Worship...

The Worshipful Spirit
By Thomas E. Brewton

Religious worship is more than going through the motions.  Your heart and soul
must be engaged.

-------------------
Happily our minister Bob Childs was back in the pulpit of the Long Ridge
Congregational Church this Sunday to continue his exposition of the Book of
Ecclesiastes.

Before getting to the message of the sermon, let me invite everyone to visit us for Sunday morning services at 9:30 and for Bible study sessions on Wednesday evenings at 7:30.Ê We are in Stamford, Connecticut, on Old Long Ridge Road, about four miles north of the Merritt Parkway, via Exit 34 (Long Ridge Road).Ê Just follow the signs.Ê You may wish in the meanwhile to visit our website at http://www.longridge.org/ , where you can download the full sermon.

You will also want to know that we are a Bible-based church, no longer
affiliated with the UCC, which has drifted away from Christianity and into
moral relativism and rationalization of too many non-Biblical doctrines.

The sermon text was Ecclesiastes 5:1-7, which begins:

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather
than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.  Do
not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything
before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”

The points drawn from these verses by our minister are well nigh impossible to
convey to a pure rationalist who has never experienced the reality of spiritual
religion.  For that person, who believes that only what is accessible to his
own senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell is real, spiritual
religion is all mumbo-jumbo; it doesn’t exist in reality.

But even for many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, there is no reality
within their reach.  They have not prepared their hearts and minds for worship
of God in reverence and awe.

Our minister described the Old Testament joy and anticipation of Jews, in many
thousands, traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover feast and for being in the
presence of God on the temple mount.  It is in that spirit that we must prepare
our hearts and minds to enter the church sanctuary for Sunday worship.

Only then may we be in the proper relationship with God to hear the whispers in
the back of our minds telling us what we ought to do to help others in need. 
From my own experience and many conversations with my fellow church members, I
can attest that prayerful worship must be as much listening for the voice of
God as asking for one’s own desires.

Liberal rationalists will scoff at this and dismiss it as nuts “hearing voices
in their heads.” Christians and religious Jews know the reality, however. 
Call it inspiration or intuition, if you prefer, but prayerful experience will
teach you to be awake to sudden impulses suggesting the you “ought to do” a
certain thing that will solve a problem or help someone else.

Prayerful worship is a life-transforming experience that will bring peace of
mind, pull you out of self-centered pursuit of materiality, and bring the
ultimate gift of God: true joy and happiness in the blessings you already
have.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

[0] comments (922 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Theocracy...

Theocracy: the Origin of American Democracy
By Thomas E. Brewton

The nature of theocracy in the New England colonies is widely misunderstood. 
Few recognize that the New England town meeting, the prototype of American
institutions of democratic self-government, was nothing more than the governing
process of each Congregational (Puritan) church community.

-------------------
Theocracy is a broad term encompassing many different degrees of religious
influence in civil government.  Critics of New England Puritanism focus on two
aspects: exclusion of non-church members from civil government, and reprobation
of moral laxity.

Looking back at Puritanism only through the lens of present-day cultural
standards leads most people to conclude that Puritans were repressive and anti-
democratic.  H. L. Mencken in the 1920s summed up liberal intellectuals’
judgment when he declared that Puritanism was a form of neurosis.  This is the
view taught in public schools and in our colleges and universities.

If one’s values extend no further than the adolescence of the Roaring 20s and
today’s New York Times’s advocacy of rudeness, crudeness, and sexual
promiscuity, that may be an understandable assessment.

If, however, one looks at fundamental matters the picture changes dramatically.

The foundation of our constitutional government Ð the concept that the source
of civil power is the people of the nation, not the king Ð originated in the
17th century with the English Puritans and their Scottish confreres, known
there as Presbyterians.  Both groups opposed the luxury and elaborate ritualism
of the episcopalian Church of England, along with its levels of hierarchical
authority that dictated to the church members.  In civil government they
opposed the related doctrine of divine right of kings.

In “Democracy in America,” Alexis de Tocqueville noted :

“Puritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, but corresponded in many
points with the most absolute democratic and republican theories. It was this
tendency that had aroused its most dangerous adversaries. Persecuted by the
government of the mother country, and disgusted by the habits of a society
which the rigor of their own principles condemned, the Puritans went forth to
seek some rude and unfrequented part of the world where they could live
according to their own opinions and worship God in freedom.

“....The general principles which are the groundwork of modern constitutions,
principles which, in the seventeenth century, were imperfectly known in Europe,
and not completely triumphant even in Great Britain, were all recognized and
established by the laws of New England: the intervention of the people in
public affairs, the free voting of taxes, the responsibility of the agents of
power, personal liberty, and trial by jury were all positively established
without discussion.”

When James I succeeded Queen Elizabeth in 1603, he brought from his native
Scotland an antipathy for Presbyterianism and vowed to suppress Puritanism in
England.  He also brought his Stuart family’s insistence upon the divine right
of kings and loathing of “interference” by Parliament.

His harassment of Puritans led some of them to flee to Holland, whence came in
1620 the founders of the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts.  Other Puritans,
centered in Cambridge University, elected to remain within the Church of
England and to work for reforms that aimed to return the church to the
simplicity of its founding era under the Apostle Paul, a period without a
hierarchy of bishops in which the church members elected elders and deacons
from among their local members to administer each church’s affairs.

James’s son, Charles I, succeeded to the throne in 1625 and became even more
abusive of religious and civil liberty than his father.  Forced by Parliament
to accept the 1628 Petition of Right, one of the fundamental documents of the
British constitution, he simply refused to call Parliament into session for
eleven years beginning in 1629.  During this period he permitted Anglican
Archbishop William Laud to employ crown troops to imprison and execute
Puritans, making the Court of Star Chamber synonymous with arbitrary
injustice. 

Puritans led by John Winthrop and others in Cambridge University sorrowfully
determined that the possibility of reforming the Anglican Church was too remote
for them to remain in England and suffer Archbishop Laud’s depredations.  They
managed in 1629 to purchase the royal charter for the Massachusetts Bay
Company, assembled a group of fellow Puritans, and sailed on the Arbella to
establish a new church community in more tolerant circumstances.

The English political expression of Puritanism, after the end of Cromwell’s
Protectorate, was the Whig Party that emerged in opposition when James II
became king in 1685 and resumed the earlier civil and religious suppressions of
his father Charles II.  James II’s deposition in The Glorious Revolution of
1689 produced the English Bill of Rights, another fundamental document of the
British constitution, and the model for our own Bill of Rights.  It also most
notably produced the “Second Treatise of Civil Government” by Puritan John
Locke, the philosophical foundation, down to the borrowing of phraseology, for
our own Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

The concept of the Biblical covenant is essential in understanding the civil
and religious government in Puritan New England.  Just as God established
through Moses a covenant with the tribes of Israel making them His chosen
people, so the Puritans en-route to found Boston solemnly instituted a covenant
between themselves and God to establish a church community in the new world
that would follow the Ten Commandments and be a “city upon a hill” serving as a
model for reversion to the righteous simplicity of the original Christian
churches.

As endlessly proclaimed by Old Testament prophets, the covenant between God and
his chosen people was a two-way street.  God would bless them so long as they
remained faithful to His commandments, but would visit His wrath upon them when
they strayed.  So was the understanding and intent of the Puritan covenant
entered upon with the founding of the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1630.

From this flows what 20th century hedonists construe as repressive
intolerance.  What they forget is that the peoples of Plymouth in 1620 and of
Boston in 1630 voluntarily and gladly accepted the pledge of their covenants,
as did all towns (Congregational churches) subsequently founded in
Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Putting this into a current-day framework, few people would describe General
Motors or Citibank as intolerant or repressive because they require all people
accepting employment also to accept their rules of conduct or be fired for
breaches of those rules.

The Massachusetts Bay Company was in fact a corporation whose charter was owned
by John Winthrop’s group, the founders of Boston.  Thus they had both civil and
religious authority, subject to the will of each church congregation, to set
their own rules of conduct.  Church members became shareholders in the
chartered corporation.

For those early Puritan communities, adherence to their solemn covenant with
God was regarded literally as a matter of life or death in the harsh conditions
of wilderness in the formative years of each church community.

For that reason, when church members were deemed by their local church fellows
to have engaged in conduct conflicting with the founding covenant, they were
excluded from fellowship until they repented and reformed their conduct.  No
person coming into a church community was permitted membership in the church
without satisfying the church members of his faith in Jesus Christ and his
commitment to Godly conduct.

What must be stressed is that, within each church community, subject only to
their covenant, the democratic wishes of all members of each congregation was
the sole source of religious administration and civil authority.  The 1648
Cambridge Platform, the product of the General Court, the colony-wide gathering
of elected representatives of each local congregation, affirmed this in
explicit detail.

Ministers undoubtedly exercised great influence on both church and civil
administration, but that was a consequence of their having been selected and
hired by each congregation and their subsequent satisfactory performance in
office.  No Puritan minister had independent authority to impose any doctrine
or judgement upon any New England community.  Ministers who attempted it were
summarily dismissed by their congregations.

When congregants irreconcilably disagreed with their fellows, they departed and
founded new churches.  What few people know is that New England towns in the
early 17th century were simply church communities.  My home, Stamford,
Connecticut, founded in 1641 as a split-off from the Wetherfield, Connecticut,
church, was the last of those founded in New England.

The Cambridge Platform affirms that the people within each church community
were the sole source of authority, subject to the Word of God.  They elected
their own preachers, teachers, elders, and deacons, each member having an equal
vote.  There was no external or overriding hierarchical body with the power to
gainsay each church’s will.

These Congregational meetings became in subsequent years the celebrated New
England Town meeting.  Puritan Congregational Churches thus were the origin of
American concepts of democratic self-government.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

[0] comments (660 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

anti-Israel...

Media Begin Moves against Israel
by Sher Zieve

Many have been wondering how long it would take for the US mainstream media to
begin their turn against Israel and the reigniting of their passionate flames
in support of terrorists. I noticed that they began the inevitable turning of
the tides in opposition to the Jewish nation protecting itself from what has
been called ‘the premiere terrorist organization on the planet’, Monday night.

During a brief channel-surfing session, I landed on ABC World News Tonight with
Charley Gibson. I watched its war coverage for about ten minutes. Yes, I
usually watch FNC for news. But, Fox was re-running a story I had already
viewed. I entered the program, as it was displaying a map—a map of Israeli “
hits”. The ABC map showed bright yellow-orange indicators of where Israeli
rockets had landed in Lebanon. Missing, however, were the orange (or any other
color) designations of where terrorist
Hezbollah missiles had landed in Israel. From the ABC map, one would believe
that Israel had experienced no Hezbollah-landed rockets whatsoever—despite the
inescapable reality that is has sustained hundreds and, most likely, over 1,000
missile-hits. The map also suggested that Israel was carrying out some crazed
conflict against the ‘innocent’ terrorists.

This certainly seems like one of the first salvos of the MSM toward rewriting
the current Israel-Lebanon war—even before it has begun to reach a resolution.

Then ABC had two of its in-Beirut reporters commenting on the ‘destruction and
carnage’ Israel was “wreaking on Lebanon”. Apparently not able to contain their
bias, these reporters actually “interviewed” Lebanese children. Any mention of
the carnage terrorist Hezbollah was inflicting on Israel was glaringly missing
from their “journalistic” efforts. Does ABC even have any reporters located in
Israel? One has to wonder.

The “kicker” for me was when one of these reporters referred to Hezbollah—not
even using the name of this terrorist organization—referred to it as “the
resistance”. With this characterization of the terrorist organization that
actually trained al-Qaeda, ABC has placed it in the category of “freedom
fighters”. In fact, I only heard the word Hezbollah (which is said to mean “God’
s Army”) twice, during the entire report. Any questions as to which side ABC is
on?

Missing from this “reporting” segment, of course, was the fact that Hezbollah
had begun this both designed and planned war by invading Israel’s northern
border; then killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two more. Also
missing was the fact that Hezbollah has been arming itself with weapons, many
of which have been placed in private homes, for the past six years; in efforts
by terrorist Hezbollah to prepare for this war that it has now started.

Further blatantly missing from this ABC piece and bombardment against Israel
was the news that Britain’s Intelligence Service MI-6 has said that Hezbollah
sleeper cells have been activated in order to attack Western interests
worldwide. It also advised that chemical and nuclear “dirty bombs” are
suspected to be in its arsenal. But, I daresay most of the leftist mainstream
media doesn’t report Hezbollah as a real terrorist organization—even though
intelligence services across the planet say that
it is the greatest threat to civilization to yet emerge. And their colleague
ABC calls terrorist Hezbollah ‘resistance fighters’? Hezbollah, Hamas, al-
Qaeda, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood and myriad
other Islamic organizations have vowed to destroy Israel. And most of these
have also promised to attack and destroy the United States of America—as well
as all of Western civilization. But, the mainstream media doesn’t consider them
threats.

Largely ignored by the mainstream media are the thousands of Hezbollah
terrorists who march regularly in parades within Iran. Not reported by a
sizeable portion of these same MSM members is the fact that Iran finances
Hezbollah in Lebanon to the tune of at lest $100MM annually—some analysts say
that the funding is closer to $250MM per year. Terrorist Hezbollah also exists
with the full support of Iran’s junior partner Syria and, additionally, has
twenty-three members in the Lebanese
parliament—with two of its operatives chosen for the Lebanon Prime Minister’s
cabinet. And this well-organized and well-funded terrorist organization
operates worldwide.

