig Blomberg, review of The Da Vinci Code in Denver Journal - An Online Review of Current Biblical and Theological Studies, http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles2004/0200/0202.php

13 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), p. 231.

14 Ibid., p. 234.

15 Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1999), p. 187.

16 Ibid., quoting Robert H. Eisenman and Michael Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1992), p. 70.

17 "Discerning Fact from Fiction in The Da Vinci Code." http://www.evidenceandanswers.com/.

18 "Gnosticism" International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (www.studylight.org)

19 "Discerning Fact from Fiction in The Da Vinci Code." http://www.evidenceandanswers.com/.

20 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), p. 125.

21 Ron Rhodes, "Crash Goes The Da Vinci Code."

22 Ibid.

23 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York, NY: Doubleday, 2003), p. 232.

24 Rhodes, citing Ron Nash, "Was the New Testament Influenced by Pagan Religions," CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, August 1994.

25 Ibid.

26 Rhodes.
http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/historical-Jesus/DaVinci/HJ-davinci-5-questions.htm

Facts, or smear?

2005-10-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

By TERESA MCMINN
For the Daily Record/Sunday News
Thursday, October 27, 2005

In a mass mailing this week, members of the Dover Area School Board cited the ACLU’s representation of controversial groups as a reason to vote for them and against their challengers.
Wednesday night, some of those challengers, aligned with the group Dover CARES, said the incumbents had sunk to a desperate low.

In the letter to district residents, board members attacked their opponents for working with a group that has defended terror suspects and has defended a group that advocates sexual relationships between men and boys.

According to the letter, the American Civil Liberties Union defends special rights for terrorists and is defending the North American Man/Boy Love Association’s “right to put out information on how adults can lure young children into having sex with them.”

Dover school board member Alan Bonsell said the letter was sent because Dover CARES has put out negative notions and distortions during the campaign. The ACLU could not have come to Dover and sued the district unless it got someone from within the community to sign on to the lawsuit, he said.

Referring to some of the controversial cases in which the ACLU has been involved, Bonsell said, “I think the ACLU is a very terrible organization.”

In the Nov. 8 election, voters will choose four people to fill four-year term seats and three people for two-year term seats.

The biggest conflict in the race has centered on the ongoing trial over the mention of intelligent design in ninth-grade science class. The ACLU is representing 11 parents who are suing the district. One of those parents, Bryan Rehm, is running for a seat on the school board.

Witold Walczak, an ACLU lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the intelligent design case, said the incumbents are trying to stick the challengers with “whatever baggage they think the ACLU carries.”

“Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing,” he said. “But one of the consequences is irresponsible and misleading speech.”

Because the ACLU defends the rights of all citizens, Walczak said, attorneys at times must defend clients with unpopular, and even abhorrent, political views.

Some incumbents unaware of letter

Some incumbents were surprised when they were told Wednesday about the letter sent out by board member Alan Bonsell in their names.

“I know we have some groups doing mailings for us, but I haven’t been in contact with them,” said Dover School Board member Ron Short.

Board member Ed Rowand also was in the dark.

“I don’t have any copy of any letter, of any mailing,” he said. “I don’t know.”

And board member Sherrie Leber said, “I wasn’t aware of it . . . I didn’t realize it identified us as individuals.

“I really can’t comment because I haven’t seen it,” she said. “I don’t really know what research was done. I don’t know where it came from.”

Short and Rowand said they were comfortable with the letter and its content.

School board challengers Phil Herman and Larry Gurreri were disgusted by the letter.

“It makes me angry,” Gurreri said. “(Bonsell) is trying to intimidate people, and it’s not going to work. Everything we’ve done has been above board.

“I’d like to collect all of (the letters) and drop them in (the incumbents’) yards, starting with Bonsell. I don’t understand him.”

Herman agreed.

“I am very offended,” he said. “This has gotten blown out of proportion. I have nothing to do with the ACLU. It’s dirty tactics. It’s something they have been doing all throughout this campaign.

“Win or lose, I can’t wait for it to be over,” Herman said. “I was born and raised in Dover. I never in my 55 years have seen this community brought down as bad as it has been by this school board. I am dead serious about that.”

Leber said she did not want to comment on specific statements in the letter because she had not seen it but said she supported Bonsell for the creation, organization and issuance of the letter.

“If Alan said that he researched it, I trust and believe that he did,” she said.

Letter lists board accomplishments

The letter also lists a number of the board’s recent accomplishments, including holding the line on taxes, saving money on school renovations and the start of full-day kindergarten at no extra cost.

Short later said he received the three-page letter in the mail but overlooked it.

“I just set it aside,” he said. “I was aware it was coming. I had done some research. I just didn’t know what was going to be in (the letter).

“There was a meeting going on, but there were several committees going on at once, so I didn’t hear what was in the letter.”

Short agreed with Leber that, even without seeing the letter before it was mailed, he knew it would represent the consensus of the board.

“We trusted . . . it would convey our message,” he said. “I really don’t know who put the letter together.”

Did he approve of the final copy?

“Absolutely,” he said. “I fear the ACLU more than I fear al-Qaida.”

Daily Record/Sunday News staff writers Michelle Starr and Lauri Lebo contributed to this report.

Church agrees to stop practice of swallowing live goldfish

2005-10-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

Church of God in Florence says they will stop eating live goldfish because of pressure from PETA. My question to PETA is where is the outcry when it is a baby who feels pain in the womb or the gross inhumane practice of partial birth abortion? I don't think people should eat live goldfish but come on if we are gonna be that way about animals, humans we ought to go to the more extra to perserve life.

The issue: As part of the Fear Factor ministry at First Assembly of God in Florence, teenaged participants were asked to swallow live goldfish.

What's new: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked the church to ban the use of live animals in further programs that involve children and teens.

What's next: Greg Woodall, pastor at First Assembly of God, has said the church would refrain for engaging in this type of activity for future programs

2005-09-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

I want YOU to be a part of the Stop the ACLU Coalition today!

9/25/05

Dear Friends:

Do you feel like you want to do more than just sign a petition or give money to stop the ACLU? If so, I want you to consider joining the fastest growing Internet grassroots effort solely committed to ending the 85 year reign of the domestic legal terror of the ACLU. Of course, we need your donations and for you to complete and return our petition. But if you want to actually do something to advance the coalition and literally put a dent in the ACLU's extreme far left agenda, then I want you aboard.

Currently, I am seeking individuals who want to be state and county Stop the ACLU coordinators as well as people who are simply willing to mail our form letter to churches and organizations across America that may be willing to join our efforts. If you simply want to mail our letters (perfect for those with time constraints or who have limited mobility), then read my appeal on my home page and then contact me and I will give you everything you need to get you started.

However, if you want to be a coordinator for the coalition, either for the entire state or just your county, I want to hear from you.

As you may know, the ACLU has offices in all 50 states (except for South Dakota which is located in North Dakota), along with their headquarters in New York and Washington, D.C. They have a seemingly unlimited amount of money at their hands and roughly 400,000 members and supporters. It goes without saying that to compete at that level, we need to build a massive database of Stop the ACLU members and supporters. Like the ACLU's executive directors responsible for their states, we need a head person in each state to observe and counter, when applicable, ACLU efforts in those states. Therefore, we need a state coordinator of each of the 50 states (except in California and Texas where we want two for each). We tentatively have 10-12 coordinators lined up. We need to secure the tentatives and locate personnel committed to overseeing efforts in the remaining states.
And whereas the ACLU has local chapters in many states, we want to eventually get coordinators for each county in America. County coordinators will be responsible for promoting the Stop the ACLU Coalition in their counties while state coordinators will oversee county coordinators as well as promoting the Coaltion. It will obviously take some time to get county coordinators lined up but it is essential we do so if we are to have a strong counterpresence to the ACLU.

State coordinators will be responsible for the following tasks:

Mailing a monthly minimum of 20 Stop the ACLU letters to churches and patriotic groups in their county (state coordinators are county coordinators for the county they reside).
Recruiting county coordinators. The Coalition will certainly assist coordinators in finding such qualified personnel in the counties in their states but state coordinators must make reasonable efforts to locate such as well. However, there is no timetable for completion. We want the right people involved. We'll take as much time as we need.
Periodically contacting conservative, pro-family and Christian radio and TV stations in their state (via e-mail, snail mail or fax) to share the Stop the ACLU web site and encourage them to contact the Stop the ACLU director for an interview.
Periodically writing letters to newspapers in the state about the truth of the ACLU.
Weekly visiting the state's ACLU web site (including chapters, if applicable) to be familiar with what the ACLU is doing in those states and notifying the director of any rally or event they may be sponsoring or participating in or of any important legislation the state's ACLU is supporting (or opposing) that could be considered detrimental to the state or the nation.
Notifying county coordinators to recruit people for a counter rally protest in the event of an ACLU rally.
Seeking sources to get our message out such as billboards, radio or newspaper ads.
Promote and recruit individuals willing to participate in the one million person march on ACLU offices across the U.S.
Looking to set up public forums (the ACLU does this) to explain what we are all about as well as what the ACLU is all about.
Compiling brief monthly reports, basically a summary of your actions for each month. Such will include: how many letters mailed, media sources contacted, people contacted to be county coordinators, etc.

County coordinators will be responsible for the following tasks:

Mailing a monthly minimum of 20 Stop the ACLU letters to churches in your county.
Recruiting individuals to help assist in mailing our letters
Periodically writing letters to newspapers in the state about the truth of the ACLU
Assist state coordinators in recruiting people for your state's march and when there is a need for a counter rally protest.
Sharing this site with as many people as possible and educating them as to the true agenda of the ACLU.

Requirements for being a county or state coordinator simply include a willingness to follow instructions. County coordinators should put in 6-8 hours a month to do the aforementioned activities. A state coordinator should put in 12-15 hours a month and meet the following essentials:

Full support and agreement with the mission of the Coalition as found in the About page. United we stand, divided we fall.
Ability and openness to work with people of all types
Willingness to follow directions as requested by the director
Experience in managing large groups of people or coordinating major events is very helpful but not absolutely necessary if there is a strong passion to carry out the goals of the Coalition
A good working knowledge of the ACLU's positions and actions on issues

If you are interested in being either a state or county coordinator, please go to the Contact page and complete the online form there. Fill out all the boxes and indicate if you wish to be a state or county coordinator. I will send you the application to fill out along with a couple other items. Once you return the application, I will arrange a time to speak with you.
However, if you want to get involved with us and don't have the time or ability to be a coordinator but are willing to mail our letters to churches and other organizations, we still welcome your participation.

You may or may not know that the ACLU visits college campuses across America to recruit young impressionable minds to their evil agenda. While our future goal is to counter that by bringing Stop the ACLU volunteers and staff aboard these schools, our immediate goal is to recruit where we the ACLU will largely not go due to their agenda. And that is in our houses of worship.

In our letter, there is no asking of money but to simply go to the Stop the ACLU web site and educate themselves. All you have to do is copy and print the letter we send you on your printer or from a print shop, address envelopes, affix postage and mail them. That's it. No cold calling and no follow up. That is my job. And I will provide you a web link where you can locate these churches. You can use your phone book as well.

Many churches across America have been silent on moral issues that have the potential to affect them. But with recent lobbying efforts by the ACLU (thus far unsuccessful) in states like Illinois and Oregon to prevent churches from denying employment to homosexuals, transsexuals and cross dressers, this issue is now at their doorstep. The timing to get them involved is now. This is certainly not the only issue churches must deal with in our culture but it is one of concern since it involves the state and the ACLU dictating church policy. The ACLU cannot compel churches to support abortion or pornography but they can thru litigation and legislation hire or prevent from firing certain individuals thru sexual orientation laws.

And in California, despite assurances to the contrary, there is a fear that pastors might be compelled to marry same sex couples or face litigation from the ACLU. The ACLU's presence is very heavy in the Golden State where same sex marriage has passed the legislature (with the ACLU's approval) and as of 9/7 awaits the governor's signature.

We already have roughly 60 people thus far who have committed to send 20-50 letters a month. I would like to expand that to 100 by September. Are you interested? I will send you the exact instructions as to what to do. It's not hard and doesn't take much of your time. There is no limit to how few or many letters you can send, however, we would like to see each volunteer do at least 20 a month. We cannot reimburse you at this time but we will do so as funds become available. Sending 20-50 letters will cost between $10 and $25 monthly. If you can swing it, want to help this cause and if you agree with our mission statement as outlined in the ABOUT page, or if you have questions, please contact me today! Just say "I want to mail letters" and I'll get you started pronto!

You need not be overly religious to help in this effort. While this site caters to large segments of the religious community, this is not an inherently religious web site. We are here to resist and counter the ACLU's agenda, whether it be on the moral front or national security, illegal immigration or anything else. We are united on any issue whereby the ACLU serves to undermine America's values.
100 people monthly sending 50 letters = 5000 churches a month. Assuming 10% of them view the web site and see the need to be a part of the coalition, that's 500 churches. And with referrals inside and outside the congregations, the numbers of people who may come on board are potentionally staggering.

The ACLU claims 400,000 members. Our goal - 1 million Stop the ACLU members. Will you help us achieve our goal? With your help, we can build massive public awareness of the ACLU's agenda and put the fear of God in them. Let's do it today!

And as always, we need individuals to research the Internet for ACLU affiliated lawyers and for organizations, groups, corporations and companies who either donate to the ACLU or benefit from them in some way. It is our goal to boycott all such individuals and groups from ever getting one dime. We will post such on the web site's Hall of Shame page once we obtain the names of such. You need not contact me for permission to do this. Just do Internet searches on your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.), gather the information and send it to me.

And everyone knows someone who needs to be educated on the ACLU. Please share it with them and have them come aboard.

Thank you and God bless you.

Kindly send your donations to:

Stop the ACLU Coalition
6000 S. Central, #8
Chicago, IL 60638

ACLU Executive Director, Anthony Romero

2005-09-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

Romero took the helm of the American Civil Liberties Union in September 2001, a week before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Under his leadership, the ACLU has continuously stood up for civil liberties and steadfastly maintained that it is possible to be both safe and free.

Romero is the ACLU’s sixth executive director and the first Latino and openly gay man to serve in that capacity. He came to the organization from the Ford Foundation ‘s Human Rights and International Cooperation Program, which he lead through a period of extraordinary growth transforming it into Ford’s largest and most dynamic grant-making unit.

Born in New York City to parents from Puerto Rico, Romero was the first in his family to graduate from high school. He is a graduate of Stanford University Law School and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy.

Judge: School Pledge Is Unconstitutional

2005-09-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge declared the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional Wednesday in a case brought by the same atheist whose previous battle against the words "under God" was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on procedural grounds.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."

Karlton said he was bound by precedent of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2002 ruled in favor of Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.

The Supreme Court dismissed the case last year, saying Newdow lacked standing because he did not have custody of his elementary school daughter he sued on behalf of.

Newdow, an attorney and a medical doctor, filed an identical case on behalf of three unnamed parents and their children. Karlton said those families have the right to sue.

Karlton, ruling in Sacramento, said he would sign a restraining order preventing the recitation of the pledge at the Elk Grove Unified, Rio Linda and Elverta Joint Elementary school districts in Sacramento County, where the plaintiffs' children attend.

The order would not extend beyond those districts unless it is affirmed by a higher court, in which case it would apply to nine western states.

The decision sets up another showdown over the pledge in schools, at a time when the makeup of the Supreme Court is in flux.

Wednesday's ruling comes as Supreme Court nominee John Roberts faces day three of his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He would succeed the late William H. Rehnquist as chief justice.

In July, Sandra Day O'Connor announced her plans to retire when a successor is confirmed.

The Becket Fund, a religious rights group that is a party to the case, said it would immediately appeal the case to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the court does not change its precedent, the group would go to the Supreme Court.

"It's a way to get this issue to the Supreme Court for a final decision to be made," said fund attorney Jared Leland.

The decisions by Karlton and the 9th Circuit conflict with an August opinion by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. That court upheld a Virginia law requiring public schools lead daily Pledge of Allegiance recitation, which is similar to the requirement in California.

A three-judge panel of that circuit ruled that the pledge is a patriotic exercise, not a religious affirmation similar to a prayer.

"Undoubtedly, the pledge contains a religious phrase, and it is demeaning to persons of any faith to assert that the words `under God' contain no religious significance," Judge Karen Williams wrote for the 4th Circuit. "The inclusion of those two words, however, does not alter the nature of the pledge as a patriotic activity."

Newdow, reached at his home, was not immediately prepared to comment.

Karlton, appointed to the Sacramento bench in 1979 by President Carter, wrote that the case concerned "the ongoing struggle as to the role of religion in the civil life of this nation" and added that his opinion "will satisfy no one involved in that debate."

Karlton dismissed claims that the 1954 Congressional legislation inserting the words "under God" was unconstitutional. If his ruling stands, he reasoned that the school children and their parents in the case would not be harmed by the phrase because they would no longer have to recite it at school.

Terence Cassidy, a lawyer representing the school districts, said he was reviewing the opinion and was not immediately prepared to comment.

Don't blame Bush!

2005-09-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

Don't blame Bush for Katrina

Is Katrina Racist?

2005-09-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

BY JAMES TARANTO
Friday, September 2, 2005 3:12 p.m.

Is Katrina Racist?
Al Sharpton showed up on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" on MSNBC last night, and the pair sounded a theme that's becoming depressingly familiar in the effort to demagogue hurricane Katrina:

Olbermann: I actually heard a commentator this afternoon--it was that Limbaugh--suggest that the issue of class and race in those who were left behind in New Orleans was irrelevant, because, as he put it, those people were not forced to live there and they weren't bused into New Orleans.

And I was thinking, A, this guy is even more clueless than I thought he was, which is saying something. But, B, there are people who actually believe that. How do you respond to them? How do you explain to them what the truth is? . . .

Sharpton: . . . The real question is not only those that didn't get out. The question is why has it taken the government so long to get in. I feel that, if it was in another area, with another economic strata and racial makeup, that President Bush would have run out of Crawford a lot quicker and FEMA would have found its way in a lot sooner.

In truth, Katrina's devastation was spread out over a huge area, not just the city of New Orleans with its majority-black population. The Associated Press quotes Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who lists four suburban parishes that, along with Orleans Parish (which is coterminous with New Orleans) were hit hard enough to need "long-term rebuilding."

Here are the 2000 census's racial breakdowns of the populations of those five Louisiana parishes, along with Mississippi's coastal counties, which suffered a direct hit:

Parish or county White Black
Jefferson, La. 69.8% 22.9%
Orleans, La. 28.1% 67.3%
Plaquemines, La. 69.8% 23.4%
St. Bernard, La. 88.3% 7.6%
St. Tammany, La. 87.0% 9.9%
Hancock, Miss. 90.2% 6.8%
Harrison, Miss. 73.1% 21.1%
Jackson, Miss. 75.4% 20.9%

The New York Times notes that among those who lost homes in Mississippi were Rep. Gene Taylor, a Democrat, and Sen. Trent Lott, a Republican--both persons of pallor and neither one of whom can be called downtrodden. Rep. Bobby Jindal, a Republican from Kenner, La. (in Jefferson Parish), doesn't even know if his house is still standing. "Jefferson Parish as we knew it is gone forever," Reuters quotes parish president Aaron Broussard as saying.

Though Katrina is an equal-opportunity destroyer, the news media's coverage of the disaster has centered on the city of New Orleans--which is understandable, given that that is the center of the metropolis, that it is densely populated, and that it is 80% underwater. That means the faces of the suffering that we have seen have mostly been black ones. And so what? These are fellow human beings and fellow Americans; the color of their skin makes their misery no more or less heartbreaking, and their rescue no more or less urgent.

Yet two days ago, Jack Shafer of Slate complained that journalists were ignoring race: "In the their [sic] frenzy to beat freshness into the endless loops of disaster footage that have been running all day, broadcasters might have mentioned that nearly all the visible people left behind in New Orleans are of the black persuasion." Soon enough, CNN picked up the theme, followed today by the New York Times and USA Today.

This emphasis on race makes us very uneasy, and the opening paragraph of that USA Today editorial illustrates why:

Although TV correspondents covering Hurricane Katrina avoid commenting on the obvious, their cameras hold back nothing. The people who couldn't or wouldn't leave New Orleans are overwhelmingly poor and black. As are the looters.

Now, there are looters and there are looters. Many commentators have observed that stealing the necessities of life when there is no alternative is forgivable, even justifiable. But the same can't be said for using a disaster as an opportunity to filch luxury goods.

There also are reports of criminality that goes far beyond theft. "We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," New Orleans police chief Eddie Compass tells the Associated Press. The Voice of America tells of "roving gangs of armed delinquents who are sometimes interfering with the relief operations." In one case, across the Mississippi in Gretna, "Tenet Healthcare Corp. asked Louisiana state police to help evacuate Meadowcrest Hospital after armed bandits attempted to hijack a truck carrying food, water and drugs in the predawn hours on Thursday," the Chicago Tribune reports.

Avarice and depravity are human failings, but our race-obsessed liberal friends may be contributing to the notion that they are racial ones.

The Case for Rebuilding
Yesterday we noted the case for pessimism about whether New Orleans can come back from the Katrina catastrophe. George Friedman of the Stratfor intelligence firm argues that it must:

The Ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. . . .

A simple way to think about the New Orleans port complex is that it is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and the bulk commodities of industrialism come in. The commodity chain of the global food industry starts here, as does that of American industrialism. If these facilities are gone, more than the price of goods shifts: The very physical structure of the global economy would have to be reshaped. . . .

New Orleans is not optional for the United States' commercial infrastructure. It is a terrible place for a city to be located, but exactly the place where a city must exist. With that as a given, a city will return there because the alternatives are too devastating. The harvest is coming, and that means that the port will have to be opened soon. As in Iraq, premiums will be paid to people prepared to endure the hardships of working in New Orleans. But in the end, the city will return because it has to.

