Saturday, September 30, 2006

Loosely Christian??

Yesterday's North County Times Faith and Values page had an article called, Seaside church becomes center for spiritual living.

I thought how nice...another cult comes into being.

I was ready to dismiss it as such, but then I noticed this phrase in the article:


"There are no crosses or images of Jesus in the room, though the Seaside ministers say the congregation consider itself loosely to be Christian."


O.K. I decided that I've got to challenge this.

Is this new term, "loosely Christian" taking the place of what the book of Jude calls heresy and apostasy? You bet! Of course it is! Heresy and apostasy is warned about in many of the Epistles of Paul, as well. It is prophesied in the Bible that in the last days, people would have "itching ears" for what they want to hear instead of knowing the absolute truth of God's Word, the Bible.


2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
2Ti 4:4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.


I will analyze what was said in the article and my comments will appear after each paragraph.

*******


Seaside church becomes Center for Spiritual Living

By: RUTH MARVIN WEBSTER - Staff Writer

WHAT WE BELIEVE: An occasional series looking at different faiths.

On any Sunday morning, as a light salty breeze drifts in from the Pacific under a bright cloudless sky, a crossing guard stands in the middle of Lake Drive in Encinitas waving traffic into the Seaside parking lot. The sign at the street still reads Seaside Church of Religious Science, but a new one has been ordered. Soon it will read Seaside Center for Spiritual Living.


My first question. Whose "spirit" are they living with and for? We shall see.


The name has been changed, at least in part, so it no longer will be confused with the Churches of Scientology or Christian Science. "In February at our annual gathering, it was decided to change the name," said the Rev. Dr. Rev. Christina Tillotson, one of the ministers at the center.


Oh yes! Don't want to confuse one cult with another cult! That wouldn't be prudent!



She said that people have often asked her whether the churchgoers were Scientologists or Christian Scientists. "We are still the United Church of Religious Science legally, but we are now doing business as the United Centers for Spiritual Living."


That explains it some. With all the bad publicity that has fallen upon the Scientology cult via Tom Cruise's bizarre behavior, I can't blame them for being motivated to get both the inference of "Scientology" and the label of "Christian Scientist" out of their title! BTW, Christian Science is neither Christian nor Scientific...two heresies for the price of one!



And they're doing a good business. Hundreds of shiny sedans park in straight lines for the 9 and 11 o'clock services. Parking for first-time visitors remains empty near the front of the building, which looks more like a warehouse than a church. Greeters stand by the open doors, extending their hands and their smiles.

Inside the large auditorium, called the sanctuary, rows of forest-green conference chairs placed before the stage fill quickly. There are no crosses or images of Jesus in the room, though the Seaside ministers say the congregation consider itself loosely to be Christian.


What?? Loosely Christian? I can't even believe that they would say that! It's comparable to someone claiming that they are "loosely pregnant." Either you are or you're not!

The point is, either a person is a Christian or isn't a Christian. Since the word Christian means, "Christ in one," there can be no such thing as a "loose" Christian. Carnal Christian? Yes. There are many. But "loosely Christian" gives away their cult status in a heartbeat!

Notice that they don't have "crosses or images of Jesus" in the room. So tell me. Whom do they worship? Do they even know?? They appear similar to the "religious" people in Athens when Paul said in Acts 17:23 - "For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."

Another thing. When the cross of Christ is ignored, the alarm bells should go off.
Beware the crossless gospel!




"We say it's inclusively Christian, and that the words of Jesus are universal spiritual principles that live in each individual," said Dr. Christian Sorensen, Seaside's spiritual leader. "We are a non-judgmental faith ---- a spiritual nexus, inspiring people to live their divinity and reach out globally."


Here we go! The "tolerance, inclusivity" claim that leads directly to relativism and spiritual oblivion! Oprah and Deepak Chopra would love this group!

But notice how they go further...they claim to want to inspire people to "live their DIVINITY"!! Did you catch that? Breaks the very first commandment..Thou shalt have no other gods before me!

Exd 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Oldest trick in the book!

Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.



Instead of the word "amen," the phrase "and so it is" is used during the service. There are no pews, no Bibles or prayer books, no mention of sin. No recitation of the Lord's Prayer.


No Bibles. No mention of sin. No Lord's prayer. How un-Christian can you get??

2Ti 3:16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:


2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Jesus speaking about the Bible:

Jhn 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

It is only through Jesus Christ that we are saved and is wellpleasing in God's sight.

Hbr 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen.

If we say we don't sin (or ignore the fact) then we deceive ourselves:

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Lord, teach us to pray:

Luk 11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Luk 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Luk 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

Luk 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.



A jazz band plays and a guest performer, Mary Dolan, who has collaborated with Bernie Taupin and other big names, strums her guitar and sings spirituals in a rich, soulful voice. The entire room stands to sing, clasping hands and swaying back and forth. "Last Sunday, we had over 400 people here," said Sorensen. "It's fun. I talk about joy. It is a joyful place where we feel the presence of God. And there is lots of music by the best jazz band."

Sorensen says he loves performing artists; his father was an actor and he was a model and actor for a time as well.

On this Sunday, Sorensen speaks about forgiveness, making the analogy between the beach pebbles his young son likes to pick up and stuff into his pockets and the wrongs people do us in our lives.

"Dr. Christian is so dynamic when he speaks, it just flows through him," said Tillotson. "People just love to stand up and clap after he talks."


1Jo 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1Th 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received [it] not [as] the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

This "preacher" ignores the Word of God. Whom does he in fact follow then?

Jhn 8:44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.



Sorensen started his ministry in Solana Beach with 25 people nearly 15 years ago. Now the congregation has more than 800 active members. The church also just acquired over an acre of new land and there are four-year plans and six-year plans to build new structures. Last year, members raised more than a million dollars.

"We can offer more opportunities, with our growth," he said. "What is exciting is that we continue to provide spiritual nourishment. It's not about the business, but that it delivers nourishment."


What kind of "spiritual" nourishment? From whom does their spirituality arise?

1 John - Chapter 4

1Jo 4:1 ¶ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

1Jo 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

1Jo 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.



Last year, Seaside opened a new private elementary school on the grounds, offering kindergarten and first grade. "Last year, we started out with 12 children," said Tillotson. "This year we have a new amazing teacher whom we managed to spirit away from one of the elementary school districts around here. We plan to offer a new grade level every year."

The center has recently started a masters program, accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council, in consciousness studies. A distance-learning program, it started five years ago and takes at least three years to complete. "We are the only small seminary in the world that is accredited," said Tillotson, who serves as the programs dean. "Right now, it is a masters and a ministerial license, but we are working on a program for lay people."

Coursework includes classes in philosophy, psychology, science and spirtuality as well as on many of the world's religions.


It's not about religion...it's about relationship...with Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and Savior!


Sorensen said he was "born into this" as both his mother and father were followers of Religious Science from the early days of the movement that began in Los Angeles under the leadership of Dr. Ernest Holmes.

Though he was born and raised in New England, Holmes discovered his spiritual philosophy and his following in Southern California. First working as a purchasing agent for the city of Venice in Los Angeles, he began lecturing at libraries and later at the Ambassador Hotel and the Wiltern Theatre on Sunday mornings about philosophy, religion and metaphysics. Then, with the publication of his successful book, "The Science of Mind" in 1926, even more people came to his speaking engagements.


It's all about him apparently. No mention of anything being about the one and only true God of the universe!

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Colossians 2:8



After a few years, Holmes and his followers incorporated as a nonprofit religious and educational organization called the Institute of Religious Science and the School of Philosophy. Later the institute launched a popular monthly magazine called Science of Mind Magazine which recently celebrated its 70th anniversary and has a worldwide circulation.

But before Holmes' death in 1960, a schism within the church occurred over adoption of a new constitution that would involve increased centralization of power in a national body. At the time, 46 churches chose to accept the constitution, forming what is known today at the United Centers for Spiritual Living, based in Burbank.

The other branch of 19 churches formed Religious Science International which is based in Spokane, Wash. According to the Rev. Kathryn McDowell, an ordained Religious Science minister based in Arizona, the United Church of Religious Science has 40,000 members worldwide in 160 churches and 106 study groups, with smaller branches and churches retaining a great deal of autonomy.