What can possibly be the mainstream press’ agenda? At the very least, it seems
to be tacit approval of terrorists’ actions and, more recently, seemingly full
support for them; while at the same time beginning their vilification of Israel—
a country fighting to maintain its very existence. The answers do not appear to
be pretty. A few come to mind:

The MSM, despite all evidence to the contrary, doesn’t view terrorists who have
vowed to destroy “infidels” (non-Muslims) and all of their countries as
threats

The MSM is largely anti-semitic and, therefore, anti-Israel

The MSM is so obsessed with its anti-Bush agenda that they now blame the
president for everything—including the Israel against Hezbollah in Lebanon and
Hamas in Palestine wars. Therefore, they believe that a pro-terrorist stance
means being anti-Bush

There is an apparent viral- insanity that has taken hold of the liberal and
leftist press. This infection seems to present itself with a renewed sense of,
proclivity toward and mad-dash-to-the-finish-line desire for suicide. If we the
people don’t wake up from our sound sleep of apathy, we will be taken out by
the liberal and leftist suicide-cult—if not the actual terrorist suicide
bombers. However, there is one thing we do know. The terrorist sleeper cells
have now been fully awakened—and
their orders may have already been given.

Sher Zieve is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media
Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and
grass-roots media outlets.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (625 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

HELP!

It’s the middle of summer, and here at Mission America, our small staff is in
great need of your help.

Please help me keep the peace with our bookkeeper, Miss Lucinda Snodgrass. She
came charging at me yesterday, waving a stack of bills.

“There’s no money to pay these!” she exclaimed. “What am I supposed to do?”

As I stammered to come up with an appropriate reply, she continued.

“You know, you just don’t understand. You get to do all the fun stuff--writing
and speaking about homosexuals, pagans, and so on, but me, I have to sit here
and try to make ends meet.”

I just raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well, all right,” she conceded, “maybe the homosexual thing isn’t so much fun.
But you should see how little is left at the end of every month! You’re just
going to have to break down and do what you hate to do---ask for help!”

So I told her I’d appeal to you, our dear readers and sympathizers in this
little war. If you support our mission to address the issue of homosexuality
and our kids,please send us a financial contribution.

You can use a credit card through PayPal by going to our web site at www.
missionamerica.com , or you can send a check, money order or cold hard cash
(which we will accept with proper ID),

to:

Mission America
PO Box 21836
Columbus, OH 43221

Thank you so much in advance for your prayers and your financial assistance.
God bless you all.

* A message from Mission America @ www.missionamerica.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ancient Book Discovery: Coincidence?

by

Rob Hood

At this moment the Middle East is a very violent place to be. War is almost a way of life there, but that is nothing new to this region of the world. Israel has been at war with her neighbors ever since the land was given to Abraham of the Old Testament.

Anyone who has studied the Bible long enough or been Christian long enough, knows that Israel is God’s chosen people through whom the promised Messiah would come. That is, Jesus, or course. We know that Israel rejected Him, but the Gentiles, who are us, did not. However, God never breaks His covenant and Israel today is still just as much God’s chosen people as he was when He promised Abraham so many descendants that they could not be counted. God stated that Abraham’s people who be like the sands of the beach, there would be so many.

We can see all throughout the Old Testament history where Israel would go astray from God and He would bring an enemy upon them, capture them, enslave them, and the people who eventually turn back to Him. However, He promised that a line of King David would remain forever, who is again Jesus. However, He also promised to preserve the Israeli people.

With all of the fighting against Israel today, one has to wonder where God is. Is He using radical Islamic groups to bring Israel back to Him? Will He destroy the enemies of Israel as He has done so many times before? These are great questions, but something recently happened that is so eerie, that one has to wonder if it is God speaking to us or whether it is strictly coincidence.

According to The Clarion-Ledger, a local newspaper in Mississippi, a construction worker recently dug up an ancient book that dates back to the years 800 - 1000. It was a simple 20 page book that was written in Latin. When it was found it was opened to a page that was describing Psalm 83, in which God hears the complaints of other nations’ attempts to destroy the name of Israel.This book was found in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday. Pat Wallace of the National Museum of Ireland called it a “miracle find”. This book will be stored and analyzed and eventually be placed on public display.

Was this a miracle? Is God speaking to us about His people again or is this a hoax? If not a hoax, then surely I personally take this as a warning to not slander Israel. If we take a look into history, we will see that every nation that attacked Israel and enslaved it’s people were eventually brought to its knees or destroyed completely. Perhaps Hezbollah and Hamas awaits the same fate? I am sure glad to be on the right side. As Mr. T would always say “I pity the fool” that messes with Israel. Hezbollah has rockets and crazed madmen fighting, but Israel has the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe on it’s side. So now, who’s side are you on?

* For updates and further information about this important discovery of an ancient book of Psalms, see the National Museum of Ireland link http://www.museum.ie/news/details_news.asp?sPressType=1&newsid=230 .

REFERENCES:

The Clarion Ledger
www.clarionledger.com

National Museum of Ireland
http://www.museum.ie/news/details_news.asp?sPressType=1&newsid=230

[0] comments (637 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Apology?

Gay-rights group wants apology from Blackwell
Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The gay-rights group Equality Ohio called on Republican gubernatorial candidate
J. Kenneth Blackwell yesterday to apologize for and retract his statement that
homosexuality is a “transgression against God’s law” that can be cured.

The group also took issue with Blackwell’s digitally recorded comments in
Sunday’s Dispatch comparing gays to arsonists and kleptomaniacs. Blackwell said
they all can change despite what might be a genetic inclination to such
behavior.

“This kind of speech is unacceptable for a public official and is divisive and
offensive to hardworking Ohioans across this state,” Lynne Bowman, executive
director of Equality Ohio, said in a statement.

The group also used Blackwell’s comments in a fundraising appeal issued
yesterday for its $50,000 get-out-the-vote plan for the Nov. 7 election.

Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said Blackwell wasn’t comparing gays to
arsonists and kleptomaniacs but was trying to make the point that he thinks
homosexuality is a lifestyle choice that can be changed.

“I think they’re reading too much into that statement for their own political
purposes,” LoParo said.

“While Ken Blackwell respects the human dignity of gay and lesbian Ohioans, he
believes that their lifestyle is a choice.”

* A message from Mission America @ www.missionamerica.com

++ One more reason to vote for a conservative Republican this fall!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (629 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

God...

26 one Liners about God.

1. Give God what’s right—not what’s left.

2. Man’s way leads to a hopeless end!—God’s way leads to an endless hope.

3. A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.

4. He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.

5. In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma--but never let him be the period.

6. Don’t put a question mark where God puts a period.

7. Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the church for a face-lift.

8. When praying, don’t give God instructions - just report for duty.

9. Don’t wait for six strong men to take you to church.

10. We don’t change God’s message—His message changes us.

11. The church is prayer-conditioned.

12. When God ordains, He sustains.

13. WARNING: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.

14. Plan ahead—It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.

15. Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.

16. Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.

17. Exercise daily—walk with the Lord.

18. Never give the devil a ride—he will always want to drive.

19. Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.

20. Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.

21. He who angers you controls you.

22. Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.

23. Give Satan an inch & he’ll be a ruler.

24. Be ye fishers of men—you catch them & He’ll clean them..

25. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

26. Read the Bible—It will scare the hell out of you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Philadelphia may evict Boy Scouts council
http://www.wired.com/wireservice/story.php?nosubnav=true§ion=Breaking&storyId=1550480

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (630 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Christian Service...

Christian Service Is Not Theocracy
By Thomas E. Brewton

If religious Jews and Christians are true to the Bible, liberals need have no
fear of theocracy.  We are instructed to think of helping other people, as
individuals, not to create a police state that compels behavior.

-------------------
Yesterday I posted an article dealing with the paranoia of liberals, who fear
the imposition of a rigid theocracy should Christians and religious Jews gain
sufficient political power.  Recent books published by liberals detail horrific
expectations of a United States in which only Christians would be eligible to
hold public office, a state in which Christians would be given preferences for
all public funding, etc.

To allay their fears, let me revert to a sermon delivered last April by our
Long Ridge Congregational Church minister, who is away this week.

Before getting to the message of the sermon, let me invite everyone to visit us for Sunday morning services at 9:30 and for Bible study sessions on Wednesday evenings at 7:30.  We are in Stamford, Connecticut, on Old Long Ridge Road, about four miles north of the Merritt Parkway, via Exit 34 (Long Ridge Road).  Just follow the signs.  You may wish in the meanwhile to visit our website at http://www.longridge.org/ .

You will also want to know that we are a Bible-based church, no longer
affiliated with the UCC, which has drifted away from Christianity and into
moral relativism and rationalization of too many non-Biblical doctrines.

In the April sermon, our minister Robert Childs used Philippians 2:1-11 as his
text, under the rubric of Our Vision of God.

Philippians is one of the letters written by the Apostle Paul, in this case to
the members of the church that he had founded at Philippi.  The letter is
written by Paul from his jail cell in Rome and is both one of his last epistles
and one of the oldest texts in the New Testament, composed within 30 years of
Jesus’s crucifixion.  Thus everything Paul says regarding Our Savior was a
matter of personal, eye-witness experience of his fellow apostles, as well as
of Paul’s transforming vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus.

To emphasize the point of the hands-on relationship with Jesus, the books of
the New Testament were written so soon after Jesus’s crucifixion that they do
not mention the deaths of apostles other than Stephen.  We know from later
accounts not part of the New Testament canon that eight years later Paul was
executed by the Roman authorities.  In contrast, the gnostic gospels mentioned
in the DaVinci Code were composed about 200 years after Jesus’s crucifixion.

A central message in Paul’s epistle to the Philippians is the need for all of
us to humble ourselves in service to others.  Humility, not the pridefulness of
theocracy, is called for, and Paul reminds us that Jesus is our model.

In Philippians 2:1-4 Pauls admonishes us:

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort
from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and
compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same
love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or
vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of
you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others.”

Continuing in verses 5-8, Paul reminds us that each of us must do something,
must answer the call of Jesus to help others; self-interested indifference to
the troubles of others won’t cut it:

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very
nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death--even death on a cross!”

Verses 6-9 conclude:

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The same message, in essence, applies to religious Jews, whose religion is the
source of Christianity.

Isaiah, arguably the greatest of the prophets, writing in the 8th century BC,
warns the stiff-necked, rebellious people of Israel who had strayed once again
from God’s law:

Isaiah 1: 10-11

“Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God,
you people of Gomorrah! “The multitude of your sacrificesÑ what are they to
me?” says the LORD.”

And in verse 17:

“learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of
the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

Note that Isaiah was addressing both Jews as individuals and their rulers, long
before the advent of the welfare state when we could ignore the troubles of our
neighbors and say, “I paid my taxes; let the government take care of it.”

The Judeo-Christian tradition thus does not call for a dictatorial theocracy. 
It calls to each of us as individuals to ask for God’s guidance to do the right
thing, one-on-one, for the people suffering around us.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

[0] comments (661 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Attorney...

My Attorney

After living what I felt was a “decent” life, my time on earth
came to the end.

The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting
room of what I thought to be a court house.

The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat
by the defense table.

As I looked around I saw the “prosecutor.” He was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he stared at me. He definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen.

I sat down and looked to my left and there sat My Attorney, a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed so familiar to me, I felt I knew Him.

The corner door flew open and there appeared the Judge in full
flowing robes.

He commanded an awesome presence as He moved across the room I
couldn’t take my eyes off of Him.

As He took His seat behind the bench, He said, “Let us begin.”

The prosecutor rose and said, “My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs in hell.”

He proceeded to tell of lies that I told, things that I stole, and In the past when I cheated others.

Satan told of other horrible perversions that were once in my life and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t look at anyone, even my own
Attorney, as the Devil told of sins that even I had completely
forgotten about.

As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about
me, I was equally upset at My Attorney who sat there silently not
Offering any form of defense at all.

I know I had been guilty of those things, but I had done some
good in my life—couldn’t that at least equal out part of the harm
I’d done?

Satan finished with a fury and said, “This man belongs in hell,
he is guilty of all that I have charged and there is not a person
who can prove otherwise.”

When it was His turn, My Attorney first asked if He might
approach the bench.

The Judge allowed this over the strong objection of Satan,
and beckoned Him to come forward.

As He got up and started walking, I was able to see Him in
His full splendor and majesty.

I realized why He seemed so familiar; this was Jesus
representing me, my Lord and my Savior.

He stopped at the bench and softly said to the Judge, “Hi,
Dad,” and then He turned to address the court.

“Satan was correct in saying that this man had sinned,
I won’t deny any of these allegations.

And, yes, the wage of sin is death, and this man deserves to be
punished.”

Jesus took a deep breath and turned to His Father with
outstretched arms and proclaimed,

“However, I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life and he has accepted Me as his Savior, so he is Mine.”

My Lord continued with, “His name is written in the book of life
and no one can snatch him from Me.

Satan still does not understand yet.
This man is not to be given justice, but rather mercy.”

As Jesus sat down, He quietly paused, looked at His Father and said,
“There is nothing else that needs to be done.

I’ve done it all.”

The Judge lifted His mighty hand and slammed the gavel down.
The following words bellowed from His lips..

“This man is free.”

The penalty for him has already been paid in full.

Case dismissed.”

As my Lord led me away, I could hear Satan ranting and raving,
“I won’t give up, I will win the next one.” I asked Jesus as He gave
me my instructions where to go next, “Have you ever lost a case?”

Christ lovingly smiled and said,

“Everyone that has come to Me and asked Me to represent them
has received the same verdict as you,

~Paid In Full~

_______________________________________________________________________
“Stop telling God how big your storm is.
Instead, tell the storm how big your God is!”

[0] comments (626 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

ThEOCRACY?

Theocracy and Liberal Paranoia
By Thomas E. Brewton

Liberals express fear of an imagined conspiracy to impose a brutal Christian
theocracy upon the nation.  Ironically, Christians and religious Jews are
subjected to a real liberal jihad that claims the prerogative to ban
expressions of their faith outside the closed doors of homes and religious
meeting places.

-------------------
Liberals see themselves as entitled to regulate public discussion, because they
have conflated their own religion of socialistic atheism with the supposed
objectivity of the physical sciences.  This combination of historicism and
scientism leads them to the unquestioning certitude that they alone represent
political and social truth.

Liberals are offended and feel threatened by all expressions of spiritual
religious faith, which they perceive as evidence of a theocratic conspiracy and
therefore sufficient grounds for banning Judeo-Christianity from all public
discussion.

