Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Geese Gone Astray
I managed to get a picture of these two geese who are living in the Inner-City, far from their natural habitat! They have even been spotted hanging out in crack-alley. Someone ought to tell them that you are known by the company you keep. Geese normally prefer wetlands, so what they are doing in this locale is any ones guess. They have been here for at least a couple of weeks. Possibly one is injured and couldn't fly any further. Perhaps they are just taking a break before moving further north. In any case they are obviously adventurous types to be hanging out in an area that is so far out of the norm.
Eric Grohe's Fabulous 3-d Murals
A friend sent me the following e-mail featuring the wonderful 3-d artwork of Eric Grohe. His work is so lifelike that you can hardly believe that it is done with paint. He truly has a God given talent that needs to be seen to be believed. At the end of this post I have included a link to his web page where you can read more about the artist and see more samples of his work.
Liberty Remembers: Before ...
After ...
How to dress up a drab Shopping Mall - Niagara , NY
After. .
Indoor Murals - Miller Brewery . . . Hallway Before - Miller Fermenting Rooms
After Photos - Past meets Present in the Miller Brewery Fermenting Rooms - hooks, clipboards and aprons were added to the surface of the murals to enhance the illusion . . . You're looking at flat walls!
Liberty Remembers: Before ...
After ...How to dress up a drab Shopping Mall - Niagara , NY
After. .
Indoor Murals - Miller Brewery . . . Hallway Before - Miller Fermenting Rooms
After Photos - Past meets Present in the Miller Brewery Fermenting Rooms - hooks, clipboards and aprons were added to the surface of the murals to enhance the illusion . . . You're looking at flat walls!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Secure In Your Salvation
Many people, sadly enough, do not feel secure about their salvation. If you base your salvation upon works rather than faith you can never be quite sure. How do you know for sure that your good works do indeed outweigh your bad deeds? How can you be certain that you are actually using the same scales that God is using to determine your worthiness? It is frightening to think that the criteria we are using may not be at all the same criteria that God is using.
Matthew 5:20-28
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
The following sermon was written by a good friend of mine, Tom Chambers. I believe it explains very clearly how you really can be certain of your place in eternity.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Death has a wonderful way of showing us what is truly important in our lives. Most often when we think of death we think of those we will leave behind or of those who have gone on ahead of us. In reality Death wipes the slate clean of all the things that are of secondary importance and leaves us with the one thing that is left...our eternal destiny. As believers in God, we have two options: eternity with God or eternal separation from God...that's it. All the things we thought were important are now out of reach.
As Christians we claim our faith in Christ's promise of eternal life. Having accepted His gift of salvation not by our actions or good deeds or anything we have done but because we have professed Him as our savior. Nothing more.
I am not aware of a Christian who has not at some point in their walk posed concerns about their eternal salvation. Every so often when I think about my own walk with Jesus I am reminded of my sinful humanity. I become painfully aware that no matter how hard I try to break free from my sinful past I cannot stop sinning. God cannot and will not accept sin. When we ponder this truth, we can lose heart and doubt our eternal salvation. If God cannot and will not accept sin, how then can we be truly saved and have assurance of salvation? Clearly the confusion and doubt that ensues was not in Jesus' plan for our lives. It is important to remember that as Christians this doubt is not something we need to ponder.
Salvation is so complex and yet so simple. Amid this confusion we read Paul’s words telling us we are all sinners in Rom 3:23 and later telling us in Rom 8:1 that we are no longer under condemnation. So which is it? The short answer is “both”.
The Apostle John is credited with writing the three letters that bears his name. I want to focus in on the first one. It is a short letter that was written close to the end of the first century (around 95 A.D.) and bears a few unusual features.
First, it has no customary greetings associated with letter writing – the author bulldozes directly into a discourse that echoes the first chapter of John’s gospel.
Secondly, there is no audience identified. This letter is directed at Christian believers though none are identified by name or region, but it is clear that the recipients were well acquainted with the author.
It appears that this letter was written in extreme haste - conspicuous because of it's lack of these customary greetings. False teachers who were causing a crisis of faith amongst the Christians. Some of the claims and false teachings forwarded by these individuals were causing many to doubt their salvation. John urgently counteracts these false teaching by reminding them of what they already know. In fact, John uses the word “know” over thirty times in this letter. He also wanted to reaffirm their confidence and remind them of the source of their salvation.
I want to focus on the fifth chapter of this letter in which John lays out the assurance of salvation for his readers. John lays it out in two parts:
In the first two verses John speaks of the testimony of God. What is that testimony? In short God testifies that Jesus is divine, that he is the Christ. The Holy Spirit testifies with the water and the blood, that, according to the law, no charge could be brought against a man unless it could be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If we accept men's testimonies then we surely had better accept God's testimony.
