This news is really not surprising
with all of the studies that have shown that a child does best in a home with a father and a mother, with the mother mostly at home spending time child-rearing, this news is really no big surprise, and is just one of the many things contributing to our rampantly out of control society:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8O3TM5G0&apc=9001
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8O3TM5G0&apc=9001
This is baaaaaad news
If they start talking, I'm outta here.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=444436&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=444436&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=
Be as wise as snakes...
But don't BECOME one...unlike many televangelists.
Since we're talking about Ole Anthony, I'll add this as well. I personally have a particular aversion to televangelists and other flim-flam artists who have the gall to call themselves "Christian." The fact that someone would use the very Word of God to manipulate, shake down and extort money from people who are typically very poor (and many times, very naive), absolutely makes my blood boil.
I found this very interesting article on Ole Anthony, a modern day John the Baptist. He and his small band of "soldiers" fight against false doctrine, shady snake oil evangelists, and others who would steer people from the real Truth of Christ. While the article was published in the New Yorker, that doesn't detract from the character of this fascinating person:
http://www.thedoormagazine.com/archives/newyorker.html
Since we're talking about Ole Anthony, I'll add this as well. I personally have a particular aversion to televangelists and other flim-flam artists who have the gall to call themselves "Christian." The fact that someone would use the very Word of God to manipulate, shake down and extort money from people who are typically very poor (and many times, very naive), absolutely makes my blood boil.
I found this very interesting article on Ole Anthony, a modern day John the Baptist. He and his small band of "soldiers" fight against false doctrine, shady snake oil evangelists, and others who would steer people from the real Truth of Christ. While the article was published in the New Yorker, that doesn't detract from the character of this fascinating person:
http://www.thedoormagazine.com/archives/newyorker.html
I tend to side with Ole Anthony on this one
GOD'S CHEERLEADER
BY SHERRI DAY
St. Petersburg Times
HOUSTON -- Flashing his trademark smile, Joel Osteen raises his Bible toward the sky and urges his congregation to join him in recitation. “I am what it says I am,” they say together, Bibles aloft. “I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God.” Thousands of people, as many as 16,000 in any given service, chime in. Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America, moves effortlessly into his sermon: “Being Seed-Oriented Rather than Need-Oriented.”
The topic was classic Osteen, full of exhortations to look beyond one's own problems and focus on the positive.
“The best thing you could do is get your mind off yourself and go do something good for somebody else,” Osteen said from the pulpit of Lakewood Church on a recent Sunday morning. “When you reach out to others, that's the seed God will use to bring a harvest into your own life.”
Osteen's easy-going, all-inclusive gospel has made him a spiritual rock star.
He's unrelentingly positive, more Norman Vincent Peale than Pat Robertson. His deliberately nonjudgmental sermons, which he will deliver in Tampa at the St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday and Friday, have made him into a bestselling author who is even popular among agnostics and atheists.
Osteen's critics say he's soft, a cotton-candy preacher who specializes in Christianity lite.
“He's a nice guy,” said Ole Anthony, president of Trinity Foundation in Dallas, a nonprofit watchdog group that investigates televangelists. “But his popularity is a testimony of the spiritual infantilism of American culture. He isn't challenging people with the cross. He's qualified to be an excellent spiritual kindergarten teacher.”
In keeping with his teachings, Osteen, 43, brushes off criticism like it's a gnat.
“We talk about being faithful in your marriage and having integrity and making good choices,” Osteen said in an interview. “But I don't necessarily beat people up...it's just not my style.”
A preacher's kid, Osteen says he would have preferred to remain in Lakewood's shadows.
Osteen's parents, the Rev. John and Dodie Osteen, founded Lakewood Church in a deserted Houston feed store in 1959. The elder Osteen started preaching at 17, first as a Southern Baptist and later as a Pentecostal. Utilizing television, he grew the ministry to megachurch status, with a 7,800-seat sanctuary.
Joel, an Oral Roberts University dropout, ran the church's television ministry for 17 years. He thrived in the background, but the spotlight beckoned. In 1999, John Osteen asked Joel to fill in for him one Sunday morning. Reluctantly, Joel agreed. His father died five days later, leaving Joel at the church's helm.
He never went to seminary and lacked preaching experience. But that didn't seem to matter to his followers. With Osteen at the helm, Lakewood experienced meteoric growth.
In 2005, the church completed a $95-million renovation of the Compaq Center, the former home of the NBA's Houston Rockets. Now, when Osteen preaches, he looks out at a 16,000-seat auditorium, with jumbo viewing screens flanking the stage. Two waterfalls gurgle to life during high points in the worship service. A gigantic golden globe rotates behind him.
