And The Truth Shall Set You Free...

DOES THE APOCALYPSE OFFICIALLY BEGUN?

2011-04-04T01:36:00.003-04:00

Glenn Beck's New Book Reveals He Embraces New Age Theology, Is A Knowledgeable Mormon, And A Universalist

2011-02-13T18:02:00.009-05:00

By Brannon S. Howse

In August of 2010, I predicted on my national radio program that it was only a matter of time before Glenn Beck would release a distinctively religious book that would promote his New Age Mormonism and universalism. I sensed that Glenn was setting himself up to be the politically conservative alternative to Oprah. His new book, "7 Wonders That Will Change Your Life", could have been written by Oprah for sure.
Many self-professing Christians cannot see what Beck is up to but there are those in the unsaved world that seem to be exhibiting more worldview understanding than some in the Christian community. The Business Insider published an article on January 4, 2011 entitled, Glenn Beck's New Year's Plan Sounds A Lot Like Oprah's New Network.

On the second week of January of this year, Beck released his latest book entitled The Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life. The book is co-authored by psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow.

Beck's new book is nothing less than the promotion of universalism, postmodernism, and pagan spirituality, also known as the New Age Movement.

I tried to warn America's pastors and Christian leaders in early August of 2010, not to unite with Glenn Beck in his spiritual rally that sought to unite all faiths and look to one God. I gave these Christian leaders plenty of evidence that Glenn Beck was a practicing Mormon that was also embracing New Age paganism.

Some of these Christian leaders said that Beck was a "new Christian", "a baby Christian", "new brother", a "little lamb", or "very close to becoming a Christian." If they think Glenn Beck meets the Biblical descriptions of a Christian then they have no clue what the book of I John says are the Biblical hallmarks of a true follower of Jesus Christ.

A friend of mine even e-mailed a mega pastor that was publically supporting Glenn Beck's 8-28 rally to ask him to be careful about embracing Beck and his black robe regiment because of some of the false theology Glenn was espousing. The pastor replied:

Glenn Beck is a new brother and he is learning and growing and coming to the light day by day as he is being discipled by [name of Christian leader removed]. There was once a day when you and I were in the same place he is now. Be careful that you don't place a yoke on a little lamb rather than an ox.

Would this pastor say Oprah Winfrey is a Christian?

According to Christian Post, another Mega Church pastor said:

I have interviewed persons who have talked specifically with Glenn about his personal salvation persons extremely well known in Christianity and they have affirmed (using language evangelicals understand), 'Glenn is saved' He understands receiving Christ as savior.

How confusing to the unsaved world and to baby Christians it must be to have Christian leaders make this claim about being a Christian in light of Beck's latest book. Many now believe what Beck is promoting in his book is Christianity because Pastors and Christian leaders have announced that "Glenn is saved." I have had teenagers e-mail me and come up to me at our conferences and express how confused they are by what Christian leaders have said about Beck being saved when they have heard Beck promote New Age heresy.

In light of Beck's religious and spiritual proclamations in his new book, this would be the week for the Christian leaders and pastors that embraced Beck on the national stage, and proclaimed Beck's salvation, to release a press release and post a statement on their website that they disagree with Beck's pagan spirituality and that indeed Beck is not demonstrating theology and doctrine consist with what the Bible says are the hallmarks of a Christian. These Christian leaders need to apologize for leading people to believe that Beck was a Christian or to believe that Beck held and promoted religious views that were compatible with Biblical Christianity. Dr. Erwin Lutzer, of the historic Moody Church in Chicago, correctly declared in August of 2010 on my radio program that any pastor or Christian leader involved in Beck's rally would be involved in heresy. I agree 100% with that statement.

In his new book Beck and Dr. Ablow promote psychologist Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, New Age authors Robert Pirsig and James Redfied, Buddha, Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche, Gandhi, The Bible and the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. Sadly, Glenn is confused and all Christians should pray that he will come to salvation in the Jesus of the Bible through faith and repentance.

On page 56 Beck says he read A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman which is the Bible of the New Age Movement. I wrote and entire chapter in my book Grave Influence on Helen Schucman and the demon she channeled that helped her write the book.

I have several friends who were Mormons for many years before accepting the Jesus Christ of the Bible as their Lord and Savior through faith and repentance. Tracy was a Mormon for 26 years and e-mailed me to explain why many Mormons are open to New Age Spirituality:

It's not surprising how easy it is for many LDS to get involved in occult practices based on the "power of the priesthood." For example, energy healing (chakras), cloud-busting, and other mind-power things. My LDS friends and I were always interested in books like The Magic of Believing, Embraced by the Light, and other New Agey kinds of books. I remember seeing Star Wars when I was Mormon and how many of us in the ward (LDS congregation) were comparing The Force to the priesthood power.

Since we believed we were on the godhood track, using the phrase "I AM" in the context Glenn uses it, fits in neatly with the power of the priesthood through which worlds are created (according to Mormon doctrine). In fact, Mormonism teaches that God did NOT create the universe exnihlo, because God can only manipulate and arrange existing matter; he create it. Thus we see, from the LDS perspective, we too can become I AM, through the divine nature within us.

On page 79 Beck and Dr. Ablow promote transcendental meditation and Eastern Mysticism. On 85 we read, "As you commit to unlocking and bringing forth the truth inside you, don't be afraid to pray for help. Don't be reticent to sit with yourself in silence and meditate. Connect with the miracle of spirit, of God, that has lived inside you from long before you were born."

Christian mediation is not about "bringing forth the truth inside of you" nor is it about contacting God that has "lived inside you from long before you were born." This is not Biblical and any Christian that thinks otherwise is either a false convert or is Biblically illiterate. Click here to hear a short video clip by Dr. Ron Carlson on the dangers of New Age meditation.

On page 132 Beck and Ablow proclaim, "Pray to whatever higher power you believe in Praying that God or Nature or the Cosmos or your own internal, immeasurable reservoir of spirit allows you the courage and faith to find and then face the truth"

In several places readers are told it really does not matter what religion or religious leader they follow. On page 157 Beck writes, "Finding what worked for me made all the difference. Finding what works for you will do the same."

On page 74 the reader is instructed "Just be sure you visit with a minister or therapist from a religion or healing discipline you actually have affinity for, or suspect you might."

On page 236, reincarnation is promoted through the writings of Robert Pirsig's book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," the 'spirit' of Chris or the 'ghost' of Chris, then you can say without further translation that the spirit or ghost of Chris is looking for a new body to enter."

Beck is a very committed and knowledgeable Mormon:

I have had several Christians tell me that Beck does not really know much about the Mormon faith. That is not what Beck writes in his new book.

"I questioned everything I could think to question about the faith. I went over my doubts again and again with the church bishop. I read everything there was to read on their website and every word of Mormon Doctrine I went to anti-Mormon literature for hints, but I found most of it to be unfair or just plain wrong. I tried every trick I could think of to find a contradiction. The problem was that I couldn't. Mormonism seemed to explain the world and my place in it better than any other faith I had looked at." (Page 149-150)

Beck does not believe in Hell, original sin or that Jesus in the only way:

"Latter-day Saints do not believe that your chances ever cease, even with death. They end only with the full understanding and denial of truth by your own exercise of real free will. And even then there is no 'lake of fire.' (Page 149)

"As Keith likes to say, 'There's no original sin left in the world. Everyone's just recycling pain now.' "(Page 154.)

"There is no infant delivered evil, out of the womb. There never has been. Not even one Charles Manson was not born evil. Ted Bundy wasn't. The BTK killer wasn't. Hitler wasn't." (Page 162)

The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. (Romans 3:23) The Bible says that even babies are born with a sin nature and that we are all conceived in sin. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)

"People are inherently good." (Page 165).

The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Beck's book uses the phrase "Your truth" or "your true path" or "my truth" at least 23 times. Here are a few examples:

"It is never too late to embrace your truth." (Page 124)

"What is your truth whispering?" (Page 130)

"Use compassion to stay on the path to your own truth" (Page 161)

"...determination to unearth and embrace my truth." (Page 215)

"The fact that I am always attempting to honor my truth" (Page 216)

"There is only your truth." (Page 220)

"You must use courage and faith to empty the hard drive of your soul and then fill it with your truth." (Page 288)

Beck's book promotes the New Age that God dwells within all:

"The third chapter of Exodus helped me start to understand how crucial it was that my focus be on finding God not just in the seas or the cosmos, but in myself." (Page 57)

If God is everything and everywhere and inside everyone, then I figured He had to be inside me, too. (Page 58)

This is the promotion of pantheism and panentheism.

"Divine power is still inside you." (Page 71)

"Reach out to people to steady them and enrich them and reflect back to them the light that comes from God inside them. (Page 283)

"You won't doubt your ability to achieve what you want to achieve in this life because you won't doubt that God is not only by your side, but inside you." (Page 254)

Beck's book promotes the New Age idea that you need to tap into a positive energy for a successful and happy life: (Ten times). Some examples include:

You have a polestar inside you. It is connected with all the energy in the universe. When you begin to follow that star you align yourself with immeasurable, inexplicable forces that will actually help you manifest your best intentions. (Page 79)

The current energy that flows in your favor when you stop denying what you have lived through and how it has shaped you and how you must change is the immeasurable force that you can tap into to dramatically improve your existence." (Page 113)

"you will elicit the same positive energy from others. When you stop pretending to be just fine and start admitting that you have struggled, just as we all have, then spiritual energy will fill you." (Page 117)

I wrote this article because I want discerning Christians to have the information they need to refute unbiblical teaching. I want Christians to be watchmen who warn their Christian family and friends about the spiritual deception of people like Glenn Beck, Oprah Winfrey, and a host of other individuals that are promoting another Jesus and another gospel.

Christians also need to be ready to explain to their unsaved family and friends why Glenn Beck's worldview will not lead them to God as their savior but as their judge. Nowhere in Beck's new book does he mention the Biblical gospel. What Glenn is promoting is the same lie promoted by Satan in Genesis 3:1-5. I am fearful that the spiritual poison Beck is promoting is not seven wonders that will change your life but in fact, lies that will condemn the souls of millions for eternity.

Distributed by www.worldviewweekend.com

New Warning About the "Healthy" Habit That Can Damage Your Brain

2011-02-11T01:39:00.006-05:00

Before we start, please sign a message to the US Department of Health and Human Services telling them why, instead of lowering water fluoride levels, they should abandon fluoridation completely. The deadline is February 14, so time is running out!

An expert speaking on an Australian TV news show reveals fluoride for what it is -- a poison.

People are increasingly starting to realize this truth due to successful grassroots campaigns. In yet another victory against this pervasive toxin, on February 8, 2011, the Calgary (Alberta, Canada) city council voted to stop 20 years of water fluoridation by a 10-3 vote. According to Calgarian James Beck, MD, PhD and co-author of The Case Against Fluoride,

"This is important for the health of 1.1 million people right here. But also it will help us stop fluoridation throughout the Province of Alberta. With the generally no-fluoridation situations in British Columbia and Quebec and the ongoing developments in Ontario we are approaching a fluoride-free Canada. And with the ongoing progress in the United States we are approaching a fluoride-free world."

But a bigger battle is still looming in New York City, where the anti-fluoridation movement has a great champion in New York City, councilor Peter Vallone, Jr. A victory there could signal the beginning of the end of fluoridation in the U.S.

Please contact Carol Kopf at nyscof@aol.com if you want to be part of the NYC effort and possible fluoride rally. It's important to write letters to Mayor Bloomberg, the City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and your own City Council Member. Their contact information is here: http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml

According to Fluoride Alert:

"Calgary [Alderman] Druh Farrell, who has led the anti-fluoridation push on council, argued that so much of the issue comes down to the ethics of it -- that people should have a choice whether something is added to water for health reasons."

Want Smarter Kids? Then Make Sure They Avoid This Widely Regarded Preventive...

2011-02-05T22:50:00.002-05:00

In a nearly unprecedented about face, U.S. federal health officials admit Americans are getting too much fluoride. It's causing spots on children's teeth (dental fluorosis) and could be resulting in other, more serious problems.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced plans to lower the recommended level of fluoride in drinking water for the first time in nearly 50 years. The change in policy is based on a fresh review of the science.

Yahoo News reports:

"The announcement is likely to renew the battle over fluoridation ... The Environmental Protection Agency released two new reviews of research on fluoride Friday. One of the studies found that prolonged, high intake of fluoride can increase the risk of brittle bones, fractures and crippling bone abnormalities."

For further information about the dangers of fluoride, you can watch the video above about a farmer who sued an industrial company that injured and killed his cows with fluoride emissions. You can see how the animals' teeth were destroyed in the most painful of ways.

In related news, the U.S. EPA has proposed to grant the petition of three environmental groups, and end the use of the insecticide sulfuryl fluoride.

The decision cited concerns about children's health and noted their current overexposure to fluoride through tap water.

Captured on Tape: 60 Minutes Exposes the Maker of the #1 Most Fatal Drug of 2009

2011-01-23T18:39:00.003-05:00

Drug company whistle-blower Cheryl Eckard talks about her experience trying to fix problems at GlaxoSmithKline. Her discoveries about the dangerous practices of the company made her a key figure in a federal lawsuit.

You may remember this story from last November when it first hit the news. But in the 60 Minutes interview above, whistleblower Cheryl Eckard opens up to reveal even more disturbing details about the gross negligence at the Cidra pharmaceutical plant, run by one of GlaxoSmithKline's subsidiaries.

They eventually pleaded guilty to the felony crime of distributing adulterated drugs, yet not one single person in charge of the debacle went to jail!

Why Should We Trust Felons?

Once you've been exposed to the seedy underbelly of the drug business—the LEGAL drug business—you can't but realize that we're dealing with a very large group of criminals and felons. There's really no nicer way to put it.

After all, companies are run by human beings. Company logos don't make decisions by themselves.

As it currently stands, the company usually gets away scot free or with a slap on the wrist. Oh, they do have to pay fines, and in this case it was three quarters of a billion dollars, but when your profits are over $100 billion, it's is not much more than a speeding ticket inconvenience and widely regarded as merely the cost of doing business.

Unless actual individuals are held accountable, what's to stop those individuals from perpetrating the same crime again and again? Nothing!

No less than 19 drug companies made AllBusiness.com's Top 100 Corporate Criminals List for the 1990s.

What does that tell you?Keeping that fact in mind, Eckard's story about the goings-on at the Cidra plant in Puerto Rico becomes less shocking. Not because it isn't bad, but because it's already quite clear that 'questionable business practice' has become 'standard practice' within the pharmaceutical business.

What Happened at the Cidra Plant?

The problems at Cidra were first revealed by an FDA inspection. Eckard's quality assurance team was then sent in by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to address those concerns, back in 2002. But when Eckard uncovered even more disturbing issues than those found by the FDA, her superiors simply ignored her.

Many may not realize this, but the FDA does NOT inspect drug manufacturing facilities at regular intervals. In between spot-checks, drug companies are left to police themselves. In the past year alone we've seen numerous instances where this self-policing has failed, as a long list of drugs have been recalled for a variety of different quality and safety issues.

At the time, the Cidra plant was making 20 patented drugs for the US market, and when Eckard saw what was happening at the plant, she was shocked, and worried about patient safety. "All the systems were broken, the facility was broken, the equipment was broken, the processes were broken. It was the worst thing I had run across in my career," she tells 60 Minutes' correspondent Scott Pelley.

Some of the problems included:

* Using water contaminated with bacteria to make tablets
* Failures on production lines that led to inconsistent dosages
* Employees contaminating products by not following procedures

As an example, Eckard claims employees would open the lid to the sealed tank containing the anti-bacterial ointment Bactroban, and stick half their bodies into the tank to scrape it out. "It saved money," she replies when asked why anyone would consider doing such a thing. But that's not even the worst of the problems Eckard uncovered.

GSK Knowingly Put Patients' Lives at Risk to Save a Buck

Due to various production line failures, powerful medications were also getting mixed up. Potent and potentially dangerous drugs were literally ending up in the wrong bottles! The antidepressant Paxil was mixed into bottles of Avandia, a diabetes drug. And Avandia was found in packages of the over-the-counter antacid Tagamet. All in all, Eckard identified nine different mix-ups of various drugs.

She urged the vice president of quality assurance for North America to stop the trucks from leaving the dock the day she discovered the mix-ups, and to shut down the factory and contact the FDA. But nothing happened… And, when one such mix-up was later discovered by a patient, GSK denied it ever happened. But "we all knew, they all knew it was real," Eckard says.

Finally, after eight months of reporting problems at the plant, Eckard sent a summary to seven executives detailing the numerous quality problems, warning that if the FDA knew of these issues, the plant would likely be seized.

Just weeks later, Eckard was out of a job. Concerned for the welfare of patients taking the affected drugs, she blew the whistle and notified the FDA. Federal agents searched the plant and seized hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of defective drugs. In the end, GSK pleaded guilty to a felony: knowingly manufacturing and selling adulterated drugs, manufactured between 2001 and 2005.

Their punishment for putting people's health at such incredible risk?

A grand total of $150 million in criminal fines and $600 million in civil penalties—little more than a slap on the wrist. None of the actual people who allowed it to happen suffered any ill consequence as a result of their actions, aside from the one who blew the whistle...

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Blockbuster Drug Now Proven Too Dangerous

Meanwhile, GSK's blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia made headlines again last year when it became clear that the drug not only had major risks, but that GSK kept the dangers of the drug under tight wraps—for a very long time.

As it turns out, GSK spent 11 years covering up trial data that showed that Avandia was a risky drug for the heart—again providing indisputable evidence that the drug paradigm is about money, not health. Avandia topped the list of drugs linked to fatal adverse events in 2009, according to an analysis of U.S. FDA records, with 1,354 deaths reported that year alone. As a result, the FDA recently decided to restrict access to the drug.

In the US, Avandia is now only available to new patients if they are unable to achieve glycemic control using other medications and, in consultation with their health care professional, decide not to take a different drug for medical reasons. Europe decided to ban the drug due to its exaggerated health risks.

What Can You Expect from GSK in the Future?

Well, considering the fact that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, is now a member of GSK's corporate responsibility committee (a position he entered in May 2009), I predict we'll see more of the same types of cover-ups in the future.

James Murdoch, as you may know, is also the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation Europe and Asia, and chairman of BSkyB. I can only imagine the extent to which GSK can benefit from having a media mogul on their pay roll. Clearly they've thought this one through, and it makes perfect sense when you consider the clout they need to keep the media quiet about their various wrongdoings...

Having Murdoch in a role to oversee their corporate responsibilities is like having a top mobster as the god-father of your child. I think it's safe to say that if strings need to be pulled, they will be pulled—hard.

Meanwhile, Scam-Buster Efforts by States and the Feds Continue

Fortunately, states' attorneys general like Zoeller are gaining ground in gathering support for rooting out the criminal acts that Big Pharma continues to perpetuate. More and more, organizations like the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the False Claims Act Legal Center, and Politicol News are starting to investigate and publicize the illegal – and criminal – actions that these companies have been getting away with for years.

Last July, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced the formation of the Healthcare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team, which together with the Department of Justice, US Attorneys' Offices and other federal agencies will target healthcare and drug fraud.

Thanks to the federal False Claims Act, state and federal investigators have a gun that they can use to hunt down and prosecute these heinous crimes with. If you visit the False Claims Act Legal Center website, you'll get a hint of just how much this type of corporate crime has been going on. One thing should be crystal clear at this point though, and that is that the drug industry simply cannot be trusted. They have the criminal history to prove it.

A Safety Issue Even More Disturbing than that of Unsafe Drugs

One aspect that truly worries me is that while the criminal cases we've seen in the past several years are related to drugs, many of these companies, including GSK, also produce VACCINES.

And guess what?

They're typically not liable for damages from, or harm done by, contaminated or otherwise dangerous vaccines! We've recently seen evidence of "mistakes" in vaccine manufacturing as well, but vaccine makers are rarely if ever punished for these willful errors and omissions, which should provide you some further food for thought.

Remember The Dr. Oz Show Today

Last Tuesday I was in Manhattan to film The Dr. Oz Show where he actually allowed me to mention a number of these issues. I suspect some of the footage will not be aired but my guess is most will. Please be sure and tune in. You can see a trailer for the show here. You can go to this link to find out where it is aired in your area. If you want to watch it right now though you can go their site and view it. For those of you wondering about the astaxanthin I discuss on the second segment, we hope to have it available on the site in a few weeks.

When Contending Costs Everything

2011-01-22T19:56:00.001-05:00

By Jan Markell
Olive Tree Ministries

What on earth is Pastor Rick Warren thinking? I have avoided being harsh concerning Rick but on the issue I am about to outline, I must be blunt. A series of errors is outlined below but the zinger following them is my focus.

Praising Syria for its religious freedom when it is an evil, repressive regime.
Perfecting church-growth efforts that even include synagogues, but what is missing in the process is the proclamation of the gospel. Warren's church-growth plan focuses only on numbers.
Being a part of the leadership or board of advisors for questionable organizations such as the World Economic Forum, The Council on Foreign Relations, and Tony Blair's Faith Foundation which is a pagan, ecumenical outfit.
Speaking to the North American Islamic Society in July 2009 but withholding the gospel from his message. This was another ecumenical effort.
Misquoting Jesus in The Purpose Driven Life saying that He stated, "My return is none of your business" when, in fact, the Bible emphasizes that His return is our blessed hope. The Bible encourages us to watch and pray for His return. This theme consumes more than one-third of the Bible.
Embracing the false theology of Kingdom Now/Dominion eschatology which says the church will save the world through Pastor Warren's global P.E.A.C.E. plan, global AIDS' efforts, etc. This is raging through evangelicalism and is a delusion, as we are on a cursed planet that only Christ's return can save.
Underplaying the issues of hell, sin, repentance, etc., in his book and other global platforms he has been given.

Because of a new effort launched January 15 at Saddleback Church, I join the voices of vocal critics. He has put the souls and lives of his people and millions more in danger. I do not know his motive. Last Saturday he launched a year-long effort to get his congregation and himself in shape. You can hear and read about it on the Saddleback Web site:

"God's prescription for your health. Be a part of this transformational debut to be a healthier you! We'll hear from world-renowned doctors on a plan to get healthy and stay that way in the new decade."

Who are "the world-renowned doctors" who have designed this program just for Saddleback Church? Men who are blatant promoters of Eastern mystical practices. Let me elaborate.

Best-selling author Dr. Richard Amen is a professor of psychiatry and teaches Eastern religious meditation and New Age energy-based Reiki.

You can hear Rick and Dr. Amen interacting on the Saddleback Web site. On page 238 of Amen's book, Making a Good Brain Great, he states,

"I recommend an active form of Yoga meditation called Krya Kirtan. It is based on five primal sounds."

He advocates repeating these sounds daily for 12 minutes.

Dr. Mark Hyman is a four-time New York Times best-selling author who again promotes mystical meditation based on Buddhist principles. In his book, The Ultramind Solution, Hyman emphasizes meditation, saying it doesn't matter what religion one is - all will benefit from it (p. 322). He praises the practice perfected by Buddhists (p. 384).