Using the views expressed in Holmes' "The Science of Mind," the Religious Science movement is said to endorse all sorts of meditation from creative visualization to more traditional techniques as a way to commune with a state of God. It also endorses all forms of prayer and teaching a form of prayer called Spiritual Mind Treatment, a sort of affirmation or statement about a particular goal.


Commune with a state of God? Whose god? What god? Man's mind is a god?

We are warned about divination in both the Old and New Testaments.
Deu 18:10 There shall not be found among you [any one] that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, [or] that useth divination, [or] an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

2Ki 17:17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

Jer 14:14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.

Eze 13:7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith [it]; albeit I have not spoken?

Act 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

Act 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

Act 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.



Religious Science believes that heaven and hell are states of mind, that sins are transgressions of spiritual perfection and that there is no devil per se. As for the concept of life after death, it also teaches the eternality of life, though it neither endorses nor rejects the idea of reincarnation.


Jesus called hell a real place, spoke about how vitally important it is to avoid going there, and mentioned it several times during his three year ministry on earth.

Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Mat 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Mat 23:33 [Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Mar 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Mar 9:45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Mar 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

Luk 10:15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

Luk 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Luk 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Apostles speaking of hell:

Act 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Act 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Jam 3:6 And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Resurrected and ascended Jesus speaking about hell in Revelation:

Rev 1:18 I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Rev 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.



"We like to say we are teaching a spiritual philosophy, a broad perspective and religion as dogma," said Sorensen. "We don't make other religions wrong and recognize there are many paths to enlightenment. We welcome everyone."


Deepak Chopra's dream! Similar philosophy, too.

But what does Jesus say?

Jhn 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.


There are many, many more Scriptures that we could add to this post! Care to share some? Please do!

Friday, September 29, 2006

Congressman Turned Sex Predator!

The good news today is that 2 more 'sexual indoctrination' bills have been vetoed in California. Gov. Schwarzenegger turns back the effort of looney left Democratic Legislators who passed terrible bills designed to make school kids 'sexualized activists.'

In the WND link above, CRI's Meredith Turney stated:


"Schools should be centers of learning – learning the fundamentals of education such as reading, writing and arithmetic," Turney said. "Instead, the legislature has focused on advancing a radical social agenda in public schools. Hopefully, next session the legislature will make educating – not indoctrinating – students a priority."


I agree wholeheartedly! Enough is enough with the homosexual indoctrination bills!! But do you think that this triple defeat will stop the homosexual activists (there are at least 6!) in the California Legislature? Probably not. They will be back again next year; trying to force an agenda that the public clearly does not want! Gotta keep fightin!...


The bad news today is to find out that U.S. Congressman Mark Foley of Florida, who was co-chairman of the House Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, and was involved with a sexual predator preventative bill (I think), has now been found to be a sexual predator himself!

Found a link to another article that contains a PDF link to the actual instant messenger conversation. Anyone know if this might lead to criminal charges against the former congressman? This is really sick...and awful, folks...

I always liked Congressman Foley. He appeared on Fox News several times, fighting for bills that protect children. Now, he has done a very stupid thing by soliciting sex with a 16-yr.-old teen boy who was a former page for another congressman! What a let down for all the people who trusted this man to represent them! What a let down for Congress and the Republican party! What a let down for all decent people everywhere!

Sheesh!!!!

Michele Malkin: The Foley Mess
Trackback URL: http://www.michellemalkin.com/mt/
oct05-tb.cgi/5356

Foley Resigns

La Shawn Barber: Congressman Mark 'Page-boy' Foley Resigns
Trackback URL: http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2006/09/29/congressman-mark-foley-resigns/trackback/

*******

Updates 10/2/06

Ex-Rep. Foley Checks Into Alcohol Rehab

Who Protected the Pervert Foley?

Foleygate: The Democrats' October Surprise?
Trackback URI for this post:
http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2006/10/02/foleygate-the-democrats-october-surprise/trackback/

A Quick Note

For those who read my letter Cain married a close relative, and want to read the additional information about lifespans, please click here: A Question Explained.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Forced To Throw Out Religious Beliefs?

What's a Religious Doctor to Do?

It is becoming increasingly difficult for religious medical professionals to practice medicine without compromising their moral convictions.

CRI (Capitol Resource Institute) reported earlier this week that Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 2583 requiring religious pharmacists or their employers to place a sign near the entrance of the pharmacy flagging to the public that they will not fill certain prescriptions based on moral objections. This branding of religious pharmacists is shocking discrimination.

Most recently, physicians with North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in San Diego are under fire for refusing to give a lesbian patient infertility treatment.

North Coast's medical director, Dr. Douglas Fenton, stated that they could not administer the fertility treatment because of the staff's religious beliefs. Their patient then sued, stating that she was being discriminated against because of her sexuality.

North Coast lost at the trial court level in 2004, but won on appeal. The case is now being considered by the California Supreme Court.

"Doctors with anti-gay religious beliefs are not excused from obeying the laws that govern all of us. That our client's doctors felt that they could defy well-established California law and medical ethics is very worrisome for all of us in a civil society," said Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel at Lambda Legal Defense, representing the plaintiff.

CRI, however, stands wholeheartedly behind the medical professionals who simply want to go to work every day and help people without having to compromise their sincerely held religious beliefs.

"Homosexual-behavior advocates once again are pitted against God-fearing individuals with strong moral convictions," said Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute. "That a doctor should be forced to throw out his religious beliefs, in order to artificially inseminate a lesbian woman, shows absolutely no tolerance for people of faith."

"This lawsuit is not ultimately about forcing a doctor to inseminate a lesbian, it's about destroying religious freedom and making sexual-expression freedom the highest liberty in the land," said England.

First, just how ridiculous is AB 2583? People, at this rate we are going to Bill ourselves to death in California!

Second. How easy would it have been for that lesbian woman to simply go to another doctor who would be willing to inseminate her? Why did she need to first attempt to force this doctor to perform a procedure that is against his personal, religious beliefs, and then sue him because he doesn't agree with her particular morality?

Can anyone see the hypocrisy of this?

Can we see why homosexual indoctrination bills and laws are dangerous to our religious freedom to choose and freedom of association?

The left is all for "choice" when it means abortion. But when a doctor chooses not to inseminate a lesbian through his own religious convictions, that's a bad thing!

Karen was absolutely right when she stated that this whole lawsuit thing isn't just about a lesbian and her pursuit of insemination. No. It's about pitting (and thus, destroying) religious freedom against the indoctrination mantra of forced homosexual agenda coersion that is rampant in our nation today.

Hey look....speaking as the heterosexual woman that I am, if I wanted to be artificially inseminated and the first doctor I went to told me that he does not perform such a service, I'd simply go to another doctor!! I'm sure that there would be hundreds of doctors who would be willing to help me. Whatever the doctor's reason for not wanting to perform the service should not matter; even if, perhaps, it wasn't for religious reasons.

Why do homosexuals always have to scream, "discrimination because I'm gay?" Why can't they see that this lesbian woman's action to sue the doctor is discrimination against his religious beliefs and just leave him alone?

The answer is because she has an agenda to push and shove down the throats of anyone who does not agree with her lifestyle. And California is the land of homosexual indoctrination laws that are leading to the manipulation and mind-numbing control of everyone, including the innocent minds of children, through their constant evil marketing techniques.

This agenda's purpose is nothing more than a tool being used to destroy the religious convictions of the faithful and further lead us all down that slippery slope to moral depravity...to the detriment of us all. I am truly sick of it all!!

God help us...

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Rise of Traditional Culture Warriors

Yesterday, I picked up a copy of Bill O'Reilly's new book Culture Warrior. I don't usually agree with everything the man has to say, but at least he is out there standing up for most of the critical cultural issues that traditional warriors agree with, while at the same time, reasonably stating why secular progressives need to be confronted and challenged for their very different views of what America's moral culture should strive to be.

While skimming through the book, I found some interesting points that I do agree with.

O'Reilly writes:



By the way, traditional warriors do not base their philosophy on bigotry, as many secular-progressive propaganda merchants charge. We look at what is best for the country.