About 38,000 people attend services at the church each weekend, said Donald Iloff Jr., the church's spokesman and Osteen's brother-in-law. More than 200 U.S. television markets broadcast his sermons. He's also on major networks in Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada and the Middle East.
Osteen's positive messages recent sermon topics include “Having Confidence in Yourself” and “Stop Listening to the Accusing Voices” have helped make him a religious everyman. He touts a loving God. There is no condemnation. No talk of judgment or damnation. No declarations of Christianity as the only way to heaven.
His congregation regularly includes Christians, Jews and Muslims. On a typical Sunday, the sanctuary resembles a Benetton ad, an equal mix of whites, blacks and Hispanics, church leaders say.
Osteen didn't ask for any of it. He says he only wanted to hold the church together after his father's death. Osteen says he was once so unsure of his preaching ability that he canceled all of the church's television air time. His wife encouraged him to re-book it.
He's “kind of a reluctant prophet, somebody who's called of God and says 'I'm not a public speaker,” said Scott Thumma, a professor of religion and sociology at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut. “God says, 'No, you're the person I choose.' And lo and behold, he becomes a Moses or Abraham and a tremendous prophet for God. Whether consciously or unconsciously, that story gets played out in Joel.”
Despite his celebrity status, Osteen says he's a regular guy who enjoys spending time with his wife, Victoria, and their children Jonathan, 11, and Alexandra, 8.
But popularity comes with a price. Osteen has been chastised for his inclusiveness. In a 2005 interview with Larry King, Osteen did not say that accepting Jesus is the only way to heaven, infuriating some Christians. He later posted a letter on his Web site apologizing for the oversight.
Others call Osteen a prosperity preacher out to bilk a naive public. He disputes that characterization. He doesn't ask for money on his television broadcasts. But viewers send in about $20-million a year, boosting the church's $75-million budget, church officials said. Anthony, the megachurch investigator, said he has found no evidence of fraud or financial wrongdoing at Lakewood.
After all, Osteen doesn't need the church's money. He stopped taking his $200,000 salary last year . Osteen's 2004 book, Your Best Life Now, sold 4-million copies, making him a millionaire. He has signed a deal for another tome, set for an October release, which could reportedly make him $13-million, according to a report in the New York Times.
'He changed my life'
Near the end of a recent sermon, Osteen weeps. His parents and the original Lakewood Church planted the seeds that have blossomed into his success, he says. The longer he cries, the more the crowd roars.
Moments later, Osteen leaves the sanctuary to greet an eager public. They have queued up in about nine lines, each some 30 people deep.
The visitors have come from near and far. Koreans speak through a translator. An Idaho woman asks the church staff to videotape her exchange with Osteen. An Atlanta evangelist wants him to sign her book. A Houston woman asks Osteen to pray that God would grant her favor before immigration officials. Osteen obliges them all. It takes nearly an hour and a half.
“It's a dream come true,” Dickson Idusuyi, an economics professor from Jackson, Miss., said after meeting Osteen. “I'm a devout Catholic, but I spend much of the time watching him on TV.” (this smacks of interfaithism)
Sonia Stevenson, who traveled with her husband, David, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, wept after Osteen shook her hand.
“He changed my life,” she said dabbing her eyes.
At 5-foot-9, Osteen looks smaller in person than on television, they say. But he doesn't disappoint. His smile, which has earned him the nickname the “smiling preacher,” is as bright and warm as they expect.
Absent the bodyguards and tight security favored by many megachurch pastors, Osteen seems just a man. That is as he likes it. He says he's a normal guy: a channel surfer, eager to play pickup basketball games and quick to eschew dishwashing.
He struggles to explain his popularity, pauses a moment and finally settles on his refusal to play judge and jury with people's lives.
“People respond to the message that is sincere and helps them in their everyday lives,” Osteen said. “Most people know what they're doing wrong. They're looking for somebody to say: 'You know what, here's how you can get out of this.' "
Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.
BY SHERRI DAY
St. Petersburg Times
HOUSTON -- Flashing his trademark smile, Joel Osteen raises his Bible toward the sky and urges his congregation to join him in recitation. “I am what it says I am,” they say together, Bibles aloft. “I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God.” Thousands of people, as many as 16,000 in any given service, chime in. Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America, moves effortlessly into his sermon: “Being Seed-Oriented Rather than Need-Oriented.”