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a promoter of Reiki and Transcendental Meditation. Oz says he is also inspired by Emmanuel Swedenborg, an 18th century cult founder who taught that all religions lead to God. Swedenborg denied all orthodox Christian beliefs. There are many followers of the cult of Swedenborgism today.

What is Pastor Warren's comment on the character of his three guests?

"I am honored to be partnering with these internationally distinguished health experts."

Has he no understanding that putting into practice the various procedures they teach will put his congregation in great jeopardy?

Is the deception that great today? And what about the tens of thousands of churches who align with Saddleback? Will they get on board as well, putting millions of Christian's souls and lives at stake? How many demons are lurking around the wicked practices of Transcendental Meditation, Reiki, Yoga, and similar Eastern traditions?

As apologist Eric Barger says,

"Among the most troubling aspects of Warren's progression are his alliances. When the most visible Christian leader of our day rubs shoulders with and aids the causes of assorted globalists, New Agers, Muslims, and now looks to one who is inspired by cultist Emanuel Swedenborg, the results are devastating. When leaders decide to reject discernment in favor of ecumenism, then innocent, unsuspecting people are, in effect, targeted by Satan's unrelenting plan to move the church away from the truth of God's Word. This is a perfect example of why following men, instead of the Bible, is a dangerous proposition."

Rick Warren says, "Americans are getting fatter and fatter and we must do something." This seems a strange cause for a man some call 'America's pastor.' Shouldn't our burden as evangelicals be the leanness of the soul and not the body? Equally perplexing is why his church leaders and members are fine with this year long effort to glorify men who promote Eastern mysticism and other practices that are ungodly.

Ministry leaders have to choose our battles. Criticizing Christian leaders causes us distress and results in the loss of supporters, donations, churches, and even friends. We are called every name imaginable so understand that contending for the faith costs everything. But contending isn't an option. It's a commandment in Jude 3. Saddleback Church is now presenting a different gospel via the three doctors who will speak into the lives of many for one full year. These men will be affirmed by Pastor Rick Warren. There will be damage.

If some do not sound a warning, millions will be swept up in a program that could cause far more damage than obesity could ever do. The gods represented by the three doctors are after souls. They are gods who lead people away from eternal life in heaven and target souls for a Godless eternity. We cannot be silent no matter what the cost is to the critics.

Pray for Pastor Rick Warren and his church leaders. The program launched last weekend could be stopped by the leadership if they would grasp the offense of this effort.

Distributed by www.worldviewweekend.com

Chuck Crismier - 10 Truths About Socialism: Will Government Replace God?

2011-01-22T16:25:00.001-05:00

Israel Wary of Vatican Synod (Bishop Claims God's Promise To Israel Is "Cancelled")

2011-01-16T02:04:00.002-05:00

A recent Vatican synod of bishops, called to discuss the situation in the Middle East, has stirred Israel’s fears. Although recent popes have attempted to reach out to the Jews, they are still wary. Centuries of persecution by dozens of popes are not easily forgotten. One writer in the Israel National News of October 24 focused on a statement in the final document of the synod: "Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable."

This was in the context of admonishing Israel to commit "to a sincere, just and permanent peace." Elsewhere in the document the synod expresses "hope that the two-State-solution might become a reality and not a dream only," and, that the UN would take "the necessary legal steps to put an end to the occupation of the different Arab territories." The Israel National News reporter comments: "The Catholic church in recent years has been trying to overcome centuries of anti-Semitism and proof that it exploited the Holocaust to try to convert Jews who were saved." He is referring to recent revelations that, while the Vatican claimed to have intervened and saved many Jews from Hitler’s gas chambers, in reality, it did so to convert them to Catholicism. Babies, in particular, who were saved, were baptized and placed with Roman Catholic families and never told of their Jewish heritage.

The tenor of the final document is clearly in favor of the Palestinians as victims of "occupation" and denied "justice." Little mention is made of the relentless Palestinian attacks on Israel and their constant demand that the only "just" solution that they will accept is the elimination of Israel.

At the conclusion of the synod, one archbishop, Cyril Salim Bustros, restated the pope’s long held belief that God’s promise of an eternal homeland for the Jews, was cancelled when Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as the Messiah: "For Christians, one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people… There is no longer a favored people, a chosen people; all men and women of every country have become the chosen people."

This belief is the spark that has ignited centuries of persecution of the Jews. "Christ killers" was the cry of the crusaders who slaughtered thousands of Jews on their way to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslim infidels. Hitler’s "final solution" to the "Jewish problem" was partly inspired by this attitude.

The sordid history of the Vatican’s persecution of the Jews has been all but eliminated from modern history books. But modern Israel remembers and is not about to let the recent sweet talk from the Vatican fool them. They know that millions of Jews have died at the hands of popes and tyrants motivated by Satan’s determination to eliminate them.

They also know that the pope is an additional enemy with eyes fixed on Jerusalem. Not only is it holy to Judaism and Islam, the Vatican is also maneuvering behind the scenes to gain control of it. Rome’s expressed solution to the problem of Jerusalem is to internationalize it under UN jurisdiction. The popes’ cozy position with the UN would, presumably, give them a part in ruling the city. Many details of this history of the Vatican against the Jews have been preserved in the accounts given by ex-Jesuit Alberto Rivera. The Alberto series of Crusader Comics by Chick Publications pulls together some of the facts behind Roman Catholicism’s historic attempts to eliminate the Jews and substitute itself as the "people of God."

The Jesuits have been the Vatican’s "special forces" over the centuries in the attempt to solve the "Jewish problem." Edmund Paris’s book, The Secret History of the Jesuits, also contains a detailed account of their maneuverings over the years.

The President of the United States Is a Socialist and Some "Evangelicals" Are Helping Him

2011-01-08T18:52:00.002-05:00

by David A. Noebel

It's official-Barack Obama is a socialist! Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly posed the question to Dick Morris: "In your heart, you believe [Obama] is a socialist?" to which Morris replied, "Yes, I do" (The O'Reilly Factor, December 15, 2010).

Dick Morris has made very few political mistakes in his life, and his opinion confirms my longstanding belief that our current president is a Fabian Socialist with a bias toward revolution! Anyone who counts among his associates and mentors Frank Marshall Davis, Saul Alinsky, Cornel West, Jim Wallis, Jeremiah Wright, Michael Klonsky, and Bill Ayers could not come away without such a bias.

Remember John C. Drew who knew Obama when they were both students at Occidental College back in the early 1980s? Drew admits that he was at one time a revolutionary Marxist and concluded that Obama was "a pure Marxist socialist." Indeed, he also said that from his perspective Obama "had a hard Marxist-Leninist point of view." (See Stanley Kurtz, Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism, page 88.)

Obama's very rhetoric gives him away! He refers to opponents in the Senate and House as "enemies." He exemplifies the typical Marxist socialist who lines up in his crosshairs for destruction whatever institution he has his eye on to socialize (nationalize) in his quest to destroy capitalism in any way possible. His move to nationalize the health care industry (which will eventually make the federal government the single payer) and the student loan industry are dead giveaways of what Marxists have in mind: ultimately all Americans will be dependent on government for their health care and only radical students will be eligible for student loans! Evangelical conservative Christians need not apply!

The confirmation that Obama is swimming in Marxist waters right up to the present time is his endorsement that allowed the Communist Party USA to participate in the October 2, 2010, "One Nation Working Together" rally in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the George Soros funded Tides Center.

Andree Seu at World magazine picked up the significance of this event when she remarked, "Once Communists in America lurked in the shadows: now the Communist Party USA is an unabashed presence at the Oct. 2 'One Nation Working Together' rally" (November 6, 2010, p. 79).

John Sweeney, former president of the AFL-CIO, also allowed Communists back into his union. David Horowitz and Richard Poe in The Shadow Party say, "Much has been made of Sweeney's political radicalism. A card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America [a part of the Socialist International founded by Karl Marx], Sweeney opened the AFL-CIO's door to Communist Party organizers for the first time since the 1950s, allowing Communists to distribute literature at his conventions and recruit workers to their cause" (p. 166). President Obama plans to award Sweeney the Medal of Freedom in February.

Yes, the AFL-CIO was also one of the 400 Marxist organizations participating in the October 2 rally. In fact, the list of organizations participating in the "One Nation Working Together" rally provides a good cross section of the radical Marxist organizations operating in the United States. There were more Communists in attendance at that rally than are found in Moscow's Red Square and probably Beijing's Tiananmen Square!

Of course, Jim Wallis and his Sojourners organization were also rally goers. Wallis made recent news on another front as well. According to Newsweek's Educational Site, on November 30, 2010, Wallis was among a dozen "moderate" Christian leaders who gathered in Washington to discuss ways to "articulate a vision of Christianity that will counter a new-and newly powerful-religious-right rhetoric in advance of the 2012 election." In other words, they were plotting ways to make conservative evangelicals think of Obama as one of them. How this pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, pro-socialist president could be "one of them" is difficult to fathom. But Joel Hunter, pastor of the Northland Church in Orlando, and Tony Campolo, sociologist and advisor to former President Clinton, were among the Christian leaders at the meeting.

Campolo set the tone for the meeting by denouncing the religious right's "vision of America as God's own country, and free-market capitalism as crucial to the nation's flourishing." He went on to elaborate that what motivates religious conservatives is this distorted vision of God and country and that anyone who disagrees with them "is a socialist or a communist."

To this group and others of like mind, the "radical right" (i.e., conservative Christians) must be demeaned if not destroyed so the new guard of evangelicals, led by the Rev. Wallis and his loyal sidekicks Bill and Lynne Hybels (Lynne writes for Sojourners magazine) of Willowcreek Church in Chicago, must emerge as the new leaders.

The truth is that Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo have been part of the religious left for years (see Ron Nash's Why the Left Is Not Right), and Wallis has been swimming in Marxist waters ever since his college days at Michigan State University when he was involved with Students for a Democratic Society.

Wallis recently showed his dialectical morality when challenged by Marvin Olasky, editor of World magazine. When Olasky asked Wallis to finally admit he was "a man of the left," Wallis insisted he was a man of the center. When Olasky insisted that men of the center don't take financial help from the radical leftist George Soros and his Open Society Institute, Wallis insisted his organization (Sojourners) never took funds from Soros. When Olasky produced evidence that Sojourners has taken tens of thousands of dollars from Soros, Wallis finally had to say "uncle." Indeed, Wallis actually apologized to Olasky for calling him "a liar." (See World magazine, August 18, 2010.)

Evangelical Christians will no doubt hear how bigoted and brain dead they are if they plan to vote against the socialist Obama in 2012. America is presently at the edge of a spiritual, moral, political, and financial abyss. Congress and the president just made the military safe for a practice that every religion in the history of the world has condemned. Stay tuned to see which evangelicals line up to push America over the edge in favor of some form of global governance and socialist paradise!

David A. Noebel, President

Summit Ministries

719.685.9103

Distributed by www.worldviewweekend.com

Author: More teens becoming 'fake' Christians

2010-08-28T12:10:00.003-04:00

Anne Havard of Atlanta, Georgia, may be a rarity. She's an American teenager who is passionate about her Christian faith.

(CNN) -- If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning:

Your child is following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.

Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem.

Dean is a minister, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of "Almost Christian," a new book that argues that many parents and pastors are unwittingly passing on this self-serving strain of Christianity.

She says this "imposter'' faith is one reason teenagers abandon churches.

"If this is the God they're seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust," Dean says. "Churches don't give them enough to be passionate about."

What traits passionate teens share

Dean drew her conclusions from what she calls one of the most depressing summers of her life. She interviewed teens about their faith after helping conduct research for a controversial study called the National Study of Youth and Religion.

They have a lot to say. They can talk about money, sex and their family relationships with nuance.--Kenda Creasy Dean, author

The study, which included in-depth interviews with at least 3,300 American teenagers between 13 and 17, found that most American teens who called themselves Christian were indifferent and inarticulate about their faith.

The study included Christians of all stripes -- from Catholics to Protestants of both conservative and liberal denominations. Though three out of four American teenagers claim to be Christian, fewer than half practice their faith, only half deem it important, and most can't talk coherently about their beliefs, the study found.

Many teenagers thought that God simply wanted them to feel good and do good -- what the study's researchers called "moralistic therapeutic deism."

Some critics told Dean that most teenagers can't talk coherently about any deep subject, but Dean says abundant research shows that's not true.

"They have a lot to say," Dean says. "They can talk about money, sex and their family relationships with nuance. Most people who work with teenagers know that they are not naturally inarticulate."

In "Almost Christian," Dean talks to the teens who are articulate about their faith. Most come from Mormon and evangelical churches, which tend to do a better job of instilling religious passion in teens, she says.

No matter their background, Dean says committed Christian teens share four traits: They have a personal story about God they can share, a deep connection to a faith community, a sense of purpose and a sense of hope about their future.

"There are countless studies that show that religious teenagers do better in school, have better relationships with their parents and engage in less high-risk behavior," she says. "They do a lot of things that parents pray for."

Dean, a United Methodist Church minister who says parents are the most important influence on their children's faith, places the ultimate blame for teens' religious apathy on adults.

Some adults don't expect much from youth pastors. They simply want them to keep their children off drugs and away from premarital sex.

Others practice a "gospel of niceness," where faith is simply doing good and not ruffling feathers. The Christian call to take risks, witness and sacrifice for others is muted, she says.

"If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation," wrote Dean, a professor of youth and church culture at Princeton Theological Seminary.

More teens may be drifting away from conventional Christianity. But their desire to help others has not diminished, another author says.

Barbara A. Lewis, author of "The Teen Guide to Global Action," says Dean is right -- more teens are embracing a nebulous belief in God.

Yet there's been an "explosion" in youth service since 1995 that Lewis attributes to more schools emphasizing community service.

Teens that are less religious aren't automatically less compassionate, she says.

"I see an increase in youth passion to make the world a better place," she says. "I see young people reaching out to solve problems. They're not waiting for adults."

What religious teens say about their peers

We think that they want cake, but they actually want steak and potatoes, and we keep giving them cake.
--Elizabeth Corrie, Emory University professor

Elizabeth Corrie meets some of these idealistic teens every summer. She has taken on the book's central challenge: instilling religious passion in teens.

Corrie, who once taught high school religion, now directs a program called YTI -- the Youth Theological Initiative at Emory University in Georgia.

YTI operates like a theological boot camp for teens. At least 36 rising high school juniors and seniors from across the country gather for three weeks of Christian training. They worship together, take pilgrimages to varying religious communities and participate in community projects.

Corrie says she sees no shortage of teenagers who want to be inspired and make the world better. But the Christianity some are taught doesn't inspire them "to change anything that's broken in the world."

Teens want to be challenged; they want their tough questions taken on, she says.

"We think that they want cake, but they actually want steak and potatoes, and we keep giving them cake," Corrie says.

David Wheaton, an Atlanta high school senior, says many of his peers aren't excited about Christianity because they don't see the payoff.

"If they can't see benefits immediately, they stay away from it," Wheaton says. "They don't want to make sacrifices."

How 'radical' parents instill religious passion in their children

Churches, not just parents, share some of the blame for teens' religious apathy as well, says Corrie, the Emory professor.

She says pastors often preach a safe message that can bring in the largest number of congregants. The result: more people and yawning in the pews.

"If your church can't survive without a certain number of members pledging, you might not want to preach a message that might make people mad," Corrie says. "We can all agree that we should all be good and that God rewards those who are nice."

Corrie, echoing the author of "Almost Christian," says the gospel of niceness can't teach teens how to confront tragedy.

"It can't bear the weight of deeper questions: Why are my parents getting a divorce? Why did my best friend commit suicide? Why, in this economy, can't I get the good job I was promised if I was a good kid?"

What can a parent do then?

Get "radical," Dean says.

She says parents who perform one act of radical faith in front of their children convey more than a multitude of sermons and mission trips.

A parent's radical act of faith could involve something as simple as spending a summer in Bolivia working on an agricultural renewal project or turning down a more lucrative job offer to stay at a struggling church, Dean says.

But it's not enough to be radical -- parents must explain "this is how Christians live," she says.

"If you don't say you're doing it because of your faith, kids are going to say my parents are really nice people," Dean says. "It doesn't register that faith is supposed to make you live differently unless parents help their kids connect the dots."

'They called when all the cards stopped'

Anne Havard, an Atlanta teenager, might be considered radical. She's a teen whose faith appears to be on fire.

Havard, who participated in the Emory program, bubbles over with energy when she talks about possibly teaching theology in the future and quotes heavy-duty scholars such as theologian Karl Barth.

She's so fired up about her faith that after one question, Havard goes on a five-minute tear before stopping and chuckling: "Sorry, I just talked a long time."

Havard says her faith has been nurtured by what Dean, the "Almost Christian" author, would call a significant faith community.

In 2006, Havard lost her father to a rare form of cancer. Then she lost one of her best friends -- a young woman in the prime of life -- to cancer as well. Her church and her pastor stepped in, she says.

"They called when all the cards stopped," she says.

When asked how her faith held up after losing her father and friend, Havard didn't fumble for words like some of the teens in "Almost Christian."

She says God spoke the most to her when she felt alone -- as Jesus must have felt on the cross.

"When Jesus was on the cross crying out, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' Jesus was part of God,'' she says. "Then God knows what it means to doubt.

"It's OK to be in a storm, to be in a doubt," she says, "because God was there, too."

Christian Rock Exposed

2010-06-20T18:48:00.000-04:00

MARSHA STEVENS •

In 1971, the first Christian rock album was recorded, titled “Come to the Waters” by the group Children of the Day. Led by singer Marsha Stevens, her song “For Those Tears I Died” was the spark that ignited the CCM wildfire.

Dr. Mark Powell, author of An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, writes, “[Marsha] certainly deserves to be known as ‘the mother of contemporary Christian music’”. (p.870) CCM’s “Mother” is also a militant lesbian. Marsha started the spiritually perverted group B.A.L.M. (Born Again Lesbian Music).

KING'S X •

Another popular CCM group is King’s X. Despite the fact, that King’s X member Doug Pinnick is a proud homosexual, they are still romanced by the Christian world. Pinnick told Aquarian Weekly, in May 2000, “Yeah, I’m gay; big deal”. During Christian concerts, Pinnick proudly wore the homosexual trademark; “pink triangle”. Viciously denouncing Christianity, Pinnick told Metal Manaics:

“I just finally kinda somehow weaned myself out of religion, out of the whole thing to the point I just do not believe in Christianity anymore at all. . . Why do people live their lives for God, wasting their lives. . .” (Metal Maniacs, Nov. 2000, p.78)

Even after Pinnick’s hate-filled attacks on Christianity and homosexual perversion, Dr. Powell, writes in An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, “King’s X is one of the most popular and most highly respected Christian bands in the world. . .” (p.489) Popular CCM author, Mark Joseph incredibly calls Pinnick’s homosexual outing as a “courageous confession”!

STRYPER •

The 1980’s were rocked and shocked by the Christian metal-glam rockers Stryper. Stryper pranced around wearing mascara, lip gloss, eye shadow, earrings, spandex and women’s hair styles, deliberately mocking 1 Cor. 6:9-10 (“effeminate. . . shall inherit the kingdom of God”). Stryper’s popularity and perversion of Christian music garnished a CCM-record-breaking, two platinum and four gold records!

Robert Sweet of Styrper, makes a startling admission about Christian rock in RIP magazine:

“As a matter of fact, the band was one thing that was making us turn and walk the opposite direction from Christianity. . . If you’re doing something you like doing, and God says not to do it then you’re not going to pay attention.”(RIP, April, 1987 p. 49)

Sweet knew Stryper and Christian rock was “the opposite direction from Christianity” and “God says not to do it”. Tim Gaines of Stryper, revealed to HM magazine,

“From the end of 1988 ‘til February of this year [1997], I was drunk every day.” (HM, Mar/Apr 97 #64, p.47)

For over three years while Stryper was performing Christian concerts, Tim Gaines was drunk every day!

Oz Fox of Stryper honestly says,

“To be honest, Stryper wasn’t what we should have been spiritually speaking... there was sin happening in the band. . . And the reason why it was happening is because we didn’t know the Lord like we should have.” (HM, Mar/Apr 97 #64, p.49)

Did I mention Stryper was one of the most popular bands in rock music history?

SANDI PATTI •

In 1995, shock waves shook the CCM planet. CCM’s queen-of-clean, Sandi Patti, confessed to committing adultery since 1991 with singer Don Peslis. And he was not her first. Christianity Today reports,

“According to several independent sources who at different times were aware of Patty’s activities, she took part in two extramarital relationships, in both cases with married men.” (Christianity Today, Sept. 11, 1995 p. 72)

During much of Sandi Patti’s CCM career, she was committing adultery with married men! When Sandi Patti came out on stage, giving testimony and singing for the Lord, she was committing adultery! Sandi soon divorced her husband and married her adulterous companion Peslis, even though her husband was willing to forgive her and restore their marriage.

PsychoHeresy Awareness writes, "Patty's rising popularity is indicative of the trashed condition of Christians who claim the name of Christ but will not follow the doctrines of the Bible. Marrying a partner in adultery does not make the relationship right. It constitutes a continual condition of disobedience to God. How does one repent of adultery while one continues in an ongoing relationship with a former accomplice in adultery?" (PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, March-April 1998 pp.1,8).

By the way, Sandi is more popular than ever.

Proverbs 30:20 has Sandi’s name on it:

Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Proverbs 30:20

RAZE •

One of CCM’s recent emerging stars was the dance-hip-hop group Raze. In 2001, Raze singer, founder and former dancer for Carman, Ja’ Marc Davis was arrested and charged with five counts of lewd molestation, three counts of rape by instrumentation and three counts of forcible sodomy. His three victims were ages 13 and 16 (2). Incredibly, much of the time Raze is singing for the Holy Lord Jesus, the lead singer has molested a 13-year-old girl!

Loudly testifying to CCM’s total lack of any Christian convictions, a few months after Davis was arrested for molesting a 13-year-old girl, the prestigious Dove awards honored Raze with two Dove Awards! Frank Breeden, president of the Gospel Music Association said, “If they [Raze] should win, it would go to them”. Breeden describes Davis’s child molestation, rape and sodomy charges as simply a “moral difficulty”. It is no wonder much of Christian music is wallowing in the moral and spiritual sewers because the leaders label child molestation as a “moral difficulty” and also honor the pervert with two Dove awards!

MICHAEL ENGLISH •

1994 was an unprecedented night at the famous Dove Awards. CCM superstar former Bill Gaither Trio Star, Michael English won an unbelievable, record-breaking, six Dove Awards! Just as unbelievable, less than 24 hours later, English called a press conference to confess an adulterous affair with Marabeth Jordon of the CCM group First Call. To make matters even worse, both were married and Jordon was pregnant with English’s illegitimate child.

Despite English’s highly publicized adultery, the very next year he won another Dove award for his recording with the Bill Gaither group! English soon filled the tabloids with such juicy slime as frequenting strip clubs; dating a stripper; being arrested for assault charges filed by his shacked-up girlfriend. During much of this open-sin-decadent time, English was still happily working within the CCM world. In 2000, English was arrested and pleaded guilty to 12 counts of illegally obtaining prescription painkillers. Despite his open rebellion, English can still be found performing Christian concerts, and for a while, even hosting the Michael English Show on TBN. English flippantly says of his drug addiction, forged prescriptions and arrest, “It was an innocent mistake. It could happen to anybody.”