He goes on to state that respect for legal partnerships is a decent view. But altering the traditional fabric of society is not necessary in order to do that. I agree wholeheartedly with that last statement!

He then mentions how Catholic leaders tend to remain silent in the face of the culture war because they don't want to become targets.

We can certainly see that Bill is right in this evaluation. The recent barrage of criticism and condemnation leveled at the Pope for his comments regarding Muslims shows that Catholics easily become targets.

Bill goes on:



To be fair (a hallmark of the traditional warrior), it is certainly true that if a religious person does wander onto the cultural battlefield, he or she better have a strong stomach, because he or she has a good chance of being demonized.

Stanley Kurtz, contributing editor for National Review Online, sums it up this way:

The fact of the matter is that the Left's [secular progressives] rhetorical attacks on conservative Christians [traditionalists] have long been more extreme, more widely disseminated, and more politically effective than whatever the Christians have been hurling back. And now that their long ostracism by the media has finally forced conservative Christians to demand redress, the Left has abandoned all rhetorical restraint.


Kurtz points to a number of examples. On April 24, 2005, the secular progressive fanatic Frank Rich, writing in the New York Times, compared conservative Christians to George Wallace, segregationists, and lynch mobs.

In a similar vein, Christopher Hedges, a former New York Times writer, produced an article in Harper's magazine called "Feeling the Hate with the National Religious Broadcasters."


O'Reilly goes on to describe how Hedges patched together a series of vitriolic statements by a few religious broadcast pundits in order to achieve the goal of selectively painting the picture that the religious right is nuts.

Bill states:



This is standard issue for secular-progressive magazine writers: dig up kooky quotes and print them without context. Any writer can do that to any subject. It's simple but off-the-chart dishonest.


O'Reilly admits that there have been some nutty statements made by the traditional side, but the media only plays up such statements big time when made by traditionalists. When a secular-progressive player uses looney rhetoric, like calling all Americans who oppose gay marriage bigots, you can be sure that most in the American mainstream media would not have a problem with that. To use a cliche', the deck is stacked.

I think that the popularity of blogs and the voices of traditional warriors who write them have given a huge voice for conservative Christian values and issues. This new media has taken over the mainstream media's former propagandistic monopolization of the news and the analysis of what the news means for (and against) America. The mainstream media is unfortunately guilty of mis-statements about issues (especially when it comes to the war on terror and the Bush administration) while, at the same time, ignoring the good that is being done and the true facts that are out there.

Want to see propaganda in action? Just watch Keith Olbermann's Countdown for just one night. The man is the looney left's secular-progressive dream!

The rise of traditional culture warriors through the new media of the blogosphere is certainly a good thing, in my view. Gone are the days when secular-progressives could get away with their vitriolic hate-spewing rhetoric without being called on it!

9/28/06 Update: Be sure to read Obi's Sister's excellent blogpost on the fact that blogs are maturing, gaining credibility and momentum as more and more people reach their personal level of disgust and distrust of MSM and look for alternative sources of information. Check out the great links in her post, too!

Ha ha ha! Check out this cartoon strip at Captain's Quarters and article, 'Is That To Much To Ask?'
Trackback URL: http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/perseus.cgi/8162

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The Holiness Habit

The Holiness Habit

Get rid of every filthy habit and all wicked conduct. Submit to God and accept the word that He plants in your hearts.
James 1:21 (GNT)


Recommended Reading
James 1:19-21


Holiness is a habit. It’s much more than that, of course. It’s a characteristic of God himself, displayed perfectly in Christ and imputed to our accounts by grace through faith. But in practical terms, holy living means daily discipline. We form habits, then they form us.

That’s why we must weed out bad habits regularly, just as we weed our yards. An untended garden soon deteriorates into a weed patch, and an untended life does the same. It requires the discipline of the hoe to produce hollyhocks in our fields and holiness in our lives.

In his book How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit, Erwin Lutzer writes: "We are responsible for our own sin—including those sins ‘which so easily beset us.’ The fact that we do something wrong habitually does not relieve us of responsibility. On the contrary, it may make the sin all the worse. So we must take personal responsibility for our own habits and not shrink from calling them sin."

Ask the Lord to help you identify "weeds" in your life, confess them, turn from them, and replace them with holy habits that produce a crop of righteousness.


The Christian must see that bad habits are ultimately spiritual issues.
Erwin Lutzer

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Matthew 27:32 - Mark 1:45

Monday, September 25, 2006

On You I See The Glory

Yesterday, I watched the movie Tommy by the Who. It's been quite a long time since I had last seen it. Back in the 70's, when it was made, I think I recall that the movie was labeled as a "Rock Opera." The plot summary at this site wasn't very good or accurate (IMO). However, I located some good reviews of the film. I only had time to read a few of the 105 that are there, and so far two of them reflect some of my thoughts about the film as well. It is certainly a bizarre one...to say the least!


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
If you've ever wanted to hear Jack Nicholson sing (or try to) or marvel at the sight of Ann-Margret drunkenly cavorting in a cascade of baked beans, Tommy is the movie you've been waiting for. As it turns out, the Who's brilliant rock opera is sublimely matched to director Ken Russell's penchant for cinematic excess, and this 1975 production finds Russell at the peak of his filmmaking audacity. It's a fever-dream of musical bombast, custom-fit to the thematic ambition of Pete Townshend's epic rock drama, revolving around the titular "deaf, dumb, and blind kid" (played by Who vocalist Roger Daltrey) who survives the childhood trauma that stole his senses to become a Pinball Wizard messiah in Townshend's grandiose attack on the hypocrisy of organized religion.

The story is remarkably coherent considering the hypnotic dream-state induced by Russell's visuals. Tommy's odyssey is rendered through wall-to-wall music, each song representing a pivotal chapter in Tommy's chronology, from the bloodstream shock of "The Acid Queen" (performed to the hilt by Tina Turner) to Nicholson's turn as a well-intentioned physician, Elton John's towering rendition of "Pinball Wizard," and Daltrey's epiphanous rendition of "I'm Free." Other performers include Eric Clapton and (most outrageously) the Who's drummer Keith Moon, and through it all Russell is almost religiously faithful to Townshend's artistic vision. Although it divided critics when first released, Tommy now looks likes a minor classic of gonzo cinema, worthy of the musical genius that fueled its creation. --Jeff Shannon
(bold mine)

Yes. There were several instances of mocking Christianity, in particular, as well as religion, in general. Recall that memorable scene where all the "followers" of Tommy rebel and chant, "we're not gonna take it," and "don't want no religion."

Here's part of the lyrics:

We're not gonna take it,
Never did and never will,
Don't want no religion,
As far as we can tell!
We ain't gonna take you,
Never did and never will!
We ain't gonna take you,
We forsake you,
Gonna rape you,
Let's forget you better still!


I've got a question for my British readers. Is it true that the 70's was a time in the U.K. where religious rebellion was rampant?

Back to the film. The chanting of the disgruntled "followers" was probably a good thing during that scene because they were following a false "messiah" anyway!

Some of the other scenes against Christianity included the dislike for a girl's preacher father. The girl wanted to go and be with the false messiah, Tommy, but her Christian father didn't want her to be negatively influenced. She ended up being injured at the Tommy "messiah" gathering and suffered a huge gash on the side of her face. She ended up with a long scar on her face. I saw some symbolism in that.

I noted that when Tommy was a child, one song that was sung had lyrics that said, "he doesn't know who Jesus was or what praying is... how can he be saved? From the eternal grave?" I thought it was interesting that the Person of Jesus Christ wasn't said to be as Someone who is alive today as the Living Savior that He is. Tommy's parents placed a nativity scene on his lap. He started to feel the figurines, but then threw the whole thing to the floor. Yikes...Townshend (the writer of the film) must have a lot of animosity towards the Christian faith!

The other review that I thought was good:

Plenty weird yet compelling - and the music's great, May 25, 2005
Reviewer: Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews

Having heard about Tommy for years, I felt it was time to actually watch the movie. I had never acquired much of a sense for what the movie is about, probably because I don't think it is really possible to actually explain the film to anyone else. This is some pretty weird stuff. As the thing progressed, I had a hard time figuring out if I liked what I was seeing, whether it made any sense, etc. In the end, I must say I did enjoy the film, thanks largely to Daltrey, the music, and Ann-Margaret. What does it all mean? That's a toughie, as I'm sure the story means different things to different people. I had the sense that Tommy is supposed to be some kind of spiritual experience, and in some ways it is - maybe.