Opposition by Christians and religious Jews to abortion, fetal stem-cell
research, same-sex marriage, and the hedonistic license of sexual promiscuity
is equated by liberals with medieval ignorance and abolition of modern
science. 

Robert Reich, President Clinton’s Labor Secretary, wrote: “The underlying
battle will be between modern civilization and anti-modernist fanatics; .…
between those who believe that truth is revealed solely through scripture and
religious dogma, and those who rely primarily on science, reason, and logic.
Terrorism will disrupt and destroy lives. But terrorism is not the only danger
we face. “

Randall Balmer, a professor of religious history at Columbia, is sure that Christian conservatism Òhankers for the kind of homogeneous theocracy that the Puritans tried to establish in seventeenth-century Massachusetts.Ó (see Ross Douthat’s essay).

Liberals contend that spiritual religion is fictional ignorance, Karl Marx’s
opium of the masses imposed by the rulers to oppress the workers, which must
have no role at all in political life.  They fail to recognize the uniform
lesson of history that societies survive only when they are united by common
traditions and common precepts of morality.  As Abraham Lincoln noted in 1858,
a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Atheistic materialism, unfortunately, is not a unifying set of traditions and
morality.  It is merely the Darwinian doctrine enunciated by Thomas Huxley that
there is no such thing as sin, that human life is merely survival of the
fittest, with no meaning beyond self-indulgence.  A world dedicated to nothing
more than every-man-for-himself, in-your-face “doing your own thing” is
inherently Thomas Hobbes’s war of all against all, in which life is nasty,
brutish, and short.

Traditionalists merely wish to sustain the ethos that underlay the Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution from the 18th century until the 1930s. 
They may attempt to persuade liberals of the error of their ways, but that is
hardly the liberals’ imagined theocracy. 

The liberal jihad, in contrast, leaves traditionalists no choices but to
surrender their faith or fight.  The jihad seeks to impose atheistic religious
doctrine upon all of public education and politics and to scourge all
expressions of of Judeo-Christian religious belief that are not confined to the
closed quarters of churches, synagogues, or private homes.  As under the sharia
of Islam, Christians and religious Jews are tolerated, so long as they keep
their faith private and pay their taxes to support teaching atheistic
materialism in the public schools.

The liberal jihad also has the full backing of the Federal and most state
judiciaries and the benefit of unending propaganda from the self-designated
mainstream media, including taxpayer-financed NPR and PBS.

Quietly keeping religious faith as a personal matter is not an option for
traditionalists.  With public education controlled by the doctrines of
atheistic materialism, we already have three generations of citizens who have
been thoroughly indoctrinated in the gospel of materialistic social-justice. 
It’s as if the body snatchers of the 1978 movie were replacing the souls of our
children with alien, amoral sensuality.

The gray-beards of today’s liberalism were, in the 1960s, the anti-
establishment rebels on college campuses who perceived the entirety of existing
society Ð from New Deal liberals to Republican conservatives Ð in C. Wright
Mills’s expression, as the power elite.  Student anarchists of that era added a
guerilla-tactic edge to the normal rebelliousness of youth.  Even Tom Hayden’s
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) became too tame for the violent wing,
who split off into the Weatherman underground of bank robbers, murderers, and
bombers.

From the perspective of those rebels, who are today’s politicians, judges, and
educators, even the bland society of the 1950s had to be obliterated, under the
impetus of solidarity with the “black colony” in the United States and
Vietnamese freedom-fighters in Southeast Asia.  That militant spirit remains
the subtext in today’s paranoid reaction against any questioning of the gospel
of atheistic materialism.

Ross Douthat in his essay on the First Things website concludes:

“What all these observers point out, and what the anti-theocrats ignore, is
that the religious polarization of American politics runs in both directions.
The Republican party has become more religious because the Democrats became
self-consciously secular, and the turning point wasnÕt the 1992 or the 2000
elections but the putsch of 1972, when secularist delegatesÑto quote Phillips,
quoting LaymanÑsuddenly Òconstituted the largest ÔreligiousÕ bloc among
Democratic delegates.Ó ...… itÕs the second half of the story, the Republican
reaction against the DemocratsÕ decision to become the first major party in
American history to pander to a sizable bloc of aggressively secular
voters..… So the rise of the Religious Right, and the growing Òreligion gapÓ
that Phillips describes but fails to understand, arenÕt new things in American
history but a reaction to a new thing..… The hysteria over theocracy, in
turn, represents an attempt to rewrite the history of the United States to suit
these votersÕ prejudices, by setting a year zero somewhere around 1970 and
casting everything thatÕs happened since as a battle between progress and
atavism, reason and fundamentalism, the Enlightenment and the medieval dark.”

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TESTING THE FAITH

Evangelists arrested at ‘Gay Games’
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51187

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (616 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

The UN...

Feckless UN
By Thomas E. Brewton

Israel’s military response to unprovoked attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah has
elicited the usual United Nation’s rhetoric: Secretary General Kofi Anan’s
proposal that European nations send troops to participate in an international
“stabilization” force.  Mr. Anan’s solution to the Levantine warfare is as
useful and effective as consulting an astrologer to stop a hurricane. 

-------------------
Suppose the UN were to support Mr. Anan’s proposal?  What is a “stabilization”
force? 

By definition a stabilization force is a small contingent of so-called peace-
keepers, embarked upon its mission after fighting has ceased.  We saw in the
Balkans that those peace-keepers easily become hostages for an aggressor
preparing to resume military hostilities.  Or worse, as we saw in Africa and
the Balkans, peace-keepers become sexual predators exploiting the plight of
displaced populations.

Whence are these European stabilization forces to come?  European nations
either have no effective armies or say that they have already committed their
limited forces to deal with Iraq or other conflicts. 

Somehow, true-blue liberal-socialists like Senators Kerry and Kennedy never
remember that the UN does exactly nothing unless the United States is prepared
to lead the way by invading the miscreants.  Only then will other nations join
us, if at all, usually with no more than token forces. 

Liberals profess unquestioning faith in the socialist doctrine of world peace
through world parliamentary government.  The brutal truth is that all we can
expect from the Socialist International and its successors, the League of
Nations and the United Nations, is lots of high-flown talking and no effective
action, except when the United States takes the lead, fielding an army to
confront the aggressors.

Should a consensus develop in the UN, it will be a resolution either condemning
Israel for responding to Islamic jihad, or proposing some variety of
sanctions.  We saw how ineffective sanctions were over the decade in which
Saddam Hussein thumbed his nose at UN resolutions while conspiring with UN
officials to perpetrate the largest financial crime in the history of the
world, the oil-for-food program.

Whatever diplomatic negotiations may prove useful will be in secret, one-on-one
among the directly involved countries, as by definition and necessity they must
be.  We are dealing with the perceived political and economic interests of
Middle Eastern countries. If Iran, Syria, or Palestinians are prepared to make
deals that both sides can live with, they certainly will not do so in the
publicity glare of the UN General Assembly.  That would make them look weak in
the eyes of other Islamic nations, whom Iran aims to lead in the jihad.

The UN is simply a forum for propaganda posturing dominated by Islamic enemies
of Israel and third-world, socialist countries like Cuba and Venezuela. 
However much they may give lip service to utopian visions of world peace and to
Islam as a religion of peace and justice, Iran, Syria, and the Palestinians are
still eager to behead anyone standing in their way.

The General Assembly will debate Mr. Anan’s proposal inconclusively for months
if the cause of Islamic jihad seems to be prospering.  But if Israel seems
about to neutralize or obliterate Hezbollah or Hamas, the UN will do what it
always does: quickly condemn Israel for Zionist imperialism and crimes against
humanity.

In the present situation, UN peace-keepers would serve to reverse Israeli
diminutions of Hezbollah power and to push Israeli forces out of southern
Lebanon.  This would leave Iran’s surrogate Syria free to reassert its control
over the Lebanese government.  Hezbollah, we must remember, is an Iranian
creation.  Clearly, the impetus behind Hezbollah’s attack from the north,
coordinated with Hamas’s attack from the south, is Iranian efforts to pressure
the United States in Iraq. 

The UN would become the de facto agent of Iran and Islamic jihad, if Mr. Anan’s
proposal were to be implemented.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

[0] comments (666 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Party of Death..The Ploy!

The Party of Death’s Ploy

By Nathan Tabor

The national Democratic Party, which author Ramesh Ponnuru calls the Party of Death, has set its sights on African-Americans during this critical election year.

Well-known black leaders such as the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are encouraging blacks to turn their focus away from social issues—such as abortion—and concentrate on other issues as they head to the polls in November.

Senator Barack Obama has joined the fray with an editorial in the nation’s most colorful newspaper, USA Today.  Obama, who is seen as a future Presidential candidate, writes, “My faith shapes my values, but applying those values to policymaking must be done with principles that are accessible to all people, religious or not.”

While Obama waxes philosophic about Americans looking for a “deeper, fuller conversation about religion in this country,” he also claims, “To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments (of religion) may be sublime; to base our policymaking on them would be dangerous.”

In other words, it’s fine if you are religious—just don’t try to apply those religious values to public policy.

In a well-crafted response to the Obama editorial, minister Johnny Hunter of the National Clergy Council states, “A person who truly believes that politicians need not abandon religion would boldly state, ‘My faith shapes my values, and that is why I will vote in accordance to my core value beliefs.’”

Hunter points out that it is possible that, when Obama votes in favor of abortion and sodomy, he is voting his core beliefs.  However, “For many pastors and congregations who follow scriptural teaching, that is cause for alarm.”

Hunter concludes by saying, “No matter how reasonable he may appear to be when the TV cameras are rolling, without the news media’s presence, the only opinion Senator Obama cares to hear is his own.”

For too many years, the Democratic Party has taken the black vote for granted.  They have kept African-Americans in the fold by championing affirmative action and government programs which are supposed to be helping blacks achieve economic parity.  However, they ignored the fact that a number of African-Americans might care more about the Bible than about welfare benefits…more about preserving the sanctity of marriage than about protecting the planet from big business.

For decades, the black family has been under attack from incompetent public officials who attempted to make blacks beholden to the federal government through government subsidies and positions on the public payroll.  After all, if you delivered the promise of a job during a campaign, you naturally have an easier time winning the job-seeker’s vote at election time.  But all those government giveaways and public jobs add up, resulting in bloated budgets, sky-high deficits, and extreme taxation.  And many blacks are coming to realize that Uncle Sam is giving with one hand and taking away with the other, causing them to teeter on the brink of poverty.

What’s more, the federal government’s abortion policy has decimated the African-American population.  While blacks make up only about 12 percent of the population, they account for more than 40 percent of abortions. 
Isn’t it ironic that Democrats would push to abort future taxpayers who might also be future Democrats?

Fortunately, a number of blacks have seen the light, recognizing the fact that the Democratic Party does not appear to speak for them.  Take Lynn Swann, an African-American who is running for Governor of Pennsylvania as a Republican.  Swann sees how the GOP’s low-tax and slow spending policy represents the best possible plan for his family and other black families. 

What the Swann campaign shows is that many blacks have outgrown the Democratic Party and can no longer be counted on to pull the lever for the Dems at the voting booth.  It’s a new era in African-American politics—an era in which shepherds such as ministers Jackson and Sharpton may simply find themselves left behind.

Copyright © 2006 by Nathan Tabor

Nathan Tabor is a conservative political activist based in Kernersville, North Carolina. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in public policy. He is a contributing editor at www.theconservativevoice.com and his 60-second commentaries are heard on over 250 stations daily.  He writes weekly for Townhall.com, HumanEventsOnline.com, Crosswalk.com and many others.  You can contact him at Nathan@nathantabor.com

---

[0] comments (685 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Fetal laws...

Frankenstein’s Farm

The advance of science is noble and beneficial, but sometimes provides challenges to the ethical standards represented by the Hippocratic oath. Without these ethical standards, science goes the way of Mary Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein, who had no second thoughts about ignoring morals in his quest to manipulate human life. With the rapid advances in the biotechnology field today, it is hard to stay abreast of the changes. Human cloning, embryonic stem cells, and human/animal hybrids or chimeras are some examples where, if left unchecked, it would be very easy for us to lose our humanity while searching for ways to prolong our lives. Yesterday, FRC’s Vice President of Government Affairs Tom McClusky spoke at a press conference with Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) on legislation that puts ethics before experimentation. The Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, introduced by Senator Rick Santorum (R-Penn), forbids researchers from obtaining human tissue from fetuses when they know the pregnancy was deliberately initiated to create human “spare parts.” Think this cannot happen here? Right now, New Jersey law allows researchers to gestate a human clone all the way up until birth, at which point they have to kill the baby. The only reason to bring a fetus to term, and then kill it, would be to obtain body parts. Science has a lot to offer in helping us deal with pain and illness, but science without ethics destroys the very humanity we seek to protect.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swerving to Avoid Values Issues

A herd mentality is gripping some reporters in the capital this week as the Congress debates one values-laden issue after another, including the continuation of the stem cell debate in the Senate (today), the Marriage Protection Amendment (House today), the Pledge (of Allegiance) Protection Act (House of Representatives later this week), a bill to end the ACLU’s heist from the taxpayer on Establishment Clause litigation, the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, and others soon to follow. The reporter-critics at the Washington Post see all this legislation as a distraction from bigger issues like gas prices and the Middle East. One Post writer referred to the bills as sops to conservatives who are now “surly.” Surely not. Congress is reacting appropriately, if belatedly in some cases, to assaults on settled values from the far Left. The issues at stake - the nature of marriage, acknowledgment of God in the public square, the value of individual human life - are weighty and worthy of the attention of anyone who aims to be a public servant. It is these core values issues, not the price of gas or global warming, that inspire men and women to engage in the ongoing battle for human freedom.

* Messages from Family Research Council @ www.frc.org

[0] comments (641 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Myths and facts following Hezbollah's attack on Israel...