Plenty of Troops
One of the myths the Angry Left has been peddling in the wake of Katrina is that there aren't enough National Guardsmen to deal with the disaster because they're all off in Iraq. National Review Online's James Robbins offers a dose of reality:

Take the Army for example. There are 1,012,000 soldiers on active duty, in the Reserves, or in the National Guard. Of them, 261,000 are deployed overseas in 120 countries. Iraq accounts for 103,000 soldiers, or 10.2 percent of the Army.

That's all? Yes, 10.2 percent. That datum is significant in itself, a good one to keep handy the next time someone talks about how our forces are stretched too thin, our troops are at the breaking point, and so forth. If you add in Afghanistan (15,000) and the support troops in Kuwait (10,000) you still only have 12.6 percent.

So where are the rest? 751,000 (74.2 percent) are in the U.S. About half are active duty, and half Guard and Reserve. The Guard is the real issue of course--the Left wants you to believe that the country has been denuded of its citizen soldiers, and that Louisiana has suffered inordinately because Guardsmen and women who would have been available to be mobilized by the state to stop looting and aid in reconstruction are instead risking their lives in Iraq.

Recall, too, that many of the same people who are now say the National Guard is too important to waste on American security overseas a year ago were insisting that George W. Bush was a bum for serving in the Texas Air National Guard while "war hero" John Kerry was in Vietnam.

Durbin's Curious Civil Rights Views
Sen. Dick Durbin, best known for likening American soldiers to Nazis, weighs in today with a Chicago Tribune op-ed in advance of the John Roberts hearings. Mostly it's liberal boilerplate, but one assertion got our attention: "Nowhere did the Constitution expressly give Congress the authority to pass the Civil Rights Act [of 1964]."

Really? What about the 14th Amendment? Here are the first and last sections of that amendment, which was ratified in 1868:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. . . . The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

We'd say that last clause authorized Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One could argue otherwise, on the ground that the Civil Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination in private commerce, goes further than the 14th Amendment, which mandates equal treatment by government. But we would counter that the system of Jim Crow segregation was so all-pervasive that federal intervention in private commerce was necessary to ensure the promise of the 14th Amendment--and that, even more clearly, the amendment grants Congress the discretion to determine that the Civil Rights Act was "appropriate legislation."

Does Durbin disagree? Does he really think that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an extraconstitutional exercise? Or is he making this argument in bad faith in order to render more palatable actions, such as the creation of a "right" to abortion, that plainly are extraconstitutional?

A New Twist on Evolution
"Theory: Mad Cow May Have Come From Humans"--headline, Associated Press, Sept. 1

Sorry, Mom
"Researchers: Chimp Is Man's Closest Living Relative"--headline, Seattle Times, Sept. 1

'Slumps'
"The nation's unemployment rate dipped to a four-year low of 4.9 percent in August as companies added 169,000 jobs, a sign that the labor market continued to gain traction before Hurricane Katrina struck," the Associated Press reports.

But the AP's headline makes this sound like bad news: "Unemployment Rate Slumps to Four-Year Low." Some will say this reflects a bias against reporting good economic news, especially when a Republican is in the White House. But then again, maybe the AP just feels sorry for employers who'll be hit by higher labor costs.

Katrina, The Truth

2005-09-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

The stories coming out of Gulf Coast region of Louisina, Mississippi and Alabama are horrible and heartbreaking. Quite a few reporters have done a great job of getting to the hardest hit and/or most dangerous areas and bringing home the scale and scope of the tragedy to the rest of the world.

That said, while the coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath have been riveting a good deal of the commentary from reports and anchors has been predictably dumb. During and immediately after the Hurricane I listened to hours of completely uninformed speculation passing as "news judgement", especially from anchors sitting in cosy studios in New York, DC and Atlanta. Since then things have become worse. It would seem some of the folks would realize that a moment of crisis is not the time for blabbering on when you don't know what the hell you are talking about.

During the Hurricane, reporter after reporter made the observation that things did not seem so bad where they were and that New Orelans had been "lucky" and "dodged a bullet". Reporters in the French Quarter, one of the higher points within the basin that makes up New Orleans, repeatedly commented that things were OK because Bourbon street was not flooded (at the time). This despite statements from public officials about the levee issues, observations by meteorologists that because the storm passed to New Orleans east and hurricane's rotate counterclockwise, that high winds would be pushing the water in Lake Ponchtrain directly at the levees. Reporters in Baton Rouge, far west of the eye wall made similar comments. Of course, as is always the case, there was no reporting from the hardest hit areas beacuse...duh....there were no reporters standing on Dauphin Island or the low-lying parishes south of New Orleans or along the coast in Biloxi.

Perhaps the best example of stupidity was the repeated observation, made by various anchors, that since 80% of New Orleans was underwater on Tuesday it must be closer to 90% underwater "now". It was up to the weather guy on CNN to explain, using satellite imagery and arial photographs, that the levy running south of Lake Ponchatrain had broken on the east side, pouring water in one direction, and that everything to the west of the levy was dry - and that the downtown area of New Orleans around the Superdome was more elevated - and so that 80% figure would remain constant unless there was a breach of the levee facing west.

It is not, however, all good news from CNN. In the past 12 hours or so a new thread has emerged on CNN - anchors and reporters prompting interview subjects to criticize the federal government. In just a few hours I have seen Sen. Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans Marc something-or-ruther, Governor Barbour of Mississippi, people on the street, FEMA officials, National Guard officials all being prompted by CNN reporters and anchors to slam the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, especially the "failure" of the federal government (i.e., President Bush) to PRE-DEPLOY the U.S. military.

Apparently the folks at CNN are not familiar with Posse Comitatus (literally, "the power of the county") and the various restrictions on the domestic deployment of the military.

For those not familiar with Posse Comitatus, Major Craig T. Trebilcock of the U.S. Army Reserve wrote that the underlying principle of Posse Comitatus is that the military is not a domestic police force auxiliary. By way of history, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act was passed to remove the Army from civilian law enforcement and to return it to its role of defending the borders of the United States. This law was passed in the wake of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period that followed when the U.S. military was used to enforce traditional police roles and controversial federal policies primarily related to emancipation of slaves and the aftermath.

It is important to note that Posse Comitatus does not apply to the National Guard and Coast Guard. Bush did sign orders to pre-deploy the Coast Guard to the region (as well as Homeland Security via FEMA and other agencies). The Coast Guard has been actively involved in search and rescue missions since the moment Katrina passed through the region. The state governors did deploy their National Guard units but that is not a federal issue. The National Guard is specifically charged with preserving law and order when regular law enforcement assets prove inadequate. Bush could have federalized the National Guard in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana but that would have only complicated matters initially because the National Guard becomes subject to Posse Comitatus once control of the National Guard is federalized. It allows the local officials more flexibility to respond quickly if they control the Guard directly.

Trebilock goes on to note that as Posse Comitatus is a law, not a constitutional requirement,, it can be circumvented with suppport from Congress. Over the past 25 years, Posse Comitatus has been undermined in several ways. Initially under the Reagan administration which deployed the Navy and Air Force domestically in the "War on Drugs". Congress later passed the Civil Disturbance Statutes which permits the President to use military forces to restore order but only after a "state has requested assistance or is unable to protect civil rights and property. In case of civil disturbance, the president must first give an order for the offenders to disperse. If the order is not obeyed, the president may then authorize military forces to make arrests and restore order." The Stafford Act also permits the use of the military upon the request of a state governor. "The Stafford Act permits the president to declare a major disaster and send in military forces on an emergency basis for up to ten days to preserve life and property". Posse Comitatus was further undermined by Congressional response to the terrorism threat, most especially in the wake of 9/11. Prior to 9/11, for example, the U.S. military was deployed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. After 9/11, The Homeland Security Act gave new powers to the President to pre-designature scheduled events of "National Interest" such as the Super Bowl and to post-designate in the wake of a terrorist attack or other "National Emergency".

In other words, the President is required under various laws to work with the state governors except in the most extreme cases like a terrorist attack. Until Katrina actually made landfall there was no way to know the scope of the problem and where precisely to deploy resources and what exactly would be needed. From all I have heard reported, President Bush did everything he could do without invoking special emergency powers. Given 20/20 hindsight, it is easy to say that the U.S. military should have been deployed to here, here and here but that is nothing but a cheap shot. To say President Bush should have "known" the levee would break in New Orelans, or how few people would evacuate the coast, or how deep the storm surge would be, or the level of destruction is just plain dumb. The fact is that the people closer to the storm - the governors in the effected states did not know either.

Given this, the behavior of CNN anchors, especially Miles O'Brien's interview this morning of Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, are particulary uninformed. O'Brien kept pounding on Barbour to "admit" that the "federal government" (again, read "President Bush") had not responded appropriately to Hurricane Katrina by not deploying the U.S. military in the days BEFORE the Hurricane had hit. When Barbour noted that when Katrina went through Florida it made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane O'Brien kept interupting that it was a Category 5 storm "days" before it made landfall in the gulf. When Barbour attempted to correct O'Brien, the CNN anchor kept pounding away on the idea that the federal government had plenty of advance warning.

This is complete bull. I was in South Florida last week on vacation and was in Miami just hours before what became Hurricane Katrina arrived there. I left Miami at 1 am the day Katrina hit and headed west to Naples on the gulf coast to stay with relatives. The fact is that the Monday before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the local CBS weatherman remarked on some "winds" off the east coast of Cuba that meteorologists were "keeping an eye on". By Tuesday, those winds became a tropical depression and then a tropical storm. Katrina made landfall between Fort Lauderdale and Miami on Thursday. It reached Category 1 (75 mph winds) just hours before it hit and was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved across South Florida towards Key West. When I left Tampa on Saturday morning, Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico and been upgraded back to Hurricane status, reaching Category 2 overnight. When I left Florida, two days before Katrina hit the Gulf coast, the National Weather Service was saying that Katrina would be "at least" a Category 3 storm when it made landfall. Initial predictions were that would hit near Pensacola, Florida. The first I heard that storm was heading towards New Orleans was Sunday when it had reached Category 4. The story was a Category 5 storm for a period of some hours but weakened to a Category 4 as it approached the coast.

Now, I like Miles O'Brien generally. He can be funny, he blogs and knows a heck of a lot about the NASA space programs but he either not getting enough sleep (a distinct possibility) or otherwise not thinking straight or just plain dumb. His recollection of the days leading up to Katrina hitting the coast are just plain wrong. What is worrisome is that this same thread of questioning is being used repeatedly on CNN which also ran a "package" of people complaining that the federal government was (a) responsible for what happened; (b) had not prepared adequately; (c) was not doing enough now. There will certainly be a time and a place for a "post-mortem" on what could have been done differently before, during and after Hurricane Katrina but how exactly is it helpful for CNN to actively seek to foment confrontation, name-calling and finger-pointing among government officials at a time when rescue workers, civilians, the military and National Guard are risking their lives to help others who are trapped and dying.

CNN ought to be ashamed.

Someone at CNN ought to send the word to the producers to tell Miles O'Brien, Soledad O'Brien and the rest to shut up and quit trying to "manufacture" news and keep the focus where it belongs.

The National Debate

The Myth of Posse Comitatus

A New Low for the MSM?

2005-09-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

The mainstream media's handling of Hurricane Katrina and the disasters in New Orleans is a disgrace, possibly the worst instance yet of media bias. Insane claims by left-wing nuts that President Bush botched the recovery effort on purpose so as to kill black people are repeated by the MSM in a chin-stroking mode, as if to say, "It's an interesting question--they might be on to something." Meanwhile, no one points out that it was President Bush who implored Governor Blanco to issue a first-ever mandatory evacuation order for the city, an action by the President that probably saved tens of thousands of lives.

Similarly, the media yammmer on and on about the allegedly slow federal response to the hurricane, without noting that the Governor of Louisiana has the power to call out the National Guard. Accusations that lawlessness and looting in New Orleans are somehow the federal government's fault are repeated endlessly; hardly anyone bothers to criticize the looters and other criminals themselves. And where is the outrage that should be directed toward the New Orleans Police Department? They were the authorities on the scene, and they, under the direction of the city's Mayor--who had an emergency plan in place, but apparently made no attempt to implement it--had the responsibility to maintain law and order. Yet some policemen reportedly joined in the looting, while a great many others turned tail and abandoned their responsibilities.

But it's hard to defend the administration when the administration won't defend itself. Yesterday Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff declared that the feds are now in control of New Orleans, but refused to defend the government's performance so far:

Chertoff defended the job of FEMA Director Michael Brown and declined to get into a discussion about whether the government moved quickly and forcefully enough to deal with the catastrophe. He shrugged off suggestions that the demand for National Guard troops in Iraq had depleted the numbers available to respond to the crisis.
"I think when we go back and look at it lot of things worked well and some things didn't work well," he said.

That simply isn't good enough. I understand the administration's problem: it's hard to mount a defense without pointing out the scandalous performance of the state and local authorities who were responsible for emergency preparation and for the initial response to the hurricane. But if the administration thinks it can ride out the current news cycle as it has passively ridden out so many news cycles in the past, it's crazy. As Chertoff himself said yesterday:

We need to prepare the country for what's coming ... we are going to uncover people who died hiding in the houses, maybe got caught in floods, it is going to be as ugly a scene as you can imagine.
Yes, that's right. And each new horror, and each painful step in the reconstruction of New Orleans over the years to come, will be the occasion for more Bush-bashing. This story is never going to die a natural death, and it is probably too late already for the administration to combat the media-driven impression that the disaster is somehow its fault.

I've often criticized the administration for not responding forcefully enough to unfair attacks by the far left and the media--often, for not responding at all. But this time the administration's habit of quietly riding out the storm could have incalculable costs.

I'm parting company here with two people whose judgment I respect. Michelle Malkin has recommended that President Bush fire FEMA head Michael Brown. Brown is, apparently, a political appointee with few qualifications for the job beyond general competence and management skill. This is hardly unusual in Washington; the conventional assumption is that staff who report to the head of an agency furnish the necessary expertise. As seems to have happened; FEMA's response to hurricanes last year was widely praised. In any event, whatever the wisdom of Brown's appointment in hindsight, firing him now would be an admission that FEMA performed poorly in the current crisis--an assertion that is constantly repeated, but for which I have seen, at this point, little hard evidence. There will be time enough for sorting out, in a rational environment, the pros and cons of FEMA's efforts; firing Brown now would accomplish nothing but to uselessly fan the flames of hysteria.

Hugh Hewitt, meanwhile, has advised conservatives to "turn the other cheek" in reaction to unfair criticism from the left. Among other reasons, he believes that the American people will react negatively to the left's maniacal, over-the-top attacks. Hugh thinks the current vile assault on the administration could be another Wellstone funeral moment. I think he's wrong; the MSM, in full support-the-Democrats mode, is daily making respectable even the wackiest attacks on the administration. Of course, I'm not by nature a cheek-turning sort, but I think that has too often been the administration's approach. This time, it could be fatal.

Meanwhile, the insanity continues. The Democrats know that in order to defend itself against their onslaught, the administration will have to criticize the people who really bungled the job--the Governor of Louisiana, the Mayor of New Orleans, and other local officials. So, earlier this morning Senator Mary Landrieu threatened President Bush with violence if he does any such thing:

Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu threatened President Bush with physical violence this morning on ABC's Sunday morning news program "This Week". "If one person criticizes our sheriffs, or says one more thing, including the President of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," says Landrieu.
For the first time, the Democrats and their allies in the MSM (to the extent one draws the distinction) believe that they have the administration on the run, in a way that could destroy President Bush. Destroying the President is the goal they have pursued passionately since January 2001. In that regard, nothing has changed in 4 1/2 years. The administration, it seems to me, has two choices: defend itself, or suffer crippling damage from which it likely will never recover.

Powerline blog

href="http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003458.htm">Michelle Malkin Memo

href="http://hughhewitt.com/archives/2005/08/28-week/index.php#a000187">Hugh Hewitt Post

post rules for this blog

2005-09-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

I unfortunately must now post rules for this blog, which I had hoped would not have been necessary. But the presence of some extremely hostile persons has made such rules necessary. NONE of these blog rules will keep people from posting opinions contrary to mine. This is not censorship. It is an attempt to keep this board enjoyable and Christian. Challenging questions, alternate opinions, and criticisms of theology will still be allowed. However, the following kinds of statements will not be tolerated:

1. Personal insults that are clearly ad hominem (making fun of a person's looks or name).
2. Belittling and mocking.
3. Nasty and mean-spirited attacks.
4. Course language, profanity, or excessively harsh talk.
5. Seriously off-topic digressions.

Persons not abiding by these rules will have ALL of their posts immediately deleted. No second chances.

Public Libraries, the Left, and the Corruption of Children

2005-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

Author’s Note: Some of the content that is included in this article may be offensive to the reader. I carefully chose less egregious material in the hopes that it would not defile the reader. The links at the conclusion are provided for extended research. Our willingness to act is directly proportional to how bad we perceive the problem to be.

After the 2004 election, social conservatives, and defenders of traditional marriage celebrated the 11 victories where states reaffirmed the will of the people to declare once and for all that marriage was between a man and a woman. In my home state of Ohio, the Amish even turned out to vote to protect marriage. We may have won at the ballot box, but aside from a few liberals threatening to move to Canada, the fight has only just begun.

What better way for liberals to change public opinion on homosexuality than to indoctrinate the youngest and most vulnerable children. We have seen this indoctrination with the rapid increase in GLSEN school clubs, and the big push by the NEA to support homosexuality, and subsequently steal the innocence of young children. We are seeing evidence of this battle coming to a crescendo in Massachusetts, where the “Court Case heard round the world,” was first fired allowing marriage between homosexuals.

WorldNet daily reported on Aug. 4th, that David Parker faces a court trial for alleged trespassing over a dispute about the teaching of homosexual material in his son’s kindergarten class. His trial date was set for Sept. 21. “The dispute began last spring when Parker's then-5-year-old son brought home a book to be shared with his parents titled, "Who's in a Family?" The optional reading material, which came in a "Diversity Book Bag," depicted at least two households led by homosexual partners.” (WND, Aug. 4th)

In Arkansas, as reported July 22nd by AgapePress, “according to a search conducted by Fayetteville mom Laurie Taylor, out of 502 books listed under "sex" in the city's middle, junior high, and high school libraries, there are 66 books on sex instruction, and 32 of those are on child sex instruction. Another 75 of the books deal with homosexuality, 23 fall under the category of lesbian fiction, 16 are on rape, 9 on incest, and there are even some books on bestiality.” For more info go to (www.wpaag.org)

In addition to the public school curriculums and school libraries, a significant threat posed to our children is taking place at our local tax-supported public libraries.

Close to home for me, at the Upper Arlington Public library, near Columbus, the public library is embroiled in controversy for having allowed two explicit homosexual publications to sit in the foyer. The foyer serves as a gathering place for elementary school children before school. Gay People’s Chronicle, and Outlook Weekly contain explicit descriptions of sexual acts, sex toys, and full page personal ads interspersed throughout. The library will decide Aug. 30th whether to remove the materials.

With the recent story in Massachusetts, Arkansas, and my hometown Columbus, I decided to visit my local library to see how accessible and what materials were available.

Within 5 minutes I discovered two gay magazines “The Advocate,” and “Thrive.” Some were lying out on the racks, out of their holder. There was a newspaper called the “Other Paper” with large ads for strip clubs, and massage parlors right in the main entrance. When I went up to do some research on the internet, I decided to check the Google history of the computers which allow unfettered internet access.

Someone using the computer had looked up topics such as “Gallery magazine,” “Young Women in Wet-Tees”, and “Young Women in Cut-Offs.” Shockingly, we had an individual arrested for downloading child pornography in this same library a few months ago. Still this was no reason to put a filter on the computer; because according to liberals the free speech of pedophiles must be protected. The hand made sign exclaiming, “No Porn, Or Chatting” was felt to be a significant deterrent. As I was researching the content for this article, my home internet filter blocked access to the two homosexual newspapers. Not to worry, I was able to go to my local public library and pull up information on their websites.

Focus on the family’s Citizen magazine reported in “Library’s feel the Pressure,” the local chapter of Citizen’s For Community Values (CCV) in Memphis Tennessee, was successful in getting filters installed. “The battle began after a mother and her 15 year old son happened upon a man masturbating as he viewed pornography in a Suburban Memphis library. The mom reported the incident to the library and police.” The offender’s penalty was no access to the library for 60 days.

As I left the library, I noticed a policy sign that read, “Children under the age of 8 must be accompanied by someone at least 14.” How reassuring, having a 5 year old under the careful watch of a 14 year old. In a quick look at the online catalog, in about 10 minutes, I was able to find the following book titles:

“Kissing Kate,” “Daddy’s Wedding,” “Daddy’s Roommate,” “Heather Has Two Mommies,” “Not the Only One,” “Am I Blue? Coming Out of the Silence,” “Annie On My Mind,” “Molly’s Secret,” “Holly’s Secret,” “It’s Perfectly Normal,” and “Free Your Mind; The Book For Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth.” I could not locate, “Sissy Duckling” at my local library.

It is important for the reader to understand that I live in a Conservative town in Ohio. I live in a red city, in a red county, in a red state. In libraries of bigger cities, I shudder to think of the dangers posed to our children.

Here are some of the milder excerpts from a few pro-homosexual books:

"Heather acted like it was perfectly normal that she loved another woman, and I'd felt all proud of myself for treating it that way, too. [...] I didn't think there was anything wrong with a woman loving another woman, or a man loving another man." Kissing Kate, by Lauren Myracle

"When the picnic was almost over, Daddy and Frank took me to the garden swing to talk. Daddy said, ‘Nick, we want to invite you to a special occasion next month. We're going to get married’." Daddy’s Wedding, by Michael Willhoit.

Much of this homosexual indoctrination comes from the aiding and abetting policies and practices of the American Library Association.