Here's my ridiculously oversimplified summary of the basic story. As a kid, Tommy is messed up pretty good, having witnessed something pretty dramatic; as a result, he becomes deaf, blind, and mute - for psychological rather than physical reasons. His mother (Ann-Margaret) and step-father try all kinds of weird cures as Tommy enters what should be his adulthood, including a visit to the holy rollers at a church that worships Marilyn Monroe and a special session with "The Acid Queen" (Tina Turner). Nothing seems to get through to him - until, of course, he happens to come across a pinball machine. Truly, that deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball, knocking the current pinball wizard (Elton John) off his pedestal. Suddenly, Tommy's family is rolling in the money, yet Tommy remains uncommunicative. When he does eventually find "awareness," he is transformed into a messiah figure, and crowds flock to him to hear his wisdom.

The film gets off to a pretty slow start, as we follow Tommy's childhood. Then Tina Turner enters the picture as The Acid Queen, and she forevermore gets the joint jumping with her electric performance. Other memorable performers include Eric Clapton, Elton John, and Jack Nicholson (who does in fact sing here). Ann-Margaret tops all of them with her performance, though, earning an Academy Award nomination for her work. It's a demanding role; alongside the acting and singing, she also has to roll around in a chocolatey, gooey mess. She may have been a little older in 1975, but Ann-Margaret definitely still had it.

The boys from the band pop in from time to time, but the story is increasingly focused on Tommy, his awakening, and his cult following. Some really obvious representations of Christianity are incorporated into the film, while, at the same time, greed and materialism are also spotlighted as false gods. Ultimately, though - thanks to a problematic ending -it is hard for me to discern the message that the filmmakers were actually trying to communicate here. I've heard that The Who's original album makes some of the more esoteric aspects of the Tommy story a little clearer.

Obviously, some individuals will not like this film at all; it's sort of an acid trip on film, vague and unsettling with its symbolism and discernible criticisms of organized religion. Others may find enlightenment of one sort or another. Most people, including me, will probably just look at this as a weird but oddly entertaining musical that leaves you scratching your head a little bit after you watch it. Of course, even if the story loses you completely, you still have plenty of great music from The Who to sit back and enjoy.


I agree about the ending. I think that people will surmise what it means according to their own belief system. It appeared that Tommy was worshipping the sun at the top of the mountain. Yet, the song lyrics playing during his trek up to the mountain relayed a different message than that. I have been singing the song's chorus in my mind all morning. I think that the lyrics can apply directly to Jesus!

Song: Listening to You / See Me Lyrics
Tommy: See me, feel me, touch me, heal me.
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me.
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me.
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me, heal me, heal me.

Chorus: Listening to you I get the music.
Gazing at you I get the heat.
Following you I climb the mountain.
I get excitement at your feet!
Right behind you I see the millions.
On you I see the glory.
From you I get opinions.
From you I get the story.
Listening to you I get the music.
Gazing at you I get the heat.
Following you I climb the mountain.
I get excitement at your feet!

[TOMMY AND CHORUS]

Right behind you I see the millions.
On you I see the glory.
From you I get opinions.
From you I get the story.
Listening to you I get the music.
Gazing at you I get the heat (heat).
Following you I climb the mountain.
I get excitement at your feet!
Right behind you I see the millions.
On you I see the glory.
From you I get opinions.
From you I get the story.
Ohhhhh, listening to you I get the music.
Gazing at you I get the heat.
Following you I climb the mountain.
I get excitement at your feet!
Right behind you I see the millions.
On you I see the glory.
From you I get opinions.
From you I get the story.
Listening to you!


One cannot gain all that from the sun up in the sky. But we can each gain such love and insight from the Son of God, Jesus Christ of the Bible!

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Is Bin Laden Dead?

This certainly would be good news if it is true. According to Michele Malkin's blog, many are wondering if that gathering of Taliban leaders at a funeral is tied to this latest report of Bin Laden's demise.

The Saudis and the French appear to be looking into the reports.

Guess we will find out the truth soon enough. Stay tuned.

Hat tip: Michele Malkin - Osama: Dead Again?


Lack Of Redeeming Value

When the McGreevey scandal was exposed and he was inevitably forced to resign in shame from the New Jersey governorship, I thought that he might just disappear from public life. Well, I guess we could say that he did - for two years at least. But now, we find him out there hawking his disgustingly vulgar and painfully descriptive tell-all book.

Sean Hannity kept his composure when interviewing McGreevey on Hannity and Colmes the other night. He extended a courtesy to McGreevey by reading his trashy book before the interview. But Sean mentioned that it contained far too much sexually charged and graphic information about McGreevey's gay lovers that he would rather not have known about.

Sean asked McGreevey,
"I guess maybe the question I have, as I read this book, this wife has suffered enough. One day this daughter of yours is going to read this book. Did you think about your wife and your daughter are going to read about all this one day? Your young girl? Did you think about them?"


Personally, I thought that McGreevey's response was less than disingenuous:


MCGREEVEY: Sure, of course I did, Sean. Yes. I did.

HANNITY: Don't you think that hurts them more?

MCGREEVEY: Actually, I think nothing hurt more than living through that reality, living through that pain. And hopefully, by sharing this story, they begin to understand the false place that I was at and that I accept responsibility for the pain that I caused them.

And that also I set forth how I got to this horrible place and talk about the importance of being honest, talk about the importance of being integrated, talk about the importance of being healthy.


There we have it. The pride of self and "oh poor me" syndrome. If that man genuinely wanted to avoid more pain for his family, he wouldn't have written such an awful book that his young daughter will probably read one day.

There have been hundreds of articles and blogposts about McGreevey and his book. I have read several really good ones and do not need to elaborate on them. Basically, I will just say that from the interviews and articles that I have read, McGreevey appears to lack any sense of redeeming value in his life. Yeah. It's easy to talk about pain and suffering of self and family, but to add to that pain by writing an unnecessarily sexually-obsessive tell all book that will inevitably inflict even more pain upon his family, now and in the future, just proves how confession without repentance is empty, void of redeeming value, and godless.

At Fausta's blog we see the difference between true repentance and reconciliation through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ verses McGreevey's obvious "confessional self-help and positive affirmation" spectacle. Fausta also writes, "Worse yet, McGreevey went to talk about getting in touch with "his God" (I'm being kind here and assuming he's talking of God, not any old god) and his "inner child"."

Fausta observed that in Oprah true-to-form typical style, "Rather than call him on his immorality, Oprah, moved by the honesty of it all, listened with tears in her eyes. You could almost hear Tchaikovsky's Theme from Romeo and Juliet in the background."

She nails it with this comment: "At Oprah's however, it's all happy endings and endless personal growth."

[Note: Since I haven't read the book, I cannot say for sure that McGreevey hasn't repented (meaning, not only to his family but also to God). But, based upon all the articles and interviews that I have seen and heard, it appears more than likely that he has not. Therefore, it appears to me that his book is nothing but a way to make money off of a tragic situation which must be horribly painful to his ex-wife and children. If I am incorrect about this, I will retract my statements.]

Rather than continuing with this post by adding to the well-deserved barrage of articles, T.V. clips, and blogposts disparaging McGreevey's book and sex-obsessed life, I wanted to present some men who live in the public eye, genuinely have a conscience, and use it to keep their integrity and moral values intact.

This morning, I read a few brief articles about such men in Good Housekeeping magazine. They were about several actors who really do put their families first in their lives and would never inflict such unnecessary pain upon them the way that McGreevey did.