Myths and facts following Hezbollah’s attack on Israel

Myth - “Israel’s response is disproportionate.”
Fact - The definition of a “disproportionate” response is a subjective one. The question that could be asked of any other country in the world is simply: “What would you do in the same situation?” When protecting its citizens, exercising the right to self-defense and responding to missile attacks over a recognized border, most countries would respond in a similar manner. After all, how many Israelis need to die before the world believes that Israeli responses are proportionate?

Any civilian casualties in a conflict are, of course, tragic and regrettable. Civilians on both sides are suffering. However, Israeli air strikes on Lebanon are not intended to kill civilians, unlike the hundreds of Hezbollah missiles that are targeted specifically at Israeli civilians who have been forced into bomb shelters for their own safety. Israel has even dropped leaflets on Beirut suburbs calling on civilians to stay away from Hezbollah strongholds to avoid being caught up in the fighting.

Israel has also been criticized for targeting Lebanese infrastructure such as the Beirut airport. However, it is also interesting to note what has not been targeted. For example, while the airport runway was bombed, other vital installations such as the control tower were left untouched and Lebanese civilian airliners were allowed to fly to safety. Transport hubs and bridges have been targeted in order to prevent Hezbollah moving the kidnapped Israeli soldiers deeper into Lebanon and possibly even as far as Iran, as well as to prevent the terrorist organization being re-supplied with arms from Iran and elsewhere.

Many of Hezbollah’s facilities and missile launch sites are located near residential areas, such as the suburbs of southern Beirut. Terrorists hide within the civilian population and use this population as a shield. Israel’s priority is to strike at the Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure that has been allowed to develop in Lebanon.

Israel has, so far, avoided initiating a major ground offensive into Lebanese territory and has barely used a fraction of the firepower available to the IDF.

Myth - “Lebanon bears no responsibility for the actions of Hezbollah.”
Fact - UN Security Council Resolution 1559 of September 2004, which referred back to Resolution 425, called “upon all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon”; “for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias”; and supported “the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory”.

Syria eventually complied with 1559 and removed its occupying forces. However, the Lebanese government has not disarmed Hezbollah nor has it sent its armed forces to secure southern Lebanon and the border with Israel.

In addition, Hezbollah is actually part of the Lebanese government, which contains two Hezbollah members in the Cabinet. The Lebanese government, therefore, cannot abstain from responsibility for the actions of a part of its own leadership.

Myth - “Hezbollah is an indigenous Lebanese ‘resistance’ organization.”
Fact - According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Hezbollah:

is a Lebanese umbrella organization of radical Islamic Shiite groups and organizations. It opposes the West, seeks to create a Muslim fundamentalist state modeled on Iran, and is a bitter foe of Israel. Hezbollah, whose name means “party of God,” is a terrorist group believed responsible for nearly 200 attacks since 1982 that have killed more than 800 people.

Hezbollah and its affiliates have planned or been linked to a lengthy series of terrorist attacks against the United States, Israel, and other Western targets. These attacks include:

a series of kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon, including several Americans, in the 1980s; the suicide truck bombings that killed more than 200 U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983; the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane?s pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head; and two major 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina - the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy (killing twenty-nine) and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center (killing ninety-five).
In addition, Hezbollah is sponsored, funded and armed by Iran and Syria who use the organization as a proxy to fight Israel and to destabilize the region. Hezbollah is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US State Department.

Myth - “Outside actors such as Iran are not fuelling the crisis.”
Fact - A number of analysts have suggested that the timing of the Hezbollah operation is no coincidence, occurring just prior to the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg. The G8 was expected to concentrate heavily on Iran’s refusal to comply with demands to curtail its nuclear program. A wider Mideast crisis, provoked by Iran’s Hezbollah proxies, has now moved to the top of the G8 agenda, thus relieving some of the pressure on Iran.

In addition, Iranian fingerprints are to be found in the current conflict. The Katyusha missiles that are currently raining down on the north of Israel are supplied by Iran. An Israeli Naval vessel was also struck by an Iranian-made C802 missile, killing four sailors.

Myth - “Israel continues to occupy Lebanese land, specifically the Shebaa Farms area.”
Fact - On May 24, 2000, Israel completed the unilateral withdrawal of all IDF forces from southern Lebanon, in accordance with Israeli government decisions and UN Security Council Resolution 425, ending an 18-year presence there.

On June 18, 2000, the UN Security Council endorsed the Secretary-General’s conclusion that, as of 16 June, Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon in accordance with Resolution 425.

As explained by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the Shebaa Farms area is not, and should not be, considered disputed territory - its status was clarified by a number of United Nations statements following the withdrawal of Israel forces from Lebanon in May 2000.

The United Nations views the Shebaa Farms area as Syrian territory. Therefore, UN Security Council Resolution 425 - which concerns Lebanon - does not require Israel to withdraw from this area.

While Lebanon claims to be the owner of the Shebaa Farms area, the UN has encouraged the Lebanese and Syrians to negotiate between themselves as to who is the rightful owner. If Syria were to cede ownership of the area to Lebanon, then it is probable that Israel and the UN would then reconsider the status of the territory. In the meantime, the issue of the Shebaa Farms is used simply as an excuse for the Hezbollah to maintain itself as an armed force in the region.

Myth - “Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails were kidnapped from Lebanese soil and should be released.”

Some Lebanese and other Arab spokespeople have defended Hezbollah’s actions as a legitimate form of “resistance” aimed at securing the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails from the period of Israel’s presence in its southern Lebanon security zone.

Fact - The prisoner whom Hezbollah is demanding, above all others, be released, is Samir Kuntar, jailed in Israel since a 1979 attack in the northern Israeli town of Nahariyah, in which he entered an apartment and murdered three family members and an Israeli police officer.

Kuntar is quite simply a terrorist and a murderer who committed a terrible atrocity on Israeli soil. Those prisoners held in Israeli jails captured during Israel’s stay in southern Lebanon are, likewise, held for terrorist offences and due to the inherent risk that they will return to their previous activities.

* From Prophecy News Watch @ www.prophecynewswatch.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (622 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

News...

More Courts Get It Right, but Marriage Still Hangs in the Balance

Two more courts ruled Friday against radical efforts to change the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. A federal appeals court overturned a district court decision, thus reinstating the state marriage amendment that was adopted by over 70% of Nebraska voters. FRC filed a friend-of-the-court brief in this case. Meanwhile in Tennessee, that state’s Supreme Court rejected the ACLU’s effort to keep a marriage amendment off the ballot this fall. Despite the overwhelming support for state marriage amendments, and despite a string of recent court victories for traditional marriage, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seems determined to align itself ever more closely with the radical advocates of same-sex “marriage.” A DNC spokesman has unveiled “a five-point plan for fighting” efforts by voters to preserve the definition of marriage. Both New Jersey and Washington are awaiting high court decisions at any time that could make them the second and third states to legalize counterfeit homosexual “marriage.” We need to take the definition of marriage out of the hands of judges once and for all. That’s why it’s important for the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution this week.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who’s Politicizing Science Now?

Today the Senate begins consideration of three bioethics bills, one of which would fund stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos. Embryonic stem cell research has been misrepresented, and over-hyped. So it comes as no surprise that a proponent of embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, Dr. William Neaves, wrote a letter criticizing FRC"s Dr. David Prentice for claiming that the published literature shows 65 diseases in humans have been treated with adult stem cells. What’s more disheartening, the journal Science published it without giving Dr. Prentice a chance to respond, a usual practice for scientific journals. Even worse, Science does not disclose Dr. Neaves’s expenditure of $10 million to advance Missouri’s clone and kill human embryo ballot initiative.

In the hit piece, Dr. Neaves falsely accuses Dr. Prentice of claiming that adult stem cells are being regularly used as FDA-approved treatments in the United States. While some treatments have been FDA approved others listed by Dr. Prentice, such as Parkinson’s and spinal cord injury, occurred overseas and would not involve the FDA. Rather, Dr. Prentice has correctly pointed out that many patients are being helped in these trials. One wonders based on his own criteria, how Dr. Neaves knows embryonic stem cells from cloned embryos are going to treat people, when not a single disease has been treated by this method in any trial. The good news is that the list is now at 72 diseases that have been treated in humans with adult stem cells.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Messages from Family Research Council @ www.frc.org

[0] comments (1455 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Casting the first stone...

Casting the First Stone

by

Rob Hood

As war escalates in the Middle East one has to wonder just who is to blame for casting the first stone. We are in a declared “war on terror” because a group of radical Islamic terrorists attacked us first on September 11, 2001 and several times before that as well. If we are talking about the current war on terror, the I would have to say that Osama Bin Laden and his allied terror organizations are to blame. It was they who casted the first stone by plowing planes into our buildings on September 11. I suppose that ole Osama just suspected that George W. Bush was a lot like Bill Clinton. Osama knew if Clinton was in power he could attack anything and get away with it. He was already responsible for three separate attacks on American property before September 11. I guess Mr. Bush showed him who is really in control. If you don’t believe that the United States and its true allies are winning the war on terror, just ask Osama why he’s still hiding in a hole and our leaders are moving about freely. Now, who is winning?

There is, of course, another side to this whole war in the Middle East. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is nothing new and will never be settled. This war is already 3,000 years old. We know that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews as an inheritance given to Abraham. It was Joshua that did finally enter the promised land after a 40 year bout in the desert with Moses and the people of Israel who fled Egyptian slavery.

This battle has been going on for centuries and will not be resolved until Jesus himself descends on the Mount of Olives in the second coming. War in Israel is inevitable and a global world war against Israel is inevitable. Just read the last book of the Bible. Near the end of time all nations will turn on Israel and the last battle will be fought in the Valley of Jezreel.

We all want peace, but peace will not ultimately come until the Lord returns. Sure there may be peace deals here and there. Peace might even come for a few years or decades for that matter, but ultimately peace is not going to come to this region. As long as evil surrounds mankind, there will always be war, strife, and hard times. This is a direct result of man’s sins and that alone will bring us all down. War, in itself, is directly related to sin. Even the very first family in the Bible had jealousy, rage, and murder in it - that is, AFTER sin entered into the world.

War is bad. Innocent people get killed, people lose their homes, family members, jobs, and other things. Sometimes war is necessary to confront evil empires who wish to rule others. In the case of Islamic extremists, war is necessary. People want to try to talk peace with these groups, but misunderstand the whole situation. These radical groups do not want peace themselves. They want to turn the whole world into an Islamic extremist state similar to what the Taliban had. They care nothing about peace. They want power! It is up to free nations like America and its allies to once again come to the rescue of those in need of liberation from these psychotic oppressors.

Israel is being attacked now in more ways than one. It is being attacked physically by these same radical terror groups, but it is also being attacked verbally by other nations who wish Israel harm and death as well as liberals here in the United States. Israel is still God’s chosen people and He still has a plan for them and if I were Iran’s president, I would be very careful how I threaten someone who has the Creator of the Universe on their side. Iran and Syria can take on Israel, but they can’t take on God and I am very much afraid they are missing the big picture here.

It wasn’t Israel who was the caster of the first stone here anyway. It was Hamas and Hezbollah who are supported by both Syria and Iran. They were the ones to trespass on Israeli property and kidnap two soldiers and then fire rockets into Israel. It was again, the radical Islamic extremists who fired the first shot. They are always the trouble makers in the picture. It was never Israel nor the United States that started this war. Remember that it was the terrorists who declared war on us, so we gave them what they asked for and now their great and powerful leader is hiding like a coward in hole somewhere in Afghanistan.

When I think of peace and good will in this part of the world, I am reminded of what rock star legend Ronnie James Dio once said. He said “ where good thrives, evil survives.” This is very well described in Middle East politics and society. As long as evil lives, so will war and death. Only when sin is defeated by the return of Christ our Lord will these things be destroyed.

* If you wish to support Israel, visit www.zoa.org and learn how!

ABOUT ROB HOOD

Rob Hood grew up in rural Mississippi and was rooted in the doctrine of the Southern Baptist Convention and its teachings of Biblical right and wrong, accountability to a higher authority, and the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was a participant in Bible Drill for nine years, a Southern Baptist Convention program devoted to educating children and youth with scriptures from the Bible for use in everyday life situations. He graduated from Holmes Community College in Grenada, Mississippi with an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Electronics Technology and is currently employed as an Electronics Technician with HAM radio equipment manufacturer. He is also a Federal Communications Commission licensed Technician Class HAM radio operator and lives in North Mississippi.

Mr. Hood is also the author of Issues That Matter : America’s Moral Battleground and a columnist for six of the news/commentary sites of the Move Off Network at www.moveoff.net ) in addition to The Kentucky Conservative and also runs his own site and his own blog. You can check out Rob Hood’s blog at http://robhood.us ( click on blog ). Check out his regular site at www.standfortruthonline.com .

[0] comments (628 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

2 Myths of a Kind...

Global Warming vs Evolution
By Thomas E. Brewton

Al Gore and Charles Darwin butt heads over a fundamental assumption.

-------------------
Eliminating God from the universe is the very first order of business for the
liberal-socialist mind.  Without God, man stands alone as the creator-god of
all he surveys.

This was the motivation behind Charles Darwin’s theory of life-as-an-accident
and the evolution of all life forms from that accident, purely by chance
mutations and survival of the fittest. 

But Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” predicts a Biblical-style event that
contradicts one of evolution’s most fundamental assumptions.

Mr. Gore predicts a global-warming catastrophe featuring massive flooding, with
major portions of the earth under as much as twenty feet of water, together
with increased frequency and intensity of huge storms, wildfires, and
droughts.  Great numbers of species, Mr. Gore tells us, will perish and the
world as we have known it will cease to exist within ten years if we don’t
ratify the Kyoto treaty.

In short, we face a repetition of the Bible’s account of the great flood which
Noah survived in the ark.  God saved Noah; Mr. Gore will save humanity.

That is what evolutionists and their opponents in the 19th century dismissively
called catastrophism, a major event that fundamentally alters the course of
life on earth.