The topic was classic Osteen, full of exhortations to look beyond one's own problems and focus on the positive.
“The best thing you could do is get your mind off yourself and go do something good for somebody else,” Osteen said from the pulpit of Lakewood Church on a recent Sunday morning. “When you reach out to others, that's the seed God will use to bring a harvest into your own life.”
Osteen's easy-going, all-inclusive gospel has made him a spiritual rock star.
He's unrelentingly positive, more Norman Vincent Peale than Pat Robertson. His deliberately nonjudgmental sermons, which he will deliver in Tampa at the St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday and Friday, have made him into a bestselling author who is even popular among agnostics and atheists.
Osteen's critics say he's soft, a cotton-candy preacher who specializes in Christianity lite.
“He's a nice guy,” said Ole Anthony, president of Trinity Foundation in Dallas, a nonprofit watchdog group that investigates televangelists. “But his popularity is a testimony of the spiritual infantilism of American culture. He isn't challenging people with the cross. He's qualified to be an excellent spiritual kindergarten teacher.”
In keeping with his teachings, Osteen, 43, brushes off criticism like it's a gnat.
“We talk about being faithful in your marriage and having integrity and making good choices,” Osteen said in an interview. “But I don't necessarily beat people up...it's just not my style.”
A preacher's kid, Osteen says he would have preferred to remain in Lakewood's shadows.
Osteen's parents, the Rev. John and Dodie Osteen, founded Lakewood Church in a deserted Houston feed store in 1959. The elder Osteen started preaching at 17, first as a Southern Baptist and later as a Pentecostal. Utilizing television, he grew the ministry to megachurch status, with a 7,800-seat sanctuary.
Joel, an Oral Roberts University dropout, ran the church's television ministry for 17 years. He thrived in the background, but the spotlight beckoned. In 1999, John Osteen asked Joel to fill in for him one Sunday morning. Reluctantly, Joel agreed. His father died five days later, leaving Joel at the church's helm.
He never went to seminary and lacked preaching experience. But that didn't seem to matter to his followers. With Osteen at the helm, Lakewood experienced meteoric growth.
In 2005, the church completed a $95-million renovation of the Compaq Center, the former home of the NBA's Houston Rockets. Now, when Osteen preaches, he looks out at a 16,000-seat auditorium, with jumbo viewing screens flanking the stage. Two waterfalls gurgle to life during high points in the worship service. A gigantic golden globe rotates behind him.
About 38,000 people attend services at the church each weekend, said Donald Iloff Jr., the church's spokesman and Osteen's brother-in-law. More than 200 U.S. television markets broadcast his sermons. He's also on major networks in Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada and the Middle East.
Osteen's positive messages recent sermon topics include “Having Confidence in Yourself” and “Stop Listening to the Accusing Voices” have helped make him a religious everyman. He touts a loving God. There is no condemnation. No talk of judgment or damnation. No declarations of Christianity as the only way to heaven.
His congregation regularly includes Christians, Jews and Muslims. On a typical Sunday, the sanctuary resembles a Benetton ad, an equal mix of whites, blacks and Hispanics, church leaders say.
Osteen didn't ask for any of it. He says he only wanted to hold the church together after his father's death. Osteen says he was once so unsure of his preaching ability that he canceled all of the church's television air time. His wife encouraged him to re-book it.
He's “kind of a reluctant prophet, somebody who's called of God and says 'I'm not a public speaker,” said Scott Thumma, a professor of religion and sociology at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut. “God says, 'No, you're the person I choose.' And lo and behold, he becomes a Moses or Abraham and a tremendous prophet for God. Whether consciously or unconsciously, that story gets played out in Joel.”
Despite his celebrity status, Osteen says he's a regular guy who enjoys spending time with his wife, Victoria, and their children Jonathan, 11, and Alexandra, 8.
But popularity comes with a price. Osteen has been chastised for his inclusiveness. In a 2005 interview with Larry King, Osteen did not say that accepting Jesus is the only way to heaven, infuriating some Christians. He later posted a letter on his Web site apologizing for the oversight.
Others call Osteen a prosperity preacher out to bilk a naive public. He disputes that characterization. He doesn't ask for money on his television broadcasts. But viewers send in about $20-million a year, boosting the church's $75-million budget, church officials said. Anthony, the megachurch investigator, said he has found no evidence of fraud or financial wrongdoing at Lakewood.