According to Family Friendly Libraries (www.fflibraries.org), “Because of ALA lobbying size and power, they've succeeded in getting most states to treat their "Library Bill of Rights" as a legal extension of the First Amendment. The ALA had liberalized those rights even further to exclude "age" as a qualifier for library policy.” A child of any age can have access to harmful material without the consent of their parents, but the parent will have to pay the overdue fee.

“The official MANUAL OF PUBLIC POLICY POSITIONS states that their membership is expected to support the ERA, the concept of a nuclear freeze, gay rights, opposition to mandatory AIDS testing, national health insurance, and minors' access to sexual resources both in and out of the library. The ALA has even publicly lobbied against the Boy Scouts' policy of not allowing homosexuals to be Scout Masters.”

Indoctrination of our children into homosexuality is just the tip of the iceberg. Consider this review from the book promoting pedophilia, HARMFUL TO MINORS: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex, by Judith Levine (University of Minnesota Press, April 2002)

“A radical, refreshing, and long overdue reassessment of how we think and act about children's and teens' sexuality.” (Publishers’ information and overview from University of Minnesota Press) “Sex is a wonderful, crucial part of growing up, and children and teens can enjoy the pleasures of the body and be safe, too. In this important and controversial book, Judith Levine makes this argument and goes further, asserting that America's attempts to protect children from sex are worse than ineffectual. It is the assumption of danger and the exclusive focus on protection-what Levine terms "the sexual politics of fear"-that are themselves harmful to minors. Through interviews with young people and their parents, stories drawn from today's headlines, visits to classrooms and clinics, and a look back at the ways sex among children and teenagers has been viewed throughout history, Judith Levine debunks some of the dominant myths of our society. She examines and challenges widespread anxieties (pedophilia, stranger kidnapping, Internet pornography) and sacred cows (abstinence-based sex education, statutory rape laws). “

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Named one of history's 40 Most Influential Books on Sexuality by SIECUS, the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States. SIECUS is the organization responsible for lobbying and promoting sex education in schools.

The ultimate goal of the liberal Left is the removal of any and all barriers to sexuality so that anything is permissible even pedophilia. Consider that sitting Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has advocated for lowering the age of consensual sex to 12.

Those of us who care about our children can cry and bemoan the left, but more blame is to be put on those of us who have been asleep at the wheel, me included.

The sexualization of our young people is perhaps the greatest threat we face in our nation today. Earlier and earlier we are seeing the media show children as viable sex partners, dating and dressing more immodestly at younger and younger ages, and as having an anything goes attitude towards sex void of any consequences. It will only be a matter of time before we are absolutely snowed under with filth and perversion in our libraries, and communities. Consider that the average age now of exposure to pornography is 5 years of age.

The other side is more dedicated to the corruption of our children more than we are at saving and protecting them from harm. They are mobilized, dedicated, and will never stop. Isn't it time you started to care? You may feel uncomfortable and may be called homophobic, intolerant, fascist, or a censor, but the alternative is certainly much worse, losing the hearts and minds of our children.

For this reason society requires that the education of youth should be watched with the most scrupulous attention. Education is a great measurer, forms the moral characters of men and morals are the basis of government. Noah Webster (1758-1843)

For additional resources go to:

www.wpaag.org,
www.fflibraries.org,
www.pabbis.com,
www.ccv.org, and
www.missionamerica.com

Open Letter to ACLU

2005-08-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

To Anthony Romero, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, and ACLU Staff:

I/We, the undersigned individual(s), hereby inform the ACLU and all members and staff, via this letter, that as God loving patriotic American citizens, I/we are thoroughly outraged with your organization's efforts to remove every vestige of decency, goodness, patriotism and morality in America. Instead of being a true Constitutional and civil rights organization defending American liberties, the ACLU is an organization that has sought at every opportunity to undermine American liberties, specifically those of a religious nature. And as such, we have had enough.

While your organization will occasionally defend Christian and traditional values, the ACLU has worked overtime to oppose Christian and traditional values, including the following:

Blocking prayer and Bible reading in our public schools and city/village meetings
Litigating to remove 10 Commandments plaques and all Christian symbols and emblems in our schools, cities and public places
Ensuring that the grisly procedure of partial birth abortion be permitted as a recognized legal medical procedure
Ensuring that abortion without restrictions be available at any time throughout a woman's pregnancy
Ensuring that parents be denied the right to consent or even be notified of a teenager's decision to have an abortion
Denying waiting periods before pregnant women have an abortion
Denying "right to know" information to women considering the dangerous risks of having an abortion
Removing "IN GOD WE TRUST" off our money
Forcing religious organizations like Catholic Charities as well as insurance companies to provide contraceptive and/or abortion coverage against their will
Removing God out of the Pledge of Allegiance
Forcing homosexuality to be taught as an acceptable alternate lifestyle in public schools
Forcing public schools to adopt Gay/Straight Alliances in communities that do not want them
Forcing states to accept same sex marriage as equivalent to heterosexual marriage
Preventing libraries from blocking pornography in their computers

I/we will do all we can to educate our friends, family, co-workers and colleagues of the ACLU's radical agenda supporting abortion and pornography upon demand and without restrictions, removing the 10 Commandments from all public facilities and redefining thousands of years of traditional marriage. Furthermore, I/we will do all we can to educate the American people and current ACLU supporters as to the true focus and goals of your organization.

I/we support the Stop the ACLU Coalition's march on every ACLU office in all 50 states and plan to participate in my state's march. As a God fearing and loving American, I cannot and will not in good conscience stay silent while your organization feverishly works to destroy all of America's moral fibers. Therefore I/we are declaring thru this letter that I/we will do my/our part to stop your organization's influence in our cities, our schools, our churches and in our government and courtrooms, in short, every sphere of life.

Furthermore, we will be praying that as long as the ACLU continues its radical agenda on America, that the donations to your organization will dry up so you will have to close your doors forever.

The undersigned fully approves of the contents of this letter.

Oscar F. Broome Jr
Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Alabama earned the top ranking for the percentage of residents who are born again: 67%.

2005-08-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

MONTGOMERY - According to a recent survey, 67% of Alabamians can be classified as “Born Again” - the highest percentage in the nation. Christian Coalition of Alabama (CCA) President John Giles says, “Alabama ranks first place in the nation in Christianity. Alabama leads the nation in the percentage of residents that claim faith in Christ. This is a testament to our fine and tirelessly dedicated clergy across this state.” CCA announced today the results of a survey conducted by nationally renowned BARNA Research (http://www.barna.org ), indicating Alabama leads the nation in those professing Christianity.

Excerpts from the BARNA Report:
“The statewide data showed that Alabama earned the top ranking for the percentage of residents who are born again: 67%. Overall, nine states had 50% or more of the adult population who were born again. Among the 27 most populous states, the one that emerged with the lowest percentage who are born again, by far, was Massachusetts (17%). The four states with the lowest percentages of adult Christians were all in the Northeast. In a similar manner, the state whose population generated the highest Christian-orientation score was Alabama. Adults are most likely to claim they have a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with other people if they live in Birmingham, Alabama. Personal evangelism efforts were most common in Alabama and Louisiana. The report also explores the faith of residents in the 27 most populous states. The state with the highest percentage of adults who are evangelical is Alabama.”

This high percentage of Christians explains many of the powerful dynamics of Alabama. “If anything good needs to happen or if anything bad needs to be blocked, Alabamians can meet that challenge. This survey also explains why our people are so benevolent to the poor,” Giles said. According to the 2004 Generosity Index published by the Catalogue for Philanthropy (http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy.org), Alabamians ranked 38th in personal assets, but 7th in giving, resulting in an overall Generosity Index rating of 5th in the nation.

In similar findings, a 2002 exit poll conducted by Marketing Research Institute (MRI) (http://www.ccbama.org/pollinginformation/2002ChristianCoalitionImpact.pdf) in Alabama found that 32% of all Alabamians considered themselves to be supporters or members of the CCA and according to a June 2000 survey by MRI (http://www.ccbama.org/pollinginformation/alabamastatewidesurvey2000.pdf), by a margin of greater than two to one, Alabamians agreed with the CCA on economic, social, and moral issues.

CCA President John Giles concludes, “The results of this survey lead to many insights besides the remarkable spiritual significance. I believe a political giant has been awakened in Alabama – reflected in the defeat of the expansion of gambling, the demand for good stewardship in government spending and the increasing influence on the legislative agenda. In the 2006 Primary, the Christian vote in Alabama will potentially result in the largest percentage vote in the nation protecting traditional marriage.”

Elementary schools shouldn't be teaching homosexuality

2005-08-20T03:19:00.000-07:00

Elementary schools shouldn't be teaching homosexuality

By Al Kinght
Denver Post Columnist
DenverPost.com

A controversy in Lexington, Mass., over when and how elementary school children should be taught about homosexuality has, for good reason, begun to attract national attention.

The dispute occurred in the only state that allows for same-sex marriage, but the elements of the underlying cultural and educational controversy could easily be duplicated in hundreds of American school districts.

On April 27, David Parker, the father of a kindergarten student in Lexington's Joseph Estabrook Elementary School, was arrested on a trespassing charge and jailed overnight. Parker had gone to the school to meet with administrators after his son had brought home a book titled "Who's in a Family?" The book ostensibly teaches the young about "multicultural contemporary family units," a category that prominently includes gay and lesbian arrangements.

Parker objected and sought assurances he would be notified before the school attempted to teach his child about homosexuality or related topics. The school officials first indicated a willingness to do so, but later refused. Parker insisted and refused to leave.

He was then arrested, and will be tried Sept. 21.

Gay and lesbian advocacy groups claim Parker set up the arrest in order to make an anti-gay political statement, and they downplay the importance of the book, saying its inclusion on a reading list doesn't constitute actual instruction. School officials have taken the position that they had no choice but to have Parker arrested once he refused to exit the meeting without the assurances he had been seeking.

There are people in and around the edges of this case who have adopted a "who me?" attitude and wish to pretend this controversy doesn't have anything to do with larger issues.

Well, it didn't just happen, and it isn't just about Parker and the so-called bookbag at the Estabrook Elementary School which includes "Who's in a Family?"

The plain truth is that there has long been a national campaign to transform the atmosphere of the nation's schools. The book "Who's in a Family?" is a small part of that campaign.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has been busy for 10 years offering help to those educators who want to create what is called a "more affirming" environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students.

Up until now, much of the organization's efforts have gone to creating gay student groups at hundreds of high schools and passing laws or regulations that limit or eliminate harassment aimed at homosexuals. GLSEN reports that 70 or so Colorado high schools have gay student clubs (usually called gay-straight alliances).

The organization has also used part of its $4.3 million budget to promote a reading list for students as young as those in kindergarten.

"Who's in a Family?" is one of the books on the GLSEN list, as are "Heather has Two Mommies," "Daddy's Roommate" and "Going to Fair Day." As students move up in age, they are invited to read "Love Makes a Family," "Is it a Choice?" and similar tomes.

At the high school level, some of this indoctrination might be excused on the grounds that students are old enough to make personal choices and maybe some of them can define terms like "sexuality" and "gender."

No such excuse can be made for this kind of social indoctrination at the elementary level.

The very idea that GLSEN and other groups are busy offering "educational resources" or training programs to elementary school teachers in order to create a more "affirming environment" for gay students is appalling.

The good news is that Colorado passed a state law last year that prohibits giving continuing education credits to teachers for attending the kind of workshops GLSEN offers. In this state, such learning credits must be "content-related," and most of what GLSEN offers clearly isn't.

Whatever the state of the law and the outlines of the educational landscape, David Parker deserves immense credit. His arrest is an important reminder that some school officials, and not just in Massachusetts, have become more concerned with political correctness than sound education.

They have it exactly backwards, and thankfully Parker isn't the only one who knows it.

chip comment:

We have the right not to have our kids to be taught this junk. I would suggest that every christian parent pull their kids from public school who teach this plus secular humunism.

Alabama Will Become First State To Curb Eminent Domain Abuse After Kelo

2005-08-16T03:23:00.000-07:00

Institute for Justice Says Blight Laws Must Also Be Fixed
Download: "Hands Off My Home" Pledges:

WEB RELEASE: August 3, 2005
CONTACT:John KramerLisa Knepper(202) 955-1300[Private Property]
Washington, D.C.—With his signature later today, Governor Bob Riley is expected to make Alabama the first state to give its citizens stronger protections against eminent domain for private profit in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London.

That decision gave governments nationwide the power to seize homes, small businesses, churches and other property to benefit private interests without violating the U.S. Constitution. Instead of giving meaning to the Constitution’s “public use” limitation on the power of eminent domain, the Court left it up to states and municipalities to protect home and small business owners from seizure for private development.

“Kudos to Alabama political leaders for taking the first step toward protecting their citizens from eminent domain abuse,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Dana Berliner, who represents Susette Kelo and the other New London, Conn., homeowners fighting to save their homes. “But there is more work to do. For full protection of Alabamians’ rights, legislators must reform the blight laws that all-too-often provide a sham justification to use eminent domain for private profit. Today, blight can mean literally anything the government wants it to mean, and as a result, homeowners’ rights remain in jeopardy.”

The Alabama legislation prohibits cities and counties from using eminent domain for private development or for enhancing tax revenue. But it creates an exception that allows seizure of so-called “blighted” properties so that they can be turned over to private interests.

“Alabama blight law is particularly prone to abuse and must be reformed,” said Berliner, who authored a first-of-its-kind nationwide study on eminent domain abuse, Public Power, Private Gain. “In Alabama you can condemn property under blight law if it might become blighted in the future, or if the property is ‘obsolescent’—usually a code word for ‘we’d like something else here.’”

“If legislators close the blight loophole, Alabama will be one of the best states in the country for protecting the rights of home and small business owners,” Berliner added. “A revised law would allow takings for true problem areas but not for trumped up ‘blight’ claims.”

Responding to public outcry over the Kelo ruling, lawmakers in at least 31 states and the U.S. Congress have taken swift action to curb eminent domain abuse.
“Alabama is the first state to enact meaningful eminent domain reform, but we are sure it won’t be the last,” said IJ President and General Counsel Chip Mellor. “Legislators are responding to the widespread and nearly unanimous public outrage over the Supreme Court’s Kelo ruling.”

In the wake of Kelo, legislation has been introduced in seventeen states (Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas) limiting the use of eminent domain for private projects or tightening eminent domain procedures. Lawmakers in another seven states (Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Dakota, South Carolina and Wisconsin) have announced plans to introduce eminent domain legislation in upcoming sessions. Legislators in Colorado, Georgia and Virginia now hope to revive previously introduced bills.

Legislators in Alabama, California, Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Michigan are mobilizing to support state constitutional amendments prohibiting eminent domain for private development. Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee and New Hampshire have created state commissions to study the use of eminent domain and ways of reining in abuse.
Legislators in Connecticut
and New York have called for moratoria on the use of eminent domain until their legislatures can revise the law to protect property owners. The City of New London, Conn., has agreed to abide by the moratorium and allow Susette Kelo and the other homeowners to stay for now.

Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner also signed eminent domain legislation in the wake of Kelo, but that bill appears to reinforce—not limit—the ruling. The bill simply requires that cities have a plan when condemning property and that the condemnations are for a “recognized public use,” which under Kelo includes private economic development.

Federal lawmakers have also moved to curb eminent domain abuse. Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., introduced legislation in Congress that would bar federal funding for projects involving takings for private profit. By a large margin, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the Kelo decision. California Rep. Maxine Waters introduced legislation that would withhold community development block grants from communities that do not prohibit eminent domain abuse. Texas Rep. Henry Bonilla proposed prohibiting federal development assistance for cities that abuse eminent domain.

“The issue of eminent domain abuse has galvanized Americans like no other in recent memory because it literally touches home,” added Mellor.
Poll after poll shows Americans virtually united against eminent domain for private profit. Eighty-nine percent of Connecticut voters say the legislature should limit eminent domain, according to a poll by Quinnipiac University. Ninety-three percent of New Hampshire citizens oppose takings for private development, according to the University of New Hampshire. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that Americans cite private property rights as the current legal issue they care most about.

To channel popular outrage into lasting legislative change, the Institute for Justice and its Castle Coalition grassroots arm launched a $3 million Hands Off My Home campaign. The campaign supports eminent domain reform at the state and local level and equips ordinary Americans with the means to protect their homes, small businesses and churches from eminent domain for private profit. Citizens can join the Castle Coalition and learn how to get involved in Hands Off My Home at .

Judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by the ACLU

2005-08-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

(AgapePress) - A judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging prayers at school board meetings in Delaware. The lawsuit was filed against members of the Indian River School District Board of Education, a group that regularly opens its business meetings with prayer.

Judge Joseph Farnan ruled that the school board meeting prayers are not a violation of the constitutional provision often referred to as the separation of church and state or the "Establishment Clause," as the ACLU had argued. He also determined that the school board members are immune from the ACLU's liability claims.
In dismissing the case against the individual board members, the judge stated that opening a session of the legislature or other deliberative public body with a prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause. He also declared that absolute immunity extends to legislators at all levels of government, including school board members in Delaware.

The Rutherford Institute, an international, non-profit civil liberties organization that works to defend constitutional human rights, became involved in the Indian River school board's case after the Wilmington branch of the ACLU demanded that the district discontinue offering prayers at school events and graduation ceremonies, as well as at school board meetings. Despite ACLU pressure, the board members continued to open their meetings with a brief prayer.

The school board also adopted a policy stating that it would continue to "solemnify" its proceedings by opening with voluntary sectarian or non-sectarian prayer or a moment of silence "in accord with the freedom of conscience of the individual adult board member." The policy requires that these prayers or moments of silence would be voluntary and no school employee, student, or member of the community in attendance at a meeting would be required to participate.

Nisha Mohammed is a spokeswoman for the Rutherford Institute, which represented Indian River School District board member Reginald Helms in the case. She says Judge Farnan's ruling is a major free-speech victory for Helms and his fellow board members, since the judge "basically cited the Supreme Court ruling in Marsh v. Chambers that said that legislative prayers are constitutional and ... legislative protections apply to school board members."

Mohammed believes Farnan's echoing of Supreme Court precedent in his ruling may have a bolstering effect that could influence similar cases around the U.S. "Prayers at school board meetings are being challenged across the country," the attorney says, "and I think this simply reinforces the argument to say that school board members have First Amendment protections. Just because they are on that school board does not mean they are not allowed to open a meeting with prayer."

Rutherford Institute attorneys will now seek to have a district court declare as legal the Indian River School Board's specific written policy allowing school board members to open their meetings with sectarian or nonsectarian prayer or a solemnizing observance of silence. Meanwhile, although the ACLU's case against the school board has been dismissed, its lawsuit against the Indian River School District over prayers at graduation ceremonies and school events will continue.

Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.

Here is a sampling of what America has had to endure thru the ACLU's far left agenda:

2005-08-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

Denial of student led prayer in the public schools, colleges and townhall meetings

Partial birth abortion and for that matter, abortion at any time up to delivery

Threats to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance and our money

Removal of monuments and plaques of the 10 Commandments at city, county and state public buildings, courtrooms and schools across America

The imposition of the homosexual agenda in public schools thru Gay/Straight Alliances.

The imposition of homosexual marriage thru our judicial system

Unfiltered pornography on the Internet in our public schools and libraries

Defending terrorists such as those held at Guantanamo Bay, saying they have legal rights instead of being treated as enemy combatants, thus putting America at risk!

Support of euthanasia as in the tragic case of Terri Schiavo

My Comment:

We must take a stand against the far left radical agenda of the ACLU and the gay agenda and we need to start today. The battle lines has been drawn and we as Christians and The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ need to take a Stand and do it now. Their agenda is to teach our kids that being homosexual or Lesbian is ok and if you don't accept it you are intolerant.

“The homosexual agenda is a direct threat to religious liberties in this nation. Homosexuals cannot tolerate any opposition to their goals.”

Read and distribute TVC’s Homosexual Urban Legends to your local media outlets, pastors, friends, and neighbors. Learn why homosexuality is a deviant sexual behavior, not a fixed identity; how homosexuals lie with numbers; and how homosexuals use bogus teen suicide statistics to gain access to children in our nation’s public schools. In addition, learn the facts about the high incidence of homosexual child molestations:
Homosexual Urban Legends.

Knight: ACLU's Pro-Homosexual 'Bullying' Tactics Reminiscent of Chairman Mao

2005-08-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

One pro-family advocate feels the ACLU, in its effort to force the homosexual agenda in American schools, is using the bullying tactics of Chairman Mao to "reprogram" staff and students on the issue of homosexuality.
In California and Kentucky, the American Civil Liberties Union has gone to court to force reluctant school systems to take part in pro-homosexual promotions. Settlement of an ACLU court case in California includes a mandatory daylong faculty training on what the legal groups calls "diversity, discrimination and harassment, focused primarily on issues pertaining to actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity." And earlier this month in the Bluegrass State, the ACLU accused the Boyd County Board of Education of failing to hold up its end of an agreement to provide mandatory training focused on "sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination."

Bob Knight is director of the Culture and Family Institute (CFI), affiliated with Concerned Women for America in Washington, DC. Knight contends the ACLU is trying to undermine parents' values. "The ACLU is probably best described as the 'Anti-Christian Legal Unit,' because Christians kids in these public schools are being told that their beliefs amount to a form of bigotry," he says.

The CFI leader believes the ACLU is employing Chairman Mao's technique of re-indoctrination. "The ACLU is telling these school officials and parents 'We're going to educate your children about homosexuality, whether you like it or not -- and we're going to do it armed with court orders. That's why we're taking this to court,'" Knight shares. "This is bullying of a major sort."

In the Kentucky situation, parents have resisted pro-homosexual promotions, holding their children out of school on a designated "sensitivity training" day. According to the ACLU, only 502 of the 965 high school students and 462 of the 730 middle school students attended the training. That infuriated the ACLU, Knight says.
"The ACLU has come back to court saying parents can't do that. [Essentially they are saying] 'You must force your children to sit through our sessions that we have dictated to be the truth,'" he explains. "I mean, these people are totalitarian-minded bullies."