Catastrophism is, according to the Wikipedia, “in geology, the doctrine that at
intervals in the earth’s history all living things have been destroyed by
cataclysms (e.g., floods or earthquakes) and replaced by an entirely different
population. During these cataclysms the features of the earth’s surface, such
as mountains and valleys, were formed.”

Darwinian evolutionists dismiss catastrophism, because it conflicts at the most
fundamental level with the assumptions necessary to support the speculative
hypothesis of evolution. 

Charles Lyell, Darwin’s geology professor, advocated instead the doctrine of
uniformitarianism, without which the infinitely slow process, over billions of
years, of Darwinian evolution is insupportable.

The PhysicalGeometry.net website explains: 
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/10c.html

“Uniformitarianism is one of the most important unifying concepts in the
geosciences. This concept developed in the late 1700s, suggests that
catastrophic processes were not responsible for the landforms that existed on
the Earth’s surface. This idea was diametrically opposed to the ideas of that
time period which were based on a biblical interpretation of the history of the
Earth. Instead, the theory of uniformitarianism suggested that the landscape
developed over long periods of time through a variety of slow geologic and
geomorphic processes. 

“..… The theory of uniformitarianism was also important in shaping the
development of ideas in other disciplines. The work of Charles Darwin and
Alfred Wallace on the origin of the Earth’s species extended the ideas of
uniformitarianism into the biological sciences. The theory of evolution is
based on the principle that the diversity seen in the Earth’s species can be
explained by the uniform modification of genetic traits over long periods of
time.”

Uniformitarianism is even more essential in contemporary evolutionary theories
such as that of Richard Dawkins, who postulates that DNA is a digital record of
all life forms that have ever existed, a giant computer file into which each
new chance mutation that survives the process of natural selection is saved.

In “The Blind Watchmaker,” Professor Dawkins writes: “The messages that DNA
molecules contain are all but eternal when seen against the time scale of
individual lifetimes.  The lifetimes of DNA messages (give or take a few
mutations) are measured in units ranging from millions of years, or, in other
words, ranging from 10,000 individual lifetimes to a trillion individual
lifetimes.  Each individual organism should be seen as a temporary vehicle in
which DNA messages spend a tiny fraction of their geological lifetimes.”

Evolution thus could not have occurred as hypothesized had there been any
major catastrophes, such as the predicted global-warming, that wiped out life
forms as the carriers of the DNA digital files.  If that happens, then
evolution, in Professor Dawkins’s version, would have to start all over from
square one and create vast new chains of gradually increased digital
information in the DNA molecules, added by chance mutations.

This leaves Al Gore’s theory of global-warming catastrophe in an uncomfortable
position.  If his predicted worldwide cataclysm can occur, why only this one
time in the presumably trillions of years of geological and biological
uniformitarian gradualism postulated by the hypothesis of evolution?  Have the
evolutionists been wrong all along?

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

*************************************************************

[0] comments (642 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Fight the ACLU...

Become a card carrying memeber of the ACLJ and help take on the ACLU.

Add your name to the group of 7589 people who have already signed using the Internet!

Become an ACLJ member today …

Help us take on the ACLU!

The American Civil Liberties Union is bound and determined to eliminate God from our national landscape.  They have been at it for years — and they are NOT going to give up.  They are just as focused on leading the charge to save the cruel practice of partial-birth abortion.  But we are just as determined as they are!  Today, we need your help to STAND UP to the powerful ACLU.  To declare your membership with the American Center for Law and Justice, simply click here : https://www.aclj.org/Petition/Default.aspx?SC=3173&AC=1

STOP THE ACLU!

When you join, we will send you an ACLJ membership card, as well as a copy of our latest DVD, Life, Liberty and the Law.  As a member, you will have unique access to timely and critical updates on issues and cases most significant to our religious liberties and constitutional freedoms in America today.

* www.aclj.org

[0] comments (630 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Save the cross...

Dear Readers,

We need you in our all-out battle against the ACLU’s aim to strip religious symbolism from public view and cut through America’s proud heritage.

The ACLU’s target - to remove the cross which is a memorial to war veterans on Mt. Soledad - would be a direct insult to men and women in uniform …

… especially those who have given their lives for freedom’s sake.  They deserve to be remembered and honored. 

In favor of the war memorial including the cross, Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States ordered that his temporary stay protecting the monument extend until state and federal courts can hear the City of San Diego’s appeal this fall.

We were able to file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of several members of Congress.  But we cannot rest now!

If the ACLU wins this case, no cross will be safe.  The ACLU will be empowered to go on an even more aggressive rampage, removing any and all symbols of faith from our country.  No monument honoring our war heroes and fallen soldiers across the United States bearing a religious symbol will be spared. 

They only sought to remove this war memorial because it contains a cross!

The cross at Mt. Soledad must be preserved.  Please understand that while this case may be taking place far from where you live, it has ramifications for you and for all of us who cherish the religious heritage of America. 

NOW is the time to fight the ACLU! 

We still have a long way to go in order to win! 

* A message from the American Center for Law and Justice @ www.aclj.org

All contributions to help in this effort should be sent to:

American Center for Law and Justice
P.O. Box 90555, Washington, D.C. 20090-0555

=====================================================

[0] comments (620 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Your help needed...

Your help is needed with the following organizations:

Concerned Women for America
www.cwfa.org
A women’s christian organization that focuses on moral values in America needs your help!

Answers In Genesis
www.answersingenesis.org
A ministry which deals with issues of creation as taughtin the Book of Genesis.

Liberty Counsel
www.lc.org
A Christian legal organization that fights daily for religious liberties, traditional values, and faith in America.

Family Research Council
www.frc.org
A Christian political organization that takes a stand in Washington on abortion, marriage, and many other topics concerning America today!

[0] comments (687 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Your help needed...

Your help is needed with the following organizations:

Concerned Women for America
www.cwfa.org
A women’s christian organization that focuses on moral values in America needs your help!

Answers In Genesis
www.answersingenesis.org
A ministry which deals with issues of creation as taughtin the Book of Genesis.

Liberty Counsel
www.lc.org
A Christian legal organization that fights daily for religious liberties, traditional values, and faith in America.

Family Research Council
www.frc.org
A Christian political organization that takes a stand in Washington on abortion, marriage, and many other topics concerning America today!

[0] comments (645 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

STORY OF THE DAY...

Adult stem cell research produces insulin for diabetics
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1604.html

This is proof positive that ADULT stem cell research helps and embryonic stem cell research does not! There is a difference. ADult stem cell research saves lives of babies and embryonic stem cell research takes lives of babies!

[0] comments (618 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Power Grab...

Lusting for power and control over America

by

Felicia Benamon Felicia Benamon

This great land called America is not some prize to be won. It’s a gift by Almighty God, a gift of unexplained beauty to be enjoyed by all. Just as the land is precious, so are the people of America. No one group of people completely rules or dominates.

Our forefathers came to America in search of a better life, and yearned to share their faith and beliefs with those who occupied this land. Mistakes were made throughout our history, but the overall intent surely was not to be in conflict, but to live side by side in harmony.

Today, our country is in danger from so many groups who want complete dominance over the rest of Americans...they want to suppress others instead of reaching out and helping each other to rise and be a great nation together.

I am disturbed by efforts to take over America by radical Islamists. We cannot forget the inflammatory rhetoric by Islamic radicals who demonstrate in our streets declaring, “Islam will dominate the world,” and at the same time, they are holding up pictures of the Islamic flag flying over the White House. This is all happening on our soil, yet our government does very little to crack down on those who choose to promote such hatred. There are terror cells and training camps set up right here in America. It’s time to get tough and crack down on these centers of evil propaganda.

MECha, an organization which seeks to retake the southwestern states of America, (they call it Aztlan) has been involved in college campuses across America since the 60’s. The Brown Berets of Aztlan are another militant group who wishes to return the southwest to Mexico, or “Reconquista” as they call it. Their spouting of racial hatred against American citizens is nothing new. Miguel Perez of Cal State Northridge MECha talks of the “liberation of Aztlan,” and says that he prefers a communist style government to “expel the non-chicanos.”

(See article: MEChA: A Vehicle of Hatred)

With the talk of America possibly merging with Canada, and Mexico, the above mentioned groups may not have to fight much at all. Thanks to the rich elite and other powerful forces in our government who are working to erase our borders to the north and south...all in the name of greed and power.

Where is their allegiance to America, the country our great forefathers fought so hard to build? Will they sell out and give in to the temptation to rule and control the populace of America?

(See article: Creating a North American Community...)

America was NOT meant to be overpowered by one group of people. And it seems the freedoms of Americans are under attack from so many forces within our country. The ACLU has been active to make sure of that. One cannot give God the praise He is due in public without someone becoming offended and the ACLU stepping in. The Mount Soledad cross in San Diego is one of many religious symbols that have been threatened by the ACLU. 75% of San Diegans voted for the Federal Government to step in and save the cross and to classify it as a war memorial. But comments regarding the vote from ACLU attorney James McElroy say it all:

“It still doesn’t mean a damn thing”..."Voters should have never voted on it. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” said McElroy.

(See article: San Diegans vote to save cross)

It’s not a waste of taxpayer money when clearly the will of the people has been spoken! And the people have declared that they want the cross to stay!

It doesn’t matter to the ACLU if the majority of Americans want religious symbols to stay in place, they will fight to the death to have them removed...even if one person makes a squeak about them. This is NOT what freedom of religion is about… it’s not about the freedom to remove precious symbols of our faith because a few are offended.

I must say that the ACLU has meddled FAR too much in the historic ties America has with Christianity. When are the majority of Americans going to rise and say to groups like the ACLU..."WE ARE OFFENDED! NOW, KNOCK IT OFF!”

The secularists and the far-left are also busy pushing immorality and anti-Americanism throughout our beloved country. To them, America is the cause of so many of the world’s ills. The sad thing is, they will succeed in their efforts to demean and destroy America’s credibility and moral fiber if ordinary Americans continue to go about life as usual. This is happening all around us and many Americans act as if they are immune to our society slowly crumbling before our eyes.

The patriotic Woody Guthrie song This Land is Your Land speaks about our great nation and how we are meant to share in its bountiful blessings:

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

Are we living to the standard mentioned above? Are we joining together and sharing in the many blessings God has bestowed upon us? Surely not!

We are facing a grim future with so many negative forces vying for control and domination of

America. Let’s put the brakes on anti-American groups who wish to control America, or else! If they can’t have America in their grasp, they want her brought to her knees.

American citizens truly have a fight on their hands. But we MUST arise from complacency and be bold and strong. The sooner we stand up and fight back, the easier it will be. I would hate to see our continued complacency towards the disintegration of our country be later replaced by complete shock as the work of our adversaries is completed. I hope it will never come to that.

So please rise up America, and take a stand!

Related Reading:

MECha: A Vehicle of Hatred:
http://www.americanpatrol.com/MECHA/mecha991030.html

Americans for Legal Immigration: Illegal alien uprising brewing...:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=409

‘Aztlan’: A Warped Vision of History:
http://www.zogby.com/soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=4935

Creating a North American Community-Chairmen’s Statement-Council on Foreign Relations:
http://www.cfr.org/publication/7912/creating_a_north_american_community_chairmens_statement.html

San Diegans vote to save cross:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45472

Felicia (Fee) Benamon is a political columnist who writes for various conservative sites, including RenewAmerica.us, Daley-Times Post, RealityCheck.org, Capitolhillcoffeehouse.com, TheConservativeVoice.com, Mensnewsdaily.com, and many more. Felicia is currently branching out, and hopes to do more freelance writing, and eventually carry a column in her local newspaper. She hails from a military background, and has been politically active since the 2000 elections. Felicia is also an occasional guest speaker on KYAL2K, conservative talk radio (www.k-talk.com), Salt Lake City, UT.

_____________________________________________________

Support the 2007 Conservative Convention. 
www.cc2007.us

[0] comments (987 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Book...

A Great Guide

by

Rob Hood

I recently stumbled upon a book that I knew existed but for some reason had forgotten about. In a local bookstore I recognized The Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy by Mark W. Smith . I have seen it advertised online and while I do shop online for similar books, I never really paid that much attention to this one.

I picked up the book and started looking through it and instantly knew that I had to buy it. I highly recommend this book for anyone who calls themselves a conservative. Is absolutely filled with information that every conservative needs to know.

The key topics include bias in the media, the war in Iraq, supporting Israel, Missile defense and why we need it, why lower taxes benefit everyone, the corrupt UN, and exist strategy for poverty in America, what being pro-life is all about, the out of touch with reality judiciary, why women should reject radical feminism, stopping government controlled healthcare, school choice is good, gun control is not the answer, and many more hot topics of the day. The topics dicussed here are ones that the mainstream press fail to look at in depth and often distort for their own gain and even some of these things here are worth buying the book becuase we can’t even hear them discussed on right wing radio and television either. If you don’t buy the book, you may be left in the dark about somethings that we all need to know about!

This book should be in the personal library of every conservative in America. Every topic discussed within its pages define the modern conservative. Once the reader completes this great book, he/she will have a greater understanding of where he/she stands in the political/social arena of modern politics.

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy today and recommend a friend to do the same. Mark W. Smith is truly great writer who shows his passion for conservative policies in everything he writes. His latest book is also a controversial one called Disrobed:The New Battleplan to Break the Left’s Stranglehold on the Courts , but I’ll save that one for another day.

This great book is available at most online stores or check your local bookstore as well. You can also click here to get a look at it: http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3524867883685&isbn=0895260271 Remember to pick one up for a friend as well!

OTHER GREAT BOOKS INCLUDE:

Disrobed:The New Battleplan to Break the Left’s Stranglehold on the Courts
by Mark W. Smith
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3524867883685&isbn=0307339254

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism
by Carrie Lukas
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3524867883685&isbn=1596980036

The Marketing of Evil
by David Kupelian
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3524867883685&isbn=1581824599

ABOUT ROB HOOD

Rob Hood grew up in rural Mississippi and was rooted in the doctrine of the Southern Baptist Convention and its teachings of Biblical right and wrong, accountability to a higher authority, and the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was a participant in Bible Drill for nine years, a Southern Baptist Convention program devoted to educating children and youth with scriptures from the Bible for use in everyday life situations. He graduated from Holmes Community College in Grenada, Mississippi with an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Electronics Technology and is currently employed as an Electronics Technician with HAM radio equipment manufacturer. He is also a Federal Communications Commission licensed Technician Class HAM radio operator and lives in North Mississippi.