1. Matthew Fox

The Reluctant Hero
Why we love him. We first met Fox as Charlie Salinger, the lost soul tending to his four orphaned siblings on TV's Party of Five. Now he's tending to Lost souls as Dr. Jack Shephard, a surgeon stranding on a strange island in the hit ABC series. Lucky for fans, that means plenty of wet-T-shirt moments for the 40-year-ole, six-foot-two actor. Appropriately nicknamed Foxy by his fellow castaways, Fox has two kids in real life - daughter Kyle, eight, and son Byron, four-and for nearly 20 years, he has been with his Italian-born wife, Margherita, whom he fell in love with while he was a student at Columbia University in New York City. "We're good friends and always have bee," Fox says of his spouse. "She's an amazing woman and a phenomenal mother." He's unfazewd by the fans who'd like to be marroned with him. "The sex symbol image of me - that feels like a different person," he laughs. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't flattering. But I'm also sort of embarrassed by it." MOre important is his role as Dad. "I want my kids to respect me as a father and as a friend," he says. "I don't want them to get carried away by all this fame stuff." When it comes to being a good husband, Fox feels that love means learning another language. "The one thing I always tell my wife is 'Ti amo piu di tutto nel mondo.' It means 'I love you more than anything in the world.' I say it to her often.

2. Tim McGraw
The Country Boy

Why we love him. He wears a black hat, but he vehaves like a good guy. He's a honky-tonk hit machine, yet he croons soulful ballads like "Live Like You Were Dying." He's known as a family-oriented country star, but he flaunts a steamy sexual chemistry with superstar wife Faith Hill. No wonder McGraw, 39, is worshipped by any woman with a weakness for cowboys. (This month, he'll show off his saddle skills in the film Flicka.) As a kid, he didn't know that his biological father was baseball great Tug McGraw (who died of cancer in 2004). Now Tim is a devoted dad to daughters Gracie, nine; Maggie, eight; and Audrey, four. "When I'm not touring, all I want to do is spend time with Faith and our girls," McGraw says. "It's the best thing in the world, being a father. We just do normal things, like going swimming and making pancakes. There's nothing more important than family."

A civic-minded activist who's led fund-raising efforts for Gulf Coast hurricane relief, McGraw is also mulling a run for political office. "I'd consider it if I thought I could do some good," he said. "Wouldn't Faith make a great senator's wife?"


Yes Tim. You'd make a great senator and Faith would be a lovely senator's wife!

3. Denzel Washington
The Superstar

Why we love him. Years before George Clooney shot to stardom playing a TV doctor, Washington got pulses racing as Dr. Philip Chandler on St. Elsewhere. Now a two-time Oscar winner who earns $20 million per picture, the 51-year-old actor has only gotten sexier as his fame has increased. He's a unique combination of old-fashioned charm and heart-stopping magnetism and can play anything from a true hero (in Inside Man) to a supervillain (in Training Day). but he plays his favorite part at home with his wife of 23 years, Pauletta, and their four children. His eldest, John David, is notw a pro football player for the St. Louis Rams. "I tell him, 'You used to be known as my son; now I'm getting to be known as your father.' Nothing makes me happier." He is also the national spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America; growing up in Mount Vernon, New York, he spent many afternoons at his local Boys Club. Now he's cowritten an inspirational book, A Hand to Guide Me, about his mentor at the Boys Club. "I believe we miss our marks from time to time," he says. "Without a certain push in the right direction, we might never find the path we were meant to follow." The big screen isn't where Washington wants to be remembered most; these days, this family man has diffferent priorities: "Twenty years ago, acting was my life. Acting now is making a living...I don't take myself too seriously."

Truly admirable men...all of them!

Friday, September 22, 2006

A Question Explained

In yesterday's edition of the North County Times, a Faith and Values page letter writer asked for an explanation regarding Cain's wife. She wanted to know how Cain could marry a relative without committing incest.

Here is a copy of her letter:

Who did Cain lay with?


I read the Faith & Value Letters with great amusement. The evolutionists and the creationists will never find agreement, but they do keep trying. I have one question that no one has been able to answer, and I have wondered about it all my life. Perhaps someone out there can explain this to me. Two Bibles that I have say that Cain took a wife.

King James Version, "And Cain knew his wife."

New English Bible, "Then Cain lay with his wife."

Where did she come from if Adam and Eve were the first and only people created by God on this earth? The Bible says he went to the land of Nod, but how did those people get there?

Who begat them? If Eve was the mother of all who lived, then Cain must have been laying with his mother or his sister. Then Cain's son, Enoch, laid with his wife. Where did she come from? Nod also? And how did she get there?

Somehow there had to have been some incest going on in order for these men to begat children. Explanation, please.


My letter in response:

The Bible does prohibit incest (Lev. 18:6) and with good reason. Incestuous marriages often produce genetically defective children. So how can this be reconciled?

First, there were no genetic imperfections at the beginning of the human race. God created a genetically perfect Adam (Gen. 1:27). Genetic defects resulted from the Fall and only occurred gradually over long periods of time. Further, there was no command in Cain's day not to marry a close relative. This command (Lev. 18) came thousands of years later in Moses' day (c. 1500 B.C.). Finally, since the human race began with a single pair (Adam and Eve), Cain had no one else to marry except a close female relative (sister or niece). Additional information about life spans at http://talkwisdom.blogspot.com/.
(Reference: When Critics Ask by Norman Geisler & Thomas Howe)


Geisler and Howe covered another question that often arises from skeptics:

How could people live over 900 years?

Problem: Adam "lived nine hundred and thirty years" (Gen. 5;5), Methuselah lived "nine hundred and sixty-nine years" (Gen. 5:27), and the average age of those who lived out their normal life span was over 900 years of age. Yet even the Bible recognizes that most people live only 70 or 80 years before natural death occurs (Ps. 90:10).

Solution: First of all, the reference in Psalm 90 is to Moses' time (1400s B.C.) and later, when longevity had decreased to 70 or 80 years for most, though Moses himself lived 120 years (Deut. 34:7).

Some have suggested that these "years" are really only months, which would reduce 900 years to the normal life span of 80 years. However, this is implausible for two reasons. First, there is no precedent in the Hebrew OT for taking the word "year" to mean "month." Second, since Mahalalel had children when he was only 65 (Gen. 5:15), and Cainan had children when he was 70 (Gen. 5:12), this would mean they were less than six years old - which is not biologically possible.

Others suggest that these names represent family lines or clans that went on for generations before they died out. However, this does not make sense for a number of reasons. First, some of these names (e.g., Adam, Seth, Enock, Noah) are definitely individuals whose lives are narrated in the text (Gen. 1-9). Second, family lines do no "beget" family lines by different names. Third, neither do family lines "die," as each of these individuals did (cf. 5:5, 9, 11, etc.). Fourth, the reference to having "sons and daughters" (5:4) does not fit the clan theory.

Consequently, it seems best to take these as years (though they were lunar years of 12 x 30 = 360 days) for several reasons: (1) First of all, life was later shortened to 120 years as a punishment from God (Gen. 6:3). (2) Life span decreased gradually after the flood from the 900s (Gen. 5) to the 600s, to the 400s, to the 200s. (3) Biologically, there is no reason humans could not live hundreds of years. Scientists are more baffled by aging and death than by longevity. (4) The Bible is not alone in speaking of hundreds of years life spans among ancients. There are also records from ancient Greek and Egyptian times that speak of humans living hundreds of years.


This information gives credence to the fact that man was originally created by God to live forever. But when sin entered the world, so did the death penalty. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they didn't immediately die physically. That came much later. However, their spiritual death occurred immediately and was evident by the fact that they no longer "walked with God," but tried to run and hide from Him.

Mankind has been running and hiding ever since! But Jesus' sacrificial death at the cross on our behalf reconciles us back unto God spiritually. We still have the price to pay for sin with physical death, but with repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we will not die the second death of spiritual, eternal separation from God.

While typing this, I am reminded of a blogpost from 2005 that revealed something astonishing. It is more evidence that the Bible truly is divinely inspired and a miraculous Book.

I hope you will take the time to read it. You won't be disappointed with the insight you will gain from it!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Great Collision

When our depravity meets His divinity...

It's a great collision! *

Quite the concept to realize...isn't it?


P.S. *I do not know the author of this quote...do you?

It seems the quote should be:

"When our depravity meets His divinity, it's a beautiful collision."

Just found this:

One such guy is David Crowder. David Crowder is the pastor of music and arts at University Baptist Church (UBC) in Waco, Texas.