After all, Osteen doesn't need the church's money. He stopped taking his $200,000 salary last year . Osteen's 2004 book, Your Best Life Now, sold 4-million copies, making him a millionaire. He has signed a deal for another tome, set for an October release, which could reportedly make him $13-million, according to a report in the New York Times.
'He changed my life'
Near the end of a recent sermon, Osteen weeps. His parents and the original Lakewood Church planted the seeds that have blossomed into his success, he says. The longer he cries, the more the crowd roars.
Moments later, Osteen leaves the sanctuary to greet an eager public. They have queued up in about nine lines, each some 30 people deep.
The visitors have come from near and far. Koreans speak through a translator. An Idaho woman asks the church staff to videotape her exchange with Osteen. An Atlanta evangelist wants him to sign her book. A Houston woman asks Osteen to pray that God would grant her favor before immigration officials. Osteen obliges them all. It takes nearly an hour and a half.
“It's a dream come true,” Dickson Idusuyi, an economics professor from Jackson, Miss., said after meeting Osteen. “I'm a devout Catholic, but I spend much of the time watching him on TV.” (this smacks of interfaithism)
Sonia Stevenson, who traveled with her husband, David, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, wept after Osteen shook her hand.
“He changed my life,” she said dabbing her eyes.
At 5-foot-9, Osteen looks smaller in person than on television, they say. But he doesn't disappoint. His smile, which has earned him the nickname the “smiling preacher,” is as bright and warm as they expect.
Absent the bodyguards and tight security favored by many megachurch pastors, Osteen seems just a man. That is as he likes it. He says he's a normal guy: a channel surfer, eager to play pickup basketball games and quick to eschew dishwashing.
He struggles to explain his popularity, pauses a moment and finally settles on his refusal to play judge and jury with people's lives.
“People respond to the message that is sincere and helps them in their everyday lives,” Osteen said. “Most people know what they're doing wrong. They're looking for somebody to say: 'You know what, here's how you can get out of this.' "
Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.
Homeschooling? Nein, says the German government
Just remember, what happens in Europe, doesn't stay in Europe:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54817
Some very telling bits from the article:
"The judge had concluded that the children were well-educated, but accused the parents of failing to provide their children with an education in a public school. The court noted that one of the daughters expressed the same opinions as her father, showing they have not had the chance to develop "independent" personalities." (that's secret code for "liberal" personalities)
"Melissa had fallen behind in math and Latin, and was being tutored at home. When school officials in Germany, where homeschooling was banned during Adolf Hitler's reign of power, found out, she was expelled. School officials then took her to court, obtaining a court order requiring she be committed to a psychiatric ward because of her "school phobia."
And this paragraph really says it all:
"In 1937, Adolph Hitler said, 'This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing.' "
PLEASE WRITE FOR MELISSA'S RELEASE!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54817
Some very telling bits from the article:
"The judge had concluded that the children were well-educated, but accused the parents of failing to provide their children with an education in a public school. The court noted that one of the daughters expressed the same opinions as her father, showing they have not had the chance to develop "independent" personalities." (that's secret code for "liberal" personalities)
"Melissa had fallen behind in math and Latin, and was being tutored at home. When school officials in Germany, where homeschooling was banned during Adolf Hitler's reign of power, found out, she was expelled. School officials then took her to court, obtaining a court order requiring she be committed to a psychiatric ward because of her "school phobia."
And this paragraph really says it all:
"In 1937, Adolph Hitler said, 'This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing.' "
PLEASE WRITE FOR MELISSA'S RELEASE!
It was 50 years ago today.....
European leaders will meet this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which founded the European Economic Community and began what we have come to know today as the European Union.
The Treaty of Rome was signed by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on March 25th, 1957, and resulted in the formation of a common market between the nations, allowing the free movement of goods and services, capital and people. The celebrations are to be held in Berlin, Germany on Sunday, and will see EU President Angela Merkel, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering sign a political declaration promising to implement the European Constitution by 2009.
The European Constitution will of course see the creation of the post of EU Foreign Minister, which Javier Solana, the High Representative for the European Common, Foreign and Security Policy, is slated to fill.
Quote: "Supporting the idea of a common EU foreign minister, the Germans have also granted Javier Solana, the EU's top foreign-policy chief, the chair in no less than 11 of 21 EU meetings. 'We thought Solana would get to chair one or two meetings for symbolic reasons,' Maurer said. 'But 11, that's more than just a symbol.'