Mr. Hood is also the author of Issues That Matter : America’s Moral Battleground and a columnist for six of the news/commentary sites of the Move Off Network at www.moveoff.net ) in addition to The Kentucky Conservative and also runs his own site and his own blog. You can check out Rob Hood’s blog at http://robhood.us ( click on blog ). Check out his regular site at www.standfortruthonline.com .

[0] comments (638 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

This week...

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

CREATION TIPS

This site is really great for parents who want to teach their children about creation, Noah’s Ark, and a host of things from the book of Genesis.  Many parents may learn answers to questions themselves. This is definitely a site worth adding to your list of favorites. Go to http://www.users.bigpond.com/rdoolan/index.html today and see what all the fuss is about!

_______________________________________________________________

BIBLE VERSE OF THE WEEK

I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Psalm 77:11-15

[0] comments (652 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Social Security...

Why We Need You at The Washington Briefing

The Social Security Administration (SSA) knows a lot about tens of millions of Americans. It also knows a lot about thousands of non-Americans. But it isn’t talking. An audit by the SSA’s Inspector General shows that the agency has identified at least 109,064 foreign nationals who used special Social Security numbers to report earnings despite the fact that they are not authorized to hold jobs in the United States. The report said hundreds of thousands more are using Social Security cards illegally. These are most likely illegal aliens, but the SSA cannot report them to their employers because of “privacy concerns.” FRC Action’s September 22-24 Washington Briefing will explore this and other issues with Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN). Mike is just one example of the top-notch speakers who will inform you about the vital issues of today. The Washington Briefing is a must-attend event for anyone who cares about the future of life, marriage, the family and freedom. Please click on our FRC Action web address ( www.frcaction.org ) or call 1.888.372.2284 for details of this first-ever event.

* A message from Family Research Council @ www.frc.org

[0] comments (678 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

The NEA Agenda...

NEA Constructs Fascist New Policies at Convention

**Your Dues Money at Work, American Teachers

Linda Harvey
www.missionamerica.com

This past week, the bravest people I know – the teachers who are members of the
Conservative Educators’ Caucus and the Ex- Gay Educators’ Caucus of the NEA
(National Education Association)—once again endured an outrageous week at the
group’s annual convention. Child- damaging, teacher-centered discussions and
policy formation transpired, defying reason, morality and constitutionality.

According to Jeralee Smith, founder and past chair of the Ex-Gay Educators’
Caucus, here are the highlights.

• The word “tolerance” will be replaced by “acceptance and respect” in current
NEA policies, including those covering “gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered” behaviors, orientations, etc. among students, teachers and
staff. So the concept of cross-dressing third graders must now be “respected.”
Your twelve- year- old boys who want to practice homosexual sex together,
deserve “acceptance and respect.” Does this mean new textbooks? New sex ed
curricula? Will school boards have the gumption to stand up against this
insanity?

A select NEA committee will oversee the policy revision process, using their
judgment to apply the new standard. So, conservative views will apparently be
prohibited at schools and homosexuality has been officially declared a good,
positive and beneficial thing. No more HIV/AIDS education is needed, probably.
(They are asking for a lawsuit, right?)

• “GLBT” issues are to be included in teacher training curricula. This
bombshell passed without any debate since it was buried in a committee report.
Your fascist underground at work.

• The controversial “B-8”, the proposal to endorse all versions of marriage
(same sex, polygamous, etc.) was deleted for this meeting. The last-minute
substitute endorsing current legal civil unions and same sex marriages was
referred back to committee for future action. This means it will likely return
in some new, diabolical form.

• A delegate from California proposed a measure to prevent sexual misconduct
among teachers. She was soundly trashed by the assembly, even called a liar.

• Homosexual activist Wayne Besen, on a campaign to suppress the rights of ex-
homosexuals and somehow prove they do not exist, showed up at the Ex-Gay
Educators’ exhibit booth. After attempting to pick a fight with a teacher and
another exhibitor, he became so disorderly he had to be escorted outside by
security police.

Jeralee told me she is laying it on the line with her fellow teachers. She is
strongly urging every teacher who is a Christian and/or has sympathy with
traditional values to have the integrity to either get involved and help bring
some sanity back into play, or else get out of the NEA. The sidelines are
simply no longer an option.

On a positive note, she reported that many teachers and delegates thanked her
and others in the caucus for their work.

More than private words of support are needed, though. Who else is willing to
publicly stand in the gap with these courageous people for the sake of our
children?

* A message from Mission America @ www.missionamerica.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dark Side of Warren Buffett: He Donates $3 Billion to Pro-Abortion Groups

by Jim Kouri, CPP

One of the big stories this summer is the generous donation of billions of
dollars to charity by one of the world’s richest men. As a result, he’s
received the praise of practically the entire news media.

What the news media neglected to report is that the Susan Thompson Buffett
Foundation, which was created by multi-billionaire businessman Warren Buffett
in honor of his deceased spouse, is donating upwards of $3 billion to pro-
abortion groups, not only for political campaigns but for the training of
physicians on how to end the lives of unborn babies.

Buffett’s first large scale donation since his announcement that the bulk his
financial assets would be left to Bill Gates to disperse to charitable
organizations. Buffett thus far has not explained how aborting unborn children
is charitable.

During a segment on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” a letter written
by Buffett revealed that he would give stock to the foundation and he supports
reproductive health and rights, family planning and college scholarship
programs.

Warren Buffett’s donation is in addition to the $2.5 billion provided to the
foundation in the will of Susan Thompson Buffett, who died in 2004.

But this is not the first time Buffett has supported abortion. In the past, the
Buffetts’ philanthropic efforts includes reportedly contributing to the Center
for Reproductive Rights in order to assist it in its court battle to overturn
Nebraska’s ban on partial-birth abortion; the ban was overturned in 2001 thanks
in large part to Buffett. 

Their foundation also has given money to Planned Parenthood, NARAL, the
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights, and other pro-abortion groups. In
addition, they donated millions of dollars to help mifepristone, which causes a
medical abortion when taken in conjunction with the drug misoprostol, gain FDA
approval.

Many observers had expected Buffett to give most of his money to the Buffett
Foundation, but he disclosed that his biggest donation will be stock valued at
$30.7 billion to the Bill Gates foundation for so-called international health
issues. Gates himself has donated millions of dollars to organizations pushing
for even greater freedom to terminate the lives of unborn babies.

What amazes many observers is the almost total lack of news coverage of where
Buffett’s billions would go. The mainstream news media, for the most part,
reported that his billions of dollars would go to charitable organization and
international health groups.

During the NPR “Morning Edition” segment, Ellen Chesler, author of “Women of
Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America,” said that
the Buffett Foundation’s donations have trained a new generation of physicians
to perform abortions “at a time when the first pioneering generation of doctors
who did it out of a sense of moral obligation is retiring and not being
replaced.”

Chesler said that in addition to funding for research and training, the Buffett
Foundation provided funding for policy efforts to bolster abortion-rights
supporters’ efforts in the US political debate, “which was being heavily
influenced by huge amounts of money being poured into conservative institutions
that were opposing abortion rights and family planning.”

While Americans may be aware of Buffett’s liberalism and his support of
abortion, very few knew that his money financed the training of doctors to kill
the unborn. While he’s been critical of how President Bush is fighting the war
on terrorism and once complained about the “needless loss of American and Iraqi
lives,” Buffett apparently feels no remorse over helping to needlessly kill
millions of unborn children not only in the United States but throughout the
world.

[0] comments (651 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Downward...

Is America Headed For Decline?

by Jeff Lukens

“What one generation allows in moderation,” it was once said, “the next accepts in excess.” This has certainly been true in America in recent years. Anyone old enough to be raising children has witnessed firsthand the decline of moral standards since the time we were kids. It seems the time-honored notions of courage, honor, sacrifice, responsibility and decency have become a thing of the past.

Do I really need to give examples? Just turn on the TV to any sitcom and see for yourself. We’ve come a long way since Mayberry R.F.D.

For many, a healthy skepticism has morphed into outright “blame America first” for anything that goes wrong in the world. We are at war with the forces of evil, and many among us can’t even identify what evil is. Many even cheer for our side to lose.

History has shown us that great civilizations pass through a succession of phases: From bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, and from dependence back to bondage.

We all know about the rise and fall of ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, Rome, and a host of other civilizations over the past 5000 years. Success, no doubt, breeds complacency.

Call ours the “American Civilization.” And what phase are we in now? Well, my heart wants to tell me we are somewhere between liberty and abundance, but my head tells me it is closer to complacency or apathy.

Until this time, each American generation since the founding has left this nation in a little better condition than they had inherited it from their parents. Looking ahead, the continuance of this trend seems doubtful.

Many virtues that have evolved over centuries formed the basis of our culture. We once admired the progress of humankind, the development of reason, the advancement of law and science, and the ideas of free markets and individual rights. In the U.S., the union of these ideas, and others, has allowed more people here to enjoy more wealth, opportunity and freedom than has ever been known on so vast a scale ever before.

We believed duty and sacrifice were a virtue. Most of us respected people who were good, meritorious, and honorable. But these thoughts, of course, are now considered judgmental because they are based on differentiating right from wrong, correct from incorrect, and good from evil. Today, such talk is often dismissed as intolerance or bigotry.

In recent years, many have sought to dismantle the institutions and standards that have been the very basis of our success. Tolerance, which was once a good thing, has evolved into acceptance of just about anything, no matter how destructive or base it may be.

One part of this problem lies with Multiculturalism, which suggests that all cultures are valid and equal, even those that wish to do us harm. It also suggests that heterosexual white men have established this society to dominate and oppress females, minorities, the needy, and people in less developed countries. Forced tolerance and political correctness over this nonsense have left many people confused about what really to believe.

Yes, we have had racial problems in our past. However, the wrongs of slavery and Jim Crow have been righted, and the time is way overdue when all should be judged by the “content of their character.”

In our well-intentioned quest for equality, many standards have no doubt been reduced or eliminated. Much of today’s crime, illegitimacy, drug use, and failing schools can be traced to a lack of personal responsibility.

A failure to speak truth to individuals for fear of offending them, or
affecting their self-esteem, is also to blame. These problems fester in Black, White and Hispanic communities alike.

When discussions of right and wrong become incoherent, surely we invite chaos and disaster upon us. The law alone cannot bring order and unity to society. Its foundation rests on the voluntary consent of its citizens. While the law often allows us to do as we please, a personal moral code inside each of us prevents us from contemplating, and committing what is rash or unjust.

President John Adams once said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

No society can survive without a consensus about what is right and wrong, and the only consensus that people in this land have ever coalesced around comes in the form a Judeo-Christian morality. It is this moral consensus that made us successful. Tear this consensus apart for some half-baked philosophy such as Multiculturalism, and decline awaits us.

You don’t need to be a Founding Father to figure out that spiritual faith, courage and liberty are what make a people great. Once upon a time, we instinctively knew this. It is a lesson we need to relearn.

Jeff Lukens writes engaging opinion columns from a fresh, conservative point of view. He is also a Staff Writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc., a non-profit (501c3) coalition of writers and grass-roots media outlets. He can be contacted through his website at www.jefflukens.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (3315 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Unchristian Calling...

UnChristian Calling

By:  Nathan Tabor

It’s bad enough that, in many places, Sunday is just another day in the work world.  People rush to their jobs at the mall, at the restaurant, even at the bar—never stopping to think that even their Creator took a day off once in a while.

You would think that, on the holiest day of the week, telemarketers would take a holiday.  Especially telemarketers for Republicans.  Especially telemarketers who hope to raise money from the GOP Christian base.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is apparently running scared—so scared that it has even stooped to telemarketing on the Sabbath.  One individual recently reported receiving three calls on behalf of NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds on Sunday mornings.  Even when the recipient of those calls complained that Republicans shouldn’t do their telemarketing on Sundays, the calls kept coming. 

For those not in the know, the NRCC describes itself as a “political committee devoted to increasing the 231-member Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.” A noble goal, to be sure, especially when one considers the haunting specter of a Democratic Speaker Pelosi in the wings. 

The NRCC website notes that, while the key sources of funding for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are labor unions, trial lawyers, and Democratic members of Congress, the Republican counterpart relies mostly on individuals “from all walks of life,” who may be contributing as little as $25 each. In other words, the NRCC is supported by God-fearing working stiffs—the type of people who value their Sunday mornings.

In the midst of the 2004 election cycle, NRCC Chairman Reynolds oversaw historic gains for House Republicans.  In fact, for the first time since 1928, the ranks of House Republicans increased during a Presidential election year.  Also, for the first time, House Republicans increased their majority in two consecutive election cycles. 

The Buffalo News wrote of Reynolds that with his “love of legislating and an old-fashioned backslapping style, (he) has built a House career that at this point looks charmed—and limitless.” The NRCC website also states that Reynolds is “committed to a Republican agenda grounded in strong values.” But don’t those strong values include honoring Sunday and the Higher Power who made it happen? 

It’s bad enough that Christians have to deal with the anti-religion rhetoric of the left.  The nation’s Democratic leaders routinely show the utmost disrespect to people who pray…who believe in the Bible…and who strongly advocate the idea of Intelligent Design over evolution.  A number of Democrats have made it clear that prayer in school is the worst thing that could ever befall a schoolchild.  They continue to try to downplay the religious significance of Christmas and Easter.  When they do pay attention to Christianity, it seems to be part of a smear campaign aimed at denigrating Jesus and other Biblical figures—witness the effort to depict the befuddled “Da Vinci Code” as high art.