Knight charges these are the same type of tactics Chairman Mao Tse-tung employed in the Communist takeover of China when millions were re-indoctrinated into his political and social ideals.

Bill Fancher, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.

Victory for the Boy Scouts, Defeat for the ACLU

2005-08-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

The legal bullies at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sustained a substantial loss with the Senate's passage this week, by a 95-0 vote, of the Support Our Scouts Act of 2005.

The Act, which is an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill, is expected to pass in the House.

The Act establishes that the Boy Scouts, and any group officially associated with them, cannot be discriminated against in any way through the denial of access to federal funding or public facilities.

"It's about time Congress stepped in to protect the Scouts from the ravenous wolves of the ACLU and the other Scout haters," said Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America's (CWA's) Culture & Family Institute, who is himself an Eagle Scout. "For too long, the Boy Scouts have been treated like criminals instead of the irreplaceable, character-building outfit they are. Sen. Frist deserves a high-five for his leadership on this bill."

The ACLU has been after the Boy Scouts for years for the group's refusal to include atheists and homosexuals. In 1999, the ACLU of Illinois filed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts because of the Defense Department's sponsorship of the group. The ACLU claimed that federal funds should not be used to support the Scouts because members were required to swear an oath of duty to God, and that this violated the separation of church and state.

As a result, U.S. District Court Judge Blanche Manning ruled on June 22 that the Pentagon could no longer fund the readying of a Virginia military base for the 2005 National Scout Jamboree, which is currently taking place. The Jamboree brings together more than 40,000 Scouts, leaders and volunteers, and President George W. Bush is scheduled to speak.

Sen. Bill Frist (R- Tennessee), who spearheaded the legislation, expressed his gratitude to the Senate:

This amendment protects a unique American tradition that teaches our youth the importance of honesty, integrity and character. It enables the Scouts to continue their public service without the distraction of senseless legal and political attacks. I'm proud that my colleagues from both sides of the aisle chose to uphold the Boy Scouts' fundamental right of fair and equal access to public facilities. Now, more than ever, our nation needs young leaders who understand that content of character counts, and I'm pleased to know this integral scouting tradition will be protected as they continue their noble efforts to mold the hearts and minds of the next generation of America's leaders.

Another Ten Commandments Plaque Removed

2005-08-05T03:58:00.000-07:00

In another example of legal intimidation, the commissioners of Monroe County Tennessee voted to take down a Ten Commandments plaque that had hung on the wall of the courthouse for seven years. Facing the potential of a $20,000 legal battle with the American Civil Liberties Union, and in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning Ten Commandments displays in government buildings, the commissioners decided their legal and financial prospects looked pretty grim.

Mayor Watson said: "We should live with (the commandments) everyday, if we can. I don't know but one man that lived by the Ten Commandments, though. But we were hoping they could continue to be there. The ACLU can't take them from our hearts or our minds." The ACLU has used this form of intimidation over the years to force their particular worldview on our nation. By selecting small cities and counties with little financial resources, they operate through a form of financial terrorism – striking fear in the hearts of local officials of mounting legal bills and judgments. The reality is that the ACLU and similar organizations fear the power of God’s Word. For more than 2,000 years it has been changing lives and continues to do so today.

The writer of Psalms tells us that when men conspire against God, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.”

We've Created a Monster:Rainbow Party

2005-08-03T04:34:00.000-07:00

Links to Further Information

August 3, 2005

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.

Warning: This commentary contains graphic information not suitable for younger readers.
You may have heard the uproar over a new teen novel called Rainbow Party. The controversial book by Paul Ruditis concentrates on one afternoon in the lives of thirteen high-school sophomores. One of them, a girl named Gin, is planning a sex party. The other kids are trying to decide whether to attend.

The book takes explicitness to a whole new level. Several different sex acts are described. Even before the party starts, two sex acts take place, one of them in the school bathroom.
Several of the teens are innocent, but others have more experience than a lot of adults. The sexual power plays going on among these tenth-graders would make Machiavelli’s head spin. And though the afternoon doesn’t unfold exactly as planned, the book’s outcome can be seen a mile away: a class-wide outbreak of disease.
It’s no wonder that many bookstores are refusing to carry Rainbow Party, and that parents and commentators are upset about it. I’m glad they’re concerned. And yet—remember Janet Jackson and her infamous “wardrobe malfunction”? Then, too, the majority of Americans were shocked and outraged. But some weren’t shocked at all. They knew that this kind of thing had been out there for decades, on MTV and elsewhere. The only difference was that this time it happened on a broadcast network instead of a teen-oriented cable channel.
Now, sex parties aren’t nearly as widespread as MTV; according to a 2004 survey, less than half of one percent of teenagers have attended such a party. However, the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males showed that about half of boys 15 to 19 had engaged in sexual activity. So again, we’re talking about something that’s not as shocking to kids as it is to their parents.

And that is the fruit of what adults have taught them: sex without values. One of the book’s heroines is a sex-ed teacher, Ms. Barrett, who quits in protest over being forced to teach abstinence only. When disease sweeps the class, she makes the point that she should have been allowed to teach them “safe sex.”
But I wonder if Ruditis is fully aware of the message this character sends. When Ms. Barrett catches Gin smoking, she takes away the cigarette without apology. Yet the teacher has no such reaction to the rumors about Gin’s sex party, only telling the kids to communicate with each other, think about whether this is really a good idea, and “be safe.”

I would suggest that it’s exactly that kind of education that has confused so many kids. Without any sort of moral beliefs to guide them, why shouldn’t they do what they feel like doing, as long as they have “protection”?
As I said before, in no way am I recommending that teenagers read Rainbow Party. The few good lessons it does teach can be better taught by parents, teachers, and youth leaders in a moral context. And yet, I can’t help wondering if, for many adults, the horrified reaction to this book is simply a case of being afraid to face the monster that they’ve already created.

For further reading and information:
Today’s BreakPoint offer: The BreakPoint College Survival Kit for Students includes great resources, like J. Budziszewski’s books Ask Me Anything and How to Stay Christian in College, all packaged in a useful bookbag, to help your student develop a Christian worldview about all of life. (Also available are a smaller basic resource kit and expanded resource kit.)

Carol Memmott, “Controversy colors teen book,” USA Today, 22 May 2005.

Tamar Lewin, “Are these college oral-sex parties for real?” ArizonaRepublic, 30 June 2005.

Kimberly Swygert, “There’s a pot of controversy at the end of this rainbow,” Number 2 Pencil, 2 June 2005. (Link contains a little mild profanity.)

“Book Details Teen Sex at ‘Rainbow Party’,” TheWBALChannel.com, 14 July 2005.

Michelle Malkin, “‘Educational’ smut for kids,” Jewish World Review, 25 May 2005.

Linda Shrieves, “Explosive pages,” Orlando Sentinel, 26 July 2005. This article discusses other controversial books aimed at teens.

Sally Beatty, “Youth titles graduate from ‘Sweet Valley High,’” Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Ind.), 3 July 2005. (Includes reviews of more titles aimed at teens.)

Liz Stevens, “Are girls the new sexual aggressors?” Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Tex.), 17 July 2005.

Marcia Segelstein, “Unforbidden Fruit,” BreakPoint Online, 10 July 2003.

Marcia Segelstein, “Sex Ed and Cooties,” BreakPoint Online, 24 June 2004.

Roberto Rivera, “Teenage Wasteland,” BreakPoint Online, 5 May 2004.

See the “Worldview for Parents” page “Condoms in School.”
BreakPoint Commentary No. 040330, “Understanding the Bigger Picture: The Need for More Comprehensive Education.”

BreakPoint Commentary No. 040203, “Only a Matter of Time: Why the Super Bowl Incident Isn’t Surprising.”

Vigen Guroian, “The Virgin and the Ivy,” BreakPoint Online.

Vigen Guroian, “Dorm Brothel,” Christianity Today.

My Comment:

Subjects like this is being taught in the public schools and as Christian Parents we must be aware of this.

Arkansas Parents Uncover Volumes of Vile Literature in School Libraries

2005-07-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

(AgapePress) - An Arkansas mother who succeeded in getting three sexually explicit books removed from Fayetteville school libraries says she has found there are more than a hundred books of that nature in the school district. Now a mental health counselor is recommending a parental audit of all the books in the city's school libraries.

According to a search conducted by Fayetteville mom Laurie Taylor, out of 502 books listed under "sex" in the city's middle, junior high, and high school libraries, there are 66 books on sex instruction, and 32 of those are on child sex instruction. Another 75 of the books deal with homosexuality, 23 fall under the category of lesbian fiction, 16 are on rape, 9 on incest, and there are even some books on bestiality.

Taylor and other concerned mothers and fathers are calling area school officials on the carpet for allowing books filled with profanity and gratuitous sex to remain on the shelves in the city's schools. The group has asked Superintendent Bobby New and school board members to restrict students' access to the materials. Meanwhile, Taylor and other parents have begun reviewing the libraries' collections and are providing a summary of some of the shocking and offensive content they have found on the "www.wpaag.org" website.

"The majority of these ... are fiction books," the Arkansas mom notes, "so there's no educational

value in them outside of the fact that they're literary -- and I hesitate when I say 'works' -- but they're literary works that have been put into our library system to, in my opinion, desensitize and indoctrinate our kids to thinking that sex with whoever, whenever, whatever you want to is okay."

Taylor points out that, although the bulk of these books are actually in the middle school and above, in Fayetteville any child in the entire county -- which covers several school districts -- can access any book from the library. "And here's the terrible thing," she adds; after choosing a possibly inappropriate book from any of the libraries, boys and girls can "have it delivered to their home school without their parents' consent or knowledge."

So far, Taylor says, "irresponsible" Fayetteville school officials have refused to address the issue, at least until school resumes. The National Coalition Against Censorship and other left-wing groups have written a letter to Superintendent New and the school board, urging them to resist removing or imposing a parental consent requirement on the sexually explicit books.

Mental Health Expert Appalled by School Libraries' Explicit Literature
Grove City College professor and psychologist Dr. Warren Throckmorton says he, too, is appalled by the content of scores of books on human sexuality in Fayetteville's school libraries. After reviewing just a portion of literature, the noted sexual orientation researcher and mental health counselor says he found the literary value of many offensive books to be of insufficient weight to overlook their sexually explicit content.

"We're talking not just about descriptions of sexual thoughts or feelings," Throckmorton says, "and certainly we're not talking about any kind of sexual education material. What we're talking about are things that are problems in schools, such as adult-child sexual relationships."

The psychology expert notes one particularly egregious example in particular, a book called Doing It by Melvin Burgess. In it, he says, "there's a description of a boy who has a sexual relationship with his teacher. He doesn't tell the authorities."

Another book to which Throckmorton took especial offense was Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez, which features a threesome of boys who believe they are homosexuals. "One of them has unprotected sex with an adult that he met through a Gay-Straight Alliance [club]," the mental health counselor says. And these kinds of books, he points out, "are touted as being recommended books by groups like the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, or GLSEN. And they're in these libraries. I don't understand what educational purpose [books like] this could possibly have to be in a school library."

Dr. Throckmorton says it is important to remember, researchers warn that kids who are exposed to sexually explicit material -- whether it be in books or on television -- are more inclined to engage in sexual activity. He feels an audit should be made of the books currently included in the Fayetteville School Libraries, to be conducted by a broad committee of parents in the school system.

my comment:I wonder if we did a search at our local schools would we find these same books at our schools here in Alabama?

Colbert voters reject Sunday alcohol sales

2005-07-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

By Ty West

If you want to buy an alcoholic beverage on Sunday in the Shoals, it will have to be in Florence.

Colbert County voters emphatically rejected Tuesday's referendum, which would have authorized each of the county's municipalities and the county commission to legalize and regulate the sale of alcohol on Sunday.

Michael Eldridge, pastor at First Baptist Church in Tuscumbia, said the large margin reflects a strong turnout from church congregations.

"I'm very glad to see the results, and I'm very excited," Eldridge said. "I'm glad the churches rose up and made the statement we did."

With all 35 boxes reporting, 7,300 voters rejected the referendum and 4,252 voted for Sunday sales. The vote carried in Littleville and Sheffield, according to poll watchers, but individual precinct totals were not available from the Colbert County Probate Judge's Office. All vote totals are unofficial until certified by the probate judge's office.

Steve Holt, president of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce, which supported the referendum, said the vote totals show that the issue of Sunday sales in Colbert County has been settled

"The issue is over, the vote was taken and it is clear," Holt said. "We can now move on to other things."

Sheffield City Councilman Steven Barnes said he had been against Sunday sales since the debate began.

"It was a moral issue, not an economic one," Barnes said. "I thought we were only voting for Sunday sales for the (Robert Trent Jones) golf course, but they already have them."

Sheffield Councilwoman Verna Brennan said she was disappointed with the results of the vote.

"I think the citizens of Colbert County did themselves a great disfavor and they sure helped Florence," Brennan said.

Brennan said she is concerned that her city will now lose tax dollars across the river.

"I'm sure a lot of people will be going to Florence for their Sunday dinner," Brennan said.

Edd Chenoweth, proprietor of Outback Steakhouse in Sheffield, said he thinks he will lose a small amount of Sunday business.

"I'm more concerned what this will do for the county's economy in the long-term," Chenowith said.

Chenoweth said Florence will now have an edge in recruiting chain restaurants and the additional tax dollars they bring in.

Chenoweth's wife, Kim, headed up the "Vote Yes for Jobs" campaign in the county.

"I'm disappointed," Kim Chenoweth said. "But the county voted, and we have to accept it."

Based on vote totals, the municipalities of Sheffield and Littleville approved the referendum.

Brennan said she would like for the city of Sheffield to hold its own Sunday sales referendum in the near future.

More than 11,500 voters turned out for the special election.

James Wooten, of Sheffield, said he voted no to protect Sunday.

"I think it is God's day," Wooten said.

Cotton Johnson, of Muscle Shoals, voted for Sunday sales, and said he believes the city will be missing out.

"I think we will miss the tax dollars, because I think they would have helped out," Johnson said.

Betty Morris, of Tuscumbia, said that for her, the issue of Sunday sales came down to morals.

"I don't think we need alcohol sales on Sunday, because we are bad enough as it is," Morris said. "We need more Jesus."

story can be found here:

Evangelist Oscar Broome Jr:
I am glad to see this rejected it is a moral issue and it never had any logic too it. They already have 6 days and they hav'nt brought more jobs. I want be eating at Outback Steak House or buying anything in Littleville or Sheffield.

Your Opinions on the upcoming vote to have Sunday Alcohol Sales

2005-07-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

Let's make a deal

To the editor:

Let's make a deal. All those who have more money in their pockets due to alcohol, vote yes, July 19, and all those who don't, vote no. All those who know someone whose life is better because of alcohol, vote yes, and all those who know someone whose life has been harmed or ruined by alcohol, vote no. Then let's count the votes.

It's a dressed up lie to say that alcohol is good for the economy. According to a report from the Alabama ABC Board, for every dollar of revenue generated by alcohol sales, the cost to the community is nearly 15 dollars.

Tell the victims of drunk drivers, tell the victims of other alcohol related crimes, tell the children of alcoholic parents, tell the grieving families who've lost loves ones to alcohol, how great alcohol is for the economy.

We need less of this poison in our community, not more. Where there is more alcohol, there are more drunk drivers, more broken homes, more domestic violence, more abused children, more disease and emergency room admissions, more drop-outs, more juvenile delinquency and more poverty.

More than 20 years ago, when Colbert County went wet, our citizens got soaked. Contrary to false promises, the economy did not boom, jobs did not increase, but taxes to pay for more police and bigger jails certainly did.

As one who, at age 15, stood at the grave of a father killed by alcohol, I know first hand how alcohol ruins lives and destroys families. The liquor industry has made great profit from our pain. On July 19, good people need to vote no. The "salt of the earth" needs to come out of the shaker. We need to let those know, who seek to profit from the pain of others, that our families are not for sale.

Jeff Abrams

Minister, Highland Park Church Of Christ

Muscle Shoals

Think on these

To the editor:

If you are even considering a ""yes" vote July 19, think on these things. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise", Proverbs 20:1. "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes? Those who linger over wine, those who go looking for mixed wine. Don't gaze at wine when it is red, when it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper." Proverbs 23: 29-32. It's still right there where God put it in the scriptures and nothing anyone does or says or thinks or believes will change it. You can even take a pair of scissors and cut it out of your Bible and it won't change a thing.

Sunday belongs to the Lord of all creation, as does every day. Please stand, down on your knees, with those of us who truly have the welfare of Colbert County and her families at heart. We do not need any more evil than we already have in our county.

Let us stand before God in judgment knowing we did not support this evil.

Barbara Strange

Sheffield

Promises, promises

To the editor:

I, too, remember the pleadings and promises of former Sheffield Mayor Buddy Draper, in his endeavor to legalize the sale of alcohol in Colbert County.

Let's see, new schools in every town, industrial and commercial expansion, national restaurant chains, and alcohol tax revenue flowing in our city streets. The cure for Colbert County's financial and economic needs.

Well, 23 years later, we are hearing the same pleadings and promises from a group known as "Yes For Jobs."

Alcohol sales six days a week couldn't fulfill one single promise made 23 years ago in Colbert County, but the "Yes For Jobs" group believes, or at least wants the public to believe, the seventh day will be the boost needed to propel Colbert County into the economic promise land.

Statisticians indicate that Sunday sales, at best, could increase alcohol tax revenues annually by 8 percent. Translated into tax dollars, in the City of Muscle Shoals, the 8 percent annual increase wouldn't pay the utility bill for one month. And we are asked to believe this will be the catalyst for economic development and financial empowerment.

In the arena of economic development, it is strange to note that SCA Tissue Plant, Walgreen Health Initiatives, and Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail chose to locate in Colbert County without Sunday sales and all appear to be doing quite well.

Bottom line, economic development is not contingent on the Sunday sale of alcohol but rather on demographics, proper long range planning with emphasis on infrastructure development, adequate supply of electricity and natural gas, and technical expertise in the work force. But, most important, are tax and financial incentives offered by the local municipalities and state government.

On July 19, I urge everyone to vote their conviction in this matter but at least be truthfully informed.

David Yarber

Muscle Shoals

Returning a favor

To the editor:

One of my own personal faults has always been that I don't really like being told what to do, and I am not sending this letter to order anyone what to do. I just hope that some people will read it and think seriously about the way they vote on July 19.

I grew up in Mobile. Both of my parents were from this area but with my dad being in the military, I spent my childhood in Mobile. I had a wonderful childhood, and I thank God every day that I was brought up in the church by two Christian parents.

Even though I was brought to church every time the doors were opened and sent to a Christian school, Mobile is a big city and alcohol influenced my teenage years and was readily available. I played basketball at a Christian school where team members would bring Gatorade bottles of vodka and drink before the game.

I moved to this area in January and immediately fell in love with it. It is amazing that so many good, friendly and godly people can be found in one area.

I would just like to ask someone, is six days not enough? Is one day too much to ask to dedicate to the God that has continued to bless this area with the beauty, character, and hope for the future? We all know that it is not. He has been good to us. Let's return a part of the favor.

Brooke Wade

Florence

Shall ye sit?

To the editor:

Shall Christians sit home July 19 and not vote?

Many people who are against the Sunday sales referendum will not go to the polls because of apathy.

How does God view such indifference? Moses chides two of the tribes of Israel for proposing to sit at home while the rest of the brethren go to war. "Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?" (Numbers 32:6) Moses knew the effect that would come from their refusing to join the ranks. It would discourage the others, thus weakening their morale and bring defeat. Shall ye have the same defeatist attitude and "sit here" July 19?

Get up and join the ranks! Vote No!

There are enough Christians in Colbert County to defeat this referendum. Shall ye go to war or shall ye sit?

Rhonda Cole

Sheffield

Churches involved

To the editor:

It seems every time a political issue comes up, the churches of Alabama seem to get involved.

Whether it be the gambling issue or liquor sales on Sunday, churches seem to get involved rather heavily. What does it mean when a church displays on its marquee sign, "vote no July 19?"

To me, that is getting involved in a political process that the church has no place in. Is it the pastor of the church by himself or is it expressing the wishes of the church? If the church members themselves want to display signs, then it's their right. But when they unite and use the power of church as a political force and tool, I believe they should then come under the same rules and regulations as other political organizations and should be regulated as such.

As the saying goes, the church should not be allowed to have their cake and eat it, too. Either they are in and have to play by the same rules as everyone else or they should stay out of the political process altogether.

Wayne Schulte

Town Creek

Evangelist Chip Broome Comment:
This is the battle cry of the liberal and it is a self-defeating argument. We have a right as a Church body to rise up oppose what God opposes. Everyone has a right to vote any way they want until a church stands against something and then we here this battle cry. The opposing forces have came out strong on this issues and supported by the ones who profit the most on allowing Sunday Alcohol sales.

Do You Know about the Hidden Agenda?

2005-07-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Behind the incessant discussions about homosexuality at school is a purpose that reaches beyond tolerance. The real goal is forced enthusiastic acceptance of homosexual acts and frankly, of the elimination of all distinctions between the genders. This includes acceptance of cross-dressing and cross-gender identification among students and teachers (“transgender” people). Material from the influential school activist group, GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) defines “hate,” “homophobia” and “discrimination” as including even simple statements expressing personal disapproval of homosexuality for moral or religious reasons.

As schools pass non-discrimination policies covering “sexual orientation,” these policies are being used to silence the voices of people who believe homosexuality is wrong. Unjust stereotyping and references linking traditional views with “hatred” and even with violent acts are now a normal part of public school teaching in multi-culturalism and “anti-bias” lessons.

In such an environment, children quickly learn to self-censor-to remain silent if they have been taught something different at home. Over time, this silence will change to acceptance, and the enemy will become the parents, grandparents and churches that don’t support the brainwashing and propaganda. There will remain no obstacle to young teenagers’ total acceptance of, and in some cases, experimentation with morally and physically dangerous practices. What is aiding this agenda to take firm root in the schools and in the minds of our children? The silence of adults.