The Treaty of Rome was signed by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on March 25th, 1957, and resulted in the formation of a common market between the nations, allowing the free movement of goods and services, capital and people. The celebrations are to be held in Berlin, Germany on Sunday, and will see EU President Angela Merkel, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering sign a political declaration promising to implement the European Constitution by 2009.
The European Constitution will of course see the creation of the post of EU Foreign Minister, which Javier Solana, the High Representative for the European Common, Foreign and Security Policy, is slated to fill.
Quote: "Supporting the idea of a common EU foreign minister, the Germans have also granted Javier Solana, the EU's top foreign-policy chief, the chair in no less than 11 of 21 EU meetings. 'We thought Solana would get to chair one or two meetings for symbolic reasons,' Maurer said. 'But 11, that's more than just a symbol.'
Blatant Muslim against Christian persecution
A very scary, very "1984"-esque scenario coming out of Nigeria:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21426086-38195,00.html
In reality, it seems one doesn't need to "desecrate" a Koran to get into trouble. A few years ago, the media reported that US soldiers stationed in Iraq had flushed a Koran down a toilet. The story was completely blown out of proportion across the liberal media, prompting riots across the Islamic world which resulted in the deaths of dozens of people. It was later discovered the story was a complete fabrication, with the news media never bothering to corroborate the facts.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21426086-38195,00.html
In reality, it seems one doesn't need to "desecrate" a Koran to get into trouble. A few years ago, the media reported that US soldiers stationed in Iraq had flushed a Koran down a toilet. The story was completely blown out of proportion across the liberal media, prompting riots across the Islamic world which resulted in the deaths of dozens of people. It was later discovered the story was a complete fabrication, with the news media never bothering to corroborate the facts.
Elton John - just another mouthpiece of the left
You know, back in the day, I used to love Elton John; I was actually obsessed with him. I had every record, every tape, every album, I knew every lyric. He and Bernie Taupin made a formidable musical team.
Fast forward about 30 years and Elton has come out of the closet--way, WAY out--and in doing so in this ever permissive society, become another tired mouthpiece for the left. I guess Elton is another person that I won't get to meet in Heaven, unfortunately.
The article below was written by someone who resides in the U.K. and has a great outlook on prophecy as it relates to the End Times and the Bible:
-----
Elton John urges homosexuals to fight back - 3/22/07
the pop-star who was one of the first men to "marry" under the British gay civil-partnerships legislation today urged fellow homosexuals to fight against bigots that discriminate against them. This kind of news concerns me, because the government has now made it illegal to "discriminate" against homosexuality in any way, and through public figures like Elton John pushing the homosexual agenda, Christians in this country could find it a lot harder to remain part of British society.
Quote: "Sir Elton, who turns 60 on Sunday, "married" long-time partner David Furnish in a civil partnership in 2005. The singer said the union was his legal and human right, adding: "And I wanted everyone to know, I wanted to shout about it." But he went on: "In some countries, my voice would have been drowned out. Maybe even stamped out. "Men and women are persecuted and attacked every day all over the world, just because of who they love and who they make love to."
It's not the first time the singer has courted controversy. Not so long ago, he also expressed his desire that organized religion would be banned, because it turned people against homosexuality.
Quote: "On Sunday, November 12, 2006, Sir Elton told interviewer Jake Shears (a performer with the group "Scissor Sisters") that he wants to see an organized effort to suppress institutionalised faith. "From my point of view I would ban religion completely," the superstar declared, "even though there are some wonderful things about it... But the reality is that organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate."
That's something I find very hard to understand. The world expects Christians to be tolerant, just as Christ demonstrated love to all men. And so we should be. Jesus Christ is our greatest example, and no man can out-love God. But when Christians condemn sin for what it is (really the Scriptures condemn it, not Christians), they are slammed as being intolerant bigots. Why? Because Christians believe in moral absolutes (God defines right and wrong, Leviticus 11:44), while men believe in moral relativism (every man doing that which is right in his own eyes, Judges 17:6). Jesus Christ was never tolerant of sin, even though He showed compassion and mercy to those who were caught up in it. He did not approve of the lifestyle of the woman at the well (John 4), who had five husbands and was living with another man. Neither did He approve of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery (John 8:4). If He did, there would have been no reason why the Lord had to go to the cross and die for our sins. And this is why Elton John (says we) must ban religion, despite believing it has so many good points, because God's Word condemns him in his sin and commands him to be reconciled to God.
Fast forward about 30 years and Elton has come out of the closet--way, WAY out--and in doing so in this ever permissive society, become another tired mouthpiece for the left. I guess Elton is another person that I won't get to meet in Heaven, unfortunately.