I was just writing a brief blog entry on Romans 8. Part of what I was touching on is how all things work together for the good of those who love God. I was reflecting on how all things include our failures and our faults. It includes our sin and suffering. All of it is good for those who love God.

As I kept thinking on that I recalled something that Crowder wrote about the intersection of depravity and divinity. In commenting on his latest release Crowder wrote

“It is the divine and the depraved interacting and it seems our feet lift from the ground for a second. We rise from our condition. When our depravity meets his divinity it is a beautiful collision.”

This fit in wonderfully with the theme of all things working together for our good. It's the wisdom and glory of a great God that allows our depravity and his divinity to meet and use it for good.

Hat tip: Writing of Tim v 3.0

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

My Rant Against That Tyrant, Hugo

Did you catch Hugo Chavez' "speech" before the U.N. this morning? What a joke! I'd laugh if it wasn't also such a scary thought to realize that he is the president of a South American country.

That "sulfur" smell he mentioned? Must be a foretaste of where he'll probably spend eternity. What a special touch it was to see him make the sign of the cross. He's as much a true Catholic as Hitler was a true Christian.

I thought that Condi Rice's answer to "not dignify" such an unruly man's gibberish with a reaction to his crazy rant was right on. When a head of state acts that way, and says such nasty and untrue things about the president in the very country he is visiting, it indicates to me that Chavez' comments are as irrelevant as Cindy Sheehan's.

Speaking of Sheehan, isn't it comical that she embraced this dictator and was kissy kissy with a man who would have probably put her in prison (or worse) if she had said such things about Chavez, in his presence and country, that Chavez had said about Bush at the U.N.? Not that she would, mind you. Her mind is as gone as his.

Isn't it ironic that Chavez gets to come here, have the freedom of speech 'right' to bash our president in front of the cameras and U.N., but would never, ever, allow the same thing done towards him in his own country? He'd have someone who ever dared to do so taken out in a New York minute.

But that's how radical leftists think. Their minds are ass-backwards when it comes to rationality. What's O.K. to say about another leader is not O.K. to say about them. A person like Chavez obviously lacks any sense of decorum or dignity. His raging rant just shows what a hate-spewing, foaming at the mouth wolf he is. No need for "sheeps clothing" cause his hate is just out there, vicious and brutal for all the world to see.

In contrast, President Bush's speech was eloquent, dignified and right on target. Of course he had to be "politically correct" and not use such accurate terminology as "radical Islamofacists" to describe the terrorists. Wouldn't want to upset the Muslims the way the pope did, now would we?

But radical Muslims get to spew their hate freely and openly on the streets of Britain without any fear or threat of dire consequences...such as...the brutal and savage beheading of a person like Nick Berg.

[You can go to that site, scroll down to "Know Your Enemy" and click on the "Nick Berg's Killing" link. Please note: XXXX WARNING XXXX

THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS ARE EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. HOWEVER, WE FEEL IT IS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE THEM TO YOU IN ORDER TO SHOW YOU WHO THE ENEMY REALLY IS AND WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF
.]

Chavez and Ahmadinejad....such a happy go lucky couple! What makes us think that we could actually ever trust or believe a word they say??

At least Mahmoud wasn't observed to have had a "halo" around his head during his ridiculous rambling rant of a speech like he did last year. If he did, we may have been concerned and finally led to believe that he must be an agent for the Anti-Christ! (O.K....with that said, now I'm sure to get scolded for that comment from GM and his ilk...)

What's really scary is that people at the U.N. actually applauded when Chavez was done! Yikes!

Hey...the good news is that he wants the U.N. to move its headquarters to Venezuela. I say good riddance!!

The corruption at the U.N. is notorious and I wish that the U.S. would kick them out and save us taxpayers of having to fund such a dishonest, depraved, untrustworthy, morally perverted, debased and useless group of do-nothings!

More to come...

Going to hunt for more links about the worthless U.N. and the sulfur stenched Chavez.

Share your rant...



Chavez Flips Out at the U.N.

One Of These Things Is Not Like the Other [Note: I put this in because Charlie's posts always have such a calming effect on me...Thank God for Charlie!]

Hugo Chavez Hates Bush, Hates America, and calls Bush the Devil, "El Diablo."
Trackback URL: http://www.independentconservative.com/
2006/09/20/chavez_hates_bush/trackback/

Hugo Chavez Calls Bush "The Devil."

Hugo Chavez Unhinged [Notice the photo op with kissy-huggy traitor Sheehan!] EEEWWWW!!!!
Trackback URL: http://www.michellemalkin.com/mt/oct05-tb.cgi/5300


Oh My, What a Smell of Sulfur!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Christians Fight Against Indoctrination and Win

We are often told that there is nothing that can be done to legally fight and win against the homosexual agenda indoctrination that is going on in our nations' schools. But that belief is not true. The following examples demonstrate that when Christians are brave enough to stand up for their beliefs and not cower to the secular humanistic views being forced upon our school and college aged children, that such blatant indoctrination efforts can be legally thwarted.

1. Day of Truth


TO: Christine
FROM: Alan Sears, President

ADF Attorney Helps Student Take a Stand for "Fairness"

Many leftist activists and their allies (willing or accidental) seem to live by the credo: "Free speech for me, but not for thee." Today's story is another example.

In Wilmington, North Carolina, ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman has filed a preliminary injunction on behalf of Benjamin Arthurs, a student who was suspended for promoting the "Day of Truth" at his tax-funded high school in Dunn, North Carolina this past April 27th.

On the "Day of Truth," Ben was told that his Christian message t-shirt was "prohibited" even though the school dress code does not prohibit religious clothing. Ben was also told that his distribution of "Day of Truth" cards was also forbidden because he would be "pushing his religion on others."(Ironically, as you can see in the picture with David and Ben, the school's "character trait" for the week he was suspended was "fairness").

Prior to filing the lawsuit, ADF attorneys had sent a letter to school and district officials advising that they had violated Ben's constitutional rights. School officials allowed the "Day of Silence" which promotes homosexual behavior, to go on without incident, the day before at the school.

David Cortman says: "Christian students are entitled to the same free speech rights as non-religious classmates. Students participating in the Day of Silence, which supports the homosexual agenda, were permitted observe the event by distributing flyers and remaining silent throughout the school day. Yet a student who peacefully expressed an opposite perspective during non-instructional time received punishment. This is a classic case of viewpoint discrimination."

You can read a copy of the complaint filed in Arthurs v. Sampson County Board of Education at Arthurs Complaint.

A copy of the motion for preliminary injunction is available at Arthurs Injunction.

We will keep you posted on this case in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime, please continue to pray for Ben, and the many other courageous individuals, who have taken a compassionate stand to share the Truth with those trapped in homosexual behavior.

Read the ADF press release to learn more...

*******

2. Gay-Straight Alliances Deemed Unacceptable for N.C. Schools

A North Carolina school district has successfully implemented a policy banning student clubs based on sexual activity or sexual orientation, the Salisbury Post reported.

Perhaps you wonder why we must fight against homosexual clubs, policies, lawsuits, and indoctrination techniques. The following article shares some good reasons.

3. TO: Christine

FROM: Alan Sears, President

Another BIG Win for Religious Freedom...This Time at Georgia Tech...

Orit Sklar and Ruth Malhorta knew that their First Amendment right to free speech was being denied. (See ADF News Alert, March 28, 2006).

These two courageous students, with the help of David French, director of ADF's Center for Academic Freedom and ADF litigation counsel David Hacker, filed a lawsuit against Georgia Tech's comprehensive student conduct guidelines (distributed to all incoming freshmen) that regulate "permissible" speech and expression. The complaint claimed that the guidelines have been used against religious and conservative individuals and organizations on campus.

In addition, school officials had also implemented a program aimed at indoctrinating students in what the officials deemed to be the "correct" interpretation of religious texts with regard to homosexual behavior. The program, called "Safe Space," promoted the beliefs of religions that favor the practice of homosexual behavior, while denigrating those that oppose it.

After these two young ladies filed their lawsuit, they underwent unbelievable persecution, name calling, and harrassment from radical leftists and their allies; but Ruth and Orit knew in their hearts, they were right, and stuck to their guns despite the ongoing attacks.