Still, difficult though it is at times, Christians have learned to live with the anti-Christian left.  But when an organization attempting to elect Republicans to office is willing to run the risk of offending church-goers in an attempt to raise the almighty dollar, it’s clearly a sign that things are even worse than we Christians had thought. 

I have nothing against telemarketing—but it’s sacrilegious to do it on a Sunday…even if the apparent purpose is to elect conservatives to Congress.  The NRCC has six days of the week to raise money.  On the seventh day, let’s give the telemarketers—and the people whose meals they interrupt—a rest. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (699 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

AMERICAN HISTORY 101...

This July 4, join your friends reading the bestselling book,

THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO AMERICAN HISTORY

by

Thomas E. Woods Jr.

click here to take a look:
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3519665160321&isbn=0895260476

For similar topics see:
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3519665160321&type=keyword&find=Politcally+Incorrect+Guide&x=0&y=3

Others of interest can be found here:

Women, Sex, Feminism: How women are being brainwashed
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3519665160321&isbn=1596980036

Myths, Lies, and Stupidity
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3519665160321&isbn=1401302548

[0] comments (629 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Sites of Interested...

THE CHRISTIAN COALITION OF AMERICA
www.cc.org

Join today and prserve your religious rights!

-------------------------------------------------------

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
www.nra.org
Join today and preserve your Second Amendment rights!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Family Research Council
www.frc.org
Join today and preserve your Family Values and Biblical Standards

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission America
www.missionamerica.com
Join today and fight for traditional marriage!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Stand For Truth
Christians standing together for what is right!
www.standfortruthonline.com

[0] comments (677 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Chasing the wind...

Chasing After the Wind
By Thomas E. Brewton

The atheistic materialism of socialism, embodied in the United States in so-
called liberalism, once again frequently called “progressivism,” is a
meaningless pursuit of false gods.

-------------------
I was privileged this Sunday morning to hear another inspired sermon by the
pastor of our Long Ridge Congregational Church.  The sermon was one of a series
explicating the Book of Ecclesiastes.

With apologies again to our minister, I offer my interpretation of additional
implications of his sermon.

The writer of Ecclesiastes, presumably King Solomon in his old age, declares:

“I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than
anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of
wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,
and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after
the wind.

“For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:16-18)

King Solomon enjoyed wealth, royal dominion, and sensual pleasures beyond the
imaginings of ordinary mortals.  Yet, having experimented with everything the
world ("under the sun") had to offer, he found all of it meaningless, a chasing
after the wind.

Among the things with which King Solomon experimented were knowledge that might
empower him personally to control earthly events, along with constructing
magnificent palaces and political structures, precisely the all-consuming
pretension of today’s liberal-socialists.

All of this, Solomon realized late in life, is meaningless, because whatever he
did would be taken over and changed by someone after his death.  God-created
human nature and the nature of the world are beyond the reach of the most
presumptuous scientism of the Al Gores of the world.

Only God endures, because the universe is God’s creation, and humans can do
nothing to control the cycles of nature ordained by God.

Happiness, King Solomon concluded, is a gift of God to be found in worshipping
God, in living our individual lives to the best of our abilities, in seeking
God’s guidance, and giving thanks each day to God for the many blessings He has
bestowed upon each of us.  It is, looking at it from a different perspective,
taking joy in the beauty and grandeur of God’s awesome universe.

This corresponds to the Platonic and Aristotelian distinction between pleasure
and true happiness.

Pleasure is a product of the senses and is produced by externalities, ranging
from sexual promiscuity, to drug abuse, to pursuit of wealth.  We are slaves to
these externalities.

Happiness comes from opening the soul to God and seeking his guidance for moral
wisdom.  The soul and this pursuit are the only truly distinctive human
characteristics.  In chasing after the meaninglessness of sensual pleasure, we
reduce ourselves to a state no better than that of dumb animals.

Yet this is precisely what the scientism of atheistic socialism rejects, in
effect decapitating humanity and civilization.  In place of the human soul,
liberal-socialism gives us the totalitarianism of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and
Mao, whose iron-handed political state seizes control of every aspect of our
personal lives.

For Plato and Aristotle, as for King Solomon six centuries earlier, the best
political regime is one governed by moral precepts in which the leaders seek
divine guidance by opening their souls, or in Biblical language, softening
their hearts, to rule decently and justly, in accord with the precepts of
Divine morality.

This is the opposite of liberal-socialism’s preoccupation with condemning the
God-given human condition and hubristically presuming to right all wrongs on
earth, to control the weather of the entire earth, and to transform human
nature through purely materialistic measures.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pol Pot: A True Liberal
By Thomas E. Brewton

During the Vietnam era Pol Pot was one of the heroes of the student anarchists
who today are the leading lights of left-wing liberalism.  Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS) and the spin-off Weatherman group of armed robbers and
bomber-assassins proclaimed themselves and their fellow “freedom fighters” like
Pol Pot to be moral exemplars for the American people.

-------------------
American liberals during the Vietnam War demanded that we unilaterally pull our
troops out of the battlefield and allow “freedom fighters” like Pol Pot to
institute a good socialist regime to benefit the people.  Today’s liberal-
socialist politicians, journalists, and educators at the time proclaimed
allegiance to our enemies and to what they called the Black Colony within the
United States.  Their slogan was, ÒDeath to Amerika!  Bring the war home, kill
your parents, and ice the pigs!Ó

The Baby-Boomer radicals got their wish.  The result was either what they
expected and desired, or one that they conveniently chose to ignore.

The Wikipedia entry informs us:

“Pol Pot and his army, called the Khmer Rouge, came to power in Cambodia
(Kampuchea) in 1975. He was named prime minister of the new communist
government in 1976 and began a program of violent reform. The Khmer Rouge
abolished currency, religion and private property and evacuated cities in the
hopes of creating a Maoist agrarian society free of Western influence (though,
like Mao, Pol Pot had studied the works of V. I. Lenin and Karl Marx in
Europe). Under his regime, forced labor, executions and famine killed between
1.5 and 2 million Cambodians (more than 20% of the population).”

The spirit of Pol Pot lives among today’s liberals, who still believe
themselves above the law and entitled to make the rules to their advantage,
paying no heed to the Bill of Rights.

An irate reader recently posted a comment of the sort that is frequently
delivered to me by email.  One part of his comment is typical of liberals’
readiness to impose their convictions upon society by any means necessary,
precisely as Pol Pot did:

“ThereÕs no moral foundation for selfish, me-first, let-the-poor-starve (or
worse, drown) policies arch-conservatives like Mr. Brewton claim to be our
founding princples.Ê When their time comes, weÕll clap them in irons, mourn our
collective stupidity for ever listening to them, and move on to better
things.”

Liberals, since the dawn of the socialist era in the French Revolution, have
been prepared to resort to mass imprisonment and murder, believing that their
actions will lead to perfection of an abstraction called “humanity.” My reader
is ready to clap me in irons; the French revolutionaries suspended democracy to
impose the Reign of Terror in order, as they said, to preserve democracy; Lenin
said that justice emanates from the muzzle of a rifle pointed at the
capitalist’s head.

The same c***-sure certainty of conviction animates people like the reporting
staff and editorial board of the New York Times.  Among that company, the
spirit of Vietnam opposition remains a vibrant, all-consuming preoccupation. 
So sure are they that the Iraq war is simply a repeat of Vietnam, an
excrescence of capitalist imperialism, that, as in the 1960s, any measures are
permissible, indeed required, to block American foreign policy.

The Times’s repeated disclosures of the administration’s anti-terror
intelligence programs can be explained, at least in part, by their conviction
that risking the lives of American civilians and servicemen is a small price to
pay for destroying a hated President of the United States who has the poor
taste to be a Christian.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

[0] comments (636 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Faith Illegal?

THE FOLLOWING IS COMMENTARY FROM THE CHRISTIAN COALITION OF AMERICA
www.cc.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Criminalizing Faith
by Drew McKissick

The slippery slope of secular humanism continues to become even more so all around the world.  We are quickly moving beyond a mere degradation of social virtues to outright hostility against religion and potential criminalization of adherents who practice their faith in their daily lives.

In recent years we have seen the Dutch government change its laws to allow euthanasia, gay marriage, infanticide of imperfect children, and most recently, the sanctioning of gay polygamous unions.

Gay marriage has become a reality in Canada and Massachusetts.  For years our own governments have flirted with passage of so called “hate crimes” legislation that essentially criminalizes individual thoughts by way of adding extra penalties if biases, hatreds or intolerances are perceived in the commission of a crime.

And now the British government is proposing a sweeping new legal code that would forbid discrimination against homosexuals when in the market for “goods and services”.

As we know from our own experience in this country with the broad interpretation of our Constitution’s language regarding interstate commerce, it?s no leap of logic to deduce that “goods and services” will soon encompass just about any human interaction involving an exchange of money.  Its effect will be that of forcing people of faith, be it Christian, Jew or Muslim - pretty much everyone except secular humanists - to act contrary to their religious beliefs in the conduct of their everyday lives, or else become a criminal.

For example, religious schools would commit a crime by not allowing gay students or teachers.  Churches that occasionally rent out their facilities for community events would violate the law by not allowing gays the same access - perhaps even to hold same-sex marriage services.

Religious newspapers would violate the law if they refuse to run advertisements for gay lobbying groups.  A Christian owned ad agency would be unable to refuse to do work for a campaign promoting gay marriage.

In short, the active practice of one’s faith in everyday life would no longer be legal.

Here in the United States, the move by Massachusetts’ Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage without so much as a vote by that state’s legislature, much less its citizens, has resulted in making the adoption agency practices of the Catholic Church illegal.  That being the case, the Church was forced to end providing such services altogether, rather than compromise their faith.

The implications don’t stop there.  Kansas Senator Sam Brownback recently pointed out that, “...in states with same-sex marriage, religiously affiliated schools, adoption agencies, psychological clinics, social workers, marital counselors, etc. will be forced to choose between violating their own deeply held beliefs and giving up government contracts, tax-exempt status, or even being denied the right to operate at all.”

Generally, such proposed legal changes stem from the fact that the secular humanist crowd doesn’t see religion as something that should instruct one’s daily life and relationships, but rather as simply representative of a place some people go on Sunday.  And they have no patience for people who take it more seriously than that.

Someone once said that true tolerance also means having tolerance for the views of the majority.  While history is filled with examples of religious intolerances, the greatest levels of intolerance today no longer come from the faithful, but rather from the anti-religious.

Much is made by the left in our country of the First Amendment’s establishment clause in our Constitution, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...”.  From bans on prayer in schools, or at publicly sponsored events, to public displays of the Ten Commandments and even the inclusion of the words “under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance, we are told that such observances constitute an establishment of religion and are therefore unconstitutional. 

They seem to forget that the very next phrase in the First Amendment states, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.  In other words, it provides for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

Here in this country and abroad, we desperately need fewer politicians and judges working to use the state as a weapon against religious practice, and more that will be vigilant to oppose government actions that prohibit the free exercise of religion in our everyday lives.

[0] comments (673 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Interesting....

Here are some interesting sites to visit :

CREATION TIPS

This site is really great for parents who want to teach their children about creation, Noah’s Ark, and a host of things from the book of Genesis.  Many parents may learn answers to questions themselves. This is definitely a site worth adding to your list of favorites. Go to http://www.users.bigpond.com/rdoolan/index.html today and see what all the fuss is about!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.dinosaursinthebible.com

Here is a great website on ancient man showing Neanderthals were 100% human http://www.jackcuozzo.com

Carbon Dating Myths:  http://answersingenesis.org/home/area/qa.asp

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0] comments (688 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

The Socialist...

Warren Buffet: Socialist Dragoon
By Thomas E. Brewton

Mr. Buffet, an investment genius, is representative of the businessmen who
make fortunes within the individualistic framework of capitalism, but are
powerfully attracted to the collectivism of the socialistic welfare-state. 
Like the heavily-armed cavalry dragoon, Mr. Buffet has employed his wealth to
harass and pressure - to dragoon - for adoption of crippling economic policies
that would push the nation back toward the economic and social disaster of
President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.

This orientation is less a contradiction than one would expect.  Big business
historically has preferred regulation by big government as a counter-weight to
competition.

-------------------
Legendary investment manager Warren Buffet has been much in the news because of
his multi-billion dollar bequest to the private foundation of fellow
billionaire Bill Gates.  From one viewpoint, Mr. Buffet is to be commended for
his charity.  From another, one has to fear the direction and intent of his
action.

Because Mr. Gates’s charitable activities have largely been focused upon
benefitting third-world countries, it’s not clear what his political leanings
are.  If he employs Mr. Buffet’s billions in such pursuits, we can hope that
little mischief will result in the United States.  But the precedent set by
other foundations created by great private fortunes - the Ford Foundation most
notoriously - is worrisome.

Mr. Buffet’s cohort of socialists who made fortunes within the capitalistic
system include George Soros, Jon Corzine, and Robert Rubin.  Mr. Soros, like Mr
Buffet an investment genius, is said to have spent more than $20 million to
support the candidacy of radical left-winger John Kerry and other welfare-state
advocates.  Messrs. Corzine and Rubin made their millions at the investment
banking firm of Goldman Sachs.  Mr. Corzine spent several million dollars of
his fortune to become a liberal United States Senator from New Jersey and is
now that state’s higher-tax-advocate governor.  Mr. Rubin, a traditional New
York City welfare-state lover, served as President Clinton’s Secretary of the
Treasury and is now one of the senior officials of Citicorp, the giant banking
group.  Mr. Rubin recently has authored high-tax-policy studies for the
anticipated liberal-socialist election victories in November.

What characterizes such men is advocacy of a more powerful National State and
more rigorous and extensive regulation of all aspects of our business and
personal lives, financed by higher taxes.  The end point is more equal
distribution of wealth orchestrated by the National State, a policy
unaccountably rationalized by people like Mr. Buffet as meritocracy.