The article below was written by someone who resides in the U.K. and has a great outlook on prophecy as it relates to the End Times and the Bible:
-----
Elton John urges homosexuals to fight back - 3/22/07
the pop-star who was one of the first men to "marry" under the British gay civil-partnerships legislation today urged fellow homosexuals to fight against bigots that discriminate against them. This kind of news concerns me, because the government has now made it illegal to "discriminate" against homosexuality in any way, and through public figures like Elton John pushing the homosexual agenda, Christians in this country could find it a lot harder to remain part of British society.
Quote: "Sir Elton, who turns 60 on Sunday, "married" long-time partner David Furnish in a civil partnership in 2005. The singer said the union was his legal and human right, adding: "And I wanted everyone to know, I wanted to shout about it." But he went on: "In some countries, my voice would have been drowned out. Maybe even stamped out. "Men and women are persecuted and attacked every day all over the world, just because of who they love and who they make love to."
It's not the first time the singer has courted controversy. Not so long ago, he also expressed his desire that organized religion would be banned, because it turned people against homosexuality.
Quote: "On Sunday, November 12, 2006, Sir Elton told interviewer Jake Shears (a performer with the group "Scissor Sisters") that he wants to see an organized effort to suppress institutionalised faith. "From my point of view I would ban religion completely," the superstar declared, "even though there are some wonderful things about it... But the reality is that organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate."
That's something I find very hard to understand. The world expects Christians to be tolerant, just as Christ demonstrated love to all men. And so we should be. Jesus Christ is our greatest example, and no man can out-love God. But when Christians condemn sin for what it is (really the Scriptures condemn it, not Christians), they are slammed as being intolerant bigots. Why? Because Christians believe in moral absolutes (God defines right and wrong, Leviticus 11:44), while men believe in moral relativism (every man doing that which is right in his own eyes, Judges 17:6). Jesus Christ was never tolerant of sin, even though He showed compassion and mercy to those who were caught up in it. He did not approve of the lifestyle of the woman at the well (John 4), who had five husbands and was living with another man. Neither did He approve of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery (John 8:4). If He did, there would have been no reason why the Lord had to go to the cross and die for our sins. And this is why Elton John (says we) must ban religion, despite believing it has so many good points, because God's Word condemns him in his sin and commands him to be reconciled to God.
Get a clue, people...
THIS is the kind of evil we're dealing with:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/20/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi insurgents used two children as a cover to get through a checkpoint in Baghdad and then blew up the car while the kids were still inside, a U.S. general said Tuesday.
Two adults jumped from the car, leaving the children in the back. Moments later, the car exploded, witnesses said.
The car went through a checkpoint Sunday and parked by a market across the street from a school, said Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The two children and three bystanders died in the blast, and seven others were hurt, Pentagon officials said.
The attack raises concerns that insurgents are trying a new tactic: using children to throw off troops, Barbero said.
"Children in the back seat lower suspicion. We let it move through," he said.
Barbero and Pentagon officials said this is the only attack of its kind they have seen.
A U.N. report released in January highlighted insurgents' use of children as suicide bombers in Iraq.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/20/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi insurgents used two children as a cover to get through a checkpoint in Baghdad and then blew up the car while the kids were still inside, a U.S. general said Tuesday.
Two adults jumped from the car, leaving the children in the back. Moments later, the car exploded, witnesses said.
The car went through a checkpoint Sunday and parked by a market across the street from a school, said Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The two children and three bystanders died in the blast, and seven others were hurt, Pentagon officials said.
The attack raises concerns that insurgents are trying a new tactic: using children to throw off troops, Barbero said.
"Children in the back seat lower suspicion. We let it move through," he said.
Barbero and Pentagon officials said this is the only attack of its kind they have seen.
A U.N. report released in January highlighted insurgents' use of children as suicide bombers in Iraq.
Have these people never heard of the "JUST war"?
Being against the war is one thing, but the Bible does say that we are to dispell evil in the light of the truth of Christ, and to give respect to our leaders where it's due! (president Bush for instance)
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8NTNNMO0&apc=9001
From Bill Bennett, on why we fight:
I pass by the Marine Corps Memorial on my way to work every day; it recalls and memorializes the taking of Iwo Jima. We honor the bravery and victory there, but too often we forget the tough struggle and the hard cost involved there. Almost 7,000 American soldiers died in one month at Iwo Jima. In the Battle of Okinawa, we lost over 12,000 men in two months. In Europe, on D-Day, we lost 2,500 of our brave men in just 24 hours. Those numbers are astounding to think about, but they are not the whole story: the whole story was the ultimate success born of our resolve, from not quitting when the going got tough, and we freed Europe and Japan from tyranny; from a treachery determined to blow out the moral lights around us.