Why air out all this dirty laundry infesting CCM? Because Christians need to wake up to the fruits of rock music. Rock music was born and bred with the seeds of rebellion. Calling it Christian and changing a few words will not transform the rebellious nature of rock music. The Encyclopaedia Britannica Yearbook for 1956 described rock’n roll as, “insistent savagery . . . deliberately competing with the artistic ideals of the jungle.”

Secular rocker Lita Ford got it right,

“Listen, rock’n roll ain’t church. It’s nasty business. You gotta be nasty too. If you’re goody, goody, you can’t sing or play it. . .” (Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1988)

Homosexual rock star David Bowie said,

“Rock has always been the devil’s music. . . I believe rock and roll is dangerous . . . I feel we’re only heralding something even darker than ourselves.” (Rolling Stone, Feb. 12, 1976)

Clearly, the fruits of CCM stink with the stench of sin and rebellion of rock music.

THE MYTH OF CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC •

After documenting the many sins polluting Christian rock, I always get the question, "But how will we reach our young people if we do not use Christian rock?" Barna Research Group prepared an extensive survey of Christian teenagers titled Third Millennium Teens Report. In the report they write (p. 68), “Among the surprises emerging from the research is that teenagers do not come to church because it has hot music.” In the report (p. 54), Barna constructed a list of “What Teenagers May Look For In a Church”. And out of 18 items on the list – at an insignificant number 14 was the type of music! Barna’s extensive report has an error rate of less than 5%. The “Great Drawing Card” of rock music is a myth! The evidence proves it is not true!

Undoubtedly, the most outspoken promoter of Christian rock is CCM artist Charlie Peacock. In his book, At The Crossroads, Peacock admits Christian rock is NOT reaching lost people! Peacock polled 35 popular CCM artists. He asked them “to estimate the number of letters received from non-Christians over the span of their careers”. Peacock writes, “. . . over 50% gave ten or fewer letters as their answer”. He adds, “. . . we must give serious consideration to the possibility that we’re producing very little evangelism and cultural penetration for the cause of Christ.” (Peacock, Charlie, At The Crossroads, p. 184) And may I remind you – that is from CCM’s greatest supporter!

Christian rock is not getting people saved!

It is spiritually blinding and perverting Christians!

CCM veteran Michael Card, warns about CCM,

“The direction and value system are getting worse faster than any of us can imagine.” (Christianity Today, May 20, 1996, p. 22)

JACI VELASQUEZ •

CCM star, Jaci Velasquez’s starring role in the movie, Chasing Papi, confirms Card’s warning. Chicago Sun-Times, famed movie critic, Roger Ebert describes Chasing Papi, as a “. . .feature-length jiggle show with Charlie’s Angels transformed into Latina bimbos. . .” Ebert compares Chasing Papi to the nearly-nude magazine Maxim (Walmart removed Maxim for it’s filth). Papi, he writes, “. . would make your average Maxim reader feel right at home.” One scene in Chasing Papi, is the three women (including Jaci) hiding in Papi’s bedroom wearing very (very, very) skimpy red lingerie. When Papi appears they all lusciously pop-out. Ebert says the scene looks like “. . . a fashion show by Victoria’s Secret”. Another reviewer says Chasing Papi is “. . . as lubricious as a centerfold.” (Lubricious means sexual arousal or lustful)

Unbelievably, Velasquez tells CCM, "With my music and now this movie, I feel like I've been given a platform. More than ever, I want to use that platform to be authentic about my faith to people who may not know God. . ." How can anyone be "authentic about their faith" by appearing in a lustful, movie that is compared to a centerfold, wearing red skimpy lingerie in a man's bedroom? Can people really be that spiritually blind? Velasquez proudly tells CCM, after her concerts ". . . I always get letters saying, 'You dress too sexy. I was offended; I'm never taking my kid to your show again.'"

EVANESCENCE •

Another revealing testimony to the complete spiritual blindness of CCM is the unmasking of the gothic metal band Evanescence. Evanescence’s album Fallen was heavily marketed by the mega Christian music distributor Provident and it swiftly climbed to the Number One spot on Billboard’s Christian charts! Virtually overnight, Evanescence was the new “shining star” of the Christian Music world. But there was one little-bitty problem. . .

Evanescence is not a Christian band!

In Entertainment Weekly (April 18, 2003), Evanescence finally could no longer take it. The spiritual blindness of the Contemporary Christian Music world even baffled Evanescence! Guitarist Ben Moody flatly tells Entertainment Weekly,

“We’re actually high on the Christian charts, and I’m like, What the f*** are we even doing there?” (Entertainment Weekly, April 18, 2003, p. 41)

Yea, what are they doing there?

Here is how spiritually-blind, CCM magazine reviewed Evanescence’s Fallen:

“Evanescence’s unapologetic declaration of faith in songs like ‘Tourniquet’ and ‘Whisper’ have Christian message boards buzzing with commentary about the band’s seemingly brave ‘Jesus’ agenda.” (CCM, May 2003, p. 41)

Their “unapologetic declaration of faith”? Their brave “Jesus agenda”?

Let's take a look at some of Evanescence's lyrics. Let us examine their “unapologetic declaration of faith”:

In their song, Breathe No More, they openly sing, ". . . I've come to believe my souls on the other side".

Breathe No More - Evanescence (Fallen)

I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
That I've come to believe my souls on the other side. . .
And I bleed, I bleed, . . .
Convince me that I've been sick forever.

Bring Me To Life - Evanescence (Fallen)
How can you see into my eyes. . .
Without a soul
my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold . . .
Save me.
Call my name and save me from the dark.
Wake me up.
Bid my blood to run. . .

Everybody's Fool - Evanescence (Fallen)
Lost in your lies . . .
I know the truth now
I know who you are. . .
Never was and never will be
Not for real that you can save me
And somehow now you're everybody's fool

In Farther Away, Evanescene sings, "I sold my soul just to hide the light!" To a Christian - the Light is the Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:12). "And now I see what I really am - A thief, A WHORE and a liar". Is this the kind of music our Christian youth should be listening to? Would anyone, with ANY spiritual discernment, possibly believe this is Bible-Believing Christian music?

Farther Away - Evanescence (Fallen)
I sold my soul just to hide the light.
And now I see what I really am,
A thief a whore, and a liar.

Hello - Evanescence (Fallen)
Don't try to fix me
I'm not broken
Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide...

In their song Imaginary, even throws in a little wicca, pagan, new-age doctrine with "the goddess of imaginary light"

Imaginary - Evanescence (Fallen)
Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The goddess of imaginary light

My Last Breath - Evanescence (Fallen)
Closing your eyes
You pray your dreams will leave you here,
But still you wake and know the truth -
No one's there.
Say goodnight, don't be afraid
Calling me, holding me, as you fade to black.

In their song Whisper, Evanescence sings the "this truth drives me into madness" and "fallen angels at my feet" who "whisper voices at my ear. Death before my eyes". Who, with any real Christian spiritual discernment, could honestly recommend and endorse this to our Christian young people?

Whisper - Evanescence (Fallen)
No one's here and I fall into myself
This truth drive me
Into madness
I know I can stop the pain. . .
Fallen angels at my feet
Whispered voices at my ear
Death before my eyes

"truth drive me into madness. . ."?

How different from the words of the Lord Jesus. Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"

How in the world, can ANYONE possibly believe this is Christian music?

In the song Tourniquet, Evanescence sings a haunting, dark, gothic, blasphemous cry mocking salvation. They even toss in the title "Christ". Music-Critic.ca says of Tourniquet: "The question of whether God is listening or even there at all is brought up throughout the song,. . ." (www.music-critic.ca/album-reviews/evanescence_fallen.shtml) And this is a Christian message?

Tourniquet - Evanescence (Fallen)
Am I too lost to be saved ?. . .
My God! My Tourniquet,
Return to me salvation. . .
Lost for so long.
Will you be on the other side ?
Will you forgive me ? . . .
My soul cries, for deliverance.
Will I be denied ?
Christ! Tourniquet! My suicide.

And CCM magazine praises this wickedness for their “unapologetic declaration of faith” and their “brave ‘Jesus’ agenda”! How can anyone possibly be that spiritually blind?

No wonder Singer Amy Lee also tells Entertainment Weekly, “I guarantee that if the Christian bookstore owners LISTENED to some of those songs, they wouldn’t sell the CD."

Now what does that testify to the spiritual discernment of the Contemporary Christian Music world? Compare CCM's misleading "brave 'Jesus' agenda" and "unapologetic declaration of faith" review of Fallen to MTV's review of Fallen:

"Sounds Like: Exactly how they look: dark, eerie, and unabashedly rocking. . . "
MTV's review of Fallen
(www.mtvasia.com/reviews/cds/Items/2003050702.html, emphasis added)

Here's how Unearthed.com's describes Fallen:

"When one looks longs into the darkness, it stares into the depths of your soul as well. This abysmal introspection builds the beautiful ruins of truth. Just such a stark glory is what shines in the band Evanescence. . . pristine vocals soar over emotional, ethereal instrumentals ranging from the soft and sorrowful to the dark, heavy melees of aggression. . .Evanescence is not brutal, but is darkly heavy."
(http://www.unearthed.com/reviews/review_r_0232.shtml)

What's the difference? The secular world is simply listening to the music and making an honest evaluation. And the CCM crowd, as Evanescence's lead singer told Entertainment Weekly, "There are people hell-bent on the idea that we're a Christian band in disguise, and that we have some secret message,"

She got that right! They are "HELL bent". There is no way the Holy Spirit of God EVER lead anyone to recommend Evanescence to Christian young people! Not in a million years!

In Matthew 13:15, the Lord Jesus Christ describes some people whose "heart is waxed gross" and their ears are "dull of hearing". They hear it, but because of the deception in their heart, they can no longer hear the truth. A perfect description of many in Contemporary Christian Music. They are so caught up in rock music, they are not spiritually capable of hearing the truth.

For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Matthew 13:15

CARMAN •

When Elvis and the Beatles first appeared, the secular world was shocked as teenage girls screamed in lustful affection for their gods. Shout! magazine (Dec.1995, p.35) says of Carman, “...just the mention of his name brings excitement to throngs of fans, many of whom are women.”

Carman tells Shout, "I don't know what I do to attract women, I'm just trying to do what God told me to do long ago - bring the gospel to the world."

Yea. . . Right. . .

The Minneapolis Star Tribune in an article titled "Is he Elvis? Is he John Travolta? Nope. He's Carman", describes a sensual, carnal and ungodly Carman concert as:

"On his toes, he's a deep-voiced Elvis, swiveling his hips until the pointed-finger disco of 'Saturday Night Fever' kicks in, and he's suddenly John Travolta with a Bee Gees shrill. He raps, he rocks, he line dances. . ."
(Minneapolis Star Tribune, Is he Elvis? Is he John Travolta? Nope. He's Carman, 09-13-1996, p. 01E)

For some strange reason, I do not think swiveling your hips, rapping, rocking, line dancing, Elvis and John Travolta impersonations is what the Lord Jesus had in mind when He said in Mark 16:15, ". . . Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel. . ."

To no great surprise, Carman's "The Official R.I.O.T. Tourbook" lists Carman's Dream duet with none other than sex-symbol-heartthrob - Tom Jones!

An "enlightening" display of irony occurred when Carman printed his back page ad for "Halloween 3:16" in the Oct. 29, 1998 "Life" section of USA Today. It seems there was a slight typographical error. . . The ad stated referring to Carman - "See Him live." (See image at RIGHT)The "h" in "him" was "capitalized". To capitalize a "pronoun" (other than the beginning of a sentence) is to emphasize deity or God! The capitalization of a pronoun is reserved for God ONLY!

Sound familiar? It was the same lie Satan told Eve in Genesis 3:5, ". . .and ye shall be as gods. . ."

According to CCM (CCM, December 1998, p.24) this little typo cost Carman $300,000.

Carman’s Resurrection Rap video is some of the worst blasphemy I have ever witnessed. The video has the Lord Jesus Christ as a confused street hippie, the Pharisees and apostles are black street gang members. The crucifixion takes place, not on Calvary — but in a back alley gang fight. The body of the Lord Jesus is thrown into a garbage dumpster!

DC TALK •

Dallas Morning News, (April 27, 1996), describes a dcTalk concert, “As teenagers’ shrieks filled the Dallas Convention Center moments before dc Talk took the stage Friday night, one of the relatively few grown-ups in the sold-out crowd observed, ‘This is just like the Beatles.’”

The secular rocker Kurt Cobain is among rock’s worst antichrist. Cobain went around his neighborhood spray-painting, “ABORT CHRIST” and “GOD IS GAY”. (Des Barres, Pamela, Rock Bottom, pp.54-55) The CCM group dcTalk pays homage to antichrist Cobain by singing his song “All Apologies” in their concerts! Toby McKeehan of dc Talk, told USA Today, “Sometimes, being labeled a Christian band, we consider that a negative. . .”

A reporter for the San Diego North Country Reader, (Feb. 29, 1996), covering a dcTalk concert writes,

“. . . we both laughed during the buildup for the encore of “Purple Haze/Jesus Freak” as several young booty shakers cried, almost in unison, ‘These guys are the sh**, man.’”

Another undeniable testimony to the rotten, vulgar fruit of Christian rock – young people spewing profanity!

PLUS ONE •

CCM even has their own “sex-symbol-boy-bands”. CCM (June 2000) writes of Plus One,

“Following in the footsteps of ‘NSync, Backstreet Boys. . . The men are already Christian music’s latest sex symbols, with excitable teen girls doing what excitable teen girls do — screaming their adoration and begging for tokens of love.”

True Tunes describes a Plus One sex-symbol-show, “Suddenly, they appear. . . Girls scream. . . The silk robes are dropped to reveal sleek wardrobes. The female population of the audience is now screaming at a deafening pitch.”

And what about 2 Timothy 2:22 — “Flee also youthful lusts: . .”

CCM performer, Michael Card, tells Christianity Today (May 20, 1996 p. 22), “Now, the industry is celebrity-driven. The song is almost irrelevant. The focus is on the person, and songs have become disposable.”

ADD BACKSET BOYS TO DO A CHRISTAIN ALBUM

Do you know this CCM-man-worship is abomination to the Lord? Luke 16:15 says, “. . . that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God”? Do you realize, that according to the Lord Jesus, Satan’s goal is to uplift man? Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:23, “. . . Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

Could there possibly be any clearer proof of the real “god” of Christian Rock?

NEWSBOYS •

The award for the most nauseating display of spiritual blindness easily goes to Jody Davis of the Newsboys. Davis says of their album, Love Liberty Disco,

“Back in the 70’s when disco originated, the people who were into that would go to these clubs looking for love and acceptance. That’s something we have in the Church...” (Release, April/May 2000, p. 24)

Discos were homosexual hell-holes of filth and perversion. Here is how secular writers describe “discos”:

Disco music is a “call for gays to come out of the closet.” (Newsweek, April 2, 1979 p. 63)

“For the heyday of disco was also the heyday of recklessness in the gay male life-style. . . it cannot be denied that many gay men saw disco as the theme music of their collective orgy…” (Hole in our Soul, p.281)

“A 1980 handbook for would-be disco proprietors, describes discos as a pleasure palace where the public can ‘abandon themselves to the tidal wave of raw animal emotions that engulfs them’” (Ibid, p.281)

And Davis of the Newsboys likens the homosexual disco to the church!

THE ROCK •

Fanny Crosby is the greatest hymn writer that ever lived, writing over 9,000 songs! Before Fanny got saved, at 45 years old, she wrote many secular songs. But after she got saved - things were different. . . Here's what Fanny said about mixing Christian and worldly music:

"Sometimes I need to reject the music proposed for my songs because the musicians misunderstand that the Fanny Crosby who once wrote for the people in the saloons has merely changed the lyrics. Oh my no. The church must never sing it's songs to the melodies of the world."
- Fanny Crosby

And do you know why Fanny Crosby said that - because Fanny got saved! And God "hath put a NEW SONG in my mouth, even PRAISE unto our God" inside the NEW Fanny Crosby! Fanny Crosby wrote over 9,000 songs to the Lord! Fanny used over 200 different pen names because she wanted to make sure God got the glory and not her.

Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in Glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long;
Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellant greatness;
Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song!
-- Fanny J. Crosby

There is no such thing as “Christian” rock music. Just as there is no such thing as “Christian adultery” or “Christian homosexuality”. When it is rock, it is not Christian. There is only one “Christian rock” and “THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST” (1 Cor 10:4).

“For their rock is not as our Rock, . . .”
Deuteronomy 32:31

Former Spanish PM: If Israel goes down, we all go down - Haaretz Daily Newspaper * Israel News

2010-06-19T21:58:00.006-04:00

Former Spanish PM: If Israel goes down, we all go down - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

By Haaretz Service

Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar announced recently that he planned to promote a new initiative which would defend Israel's right to exist, as "if Israel goes down, we all go down," the former premier wrote in London newspaper The Times on Thursday.

"Israel is our first line of defense in a turbulent region that is constantly at risk of descending into chaos," Aznar wrote, adding that "to abandon Israel to its fate, at this moment of all moments, would merely serve to illustrate how far we have sunk and how inexorable our decline now appears."

The Friends for Israel initiative will include prominent political figures and academics such as Irish Nobel Prize laureate David Trimble (Irish Nobel Prize laureate and a panel member in Israel's internal investigation into the Gaza flotilla raid), Andrew Roberts (British hostorian) John Bolton (former United States Ambassador to the United Nations), Alejandro Toledo (the former President of Peru), Marcello Pera (philosopher and former President of the Italian Senate), Fiamma Nirenstein (the Italian author and politician), the financier Robert Agostinelli and the Catholic intellectual George Weigel, Aznar wrote in The Times.

Spain and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1975, however the ties between the two countries have not always been strong. In 2006, following the Second Lebanon War, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero accused Israel of "abusive force" which Israel strongly condemned.

Israel's envoy to Spain said at the time that the two countries' relations had been damaged after the Spanish prime minister's speech, during which he wore a Palestinian scarf. Spain's Jewish community accused Zapatero of being anti-Semitic, however tensions have since eased.

"In the wake of the recent incident on board a ship full of anti-Israeli activists in the Mediterranean, it is hard to think of a more unpopular cause to champion." Aznar wrote of his initiative which aims to support Israel despite the onslaught of criticism over a recent Israeli raid on a Freedom Flotilla headed to Gaza, in which nine activists were killed. " In an ideal world, no state, let alone a recent ally of Israel such as Turkey, would have sponsored and organized a flotilla whose sole purpose was to create an impossible situation for Israel: making it choose between giving up its security policy and the naval blockade, or risking the wrath of the world."

Aznar went on to state that Israel's right to exist should not be questioned as it was established by a United Nations decision, and added that as a nation with "deeply rooted democratic institutions," Israel is the only Western country that exists under constant threat of attack, whether it be from its neighboring countries or Iran.

"The real threats to regional stability," Azner wrote, "are to be found in the rise of a radical Islamism which sees Israel’s destruction as the fulfillment of its religious destiny and, simultaneously in the case of Iran, as an expression of its ambitions for regional hegemony. Both phenomena are threats that affect not only Israel, but also the wider West and the world at large."

Azner stressed, however, that the initiative would not defend any specific Israeli policies, but rather "what binds us is our unyielding support for Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself."

The former Spanish premier ended his opinion by highlighting Israel's central role in defining the West and said that "the West is what it is thanks to its Judeo-Christian roots. If the Jewish element of those roots is upturned and Israel is lost, then we are lost too. Whether we like it or not, our fate is inextricably intertwined."

www.LumelOnline.net - Eating At The Devil’s Table by David J. Stewart

2010-06-19T12:33:00.000-04:00

www.LumelOnline.net - Eating At The Devil’s Table by David J. Stewart

Israel To Receive Temple Mount | Before It's News

2010-06-19T12:29:00.000-04:00

Israel To Receive Temple Mount | Before It's News

Pastor Speaks Out Against President Obama, Anti-Christian Leaders in Washington, and Islam

2010-03-29T21:54:00.001-04:00

For All The Saints

2010-03-20T14:55:00.001-04:00

A small tribute to the Christian martyrs of the early centuries.

Vatican Hit By Gay Sex Scandal

2010-03-07T15:42:00.003-05:00

The Vatican has been thrown into chaos by reports that one of the Pope's ceremonial ushers, as well as a member of the elite Vatican choir, were involved in a homosexual prostitution ring.

The allegations came to light after Italian newspapers published transcripts of phone calls recorded by police, who had been conducting an unrelated corruption investigation.

The tapes appear to record Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Nigerian Vatican chorister, about men he wanted brought to him for sexual purposes. Balducci was allegedly paying 2,000 euros ($2,714) for each man he met, according to the Irish Times.

Balducci is recorded describing precise physical details of the men he wanted. The transcripts record that during five months in 2008, Ehiem procured for Balducci at least 10 contacts with, among others, "two black Cuban lads," a former male model from Naples, and a rugby player from Rome.

A report by the Italian Carabinieri on the case said: "In order to organize casual encounters of a sexual nature, he availed himself of the intercession of two individuals who, it is maintained, may form part of an organized network, especially active in [Rome], of exploiters or at least facilitators of male prostitution."

The police probe into corruption resulted in Balducci and 4 others being arrested. Allegations of prostitution were only revealed later, and have resulted in Ehiem's dismissal from the Vatican choir.

Balducci held a high position within the Vatican and carried the coffin of Pope John Paul at his 2005 funeral. He has now lost his position as a Gentleman of the Holiness. His trial for corruption is still pending.
Story continues below

The Catholic Church has weathered a storm of controversy in recent years over allegations of sexual abuse by its members. Whilst homosexuality is not outright condemned within the Church, it is taught that homosexual acts are "are intrinsically disordered."

Hitler Abortion Poster Sparks Outrage In Poland

2010-03-07T15:25:00.001-05:00

Polish anti-abortion group Fundacja Pro have launched a new campaign with a somewhat controversial tactic - combining pictures of Adolf Hitler and a bloody fetus, with the slogan "Abortion for Poles: introduced by Hitler, March 9, 1943."

That Poland, a devoutly Catholic country, already has fairly strict abortion laws seems to have not quelled the fears of the pro-life group behind the poster. Instead, the poster is designed to remind the country of forced abortions performed by Nazis in World War II.

"It is our duty to fight for the rights of murdered children," Mariusz Dzierzawski, a campaign organizer, told Reuters. "Abortion is a crime and drawing such a parallel is absolutely justified."

Others disagreed. "This is sick... Fascism, Stalinism... prohibited abortion, often on pain of death, so bans on abortion are strongly linked to totalitarianism," said Magdalena Sroda, a professor of ethics specializing in gender issues who argued that the poster was hypocritical.

Politicians may not have disagreed with the message, but the medium was a sore point. "I understand that this campaign is designed to shock but there are limits to the use of shock," said Elzbieta Streker-Dembinska, a member of the Polish parliament's health committee.