We can bring a halt to this nonsense and reverse the trend, or we can remain silent and the values of our children--and of society itself--will be deeply and tragically altered. If you want to do something….read Parents…Are You Getting Involved?

Pornographic materials encouraging male homosexual sex acts given to high School students

2005-07-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.angelfire.com/al4/cornerstone/frontlineevangelism/index.blog?entry_id=1043489

State-funded pornographic materials encouraging male homosexual sex acts given to high school students at recent “gay education” conference at Brookline High School.

Incredibly gross and disgusting materials given to kids – now posted at http://www.article8.org/.

Written by AIDS Action Committee with Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health and Boston Public Health Commission. Contains horrible medical misinformation, says physician expert in sexually transmitted diseases. QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ASKED, ANSWERS DEMANDED!

PRESS CONFERENCE: Article 8 Alliance to discuss dark underbelly of one year of “gay marriage” in Massachusetts Tuesday at noon.

WALTHAM, MA, May 16, 2005. On the one-year anniversary of “gay marriages” in Massachusetts, the Article 8 Alliance will reveal shocking information about how “gay marriage” has harmed our state. “Contrary to the rosy picture painted in the mainstream media, we’ve seen an intensification of undemocratic, anti-free-speech activities throughout our state, in the schools, in government, and in the media. Alternative points of view are routinely drowned out, by ignoring the message, intimidation, name-calling, or lack of proper notification. Even pro-family churches now hesitate to speak out on this moral issue, since it has been politicized by the radical homosexuals and their allies,” said Brian Camenker, director of Article 8 Alliance.

“Meanwhile, our legislature and governor continue to support gay clubs in our public schools, which draw our young people into this dangerous and destructive lifestyle. But I have never seen anything this bad. It’s truly frightening where this is headed,” added Camenker.

Last September, within months of gay “marriages” taking place, a lesbian 8th grade teacher in Massachusetts told National Public Radio in a nationally broadcast interview, “If somebody wants to challenge me, I'll say, `Give me a break. It's legal now.'”

Three weeks ago a father was arrested in Lexington for insisting the school follow the law, and respect his right to keep his kindergarten child safe from material promoting same-sex “marriage”.

Press Conference: Tuesday, May 17 at 12:00 noon, Boston City Hall Plaza
Other horror stories will be discussed, and materials will be given to the press.

Contact: Article 8 Alliance, 781-899-4905, www.Article8.org.

simdog99: This deeply concerns me. We need to make sure none of these books make it to our schools or state. We need to be very watchful. The gay agenda will force schools to accept these books but we must stop them. Anyone in Colbert County, Alabama or any county in Alabama that has any infomation regarding gay materials being in our schools please email me : :chipbroome@frontlingevangelism.com

More articles on related subject:
http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/Alerts/States/Pennsylvania/brownsville.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,114526,00.html

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1555832490/002-0431456-0418460?v=glance

http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/10/41e250508a21d

Here are links to help educate and fight the gay agenda in our schools:

http://www.missionamerica.com/agenda.php?articlenum=28

http://www.pabbis.org/

http://www.missionamerica.com/stoppflag1.php

http://www.choice4truth.com/

http://www.truthatschool.org/

http://www.frontlineevangelism.com

Moore's monument wouldn't pass test, experts agree

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

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/NEWSV5/storyV5altencom28w.htm

Moore said Monday's court rulings will make it more difficult to keep Ten Commandments displays on private property. He accused the Supreme Court of denying God and said the rulings would lead to the slow loss of "your rights to life, liberty and property." We have already seen that we really have no real property rights and the government rather local or Private Citizens can steal your land.

The Christian Coalition said it best:.Today's flawed Ten Commandments decision by the Supreme Court makes the confirmation of strict constructionists to that court more important than ever," said Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America.

Vote No On Sunday Liquor Sales

2005-07-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050710/NEWS/507100376/1011

There are many reasons to vote no on Sunday Liquor sales and this link below will provide them.

http://www.noalcohol.org/

The Hate of "Anti-Hate" Groups

2005-07-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

By Gary DeMar

American Vision must be doing something right. We have been targeted by a number of anti-Christian groups because of our stance on homosexuality. We find ourselves in the company of Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Alliance Defense Fund, Coral Ridge Ministries, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, Family Research Institute, and other pro-family groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), run by its co-founder Morris Dees, has listed us as a “hate group” under the “other” category on their website.1 In fact, if you add up all the people in America who support any of the above ministries, the number would be in the millions.

So the SPLC has gone from tracking the movements of skinhead groups and the KKK that number in the hundreds to creating hysteria over mainstream value ministries. Pro-homosexual newspapers and websites have been working overtime to rev up their robot-like followers to repeat the rhetoric of the SPLC. Of course, most of this is done for fund raising purposes. It’s no wonder that the SPLC is flush with cash.2 Ultimately, the tactic is to strike fear in middle-America so the checks start rolling in. Most communities don’t see skinheads or even KKKers, but they do see D. James Kennedy on television, hear James Dobson on the radio, and listen to Gary DeMar at homeschool conventions. Hate has gone mainstream, the SPLC warns, so you better send a donation before these guys come and get you! Am I making this up? I counted twelve categories of giving on their website. I’m surprised there isn’t a category to donate body parts. The SPLC is a fund raising industry designed to silence Christians. There’s not much money in fighting real hate groups now that only a few of the real haters are still around.3

This all got started with the publication of SPLC’s “Holy War” Intelligence Report.4 We got wind of the hit piece when someone from The Southern Voice, a pro-homosexual advocacy newspaper published in Georgia,5 called us for an interview on the “hate group” accusation. I’ve been interviewed before by these agenda-seeking organizations. The time spent in trying to set the record straight is not worth the aggravation. Their type of “red-meat journalism” is common.6

You might remember that the SPLC is the same group that went after Chief Justice Roy Moore because he refused to remove the Ten Commandment monument from the court house in Montgomery, Alabama. He’s one of their favorite whipping boys. Without God’s commandments, everything is up for grabs except for condemning a worldview that says everything is up for grabs. Early in its 34-year history, the SPLC probably did some good work in the area of civil rights. The group has lost focus in recent years and has decided to persecute and libel Christian groups who hold to a moral worldview that opposes the legalization of sodomy and homosexual marriage.

Now for the gist of the article. Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report, claims that “religious right leaders have veered away from a theological discussion of their opposition to homosexuality and have instead resorted to castigation of the GLBT7 community.”8 Of course, this is nonsense. Christians who oppose the practice of sodomy and the legalization of homosexual marriage have always made their case using biblical arguments. In fact, when Christians have referred to the biblical texts that speak to this issue, we heard the typical rejoinders: “Religion and politics don’t mix . . . There’s a separation between church and state . . . Jesus said not to judge. . . You can’t legislate morality.” Those in the homosexual community are upset that opposition has been leveled against aggressive homosexual advocacy, for example, making homosexual practice a part of the public school curriculum, opposing the Boy Scouts for their anti-homosexual policy, and pushing for homosexual marriage over against the will of the people and current law. When a worldview is attacked, it stands to reason that those defending the worldview are going to be caught in the ideological “crossfire.”

Homosexual advocates like Potok want Christians quarantined behind the walls of their churches where they can preach and teach their peculiar beliefs but are forbidden to enjoin one another to act upon those beliefs. For years, to use Theodore Roszak’s phrase, Christians had a theology that was “socially irrelevant, even if privately engaging.”9 Now that Christians have awakened from the slumber of a false privatized spirituality and applied their beliefs culturally and politically, the homosexual community is enraged. It’s OK for homosexuals to barnstorm the country and threaten businesses and politicians with their own political clout, but beware of anyone who opposes their agenda.

Homosexuals will claim that their cause is a “civil rights” issue, similar to the hard-fought struggle that Blacks have gone through. The analogy is a false one. For example, abortion and homosexuality—two hotly contested political issues—are what people do. Abortion kills a pre-born baby. Opposing abortion does not mean that we oppose women. We oppose one thing women do with their pre-born children. The same is true for homosexuality. The euphemism “gay” has been used by the homosexual movement to hide the fact that homosexuality is really same-sex sex. This renaming tactic has been used by abortion advocates for years. The word abortion is hardly ever used. Abortionists talk about being “pro-choice” to hide the bloody nature of the procedure. To describe what homosexuals do with their “sexual equipment” would turn off many readers at this point. The very nature of the act is unnatural by definition, and any relationship what would based on sodomy is unnatural as well (Rom. 1:26–27). This is why Colin Powell writes of the inappropriate linking of homosexual behavior with the civil rights movement: “Skin color is a benign, non]behavioral characteristic. Sexual orientation is perhaps the most profound of human behavioral characteristics. Comparison of the two is a convenient but invalid argument.”10

The editors of the Intelligence Report claim that anti-homosexual rhetoric “has fed anti-gay hate crime violence.” A similar argument was leveled against conservatives—especially conservative talk radio’s use of “anti-government rhetoric” in describing the abuses of courts and politicians—soon after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Supposedly “hateful” speech directed at liberal politicians and their policies had incited a cadre of “right wing” extremists who put words into explosive action. Contrary to the accusations, the elections of 2000 and 2004 demonstrated that conservatives, including anti-homosexual conservative Christians, put their faith into action at the voting booth, not at the firing range or the bomb factory.

The Matthew Shepard case (1998) received national attention when it believed and promoted that he was beaten and left for dead because is only “crime” was being a homosexual. HBO produced The Laramie Project, NBC ran The Matthew Shepard Story, and MTV followed with Matthew’s Murder. The Internet is filled with tributes to Shepard and how his savage death was the result of anti-homosexual hate.11 These sites argue that while the two murderers were certainly to blame, their rage was fueled by a climate of hateful rhetoric coming from anti-homosexual groups like those named throughout the Intelligence Report.

As any informed reader might expect, the Intelligence Report article is a one-sided propaganda piece and reductionistic in its unsubstantiated claims that if a homosexual is beaten, molested, or killed, it was because of anti-homosexual rhetoric. So how do we explain the Columbine murders, where some of the victims were Bible-believing Christians? Should we indict all evolutionists because one of the shooters was wearing a T-shirt with “Natural Selection” emblazoned on the front?12 The following appeared on Eric Harris’ web page: “YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE??? Natural SELECTION! It’s the best thing that ever happened to the Earth. Getting rid of all the stupid and weak organisms … but it’s all natural! YES!” Sounds like hate speech to me! Where is the SPLC on this one? Evolution—“natural selection”—is taught in every government school as an irrefutable and unchallengeable fact. How many people have been murdered because the perpetrators were influenced by the logical consistency of the evolutionary dogma? How do we know that the doctrine of evolution does not play a significant role on violence against homosexuals?13 Since they do not perpetuate the species, they need to be eliminated. This is pure Columbine logic based on the rudiments of natural selection.
Then there’s the lack of mainstream media attention on the Jesse Dirkhising case, the 13-year-old middle school student from Rogers, Arkansas, who was tied up and repeatedly sodomized by two homosexuals until he died.14 There has been a near blackout in the press on this story. No movie of the week. No HBO special. No mention on MTV.

The information in the Intelligence Report is designed to divert peoples’ attention away from the homosexual agenda by laying blame at its critics. I was criticized in a threatening email for claiming that homosexual couples molest the young boys they adopt. I never said any such thing, but he got this impression from the Report. The email writer stated that sexual molestation is mostly done by heterosexuals. This is true, mostly because 99 percent of the male population is heterosexual. Many homosexual molestation and violence cases go unreported. This is beginning to change. Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller has a criminal record going back 35 years. He spent 12 years in prison on sexual crimes. “Police suspect he molested children as many as 36,000 times over three decades in several states, Mexico and Brazil. A search of his San Jose home turned up notebooks with notes on more than 36,000 encounters in categories such as ‘Blond Boys,’ ‘Cute Boys’ and ‘Boys who say no.’”15Newsweek also reported on the story. The magazine describes him as “a man who may be the most prolific child molester the country has ever known.”16 Couldn’t the reporting of these homosexual crimes incite “anti-gay hate-crime violence”? What about the abuse of young boys by priests?

The Southern Poverty Law Center is out to silence Christian groups that believe homosexuality is unnatural, immoral, and hurtful to society. The SPLC is acting as an enabling institution to other anti-Christian groups hell-bent on destroying reputations and ministries in the name of “social justice.”

1 www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp?T=22&m=3

2 Richard A. Viguerie and David Franke, America’s Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power (Chicago, IL: Bonus Books, 2004), 146–150.

3 http://crime.about.com/b/a/179433.htm

4 www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=522

5 www.sovo.com/2005/6-3/news/national/anti-gay.cfm

6 Gary DeMar, “Read-Meat Journalism,” Biblical Worldview (May 2004), 3, 6, 12.

7 GLBT: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender.

8 David Webb, “Rights group take[s] on religious extremists,” Dallas Voice: The Community Newspaper for Gay & Lesbian Dallas: www.dallasvoice.com/articles/dispArticle.cfm?Article_ID=6063

9 Theodore Roszak., Where the Wasteland Ends: Politics and Transcendence in Postindustrial Society (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1972), 449.

10 Quoted in World (September 26, 1992), 5.

11 The ABC News program “20/20” ran a story on November 27, 2004, that outraged the homosexual community. Evidence had been uncovered that Shepherd’s murder was not a “hate crime.” His homosexuality had nothing to do with his death. The truth is that he was the victim of a robbery by two drug addicts. Shepard himself was a heavy drug user who was HIV-positive. The perpetrators of this brutal crime were not “homophobes.” One of them was allegedly bisexual. For account of the “20/20” episode, see Cliff Kincaid, “Exploiting Matthew Shepard,” Accuracy in Media (December 22, 2004): www.aim.org/media_monitor/2331_0_2_0_C/

12 Denver Rocky Mountain News (June 1999), 4A, 14A, 25.

13 Barbara Reynolds, “If your kids go ape in school, you’ll know why,” USA Today (August 27, 1993), 11A.

14 You can read the official affidavits of probable cause in the case at www.americansfortruth.com/JDWarning.html

15 “California man molested boys for decades, USA Today (June 20, 2005), 4A.

16 “Karen Breslau, “Cracking a Horrible Code,” Newsweek (June 27, 2005), 35.

Gary DeMar is president of American Vision and the author of more than 20 books. His latest is Myths, Lies, and Half Truths.Do you appreciate this web site? If so, please remember American Vision as part of your regular giving. Your contributions are tax deductible and help us continue this vital ministry. Thank you! Make a Donation

© 2005 American Vision 1.800.628.9460P.O. Box 220 Powder Springs, GA 30127

Restore 5th Amendment Property Rights

2005-07-03T03:40:00.000-07:00

by Sen. John Cornyn
Posted July 1, 2005

There have been a number of controversial Supreme Court decisions in recent years, from the Lawrence decision that led to a nationwide litigation campaign against traditional marriage laws, to the courtÂs refusal to protect the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments. Rarely, however, has a decision of the nationÂs highest court generated as much attention from CongressÂor so quicklyÂas the courtÂs 5-to-4 decision in Kelo v. New London.
Why has Kelo caught such strong attention? Simple: The protection of homes, small businesses and other private property rights against government seizure, and other unreasonable government interference, is a fundamental principle and core commitment of our nationÂs Founders. As Thomas Jefferson wrote on April 6, 1816, the protection of such rights is Âthe first principle of association, Âthe guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.ÂÂ

In Kelo , the court acknowledged that Âit has long been accepted that the sovereign may not take the property of A for the sole purpose of transferring it to another private party B,Â and that the power of eminent domain may be used only Âfor public use.Â Yet the court held that government may seize the home, small business, or other private property of one owner and transfer it to another private owner, simply by concluding this transfer would benefit the community through increased economic development.

The decision is alarming. As Justice Sandra Day OÂConnor accurately noted in her dissenting opinion, the court has Âeffectively . . . delete[d] the words Âfor public useÂ from the Takings Clause of the 5th AmendmentÂ and thereby Ârefus[ed] to enforce properly the federal Constitution.Â

Under Kelo, OÂConnor warns, ÂNothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory.Â

ThatÂs why last week I introduced the Protection of Homes, Small Businesses and Private Property Act of 2005 (S 1313). Since that time, two companion bills have been filed in the House, and the Senate bill already has 10 co-sponsors. The legislation would declare CongressÂs view that the power of eminent domain should be exercised only Âfor public use,Â as guaranteed by the 5th Amendment, and that this power to seize property should be reserved for true public uses. Most importantly, eminent domain should not be used to further private economic development. The act would apply this standard to two areas that are clearly within CongressÂs authority to regulate: 1) all exercises of eminent domain power by the federal government, and 2) by state and local government through the use of federal funds.

Kelo was a disappointment but is also a stark reminder of the importance of the judicial confirmation process. Recall that during the debate over the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit opponents derided her personal passion for the protection of private property rights. But the reaction to Kelo demonstrates it was her opponents who were out of the mainstream and that concerns about excessive government interference with property rights is well-founded and well within the mainstream of American jurisprudence.

No one should be able to take another man's property that he has worked hard for all his life. This is just another example of a courtconstitution not interpret the Constition but make their own law. We must impeach those Supreme Court judges who continue to go outside our Constiution.

Critics Should Take A Deep Breath

2005-05-21T04:02:00.000-07:00

By John Giles

May 19, 2005

The legal counsel for the Christian Coalition of Alabama has been contacted and a vigorous internal investigation is underway regarding recent press reports about the origin of certain contributions to our organization, and the motives behind those contributions. As we go through the process of uncovering the facts – which we will make public – we feel compelled to respond to the unwarranted criticism from this newspaper.

The news broken in the Boston Globe about the contribution from Americans For Tax Reform, and the alleged origin of those funds, was news to us as well. The assertions made by the Boston Globe about Mr. Grover Norquist with Americans For Tax Reform were startling to say the least.

The attacks against us that followed have no basis in fact. Charges that Christian Coalition of Alabama knew the funds in question were from gambling entities – or insinuations that somehow we should have known – are completely baseless.

What is factual is that we bent over backwards to ensure these funds were not from casinos or any other gambling entities. This was confirmed by John Pudner in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story that ran on May 18th. “On at least a couple of occasions, John Giles called me to ask if I was absolutely sure there was no gambling money – direct or indirect – in any money they had received,” said John Pudner, then a senior project manager at Century Strategies (Ralph Reed’s consulting firm in Atlanta). ‘Giles even told me he wanted to issue a press release stating this – and I went and asked Ralph to make sure, and Ralph assured me there was no gambling money involved.’”

Unfortunately, editorials often get written in the heat of a given moment before many relevant facts emerge. We understand that, but it is important for readers to know that the facts bear us out and we are confident they will continue to do so.

It stretches the bounds of imagination to conceive of an organization such as ours willfully accepting large contributions from gambling interests. Our policies expressly forbid this.

Indeed, the opposite is true: we went the extra mile to obtain a guarantee that these funds were not tainted in any way. We are confident that our legal counsel will conduct a thorough investigation regarding our “No Gambling Money” contribution policy.

We also understand that, sometimes, people choose to exploit certain situations to advance their own particular agendas. In this instance, it is well-known that the media – as well as some legislators – have an agenda seeking full public disclosure of contributors to Christian organizations such as ours. Thus the criticism for our continued opposition to such practices.

All issue advocacy organizations such as ours – whether they are conservative or liberal – oppose such disclosure for very simple reasons. First, this legislation is grossly unconstitutional and the United States Supreme Court has ruled that issue advocacy is protected under the First Amendment. Secondly, the issues we work on can elicit highly emotional, sometimes irrational, responses from our opponents. Exposing our contributors to likely (if not inevitable) harassment, persecution or worse, is something we just will not abide. It is a constitutionally protected right to petition government for a redress of grievances without retaliation.

Newspapers and other media organizations have well-paid attorneys who stand at the door ready to defend them against any and all kinds of harassment. They also enjoy the power of the printed page and the airwaves. The overwhelming majority of our contributors do not enjoy such luxuries. So, on this particular issue, we will continue to agree to disagree.

Finally, as for those in the media who have jumped at the chance to criticize us – as well as those who are simply just jumping to conclusions – we think it instructional to remember recent media embarrassments such as those suffered by CBS News and Newsweek magazine. Both organizations trumpeted stories that turned out to have no basis in fact.

We take these revelations very seriously and we are diligently investigating them. We will make our findings public and we are confident the facts will show our organization 1) went out of its way to ensure all transactions complied with our policies, and 2) given all information available to us at the time, we acted in the best interests of our members, supporters and the mission of our organization.

John W. Giles
President
Christian Coalition of Alabama

Another Attack on Religious Freedom

2005-05-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Another Attack on Religious Freedom

There is a new attempt to restrict religious rights in our nation. This time it involves pharmacists who oppose filling prescriptions for products they are morally opposed to.

Some pharmacists have refused to fill prescriptions for oral contraceptives as well as the morning after pill. In Illinois, the governor issued an emergency rule that requires pharmacists to "accept and fill prescriptions for contraceptives without delay” and that sets up a hotline to report pharmacists who refuse. Actions such as this have demonstrated the need for “conscience clauses” similar to those used by physicians who refuse to perform certain procedures for religious reasons.

As logical and fair as this seems, there are those who oppose allowing pharmacist to exercise their religious rights. Alabama does not currently have a conscience clause for physicians or pharmacists.

Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley has described the danger of doing nothing: “The disregard and contempt for religious freedom in these proposals is breathtaking. "Religious freedom" that is limited to an hour on Sunday and private thoughts is no freedom at all. There is a word for government that forces people to do what their consciences condemn: tyranny. That's why Christians must unite to protect "conscience-clause" rights of pharmacists everywhere. If we don't speak up for the pharmacists, the next chunk of freedom taken away will be ours.”

This is For all the Mothers......