I am reading out of the NIV. (read 1 Jn 5:10-15)
vs 10: Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son.
Vs 11: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Vs 12: He who has the Son has life: he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Vs 13: I write theses things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life,
In vs 10:
-the word 'believe' means to commit to and have trust in. This word in Greek means more than just to acknowledge His existence, but to place, commit trust in Him. This belief and trust is a confidence that He will do what He says He will.
-The testimony in his HEART. The testimony is a witness of evidence seated in the core of your being. It is something you “know” in your very core. It represents a “gut” feeling.
Vs 11:
-Eternal of course means perpetual. Eternity is a strange word. It's concept is a word used to describe a time-frame that is beyond time. This is life outside of time. The term forever really doesn't do it justice. God has given us perpetual life which is in His Son and clearly we must have the Son to have this eternal life.
Vs 12:
-One of the defining features of the apostle John's writings are his use of contrasting ideas. This letter is full of contrasts and this one really hits the nail on the head. This concept is black and white...it's A or B, yes or no. There is no 'maybe' involved. It requires a commitment from the listener or reader.
Vs 13:
-John now limits his audience only to those who have already believed in the name of the Son of God. It means those of you who believe that Jesus is the Son of God can KNOW you are saved just because you have believed. The apostle John covers two things:
1. Believe God; and
2. Believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
That's it.
Either Jesus is accepted as the Son of God and you have salvation, or He is rejected which means that God is not believed. To not believe God is to reject Him altogether.
But in the text John is writing to believers who have believed God and accepted Jesus.
We have accepted the Son of God, therefore we have eternal life.
Now we can move to the second part; this is what we can do with the assurance of salvation:
Let's look at the next two verses.
(Read vs 14 – 15)
vs 14: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Vs 15: And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.
Vs 14:
-The word confidence means frankness or bluntness...”the bottom line”. Because we have the eternal life through Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection we now have the freedom to ask for anything with the provision that it falls within His will. But note, God will not bend to our will, but we must bend to His will.
Vs 15:
-Note the present tense of the word 'HAVE'. This word tells us that since God hears our requests (which are in accordance with His will) we can be confident they are granted. This is the floor plan of an effective prayer life! The assurance of God's salvation leads us naturally into furthering His kingdom.
What does this all mean? It means that you can KNOW you are saved. The only reason you might doubt your salvation is because the enemy is throwing lies at you to neutralize your action as a believing Christian. If you doubt your salvation, the focus of your prayer life is focused upon you and the fear for yourself rather than focused on God and furthering of God's kingdom. Inward versus outward.
If you are concerned about your future with God then you are experiencing the Holy Spirit's nudge. This is that “gut feeling” we read about in verse 10. Your spirit is responding to the calling of the Holy Spirit!
John also wrote about this just a chapter or two earlier. Let's go to 1 Jn 3:19.
(Read 1 Jn 3:19-24)
vs. 19: This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set out hearts at rest in his presence...
vs 20: whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
vs 21: Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God...
vs 22: and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
Vs 23: And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.
Vs 24: Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.
In short, if you are concerned about your spiritual destiny and walk with God, then I would say you are in good shape. Those whose eternal destiny is in question are those who don't know Jesus as their savior and perhaps don't care. We as Christians need to have a healthy dose of reverent fear of God. If we have that assurance of faith then we can experience the joy that the apostle Paul speaks of in Philippians. If you have accepted Jesus as your savior you needn't ever concern yourself with doubts regarding your salvation ever again.
Matthew 5:20-28
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
The following sermon was written by a good friend of mine, Tom Chambers. I believe it explains very clearly how you really can be certain of your place in eternity.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Death has a wonderful way of showing us what is truly important in our lives. Most often when we think of death we think of those we will leave behind or of those who have gone on ahead of us. In reality Death wipes the slate clean of all the things that are of secondary importance and leaves us with the one thing that is left...our eternal destiny. As believers in God, we have two options: eternity with God or eternal separation from God...that's it. All the things we thought were important are now out of reach.
As Christians we claim our faith in Christ's promise of eternal life. Having accepted His gift of salvation not by our actions or good deeds or anything we have done but because we have professed Him as our savior. Nothing more.
I am not aware of a Christian who has not at some point in their walk posed concerns about their eternal salvation. Every so often when I think about my own walk with Jesus I am reminded of my sinful humanity. I become painfully aware that no matter how hard I try to break free from my sinful past I cannot stop sinning. God cannot and will not accept sin. When we ponder this truth, we can lose heart and doubt our eternal salvation. If God cannot and will not accept sin, how then can we be truly saved and have assurance of salvation? Clearly the confusion and doubt that ensues was not in Jesus' plan for our lives. It is important to remember that as Christians this doubt is not something we need to ponder.