The Mark Of The Beast 666

2010-03-06T19:21:00.005-05:00

Never before in man's history has the world witnessed the emergance of a technology that could very well fullfill a 2,000 year old prophecy made by a man (prophet of GOD) named John in the book of Revelation. This mark will go IN the right hand or IN the forhead (according to King James Bible) newer versions are claiming the mark goes ON. From my research King James translation is more accurate and has not been tampered with. This mark will give allegience to the antichrist and a person will not be able to BUY or SELL without the mark. I along with many Christians believe (but will not be 100% sure until it happens) that this technology will be forced on the world population. This technology can also control brainwave activity hence controling mind/thoughts/actions. Satan wants to turn the human population into robots, human cyborgs. DO NOT take this technology for ANY reason. All who accept the mark when it is forced by the antichrist (world dictator) will be automatically giving their souls up and will go to hell....DO NOT take the mark of beast! Fairuse Copyright Act of 1976

Called to Suffer and Rejoice

2010-02-23T20:15:00.004-05:00

Persecution in India: Francis' Response from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And we proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me. (Colossians 1:24-29)

Persecution in India: Unedited Footage from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

For The Record : Public School Is Evil

2010-01-10T15:03:00.003-05:00

"For The Record" is brought to you by the Domestic Emergency Network (DEN), the free market response to FEMA. To apply for membership, visit www.joinden.com

Joel Osteen Blesses Houston's New (Gay) Mayor Annise Parker

2010-01-08T21:36:00.002-05:00

Annise Parker, the newly-elected happens-to-be-lesbian mayor of Houston was sworn in Monday and the opening prayer was given by ... Rev. Joel Osteen.

Is your head spinning? Osteen heads the nation's most mega of evangelical non-denominational megachurches, Lakewood Church in Houston where about 45,000 people cycle through a revamped sports stadium for services every weekend.

Osteen has been all over telling folks (Larry King, Whoopi Goldberg) for years that homosexuality is not "God's best." I presume he means "God's best choice" because otherwise I'm lost in the dropped or implied rest of the sentence. But "God's best" is phrase Osteen never finishes so I'm just guessing.

Yet, Osteen hasn't joined the more strident wing of the religious right in damning gays. Indeed, Osteen takes heat from other evangelicals who condemn him for not laying down a line of fire about sin of any kind. That's not his style, says the preacher known for his broad smile and sermons that God wants you to be happy. Osteen's best seller was titled, Your Best Life Now.

Televangelist and best-selling author, Joel Osteen (shown here with his wife, Victoria. at the opening of the nation's largest church in a former Houston sports arena, gave the opening prayer at the inauguration of Houston's new mayor, Annise Parker, a lesbian.

Now (hat tip to Mark Silk for pointing me to the Box Turtle Bulletin) writer Timothy Kincaid suggests to his gay readership that they look at Osteen more fully and fairly. Kincaid's post (which carries a disclaimer that others on the staff of the webzine don't necessarily agreed) says:

I think it would be useful for our community to adopt a more nuanced view of religious leaders. By doing so, we might find ourselves with unexpected allies.

Joel Osteen does not agree with my understanding of Scripture; but his disagreement does not make him a hater or a bigot. And I recognize the value in having a lesbian politician -- elected despite her opponent's religion-based homophobic campaign -- being given blessing by the pastor of the largest congregation in the nation.

Does this change your idea of Osteen? For better or for worse?

Obama to Jane Sturm: Hey, take a pill

2010-01-07T16:36:00.004-05:00

Jane asks the President if her 100 year old mother (now 105) would have gotten a pacemaker under his plan. Well now that's a tough one ... that costs a lot and maybe we will have to say, just take a pill. Priceless.

Alex Jones discusses Secret Society depopulation scheme with Jesse Ventura

2010-01-03T14:53:00.003-05:00

'Conspiracy Theory' authority Alex Jones explains the motives for and inner-workings towards a depopulation scheme that aims to eliminate some 80%+ of the current human population. Powerful globalists inside the Bilderberg group, along with the Big Pharma, Big Agra and vaccine cartels are working towards lowering sterility and attacking the immune system...

http://www.infowars.com/

Gerald Celente on Alex Jones Tv 2/4 "Obamageddon!!"

2010-01-03T14:47:00.003-05:00

Alex welcomes back to the show Gerald Celente, trend forecaster, publisher of the Trends Journal, business consultant and author who makes predictions about the global financial markets and other events of historical importance. Celente accurately forecasted the 1987 stock market crash, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the 1997 Asian currency crash and the 2007 subprime mortgage scandal. More recent forecasts involve fascism in the United States, food riots and tax revolts. He describes the emerging crisis as "Obamageddon."

http://www.trendsresearch.com/

Drunk Christians at New Years Nashville 2010?

2010-01-03T12:52:00.003-05:00

Preachers John McGlone, Kerrigan Skelly and Tracy Bays descend upon the drunk hypocrites at Nashville's Hard Rock New Year 2010 foolishness. When will America repent?

Surviving Hitler's Hell

2010-01-02T21:47:00.001-05:00

Anita Dittman was a child when Hitler took over Germany. Her life and family were torn apart as she found her mother taken away to a concentration camp and Anita herself faced starvation, illness, assault and a labor camp. Anita was hours from being exterminated when she escaped from her labor camp and set out on a journey to find her mother. This is the remarkable testimony of how Anita came to surrender her life to Jesus Christ as a youth and survived the Nazi Holocaust through a series of miracles and divine protection. Anita believes that America is going down a dangerous road that looks all too familiar to what she witnessed in Germany. This DVD is must viewing for every student and adult. Your faith will be strengthened and you will clearly see that ideas have consequences, your worldview matters and that God will sustain us through His grace and for His honor and glory even in perilous times and even in the face of death. Anita's story reveals that even when the Church appears to lose, Christ wins. Distributed by www.WorldviewTube.com

Obama is about to formally surrender US Sovereignty

2010-01-02T21:39:00.005-05:00

Learn more - http://constitutionalrepublic.net/

Obama is about to formally surrender US Sovereignty

Petition Opposing Cap-and-Trade go to - http://www.globalclimatescam.com/?pag...

To prevent the flu go to - http://constitutionalrepublic.net/MMS...
If you want to stop abusive government join us at http://JoinProject2010.com

Its time to stand up America go to www.ConstitutionalRepublic.net and click on the primary challenge and learn what we the people can do to take back America.

Contact your representatives regularly, give them a piece of your mind! Tell them to read the constitution and obey it. You can find your representatives here - http://constitutionalrepublic.net/takeastand.htm

The Grave Influence of Saul Alinksy - Brannon Howse

2010-01-02T21:13:00.002-05:00

Watch this new video clip of Brannon Howse speaking on Saul Alinsky, the Cloward-Piven strategy, and the neo-Marxist revolution taking place in America. Alinsky is one of the radicals Brannon Howse exposes in his new book, Grave Influence: 21 Radicals and Their Worldviews That Rule America From The Grave.

God Of The Bible

2009-12-31T15:54:00.003-05:00

Does God unconditionally love the whole world? NO! The God of the Bible (ie Jesus) does not change . He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. America and churchianity think God loves everyone. Look around. See the fruit of such flippant selfprotective fluff? America is more ripe for God's just wrath than ever thanks to "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life". God is love, and he demonstrates it by putting His love in the hearts of streetpreachers to tell the truth, even though the world hates us, because they first hated Jesus. Most churchians are on the broadroad to hell led by the false jesus of Unconditional Love

THIS is YOUR Life!!

2009-12-31T15:51:00.002-05:00

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,... In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return... For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad...Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God, love his brother also."
Hebrews 9:27 Gen 3:19 2 Cor 5:10 1 John 4:17

Native American Genocide and the New World Order

2009-11-26T17:52:00.002-05:00

"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." Revelation 13:10-11

Mandatory Vaccinations: Rise Of The Police State

2009-10-25T02:12:00.002-04:00

thirdpartyalliance.net - Mandatory vaccinations are on their way. The Liberty Coalition will oppose them now and in the future. Check out our site for more info.

WH Spokeswoman Anita Dunn: 'Mao Tse Tung is My Favorite Political Philosopher'

2009-10-18T11:43:00.002-04:00

WH Spokeswoman Anita Dunn: 'Mao Tse Tung is My Favorite Political Philosopher' - Judgment is coming America!

Bible Prophecy in the News : Christian Persecutions TODAY

2009-10-09T17:33:00.001-04:00

Persecution of bible believing christians are increasing over the world. In Asian countries reports are resurfacing of christian beheadings as prophecy foretold the execution method would be. Even in first world countries like the US, government is clamping down on the spreading of the gospel.

As In the Days of Noah

2009-09-21T20:21:00.001-04:00

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:37-39)

Obama 'Green Jobs Czar' Quits Amid Controversy

2009-09-06T14:47:00.004-04:00

President Barack Obama's adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday. (Sept. 6)

Lutherans Endorse Homosexuality God Sends Tornado!

2009-08-29T19:55:00.003-04:00

While it is a dark and sad day for those who once considered the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America a place of worship, the holy living God has displayed his glorious power in a overtly miraculous manner which is not often seen in the New Testament era. The ELCA voted to separate itself from biblical Christianity by accommodating and endorsing unrepentant homosexual relations on Wednesday August 19, 2009. At precisely 2 PM - the deadline for the "Social Statement on Human Sexuality" - the Lord sent a tornado, defying conventional wisdom, directly to the Minneapolis convention center and Central Lutheran Church area. So intentional and directed was this action that it sheered the cross clean off of the historic steeple while leaving the roof and building intact. In his mercy no one was harmed. A true historic miracle in the old testament vein, God in His infinite mercy has sent a clear warning. Lutherans are your hearts so hard that you cannot see God reaching out? Repent and return to sound doctrine - uphold the word of God.

REPENT Lutherans - Repent! repent!

The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

LogosApologia is covering the story via video that he originally learned from Pastor John Piper : http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1965_the_tornado_the_lutherans_and_homosexuality/

When Evangelicals Dine with the Wicked

2009-08-14T17:40:00.003-04:00

Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. The church and pastor have impacted every evangelical church in the country. A year ago Willow Creek's Pastor Bill Hybels admitted that the "seeker-sensitive" approach he had helped spread across the country had not been very effective at Willow Creek. In one interview here, he states that the church will now target people at all levels of faith. Well, that was an admission many of us were pleased about. The obvious question was, what would the new approach be? One thing was obvious: His leadership summits have not changed one whit. I have followed his annual leadership conferences.

Guest speakers have always been problematic -- such as Jimmy Carter, and this year is no exception. Would not a "leadership conference" be training people how to be Christian leaders in the ways of faith? Or to equip attendees to help other believers grow in their faith as a result of some the information presented at this event? Apparently not.

As this is written, the 2009 conference is assembling to hear from Tony Blair. What's wrong with this picture? Blair is one of the chief players on the globalistic, one-world religion agenda. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation screams "unity" with every sentence, and not biblical unity. Blair states, "God's Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm. Be very wary of people who think theirs is the only way."

Members of his board include a Zen Buddhist, a Hindu from Minnesota, an Anglican, Rick Warren, a Rabbi, and others. A goal is to "heal the divisiveness in the world." This feeds into the end-time ecumenical effort predicted in the Bible.

Just as troubling is the appearance of rock star Bono. His U2 band was blatantly Satanic. Thanks to Good Fight Ministries, you can go to this link and type in the word Bono or U2. Bono is seen holding an upside down cross and singing praises to Charles Manson with the song Helter Skelter. Did Bono have a conversion experience? If he did, he has not changed the name of his music affiliation, which remains U2 from the days of blatant Satanism.

His efforts are directed at social change and he, too, is trying to build a bridge to all faiths. Bono says, "Look, on the God thing, I have to be really careful because I'm not a very good advertisement. I don't want you to sit there and say I'm a man of faith. I just read in one of St. Paul's letters, where it describes all the fruits of the spirit, I realized I had none of them."

He also states, "I stopped going to churches and got into a different religion. That's what being a rock- -and-roll band is: Showbiz, shamanism, and music is worship."

U2'S 2005 Vertigo tour promoted Bono's New Age, all-faith agenda. The word 'coexist' appeared on a giant screen -- the 'c' represented by the Islamic crescent, the 'x' by the Star of David, and the 't' by the Christian cross. Then the big screen displayed the favorite mantra/lie of the Emergent/New Age Church, "Everything you know is wrong." Bono led the audience in a chant, "Jesus, Jew, Mohammed -- all true!" How will attendees grow spiritually or grow in leadership skills from Bono?

Some other speakers at this supposed evangelical leadership conference going on this week include a gal who was the number one business thinker in 2008 according to the Wall Street Journal; Fortune Magazine's "most powerful woman in business"; and a businesswoman who is a regular guest on the Oprah Winfrey program. You can find most of the speakers here.

How does this further the Kingdom of God today? If this were being put on by the National Council of Churches, I would get it! But Hybels is an evangelical icon even if it is the "evangelical Left." And it would be proper to ask, why does evangelicalism even have a Left? It did not until 20 years ago. Will these speakers spur the attendees on to share their faith with greater zeal? And why is Hybels subjecting his people to some potential sheep-steeling from some of these characters? Probably because the ecumenical effort is big on his agenda as well. Yet tens of thousands of churches are connected to his network.

Pastor Bill Hybels should know better. Other evangelical leaders need to speak up and stop the potential slaughter of some sheep. The hour is too late to spend several days each summer listening to fools.

By Jan Markell

To better understand these issues, visit the category of "Spiritual Deception" at my Web site.

America's Tipping Point with God - Are We on the Brink of Divine Judgment?

2009-08-03T19:23:00.004-04:00

Malcolm Gladwell's brilliant study of social trends defined the nature of cultural sea changes in his landmark 2002 book, The Tipping Point. According to Gladwell, "The Tipping Point is that dramatic moment when little causes drive the unexpected to become expected…"
While Gladwell's work focused on overarching social and market trends, I believe his concept applies to the perilous tipping point America faces with respect to God's judgment on us as a nation. Countless causes have accumulated to bring us to the brink of something few people expect: God's divine wrath. And I believe we are in the final stages of bringing on the Lord's anger for two reasons.

Forsaking Israel

The first is America's withering support for the nation of Israel. This began under the Bush Administration but has rapidly advanced under President Obama. In early June of 2009, the president traveled to Egypt to address the Muslim world. Numerous times in his speech, President Obama cited what he referred to as "the holy Koran"-the very book that calls for Muslims to murder Jews as well as Christians.

Days before his trip, Obama declared that Iran has the right to a nuclear facility for energy. But why do they need a nuclear facility when they have all that oil? We all know that what they really want is a nuclear bomb.

Obama has clearly thrown Israel under the bus by weakening Israel's national security and making them vulnerable to a nuclear strike by Iran. In addition he has increased Iran's threat to America's national security.

Since 1998, Iran has been practicing shooting missiles off of cargo ships. Think about the devious implications of that not-so-benign act. If even just one missile armed with a nuclear warhead, were launched from international waters near the United States and detonated a few dozen miles above the Kansas plains, an electro-magnetic pulse would, in nanoseconds, destroy the functioning of all but the barest remnant of America's technological resources-electric power grid, computers, airplanes in flight and on the ground, healthcare equipment, cars, and trucks, to name the most obvious-sending us back to a lifestyle of the mid-1800s with little or no hope of recovery in the next few years. Destruction of these vital electrical devices would bring about the deaths of millions in the ensuing and prolonged chaos.

Lest you think I exaggerate the threat: Military experts and scientists have testified before the U.S. Congress that the only way our enemies can bring us down militarily is through an EMP bomb-a realistic capability even for those whose nuclear launch technology includes only short range missles.

In Genesis 12:3 God says that He will curse those that curse Israel and bless those that bless Israel. I believe one of the main reasons God's wrath has been delayed is because of our support for Israel. Yet now America has almost completely withdrawn this backing, and it puts us at great risk for being cursed by God.

From Rejection to Plotting Evil

The reason for our second dangerous tipping point is found in the book of Nahum. Nahum showed up in Nineveh about 150 years after Jonah to prophesy that God would not give Nineveh the chance to repent and forestall God's wrath this time around. Why? Because in Nahum 1:11 we read that the people had begun to "plot evil against the Lord." Rejecting God is one thing; plotting evil against him is the tipping point for national judgment. In fact in Nahum 3:19 we see that their national "injury has no healing, your wound is severe." One translation says, "Your wound is incurable."

By Brannon Howse

Is This God's Final Warning To America?

2009-07-26T13:14:00.003-04:00

By Jan Markell

America is at a crossroads. Many are asking if she can be saved, or has God abandoned America? What a pitiful conclusion, if so, for a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed of the world. How often has America banded to fight off aggression or traveled to the ends of the earth to aid the less fortunate? How many missionaries has she provided to the world saving an untold number of lost souls?Some say America must be punished for her sins, but are they really that much more grave than other wealthy nation? Luke 12:48 reminds us that from those given a great deal will be required much more. Have we used our God-given assets properly?My radio guest on May 16 was John McTernan, author of God's Final Warning to America and As America Has Done to Israel. (As America Has Done to Israel will be on my Web site in the next few days.) Since 1987, John has tracked judgment on America when we abuse the unborn, look the other way at the radical gay agenda, and cause any kind of harm to God's covenant land of Israel. Some have "issues" with this. I am not sure why since there is a biblical illustration for each category. Ever heard of Sodom and Gomorrah?Right now America is torn in two, and the more Obama pushes the division of Israel, the more division there will be in our country. It has far surpassed the clever little red state-blue state illustration of a few years ago. Now it is hard-core secular humanist liberalism vs. traditional values and biblical values' people butting heads. Just this rampant division in our country is judgment. We cannot all get along! The chasm of division grows more each day!America is trillions of dollars in debt. More than 60% of the country is experiencing a drought. Two million houses are in foreclosure. Read Deuteronomy 28 to see how God dealt with a rebellious Israel. Why would He do less to a rebellious America?Recently Homeland Security declared millions of good people "right-wing extremists." Janet Napolitano has now pulled that position paper due to the outcry. Nonetheless, very good people were called evil with overtones of Isaiah 5:20 at play. Let's be honest and say this kind of labeling was going on long before the Obama administration came to power but now it is on fast-forward.Dr. James Dobson stated that "America is awash in evil." He also stated in WorldNetDaily on May 14, 2009, "There is utter evil coming out of the U.S. Congress." Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) has been reporting on the "pedophile protection act" being promoted by Congress. He states, "If we don't have another awakening, I'm not sure what's left (of America)." Dobson concurs and says that the threat to religious rights "keeps me awake at night."Under certain circumstances, names for Jesus or symbols of Jesus must be covered up as ordered by the Obama administration. If any prayer is to be used in any service or ceremony, it must be approved and likely will be stricken out. There is almost unbelievable news that our Pentagon is burning Bibles. Do we even have a right to expect God's favor on America?Thankfully some Christian leaders and pastors are speaking up and risking all, but for the most part, the church is asleep. A nation is only as strong as her churches are strong. A passage was given to Israel that can be applied to our day, which reads,
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, then turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land" (II Chronicles 7:14).The verse is not directed at the devil's crowd! The responsibility for turning around the direction of a country falls heavily on people of faith.Unfortunately many churches today don't want to preach about judgment. They are spiritually anesthetized. They have not been taught to fear the Lord but rather, that God is all about love because that makes people come to church. Many pastors and ministry leaders would never put a big part of the blame on America's demise onto the church! They're into church growth and don't make waves or people won't return next week. Praise needs to be extended to pastors and church leaders who are holding to truth, who are telling the truth, and who are warning of serious judgment occurring now and in the future.This past spring, "America's pastor," Rick Warren, reversed himself on California's "Proposition 8." He ultimately apologized to the gay community for his endorsement of it. And we expect God's blessing when "America's pastor" does this? I realize many reading this do not consider Rick their pastor, but let's be honest, many do. America's "other pastor" is Joel Osteen who said on Larry King that he's just glad Obama "loves the Lord." Why the sugar-coating? Why not tell the inconvenient truth?We have reached a point where we can only pray that God would have mercy in His judgment on America, and that He would send an outpouring of His Spirit to help beat back the rampant evil of our times. Perhaps right now our only focus should be on evangelism before the Ark door shuts once again. Maybe it is too late for petitions and pleading with Congress to do things right. Maybe our focus should be eternal, not earthly. But once an individual or a nation gives up, the slide can be at rapid pace and no one wants to see that. The Bible doesn't tell Christians to be "salt and light" just up to a certain point in history and then quit!Thus I would exhort you to press on and speak up for righteousness, for "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).
For articles that complement these thoughts, visit the Web categories of "Spiritual Deception" and "Prophecy Watch."You can hear my hour on air with John McTernan here aired on May 16. It is one of the most important in several years. Visit "Radio Archives." For podcasting info, go here. Hear May 23 programming with Chuck Missler and Jerry Robinson on the economy, also posted to "Radio Archives."

Michael Jackson's REAL cause of death!

2009-07-17T21:20:00.003-04:00

What really happened to the king of pop?

http://www.wayofthemaster.com/

Snapshots: A Son Remembers His Father

2009-07-12T17:46:00.002-04:00

By Michael (Mihai) Wurmbrand

“Look to the heavens and see …” (Job 35:5)
In December 1965, my father, Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, was invited to speak at the First Baptist Church of Rome, in Italy. It was his first Sunday in the Free World. He was freshly ransomed from communist Romania for $10,000 by Scandinavian Christians after 14 years of torture in prisons there. The pastor of the church was to be absent, so an American missionary who attended the church invited my father to speak. However, the Baptist minister did not leave Rome so he came to the service and listened to my father.
Hardly had my father, who was fluent in Italian, started his sermon when this minister stood up and interrupted him. “In this church you cannot say one word against communism. I am a Communist and a Baptist,” the pastor shouted. My father asked him loudly, “How can you be a Christian Baptist and at the same time a communist when communists are atheists? Communism denies the existence of God?”
To our horror, as fresh refugees from a communist country, the church stood up, chanting again and again, “Io sono Comunista i Batista, Io sono Comunista i Batista! (I am a Communist and a Baptist!).” We had been happy to arrive into the Free World and here we were meeting the nightmare of communism. This “church” service ended in true bedlam.