2005-05-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, saying, "It's okay honey, Mommy's here." Mothers who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end, soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair, milk stains on their blouses, and diapers in their purse. For all the mothers who run carpools, make cookies, and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who don't.

This is for all the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And for the mothers who took those babies and gave them loving homes.

This is for all the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors. And for all the mothers who froze sitting on metal bleachers at football or soccer games --- instead of watching from the warmth of their cars. So that when their kids asked, "Did you see me, Mom?" --- they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store, and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead --- but realize how easily child abuse can happen.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the
grandmothers who wanted to --- but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat. For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then read it again, "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook --- and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for all the mothers whose head turns automatically when a small voice calls, "Mom?" in a crowd --- even though they know their own offsprings are at home, or away at college, or already have their own families.

This is for all the mothers who have sent their kids to school with tummy aches, assuring them they'd be just fine once they get to school --- only to get that call from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick up your child --- right away.

This is for all the mothers whose children have gone astray --- the mother who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed --- when their 14 year old children dye their hair green.

This is for all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings --- and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

This is for all the mothers of the survivors, the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to live in peace --- and now pray they will come home safely from a war.

What makes a good Mother? Is it patience, compassion, broad hips? Is it the ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt --- all at the same time? Or is it her heart? Is it the ache she feels when she watches her son or daughter disappear down the street --- walking to school alone for the very first time?

Is it the jolt that takes her from sleep to dread, from bed to crib --- at 2 AM --- to lay her hand on the back of a sleeping baby? Is it the panic, years later, that comes again at 2 AM --- when she waits to hear their key in the door, and know they are home, safe again, in your home?

Or is it the need to flee from wherever she is and hug her child when she hears news of a fire, a car accident, or a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal; and so our thoughts and prayers are for those young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation --- and for the mature mothers who are struggling as they learn to let go. It is for the working mothers and the stay-at-home mothers; the single mothers and the married mothers; the mothers with money and the mothers without.

This is for all the mothers --- from all of us who have been blessed by having YOU in our lives.

Whether you are going through the "terrible twos" or the "daunting teens" --- hang in there. Your love is the first and closest love your child will feel from its very first breath; your love is the love which will teach them about the love of Jesus; your love is the love which will surrender your child to our Lord as you dedicate him/her to their Savior; your love is the love which will set that child on the right path to eternal peace, as he/she learns to walk with Jesus throughout their lives --- because your love guided them.

Love them, pray for them, put them into His hands, then trust Him to watch over them.

Proverbs 31

An excellent wife, who can find?

For her worth is far above jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts in her,

And he will have no lack of gain.

Her children rise up and bless her;

Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:

"Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all."

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,

But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
simdog99 comment:I want to especially thank my owe wife who has been a great mother to our son. I Love You ADB. My mother left me when I was about 2 years old but I will call her Sunday. She still is'nt the motherly type, she don't call or write but she is still my birth mother and I have learned through the hurt to forgive her no matter what. I am so proud that my wife is there for my son and my mother in law who is a good mother in her own right.

What the gambling industry is trying to do to Christian groups.

2005-04-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

The Alabama State Senate has been gridlocked over HB75 for 3-weeks, with little or no coverage by the media. HB75 is a bill designed to destroy the Christian Coalition of Alabama (CCA). Representative Randy Hinshaw (D), the House sponsor of HB75, along with some other Democrat allies in the Senate, responded to the beacon call of the gambling interest demanding access to the donor list of the CCA. HB75 will not only impact the CCA, but also will negatively impact churches and other non-profit organizations.

Milton McGregor, a dog track owner and the default leader of the gambling interest in the state, is feverishly working the halls of the Senate to destroy the CCA. The CCA is the major opposition to further legalizing the expansion of gambling. Senate President Pro Tempore Lowell Barron (D) enlisted American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Attorney Bobby Segall, Tom Espy (who routinely represents the personal injury trial lawyer legislative interest) and the AEA Union senior lobbyist to craft the “Barron Substitute” - targeting the CCA. CCA President John Giles stated, “They do not want us to disclose their voting record on our Score Card or their position on issues in the Voter Guide during election cycles as we educate voters; that is what this is all about.”

State Senator Jabo Waggoner (R) requested that Eric Johnston, a Christian and constitutional attorney with the Southeast Law Institute, be included in the negotiations of this bill on Thursday, April 7th. Mr. Johnston was literally rejected at the door. Mr. Johnston represents Christian groups including: churches, Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), private Christian schools and Christian home schoolers. “While the ACLU attorney was invited into the negotiations, the attorney for the Christian interest was locked out of the room,” Giles said.

The CCA has noted that the only Senate supporters of this legislation are Democrats who are controlled by the gambling interest. Fortunately, there is a broad-based bi-partisan effort underway to protect the free speech rights of the Constitution and Christian groups. CCA President John Giles stated, “I am very proud of the bi-partisan efforts of these State Senators to honor their oath of office, by preserving and protecting the Constitution and defending the CCA and other Christian groups from being violated by the gambling interest agenda.”

Senators who have led the gallant filibuster on this bill are: Senators Bradley Byrne (R), Larry Dixon (R), Hank Erwin (R), Steve French (R), Jimmy Holley (D), Curt Lee (R), Del Marsh (R), Hap Myers (R), Harri Anne Smith (R), and Jabo Waggonor (R).

Senators who are representing the gambling interest and targeting the CCA using malicious verbal assaults on the Senate floor are: Senators Lowell Barron (D), Roger Bedford (D), Bobby Denton (D), Vivian Davis Figures (D), Zeb Little (D), and Larry Means (D).

simdog:We can not sit idle by while the gambling interests are trying to stop the voices of Christians and Christian groups. We have as much right as anyone to express our rights. We oppose gambling at every level. We must verbally tell our senators to stop this now. The ACLU and Roger Bedford and Bobby Denton should not be allowed to stay in office. We must vote them out.

The ACLU vs. Religious Liberty

2005-04-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

By Richard Mullenax
MichNews.com
Jul 13, 2004

The ACLU protects the freedom of gay marriage, pedophilia, and abortion, but when it comes to religious freedom, some religious people might find themselves discriminated against.

The U.S. Equal Employment Commission reported that religious discrimination has gone up an overwhelming 82% over the past eleven years.

Religious discrimination has gone up an overwhelming 82% over the past eleven years. This is very scary news for people of all religions.

According to the Mansfield Journal, Sandra Hardy was wrongfully let go because her job demanded that she work on Sundays, a day of rest and worship for most Catholics and Protestants.

According to Liberty Magazine, both a Roman Catholic and a Seventh-day Adventist were fired for keeping their respected Sabbath days holy. Both of these people are no longer living at home as they rely on friends, family, and God for food and shelter.

In America today, people are forced to chose between God or money. Is there anyone fighting for these people? Is the ACLU? Do not count on it, but there is a team helping to protect religious liberty.

The North American Religious Liberty Association (NARLA) is leading the effort to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA); a bill designed to protect people of all religious faiths from discrimination.

The WRFA is heavily supported by a number of influential senators--eleven Democrats and eleven Republicans. Among this list of supporters is Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

If this bill is passed, it will be a great leap forward since it will set a balance in relationships from the employer and employee to his or her God.

However, leave it to the ACLU to find a problem with the WRFA.

According to the NARLA website, the ACLU sent an action alert to its members on June 9, implying that the Workplace Religious Freedom Act is a partisan attempt designed to restrict access to reproductive services and to privilege harassment.

Of course, The ACLU’s claim is ridiculous since twenty-two senators stand strongly behind the bill. If that weren’t enough, there is widespread agreement among attorneys about the WRFA after analyzing the bill.

So what does this say about the ACLU’s agenda? Well, do not look to the ACLU for religious freedom. Instead, look for that organization to protect the most disgusting acts on earth. However, if people would like to help protect religious freedom and defend it from groups like the ACLU, then they should go to www.richardmullenax.com/ for more details.

No good American should let the ACLU’s biased opinion of religion prevail. Religious Americans should stand up for what they believe in. Because if the they don’t, who will

Death, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

2005-04-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

You know the Apocalypse is near when Jesse Jackson and Sean Hannity join forces. But that's what happened in the Terri Schiavo case. Both men believe the American system should have saved Terri's life regardless of her condition.
Jackson's take on the situation is especially interesting. He contends that the judges and politicians should have shown mercy in this matter. The Reverend is a liberal diehard, but believes the greater good would have been served by allowing the Schiavo family to care for their daughter. It's hard to argue with that position.

But some do argue with it, including our pals at the ACLU, who have labeled this a "privacy" issue. According to the ACLU zealots, Terri Schiavo wanted to die and anybody who doesn't believe that is violating her privacy rights. There is no room for doubt in ACLU-land--they know what Terri wanted, because her husband said so, and since his position agrees with the ACLU position, the truth has been anointed. I guess it really doesn't matter that two court-appointed guardians for Terri testified it was impossible to ascertain her wishes because of Michael Schiavo's conflicts of interest.

The ACLU may be big on privacy, but it is not big on life in general, unless it is the life of a convicted murderer. The ACLU believes in any kind of abortion on demand. It believes a 12-year-old girl should be allowed to abort her fetus without telling her parents. It believes in doctor assisted suicide but not doctor assisted capital punishment. How strange.

But if you think about it, the philosophy of the ACLU is fairly consistent: The gratification of the individual is paramount. If a person wants to die, fine. If a woman wants to abort a fetus even after viability, no problem. It really doesn't matter why; WHAT a person wants is all that matters.

On the gratification front, did you know that the ACLU wants no limits placed on child pornography on the internet? Did you know that the organization is representing the North American Man Boy Love Association pro bono in a Massachusetts civil case? The ACLU puts forth that NAMBLA has a free expression right to instruct adults on how to rape children and get away with it. It doesn't get any more misguided than that.

Many Americans have no idea what is really going on underneath the surface of the Schaivo case and other culture battles. The United States has become the most powerful and wealthiest country on earth because it combined freedom, discipline and a clear sense of right and wrong based on Judeo-Christian philosophy. That formula has allowed millions of us to pursue happiness in a way that benefits society not just ourselves.

But that formula is now under siege by the forces of progressive secularism. While Jesse Jackson asks for mercy, the ACLU demands death. While traditionalists wonder why saying "Merry Christmas" has become an issue, secular forces have ensured that young girls can get abortions without parental permission. While most parents cannot let their small children out of their sight, the ACLU champions the rights of NAMBLA.

Janis Joplin once sang, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." But Janis was wrong. Terri Schiavo has lost her life, American parents are losing their authority and America, itself, is losing her way. Does that sound like freedom to you?

ACLU:Watch It and Keep Quiet!

2005-03-31T12:58:00.000-08:00

Mar 29, 2005

Boyd County, KY. The county of diversity. The ACLU sued Boyd County HS after a Gay-Straight Alliance club was banned from forming. (to lazy to look for a source article) The ACLU sued on behalf of the GSA and won them the right to meet at school. But, that wasn't enough. Not for the ACLU. They then went completely overboard and fought to make it mandatory that the entire school district force all the students to watch a "diversity training" video. The school district even made it part of the cirriculum so that students/parents would be unable to opt-out of the "training."

That smell is a "flaming" agenda.

If that wasn't enough, once the ACLU found out that some students were laying out of school the day the video was shown they threatened to sue again. Now, the school district has said that even if you're against the video, watch it and keep your mouth shut. This sounds like a free speech infringement case to me.

In its mandatory "diversity training" classes, a school district has instructed students who believe homosexual behavior is wrong to keep their opinions to themselves, prompting a federal lawsuit.

The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund filed a motion for preliminary injunction [PDF file] yesterday to immediately prohibit the Boyd County, Kentucky, Board of Education from restricting the free-speech rights of its students.

Thank God for groups like the ADF and the ACLJ that stand up to this kind of stupidity run amuck. The ACLU won't stop until it's very liberal agenda has been forced upon and indoctrinated into our kids.

Comment:This is just another reason to homeschool your children. I do support these groups to keep fighting this kind of anti-Christian stupidity. We must not allow the ACLU to get away with this kind of stuff. They say they are for American Civil liberties but have proven this does not apply to Christians or Americans as you see what they are trying to do to the minute-man project in bringing attention to our boarders. They want to protect the rights of terrorist over law-abiding Americans. It is time to close the doors to American and get rid of Nafta and any other treaty that is unfair to the American worker. We need to give more incentives to companies in American to stay here. We need to quit outsourcing. We need to quit depending on foreign energy as well. Environmentalism are destroying our way of life by not letting us drill for oil. We have a lot of natural resources but because of this cult group always fighting us, we are having to pay higher prices at the pump and the stores. We need to strengthen our farmers too and give them what they need.

Terri Schiavo:1963-2005

2005-03-31T12:52:00.000-08:00

March 31, 2005

by Pete Winn, associate editor

Disabled Florida woman dies of court-ordered dehydration and starvation as family advocates urge legal reforms to ensure such barbarism never happens again.

"The sad day we hoped would never arrive . . . is here."

With those words, attorney David Gibbs III formally announced the death this morning, just after 10 a.m. EST, of 41-year-old Terri Schiavo at the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla.

Schiavo, the disabled woman at the center of a highly publicized struggle between the right to life versus the so-called "right to death," died from the effects of being denied food and water by court order for nearly 14 days.

Despite pleas from Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, Pinellas County Judge George W. Greer authorized removal of Schiavo's feeding and hydration tube on March 18 — ending the seven-year effort of Schiavo's husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, to get the courts to end his wife's life.

Mr. Schiavo — who lives with another woman by whom he has fathered two children — was reportedly at his wife's side when she died. He barred Terri's parents and siblings from joining him there.

President Bush, speaking from the White House this morning, was just one of many prominent political and pro-family leaders who expressed sympathy for the Schindlers — and suggested that action must be taken to prevent a similar fate from befalling anyone else.

"Today, millions of Americans are saddened," Bush said, urging people to honor Schiavo by "working to build a culture of life" in which all Americans are protected —"especially those who live at the mercy of others."

Schiavo's death came 15 years after she experienced a loss of oxygen to the brain after collapsing at home. Though she slipped into a coma initially, she later emerged and was diagnosed as being in a "persistent vegetative state." In recent legal proceedings, however, attorneys for the Schindlers filed affidavits from prominent neurologists who questioned that diagnosis — saying they believed she was at least minimally conscious.

In their last court filing, attorneys for the Schindlers said Schiavo not only had some awareness, but had attempted — after the feeding tube was removed — to communicate that she did not want to be killed. The courts rejected the claim.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who successfully intervened to rescue Schiavo from starvation in 2003 after the Florida Legislature passed a special law later declared unconstitutional, joined his brother in offering condolences to the Schindlers — and noting that Schiavo's death raises questions that must be answered.

"Terri's death is a window through which we can see the many issues left unresolved in our families and in our society," Bush said. "For that, we can be thankful for all that the life of Terri Schiavo has taught us."

'A moral poverty'

Conservatives in Congress, who two weeks ago expended Herculean effort to pass legislation to give federal courts the jurisdiction to open new hearings in the case, were much more pointed in criticizing the courts, which both ordered — and allowed — Schiavo to be killed.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, called Schiavo's death "a moral poverty and a legal tragedy."

"This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change," DeLay said. "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another.

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., specifically condemned the federal courts, which he said had "reviewed only the judicial process, rather than the facts of the case, as Congress had intended."

Pro-family leaders, meanwhile, expressed concern about what Schiavo's death says about the nation — and its system of government.

Focus on the Family Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson said Schiavo "had been executed under the guise of law and 'mercy,' for being guilty of nothing more than the inability to speak for herself."

"Every Florida and federal judge who failed to act to spare this precious woman from the torment she was forced to endure," he added, "is guilty not only of judicial malfeasance — but of the cold-blooded, cold-hearted extermination of an innocent human life."

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., said the "tragic and unfortunate event" should awaken Americans to the problems of the court system.

"In Terri's case, the courts have shown that they are suffering from a persistent state of arrogance," he said. "Her death is a symptom of a greater problem: that the courts no longer respect human life."

Pro-family lawyers who worked to keep Schiavo alive were equally saddened — and outraged — saying the aftershock from the case will reverberate for years.

"It was clear from all who were involved in her case that Terri wanted to live," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented the Schindlers at the Supreme Court in their efforts to defend the previous Florida legislation that was declared unconstitutional.

"It is extremely disappointing that the legal and legislative efforts made in the past two weeks did not succeed."

A catalyst for change

Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, said Schiavo's life struggle should be the catalyst for legislative reform.

"Terri Schiavo," he said, "should make us all more sensitive and eager to protect human life from birth to natural death."

One of the issues lawmakers will likely take up in the months to come is whether it's always right for a husband or wife to act as a disabled spouse's guardian in the face of such signs of conflict of interest as were present in the Schiavo case.

"Terri's life and her recent death should serve as a catalyst for the state of Florida and other states around the country to pass legislation that would disqualify a legal guardian who has an apparent and direct conflict such as that between Michael Schiavo and Terri," Staver said.

Another area of legislative reform is certain to center on how to proceed when a disabled person leaves no specific instructions on the kinds of medical treatment he or she would want if rendered unable to speak. Florida state legislators came just a few votes short of passing a law that would assume in cases like Terri's that the patient would want to be kept alive.

Carrie Gordon Earll, senior analyst for bioethics at Focus on the Family, said another cause for the pro-life community in the months to come is correcting the media's painting of Schiavo as a martyr for the so-called "right to die."

News polls indicating the public supported her starvation death were fueled by media reports that stated or implied that she was comatose and on "life support," as if she had been on a respirator.

She had been neither.

"We need to confront this philosophy of radical autonomy, that's expressed through the so-called 'right to die'," Earll said. "It's a dangerous threat to the vulnerable among us."

In the end, Princeton attorney Robert George said Schiavo's death lays before all Americans a choice.

"Do we recognize that all human lives have a profound inherent and equal dignity?" he asked. "Or are we prepared to abandon our historic belief in the equal dignity of all human beings and move to a view that considers some lives to be a life unworthy of life?"

Death on A Friday Afternoon

2005-03-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Truth about Everything
DEATH ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON

March 24, 2005

Easter for many of us is a day of family gatherings and a celebration, not only
of Christ's resurrection, but also the coming of spring. In this week before
Easter, though, let's not rush the celebration before coming face-to-face with
the paradoxes that are at the heart of the Christian faith.

Those paradoxes are the subject of a wonderful book DEATH ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON:
MEDITATIONS ON THE LAST WORDS OF JESUS by my friend Father Richard John Neuhaus.

A paradox, as G. K. Chesterton famously put it, is "Truth standing on her head
to get attention." Our aversion and resistance to the truth is so strong that
God often finds it necessary to employ extreme measures to get us to see past
the lies we've embraced.

Never was this truer than on what Christians call "Good Friday." As Neuhaus
writes, "If what Christians say about Good Friday is true, then it is, quite
simply, the truth about everything." That "everything" starts with telling the
truth about the human condition. How? By paradoxically punishing the offended
party, instead of the guilty.

As Neuhaus tells us, we are all aware that "something has gone terribly wrong
with the world, and with us in the world." It is not just history's best-known
list of horribles. It's also "the habits of compromise . . . loves betrayed . .
. lies excused . . . "

Yet, instead of acknowledging our complicity in the world's evil, we minimize
our own faults and regard our sins as "small." Good Friday puts the lie to that
claim. If the Son of God had to suffer such a horrible death, then our sins
cannot have been "small."

The Cross reminds us that "our lives are measured," not by us or by our peers,
but "by whom we are created and called to be, and the measuring is done by the
One who creates and calls." Instead of glossing over our sin with an
understanding nod, the Cross renders "the verdict on the gravity of our sin."

Our unwillingness to see our sins as they really are, as God sees them, leads us
to embrace another falsehood: that is, that we can make things right. Even
though our culture is, in many respects, post-Christian, it still clings to the
idea of redemption. However, just as with our ideas about sin and guilt, our
ideas about redemption are pitiful and impoverished.

On Good Friday, God made it clear "that we are incapable of setting things
right." He made it clear by taking our place. On the Cross, "the Judge of the
guilty is Himself judged guilty." This is, of course, the great scandal, one
that paradoxically points to the great truth at the heart of Good Friday: We are
powerless to set things right, and only God, the offended party, could undo the
mess we created.

The Cross -- God's way of bearing witness to the truth about our condition -- is
as offensive today as it was two thousand years ago. Now, as then, we insist on
misinterpreting the events of that Friday afternoon, but to no avail. Our sin
has been judged, and God Himself bore the punishment. And that is the truth
about everything.

My comment:

If you have told one lie, you are a liar. If you have stolen anything (irrespective of value), you are a thief. If you have looked with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. If you hate someone, you've committed murder in your heart. Your sin has angered God. The Bible teaches that you are His enemy. On Judgement Day, you will end up in Hell.

But there is good news. God commended His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus Christ took your punishment, then He rose from the dead and defeated the grave. If you repent and trust Him, God will grant you everlasting life.

Minn:Teen Gunman Shot at Random

2005-03-22T13:06:00.000-08:00

RED LAKE, Minn. (AP) - The boy accused of killing nine people in a shooting spree first shot his grandfather and his companion, then donned the man's police-issue gunbelt and bulletproof vest before heading to the high school, where he shot students and teachers at random, authorities said Tuesday.

FBI agent Michael Tabman said Jeff Weise appeared to be acting alone in Monday's rampage and the motive was unknown. When it was over, 10 people, including five students and Weise himself, were dead.

It was the worst U.S. school shooting since Columbine.

At a news conference Tuesday, Tabman said he couldn't confirm whether Weise was the same person who made posts to a neo-Nazi site, including one in which the writer billed himself as the "Angel of Death."

Aside from the teen's grandfather, Daryl Lusier, and Lusier's companion, Michelle Sigana, Weise's targets appeared random, Weise said. An unarmed security guard and a teacher also were killed.