Mr. Soros has been an outspoken advocate of socialism and has denounced the
United States as an imperialistic aggressor.  Mr. Buffet, enlisted as economic
advisor to Arnold Schwartzenneger in the latter’s campaign for the California
governorship, had to be dismissed, because he declared that taxes in California
and everywhere else should be raised. 

More recently, Mr. Buffet declared his support for retaining the full-bore
inheritance tax.  Ironically, his transfer of about 80% of his wealth to the
Gates Foundation will shelter it from the inheritance taxes he advocates for
others.

The contradiction between the world of business and the politics of
collectivism is, however, more apparent than real.  Historically, big business
has had a natural affinity for big government.  In the 1920s and 1930s, this
was known as state corporatism, a central aspect of Fascism in Benito
Mussolini’s Italy, National Socialism in Adolph Hitler’s Germany, and the New
Deal in Franklin Roosevelt’s administration.

There has always been a tension between the individualism of free-market
competition and the tendency of corporations to grow bigger.  Adam Smith, in
his 1776 “Wealth of Nations,” remarks that, if six businessmen get together,
they will conspire to fix prices. 

With the emergence of our own giant, interstate railroads, mining companies,
steels mills, and oil refiners in the Gilded Age after the Civil War came the
first of the great personal fortunes.  Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller
established the public philanthropy model for Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. 
Big Daddy feels comfortable with the Great White Father in Washington, both
ostentatiously dispensing goodies to the masses.

A negative side of corporate growth was the push toward greater Federal
regulation of trade and the imposition of protective tariffs.  Big corporations
operating in many different states wanted a single set of Federal regulations,
rather than dozens of different state regulations.

It also became apparent that compliance with extensive Federal regulation,
while expensive, was a big deterrent to the challenge of smaller competitors
that lacked the giants’ net worth and access to Wall Street.

Thus, when Franklin Roosevelt assumed the Presidency in 1933, big businessmen
like the heads of General Electric were active supporters of his corporatist
regulation of the economy.

When socialist industrial unions reared their heads in the New Deal, big
business took the path of least resistance, acceding to Federal pressure to
raise the pay and benefits of unskilled workers.

Before the present era, the United States continued to prosper, despite the
back-scratching relationship between big government and big business.  Today,
however, foreign economic competitors have spoiled the game.  Unburdened by the
massive inflation of wages and prices engineered by the New Deal and successor
regimes, foreign companies’ lower-price competition has eviscerated our
corporations that once were the largest in the world.

The truly strange aspect to the knee-jerk liberalism of businessmen like Warren
Buffet is that they can’t see the connection between high taxes, big government
regulation, and the economic downfall of the United States.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New
Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers,
journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

[0] comments (661 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

Education is a mess!

When Education Fails to Educate

by

Rob Hood

Let’s face it. Public education is a mess. Some may even say it is dead. Many subjects being explored and indoctrinated into our children’s minds in the public education system these days doesn’t even have anything to do with education at all. Just last week the National Education Association (NEA) was debating whether to embrace or endorse same-sex marriage or not. At first the NEA did decide to endorse same-sex marriage, then changed their minds about it and decided not to. Then, at the last moment, they pulled a John Kerry flip flop and changed their minds again. Now the NEA will endorse same-sex marriage. My question is what does same-sex marriage have to do with kids learning math, science, history, and other such subjects?

The NEA is just another very liberal organization that strives to indoctrinate abnormal matters into the minds of our kids at an early age in a pathetic attempt to create a world in which everyone is “tolerant” and liberal. Instead of focusing on the real problems of education, aggressive liberal groups seek to ban God from schools and replace Him with anti-God junk science and adulterous, sinful, sexual propaganda. Sex education and condom education does not belong anywhere near the schoolhouse. Churches in Sunday School already teach this to kids. it’s called abstinence - AND IT WORKS!

Perhaps since the NEA is set to endorse homosexual marriage and teach it as “diversity”, then the curriculum and textbooks would also be written by liberals who also embrace such activities and embrace junk science such as evolution and global warming as fact when it is clearly science fiction. Besides the ACLU, the NEA is one of the worse organizations in the United States today. It clearly should receive a big, fat “F” on its report card.

Don’t misunderstand me when I talk about diversity and tolerance. Diversity and tolerance are good things so long as they are not taken advantage of like the left do all the time. Diversity means differences in cultures, which I can live with and accept with no problem. I work with people of many nationalities who are my closest friends. I respect their culture, language, and religion. One of my closest friends is from India and is Hindu. I am a very conservative Southern Baptist, yet we are close friends, so don’t preach to me about tolerance and diversity.

The tolerance and diversity that left wing groups want us to have is known as sin and cannot be tolerated - ever! If you call yourself a Christian then you clearly believe in the Bible as the Divine, infallible, inspired Word of God and nothing else! You believe homosexuality is wrong and that evolution is a myth made by man. You believe abortion is murder, plain and simple.

The fact that left wing groups like the NEA endorse evolution and force it on our kids is nothing new. The left embraces evolution first because that gives them an excuse to be tolerant toward what regular people call sin. Through evolution, there is no God, therefore no one has to answer for his or her own actions. Through creation, God created a man and then created a woman for that man. So, now you see why left wingers are hanging on to evolution so hard. It gives them the excuse to deny God and all things condemned by God in His word. If creation is real, them God is real; and if God is real then the Bible must be true; and if the Bible is true then homosexuality is a sin, Jesus is real, abortion is murder, and the Ten Commandments are the very instructions of God himself. No wonder the left hangs on to false science like evolution. It puts their ideas in danger.

We all know by now that California has endorsed a whole subject devoted to homosexual history and social science. They are forcing this ridiculous idea and totally unnecessary sin on the rest of its society. It would be wise for Christian parents everywhere to pull their kids from public school and place them in school where education is top priority, not left wing propaganda designed to change the minds of society. As a matter of fact one of the 1963 communist goals was to do this very thing I speak of. Here is comunist goal number 17: “Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks”. You can learn more about communist goals for America at http://liberalsvsus.info/1963-congress.htm There are currently 45 gaols in which most have been met except for a few. When these goals are read, it seems to me that liberalism, atheism, and communism are all in the same.

There are some major psychological implications that these subjects place on kids. These kids will grow up confused. At school they learn that homosexuality, sex before marriage, and abortion are all normal. Then on the weekends at church they learn that all of these things are sin. The kids get confused, so who do they believe? Most likely, if they are not in a strong church (not liberal church) or strong Christian family, then they will succumb to the wiles of the left since they left put enormous pressure on everyone these days to see things their way.

Let me get all of this straight, my readers. You can endorse sexual misconduct, the murder of babies through abortion, and teach false science, but can’t say the word Jesus in a speech? What is wrong with these people? Just this week the ACLU has sued a school for having a hanging picture of Jesus in the hallway. That picture has been there for thirty years. Why wait until now to sue? Ever since the 1960s, liberals have grown worse in their efforts to brainwash society into thinking their way and ignore reality.

The best things that can be done at this point is for all conservative public school teachers to get up and leave the classrooms. Simply quit and walk out the door and stop supporting anti-normal liberal teachers unions and the NEA altogether. As a matter of fact those proposed school vouchers are looking pretty good about right now.

A conservative group called Mission America (www.missionamerica.com) acts as a watchdog towards schools an school activities and reports what it sees to the general public so that parents know what is going on in the schools. Groups like the NEA does not want parents, especially conservative parents, to know what is being indoctrinated in kids’ minds in the classroom. (If you want to know what is being taught and what the risk is to your child, take a look at the listed references at the bottom of this article.)

As a counter move, my personal suggestion is to talk to your kids daily about what happens at school and thoroughly look at all their homework and textbooks, and other materials. Many times, one can read between the lines as to what is being imposed in the materials at school. Other than that, be sure to take your kids to Sunday School at an early age so that they know about God, Jesus, and creation before they start to school. If you can get the roots started early, then liberalism has less of a chance of being born in their hearts later on. They will know right from wrong and be less likely to embrace something that is inherently wrong as being normal. The other things you can do is to shield them from the types of television and radio they are exposed to daily.

Believe it or not many commercials have very liberal overtones and hidden messages that one would not pick up on unless one was actually trained at doing so or used to seeing. I recently saw a commercial where two men were grilling steaks outside on a patio. This commercial seemed innocent enough, but when I saw it the second time around, I noticed the two men were closer than normal and all throughout the commercial there were kids there, but no women. Get the point? Watch the commercials because men are portrayed as stupid, clumsy, and as brutes, while women are portrayed as smarter, healthier, and wiser in money management. men are often portrayed as pretty useless these days because of liberal feminism in our culture. That strongly occurs in the education system. Many try to feminize boys because of their rowdy behavior, but boys are supposed to be rowdy. That’s what makes them different. It’s how they are created. Feminists hate this and therefore try to change it either through indoctrination or by pills and therapy.

Getting back to the subject of exposure to radio and TV, my personal recommendation is to find your kids good role models. Perhaps a parent would like Sean Hannity to be their child’s role model? Wouldn’t that be great. I have heard of several 7 to 10 year olds call in on the Hannity show and others like it as well, so we know there conservatives will exist in the future as well. Perhaps having your children watch Fox News and Hannity will ensure that conservatives and normalality will not go extinct.

As a matter of fact if you like Ann Coulter and want to make some liberals’ blood pressure to rise, all you have to do is tell them nine key things that conservatives and Christians believe and they will lose their mind:

1) Evolution is a myth. Creation is real. God is real. It is still legal to say the word Jesus.

2) The Earth is only around 6000 years old. Noah built an ark and the world was flooded which created the Grand Canyon. Millions of years is absurd.

3) Global Warming is a myth and is totally junk science that should be trashed. Volcanoes produce more harmful pollutants in one eruption that all of the cars and factories in the United States have in the last 50 years. For more on the junk science of global warming and Al Gore’s post election failure elusions, take a look at Tom Bethell’s bestseller, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science at http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3517879932526&isbn=089526031X or

4) Jesus was resurrected from the dead and will one day return to judge the world and create a new one while the one we live in now will be destroyed.

5) Merry Christmas! Yes, it’s still legal and above else, normal to say these words at CHRISTmas.

6) Abortion is murder because God alone has the authority to create and take a life in the womb.

7) Homosexuality is sin because God CREATED (again going back to creation) a woman for Adam, not another man. God condemns homosexuality and any sexual sin including sex outside of marriage.

8) The Holy Bible is the divine, inspired, infallible Holy Word of God.

9) The Second Amendment is in the constitution and should stay just as it is. Prosecute criminals, not victims!

Again I say that the National Education Association is indoctrinating ideals of falsehood into the minds of American kids by having them learn junk science and how to become professional sinners. Condom education, homosexual marriage, evolution, and other such subjects belong in a liberal forum, not in a elementary school classroom. There were times when I was in college when I would have given anything for a seat with an eject button built in it. Perhaps we should start building those because if we continue down this failing and wide path to destruction, we will need a quick way out.

REFERENCES:

NEA To Endorse Homosexual Marriage
http://www.afa.net/neaendorses.asp

NEA Goes to a Liberal Convention
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0040983.cfm

Homosexual Indoctrination of Kids
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040597.cfm

Teachers should Divest From NEA’s Liberal Agenda
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/302006b.asp

ACLU to kick Jesus out of high school
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/29/110508.shtml?s=al

BOOKS ON JUNK SCIENCE:

Meltdown by Patrick J. Micheals
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3517879932526&isbn=1930865597

The Pollitically Incorrect Guide to Science by Tom Bethell
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3517879932526&isbn=089526031X

Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3517879932526&isbn=1401302548

Shattering the Myths of Darwinism
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3517879932526&isbn=0892818840

Marriage Under Fire by Dr. James Dobson
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3517879932526&isbn=1590524314

The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3517879932526&isbn=0805440453

ABOUT ROB HOOD

Rob Hood grew up in rural Mississippi and was rooted in the doctrine of the Southern Baptist Convention and its teachings of Biblical right and wrong, accountability to a higher authority, and the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was a participant in Bible Drill for nine years, a Southern Baptist Convention program devoted to educating children and youth with scriptures from the Bible for use in everyday life situations. He graduated from Holmes Community College in Grenada, Mississippi with an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Electronics Technology and is currently employed as an Electronics Technician with HAM radio equipment manufacturer. He is also a Federal Communications Commission licensed Technician Class HAM radio operator and lives in North Mississippi.

Mr. Hood is also the author of Issues That Matter : America’s Moral Battleground and a columnist for six of the news/commentary sites of the Move Off Network at www.moveoff.net ) in addition to The Kentucky Conservative and also runs his own site and his own blog. You can check out Rob Hood’s blog at http://robhood.us ( click on blog ). Check out his regular site at www.standfortruthonline.com .

[0] comments (675 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks

This week...

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

NEWSBUSTERS

Newsbusters is a great site dedicated to promoting accuracy and truth in the news instead of bias as we regularly hear from the mainstream news sources. Newsbusters carries great articles, commentary, and some very good research about up to date news stories. Visit www.newsbusters.org today!

_______________________________________________________________

BIBLE VERSE OF THE WEEK

Seek good and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

Amos 5:14

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Why don’t many pastors speak with authority?

A: Mark 1:22 comes to mind, where we’re told that the people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching because He spoke as One having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jesus is the Word, and He spoke with the authority of the Word. Remember when He was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1–11)? Each time, he replied “It is written.” When he was asked about marriage in Matthew 19, he replied “Have you not read?”

Because we also have the Word of God, we can speak with the same authority. But most Christian leaders have compromised on the book of Genesis, and therefore don’t really have a firm foundation for their doctrine. They can’t preach with this same authority.

After Ken Ham spoke at a conference in England, where he challenged the church leaders to believe in Genesis, many pastors came up to him. They admitted they wanted to speak with the same boldness they heard from Ken. They acknowledged that because of the influence of evolutionary ideas, they were unsure about Genesis—and this casts doubt on God’s Word in general.

When Christian leaders believe in the Bible from its very first verse, they can preach with power and authority!

* A message from AIG @ www.answersingenesis.org

[0] comments (731 views) |  [0] Trackbacks   [0] Pingbacks