In the middle of January 1966, my father spoke in a chapel in Oslo, Norway. After speaking and taking questions from the audience, my father was asked by an American colonel, “Why should we not coexist with communism?” Without uttering one word, Rev. Wurmbrand left the podium, went to the colonel, snatched his wallet from his front pocket and placed it into his own pocket. Then my father stretched out his hand and said, “Let’s shake hands and be friends. Your wallet is in my pocket. Why should we not coexist?” Returning the wallet to the startled colonel, Rev. Wurmbrand explained how the communists had taken half of Europe and most of Asia and now wanted to coexist. Every thief would like to coexist with the police! We might not have a solution against cancer, but we fight it and do not plan to “coexist” with it.
The American colonel was so impressed that he asked the audience to take an offering then and there to send this newly-arrived refugee with his dramatic message to America.
Less than three months later, my father landed alone in New York. He had only a few minor contacts, and within a week he decided to return to Europe. With no invitations other than to speak to some small army chapel meetings, Rev. Wurmbrand realized how fast money disappears on motels and travel. He considered this trip nothing but a flop. He called, by chance, a Jewish-Christian missionary he had corresponded with before World War II and who now lived in Philadelphia. Rev. Bucksbazen invited him to come to Philadelphia for a day. He wanted to meet the man he had written to many years before.
After an hour of face-to-face discussion, the American missionary urged my father to return back to Europe as soon as possible. “You speak good English, but with a heavy foreign accent. You are too old and too sick to pastor an American church; you could not possibly even raise a salary to maintain your family. You do not even have a driver’s license or a car,” Rev. Bucksbazen said. He took Rev. Wurmbrand through downtown Philadelphia to show him the town just before he was supposed to return to the train station. The traffic circulation was stopped though. It so happened that day was the largest pro-”leftist” rally of the period in the United States, with more than 60,000 in attendance. A Presbyterian minister spoke to the crowd, praising the communists.
Drawing closer to hear better, Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, a refugee totally on his own who had been on the New Continent only five days, and had not been out of Romania for more than six months, without a moment’s hesitation, jumped on the podium. He went straight for the microphone, pushed the speaker aside and shouted into the microphone, “Your Christian brethren suffer under communism and you, a minister, instead of praising their Christian martyrdom, you praise their torturers! You are a Judas! You know nothing of communism. I am a Doctor in Communism!”
The startled Presbyterian pastor laughed back, “There is no such thing as being a ‘Doctor in Communism.’”
“I will show you my credentials,” my father retorted. He took off his shirt to show deep scars on his torso, the results of his treatment by communist torturers in his long years of communist imprisonment. “Do you think it is right for communists to inflict such pain and scars upon a fellow minister?” With these words Rev. Wurmbrand took over the rally, and the rally was finished. The police intervened and asked Rev. Wurmbrand to put on his shirt. Scores of reporters surrounded him, asking him for interviews. He had to extend his stay with his Jewish-Christian friend in Philadelphia to give more interviews.

The next day over 80 percent of the major newspapers in America had my father’s picture without his shirt, on their front page, with articles on what made this Lutheran minister take off his shirt and break the pro-leftist demonstration. Invitations poured in and Rev. Wurmbrand had to extend his stay in the United States by two months and return again twice for extended periods. Eventually we immigrated permanently to the United States.
His worldwide bestseller, Tortured for Christ, appeared and was translated into more than 85 languages. We started a worldwide missionary organization to help the persecuted Christians in communist countries, called today The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). My father’s message was the biblical message: Hate sin but redeem in love the sinner, redeem through Christian love the persecutors by changing their heart with Christian love.
God granted that Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, after 1989, was able to personally visit and preach to large audiences in many countries behind the former Iron Curtain. Richard Wurmbrand died just shy of his 92nd birthday, which would have been on March 24, 2001.
In 2006, the Romanian government-owned TV Broadcasting station (TVR), in cooperation with one of the largest newspapers of the country (Evenimentul Zilei, “The Daily Event”), started a poll among readers and viewers as to who were or are the greatest, most admired Romanian personalities throughout history. The television station promised to prepare one-hour TV documentaries about each of the top ten finalists. These secular promoters were flabbergasted to find out that nearly 400,000 random participants chose, right behind the top three most-known kings of Romania and Romania’s national poet, as the fifth most admired Romanian personality of all times, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand. All the other personalities were part of Romanian history, even during more than 40 years of communism, while nothing could be publicized about Richard Wurmbrand during the communist regime. Christians in Romania rose as one to name their brother who had made their persecution at the hands of communists known worldwide and as a praise to God for His everlasting love.
From the depths of suffering in underground prison cells, like Job of old, Richard Wurmbrand did not look in sadness back down into the past, but had his eyes lifted in faith to the heavens. Such was his example.
Michael Wurmbrand continues to be involved with the ministry of The Voice of the Martyrs. He currently oversees our ministry to formerly persecuted Christians in Romania.

Televangelist Builds $4 Milllion Home While Employees Lose Jobs

2009-07-08T11:30:00.003-04:00

Senator Charles Grassley, the crotchety, plain-speaking Republican from Iowa, has been trying for a couple of years to pry open the books of televangelists he suspects of living decidedly unhumble lives on the donations they receive. He questions whether they deserve the tax exemption they enjoy. A recent report that Inspiration Network's CEO David Cerullo spent around $4 million on his new mansion could provide more fuel for this smoldering investigation. Cerullo's new 9,000 square-foot home and 2,000 square-foot porch overlook Lake Keowee. Meanwhile, Inspiration and its subsidiaries have laid off a number of workers, frozen wages, stopped 401K contributions, and turned the thermostat in its headquarters down to 65 degrees last winter.According to the Charlotte Observer, Cerullo's network will bring in close to $100 million this year, much of it donations. It has also received up to $26 million in incentives over the past few years from the state of South Carolina. These were given to lure the network from its former home in Charlotte. Cerullo receives over $1.5 million a year in salary. Grassley launched an investigation of six noted televangelists in 2007, challenging them to defend their expenditures and justify their tax exemptions. Included were the ministries of Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Several have cooperated fully, a couple partially. Creflo Dollar continue to hold out. Kenneth Copeland Ministries pulled a clever dodge, offering to cooperate with the IRS should it choose to investigate the ministry. IRS investigations are not made public. Grassley points to the tax code language prohibiting not-for-profit organizations from paying unreasonable compensation to the executives. What is reasonable, he asks? In this case, I think the people to answer that question are those who donated to the Inspiration Network. Are you content that some of your money went for a $4 million home for Cerullo?
Source

An Open Letter to Pastor Rick Warren

2009-07-07T19:10:00.003-04:00

By Jan Markell

http://www.olivetreeviews.org/

On July 5 the Washington Times online reported that Pastor Rick Warren told his Islamic audience, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA,) that he envisions "a coalition of faith." Whether Pastor Warren knows this or not, this is just another term for the coming one-world religion outlined in Revelation 13. It is further outlined in Revelation 17. I have not taken on the issue of Rick Warren all that often, but after reading what the Washington Times has to say about his message to a group of spiritually lost Muslims, I feel I must address this in an open letter to who many say is the most influential pastor in America and some would say the world. Pastor Warren, you pleaded with 8,000 Muslim listeners on Saturday, July 4, to work together to solve the world's greatest problems by cooperating in a series of interfaith projects. You said, "Muslims and Christians can work together for the common good without compromising my convictions or your convictions." Pastor Warren, you needed to compromise the convictions of the Muslims in attendance. To just say that "My deepest faith is in Jesus Christ" was not enough to a thoroughly lost crowd. The hour is too late to withhold a gospel message without which they will face a Christless eternity, and you will be held accountable. The "world's greatest problems" will always be with us and the Bible says so in Matthew 26:11. Sin is at the root of them. I have to conclude you are more interested in ecumenical unity and solving AIDS, poverty, and other social issues. Last Saturday you were given a golden opportunity that 99.9% of American Christians could never get. You said you were not interested in interfaith dialogue, but you seize every opportunity to talk to all religions and you always leave out the gospel. You even address Jewish groups but you tell them how to grow a mega-synagogue like your own church, Saddleback. In this "can't we all get along?" generation, you usually leave out the only good news left: There is salvation in Christ and Christ alone (Acts 4:12), and the hour is late, so make a conscious decision to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. You told ISNA, "Talk is cheap but love is something we do together. We must do something to model what it is to live in peace, to live in harmony." Pastor Warren, you know your Bible better than that, don't you? The Bible says there will never be peace and harmony in this world until the Messiah rules from His theocratic kingdom. The U.N. spews the same kind of pagan "peace concepts." Aren't you above that? You would likely never suggest your Muslim audience pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm122:6), yet you push for foolish and hopeless ecumenical peace! In your speech you included three suggestions: 1) Create a coalition to end religious stereotyping; 2) Work together to restore civility to American society; 3) Take a common stand against attacks on freedom of religion and freedom of speech. There is civility in American society so why are you even suggesting there might not be? But you won't find much of it in Islamic society. Go see the film, The Stoning of Soraya M, the true story of what happens to a lot of innocent Muslim women. It's a lot more gross and bloody than any horror flick and this is reality, not fiction. The Muslims you addressed know all about this procedure. ISNA wants Sharia Law everywhere on earth! You missed a golden opportunity to challenge them to stand up to Islamic governments that perpetrate such atrocities. Pastor Warren, you then went on to say the media was clueless as to what Christians and Muslims believe. They know very well what both faiths believe. They believe Christians are the new Taliban, and they press for hate crime legislation that will protect Muslims. You then said, "It's the truth that sets us free." Why did you take John 8:32 out of context? You twisted the very words of Jesus when you should have been proclaiming the words of Jesus. The ISNA stated how impressed they were with your charitable work. What charitable work have they done? As terror expert Steve Emerson says, "ISNA has has been an umbrella and a promoter of groups that have been involved in terrorism." Here again you could have challenged them, but then you would not be invited back had you done so. Joseph Farah says, "Suffice it to say the ISNA is no friend of Christianity or America." Yet in 2007, Rick Warren was one of many "evangelical leaders" who signed a document begging forgiveness from Muslims for all the evil deeds perpetrated against them by Christians. What evil deeds have true Christians committed against Muslims? Now, Pastor Warren, you've gone beyond pandering and are sounding like a fool along with all others who signed that document. Even the secular Washington Times noted, "Mr. Warren was sparse in his mentions of Jesus and God." But since works and good deeds were stressed, this reinforced the belief of ISNA members that works will help them get to Heaven. Pastor Warren, you stated you were committed to "the common good" and that you are commanded to "respect everybody." You don't want to deal with the verse that says we are to preach to gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15). It seems to me that you are more interested in marching hand-in-hand with other faiths down the winding road to the coming one-world religion.

There is literally a mini-revival going on with Muslims turning to faith in Jesus, particularly out of the U.S. It would have been nice, Pastor Warren, if you would have thought of that and tapped into it. We don't expect you to give altar calls at such meetings as this one. We do expect you to lift high the Name of the Prince of Peace who is coming again and who offers eternal life to all who ask, "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30, Acts 16:31). Many just wanted some variation of that quoted among your many ecumenical statements and how to solve the world's problems -- impossible without God's help.

To better understand this, order Caryl Matrisciana's brand-new film, Islam Rising, pictured and described on the left sidebar. Also visit my Web site category of "Islam & the Arabs."

Awaiting His return,

Jan Markell

Calvinism and Consistency

2009-07-05T18:11:00.003-04:00

Admittedly, no systematic theology is perfect. That takes a load of pressure off of every sincere Bible student. Not one of us will ever have all of his or her doctrines correct. C. I. Scofield wrote that there will always exist a measure of false teaching in true, orthodox Christianity, due to our fallen nature and our design as finite creatures.
I was once convinced that Calvinism was right because people showed me a lot of proof texts to propagate this theology. I had read Chosen by God by R. C. Sproul and concluded that he, too, was correct. How could I have missed out on this teaching for so long? I will never forget what affect Sproul's book had on my heart. How could God have chosen me and not others? Moreover, why would God have chosen me and not others?
Even further, why would God only choose to save some (deterministically by an eternal decree) and not others? And how does this notion correspond with what the Bible teaches concerning God's love for the world and His sending His Son to die for the sin of the world, and His desire that all people be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth, etc.? It was questions such as these that forced me to re-think and to further study what the Bible taught on these matters. I certainly believed that God is sovereign.
To Calvinism's credit, if one accepts its presupposition that man is totally depraved in the sense that he must first be regenerated in order to believe on Christ Jesus (represented by the T in TULIP, for total depravity), then the rest of the structure for Calvinism works well together. Thus those who are truly regenerate have been chosen by God for salvation from eternity past and that accounts for why some people are saved and others are not saved.
However, if this teaching is incorrect, then the rest of the Calvinistic system falls apart (to which Sproul has also attested); everything hinges on the Calvinist's interpretation of total depravity. If no one can believe in Christ apart from God's regenerative act, and only some are saved, then God, necessarily, elected whom He would save, and this was done in eternity past.
Arminians and Wesleyans believe and teach the utter depravity of man. We understand all too clearly that human beings are sinful and of their own volition have no desire for God's salvation: we depend wholeheartedly on the grace of God for salvation. However, we do not believe and teach that a person must first be regenerated in order to understand the gospel or to have faith in Christ Jesus for salvation ~ though the Holy Spirit must work in the heart and mind of a sinner in order to accomplish repentance and faith (and this is not an irresistible work).
Let me advance toward my goal of exposing what I see as inconsistencies within Calvinism. First, the Bible does not teach that a person is saved to faith, but by faith. Thus regeneration does not need to precede faith. Paul taught such at Colossians 2.13. God justifies and regenerates the one who has first been forgiven of his sins through faith in Christ Jesus. Biblically and logically, then, faith precedes regeneration. In this, Calvinism is not necessarily inconsistent within in its own system as much as it is inconsistent with the clear teaching of Scripture.
Second, and most important, through the grace of God, justification and salvation are attained by faith in Christ Jesus alone, as the Reformers have taught and as the Bible confirms. For the Calvinist, however, salvation seems not to be truly contingent on faith but on God's effectual decree. What is even more troubling is that this "faith" is not something freely exercised by the sinner in need of salvation, but is actually "given" to him by God in the sense that he is irresistibly caused to believe (a sort of faith by proxy), so that God might have a means of justifying him.
Robert Picirilli writes,
Reflecting the logical consistency of Calvinism, many theologians would object to a simplistic statement that salvation is by faith. (1) Since election is unconditional (and must be so for God to be sovereign), it follows that salvation ~ in the broadest sense of the word ~ rests in the decree of God and not on the individual's faith. (2) Since the atonement was intended to save only the elect and is applied efficaciously to them by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, it follows that salvation ~ still in the broadest sense ~ is by atonement and grace rather than faith. (3) Since man's depravity is so total that he is utterly dead and unable to respond to the gospel until regenerated, it follows that salvation ~ still the broad sense ~ is to faith rather than by faith.
If all this is true, can it be said that salvation is by faith? In a sense, yes: even the thoroughly committed Calvinist will insist that the words are legitimate. But in that case 'salvation' is being used in a narrower sense.
The Scripture is clear, and so is the Calvinist, that justification is by faith. As important and central as justification is, the word 'salvation' is often used . . . as though it were a synonym for justification. In that narrower sense, then, it can be said that salvation (justification) is by faith.
In fact, however, 'salvation' means more than justification. And when it is used in its fullest sense, it is essentially equal to election. We should make no mistake about this: if election is not by faith, then neither is salvation . . . [In the Calvinist's scheme, regeneration] is not by faith, therefore salvation is not by faith.1
Third, and by no means less significant, it is entirely, in my opinion, absurd for a Calvinist (who inevitably holds to some form of determinism) to become upset at Arminians, Wesleyans, or whoever else disagrees with Calvinism, seeing that God has foreordained everything! If Arminianism is wrong (or worse, false, heretical teaching) then God predetermined me (and all who hold to it) to be an Arminian, since (in the Calvinist's theology) God must foreordain whatever comes to pass in order for Him to be sovereign.
So, when a Calvinist is angry at false teaching, or false religions, or atheists, or child molesters, or adultery, or nudity, or America's moral decline, should he not really be angry at his God, for it is He who has foreordained whatever comes to pass (as the Westminster Confession teaches)?
And, Yes, this still includes those who hold to soft determinism, for it is determinism nonetheless. Even with God using secondary cause, things could never have been any different than what He foreordained (not foresaw or foreknew, but foreordained). And though (in the soft determinist's ideology) God foreordained (permitted) people to do what they do, they still had no other choice but to do what they do because God foreordained it.
Walls and Dongell note, "We contend that Calvinists often vacillate between compatibilist and libertarian freedom in a way that is neither clear nor consistent with their other commitments . . ."2 This is seen most clearly within a soft determinist view of the providence of God.
Elsewhere they stated, "[In the case of soft determinism, the] crucial point to keep in mind is that the agent could not want to do otherwise than she in fact does. If the agent had wanted to do differently, she could have done so, but it was impossible for her to want to do differently, given the prior causes and conditions that strictly determined her psychological states and character.
"Still, soft determinists have formulated a definition of freedom that is compatible with strict determinism. So they can't be fairly faulted on this score. The question is whether their view of freedom is an adequate one . . ."3
Of course, we do not believe it is an adequate one. And I guess it is more than obvious that we do not think Calvinism gives adequate, biblical views on the providence and sovereignty of God, nor His intentions where the salvation of humanity is concerned. In these things we find Calvinism to be inconsistent not only with the Bible and reality.
1 Robert E. Picirilli, Grace, Faith, and Free Will (Nashville: Randall House, 2002), 169-170.
2 Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell, Why I Am Not a Calvinist (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 164. 3 Ibid., 109.

Submitted by WilliamBirch

The Pitfalls of Celebrity Driven Christianity - Brannon Howse

2009-07-03T22:31:00.005-04:00

The Pitfalls of Celebrity-Driven Christianity. Brannon's Guest is Cathy Mickels author of Spiritual Junk Food: The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth. Topic: Should America's Christian leaders and Liberty University be raising up Carrie Prejean, Miss California, as an example for today's youth? Liberty's male students cheer and whistle during chapel as Carrie mentions the swimsuit portion of the contest. Focus on the Family has recorded two interviews and on their website called her a modern-day Ester before people complained and it was removed. Pro-family leaders have booked her to speak for an upcoming conference. Are these Christian leaders and institutions about to be really embarrassed by photos to be released? Is this the result of a celebrity-driven church and Christian media? Why do so many Christian leaders promote someone before giving them a chance to prove the level of their Christian maturity? The world is already laughing and mocking on blogs and websites about the photos that have come out. These are the Christian men that are going to save America, the church and the culture? I dont think so. These men dont have enough discernment and common-sense to understand that they should have acknowledged her bold statement, the reaction of the radical left, and then left it at that. The wise-men of the pro-family movement are doing great harm to our young students by their lack of Biblical leadership.

You Must Suffer - John Piper

2009-06-22T20:44:00.002-04:00

In This is an amazing video done by John Piper discussing Suffering for Christ. Will you suffer for Christ? Are you part of the fellowship of His sufferings, bearing your cross along the narrow path, enduring shame and tribulation that comes with the most precious enduring faith? Many today believe that they can have a Jesus whom they will not have to endure for. They believe that the Christian should be able to live in a world where both worldly, carnal people and genuinely converted children of God should be able to get along compromisingly. This is a deception. We will have tribulation in the world, but we should be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. We possess a most precious treasure in earthen vessels, and we will be knocked down at times, but we will never be knocked out! Be blessed by this video!

Piper’s Paper Posted...

2009-06-22T19:58:00.002-04:00

John Piper’s paper which he presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society is available to be read online at the Desiring God website. This was a brief presentation as Piper wanted to allow plenty of time for questions and challenges to his seven theses which summarize his entire speaking and writing ministries. Read “Why God Is Not a Megalomaniac in Demanding to Be Worshiped” here.

Is There a God?

2009-06-21T01:10:00.000-04:00

Does God exist? Here are six straight-forward reasons to believe that God is really there.

By Marilyn Adamson

Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, "You just have to believe." Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists.

But first consider this. If a person opposes even the possibility of there being a God, then any evidence can be rationalized or explained away. It is like if someone refuses to believe that people have walked on the moon, then no amount of information is going to change their thinking. Photographs of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews with the astronauts, moon rocks...all the evidence would be worthless, because the person has already concluded that people cannot go to the moon.

When it comes to the possibility of God's existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God.¹ On the other hand, for those who want to know God if he is there, he says, "You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you."² Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, If God does exist, would I want to know him? Here then, are some reasons to consider...

1. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

Many examples showing God's design could be given, possibly with no end. But here are a few:

The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth's size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth's surface. If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.³ Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.

The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. Consider the temperature swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the Earth's position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The Earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly warmed and cooled every day.

And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are restrained from spilling over across the continents.⁴

Water...colorless, odorless and without taste, and yet no living thing can survive without it. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is water). You'll see why the characteristics of water are uniquely suited to life:

It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.

Water is a universal solvent. This property of water means that thousands of chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our bodies and into the smallest blood vessels.⁵

Water is also chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup of the substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to be absorbed and used by the body.

Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to the top of even the tallest trees.

Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter.

Ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But on our Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from the water and then distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation takes the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are easily moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for vegetation, animals and people. It is a system of purification and supply that sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and reused water.⁶

The human brain...simultaneously processes an amazing amount of information. Your brain takes in all the colors and objects you see, the temperature around you, the pressure of your feet against the floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of your mouth, even the texture of your keyboard. Your brain holds and processes all your emotions, thoughts and memories. At the same time your brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of your body like your breathing pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement of the muscles in your hands.

The human brain processes more than a million messages a second.⁷ Your brain weighs the importance of all this data, filtering out the relatively unimportant. This screening function is what allows you to focus and operate effectively in your world. The brain functions differently than other organs. There is an intelligence to it, the ability to reason, to produce feelings, to dream and plan, to take action, and relate to other people.

The eye...can distinguish among seven million colors. It has automatic focusing and handles an astounding 1.5 million messages -- simultaneously.⁸ Evolution focuses on mutations and changes from and within existing organisms. Yet evolution alone does not fully explain the initial source of the eye or the brain -- the start of living organisms from nonliving matter.

2. Does God exist? The universe had a start - what caused it?

Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one enormous explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big Bang. This was the singular start to everything that exists: the beginning of the universe, the start of space, and even the initial start of time itself.

Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described agnostic, stated, "The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted in that first instant; every star, every planet and every living creature in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion...The Universe flashed into being, and we cannot find out what caused that to happen."⁹

Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in Physics, said at the moment of this explosion, "the universe was about a hundred thousands million degrees Centigrade...and the universe was filled with light."¹⁰

The universe has not always existed. It had a start...what caused that? Scientists have no explanation for the sudden explosion of light and matter.

3. Does God exist? The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it?

Much of life may seem uncertain, but look at what we can count on day after day: gravity remains consistent, a hot cup of coffee left on a counter will get cold, the earth rotates in the same 24 hours, and the speed of light doesn't change -- on earth or in galaxies far from us.

How is it that we can identify laws of nature that never change? Why is the universe so orderly, so reliable?

"The greatest scientists have been struck by how strange this is. There is no logical necessity for a universe that obeys rules, let alone one that abides by the rules of mathematics. This astonishment springs from the recognition that the universe doesn't have to behave this way. It is easy to imagine a universe in which conditions change unpredictably from instant to instant, or even a universe in which things pop in and out of existence."¹²

Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics, said, "Why nature is mathematical is a mystery...The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle."¹³

4. Does God exist? The DNA code informs, programs a cell's behavior.

All instruction, all teaching, all training comes with intent. Someone who writes an instruction manual does so with purpose. Did you know that in every cell of our bodies there exists a very detailed instruction code, much like a miniature computer program? As you may know, a computer program is made up of ones and zeros, like this: 110010101011000. The way they are arranged tell the computer program what to do. The DNA code in each of our cells is very similar. It's made up of four chemicals that scientists abbreviate as A, T, G, and C. These are arranged in the human cell like this: CGTGTGACTCGCTCCTGAT and so on. There are three billions of these letters in every human cell!!