What was Iraq before we went in? It was a place led by a ruthless barbarian who, thanks to our work, is now in jail. Today, the world is free of a tyrant who had not only attacked two of our allies but had run a regime where, as one observer in the Washington Post put it: "His police and intelligence services starve babies within sight of the agonizing mothers, gouge out the eyes of children before their parents, offer a male suspect the spectacle of the repeated rape of his wife and daughters, or slowly immerse a victim in a vat of acid." We can put all of that in the past-tense now. Or, if we leave, we will leave a vacuum of power and see that kind of regime take power again.
We are at war with terror in Iraq. Know that many many terrorists were in Iraq long before the American military got there. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who heads an organization he calls Al-Qaeda, in Iraq, lived in Iraq freely at least a year before we arrived. So too did Abu Abbas, the mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking and Abu Nidal-perhaps the world's worst terrorist until Osama bin Laden.
We cannot leave today. In three years, Iraq has gone from an entrenched tyranny to a fledgling democracy, but it cannot YET stand alone. Terrorists, insurgents, dead-enders, and tyrants either want Hussein back, or their own version of a perverted rule of Nazism.
Don't take my word for it, just read the last several messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri: they want us OUT, and they want us out NOW. If we heed the desires of bin Laden, Zawahiri, and Zarqawi rather than our own soldiers and our allies, we will hand the terrorists a victory, we will endanger the entire region, and we will be taken less seriously on the world stage-something we cannot afford. Especially now. Radical Islam is on the march, we must stop that march.
Remember, bin Laden said we were a paper tiger: he said we would leave when the going got tough. We must prove him wrong. But, people say, "The War goes on too long; its cost is too terrible." Well, no war has ever not been so, and no country can go from barbarism to democracy on somebody's theoretical deadline. Terrorists who behead civilians cannot be left alone to destroy our new ally, the first democracy in the Arab world.
What we have done in Iraq and what we are doing there now are among the noblest things we have ever done. You know, we truly are the last best hope of earth. We dare not quash that hope in Iraq, and, in the process, destroy our valiant, struggling friends--and their hope for peace and justice.
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8NTNNMO0&apc=9001
From Bill Bennett, on why we fight:
I pass by the Marine Corps Memorial on my way to work every day; it recalls and memorializes the taking of Iwo Jima. We honor the bravery and victory there, but too often we forget the tough struggle and the hard cost involved there. Almost 7,000 American soldiers died in one month at Iwo Jima. In the Battle of Okinawa, we lost over 12,000 men in two months. In Europe, on D-Day, we lost 2,500 of our brave men in just 24 hours. Those numbers are astounding to think about, but they are not the whole story: the whole story was the ultimate success born of our resolve, from not quitting when the going got tough, and we freed Europe and Japan from tyranny; from a treachery determined to blow out the moral lights around us.
What was Iraq before we went in? It was a place led by a ruthless barbarian who, thanks to our work, is now in jail. Today, the world is free of a tyrant who had not only attacked two of our allies but had run a regime where, as one observer in the Washington Post put it: "His police and intelligence services starve babies within sight of the agonizing mothers, gouge out the eyes of children before their parents, offer a male suspect the spectacle of the repeated rape of his wife and daughters, or slowly immerse a victim in a vat of acid." We can put all of that in the past-tense now. Or, if we leave, we will leave a vacuum of power and see that kind of regime take power again.
We are at war with terror in Iraq. Know that many many terrorists were in Iraq long before the American military got there. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who heads an organization he calls Al-Qaeda, in Iraq, lived in Iraq freely at least a year before we arrived. So too did Abu Abbas, the mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking and Abu Nidal-perhaps the world's worst terrorist until Osama bin Laden.
We cannot leave today. In three years, Iraq has gone from an entrenched tyranny to a fledgling democracy, but it cannot YET stand alone. Terrorists, insurgents, dead-enders, and tyrants either want Hussein back, or their own version of a perverted rule of Nazism.
Don't take my word for it, just read the last several messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri: they want us OUT, and they want us out NOW. If we heed the desires of bin Laden, Zawahiri, and Zarqawi rather than our own soldiers and our allies, we will hand the terrorists a victory, we will endanger the entire region, and we will be taken less seriously on the world stage-something we cannot afford. Especially now. Radical Islam is on the march, we must stop that march.