And their perseverance has been rewarded.

On Monday, August 14th, a federal judge ordered the restrictive speech code repealed. He prohibited the school from changing its new student speech policy without court approval for the next five years. In addition, the judge denied Georgia Tech's request that the case be dismissed, and ADF will proceed with the other parts of the case.

Please continue to pray for this case, and especially for Orit and Ruth, who still find themselves experiencing incredible personal attacks for their brave stand.

We will keep you posted on further developments in the weeks ahead.

Read the ADF press release to learn more...

4. Gay-Activist Intimidation Tactics Increasing

Excerpt:

"These are professionals [e.g. NARTH] whose job it is to do research and help clients that want to pursue change, if that's what they want," Chambers said. "These gay activists are saying, basically, that everyone should not have the right to choose their own path. That's un-American."

The intimidation, he said, is being done under the guise of "tolerance."

"The truth is, tolerance has come to mean something very different for gay activists," Chambers said. "What tolerance means to them is that we need to go out of our way to not just accept them, but approve of what they do. But tolerance is not a two-way street for them -- they neither accept nor respect our views on these issues."

LaBarbera said the fact that thousands of people have left homosexuality and are living contented lives doesn't seem to affect those who believe homosexuality cannot be changed.

In the end, he said such intimidation is the very definition of irony.

"Usually the people who are screaming the loudest about tolerance," he said, "are the most intolerant of all."


The way that I see it is that either the homosexual extremists and the ACLU will continue, and succeed, in their onslaught of gay propaganda to transform America from its true morals, values, and ethics; or Christians will step up the effort to fight against this wave of destructive brain-washing. Take a look at what is currently at stake in California. The flurry of bad bills designed to promote the homosexual agenda will be decided upon within the next few weeks. When bills such as these are approved of, and (God forbid!) passed, then the hate-spewing leftists like Rosie O'Donnell think they have the power to falsely claim and say absolutely anything that they want against Christians and their beliefs.

The ramifications of turncoat Arnold's signing of the terrible SB 1441 bill here in California will eventually lead us down a path where most Christians will not want to go. Gratefully, the Alliance Defense Fund will challenge this horrible bill.

Karen England of the Capitol Resource Institute writes:



Since the governor signed SB 1441 into law last week, we have received many phone calls from concerned parents wondering whether this will affect their children’s plans for college. After consulting with our friends in the legal community, we want to update you on how this new law will affect California students.

The exact ramifications of SB 1441 are still unclear.

However, based upon past precedent, the legislature’s analysis and the current political climate, we believe that it is safe to assume that the effects of this new law will be far-reaching. Based on current legal precedent, it is not far- fetched to assume that proponents of this new law will argue that any school, business or other organizations receiving state funding will be affected. The legislative analysis of this bill states that, “Because Government Code Section 11135 [code amended by SB 1441] covers not only the state but also state agencies and any program or activity at the local level that receives funding from the state, the impact of this bill is both wide-ranging and deep.”

Equality California, the homosexual activists group and sponsor of SB 1441, claims that “SB 1441 protects all Californians who utilize public services such as police and fire protection, financial aid, social services and food stamps.” We believe that in a legal challenge, proponents of this law would argue that any organization that receives any type of state funding would be prohibited from “discriminating” against homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders, etc. By tying state funding to anti-discrimination laws, homosexual activists will be able to argue that such funding should be withdrawn from any recipient that “discriminates.” Because fire and police protection are specifically mentioned as being prohibited from discrimination, it is unclear whether that means they are also prohibited from providing services to organizations that do discriminate (churches, private schools).

Our friends with Alliance Defense Fund and Pacific Justice Institute have both expressed a desire to challenge this outrageous law and defend the religious liberties of Californians. As defenders of religious liberty, these organizations will argue that the new anti-discrimination laws do not apply to organizations, including private universities, that uphold their sincerely-held religious beliefs.

One way that you can help stem the negative impact of this law is by supporting legislation next year that will seek to add a religious exemption to the government code affected by this law. Several pro-family legislators are preparing to introduce a bill to add such an exemption as soon the new legislative session begins in December.

This law will most likely be tied up in litigation for several years. In the meantime, students should go ahead and apply to college, just as they have planned. We will keep you updated on the latest developments in this battle for religious freedom.

Read SB 1441
Assembly Votes on SB 1441
Senate Votes on SB 1441
Alliance Defense Fund
Pacific Justice Institute

*******

Just as America, Israel and free countries everywhere are in a fight against the ideology of radical Islamic extremists who want to kill us from outside and inside our borders, so too, the ideology of radical homosexual extremists want to kill our children's moral values, freedom of religious speech, freedom of association, and the Judeo-Christian values handed down to us by God through His Word, the Bible.

This is the current struggle in the battle of ideas that we are in and our children and grandchildren's right to all the freedoms mentioned above are at stake.

I pray that Christians will get their heads out of the sand on these issues, rise up, speak out, and challenge this onslaught of perversion that is currently being allowed to permeate our culture under the guise of "safe schools," and "tolerance."

This so-called "tolerance" mantra being shoved down the throats of our children is not tolerance at all. "Tolerance" as defined by these groups is the adamant, "one-way street kind" that leads to, and has as its goal , total and unequivocal homosexual behavior acceptance and promotion, and indoctrination.

Is that the kind of America that you want your children to live in?

God forbid!

So do something about it...NOW!
MAKE 2 CALLS TO ARNOLD

Sept. 18 update from CCF President Randy Thomasson

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is using a poll to decide whether to sign the remaining school indoctrination bills on his desk.
When you call the Governor’s State Capitol office in Sacramento, the recording asks whether you support or oppose AB 606 and AB 1056. "Legislating by polls" is no substitute for morality. Yet this is your real-life opportunity to WIN FOR MORAL VALUES THIS ELECTION YEAR.


Do your part right now.

Please help Arnold’s poll result in a FLOOD OF OPPOSITION to these terrible school indoctrination bills. Let your heart-felt opposition to AB 606 and AB 1056 -- which would teach children as young as kindergarten to regard transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality as good and natural and maybe even for them -- motivate you to action.


Please make two calls right now, first to oppose AB 606, then to oppose AB 1056. If you follow CCF’s simple directions, each call could take less than 15 seconds to register your vote.


1. To oppose AB 606, which would yank state funds from any school district that doesn’t adequately promote the state's “model policy” promoting transsexuality, bisexuality and homosexuality in grades as young as kindergarten:


Call 916-445-2841

Press 1 for English (or 2 for Spanish)

Press 2 for Legislation

Press 2 for AB 606

Press 2 to OPPOSE AB 606


2. To oppose AB 1056, which would spend $250,000 in taxpayer dollars to create 10 “tolerance” schools, which will mandate that all students support transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality:


Call 916-445-2841

Press 1 for English (or 2 for Spanish)

Press 2 for Legislation

Press 5 for AB 1056

Press 2 to OPPOSE AB 1056


If you get confused, just call back and listen to the entire recording and follow the prompts.

If you want to talk with a living representative of the Governor’s staff, call a third time. But instead of pressing 2 for Legislation, press 7 to wait for a representative to pick up the phone.


Get the new Action Flyer: Campaign for Children and Families (CCF) has posted our updated Action Flyer for you to print and distribute in your church, neighborhood, or workplace.

Please download the Action Flyer today, and distribute it this week and this coming weekend. Time is running out -- Governor Schwarzenegger has a Sept. 30 deadline to sign or veto bills.


# # #
CAMPAIGN FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (CCF) is a leading West Coast pro-family organization empowering citizens to live out their values. Sign up today for CCF's free email updates at http://www.savecalifornia.com/. Your partnership empowers CCF's innovative work on behalf of children and families in culture, media and government. Please support CCF by making a secure online donation or by sending a tax-deductible gift of any size to:


Campaign for Children and Families

Randy Thomasson, President

P.O. Box 511, Sacramento, CA 95812

(916) 265-5650

www.savecalifornia.com

http://www.saveamerica.net/

Monday, September 18, 2006

Love In Its Highest Form

In the Contrast Between Pharoah's and Job's Heart thread, Limpy99 said the following:


"Your philosophy seems to be if God said it, then I will follow it, and that's fine for you. And if I'm worng on that, feel free to correct me. Mine is different; if anyone or anything wants my respect, they have to earn it. I expect I'd have to earn theirs as well. That may sound narcissitic, I certainly don't mean it that way. Such approaches obviously lead to different takes on Job; such is life."