Well, just like you can program your phone to beep for specific reasons, DNA instructs the cell. DNA is a three-billion-lettered program telling the cell to act in a certain way. It is a full instruction manual.¹⁴

Why is this so amazing? One has to ask....how did this information program wind up in each human cell? These are not just chemicals. These are chemicals that instruct, that code in a very detailed way exactly how the person's body should develop.

Natural, biological causes are completely lacking as an explanation when programmed information is involved. You cannot find instruction, precise information like this, without someone intentionally constructing it.

5. Does God exist? We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.

I was an atheist at one time. And like most atheists, the issue of people believing in God bothered me greatly. What is it about atheists that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that we don't believe even exists?! What causes us to do that? When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for those poor, delusional people...to help them realize their hope was completely ill-founded. To be honest, I also had another motive. As I challenged those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if they could convince me otherwise. Part of my quest was to become free from the question of God. If I could conclusively prove to believers that they were wrong, then the issue is off the table, and I would be free to go about my life.

I didn't realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we would know him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and he keeps the question of his existence squarely before us. It was as if I couldn't escape thinking about the possibility of God. In fact, the day I chose to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer began with, "Ok, you win..." It might be that the underlying reason atheists are bothered by people believing in God is because God is actively pursuing them.

I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote, "I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he remembered, "...night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England."

Lewis went on to write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a result of knowing God. I too had no expectations other than rightfully admitting God's existence. Yet over the following several months, I became amazed by his love for me.

6. Does God exist? Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God revealing himself to us.

Why Jesus? Look throughout the major world religions and you'll find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as teachers or prophets. None of them ever claimed to be equal to God. Surprisingly, Jesus did. That is what sets Jesus apart from all the others. He said God exists and you're looking at him. Though he talked about his Father in heaven, it was not from the position of separation, but of very close union, unique to all humankind. Jesus said that anyone who had seen Him had seen the Father, anyone who believed in him, believed in the Father.

He said, "I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."¹⁵ He claimed attributes belonging only to God: to be able to forgive people of their sin, free them from habits of sin, give people a more abundant life and give them eternal life in heaven. Unlike other teachers who focused people on their words, Jesus pointed people to himself. He did not say, "follow my words and you will find truth." He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me."¹⁶

What proof did Jesus give for claiming to be divine? He did what people can't do. Jesus performed miracles. He healed people...blind, crippled, deaf, even raised a couple of people from the dead. He had power over objects...created food out of thin air, enough to feed crowds of several thousand people. He performed miracles over nature...walked on top of a lake, commanding a raging storm to stop for some friends. People everywhere followed Jesus, because he constantly met their needs, doing the miraculous. He said if you do not want to believe what I'm telling you, you should at least believe in me based on the miracles you're seeing.¹⁷

Jesus Christ showed God to be gentle, loving, aware of our self-centeredness and shortcomings, yet deeply wanting a relationship with us. Jesus revealed that although God views us as sinners, worthy of his punishment, his love for us ruled and God came up with a different plan. God himself took on the form of man and accepted the punishment for our sin on our behalf. Sounds ludicrous? Perhaps, but many loving fathers would gladly trade places with their child in a cancer ward if they could. The Bible says that the reason we would love God is because he first loved us.

Jesus died in our place so we could be forgiven. Of all the religions known to humanity, only through Jesus will you see God reaching toward humanity, providing a way for us to have a relationship with him. Jesus proves a divine heart of love, meeting our needs, drawing us to himself. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, he offers us a new life today. We can be forgiven, fully accepted by God and genuinely loved by God. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."¹⁸ This is God, in action.

Does God exist? If you want to know, investigate Jesus Christ. We're told that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."¹⁹

God does not force us to believe in him, though he could. Instead, he has provided sufficient proof of his existence for us to willingly respond to him. The earth's perfect distance from the sun, the unique chemical properties of water, the human brain, DNA, the number of people who attest to knowing God, the gnawing in our hearts and minds to determine if God is there, the willingness for God to be known through Jesus Christ. If you need to know more about Jesus and reasons to believe in him, please see: Beyond Blind Faith.

If you want to begin a relationship with God now, you can.

This is your decision, no coercion here. But if you want to be forgiven by God and come into a relationship with him, you can do so right now by asking him to forgive you and come into your life. Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door [of your heart] and knock. He who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him [or her]."²⁰ If you want to do this, but aren't sure how to put it into words, this may help: "Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins. You know my life and that I need to be forgiven. I ask you to forgive me right now and come into my life. I want to know you in a real way. Come into my life now. Thank you that you wanted a relationship with me. Amen."

God views your relationship with him as permanent. Referring to all those who believe in him, Jesus Christ said of us, "I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand."²¹

So, does God exist? Looking at all these facts, one can conclude that a loving God does exist and can be known in an intimate, personal way. If you need more information about Jesus' claim to divinity, or about God's existence, or if you have similar important questions, please email us.

I just asked Jesus into my life (some helpful information follows)...

I may want to ask Jesus into my life, please explain this more fully...

I have a question or comment...

About the Author: As a former atheist, Marilyn Adamson found it difficult to refute the continuously answered prayers and quality of life of a close friend. In challenging the beliefs of her friend, Marilyn was amazed to learn the wealth of objective evidence pointing to the existence of God. After about a year of persistent questioning, she responded to God's offer to come into her life and has found faith in Him to be constantly substantiated and greatly rewarding.

(1) Romans 1:19-21
(2) Jeremiah 29:13-14
(3) R.E.D. Clark, Creation (London: Tyndale Press, 1946), p. 20
(4) The Wonders of God's Creation, Moody Institute of Science (Chicago, IL)
(5) Ibid.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid.
(8) Hugh Davson, Physiology of the Eye, 5th ed (New York: McGraw Hill, 1991)
(9) Robert Jastrow; "Message from Professor Robert Jastrow"; LeaderU.com; 2002.
(10) Steven Weinberg; The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe; (Basic Books,1988); p 5.
(11) omitted
(12) Dinesh D'Souza, What's So Great about Christianity; (Regnery Publishing, Inc, 2007, chapter 11).
(13) Richard Feynman, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist (New York: BasicBooks, 1998), 43.
(14) Francis S. Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, and author of The Language of God, (Free Press, New York, NY), 2006
(15) John 8:12
(16) John 14:6
(17) John 14:11
(18) Jeremiah 31:3
(19) John 3:16
(20) Revelation 3:20
(21) John 10:27-29

Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas: Obama Is "Sort Of God"

2009-06-15T20:51:00.002-04:00

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas said President Obama is "sort of God" in a way that's "standing above the country." Transcript below.

CHRIS MATTHEWS (HOST):Evan Thomas is editor at large for Newsweek magazine. Evan, you remember 1984. It wasn't 100 years ago. Reagan and World War II and the sense of us as the good guys in the world, how are we doing?

EVAN THOMAS: Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn't felt that way in recent years. So Obama's had, really, a different task We're seen too often as the bad guys. And he, he has a very different job from ... Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is - we are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something, I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above above the world, he's sort of God.

Doctor Who Performed Abortions Shot To Death

2009-05-31T16:23:00.003-04:00

(CNN) -- Dr. George Tiller, whose Wichita, Kansas, women's clinic has been the target of anti-abortion protests for years, was shot and killed at his church Sunday morning, his attorneys said.
Dr. George Tiller was one of the few U.S. physicians that performed late-term abortions.

Dr. George Tiller was one of the few U.S. physicians that performed late-term abortions.
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Laura Shaneyfelt, an attorney with the firm of Monnat and Spurrier, confirmed Tiller's death to CNN.

The 67-year-old doctor was one of the few U.S. physicians who still performed late-term abortions. He survived a 1993 shooting outside his clinic.

Wichita police said they were searching for a powder-blue Ford Taurus in connection with the killing, which took place outside Reformation Lutheran Church shortly after 10 a.m.

Witnesses provided a license number of the car the killer used to speed away from the church, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

Abortion is one of the hottest buttons in U.S. politics, with opponents arguing the practice is tantamount to the murder of an unborn child. Abortion rights supporters argue the decision to terminate a pregnancy is best left to the woman.

The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which has led numerous demonstrations at Tiller's clinic, condemned the shooting as a "cowardly act."

"Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice," the group said in a statement. It offered its prayers for Tiller's family, "that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ."

*UPDATE:

* KWCH: Suspect in custody

In March, Tiller was acquitted of 19 counts of performing procedures unlawfully at his clinic. In 2008, a probe initiated by abortion opponents who petitioned state authorities to convene a grand jury ended without charges.

On its Web site, Operation Rescue refers to Tiller as a "monster" who has "been able to get away with murder." And Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, who is no longer affiliated with the group, called Tiller "a mass murderer."

"We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God," Terry said in a written statement. "I am more concerned that the Obama administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder, and we still must call abortion by its proper name."

The 1993 attack on Tiller left him wounded through both arms. An ardent foe of abortion, Shelley Shannon, was convicted of attempted murder and is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for the shooting.

If Tiller was slain because of his work, he would be the fourth U.S. physician killed by abortion opponents since 1993. In addition, a nurse at a Birmingham, Alabama, clinic was maimed and an off-duty police officer was killed in a 1998 bombing by Eric Rudolph, who included abortion among his list of anti-government grievances.

Rudolph admitted to that attack and three other bombings -- including the 1996 attack on the Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia -- and is serving life in prison.

Law Will Force Churches To Employ Gay Staff'

2009-05-24T19:40:00.002-04:00

Churches will be banned from turning down gay job applicants on the grounds of their sexuality under new anti-discrimination laws, a Government minister said.

Religious groups are to be forced to accept homosexual youth workers, secretaries and other staff, even if their faith holds same-sex relationships to be sinful.

Christian organisations fear that the tightened legislation, which is due to come into force next year, will undermine the integrity of churches and dilute their moral message.

It comes amid growing concern that Christians are being unfairly targeted by discrimination laws, following a number of high-profile cases of courts finding against believers who stand up for their faith.

Religious leaders had hoped to lobby for exemptions to the Equality Bill but Maria Eagle, the deputy equalities minister, has now indicated that it will cover almost all church employees.

"The circumstances in which religious institutions can practice anything less than full equality are few and far between," she told delegates at the Faith, Homophobia, Transphobia, & Human Rights conference in London.

"While the state would not intervene in narrowly ritual or doctrinal matters within faith groups, these communities cannot claim that everything they run is outside the scope of anti-discrimination law.

"Members of faith groups have a role in making the argument in their own communities for greater LGBT acceptance, but in the meantime the state has a duty to protect people from unfair treatment."

Under existing equalities legislation, any roles deemed to be necessary "for the purposes of an organised religion" are excluded from gay rights protection.

But the Equality Bill, which is currently passing through parliament, for the first time defines this as applying only to those who lead the liturgy or spend the majority of the time teaching doctrine - essentially just ministers, bishops and their equivalents in other faiths.

A spokesman for the Christian Institute, a religious charity, said that many churchgoers had deep concerns about how the bill would be enforced and accused politicians of hypocrisy.

"It would be absurd to pass a law demanding that the Labour Party employ card-carrying Conservative members, but that is effectively what churches are being told to do. We just want the same exceptions as political parties," he said.

"Christians are sick to the back teeth of equality and diversity laws that put them to the back of the queue. We are quite prepared to accept that people will take a different view to use on moral and ethical questions, but that should not mean we have to withdraw from public life."

Recent cases including the nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient and the British Airways worker sent home for wearing a visible cross have left many believers afraid to go public with their faith at work.

Neil Addison, a Roman Catholic barrister and expert on religious discrimination law, said that the new legislation would leave churches powerless to defend the fabric of their organisation.

"This is a threat to religious identity. What we are losing is the right for organisations to make free choices," he said.

A spokesman for the Church of England said that while it supports the broad objectives of the Bill it "retains some concerns about the practical application of some specific aspects".

The Equality Bill, which was introduced to the Commons by Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women and Equality, will also strengthen laws against gender, age and disability discrimination.

A Government Equalities Office spokesman said: "The Equality Bill will not force a church to accept someone as a priest regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.

"Churches, synagogues, mosques and others will continue to have the freedom to choose who they employ in jobs which promote their religion. But where they provide services to the public they will have to treat everyone fairly."

By Matthew Moore

NY Assembly Passes Same-Sex "Marriage" Bill

2009-05-24T19:22:00.004-04:00

NEW YORK, May 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The New York State Assembly approved a bill late Tuesday by a 89 to 52 margin to extend the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.

The bill was introduced last month by Governor David Paterson.

The measure, like a similar version in 2007, passed easily in the Democrat-ruled Assembly; however, the earlier measure failed to garner support in the state Senate. Senate Democrats now constitute a slim majority, but the fate of the current bill is uncertain.

If the bill is passed, New York would become the sixth state to legalize same-sex "marriage."

Maine became the latest state to change the legal definition of marriage last week, as Gov. John Baldacci signed the legislation within an hour after its approval in the state legislature. New Hampshire's same-sex "marriage" bill, passed late last month in both chambers, still awaits approval by Gov. John Lynch.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Maine Legalizes Homosexual "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09050605.html

NY Governor to Introduce Homosexual "Marriage" Bill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/apr/09041508.html

New York Governor Memo Says State Agencies Must Recognize Gay "Marriage" Performed Outside the State
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052909.html

After The Rapture: Orlando Man Will Deliver Messages To Those Left Behind

2009-05-24T19:08:00.004-04:00

Atheist Joshua Witter sells cards to Christians that he will deliver to those left behind after the rapture.

There are those who believe in the Rapture prophesied in the Bible. And there is Joshua Witter, avowed atheist.

They need each other.

At least some people think so -- those willing to pay Witter to be their post-apocalyptic postman, delivering cards and letters to their non-believing friends, relatives and neighbors who will be left behind when the Day of Reckoning arrives.

About 70 people have paid the Orlando man about $5 apiece to get their messages to those doomed to face the plagues, pestilence and darkness of Armageddon

As sure as the True Believers are they will escape this earth when the Rapture arrives, Witter is just as certain he will be left behind to deliver their mail. He has committed blasphemy to make sure.

"Anyway you look at it, I'm screwed. It's too late for me," said Witter, a 24-year-old computer software engineer who wears long sideburns and hip black-framed glasses.

Witter started his website -- postrapturepost.com -- as a joke, a satiric jab at those who see things like the swine flu, economic collapse and the election of a liberal president as sure signs the end is near.

But then he started receiving orders for his merchandise. Since 2005, Witter said he has sold more than 200 items, most of them T-shirts and coffee mugs, and many of those (he admits) to friends and fellow atheists.

Among the best sellers are the line of I-Told-You-So cards, which sell for $8. Some of those who ordered the cards -- Witter suspects they are not true Christians -- are willing to pay extra to have them sent early as Christmas cards.

Witter doesn't have a stack of cards or letters with Post-Rapture messages in a dresser drawer or safety deposit box. All the messages are stored in his computers, encrypted to protect their privacy and backed up by a fail-safe system. His website might be all in jest, but when it comes to his paying customers, Witter is a responsible entrepreneur. He doesn't share the contents of the messages with his friends over beers or mock those who take this whole end-of-the-world business more seriously than he does.

He concedes that delivering on his promise to hand-deliver the cards and letters entrusted to him may be difficult. Witter has read all the books of the popular "Left Behind" series, so he knows what to expect. Covered with boils, he will have to fight his way through perpetual darkness, clouds of insects, and meteors falling from the sky to deliver the mail.

"Your hope lies with me. I am your mailman," he vows. "I'll do my best come Hell or high water to deliver those letters."

On the other hand, should the Rapture not arrive in his lifetime, he gets to keep the money, which he promises to use to subsidize his sinful lifestyle.

And don't even think about asking him to forward a message from the future for free.

"I turn people away who ask for free letters," he said. "I'm not a charity."

Tiller Found Not Guilty: Pro-Life Forces Vow To Continue Fight

2009-03-28T14:44:00.004-04:00

A Kansas jury has found notorious abortionist, George Tiller, not guilty on all counts.

Tiller faced 19 misdemeanor charges that accused him of violating state laws involving late-term abortions. Cheryl Sullinger of Operation Rescue tells OneNewsNow they were disappointed with the verdict.

"We have to remember that these were the weakest of the charges that could have been brought by the state," she notes. "There were 30 charges that had been brought by former Attorney General Phil Kline in 2006 that were dismissed on jurisdictional reasons without having ever been considered on their merit."

Had Tiller faced those charges, Sullinger is confident he would have been convicted. Operation Rescue was at the forefront of the investigation, so Sullinger was asked if they are finished with Tiller.

"We have a number of other projects, and we believe that there's [sic] plenty of things that Tiller has done that violated the law that eventually, we're just going to keep pressing on until we finally get justice and we finally get a conviction," she concludes.

Kansas law allows abortions after a baby can survive outside the womb only if two independent doctors agree that it is necessary to save a women's life or prevent "substantial and irreversible" harm to "a major bodily function," a phrase that has been interpreted to include mental health.

Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus provided second opinions on late-term abortions before Tiller performed them.

According to trial testimony, Tiller's patients paid Neuhaus $250 to $300 in cash for providing the consultation and the only way patients could see her was to make an appointment with Tiller's office.

Tiller testified that he used Neuhaus based on advice from his lawyers and from Larry Buening, who was then executive director of the Board of Healing Arts.

Prosecutors tried to show that Tiller ultimately relied on his lawyers' advice - an important distinction because the judge told attorneys before their opening statements that relying on the advice of an attorney cannot be used as a legal defense to criminal charges. They also questioned Tiller about the conversation with Buening, noting that Tiller had testified that Buening said he couldn't quote him.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said abortion opponents were never confident that Tiller would be prosecuted aggressively enough by Attorney General Steve Six.

"Even if Tiller had been found guilty, he would have appealed to the Supreme Court," Culp said, noting that four of the Kansas high court's seven justices were appointed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who supports abortion rights.

Phill Kline, the former attorney general who started the investigation, expressed frustration at the prosecutors who tried the case, noting that their only witness was Neuhaus.

"You do not win cases nor achieve justice by calling one witness and ordering your staff not to initiate any additional effort to gather evidence," Kline said in a written statement.

Disney said his office had thoroughly investigated the case and "presented all the evidence that there was."

Tiller said he is one of three doctors in the U.S. who currently perform late-term abortions. The others are in Boulder, Colo., and Los Angeles, he said.

Elevating Homosexuality To New Heights

2009-03-18T18:58:00.003-04:00

The Obama administration and other proponents of a United Nations statement that calls for the decriminalization of homosexuality claim it merely targets the seven countries that put homosexuals to death. But one pro-family activist warns the document elevates homosexual behavior to skin color and religious belief.The Obama State Department has endorsed the U.N. statement out of concern over what one official describes as "violence and human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual individuals" as well as "the criminalization of sexual orientation in many countries." In addition, according to U.S. officials, signing of the nonbinding declaration demonstrates that the U.S. supports human rights for all. (See related article)

Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, says the Obama administration has essentially signed its name to a "press release" initiated by the French government in the U.N. General Assembly last fall. Ruse says he fully expected the Obama administration to sign on to the document immediately because it supports the homosexual agenda.

"What the press release really does is encourage the acceptance of gender identity and sexual orientation as a category of non-discrimination in human rights treaties," explains Ruse, "so that these categories would stand alongside race, religion, and other widely accepted categories of non-discrimination."

Ruse says the Bush administration almost signed on to the U.N. homosexual rights document last fall. He notes there is a "very healthy homosexual lobby" in the State Department and in various parts of the U.S. government. In fact, he reports that for a brief moment last week at the United Nations, the Obama administration endorsed a document titled "The International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS," which calls for criminal penalties for those who criticize homosexuality.

Blueprint for Global Enslavement?

2009-03-18T17:09:00.000-04:00

Valedictorian's Free-Speech Case Goes To Court

2009-03-15T20:59:00.005-04:00

A student's free-speech rights are being defended in federal court.

Liberty Counsel is pursuing the case at the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. General counsel Steve Crampton is defending Colorado high school valedictorian Erica Corder. Along with 14 others, Corder was permitted to make a 30-second statement at the graduation ceremony.

"And because she mentioned Jesus Christ, she was told immediately after the service that she would not be receiving her diploma along with the other students, but had to meet the principal who then required that she sign an apology, with which she did not agree, as a condition for receiving her diploma," Crampton explains.

Corder wrote the apology under compulsion, and Liberty Counsel then sued the school on her behalf. Crampton says it is unconstitutional to restrict public speech, especially since it was student-initiated.

Evidently, says the attorney, "there's basically no such thing as private speech at a graduation ceremony -- even for a valedictorian who earned the right to address her classmates."

Crampton calls it a clear case of viewpoint discrimination.

Watch the following video for another similar case...

Baptist Leader Speaks Out Against Obama's Pro-Death Moves

2009-03-15T20:48:00.002-04:00

A Southern Baptist leader who serves on President Barack Obama's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships opposes Obama's move to fund embryonic stem-cell research.

Rev. Frank Page, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, says he told the White House that he is alarmed at Obama's "consistent pattern of removing any pro-life protections." Page says he wonders sometimes if the president is really listening to his advice and says he is conscious of being a Baptist and evangelical voice on the president's advisory council.

"I know that I am representing a huge number of people who are deeply concerned, and as long as I am at the table I have a voice at the table, and I am trying to maintain that and be true to what I feel is a biblically consistent voice," he notes.

But after Page objected last week to the removal of conscience protections for medical providers, he says he got a letter from the White House. "Promising me in writing that President Obama would never be a part of forcing anyone to perform an abortion against his or her conscience," he points out.

Page says he disagrees with President Obama's move to federally fund embryonic stem-cell research. "I'm just seeing this consistent pattern of removing any pro-life protection, so I am deeply concerned," he admits. "And I have stated that concern and will continue to state it."

4D Proof Abortion is Murder / Pro-Life Anti-Abortion Video

2009-03-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

Come See Who Pro-Choicers Want to Be Allowed To Be Murdered. The video, "Anna's Baby February 2006". The first pictures in 3D of Anna's Son. 4D Ultrasound (also known as 3D/4D Ultrasound) is the most advanced technology used by sonographers during pregnancy to evaluate the unborn baby. The film proves that the unborn child is a human being and that abortion is nothing more than the murder of an innocent human being. This item is part of the collection: Open Source Movies. Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.

The Orwellian Presidential Bully Pulpit

2009-03-12T20:18:00.002-04:00

by David Limbaugh

Does the following statement from Melody C. Barnes, director of President Barack Obama's Domestic Policy Council, strike you as a) patronizing or b) Orwellian? "The president believes that it's particularly important to sign this (presidential memorandum authorizing federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research) so that we can put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals."

Your answer should be both a and b, especially when considered in conjunction with another presidential memorandum "aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence."

The president brazenly sermonizes against scientifically challenged conservatives while triggering federal funding of research that is scientifically controversial and preparing to impose cap and trade penalties on corporate America in deference to global warming junk science.

While you won't hear much about this in the mainstream media, there is a meeting currently taking place in New York City that serves as an ironic backdrop for Obama's embryonic stem cell order.

OneNewsNow.com reports that more than 70 scientists -- representing the views of tens of thousands more scientists -- are meeting at The Heartland Institute's second annual International Conference on Climate Change to make the case that politically motivated alarmism, not science, is driving climate change activism, which potentially threatens the sovereignty of the United States.