Initial reports had as many as 15 people injured in the shooting, but authorities Tuesday lowered that to seven. Five remained in the hospital, including two students with critical injuries from gunshot wounds to the head or face.

Some of the victims were shot at close range, medical officials said.

Reggie Graves, a student at Red Lake High School, said he was watching a movie about Shakespeare in class Monday when he heard the gunman blast his way past the metal detector at the school's entrance, where an unarmed guard was killed.

Then, in a nearby classroom, he heard the gunman say something to his friend Ryan. "He asked Ryan if he believed in God," Graves said. "And then he shot him." The boy survived.

The death toll at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in far northern Minnesota made it the nation's worst school shooting since the rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in April 1999 that ended with the deaths of 12 students, a teacher and the two teen gunmen.

"Right now we are in utter disbelief and shock," said Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa.

At least three of the victims were shot in the head at close range, said officials at North Country Regional Hospital in nearby Bemidji. One of those victims died and the other two were transferred to the Fargo hospital.

"I think there was an intent to kill," Tim Hall, the hospital's emergency nursing director, said at a morning news conference. Three victims remained at North Country Regional, none in critical condition.

Police said the gunman killed himself after exchanging fire with officers. Red Lake Fire Director Roman Stately said the gunman had two handguns and a shotgun.

"We ask Minnesotans to help comfort the families and friends of the victims who are suffering unimaginable pain by extending prayers and expressions of support," Gov. Tim Pawlenty said.

Weise, whom authorities described variously as 16 or 17, who had been placed in the school's Homebound program for some violation of policy, said school board member Kathryn Beaulieu. Students in that program stay at home and are tutored by a traveling teacher. Beaulieu said she didn't know what Weise's violation was, and wouldn't be allowed to reveal it if she did.

There was no immediate indication of Weise's motive. But several students said he held anti-social beliefs, and he may have posted messages on a neo-Nazi Web site expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

A writer who identified himself as Jeff Weise of the Red Lake Reservation posted the messages under the nickname "Todesengel" - German for "angel of death." An April 2004 posting by him referred to being accused of "a threat on the school I attend," though the writer later said he was cleared.

Tabman said it hadn't been determined if the writer was actually Weise.

Relatives told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Weise was a loner who usually wore black and was teased by others. Relatives told the newspaper his father committed suicide four years ago, and that his mother was living in a Minneapolis nursing home because she suffered brain injuries in a car accident.

During the rampage, teachers herded students from one room to another, trying to move away from the sound of the shooting, said Graves, 14. He said some students crouched under desks.

Some pleaded with the gunman to stop. "You could hear a girl saying, 'No, Jeff, quit, quit. Leave me alone. What are you doing?'" Sondra Hegstrom told The Pioneer of Bemidji.

The reservation, about 240 miles north of the Twin Cities, is home to the Red Lake Chippewa Tribe, one of the poorest in the state. According to the 2000 census, 5,162 people lived on the reservation.

It was the second fatal school shooting in Minnesota in 18 months. Two students were killed at Rocori High School in Cold Spring in September 2003. Student John Jason McLaughlin, who was 15 at the time, awaits trial in the case

My comment:
Here in Alabama at Muscle Shoals middle school just down the road from where I live a student pointed a loaded gun at another students face. Why is this happening? We have become a nation who has turned it's back on God. We shouldn't be surprised when kids take an innocent life. We do not value life in the United States, we breed these killers. We allow the innocent unborn babies to be murdered by the millions inside and outside of the womb. We allow judges to starve a woman to death instead of letting her parents care for her, instead they take the word of her adulterious husband who doesn't care about her. We want let a animal starve to death in this counry so who is to blame. We have kicked God out of schools and most churches today and we wonder why this happens. We Preachers' have grown soft on Preaching on sin and have Preached another gospel. We need to tell people that they have violated God's law. Thou Shalt not Kill(Murder)taken an innocent life. America is full of false converts. Churches today will hire men who sell liquor and beer and make them their trusurer and give them a corner office when they want give most youth leaders an office. Churches hire youth directors who if they checked out don't try to live holy lives. They drink and gossip and are rebellious against any kind of authority inside and outside of the church. Why because they want the tithe or because of false conversions. If people lived by Loving God and their neighbors we would not have the problems we have now but it is a sin problem and the only answer is Jesus Christ.

State-Operated Lotteries: The Sleaze Factor

2005-03-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

The Right Frame of Mind
State-Operated Lotteries: The Sleaze Factor

By Rev. Mark H. Creech
March 21, 2005

(AgapePress) - The business of government is to suppress evil, not to supervise it. Yet the argument often made in favor of state-operated lotteries is that the vice of gambling can be managed and made into something virtuous for the public. Hogwash!!!

There are few matters in life with a greater sleaze factor than the unholy alliance between the gaming industry and government. In fact, state-operated lotteries corrupt government.

Just since the year 2000, Colorado's lottery director resigned under pressure. Minnesota's lottery director committed suicide after scrutiny and tough questions from auditors. Nebraska's lottery head chief was placed on leave during a probe. Oregon's lottery director resigned after an audit showed hundreds of millions of dollars in administrative waste. Florida lottery officials were fired following an investigation revealing they accepted meals and gifts from vendors doing business with the lottery.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quotes Russ Davidson, the former chief financial officer of the Kentucky lottery, saying, "You're dealing with the dirtiest industry I've ever seen in my 30 years of doing business ...."

Then there's GTECH, the world's largest provider of lottery services and gaming equipment. GTECH serves 80 lotteries in 44 countries. Their track record is one episode after another of crooked dealing.

According to an Associated Press article, over a 16-year period, GTECH was the subject of four federal grand jury investigations that led to jail terms for a company official and a lobbyist.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported GTECH's original bid for the Georgia lottery contract came in 50 percent higher than Automated Wagering's bid. After Georgia lottery president Rebecca Paul told GTECH's James David Smith and other officials that their first bid was too high, GTECH reduced its price and Paul agreed to the deal -- even though GTECH's bid was still the highest bid.

Fortune Magazine once reported that former GTECH CEO Guy Snowden and former national sales manager James David Smith "perfected the backroom art of lottery politics: rewarding political friends, annihilating enemies, and crushing the competition ... while in the process making millions."

David Rainey of the Lawrence Journal-Weekly reported that a former lottery worker in Kansas filed a sexual harassment suit against GTECH, claiming she was ordered to dig up dirt on the deputy director of the Kansas lottery in order to make him susceptible to blackmail during negotiations with the company.

On April 12, 1998, a gambling industry analyst proclaimed GTECH's ethical troubles were a thing of the past. On September 18, 1998, the Dallas Morning News reported that GTECH settled a lawsuit brought by former Texas lottery director Nora Linares in which she alleged GTECH hired her boyfriend to gain leverage over her. Less than two years later, on July 7, 2000, the Austin American Statesman reported that GTECH executives were forced to resign over a number issues, including failure to disclose a computer glitch to their clients that caused erroneous payments in millions of lottery transactions in Texas and Great Britain.

Not only do state-operated lotteries cause government to prey on its own people; not only do they often use deceptive advertising; not only do they put government in competition with legitimate business -- but they are riddled with scandal after scandal.

In a July 1999 letter, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family rightly points out that the gambling industry "pours vast sums into campaign coffers of gambling-friendly politicians." Continuing, he states that "most politicians will dance for anyone who offers them bushels of cash. It's what keeps them in office."

In the same letter, Dobson also notes the most egregious example of "political exploitation occurred when Colorado spent $25,000 on a study to find the best way to get its residents to play the lottery more. They discovered that certain types of people were less likely to play the lottery. Initially, once they were hooked, they remained hooked. Can you imagine state officials contracting with behavioral researchers to figure out how to bilk the citizens who pay their salaries? Something similar occurred in Maryland after officials proposed the state study how to entice people to play the lottery more. As columnist Austin Abercrombie wrote, 'Traditionally, one of the legitimate roles of a republican form of government is to protect its citizens against harm, to promote the general welfare, but state governments seem to be redefining that role to one of how do we separate the sucker from his money?'"

State-operated lotteries produce a stench of moral putrification that reaches the very nostrils of God. I believe God hates lotteries, and so should every God-fearing American.

Today my home state, North Carolina, is the largest state in the Union without a lottery. I shudder as I think about GTECH's team of registered lobbyists intensely working the halls of the North Carolina General Assembly, trying to get lawmakers to approve a so-called "education lottery."

Only last year, North Carolina's U.S. Representative Frank Balance plead guilty to a federal corruption charge for directing $2 million of state money, while he was a state senator, to a nonprofit and using some of the money for his own personal expenses. Such situations are but a pale reflection of the kind of corruption that will constantly plague state government if North Carolina approves a state-operated lottery.

No, I see no virtue in state lotteries at all. I agree with Thomas Jefferson, who once said: "In a world which furnishes so many employments which are useful, so many which are amusing, it is our own fault if we ever know what ennui is, or if we are driven to the miserable resources of gaming, which corrupts our dispositions, and teaches us a habit of hostility against all mankind."

We need to do all we can to oppose gambling in the state of Alabama and every church and christian must do their part. The only people who could be for gambling is those who are not Christian and false converts.
Rev Oscar Broome Jr

Wrong side of issue

2005-03-17T20:44:00.000-08:00

The letter to the Editor of the Timesdaily newspaper was in the March 16th, 2005 issue.

To the editor:

The U.S. Supreme Court, which meets in chambers with a granite frieze of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, is considering whether any such display is permissible on public property.

On May 5, 2000, Judge Jennifer Coffman ruled that a display in a rural Kentucky school consisting of excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, Ronald Reagan's 1983 proclamation of the "Year of the Bible," our national motto "In God We Trust" and the Kentucky state constitution was a violation of the Constitution that had to be removed from the building.

Although the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution merely bars Congress from establishing a national church, today we seem to be moving toward keeping our founding documents that mention "our Creator" out of local public schools.

The First Amendment, which prohibits Congress from passing laws establishing a religion, is being used by the courts to create deism or atheism as America's only state religion.

Why do you think they want to do this?

Is it that the liberals in this country don't want us to acknowledge God, or is it that they know the Ten Commandments' purpose is to bring people to Christ? (Galatians 3:24)

Maybe they realize the Ten Commandments remind them that even though they may claim to be a good person, when looking into the mirror of God's holy law, they know they are not.

If you have told one lie, you are a liar. If you have stolen anything (irrespective of value), you are a thief. If you have looked with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. If you hate someone, you've committed murder in your heart. Your sin has angered God. The Bible teaches that you are His enemy. On Judgement Day, you will end up in Hell.

But there is good news. God commended His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus Christ took your punishment, then He rose from the dead and defeated the grave. If you repent and trust Him, God will grant you everlasting life.

This paper suggests that it is a waste of time to protect marriage between one man and one woman. It isn't a waste of time because some liberal judge will come along and make it possible for same-sex couples to marry in the state of Alabama without this amendment. This paper seems to be on the wrong side of this issue, along with its parent company, The New York Times.

Oscar Broome Jr.

Muscle Shoals

The Mirror of the Ten Commandments

2005-03-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Supreme Court, which meets in chambers with a granite frieze of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, is currently considering whether any such display is permissible on public property. On May 5, 2000 Judge Jennifer Coffman ruled that a display in a rural Kentucky school consisting of excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, Ronald Reagan’s 1983 proclamation of the "Year of the Bible," our national motto “In God We Trust and the Kentucky state constitution was a violation of the Constitution that had to be removed from the building.

Although the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution merely bars the U.S. Congress from establishing a national church, today we seem to be moving towards keeping our founding documents that mention “our Creator” out of local public schools. The First Amendment which prohibits CONGRESS from passing laws establishing a religion is being used by the Courts to create deism or atheism as America’s only STATE religion.

Why do you think that they want to do this?

Is it that the liberals' in this country don't want us to acknowledge God or is it that they know that the Ten Commandments purpose is to bring People to Christ?
Galations 3:24

Maybe they realize that it reminds them that even though they may claim to be a good person, when looking into the Mirror of God's Holy Law they know they are not.

If you have told one lie, you are a lier. If you have stolen anything (irrespective of value), you are a thief. If you have looked with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. If you hate someone, you've committed murder in your heart. Your sin has angered God. The Bible teaches that you are His enemy. On Judgement day, you will end up in Hell. But there is good news" God commended His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" Jesus Christ took your punishment, then He rose from the dead and defeated the grave. If you repent and trust Him, God will grant you everlasting life. Read the bible daily and obey it. God will never let you down.

The TimesDaily paper suggests that it is a waste of time to protect Marriage between one Man and one woman. It isn't a waste of time because some liberal judge will come along and and make it possible for same sex couples' to marry in the state of Alabama without this Admendment. This paper seems to be on the wrong side of this issue along with it's parent company the Liberal New York Times.

Evangelist Oscar Broome Jr
Muscle Shoals, Alabama

2005-02-25T12:28:00.000-08:00

2/25/05

I have just signed a national petition demanding our leadershipand the courts protect and affirm my right as a citizen to publiclyacknowledge God. I am encouraging you to join with me andtens of thousands of others who want their constitutional rightprotected by clicking here:http://www.grassfire.net/37/petition.asp?PID=8153737&NID=1+ +

Grassroots Americans Have a Voice

For more than two years, Grassfire.org has been at the forefrontof the battle to protect our constitutional right to publiclyacknowledge God. Their efforts to save the Pledge of Allegiance,and the Ten Commandments has resulted in a groundswell ofgrassroots support from hundreds of thousands of citizens whoare demanding their constitutional rights are protected andaffirmed.With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to decide the fate of the Ten Commandments, Grassfire is urging citizens to sign this petition--to send a strong resonating message to Congress and the Courtsto move to disallow these aggressive hate-filled attacks on ourrights and religious symbols.Grassfire will be in Washington during this historic case, andwill be presenting petitions directly to the Court after featuringthem at a National Press Club event, and rally in front of the Supreme Court on the morning of the case.

Please, take immediate action with me by joining the battle toprotect our right to publicly acknowledge God. Raise your voiceon this issue by adding your name to this national petition:http://www.grassfire.net/37/petition.asp?PID=8153737&NID=1

Sincerely,

Rev. Oscar Broome Jr

Help Save Terri Schiavo

2005-02-25T12:24:00.000-08:00

Help Save My Daughter From Starvation! (from Terri Schiavo's father)

Dear Friend of Life,

By now you have probably heard about a young woman who is threatened with starvation in Florida.

That young woman is my daughter, Terri. In 1990, through circumstances which are shrouded in mystery (and may involve a criminal act by Terri's estranged husband), my daughter was left severely brain-damaged.

But before I go any further, I must put an end to the lies and misinformation that are circulating around the country through the media concerning my daughter's condition.

Contrary to anything you may have heard, Terri is NOT brain dead; Terri is NOT in a coma; she is NOT in a "persistent vegetative state;" nor is she on ANY life-support system.

Terri Schiavo responds
to her mother's touch

Terri laughs, Terri cries, she moves, and she makes child-like attempts at speech with her mother and me. Sometimes she will say "Mom" or "Dad" or "yeah" when we ask her a question. When I kiss her hello or goodbye, she looks at me and "puckers up" her lips.

This may not seem like much to you, but it means everything to Terri's mother and me. It tells us she is still here, she still knows us, and with therapy and time she can have some level of recovery.

I know that there are some hard hearted people who believe that due to my daughters condition, she is better off dead. Words cannot describe the pain and anger such sentiments cause us. This is our daughter, our little girl, and even in her disabled condition, she still has the right to life and the right to be loved and cared for by her family.

Why, you may ask, is Terry in danger of death by starvation?

It is a long and outrageous story, but I'll give it to you as briefly as I can.

After the "incident" that left Terry in this condition, her husband Michael Schiavo sued various members of the medical community for money, saying that they did not treat or diagnose her properly at an early stage, and that he needed this money to provide for Terri's therapy and rehabilitation and care.

After lengthy court battles, he finally won upwards of $1.7 million under the guise of caring for our daughter, and then to our horror, he immediately began spending the money on himself and his Playboy lifestyle.

Terri's estranged husband Michael Schiavo has been living with another woman for years, and has two children by her. He is determined to see Terri dead. Why? We believe it's because he gets to keep whatever money is left... and he may have even darker motives than that.

To add insult to all of this injury toward my daughter, Michael Schiavo is still her "legal husband" and therefore is her "guardian." And since they are not legally divorced, he controls whatever health care she will and will not get. We are not even allowed to know if she is getting aspirin.

In 1993 my family initiated litigation against Michael Schiavo solely for the purpose of acquiring medical, physical and neurological assistance for our daughter Terri. The litigation escalated in 1998 when Michael Schiavo petitioned the court to stop Terri from receiving food and water, thereby starving her to death.

In filing this legal action, he retained the services of a high profile euthanasia attorney and the financial backing of powerful euthanasia organizations. He also used Terri's medical rehabilitation money to underwrite much of the legal expenses associated with his effort to starve our daughter to death.

We know that he has spent nearly $500,000 of Terri's money in attorney's fees for just one attorney trying to obtain a court order to have Terri starved to death. The very money that was supposed to be used for Terri's rehabilitation is being used to have her killed.

We very quickly discovered it was impossible for us to compete with the abundance of financial and legal resources the pro-death organizations were providing Micheal Schiavo in their effort to kill Terri. They are pouring time and effort into her starvation because they want to use this case to further the agenda of legalized euthanasia.

My wife and I are not wealthy people. Throughout those years, we did not have any large organizations trying to help rescue our daughter. Consequently, we had to rely on the generosity of attorneys who were willing to offer their legal expertise at no cost or at reduced fees.

The bottom line is that we are in the final weeks or months of our struggle to rescue our daughter from an untimely death by starvation. Death by starvation is very slow, and extremely painful. As you must know, it is against the law to deliberately starve an animal to death. There are members of the Florida court who would not treat a dog the way they plan to treat my daughter.

At this point we must pull out all the stops in our fight to rescue our daughter.

As parents, we are desperate to save our daughter's life. As people who love life, we are determined to deprive the euthanasia advocates of successfully legalizing this form of homicide. We believe that their efforts to kill Terri are designed to set a precedent for the future eradication of defenseless disabled human beings. I was alive when Americans fought the Nazis; I do not want my daughter to meet the same fate of thousands of disabled people in Nazi Germany, and I do not want our country to go down that same dark path.

Friend, though we have never met, I'm asking you for your help. We desperately need your financial assistance to help our family continue the battle to keep our daughter from being starved to death. There are so many expenses in a case like this it is mind-boggling and overwhelming. Please click below to make a contribution now:

https://secure.cartlight.com/merchant/terri/?afid=maxb

Our adversaries believe that by our family's financial attrition and difficulties, they will attain their objective of killing our daughter. Presently, Terri's starvation may only be a few weeks away, unless we find the financial resources to prevent this atrocity from becoming a reality.

I implore you to please help us. We are writing to you, because we believe you have a heart for justice and mercy. I'm asking you to put yourself in my shoes, and then do whatever you can to help our family. Whether it is $10 or $1000, we are desperate for the resources to fight this battle for our daughter's life at this critical juncture.

Please do whatever you can, and forward this e-mail to any friends or family that you have who you think might be interested in saving Terri's life.

I thank you for your time, your concern, and I solicit your prayers for Terri and our entire family. These have been very trying times for us all.

Sincerely,

Bob Schindler Sr.

GO HERE TO CONTRIBUTE NOW!

To submit a donation by check, please make check payable to "Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation" and send to:

The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation
c/o NewsMax
P.O. Box 20989
West Palm Beach FL, 33416

2005-02-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

A Fool's Wager – Does the Bible Condemn Homosexual Marriage?

By Gary DeMar

State representative Alvin Holmes (D–Montgomery, Ala.) is putting his money where his worldview is. He is offering $5000 to anyone who can prove the Bible actually condemns homosexual marriage. Of course, it’s quite easy to prove the Bible does not support homosexual marriage, so why would a man make such a preposterous wager? No matter what evidence you put before him, he will explain it away, because he wants to support homosexual marriage.

We’ve seen this same type of “reasoning” on the abortion issue. No matter how you go about showing that abortion kills a preborn child, there are those who still support abortion. There are some who even recognize that abortion kills a proborn baby, and they still support baby killing for “high social reasons.” The same is true on the homosexual issue. If homosexuality is explained away when it is self-evident in the Bible, then so much else can be explained away, including adultery and other sexual sins. The Bible becomes no more authoritative than Aesop’s Fables.

The nature of unbelieving thought is to interpret evidences in terms of a pre-constructed worldview. The resurrection of Jesus is denied because skeptics begin with the premise that resurrections can’t happen. When evidence is shown to the contrary, the evidence is explained away. The rich man appealed to Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers to warn them of the consequences of their lifestyle choices. They would certainly listen to a man risen from the dead. Abraham’s response is not what the rich man wanted to hear: “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. . . . If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:19-31).

The Bible is plain enough on these issues. Rep. Holmes doesn’t want to listen.
The creation account sets the standard for proper sexual relationships, including marriage. Adam was incomplete until God created someone “suitable” (KJV: “meet” not “mate”) for him. God did not create a man and a woman, thereby giving Adam a choice. God created a woman, setting a standard.

Even if the Bible never condemned homosexual behavior, the creation account alone would be enough to establish what God wants in marital and sexual relationships. Even the physical makeup of men and women is a rational defense of heterosexual relationships. The command to be “fruitful and multiply” can only apply to heterosexual relationships. The NT supports the one man, one woman standard: “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh” (Mark 10:6–8). The Bible couldn’t be any more clear. In any normal world, Rep. Holmes would be $5000 poorer.

Then there are the direct prohibitions of homosexual behavior found in the OT and NT. If homosexual behavior is prohibited, then it follows that a marriage that is built on homosexual marriage has to be wrong as well.

The story of Sodom should be enough to convince anyone that homosexuality is prohibited by the Bible (Gen. 18-19). But if this detailed and irrefutable story isn’t enough, there are the stated prohibitions in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.
Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”

Leviticus 20:13 “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act.”