Salvation is so complex and yet so simple. Amid this confusion we read Paul’s words telling us we are all sinners in Rom 3:23 and later telling us in Rom 8:1 that we are no longer under condemnation. So which is it? The short answer is “both”.
The Apostle John is credited with writing the three letters that bears his name. I want to focus in on the first one. It is a short letter that was written close to the end of the first century (around 95 A.D.) and bears a few unusual features.
First, it has no customary greetings associated with letter writing – the author bulldozes directly into a discourse that echoes the first chapter of John’s gospel.
Secondly, there is no audience identified. This letter is directed at Christian believers though none are identified by name or region, but it is clear that the recipients were well acquainted with the author.
It appears that this letter was written in extreme haste - conspicuous because of it's lack of these customary greetings. False teachers who were causing a crisis of faith amongst the Christians. Some of the claims and false teachings forwarded by these individuals were causing many to doubt their salvation. John urgently counteracts these false teaching by reminding them of what they already know. In fact, John uses the word “know” over thirty times in this letter. He also wanted to reaffirm their confidence and remind them of the source of their salvation.
I want to focus on the fifth chapter of this letter in which John lays out the assurance of salvation for his readers. John lays it out in two parts:
In the first two verses John speaks of the testimony of God. What is that testimony? In short God testifies that Jesus is divine, that he is the Christ. The Holy Spirit testifies with the water and the blood, that, according to the law, no charge could be brought against a man unless it could be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If we accept men's testimonies then we surely had better accept God's testimony.
I am reading out of the NIV. (read 1 Jn 5:10-15)
vs 10: Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son.
Vs 11: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Vs 12: He who has the Son has life: he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Vs 13: I write theses things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life,
In vs 10:
-the word 'believe' means to commit to and have trust in. This word in Greek means more than just to acknowledge His existence, but to place, commit trust in Him. This belief and trust is a confidence that He will do what He says He will.
-The testimony in his HEART. The testimony is a witness of evidence seated in the core of your being. It is something you “know” in your very core. It represents a “gut” feeling.
Vs 11:
-Eternal of course means perpetual. Eternity is a strange word. It's concept is a word used to describe a time-frame that is beyond time. This is life outside of time. The term forever really doesn't do it justice. God has given us perpetual life which is in His Son and clearly we must have the Son to have this eternal life.
Vs 12:
-One of the defining features of the apostle John's writings are his use of contrasting ideas. This letter is full of contrasts and this one really hits the nail on the head. This concept is black and white...it's A or B, yes or no. There is no 'maybe' involved. It requires a commitment from the listener or reader.
Vs 13:
-John now limits his audience only to those who have already believed in the name of the Son of God. It means those of you who believe that Jesus is the Son of God can KNOW you are saved just because you have believed. The apostle John covers two things:
1. Believe God; and
2. Believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
That's it.
Either Jesus is accepted as the Son of God and you have salvation, or He is rejected which means that God is not believed. To not believe God is to reject Him altogether.
But in the text John is writing to believers who have believed God and accepted Jesus.
We have accepted the Son of God, therefore we have eternal life.
Now we can move to the second part; this is what we can do with the assurance of salvation:
Let's look at the next two verses.
(Read vs 14 – 15)
vs 14: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Vs 15: And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.
Vs 14:
-The word confidence means frankness or bluntness...”the bottom line”. Because we have the eternal life through Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection we now have the freedom to ask for anything with the provision that it falls within His will. But note, God will not bend to our will, but we must bend to His will.
Vs 15:
-Note the present tense of the word 'HAVE'. This word tells us that since God hears our requests (which are in accordance with His will) we can be confident they are granted. This is the floor plan of an effective prayer life! The assurance of God's salvation leads us naturally into furthering His kingdom.
What does this all mean? It means that you can KNOW you are saved. The only reason you might doubt your salvation is because the enemy is throwing lies at you to neutralize your action as a believing Christian. If you doubt your salvation, the focus of your prayer life is focused upon you and the fear for yourself rather than focused on God and furthering of God's kingdom. Inward versus outward.
If you are concerned about your future with God then you are experiencing the Holy Spirit's nudge. This is that “gut feeling” we read about in verse 10. Your spirit is responding to the calling of the Holy Spirit!
John also wrote about this just a chapter or two earlier. Let's go to 1 Jn 3:19.