At the conference, European Union and Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus likened those pushing global warming hysteria to the communists of Old Europe, who refused to listen to opposing views. Their goal, Klaus warned, is to control the public.

Sounds familiar. The Obama administration repeatedly implements policies that are in direct contradiction to its benign rhetoric, which is what I mean by "Orwellian." Consider its fiscal recklessness accompanied by promises of fiscal responsibility, including its staggering denial that it is promoting earmarks. Or its boasts of bipartisanship while shutting Republicans out of the legislative process. Or calling its plan to chill an employee's choice to opt out of union membership the "Employee Free Choice Act."

But Obama's statements while introducing his embryonic stem cell executive order truly take the cake. He said: "But after much discussion, debate and reflection, the proper course has become clear. The majority of Americans, from across the political spectrum and from all backgrounds and beliefs, have come to a consensus that we should pursue this research -- that the potential it offers is great, and with proper guidelines and strict oversight, the perils can be avoided."

It would take several columns to parse that statement alone, but just look at the misleading phraseology: "The majority of Americans … have come to a consensus." Assuming a majority favors embryonic stem cell research -- and even federal taxpayer funding for it -- is it not deceptive to imply that a majority constitutes a consensus?

Of course, those who agree on a proposition always share a consensus among themselves, but doesn't "consensus" suggest that there is almost unanimity on the issue?

The answer is yes. The Obama left repeatedly uses this type of language to manufacture the impression that only a fringe minority disagrees with the overwhelmingly accepted majority view. They declare a consensus when there isn't one and bully the true opposition from voicing their concerns. They do it with global warming, embryonic stem cell research, "intelligent design" theory and now Keynesian economics.

They have plenty of help from the liberal lapdog media. They dutifully report that Obama is lifting a ban on embryonic stem cell research when there has been no ban on such research, only a restriction on federal funding for it. Nowhere do they acknowledge the genuine ethical objections to or the scientific problems that have been encountered in such research. Instead, they just portray opponents of federal subsidies for the practice as Luddites.

While the left ridicules those who don't buy into their decreed "consensuses," they are the ones who suppress scientific inquiry and debate on various issues. They are the ones who suppress publication of facts that contradict their agenda.

You'll rarely hear from them about the failures and hazards of embryonic stem cell research, such as a report that embryonic cells injected into a boy caused multiple brain tumors. You'll never hear them speak about the increasing successes of adult stem cell research, even though adult stem cell science is less expensive, more accessible, probably involves less cancer-causing risk, and is not ethically controversial.

Beware; when the Obama left mounts its rhetorical high horse and tells us it is advancing science in furtherance of a consensus, it is most likely signaling that it is implementing a highly controversial, scientifically dubious policy whose opposition it intends to intimidate and silence with the formidable force of the presidential bully pulpit.

Carville Wanted Bush to Fail

2009-03-12T20:05:00.003-04:00

The news that Democratic strategist James Carville wanted President Bush to fail has been circulating for a couple of days now. According to FOX News, on the morning of September 11, 2001, just minutes before the terrorist attacks, Carville told a group of Washington reporters: "I certainly hope he doesn't succeed."

Carville was joined by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who seemed encouraged by a survey he had just completed that revealed public misgivings about the newly minted president.

"We rush into these focus groups with these doubts that people have about him, and I'm wanting them to turn against him," Greenberg admitted.

Of course, as soon as Carville heard of the terrorist attacks, he announced to all the reporters he was having breakfast with for them to "Disregard everything we just said! This changes everything!" And the press did just that, never reporting anything that Carville had said, for months and years afterward.

Why is this bit of news important? Because the press went crazy when Rush Limbaugh recently said that he wanted President Obama to fail, talking endlessly about it and suggesting that Limbaugh and Republicans were unpatriotic.

Mr. Carville himself said on CNN: "The most influential Republican in the United States today, Mr. Rush Limbaugh, said he did not want President Obama to succeed." "He is the daddy of this Republican Congress."

Did Carville forget what he said about Bush in 2001? Of course not, he was just hoping everybody else wouldn't find out about it - pot, meet kettle. Carville says that focusing on Limbaugh is a deliberate strategy and that Democrats hope it undermines Republicans. This piece of information was confirmed by the New York Times in a profile of David Axelrod, Obama's closest political advisor:

He [Axelrod] also helps decide which fights to pick and which ones to avoid, making him a leading voice in setting the political tone in Washington. The recent back-and-forth with Rush Limbaugh, for example, was explicitly authorized by Axelrod, who told aides that it was not a moment to sit quietly after Limbaugh said he hoped that Obama would “fail.”

Limbaugh, for his part, said that he is rooting for the failure of Obama's liberal policies. "The difference between Carville and his ilk and me is that I care about what happens to my country," said Limbaugh on Wednesday. "I am not saying what I say for political advantage. I oppose actions, such as Obama's socialist agenda, that hurt my country."

Teen Commits Suicide -- Is Sexting to Blame?

2009-03-10T18:21:00.003-04:00

We're saddened by a story about a teen who hanged herself in her bedroom after an ex-boyfriend disseminated a nude cell-phone photo of her around their Ohio community. Jessica Logan, 18, was harassed daily by other girls calling her "slut" and "whore" and throwing objects at her.

Making It Through
She finished high school last year and went on national television with her face and voice distorted to warn other girls about the potential consequences of taking naked photos of themselves, a mistake Vanessa Hudgens later made.

But two months later, after attending a funeral for another teen who had committed suicide, Jessica went home and took her own life.

A Common Mistake
An oft-cited survey says that 39 percent of teens have sent similar photos of themselves ... and 15 percent of high-school boys say they disseminate the pics after a breakup.

The "Today" show had an "Internet security expert" on hand to warn of the dangers of "sexting" and urge parents to check their kids' cell phones. But isn't the real problem old-fashioned high-school cruelty?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

"Sexting" and online bullying may be relatively new, but girls tormenting other girls over their alleged promiscuity has been around forever.

We're glad to hear from the security expert that schools are finally being held liable for bullying (including some cyber-bullying), but we're not sure if that will be enough to keep kids from tormenting each other.

"Mean Girls" has a touching ending, but what can school officials and parents do to help real-life teens make peace? Should we blame technology ... or ourselves?

Tell us! What should parents or administrators do to teach kids about the dangers of sexting? Is it just another rite of passage?

Stem-Cell Decision Exposes Religious Divides

2009-03-10T17:00:00.003-04:00

The embryonic stem-cell research debate is steeped with religious arguments, with some faith traditions convinced the research amounts to killing innocent life, others citing the moral imperative to alleviate suffering, and plenty of religious believers caught somewhere in between.

President Barack Obama's order Monday opening the door for federal taxpayer dollars to fund expanded embryonic stem cell research again brings those often colliding interests to the fore. Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called Obama's move "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics."

"This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested," Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, said in a statement.

On the other side is the Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, a United Church of Christ minister and a professor at Chicago Theological Seminary. "There is an ethical imperative to relieve suffering and promote healing," she said. "This is good policy for a religiously pluralistic society that cares about human suffering and the relief of human suffering."

Obama alluded to religion in announcing the changes, saying, "As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."

Some religious traditions teach that because life begins at conception, any research that destroys a human embryo, as this research does, is tantamount to murder and is never justified. The Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention are among those that oppose the research.

Other more liberal traditions, including mainline Protestant and Jewish institutions, believe the promise to relieve suffering is paramount. In 2004, the governing body of the Episcopal Church said it would favor the research as long as it used embryos that otherwise would have been destroyed, that embryos were not created for research purposes, or were not bought and sold.

Under Jewish law, an embryo is genetic material that does not have the status of a person. According to the Talmud, the embryo is "simply water" in the first 40 days of gestation. Healing and preserving human life takes precedence over all the other commandments in Judaism.

Some groups and faiths are divided on the issue. Muslims disagree over -- among other things -- whether an embryo in the early stage of development has a soul. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon church, has not taken a position.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor from Orlando, Fla., who serves on an Obama White House advisory panel, said he was encouraged by Monday's developments.

"The principle is still that it's not only understandable but in some ways moral to use embryonic stem cells that are destined for destruction for research for helping people," he said. "I think we have to tread very lightly and very carefully, and I think we have to be vigilant for years to come."

But most evangelicals criticized Obama's move. Gilbert Meilaender, a Christian ethicist at Valparaiso University and a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, created by President George W. Bush, said Obama's decision was especially disappointing because scientists are advancing toward being able to produce cells that act like embryonic stem cells without destroying any human embryos.

Meilaender said that while there is no good solution for frozen embryos left in storage at fertility clinics, destroying them for stem cell research is not the answer.

"My own position is that having, as it were, produced and used them once in the use of someone else's project, for a reproductive purpose, that using it once for someone else's purpose is enough," said Meilaender, a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Catholic bishops have been outspoken in opposing embryonic stem cell research. Other Catholics, though, are more open to lifting the Bush-era restrictions, with caveats. The Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said restrictions should be put on embryonic stem cell research -- including prohibition on their buying and selling, and using only embryos that otherwise would be destroyed.

"I'm trying to make an argument for some middle ground here," Reese said. "Hopefully down the line we can reach a point where we don't have to use embryonic stem cell research."

Polls show some believers are willing to buck their leaders on the issue. Fifty-nine percent of white, non-Hispanic Catholics and 58 percent of white mainline Protestants favor embryonic stem cell research, according to a poll released in July 2008 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Only 31 percent of white evangelical Protestants, however, favored the research.

Princeton University politics professor Robert George, a Catholic and another member of the Bush-era Council on Bioethics, said the moral argument over embryonic stem cell research is not rooted in religion but in ethics and equality. He said research shows that an embryo is a human being in its earliest form of development, so we have to ask ourselves whether all human life should be treated equally, with dignity and respect.

"I don't think the question has anything to do with religion or pulling out our microscope and trying to find souls," George said. "We live in a pluralistic society where some people believe there are no such things as souls. Does that mean we should not have moral objections to killing 17-year-old adolescents?"

Prosecutor: Man Who Gunned Down Pastor Planned Attack

2009-03-09T19:36:00.004-04:00

TROY, Ill. -- An Illinois prosecutor charged a Troy man for murder after he walked into a church on Sunday morning and gunned down a pastor as he gave a sermon.

Terry Joe Sedlacek of Troy has been charged with murder and aggravated battery involving the slaying of Rev. Fred Winters, according to Madison County court documents. He is being held without bond, even though he is in a St. Louis hospital for self-inflicted knife wounds.

Madison County State's Attorney William Mudge said after charging Sedlacek that investigators discovered a day planner where Sedlacek listed Sunday as a "death day." Mudge said that indicates that the attack was planned, but he and the police are still struggling to determine a motive.

Illinois State Police Capt. Mark Bramlett said detectives haven't found a connection yet between Sedlacek and the pastor, except that Sedlacek had friends among the church's large congregation.

Sedlacek is accused of killing Winters at the First Baptist Church at 7110 State Route 162 in Maryville.

About 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Winters was giving a sermon when a gunman walked up to the pastor in the church. Sedlacek pulled a .45-caliber firearm and shot at Winters. The bullet hit Winters' Bible, which burst into confetti. About 150 parishioners were watching when the gunman began shooting.

Then, Sedlacek shot the pastor the chest. Winters died a short time later. Sedlacek then pulled out a knife and cut himself, and two parishioners tackled him to the ground. The two parishioners were injured, one seriously. One of the parishioners is still hospitalized this morning, along with Sedlacek.

Sedlacek had three magazines of ammunition with him at the church. Mudge said that, if a perfect shot, it was enough to kill about 30 people.

Sedlacek and the seriously injured parishioner --Terry Bullard, 39, of Troy -- were treated at nearby Anderson hospital and then airlifted to a St. Louis hospital for surgery. Keith Melton, 51, of Troy -- the second parishioner who tackled Sedlacek -- was treated and released.

RELATED CONTENT
bullet EARLIER STORY: Terry Joe Sedlacek's Lyme disease.
bullet Sign the guest book for Pastor Fred Winters
bullet SLIDESHOW: View pictures of the scene.
bullet First Baptist Church's website

Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn said this morning that an autopsy showed that Winters was shot through the heart and died just seconds later.

Why exactly Sedlacek gunned down Winters is still a mystery to police, Bramlett said this morning. Detectives are out talking to neighbors and those who know Sedlacek to look for a connection. Sedlacek knew at least a few of the parishioners at the First Baptist Church, Bramlett said.

"We're still talking to friends and family members and trying to figure that out," Bramlett said. "Some people he knew went to that church, but we're not real sure why he chose that church, that pastor.

"Hopefully, after we get out and talk to people, it will be come clearer as to what motivated him to do that," Bramlett said.

Winters became senior pastor of the church 22 years ago, when the church had just 32 parishioners. At last count, the massive church near Anderson Hospital had about 1,200 members.

State police investigators and forensic teams are sifting through evidence found at the church, Sedlacek's Jeep Wrangler and at his home in Troy. Anyone with information about the attack or Sedlacek is asked to call Illinois State Police Special Agent James Walker at 618-346-3765.

A disaster cleaning company is at the church this morning। And, visitors are stopping by to leave memorials to the slain pastor.

Pro-Family Leader Denounces Stem Cell Policy Change

2009-03-09T17:26:00.002-04:00

WASHINGTON - Sources say President Barack Obama will announce on Monday that he's reversing limits imposed by President George W. Bush on using federal money for research with embryonic stem cells.

Proponents of the move say destroying the human embryos opens the door for research aimed at one day better treating, if not curing, ailments from diabetes to paralysis - research that has drawn broad support, including from notables like Nancy Reagan, widow of the late Republican President Ronald Reagan, and the late Christopher Reeve.

But it stirs intense controversy over whether government crosses a moral line with such research.

Obama will hold an event at the White House to announce the change, a senior administration official said Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the policy had not yet been publicly announced.

Embryonic stem cells are master cells that can morph into any cell of the body. Scientists hope to harness them so they can create replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases - such as new insulin-producing cells for diabetics, cells that could help those with Parkinson's disease or maybe even Alzheimer's, or new nerve connections to restore movement after spinal injury.

The aim of the policy is to restore "scientific integrity" to the process, the administration official said.

Critics immediately denounced the move.

"Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for experiments that require the destruction of human life," said Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council. "President Obama's policy change is especially troubling given the significant adult stem cell advances that are being used to treat patients now without harming or destroying human embryos."

Indeed, there are different types of stem cells: So-called adult stem cells that produce a specific type of tissue; younger stem cells found floating in amniotic fluid or the placenta. Scientists even have learned to reprogram certain cells to behave like stem cells.

But Obama made it clear during the campaign he would overturn Bush's directive.

During the campaign, Obama said, "I strongly support expanding research on stem cells. I believe that the restrictions that President Bush has placed on funding of human embryonic stem cell research have handcuffed our scientists and hindered our ability to compete with other nations."

Once the change is in place, scientists will be able to start applying for taxpayer-funded grants through the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH already has begun writing guidelines that, among other things, are expected to demand that the cells being used were derived with proper informed consent from the woman or couple who donated the original embryo.

Suspect In Pastor Murder Could Be Charged Today

2009-03-09T17:07:00.004-04:00

MARYVILLE, Ill. - A man suspected of killing a pastor with a barrage of shots that ripped through the church leader's Bible was in serious condition Monday from wounds he sustained in the confrontation, and authorities expect to charge him soon.

The gunman, identified by authorities as a 27-year-old from Troy, strode toward the Rev. Fred Winters shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, exchanged words with him, then fired a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol until it jammed.

Churchgoers then wrestled him to the ground as he brandished a knife, said Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent. Winters later died of his injuries.

The gunman underwent surgery at St. Louis University Hospital and remained in serious condition Monday morning, according to hospital spokeswoman Laura Keller.

State Police Lt. Scott Compton told The Associated Press early Monday that authorities plan to charge the suspect sometime Monday or possibly Tuesday.

A 39-year-old parishioner, Terry Bullard, also remained in serious condition Monday morning. The third victim, Keith Melton, was treated and released.

None of the about 150 worshippers attending the early morning service seemed to recognize the gunman, and investigators did not know details of Winters' conversation with him, Trent said, but they planned to review an audio recording of the service.

Authorities didn't know whether Winters, a married father of two, knew the gunman. Police would not release the gunman's name pending possible charges.

Winters deflected the first of the gunman's four rounds with a Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of paper into the air in a horrifying scene worshippers initially thought was a skit, police said.

"We just sat there waiting for what comes next not realizing that he had wounded the pastor," said Linda Cunningham, whose husband is a minister of adult education at the 1,200-member church.

Winters had stood on an elevated platform to deliver his sermon about finding happiness in the workplace - titled "Come On, Get Happy" - and managed to run halfway down the sanctuary's side aisle before collapsing after the attack, Cunningham said.

Two worshippers tackled the gunman as he pulled the knife, and all three were stabbed - the gunman suffered "a pretty serious wound to the neck" while one worshipper had lower back wounds, Trent said.

Churchgoers knocked the gunman between sets of pews, then held him down until police arrived, said member Don Bohley, who was just outside the sanctuary when the shooting began.

Trent said investigators found no immediate evidence of a criminal background for the suspect. He said police were investigating whether a red Jeep parked outside the church belonged to the man.

The Jeep, which remained at the church Sunday night under State Police watch, was registered to the address of a 27-year-old man in an upscale neighborhood in Troy. No one answered the door at the residence Sunday.

A man of the same age whose mother's name also is registered at the Troy address was featured in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article detailing his battle with Lyme disease. In the article, the man's mother said the disease left lesions on his brain and that doctors had diagnosed him as mentally ill before discovering the disease.

In the August 2008 article, the mother said her son was taking several medications and had difficulty speaking after contracting the tick-borne illness.

Police would not confirm that the man in the article was the church shooting suspect. The Associated Press is not naming the man because no one has been charged in the shooting.

The Rev. Mark Jones, another First Baptist pastor, later urged a Sunday evening prayer service attended by hundreds at nearby Metro Community Church in Edwardsville to be resilient after "this attack from the forces of hell."

The standing-room-only crowd cried, cradled Bibles and stretched their hands skyward as they packed into the church, many watching the service on large television monitors in overflow areas.

"We need to reassure our hearts and reinforce our minds that Pastor Fred is in that place that we call heaven," Jones said. "Church, evil does exist. Today, we saw the visible results of evil and its influence."

First Baptist had an average attendance of 32 people when Winters became senior pastor in 1987; it now has about 1,200 members and three Sunday services, according to the church's Web site.

Winters was former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the site.

He hosted Pizza with the Pastor dinners in his home, and the church organized bowling parties for fathers and daughters, karate classes and a golf league.

The church sits along a busy two-lane highway on the east side of Maryville, a fast-growing village of more than 7,000 about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis.

A farm sits directly across from the church, but subdivisions of newer homes can been easily seen from every side.

"Things like this just don't happen in Maryville," Mayor Larry Gulledge said. "We've lost one the pillars of our community, one of our leaders."

Baptist Pastor Murdered During Sunday Morning Service

2009-03-08T20:36:00.004-04:00

MARYVILLE, Ill. - A gunman walked down the aisle of an Illinois church during a Sunday service and killed the pastor, then stabbed himself and slashed two other people as congregants wrestled him to the ground, authorities said.

The man walked into the sprawling red brick First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with The Rev. Fred Winters before pulling out a .45-caliber handgun and shooting Winters once in the chest, said Illinois State Police Master Trooper Ralph Timmins.

The gun jammed before the man could fire again, Timmins said. The attacker then pulled out a knife and injured himself before churchgoers subdued him. Two parishioners involved in the struggle also suffered knife wounds, Timmins said.

Timmins said officials don't know whether Winters, a married father of two who had led the church for nearly 22 years, and the gunman knew each other.

Officials did not know the suspect's name.

"We don't know the relationship (between the gunman and pastor), why he's here or what the circumstances came about that caused him in the first place to be here," Timmins said.

The Rev. Mark Jones, another pastor at First Baptist, said he did not recognize the gunman, who he saw briefly before the man pulled out his weapon. Jones went into an adjacent room and did not see the shooting, though he heard a sound like miniature fire crackers.

"We have no idea what this guy's motives were," Jones said outside the church. "We don't know if we'll ever know that."

Winters was pronounced dead at Anderson Hospital, spokeswoman Natalie Head said. Two people who were injured at the church were flown to another hospital, Head said.

The gunman and one victim, 39-year-old Terry Bullard, were being treated at St. Louis University Hospital, spokeswoman Laura Keller said. Bullard underwent surgery for stab wounds and was in serious condition, she said.

Keller said the gunman underwent surgery Sunday afternoon but could not provide his name, condition or type of injuries.

The other victim, Keith Melton, was treated and released from Gateway Regional Medical Center, spokeswoman Kate Allaria said. A man who answered the phone at a listing for Keith Melton in Troy identified himself as Melton's stepson and said Melton had been stabbed but was going to be fine.

First Baptist had an average attendance of 32 people when Winters became senior pastor in 1987; it now has about 1,200 members, according to the church's Web site. Winters also was former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the site.

"Our great God is not surprised by this, or anything," Nate Adams, executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association, said in a statement. "That He allows evil and free will to have their way in tragedies like this is a mystery in many ways."

The church sits along a busy two-lane highway on the east side of Maryville, a fast-growing village of more than 7,000 people about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. A farm sits directly across from church, but subdivisions of newer homes can been seen from every side.

"Things like this just don't happen in Maryville," Mayor Larry Gulledge said. "We've lost one of the pillars of our community, one of our leaders."

Congregant Sharla Dryden pulled into the church parking lot for a 9:30 a.m. service in time to see "just a lot of chaos, lot of police, fire, and people just devastated."

"They just said there had been a shooting," said Dryden, 62. "I would have been devastated if anyone had been shot, but to hear it was the pastor was terrible. You just never expect this to happen at a church."

But Jeffrey Hawkins, executive director of the Christian Security Network - a national organization that deals with security, safety and emergency planning for churches, schools and ministries - noted in a statement that while the shooting is a tragedy, it is "one that has been witnessed many times over the years."

Last month, a man shot and killed himself in front of a cross inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif. In November, a gunman killed his estranged wife in a New Jersey church vestibule as Sunday services let out.

NY Governor Forcing Recognition Of Same-Sex 'Marriages'

2009-03-06T20:47:00.002-05:00

New York Governor David Paterson is commanding state agencies to recognize same-gender "marriages" and civil unions that are legal in other states and countries and to revise policies and regulations to accommodate it.

CNN.com reports Paterson sent state agencies a memo on Wednesday alleging that the failure to recognize homosexual marriages violates the state's human rights law. Frank Russo of the American Family Association of New York tells OneNewsNow the governor's decision is disappointing.

"Calling for recognition of civil unions and gay marriage performed in other states, at this time especially -- because the consequences are not only moral -- ...[is] not only bad for the homosexuals because it somewhat encourages their very risky behavior; but on top of that, it's bad for the whole state's economy," he contends. Russo says pensions and other benefits will be costly at a time when New York is in the red a billion dollars per month.

The governor's move comes in spite of a legal challenge against a New York appeals court ruling in February that stated same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions are entitled to recognition in the Empire State. There is no final decision yet in that matter -- and Russo does not anticipate a favorable court ruling.