Pro-homosexual advocates argue that these laws are found among “purity laws,” therefore, they no longer apply. The same purity laws found in Leviticus that prohibit homosexuality also prohibit rape, theft, putting obstacles in front of blind people, sex with animals, and murder. Why haven’t these laws been abrogated under the new covenant?

Paul describes homosexual behavior as “degrading,” “unnatural,” and “indecent” (Rom. 1:26–27). If homosexual behavior is described using these terms, it’s hard to see how marriage makes the behavior Paul condemns legitimate. If two murderers marry, does this mean that now they are married, murder somehow becomes legitimate? Rep. Holmes is living in a world of his own making. The Bible condemns him because he “gives hearty approval to those who practice” homosexuality (Rom. 1:32).

The leadership of Hutchinson Missionary Baptist Church should discipline him for his rejection of God’s Word, and the people of Montgomery, Alabama, should vote him out of office.

Ban Same sex Marriage about time.

2005-02-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

February 9, 2005

Same-sex marriage ban clears hurdle By Jannell McGrew and John Davis Montgomery Advertiser

Rep. H. Mac Gipson Jr., R-Prattville, asks a fellow representative Tuesday how he wants to vote on an amendment to House Bill 59, legislation proposing a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Two versions of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Alabama sailed through the Alabama Legislature on Tuesday, despite a short-lived filibuster in the lower chamber to block its passage.
The Senate version passed 35-0, while an almost identical version was approved by the House in an 85-7 vote.

One chamber will have to pass the other's version before the proposed amendment will be submitted to voters in a referendum.
Although gay rights activists and their supporters say the measure discriminates against homosexuals and could encourage violence against them, proponents argue the measure only reiterates the state's long-held, traditional view of marriage.

"It is not an attempt to regulate or constrain anyone's sexual orientation," Rep. Yusuf Salaam, D-Selma, told lawmakers as he labored to defend his bill against a filibuster led by state Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery. "The bill merely is an attempt to give the citizens of Alabama a right to express their voice on this very important matter."

However, Holmes likened the measure to Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime's vile oppression of Jews during the Holocaust.

"The same tactics that are being used in the state of Alabama now by these fanatical religious, right-wing groups were used by Adolf Hitler ... and the Nazi movement in Germany," said Holmes, D-Montgomery. "Unless the religious fanatics in this state are stopped now ..., one day we all will hang our heads in shame."

Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, filibusters Tuesday while an amendment to House Bill 59, a bill banning gay marriage, is up for discussion.
Also speaking in opposition, Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, pointed to the state's funding crisis as the key problem to be addressed by the Legislature.
"The first issue on our agenda shouldn't be same-sex marriage," Hall said Tuesday. "Budget problems are serious. It is these kinds of issues that we need to be concerned about."

Holmes offered $700 to any legislator who could find a passage in the Bible explicitly defining marriage as a sacred bond between a man and a woman.
After nearly tripping over one another to get to the microphone and praise the proposed ban on gay marriage, senators quickly approved it without opposition.
"The Democratic leadership of the Senate want it to be clear that we agree with Alabamians ... ," said Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe. "Without the gay marriage ban being in the Alabama constitution, a future Legislature can change the law or, more likely, a future judge could strike it down."

The proposed amendment banning same-sex marriage was the first piece of legislation approved by the Senate. The same proposal cleared the Senate last year before dying in the House.

"It will be a safeguard for future generations," said Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville. "As a Christian, I believe God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman."

"I don't think this is anything that should be made into a bipartisan fight," said Sen. Larry Dixon, R-Montgomery, praising the Democratic leadership for making the amendment a top priority.

Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, who sponsored his own gay marriage ban, said the same- sex bill would likely go to a conference committee, where House and Senate members will ensure an identical version is approved.
On the Senate floor, Erwin said the anti-gay marriage amendment in Alabama would be a "resounding clarion call to the rest of the country to come home to family values."

Rep. Joe Faust, R-Fairhope, had no qualms with the same-sex marriage ban.
"I'm with the bill to ban it," he said. "I just think that the sanctity of marriage was made for man and woman to have children. Evidently, if you're married to someone of the same sex, then you can't have children."
Legislators' enthusiasm for the ban appears to go beyond their constituents' views on the subject.

Members of the Alabama House of Representatives vote Tuesday on an amendment to House Bill 59, a bill banning gay marriage, while another representative displays a signing pleading with them to vote "no."
A survey released Tuesday by Auburn University showed that 54 percent of residents strongly support the constitutional ban and another 4 percent mildly support it. Interestingly, nearly one out of four respondents said they opposed the ban.

The recent survey, part of a series of polls released monthly by the university's Center for Governmental Services, has a 4 percent margin of error.

Last month, The Associated Press released a survey of Alabama legislators showing that 94 percent of senators and 81 percent of House members wanted the gay marriage ban -- a significantly higher percentage than the Auburn poll of 624 adult residents.

The Auburn poll came as no surprise to Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Albertville, who believes the majority of Alabama voters want such a ban.
"It goes deeper than same-sex marriage," Mitchem said Tuesday. "It goes to the core of family values. When you have marriages of the same sex and it's on television and our young people can see it, it's just not good for our young people to be exposed to it."

simdog99:It's about time for Alabama to ban same sex marriage it is long over due. Holmes, I would like to have that 700 dollors offered to me. I can show you more than several passages of Scripture that Marriage is between a man and a woman but you really don't want to know, you just want to keep receiving the Homsexual's money. The gay agenda is not to have same sex marriage but to wipe out God's plan for marriage, to redefine marriage.

Let the people of Alabama vote on this and you will see it will be overwhelming supported by us.

Do Christians not have any rights as everyone else seems to have?

2005-01-22T23:22:00.000-08:00

Related stories:
Christian group gets obscene, hateful messages
Hate-crimes law infringes on 1st Amendment?
Benefit concert planned for 'Philadelphia 5'
Motion filed for Philadelphia protesters
'Philadelphia 5' arrests like 'Christian Rodney King'
Homosexuals planned Christian harassment
17-year-old girl part of 'Philadelphia 5'
U.S. attorneys complicit in arrest of Christians?
Philadelphia accused of 'abuse of power'
Prosecutor: Bible is 'fighting words'
City will prosecute Christian protesters
'Philadelphia 11' fighting back
11 Christians arrested at homosexual event

Simdog:Christians do have 1st Amendment rights but if we do not wake up and stand with our brother's and sisters in places like Alabama and Philadelphia we will not have any rights if it is up to the liberal judges in our country. Where are the Ministers in Philadephia? What does all this have to do with concerned citizens of North Alabama? It started with the removal of the Ten Commandments and the Southern Baptist who should be ashamed of being called southern baptist for not standing behind Judge Roy Moore. They talk about the rule of law but what about God's law?

Testing the Faith

2005-01-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

'Philly 5' win 1 in court
Judge lifts bail restriction on Christians who protested homosexual event

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 21, 2005
2:16 p.m. Eastern

By Ron Strom
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

The four adult defendants who are part of the "Philadelphia 5," Christians who have been criminally charged for preaching at a homosexual event last fall, won a court battle today when a judge removed the bail requirement that they stay at least 100 feet away from any homosexual gathering.

"The judge dissolved the bail restriction," the defendants' attorney Scott Shields told WND.

Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe ruled the bail requirement was an "unusual restriction on a person's right to speech."

"We're gratified with the ruling," Shields said. "This judge recognized that my clients definitely do have the right to speak freely about any issue they want, especially in the public square."

As WorldNetDaily reported, on Oct. 10, a group of 11 Christians was "preaching God's Word" to a crowd of people attending the Philadelphia "OutFest" event and displaying banners with biblical messages.

After a confrontation with a group called the Pink Angels, described by protesters as "a militant mob of homosexuals," the Christians were arrested and spent a night in jail.

Eight charges were filed: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways.

None of the Pink Angels was cited or arrested.

After a preliminary hearing in December, Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could each get a maximum of 47 years in prison. One female teenage protester faces charges in the juvenile justice system.

Besides ruling on the bail restriction, Dembe viewed the videotape of the OutFest protest and said she could not see any criminal activity being committed.

Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, is also working with the Philly 5.

"It is clear that Judge Dembe understands and values the First Amendment; and because of that, she recognized that what is depicted in that video which captures everything at issue in this case, as we have been saying all along, is classic peaceful First Amendment activity."

Discussing the judge's ruling, Shields stated, "It was a good day for freedom."

The next hearing date scheduled for the protesters is Feb. 17, when the court will consider their motion to dismiss the case. Seventeen-year-old Lauren Murch's trial date is Feb. 18.

It Depends on Who's doing the Preaching and Politicking

2005-01-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

By Gary DeMar

We just celebrated Martin Luther King Day. One aspect of King’s legacy that is often ignored by the mainstream press and liberal political pundits is that King was a minister. “As much as a civil activist as he was, as much as he did, Dr. King was a preacher,” said the Rev. Alexis Thomas of Pilgrim Rest Church in Phoenix. “Everything he did in society flowed out of the well of his relationship with Jesus Christ . . . I think what King was particularly astute at was his ability to convert spiritual truths and put them on the pavement where people live.” I’ve gathered a number of quotation that support this claim:

“I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.”1

“We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.”2
“Seems that I can hear God saying that it’s time to rise up now and make it clear that the evils of the universe must be removed. And that God isn’t going to do all of it by himself. The church that overlooks this is a dangerously irrelevant church.”3

“If one is truly devoted to the religion of Jesus he will seek to rid the earth of social evils. The gospel is social as well as personal.”4
“As Christians we owe our ultimate allegiance to God and His will, rather than to man and his folkways.”5

“Any religion which professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the social and economic conditions that scar the soul, is a spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried.”6

“The church must also become increasingly active in social action outside its doors. . . . It must exert its influence in the area of economic justice. As guardian of the moral and spiritual life of a community the church cannot look with indifference upon these glaring evils.”7

Put these same words in the mouth of a member of the Christian Coalition, and the Blue State liberals will cry in a loud voice: “Intolerance . . . Keep religion out of politics. . . You can’t impose your morality on others. . . . Separation of church and state.” Liberals do not oppose the impact of morality on politics as long as they agree with the morality. They oppose the relationship between morality and social issues only when such an alliance threatens their very liberal social agenda. If they opposed mixing religion and morality with politics, then they would have to disavow the boost the civil rights movement received from the church and its insistence that civil rights legislation is a moral issue.

The civil rights movement of the 1960s was influenced by those who brought morality to bear on issues related to race and equality. “For the first time in history, a single Protestant-Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Jewish testimony was presented to Congress in support of legislation. Congress became aware that the religious community was aroused in a startling way. The participation of the religious groups in the March on Washington was another bit of evidence. Over 40,000 white church people participated in the March.”8
With just a few changes, this description, the 1964 march could easily describe the activities of the often vilified “religious right” and their efforts to influence legislation. The similarities are not lost on Stephen L. Carter, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University and one of the nation’s leading experts on constitutional law:
Religious organizations were among the strongest supporters of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in employment and public accommodations. They testified in support of it. They made public appeals for it. And, once again, only the segregation[ist]s complained. Senator Richard Russell of Georgia charged that those who made religious arguments in favor of the legislation did not understand “the proper place of religious leaders in our national life,” adding that the religions should not “make a moral question of a political issue.” Indeed, there is little about the civil rights movement, other than the vital distinction in the ends that it sought, that makes it very different from the right-wing religious movements of the present day.9

Civil rights legislation was passed in the early 1960s because the “moral question” was pressed by religious leaders. “When it was finally passed, friend and foe alike credited the passage of the bill to the persistent power of the church.”10 Hubert H. Humphrey, the leader of the struggle in the Senate for passage, along with other veteran fighters for civil rights legislation, “insisted that the churches’ efforts had made the difference which had been lacking in other struggles for such bills.”11 How times have changed.

1 From a sermon preached in November 1956. Quoted by William J. Bennett, from the Foreword to Ralph Reed’s Politically Incorrect: The Emerging “Faith Factor” in American Politics (Dallas, TX: Word, 1994), xiii.

2 Quoted in Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954B63 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988), 743.

3 Quoted in Branch, Parting the Waters, 696.

4 Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), 117.

5 King, Stride Toward Freedom, 117.

6 King, Stride Toward Freedom, 91.

7 King, Stride Toward Freedom, 208.

8 Robert W. Spike, The Freedom Revolution and the Churches (New York: Association Press, 1965), 106.

9 Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion (New York: Basic Books, 1993), 228.

10 Spike, The Freedom Revolution and the Churches, 108.

11 Spike, The Freedom Revolution and the Churches, 108.

simdog comment: I just recently Preached "Wake Up" Psalm 85:6 was my texted. "Wilt thou not revive us , Again. When we become humble and seek the Lord, He will grant us revival. We must met the four conditions of 2 Chronicles 7:14:
(1) Humble ourselves.
(2) Pray
(3) Seek God's face
(4) Turn from our wicked ways

Then the rest of the verse is what God will do when we do. I have been fasting and Praying lately and have fasted in not being on the computer. My fast still continues but I will write some.

Christianity Attacked by ACLU Terrorists

2004-12-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

By Tom Segel (12/24/04)

The cross was used by those who hated Christianity, first to kill Jesus and then in an attempt to kill the faith. Today, the symbol of that same cross is so feared in secular society that their own personal terrorist has been sent to rip it away from the followers of Christ.

This terrorist has a name and it is The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Rooted in hate and communist philosophy, it moves in the manner of other perverse and despicable bodies, cloaking itself in constitutional phraseology and the American Flag. In reality, it remains faithful to seeking the destruction of all American principals.Though it is bankrolled with an annual budget in excess of 100 million dollars, the ACLU seldom attacks any entity with major influence and political power. Instead it wages warfare on small towns, cities of little wealth, school districts and non-profit organizations.

It attacks them by litigation and threats of litigation, often winning unwarranted settlements from public officials and organizations afraid of extensive court battles.

The ACLU filed suit against a Pittsburgh school district to ban the reference of Adam and Eve in a biology class.In Pennsylvania a suit was filed to stop the teaching of “Intelligent Design”, which points out that both evolution and creationism remain theories.

Another Pennsylvania school district found itself in court when the ACLU filed against it for requiring students to learn more about the origination of mankind than just the Theory of Evolution.

Barrow County Florida was but one of more than 25 lawsuits filed by the ACLU to remove the Ten Commandants from public facilities.Litigation filed by the ACLU is pending in Kent County, Michigan against a charter school that allowed prayer and taught creationism.

At the same time in Elizabeth Colorado the Elbert County Charter School faces a suit demanding that all references to Christmas be removed from school functions

.Out in the Mojave Desert of California the ACLU attempted litigation to remove a memorial cross from government land, where it had stood since 1934.

The ACLU brought the superintendent of the Baldwin, Kansas school district into court because he allowed a minister to explain the historical significance of Christmas to an elementary school class.

Notice the pattern of these cases…all are in arenas where it is difficult for those charged to defend their positions. By the sheer power of having multi-million dollar resources at its disposal, the Anti Christian Liberties Union, as many religious groups call it, intimidates its foes and forces capitulation.Absent from the ACLU’s extended list of attacks on Christianity, are any attempts to take on those who might happen to have a stronger punch.

For example, military bases are all government property. They also have chapels, chaplains, assorted religious artifacts, and often display a variety of religious symbols. We don’t read about the ACLU going after the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines.

It is said that the White House has a number of Christmas Trees, and the First Family sent out thousands upon thousands of Christmas Cards containing quotations from the Bible. Have there been any lawsuits filed by the ACLU against President Bush?

I don’t recall that leftist organization taking on Congress for having a chaplain or holding opening prayer. I don’t remember the so-called “Liberties” crowd taking on the Supreme Court for its display of God’s Word.

I didn’t see the ACLU go after the Treasury Department because “In God We Trust” remains on our money.No, they work a lot like the terrorists we are fighting all around the world. They attack those who seem too weak to fight and those without enough courage to stand up for what they believe.

Sadly, those same government bodies and individuals being crushed by these terror attacks could be reaching out to other organizations dedicated to fighting the despicable acts perpetrated by the ACLU.

The Alliance Defense Fund, the Liberty Counsel, the American Center For Law and Justice, the Rutherford Institute and the Thomas More Law Center have all taken up the mantle against the ACLU. If they hear about attacks on Christianity, they are more than willing to join the fight. Maybe more of those being attacked should put out the call for reinforcements.

Page printed from: http://www.americandaily.com/article/6120

2004-12-19T06:26:00.000-08:00

Red Is The Color Of Christmas

By Tom Segel (12/17/04)

If those to the left of American politics truly want to become part of the country’s mainstream, a major shift in attitude must take place very soon. Everything I am hearing and reading is still filled with hate and anger…all directed at us poor dumb souls who live in “Jesusland”.

Just the other night I allowed myself to be subjected to the rant of another talking head on television. He made two very interesting observations. The first was that those who live in the “flyover” red states of America are course, crass, and really not very bright.

His second observation was those in the blue states had more heart and have a greater caring nature. He said this could be proven by the simple fact that those who live in the blue states have more “safety net programs” and pay far more taxes than those bumpkins in the red states who are tight with their dollars.It could be argued that his first observation, particularly about “red staters” not being very bright, is belied by his second declaration that more taxes are paid by those blue state dwellers. Could it be that in the red states, we are bright enough to reject higher taxes?It is understood that many conservative minded people and those of deep faith live in the east and left coastal states of the country. But, if they are being taxed beyond acceptable levels and their Christian values are so sharply under attack, perhaps they should consider moving to a place where their thrift is honored and their faith is lauded.About our living in “Jesusland”, perhaps this television pontificator is right. As I drive around this small Texas city I see huge signs in the parks that say “Merry Christmas”. Some say “Felis Navidad”. I have lost count of the churches in town and we still have an Invocation at all public meetings.Our school choirs and bands held Christmas concerts where they sang and played music about the birth of Christ. The traditional “La Pasada” will be held in another of our city parks. Local television and radio are filled with real Christmas music and quotations from the Bible. Across the main street of town is a huge banner that advertises a “Festival of 800,000 Lights”, which is a display of Christ’s birth at a local church.We don’t like stores that advertise “Happy Holidays”.

We believe this is the Christmas season and we welcome all those who honor such belief.There may be an attack on faith being conducted through the media and ACLU around the country, but none of their voices are being heard, nor are they welcome in this corner of the Lone Star State. If they should decide they want to spew such hate filled rhetoric in our direction, they should think first about a saying we use to warn all polluters…”Don’t Mess With Texas!”

Page printed from: http://www.americandaily.com/article/6029

Judge Roy Moore may run for Governor

2004-12-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

Published: 12/17/04

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Ousted Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore said Friday he is considering running for governor in 2006.

"I'll be praying about it and considering it," told reporters.

Moore was ousted in November 2003 for defying a federal judge's order to remove his 5,280-pound Ten Commandments monument from public display in the state judicial building. He appealed his ouster to the U.S. Supreme Court, but lost.

If Moore were to run as a Republican, he could face a GOP primary battle with Gov. Bob Riley, who has not yet said whether he will seek a second term.

Moore and Riley stood together on the Ten Commandments issue last year until Moore refused to abide by the federal judge's order. Riley said a public official must respect a court order. The monument was removed.

The U.S. Supreme Court said in October that it will consider next year whether the Ten Commandments may be displayed on government property.

Courts around the country have splintered over whether such displays violate the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.

Judges to Parents: Mind Your Own Business

2004-12-17T05:05:00.000-08:00

By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com
Thursday, Dec 16, 2004

Just in time for the holidays, the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that children have an expectation of privacy at home and parents cannot eavesdrop on phone conversations.
The case involved a 17-year-old boy who told his 14-year-old girlfriend that he mugged an old lady, knocking her to the ground and stealing her purse. The mother of the girl, Carmen Dixon, was listening on another phone line and called police. Oliver Christensen was subsequently convicted of a felony and served nine months in prison before the judges overturned the conviction, saying: "The right to individual privacy holds fast even when the individuals are teenagers." The court also said the mother was acting as an agent for the police.

So now parents in Washington State cannot snoop around, even if a child is having a phone conversation with a mugger, dope dealer, or child molester. Listen up, Seattle parents: You have no right to know.

The Associated Press, no bastion of conservative analysis, called the ruling "a victory for rebellious teenagers."

Of course, the American Civil Liberties Union loves the ruling. ACLU Attorney Douglas Klunder filed a brief, saying "I don't think the state should be in the position of encouraging parents to act surreptitiously and eavesdrop on their children."

Of course not. Why would any parent want to know their 14-year-old daughter was chatting up a 17-year-old criminal? Parents shouldn't be proactive in scrutinizing their children in this age of internet sex, drug dealers in school hallways, and alcohol-fueled sleepovers. Better to let the teens crash and burn instead of keeping a close eye (ear) on them, right, ACLU?

This is yet another intrusion by the American courts into the parent-child relationship. Traditionally, the state ceded all child raising responsibilities to parents except in cases of child abuse and neglect. But that is changing. Now your offspring have rights, and you'd better not violate them.

Interestingly, it is the totalitarian societies that historically have interfered with the parent-child relationship, something the ACLU might want to ponder. In Nazi Germany, parents were encouraged to turn their kids over to the "Hitler Youth." In the Soviet Union, Red China and Cuba, children were taught in school to inform on parents who spoke disparagingly of the government. Breaking down parental influence makes it easier for the state to "persuade" young people to be loyal.

This case is yet another example of how American society is changing rapidly and drastically. Judges in liberal areas like western Washington State often have a social agenda, and make rulings based upon their vision of a "just" society. No longer can we count on the courts to uphold traditional law, or even to respect the intent of the law. Now we are faced with rulings that come down to "improve" the law.

Today, American children are subjected to more temptations at an earlier age than ever before. Machines filled with harmful material dominate their lives. Instant messaging and cell phones have created opportunities for mischief only dreamed of in years past.

But don't you listen to any of that. The Washington State Supreme Court says you can't.