(Read 1 Jn 3:19-24)
vs. 19: This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set out hearts at rest in his presence...
vs 20: whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
vs 21: Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God...
vs 22: and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
Vs 23: And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.
Vs 24: Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.
In short, if you are concerned about your spiritual destiny and walk with God, then I would say you are in good shape. Those whose eternal destiny is in question are those who don't know Jesus as their savior and perhaps don't care. We as Christians need to have a healthy dose of reverent fear of God. If we have that assurance of faith then we can experience the joy that the apostle Paul speaks of in Philippians. If you have accepted Jesus as your savior you needn't ever concern yourself with doubts regarding your salvation ever again.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Heston on Winning the Culture War
By: Charlton Heston
The following is a speech NRA President Charlton Heston gave to the Harvard Law School Forum on February 16, 1999.
I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten class what his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends to be people."
There have been quite a few of them. Prophets from the Old and New Testaments, a couple of Christian saints, generals of various nationalities and different centuries, several kings, three American presidents, a French cardinal and two geniuses, including Michelangelo. If you want the ceiling repainted I'll do my best. There always seems to be a lot of different fellows up here. I'm never sure which one of them gets to talk. Right now, I guess I'm the guy.
As I pondered our visit tonight, it struck me: If my Creator gave me the gift to connect you with the hearts and minds of those great men, then I want to use that same gift now to re-connect you with your own sense of liberty...your own freedom of thought...your own compass for what is right.
Dedicating the memorial at a Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said of America, "We are now engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure."
Those words are true again. I believe that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart. I fear you no longer trust the pulsing lifeblood of liberty inside you...the stuff that made this country rise from wilderness into the miracle that it is.
Let me back up. About a year ago I became president of the National Rifle Association, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. I ran for office, I was elected, and now I serve...I serve as a moving target for the media who've called me everything from "ridiculous" and "duped" to a "brain-injured senile, crazy old man." I know...I'm pretty old...but I sure Lord ain't senile.
As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issue. No, it's much, much bigger than that.
I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated.
For example, I marched for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963 - long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist.
I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe.
I served in World War II against the Axis powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy between singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite.
Everyone I know knows I would never raise a closed fist against my country. But when I asked an audience to oppose this cultural persecution, I was compared to Timothy McVeigh.
From Time magazine to friends and colleagues, they're essentially saying, "Chuck, how dare you speak your mind. You are using language not authorized for public consumption!"
But I am not afraid. If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys - subjects bound to the British crown.
In his book, "The End of Sanity," Martin Gross writes that "blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction.
Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don't like it."
Let me read a few examples.
• At Antioch College in Ohio, young men seeking intimacy with a coed must get verbal permission at each step of the process from kissing to petting to final copulation...all clearly spelled out in a printed college directive.
• In New Jersey, despite the death of several patients nationwide who had been infected by dentists who had concealed their AIDS, the state commissioner announced that health providers who are HIV-positive need not...need not...tell their patients that they are infected.
• At William and Mary, students tried to change the name of the school team "The Tribe" because it was supposedly insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic Virginia chiefs truly like the name.
• In San Francisco, city fathers passed an ordinance protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-dress on the job, and for transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities while undergoing sex change surgery.
• In New York City, kids who don't speak a word of Spanish have been placed in bilingual classes to learn their three R's in Spanish solely because their last names sound Hispanic.
• At the University of Pennsylvania, in a state where thousands died at Gettysburg opposing slavery, the president of that college officially set up segregated dormitory space for black students.
Yeah, I know...that's out of bounds now. Dr. King said "Negroes." Jimmy Baldwin and most of us on the March said "black." But it's a no-no now.
For me, hyphenated identities are awkward...particularly "Native-American." I'm a Native American, for God's sake. I also happen to be a blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux. On my wife's side, my grandson is a thirteenth generation native American...with a capital letter on "American."
Finally, just last month...David Howard, head of the Washington, D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word "niggardly" while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, "niggardly" means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign.
As columnist Tony Snow wrote: "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn't know the meaning of niggardly, (b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and (c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."
What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can't be far behind.
Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on America's campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?
Let's be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe?
It scares me to death and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason.
You are the best and the brightest. You, here in the fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River, you are the cream. But I submit that you, and your counterparts across the land, are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that...and abide it...you are - by your grandfathers' standards - cowards.
Here's another example. Right now at more than one major university, Second Amendment scholars and researchers are being told to shut up about their findings or they'll lose their jobs. Why? Because their research findings would undermine big-city mayors...pending lawsuits that seek to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from firearm manufacturers.