"My expectation is not good," he admits. "These are basically liberals who don't realize the sanctity of marriage. They don't understand that marriage for thousands of years...was based on one concept – the concept of children. The procreation of children, and the education of children -- and of course, gay people cannot [procreate]."

Brownback 'Throwing The Unborn Under The Bus'

2009-03-06T20:41:00.003-05:00

A pro-life activist says Senator Sam Brownback's decision to support pro-abortion Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for Health and Human Services secretary shows that his commitment to the unborn is merely political rather than a core value.

Kansas Republican Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts issued a joint statement congratulating Sebelius on her HHS nomination, saying they "look forward to working with her on issues important to the state." Sebelius is a Catholic who says she personally believes abortion is wrong, yet has opposed restrictions on late-term abortions and is a friend and defender of notorious Wichita abortionist George Tiller.

Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics, Incorporated, says Brownback -- a self-professed pro-life Catholic -- "abandoned" the unborn by backing Sebelius.

"I think it's typical of what we've seen over the years when somebody's commitment to the unborn is political rather than a core value with them," says the pro-life leader. "It's like the difference between a politician and a statesman."

Crutcher says Brownback's desire to become the next governor of Kansas may be driving his support of Sebelius. "All of Brownback's flowery words in the past don't really mean much," he says. "When push comes to shove, he'll throw the unborn under the bus for some political advantage -- and that's what's happened here."

In addition, Crutcher says the pro-life movement has been "stabbed in the back by people like Sam Brownback so many times" that the movement should have learned the lesson that the measure of a pro-life lawmaker is not what he tells you he believes, but rather what he will do to protect the life of the unborn.

OneNewsNow has twice contacted Senator Brownback's office for comment on his support of Sebelius. Those emails have not been returned.

School Shuts Out Entire Community To Avoid Church

2009-03-05T19:28:00.003-05:00

New York's Broome Community College has answered a local church's freedom of religion lawsuit.

The college permitted a church to rent school property on weekends for its religious services, but stopped allowing it while still allowing other non-religious groups to use school facilities. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) then filed a lawsuit against the school, citing religious discrimination.

ADF attorney Daniel Blomberg was in court when the judge ruled the school was violating the Constitution. He notes the school has retaliated in a strange way.

"However, unfortunately, the college's response to this finding was it's going to shut down the forum for the entire community," he explains. "It will no longer rent its facilities on the weekends to anyone in the community as a way of trying to uphold its hostility toward religion."

According to an ADF press release, Blomberg finds it hard to believe the school would punish the whole city by turning away all venues, especially when it was receiving rental income from the church during the economic downturn.

"That's going to be shutting down things like...a roller skating rink that's available to the community on Saturdays and Sundays," he adds. "They said that's one of the things they were willing to do to keep churches out."

A court hearing will be held later to decide whether the church will have permission to rent space at the college if it holds services during the week instead of on weekends.

Prop. 8 Hearings Kick Off Today

2009-03-05T19:22:00.002-05:00

The California Supreme Court will hear arguments today in challenges to Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment approved by voters in November that declares marriage to be between one man and one woman.

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), notes the Prop. 8 battle was the voters' response to the state Supreme Court's legalization of homosexual "marriage."

"This is a very important case in that it's not only involving whether or not homosexual marriage will be forced upon the people of California, but it's really a question of whether or not democracy itself will be preserved," he explains.

Californians, Dacus adds, have clearly declared their view of marriage -- more than once. "The people of California have twice gone to the polls, twice have defined marriage as between one man and one woman, and this last time they amended the state constitution," he points out. The other vote Dacus is referring to was in March 2000, when voters in the Golden State approved Prop. 22.

In a PJI press release, Dacus says the court will consider an argument from homosexuals that Prop. 8 was not a valid constitutional amendment but merely a revision. If the court rules against the people, he believes California voters will have one choice left: to recall justices that vote for homosexual marriage.

Pawlenty: 'Faith In God' The Cornerstone Of Conservatis.

2009-03-05T18:55:00.004-05:00

The governor of Minnesota is expressing optimism about the future of the conservative political movement -- a movement that he believes should be centered around faith in God.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty only received one percent of the vote last week in the Republican presidential straw poll conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). However, balloting for the straw poll ended a day before his CPAC speech -- a message which undoubtedly resonated well with conservative Christians.

In an interview with OneNewsNow, Pawlenty reiterated that "faith in God" should be at the forefront of the conservative movement.

"If you go back and look at why and how this country was founded, people who envisioned America and the American dream first and foremost said we need to acknowledge and be grateful to God," the governor stated. "And it's reflected in our founding documents; it should be reflected in our daily lives, our political values, our political principles, and our own behavior.

"It all starts with that," he emphasized. "That is the foundation upon which we build our house -- literally and figuratively."

Pawlenty urged fellow conservatives to strengthen their reliance on their Creator. "Remember this: God is the God of all," he shared. "And our job is to get up each day and try our best with hope and grace and love and kindness -- but in the end, the result is God's....I think he charges us with the effort, and we need to trust him with the result."

Governor Pawlenty, who John McCain seriously considered for his vice-presidential nominee last year, says he currently does not have presidential ambitions, but instead is strictly focused on his state and on restoring the conservative movement to prominence.

More government, less God: What the Obama revolution means for religion in America

2009-03-05T18:51:00.001-05:00

In his successful drive for the presidency, Barack Obama went out of his way to cultivate churchgoing Americans. Obama spoke frankly and fluidly about his faith, he participated in Pastor Rick Warren's candidates' forum at the Saddleback mega-church, he reached out personally and persistently to evangelical and Catholic leaders, and his campaign targeted American religious groups like no other Democratic candidate for president has in recent times. Moreover, Obama and his campaign downplayed his socially liberal views, stressed his commitment to tolerance and civility toward those with whom he disagreed on social issues, and sought to underline the ways in which his progressive policy positions were consistent with biblical faith and Catholic Social Teaching.

Obama's efforts paid off. In 2008, according to CNN exit polls, Obama won 43 percent of the presidential vote among voters who attend religious services once a week or more, up from Senator John Kerry's 39 percent in 2004. Obama did especially well with Black and Latino believers. But he also made real inroads among traditional white Catholics, according to a recent article by John Green in First Things.

His cultivation of churchgoing Americans has not let up since winning the election. From his selection of Rick Warren to deliver his inaugural invocation to his public support for charitable choice to his recent remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama has sought to signal to the faithful in America that his administration is no enemy to religion.

I do not doubt the sincerity of Obama's religious intentions। But while many social conservatives have pointed a spotlight on Obama's socially liberal policies (repealing the Mexico City Policy, for example) few have paid attention to the likely impact his stimulus, bailout, and economic welfare programs will have. One unremarked and unintended consequence of Barack Obama's audacious plans for the expansion of government — especially in health care, education, and the environment — is that the nanny state he is seeking to build will likely crowd out religious institutions in America. In other words, if he succeeds in passing his ambitious agenda, the Obama revolution is likely to lead the United States down the secular path already trod by Europe.

To fund his bold efforts to revive the American economy and expand the welfare state, Obama is proposing to spend a staggering $3.6 trillion in the 2010 fiscal year. Obama's revolutionary agenda would push federal, state, and local spending to approximately 40 percent of Gross Domestic Product, up from about 33 percent in 2000. It would also put the size of government in the United States within reach of Europe, where government spending currently makes up 46 percent of GDP.

Why is this significant for the vitality of religion in America? A recent study of 33 countries around the world by Anthony Gill and Erik Lundsgaarde, political scientists at the University of Washington, indicates that there is an inverse relationship between state welfare spending and religiosity. Specifically, they found that countries with larger welfare states had markedly lower levels of religious attendance, had higher rates of citizens indicating no religious affiliation whatsoever, and their people took less comfort in religion in general. In their words, "Countries with higher levels of per capita welfare have a proclivity for less religious participation and tend to have higher percentages of non-religious individuals."

Gill and Lundsgaarde show, for instance, that Scandinavian societies such as Sweden and Denmark have some of the largest welfare states in the world as well as some of the lowest levels of religious attendance in the world. By contrast, countries with a history of limited government — from the United States to the Philippines — have markedly higher levels of religiosity. The link between religion and the welfare state remains robust even after Gill and Lundsgaarde control for socioeconomic factors such as urbanization, region, and literacy. The bottom line: as government grows, people's reliance on God seems to diminish.

How do we account for the inverse relationship between government size and religious vitality? As Gill and Lundsgaarde point out, some individuals have strong spiritual needs that can only be met by religion. This portion of the population remains faithful, come what may.

But other individuals only turn to churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques when their needs for social or material security are not being met by the market or state. In an environment characterized by ordinary levels of social or economic insecurity, many of these individuals will turn to local congregations for social, economic, and emotional support. At times of high insecurity, such as the current recession, religious demand goes even higher. Witness, for instance, press accounts chronicling the recent boom in churchgoing among Americans hit hard by the recession. Of course, many of those who initially turn to the church around the corner for instrumental reasons often end up developing an intrinsic appreciation for the spiritual and moral goods found in their local congregation.

By contrast, the more the state steps in to reduce the economic and social insecurity of its citizens, the less likely fair-weather believers are to darken the door of a church on Sunday. Now, to paraphrase Charles Krauthammer, Obama hopes to expand the size of the welfare state by offering cradle-to-grave health care and cradle-to-cubicle education to Americans. If he gets his way, Americans will not have to trust in God, or their fellow congregants, to support an ailing parent, or to help them figure out how to pay for their daughter's college tuition. Instead, they can put their faith in Uncle Sam.

To secularists and religious skeptics, this may seem no great loss. Who cares if Americans substitute "In God We Trust" for "In Government We Trust"? But as political scientist Alan Wolfe observed in Whose Keeper?, one of the primary dangers associated with the rise of the nanny state is that "when government assumes moral responsibility for others, people are less likely to do so themselves." Wolfe noted that large increases in welfare spending in Sweden, Denmark and Norway over the last half century have ended up eroding the moral fabric of families and civic institutions in these societies. Scandinavians have come to depend not on family, civil society, or themselves, but on the government for their basic needs.

The problem with this Scandinavian-style welfare dependency is that many Scandinavians, especially young adults who have grown up taking the welfare state for granted, are markedly less likely to attend to the social, material, and emotional needs of family and friends than earlier generations. As a consequence, social solidarity is down and social pathology — from drinking to crime — is up. In Wolfe's words, "High tax rates in Scandinavia encourage governmental responsibility for others; they do not, however, necessarily inspire a personal sense of altruism and a feeling of moral unity toward others with whom one's fate is always linked." Not surprisingly, cheating on taxes is on the rise in Scandinavian countries, both because the social solidarity undergirding these societies is fraying and because men and women — especially high earners — are recoiling from paying the hefty taxes associated with keeping their nanny states afloat (sound familiar?).

The dangers that Wolfe identifies in societies like Sweden would likely be even more salient in America, which has a much lower level of cultural homogeneity and collectivism than the Scandinavian nations. In the United States, as Alexis de Tocqueville observed, religious institutions have long provided crucial social and moral ballast to the individualistic ethos of our nation. For instance, as political scientist Arthur Brooks pointed out in his recent book, Who Really Cares, religious Americans are significantly more likely to give to charity and to volunteer their time than are secularists. In 2000, he found, for instance, that 91 percent of regular churchgoers (those who attend religious services nearly every week or more frequently) gave money to charities, compared to 66 percent of secularists (those who attend religious services a couple times a year or not at all); moreover, 67 percent of churchgoers volunteered, compared to 44 percent of secularists.

This is why, even though Obama's audacious agenda might provide short-term relief to the economic and social challenges that now beset us, over the long term the Obama revolution is likely to erode first the religious and then the civic and moral fabric of the nation। Undoubtedly, this is not the change religious believers who put their faith in Obama last November are hoping for from this president. But if the European experiment with the welfare state tells us anything, it tells us that this is the change we can expect from a successful Obama revolution.

W. Bradford Wilcox, associate professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, is a fellow of the Witherspoon Institute and sits on the editorial board of Public Discourse. He is currently writing a book for Oxford University Press titled "Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Childbearing, and Marriage among African Americans and Latinos." This column is printed with permission.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects N.J. Football Coach's Appeal of Team Prayer Ruling.

2009-03-03T17:50:00.006-05:00

by Sue Epstein

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from the East Brunswick High School football coach who was banned from bowing his head during student-led team prayers.

Without comment today, the nation's highest court ended Marcus Borden's efforts to overturn a township board of education decision that as a public employee, Borden cannot mix religion with his work as a coach.

The high court's decision leaves intact a federal appeals court's April decision that Borden's desire to bow his head and take a knee during team prayer is an endorsement of religious activity at a public school.

Neither Borden, who has been the East Brunswick football coach since 1983, nor his attorney, Ronald Riccio, could be reached for comment this afternoon.

Borden has been fighting for the right to bow and kneel in prayer with his team since November 2005, when he filed a federal lawsuit arguing the school district's regulations were overly broad. He won a district court ruling in July 2006 in which a judge decided those rules were unconstitutional, but that decision was reversed at the appellate level in April 2008.

Riccio asked the U.S. Supreme Court in October to review the appeals court decision, arguing then that Borden's case was of national importance because "it addresses what public school educators are permitted to say and do when public school students engage in religious activities in their presence."

Richard Katskee, an attorney with the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the board of education in court, said in a prepared statement today "children have a clear right to attend public schools without religious pressures being brought to bear by school personnel."

"Coach Borden was out of bounds, and the courts were right to blow the whistle," Katskee said. "I hope that other coaches and school personnel learn a lesson from this."

Todd Simmens, president of the East Brunswick Board of Education, in the same statement said "public school officials simply may not engage with students in religious activity."

"The board of education and district officials have, throughout this case, made certain no school employee supervises or otherwise participates in any type of prayer with our students," Simmens said. "Needless to say, the board is pleased that, in this case, the courts reaffirmed this long-standing constitutional principle."

The school district said Borden had a long history of leading prayers before he was ordered to stop after complaints from some parents. Borden resigned as coach in protest of the school board ruling in 2005, but rescinded the resignation within a week and hired Riccio to represent him in his quest to coach the team the way he had for the past 23 years.

Teens' Exposure to Christian Music Leads to Suspension, Lawsuit

2009-02-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

A veteran youth counselor is suing a California children's home after she was suspended without pay because teenagers under her supervision overheard Christian music.

In a suit filed on Feb. 13, Maureen Loya charged Orangewood Children's Home with religious discrimination for slapping her with a six-week suspension for "exposing children to unapproved religious activities."

In July 2006, the counselor took four teenage girls from the Orangewood Children's Home on an approved field trip to the Anaheim 5K run and then to the beach.

When the group went to Huntington Beach pier, they encountered the Surfrider Foundation's Celebrity Surf Jam, which featured a surfing competition and concert as part an effort to raise awareness and support for our nation's beach and coastal environments. The event's entertainment included Christian-based music groups Incubus and Switchfoot. According to the suit, the group overheard ten minutes of Christian music as they were eating. The girls also visited booths at the pier, some of which were selling Christian items.

Following the beach outing, Loya, who has worked with the group home for 18 years, was questioned about the trip during a disciplinary meeting at the children's home.

Several months later, the same incident was brought up again and the counselor received a letter notifying her of the suspension.

In February and March 2007, Loya served her six-week suspension without pay.

The recent suit, filed in the Orange County Superior Court, asks for compensation for the missed work time and to vindicate her constitutional rights.

Loya is represented by John and Laurie Messerly Stewart, attorneys in Orange, Calif., and the Pacific Justice Institute.

"What happened to this counselor was insane and unjust," said Brad Dacus, president of California-based Pacific Justice Institute. "Allowing teenagers to overhear a few minutes of Christian music while at the beach should not result in a six-week suspension."

The Orangewood Children's Home was created by the Orangewood Children's Foundation 25 years ago with a vision to build a facility to shelter Orange County children who were the victims of abuse, neglect and abandonment, according to the organization's Web site.

The Eugenics Mindset Lives

2009-01-29T17:54:00.004-05:00

Todd Friel On The Eugenics Mindset ...

WARNING: This post has very disturbing content.

___________________________________

If you thought eugenics permanently lost its luster after World War II, this will be a rude awakening.

Blogged-out Saturday was interrupted because of a startling item that was in Best of the Web at OpinionJournal.com yesterday. I missed it in the skim-through because the segment title (”Swift Note Veterans Against Youth”) gave little indication of what it was really about (HTs to FreeRepublic andWorld Net Daily).

This is what it’s about: On January 6, 1993 (the letter’s 1992 date is a clear typo), Ron Weddington, who along with his wife Sarah represented “Jane Roe,” now known to be Norma McCorvey, in the Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion through the US, wrote a letter to soon-to-be President Clinton advising him to liberalize abortion laws in the name of what can only be seen as eugenics.

The letter reveals so much about the actual mental outlook of one of the proabortion movement’s leading lights that commenting on the horrors contained herein is unnecessary.

The documents below were obtained by Judicial Watch and published in a 5-meg PDF documentcalled “The RU-486 Files” (what is presented here is at the report’s final five pages). Though not at this blog, I have criticized Judicial Watch frequently in the past for being unfocused and publicity-hungry. Though I think those criticisms remain valid, I have to acknowledge that what they have unearthed is monstrously important (literally), and to congratulate them for including it in their report.

The first note is to Mr. Clinton’s assistant, Betsey Wright, who wrote an instruction to file it. That’s important to note, because although there is no direct indication that anyone in the Clinton Administration shared Mr. Weddington’s views, neither did they dismiss him out of hand as an outlier.

That is followed by a four-page letter to Mr. Clinton.

________________________________

_____________________________

HOLLYWEIRD GETS IT WRONG ... AGAIN!!!

2009-01-24T23:36:00.001-05:00

Curtis takes you from the suites to the streets. How can the Notorious B.I.G be viewed as a hero, an icon when he was a thug?!?! Selling crack, preaching crime, beating women and the list continues. Curtis brings his street smarts to the issue.

President's inauguration Invocation by Dr Rick Warren... Oh Boy!!!

2009-01-20T20:46:00.007-05:00

Rick Warren has delivered the inaugural invocation, saying Barack Obama's election as the nation's first black president represents a pivotal point in history.

Calling America a "land of unequaled possibility," Warren's prayer invoked the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. and asked that Americans remember they are united by a commitment to freedom and justice for all.

The "conservative evangelical" is considered perhaps the nation's most influential pastor. His "Purpose Driven Life" books and lectures have made his Saddleback Church in California among the largest in the country.

But his selection to give the invocation sparked protests from the gay community and liberal groups, because of his support of a California ballot measure banning gay marriage.

Well it turns out they had nothing to worried about...

And The Truth Shall Set You Free...

DOES THE APOCALYPSE OFFICIALLY BEGUN?

Glenn Beck's New Book Reveals He Embraces New Age Theology, Is A Knowledgeable Mormon, And A Universalist

New Warning About the "Healthy" Habit That Can Damage Your Brain

Want Smarter Kids? Then Make Sure They Avoid This Widely Regarded Preventive...

Captured on Tape: 60 Minutes Exposes the Maker of the #1 Most Fatal Drug of 2009

When Contending Costs Everything

Chuck Crismier - 10 Truths About Socialism: Will Government Replace God?

Israel Wary of Vatican Synod (Bishop Claims God's Promise To Israel Is "Cancelled")

The President of the United States Is a Socialist and Some "Evangelicals" Are Helping Him

Author: More teens becoming 'fake' Christians

Christian Rock Exposed

Former Spanish PM: If Israel goes down, we all go down - Haaretz Daily Newspaper * Israel News

www.LumelOnline.net - Eating At The Devil’s Table by David J. Stewart

Israel To Receive Temple Mount | Before It's News

Pastor Speaks Out Against President Obama, Anti-Christian Leaders in Washington, and Islam

For All The Saints

Vatican Hit By Gay Sex Scandal

Hitler Abortion Poster Sparks Outrage In Poland

The Mark Of The Beast 666

Called to Suffer and Rejoice

For The Record : Public School Is Evil

Joel Osteen Blesses Houston's New (Gay) Mayor Annise Parker

Obama to Jane Sturm: Hey, take a pill

Alex Jones discusses Secret Society depopulation scheme with Jesse Ventura

Gerald Celente on Alex Jones Tv 2/4 "Obamageddon!!"

Drunk Christians at New Years Nashville 2010?

Surviving Hitler's Hell

Obama is about to formally surrender US Sovereignty

The Grave Influence of Saul Alinksy - Brannon Howse

God Of The Bible

THIS is YOUR Life!!

Native American Genocide and the New World Order

Mandatory Vaccinations: Rise Of The Police State

WH Spokeswoman Anita Dunn: 'Mao Tse Tung is My Favorite Political Philosopher'

Bible Prophecy in the News : Christian Persecutions TODAY

As In the Days of Noah

Obama 'Green Jobs Czar' Quits Amid Controversy

Lutherans Endorse Homosexuality God Sends Tornado!

When Evangelicals Dine with the Wicked

America's Tipping Point with God - Are We on the Brink of Divine Judgment?

Is This God's Final Warning To﻿ America?

Michael Jackson's REAL cause of death!

Snapshots: A Son Remembers His Father

Televangelist Builds $4 Milllion Home While Employees Lose Jobs

An Open Letter to Pastor Rick Warren

Calvinism and Consistency

The Pitfalls of Celebrity Driven Christianity - Brannon Howse

You Must Suffer - John Piper

Piper’s Paper Posted...

Is There a God?

Does God exist? Here are six straight-forward reasons to believe that God is really there.

1. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

2. Does God exist? The universe had a start - what caused it?

3. Does God exist? The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it?

4. Does God exist? The DNA code informs, programs a cell's behavior.

5. Does God exist? We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.

6. Does God exist? Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God revealing himself to us.

If you want to begin a relationship with God now, you can.

Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas: Obama Is "Sort Of God"

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas said President Obama is "sort of God" in a way that's "standing above the country." Transcript below.

Doctor Who Performed Abortions Shot To Death

Law Will Force Churches To Employ Gay Staff'

NY Assembly Passes Same-Sex "Marriage" Bill

After The Rapture: Orlando Man Will Deliver Messages To Those Left Behind

Tiller Found Not Guilty: Pro-Life Forces Vow To Continue Fight

Elevating Homosexuality To New Heights

Blueprint for Global Enslavement?

Valedictorian's Free-Speech Case Goes To Court

Baptist Leader Speaks Out Against Obama's Pro-Death Moves

4D Proof Abortion is Murder / Pro-Life Anti-Abortion Video

The Orwellian Presidential Bully Pulpit

Carville Wanted Bush to Fail

Teen Commits Suicide -- Is Sexting to Blame?

Stem-Cell Decision Exposes Religious Divides

Prosecutor: Man Who Gunned Down Pastor Planned Attack

Pro-Family Leader Denounces Stem Cell Policy Change

Suspect In Pastor Murder Could Be Charged Today

Baptist Pastor Murdered During Sunday Morning Service

NY Governor Forcing Recognition Of Same-Sex 'Marriages'

Is This God's Final Warning To America?