Remember, bin Laden said we were a paper tiger: he said we would leave when the going got tough. We must prove him wrong. But, people say, "The War goes on too long; its cost is too terrible." Well, no war has ever not been so, and no country can go from barbarism to democracy on somebody's theoretical deadline. Terrorists who behead civilians cannot be left alone to destroy our new ally, the first democracy in the Arab world.
What we have done in Iraq and what we are doing there now are among the noblest things we have ever done. You know, we truly are the last best hope of earth. We dare not quash that hope in Iraq, and, in the process, destroy our valiant, struggling friends--and their hope for peace and justice.
Syria...be warned
If Syria tries to attack Israel in an all-out war, they'd best beware. The Bible predicts that Damascus will be obliterated if they try anything. Israel may be small, but they have the God of Abraham on their side:
http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/full.php?news=3580
The city of Damascus has been around for thousands of years, and while it was conquered at one time, it has never been destroyed in battle. The Prophet Isaiah predicted that someday this city would be destroyed and it will become "ruinous heap:"
Isa 17:1
Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Isa 17:3
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/full.php?news=3580
The city of Damascus has been around for thousands of years, and while it was conquered at one time, it has never been destroyed in battle. The Prophet Isaiah predicted that someday this city would be destroyed and it will become "ruinous heap:"
Isa 17:1
Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Isa 17:3
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
This is VERY big news
Sanhedrin buys flock of sheep to sacrifice at Temple site
3/1/07
Group Wants To Resume Animal Sacrifices at Jerusalem Holy Site
JERUSALEM (AP) - A fringe group of extremist rabbis is trying to resume the biblical practice of animal sacrifices at the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount. The re-established Sanhedrin group says it has decided to buy sheep and try to find one that's ritually perfect for sacrifice. Animal sacrifices were routinely conducted when the Jewish Temples stood in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago. However, the practice was banned following the destruction of the Temples. The site has been a center of controversy, as it is currently home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
The recently formed Sanhedrin, a legal body consisting of 71 prominent Rabbis in Israel, was formed several years ago. The Sanhedrin had not existed for over 1600 years, having been dissolved after the destruction of the Temple. The group reformed on the 13th of October, 2004, and are actively seeking to re-establish the monarchy of Israel. The Sanhedrin considers itself the highest legal body in the land of Israel, and opposed the government's decision to disengage from Gaza, stating that it was against the Torah. They are also researching the exact location of where Solomon's Temple once stood to enable the building of the Third Temple.
The Bible states that the Temple rituals will resume, after the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Daniel's prophecy states that halfway through the seven year tribulation period, the Antichrist will cause the "sacrifice and oblation to cease", Daniel 9:27. It is during this time that the Antichrist takes his seat in the Temple and proclaims himself to be God (2nd Thessalonians 2:4). Another interesting link from my friend Ed, states that the European Union has up until now guaranteed the rights of Jews wanting to sacrifice animals.
3/1/07
Group Wants To Resume Animal Sacrifices at Jerusalem Holy Site
JERUSALEM (AP) - A fringe group of extremist rabbis is trying to resume the biblical practice of animal sacrifices at the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount. The re-established Sanhedrin group says it has decided to buy sheep and try to find one that's ritually perfect for sacrifice. Animal sacrifices were routinely conducted when the Jewish Temples stood in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago. However, the practice was banned following the destruction of the Temples. The site has been a center of controversy, as it is currently home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
The recently formed Sanhedrin, a legal body consisting of 71 prominent Rabbis in Israel, was formed several years ago. The Sanhedrin had not existed for over 1600 years, having been dissolved after the destruction of the Temple. The group reformed on the 13th of October, 2004, and are actively seeking to re-establish the monarchy of Israel. The Sanhedrin considers itself the highest legal body in the land of Israel, and opposed the government's decision to disengage from Gaza, stating that it was against the Torah. They are also researching the exact location of where Solomon's Temple once stood to enable the building of the Third Temple.
The Bible states that the Temple rituals will resume, after the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Daniel's prophecy states that halfway through the seven year tribulation period, the Antichrist will cause the "sacrifice and oblation to cease", Daniel 9:27. It is during this time that the Antichrist takes his seat in the Temple and proclaims himself to be God (2nd Thessalonians 2:4). Another interesting link from my friend Ed, states that the European Union has up until now guaranteed the rights of Jews wanting to sacrifice animals.
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