I don't care what you think about guns. But if you are not shocked at that, I am shocked at you. Who will guard the raw material of unfettered ideas, if not you? Who will defend the core value of academia, if you supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, "Don't shoot me."
If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion. If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a homophobe.
Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism.
But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation?
The answer's been here all along.
I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people.
You simply...disobey.
Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely.
But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom.
I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr. King...who learned it from Gandhi, and Thoreau, and Jesus, and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might.
Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that disobedient spirit that tossed tea in to Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in Viet Nam.
In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous law that weaken personal freedom.
But be careful...it hurts.
Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies.
You must be willing to be humiliated...to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma.
You must be willing to experience discomfort. I'm not complaining, but my own decades of social activism have taken their toll on me. Let me tell you a story.
A few years back I heard about a rapper named Ice-T who was selling a CD called "Cop Killer" celebrating ambushing and murdering police officers. It was being marketed by none other than Time/Warner, the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the world.
Police across the country were outraged. Rightfully so - at least one had been murdered. But Time/warner was stonewalling because the CD was a cash cow for them, and the media were tiptoeing around it because the rapper was black.
I heard Time/Warner had a stockholders meeting scheduled in Beverly Hills. I owned some shares at the time and decided to attend.
What I did there was against the advice of my family and colleagues. I asked for the floor. To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer" - every vicious, vulgar, instructional word.
"I GOT MY 12 GAUGE SAWED OFF
I GOT MY HEADLIGHTS TURNED OFF
I'M ABOUT TO BUST SOME SHOTS OFF
I'M ABOUT TO DUST SOME COPS OFF..."
It got worse, a lot worse. I won't read the rest of it to you. But trust me, the room was a sea of shocked, frozen, blanched faces. The Time/Warner executives squirmed in their chairs and stared at their shoes. They hated me for that.
Then I delivered another volley of sick lyric brimming with racist filth, where Ice-T fantasizes about sodomizing two 12-year old nieces of Al and Tipper Gore.
"SHE PUSHED HER BUTT AGAINST MY..."
Well, I won't do to you here what I did to them. Let's just say I left the room in echoing silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said "We can't print that." "I know," I replied, "but Time/Warner's selling it."
Two months later, Time/Warner terminated Ice-T's contract. I'll never be offered another film by Warner, or get a good review from Time magazine. But disobedience means you must be willing to act, not just talk.
When a mugger sues his elderly victim for defending herself...jam the switchboard of the district attorney's office.
When your university is pressured to lower standards until 80% of the students graduate with honors...choke the halls of the board of regents.
When an 8-year-old boy pecks a girl's cheek on the playground and gets hauled into court for sexual harassment...march on that school and block its doorways.
When someone you elected is seduced by political power and betrays you...petition them, oust them, banish them.
When Time magazine's cover portrays millennium nuts as deranged, crazy Christians holding a cross as it did last month...boycott their magazine and the products it advertises.
So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobediences of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men, by God's grace, built this country.
If Dr. King were here, I think he would agree.
Thank you.
The following is a speech NRA President Charlton Heston gave to the Harvard Law School Forum on February 16, 1999.
I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten class what his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends to be people."
There have been quite a few of them. Prophets from the Old and New Testaments, a couple of Christian saints, generals of various nationalities and different centuries, several kings, three American presidents, a French cardinal and two geniuses, including Michelangelo. If you want the ceiling repainted I'll do my best. There always seems to be a lot of different fellows up here. I'm never sure which one of them gets to talk. Right now, I guess I'm the guy.
As I pondered our visit tonight, it struck me: If my Creator gave me the gift to connect you with the hearts and minds of those great men, then I want to use that same gift now to re-connect you with your own sense of liberty...your own freedom of thought...your own compass for what is right.
Dedicating the memorial at a Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said of America, "We are now engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure."
Those words are true again. I believe that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart. I fear you no longer trust the pulsing lifeblood of liberty inside you...the stuff that made this country rise from wilderness into the miracle that it is.
Let me back up. About a year ago I became president of the National Rifle Association, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. I ran for office, I was elected, and now I serve...I serve as a moving target for the media who've called me everything from "ridiculous" and "duped" to a "brain-injured senile, crazy old man." I know...I'm pretty old...but I sure Lord ain't senile.
As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issue. No, it's much, much bigger than that.
I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated.
For example, I marched for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963 - long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist.
I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe.
I served in World War II against the Axis powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy between singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite.
Everyone I know knows I would never raise a closed fist against my country. But when I asked an audience to oppose this cultural persecution, I was compared to Timothy McVeigh.