In response to this portion of his comment, I stated the following:


Wanting the kind of respect that you are looking for from God is sort of like the pot telling the potter how it should be made.

Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou [art] our father; we [are] the clay, and thou our potter; and we all [are] the work of thy hand.

Jeremiah's verse shows us that sometimes the "pot" needs refashioning.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make [it].

Now, I know that GMpilot will probably come along and say something like, "since the pot was marred in the hand of the potter, it's his fault."

But notice. The pot was not marred at the hand of the potter, it states that it was marred in; the symbolism meaning that the pot (nation of Israel) was marred because of the freewill choice they made to sin and disobey God's Word. But despite that, they were still in God's hands of protection to fulfill the promises, if, and when, they would repent and turn back to Him. The same could be said of each individual today, who turns to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?


Rom 9:22 [What] if God, willing to shew [his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:


Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,


Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Elsewhere, we read that God is not a respecter of persons.

Rom 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Proverbs tells us why.

Pro 24:23 These [things] also [belong] to the wise. [It is] not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

Pro 28:21 To have respect of persons [is] not good: for for a piece of bread [that] man will transgress.

Justice requires that those who do wrong receive "for the wrong which they had done."

Col 3:25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning [here] in fear:

The purpose for discipline.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Once born again, believers cannot be snatched out of his hands.

Our thoughts are not His thoughts.

His ways are not our (or my) ways.

This is why the cross of Christ is often a stumbling block to non-believers.

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

The reason this is so is because we are separated spiritually from Him because of the Fall.

1Cr 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

It is only when we are each individually born again in Christ that our thoughts begin to match up, so to speak, with His. Prior to this, much of God's Word can seem very foreign in the eyes of the non-believer. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who reveals the truth of the Scriptures to us, it's almost like we are reading another language without the training for full understanding of what we are reading.

I have found that many agnostics, atheists, and skeptics often claim to have "read the whole Bible." But what have they gleaned from the Word?

Instead of comprehending the love of God from the poetic sections, and the salvation promises of the gospel through Jesus Christ, they point out perceived "errors" ad nauseum that don't affect the truth of the gospel at all.

Most of the so-called "errors" are easily solved with continued research and study. They often blame God for all the evil and suffering in the world. They forget why evil entered into the world in the first place. If God were to "wipe out all evil" so we could have heaven on earth now, then the people who aren't saved would be wiped out right along with it. This is why God is longsuffering, as believers are, because like Him, we desire that no one would perish.

But the hardened hearts of some will refuse to repent. They will ultimately get what they want. Separation from God for all eternity.

There are Bible difficulties, but no errors. The error is often in our own fallible judgments and/or understandings of what we are reading. This is why the Holy Spirit's leading is crucial! It is also why we need God's Word as the ultimate source for absolute truth. Scripture interprets Scripture. Sola Scriptura takes away any denominational human-made traditions that could skew what the Bible is telling us. We have archaeological finds that support what the Bible has revealed. The more recent finds have crushed the scoffing of skeptics who, hundreds of years ago, felt that the Bible had an error regarding the existence of certain peoples or places back then. The Bible's accuracy is proved correct and its truth is reiterated by what emerges from excavations in the Holy Land.



There is no doubt that the Bible is a miraculous book! There is none like it on earth! For some, it is held in the highest regard. For others, it is a book to be scorned. Why is that?

I think that Charles Stanley has identified one of the main reasons why non-believers often hold the Bible in contempt. They don't understand what is meant when Christians reveal that "God is love." They can't believe that God loves each of us unconditionally, with an agape kind of love that man often becomes confused about. The range of questions that come to mind shows this confusion. Questions like:

1. If God is love then why is there suffering in the world?

The answer can be found in Scripture. Jesus tells us to expect trouble.

(Jesus speaking) Jhn 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The list could go on and on. But answers to many questions like that one can be found in Scripture for those who are willing to research and find them. However, once the answers are found, sometimes a person sees them as not "living up to an individual's expectations of who God should be."

For instance. To love unconditionally is often considered unreasonable to the worldly. They can't understand that concept, especially when it might involve discipline as correction. You see, God is a God of love and He is also a God of justice. Justice demands a penalty for sin. Some see this as a contradiction. But there is no contradiction between justice and unconditional love.

Charles Stanley pointed out something that I hadn't realized before.

The Bible demonstrates anger, judgment, and eternal separation for the unrepentant wicked, but no where does it say God doesn't love the wicked. Oh yes, God hates the sin that the wicked (and all of us) do, but he doesn't hate the person. He wants all to come to repentance! If he hated you, non-believer wicked person, would he still have his arms stretched out to you welcoming you back in reconciliation when you repent?

Stanley said:

There is a purpose for God's final judgment.
For believers, it is an evaluation of works done on earth to establish rewards. Salvation is not affected in this.

For non-believers, there is the Great White Throne Judgment whereas the degree of punishment occurs for the wicked. If they got away with it, that's not justice.

Love and justice is God's character. God, in his love, determines the degree of punishment. God doesn't send anyone to hell. Willful sinning and rejection of God's love does that.

Some may ask, "Why doesn't God change them?"

When a person who rejects God and His offer of salvation through Christ is dying, do they ever desire repentance and to be with God? No. Just as in Revelation, those who recognize that the wrath of God is about to fall upon them still hide, try to defy God and want the rocks to fall on them. No indication of repentance there.

A person's non-repentant character can become fixed. In his/her dying hour, they have the attitude of cursing and defying God.

Why doesn't God fix them?

We'll find out all the answers when we get to the other side of heaven. For now, we know that free will has a lot to do with it.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Jhn 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

What about the willful sin of believers? God disciplines us. We need to face and deal with that.

How do we live?

Do we focus on our kids performing in a certain way? All we can do is pray, wish for the best, hope they will follow God's Word, and even when they fall into sin, love them unconditionally. This is extremely difficult, but God puts up with us! We are to love them no matter what! Remember the prodigal son...


Stanley also shared this about false accusations hurled at us for our witnessing efforts:


You and I don't have to give an account for false accusations made by non-believers against us when sharing the truth of God's Word. You and I don't live for their approval. We live for the approval of God. That is what it is all about.


Stanley discussed the fear of commitment.

Have you ever genuinely loved someone? By this, I mean to the extent that you don't ever have to wonder about it? You just know it! No question about it!
This is unconditional love.

Many people marry someone to change them.
That is their first mistake! If you've never learned to love someone
unconditionally then you've failed at life! However, when you do love
unconditionally, you'll know its there and you will thank God for it!

That sums up the faith and hope of the Christian believer. We know God's
love for us is there! His love is unconditional!

But sometimes, a person suffers at the hands of an abusive (or lack of an) earthly father. That makes them question the reality of God the Father's love.

I (Charles Stanley) mentally and intellectually understood God the Father's love, but didn't emotionally believe it. (Stanley explained that his father had died when he was age 5 which created a gap where he couldn't feel the genuine love of an earthly father in his life.)

But when he finally realized God's unconditional love in his heart and emotions, it changed his whole attitude. Many, unfortunately, never feel that in a relationship in life. But feeling the unconditional love of God in your heart and emotions can overcome the lack of love from an earthly father, or, even the lack of love in a
marriage.

The point is that no human being can meet all of our needs and love us as God does! If all your love is wrapped up in a person, there is going to be a vacuum in your heart and in your life; especially when they die.

This is why the agape love of God, and the agape love for God cannot be filled in any other way. We can emulate agape love, but we cannot surpass the ultimate, highest form of God's love for us. He demonstrated this through Jesus Christ at the cross.

1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.

Because of sin, we are dead to things in God. However, He still loves us! Being born again in Christ brings us alive again to His Word and commandments.

God is the source of love.


1Jo 3:1

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

1Jo 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

1Jo 3:14
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not [his] brother abideth in death.

1Jo 3:15
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1Jo 3:16

Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.