From Time magazine to friends and colleagues, they're essentially saying, "Chuck, how dare you speak your mind. You are using language not authorized for public consumption!"
But I am not afraid. If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys - subjects bound to the British crown.
In his book, "The End of Sanity," Martin Gross writes that "blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction.
Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don't like it."
Let me read a few examples.
• At Antioch College in Ohio, young men seeking intimacy with a coed must get verbal permission at each step of the process from kissing to petting to final copulation...all clearly spelled out in a printed college directive.
• In New Jersey, despite the death of several patients nationwide who had been infected by dentists who had concealed their AIDS, the state commissioner announced that health providers who are HIV-positive need not...need not...tell their patients that they are infected.
• At William and Mary, students tried to change the name of the school team "The Tribe" because it was supposedly insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic Virginia chiefs truly like the name.
• In San Francisco, city fathers passed an ordinance protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-dress on the job, and for transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities while undergoing sex change surgery.
• In New York City, kids who don't speak a word of Spanish have been placed in bilingual classes to learn their three R's in Spanish solely because their last names sound Hispanic.
• At the University of Pennsylvania, in a state where thousands died at Gettysburg opposing slavery, the president of that college officially set up segregated dormitory space for black students.
Yeah, I know...that's out of bounds now. Dr. King said "Negroes." Jimmy Baldwin and most of us on the March said "black." But it's a no-no now.
For me, hyphenated identities are awkward...particularly "Native-American." I'm a Native American, for God's sake. I also happen to be a blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux. On my wife's side, my grandson is a thirteenth generation native American...with a capital letter on "American."
Finally, just last month...David Howard, head of the Washington, D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word "niggardly" while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, "niggardly" means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign.
As columnist Tony Snow wrote: "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn't know the meaning of niggardly, (b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and (c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."
What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can't be far behind.
Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on America's campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?
Let's be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe?
It scares me to death and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason.
You are the best and the brightest. You, here in the fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River, you are the cream. But I submit that you, and your counterparts across the land, are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that...and abide it...you are - by your grandfathers' standards - cowards.
Here's another example. Right now at more than one major university, Second Amendment scholars and researchers are being told to shut up about their findings or they'll lose their jobs. Why? Because their research findings would undermine big-city mayors...pending lawsuits that seek to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from firearm manufacturers.
I don't care what you think about guns. But if you are not shocked at that, I am shocked at you. Who will guard the raw material of unfettered ideas, if not you? Who will defend the core value of academia, if you supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, "Don't shoot me."
If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion. If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a homophobe.
Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism.
But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation?
The answer's been here all along.
I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people.
You simply...disobey.
Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely.
But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom.
I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr. King...who learned it from Gandhi, and Thoreau, and Jesus, and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might.
Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that disobedient spirit that tossed tea in to Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in Viet Nam.
In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous law that weaken personal freedom.
But be careful...it hurts.
Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies.
You must be willing to be humiliated...to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma.
You must be willing to experience discomfort. I'm not complaining, but my own decades of social activism have taken their toll on me. Let me tell you a story.
A few years back I heard about a rapper named Ice-T who was selling a CD called "Cop Killer" celebrating ambushing and murdering police officers. It was being marketed by none other than Time/Warner, the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the world.
Police across the country were outraged. Rightfully so - at least one had been murdered. But Time/warner was stonewalling because the CD was a cash cow for them, and the media were tiptoeing around it because the rapper was black.
I heard Time/Warner had a stockholders meeting scheduled in Beverly Hills. I owned some shares at the time and decided to attend.
What I did there was against the advice of my family and colleagues. I asked for the floor. To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer" - every vicious, vulgar, instructional word.
"I GOT MY 12 GAUGE SAWED OFF
I GOT MY HEADLIGHTS TURNED OFF
I'M ABOUT TO BUST SOME SHOTS OFF
I'M ABOUT TO DUST SOME COPS OFF..."
It got worse, a lot worse. I won't read the rest of it to you. But trust me, the room was a sea of shocked, frozen, blanched faces. The Time/Warner executives squirmed in their chairs and stared at their shoes. They hated me for that.
Then I delivered another volley of sick lyric brimming with racist filth, where Ice-T fantasizes about sodomizing two 12-year old nieces of Al and Tipper Gore.
"SHE PUSHED HER BUTT AGAINST MY..."
Well, I won't do to you here what I did to them. Let's just say I left the room in echoing silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said "We can't print that." "I know," I replied, "but Time/Warner's selling it."
Two months later, Time/Warner terminated Ice-T's contract. I'll never be offered another film by Warner, or get a good review from Time magazine. But disobedience means you must be willing to act, not just talk.
When a mugger sues his elderly victim for defending herself...jam the switchboard of the district attorney's office.
When your university is pressured to lower standards until 80% of the students graduate with honors...choke the halls of the board of regents.
When an 8-year-old boy pecks a girl's cheek on the playground and gets hauled into court for sexual harassment...march on that school and block its doorways.
When someone you elected is seduced by political power and betrays you...petition them, oust them, banish them.
When Time magazine's cover portrays millennium nuts as deranged, crazy Christians holding a cross as it did last month...boycott their magazine and the products it advertises.
So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobediences of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men, by God's grace, built this country.
If Dr. King were here, I think he would agree.
Thank you.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
This sounds like a must-see!
Darwin's Kool-Aid
A review of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" (opening in theaters April 18)
By J. Matt Barber
April 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com/CWA) - There's a shakeup in the cult of neo-Darwinist pseudo-science, and that endearing, monotone high school teacher of "Ferris Bueller" fame is doing the shaking.
With his new feature documentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" (opening in theaters April 18), Ben Stein - actor, economist, presidential speechwriter and all around really smart guy - squares off with some of the world's most prominent anti-theist elites as he gets to the heart of the question, "Who are we, and how did we get here?"
This is not your father's documentary. "Expelled" rocks the house both literally and figuratively. It's gripping, music-packed, comically wry and always entertaining. But its entertainment value is yet surpassed by its educational merit. Throughout the film, Stein boldly shines a light of honest inquiry, revealing time and again that Evolution's Emperor has no clothes. In his trademark deadpan fashion, Stein skillfully debunks the dogmatic neo-Darwinist programming we've all had relentlessly rammed down our throats ever since "Big Science" went bananas over that cute little Scopes Monkey.
Unlike Michael Moore's anti-Bush propaganda flick "Fahrenheit 911" - which sold us a lemon with deceptive editing techniques and staged confrontations - "Expelled" is intellectually honest, cerebrally stimulating and delectably provocative.
Nonetheless, there are those who won't like it, not one little bit.
Enter Richard Dawkins. Dawkins, a prominent evolutionist, outspoken atheist and the best-selling author of "The God Delusion," is featured throughout the film. In one segment, he sits down with Stein for a heart-to-heart. After dancing around several pointed questions about how life began, Dawkins finds himself at a logical impasse with no surplus of sci-fi rhetoric. He's finally forced to concede that, indeed, an intelligent being may have created life on earth. However, that being could not have been "God," but rather, it must have been some organic, alien life form. Of course, that alien life form has to have been a product of "Darwinian evolution."
Through tears of wild laughter, audience members watch as Dawkins - apparently grasping the dizzying nature of his own circular argument - turns three shades of red and becomes purply tight-lipped.
Dawkins? … Dawkins? …
But apart from space aliens, the general consensus among the evolutionary scientists interviewed was that all life, including human life, likely began when lightening struck a mud puddle (you know, like Frankenstein but without all the prefab body parts). This was then followed by a series of unexplainable, unprovable and totally random events that occurred over umpteen million years, eventually resulting in … you.
Although "Expelled" indirectly makes a strong case for the scientific theory of intelligent design, its primary message drives home the need for academic freedom, intellectual honesty and open debate on all scientific fronts.
As the movie masterfully illustrates, we live in a cultural climate where secular elitists in academia, the media and the courts chew up and spit out anyone who dares to question the gospel according to Charles Darwin. They're absolutely terrified to follow the scientific evidence wherever it may lead.
They don't want to upset the morally relative applecart, which is loosely held together by the notion that we're all just a bunch of monkeys with an instinctive, biological excuse for all our behavioral choices. To them, life's a whole lot easier under the theory of evolution. Without a sovereign Creator to answer to, we get to scoot along and party hearty, free from accountability.
Consequently, it's no wonder "Expelled" has Darwin's disciples scurrying for the shadows. Those secular humanist one-trick-ponies in the media, throughout academia, on the blogosphere and elsewhere are in full damage control. They're doing everything possible to discredit the film before it even opens. It's even been reported that two major networks are refusing to cover the movie (Gotta love that journalistic objectivity).
So, if you happen to be one of those evolutionary fundamentalists who were "randomly selected" to evolve with a built-in blindfold and earplugs, and you're comfy with your very limited worldview, be afraid of this film - be very afraid. However, if you're willing to have your eyes opened and are interested in looking at all the evidence, then suck it up, wipe away that Darwinian Kool-Aid mustache and hang out with Ben Stein for a night. What do you have to lose?
For everyone else, "Expelled" is a must-see. If you're already a person of faith, prepare to have your faith strengthened. And even if you're not, you can't possibly walk away without at least admitting that the debate over who we are and how we got here is far from over.
So hold on to your hat. "Expelled" is nothing short of earthshaking. And, as the scientific community clearly recognizes, its tremors may be felt for some years to come.
Matt Barber is one of the "like-minded men" with Concerned Women for America. He is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law and serves as CWA's policy director for cultural issues.
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Sunday, April 6, 2008
Charlton Heston
Movie legend, Charlton Heston has died at the age of 84 on April 5 at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife, Lydia, at his side. No cause of death has been released at this time. Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."
In 1944 he married another Northwestern drama student, Lydia Clarke. They had two children. The Hestons' newborn, Fraser Clarke Heston, played the role of the infant Moses in the film "The Ten Commandments". They also had a daughter, Holly Ann, born Aug. 2, 1961. The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1994 at a party with Hollywood and political friends. They had been married 64 years when he died.
He liked to the cite the number of historical figures he had portrayed
:
Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper"). He also starred in "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake" among many others.
:Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper"). He also starred in "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake" among many others.
Heston wrote several books: "The Actor's Life: Journals 1956-1976," published in 1978; "Beijing Diary: 1990," concerning his direction of the play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" in Chinese; "In the Arena: An Autobiography," 1995; and "Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years of American Filmmaking," 1998.
In late years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action.
He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War. At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing. Heston wrote in "In the Arena" that he was proud of what he did "though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon."
He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War. At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing. Heston wrote in "In the Arena" that he was proud of what he did "though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon."
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Queen of the New Age
Oprah Winfrey is very well respected and she is probably the wealthi
est and most influential woman in modern times. It is truly amazing what she has done with her life considering that she started with two strikes against her, she is a woman and she is a black woman. That is one of the reasons why it is so sad that she has started down the garden path in the direction that she is going.
1 Corinthians 2:9
Hebrews 9:27 -28
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Isaiah 1:18
2 Peter 2:1-2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
est and most influential woman in modern times. It is truly amazing what she has done with her life considering that she started with two strikes against her, she is a woman and she is a black woman. That is one of the reasons why it is so sad that she has started down the garden path in the direction that she is going. Although Oprah claims to be a Christian - she has a Baptist background - she is most definitely a spokeswoman for the New Age Movement or, as they now prefer to call it, the New Spirituality. Her and Eckhart Tolle are leading an on-line course that more than two million people are taking.
In this course they are teaching people that "We are all divine." "We must separate from the ego and become one with the universe." "There is no sin. There is no heaven. There is no Hell." They are teaching people to empty their minds and just feel. "There are many [thousands] of paths to what we call God." They are actually teaching occult practices and emptying the mind to allow demons to enter.
Let's look at their points one by one.
1. "We are all divine. We are all Christ." This is a direct teaching from Satan.
Genesis 3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil
(emphasis added)
Isaiah 14:13-14
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
(emphasis added)
2. There is no Heaven. There is no Hell. There is no judgement. There is no sin.
1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Mark 9:43-44
.......it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Hebrews 9:27 -28
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
(emphasis added)
3. "There are many [thousands] of paths to what we call God." Was Jesus lying when He said the following? Or was He delusional? I think not.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
(emphasis added)
4. They are teaching people to empty their minds and just feel. That is not what Jesus taught. He never said "Come let us empty our minds and just feel." He taught us to use our minds and to reason.
Isaiah 1:18
come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:
------------------------------------------------------------------
We must warn everyone we know about this dangerous and evil course of study that Oprah is promoting. It is sad that she and her numerous fans are being lead astray by false teachings. We must all pray for her and for them diligently. Their place in Eternity will be decided by who they choose to believe, Jesus or Satan and his demons.
2 Peter 2:1-2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
(emphasis added)
Friday, April 4, 2008
More News About Pastor Berlin Guerrero
I have been posting about the situation of Pastor Berlin V. Guerrero, who has been in prison in the Philippines for the past 10 months. (posts dated - August 10, 2007; September 9, 2007; November 13, 2007 and January 15, 2008) This is the latest news :
To All:
Last March 27 2008 marked exactly the 10th. month of Pastor Berlin Guerrero in jail after that May 27 2007 abduction. How was that day for him and for us?
1) Some 8 young members of the American Mission Team from the Valley View Community Church from Ohio, USA visited Ptr Berlin in jail. The Team was led by Ms Bickbick Mendoza-Miller (a Filipina Balikbayan in Dasmarinas). The visit was a surprise to Ptr Berlin and a tearful reunion between him and Bickbick as classmates from gradeschool to college in the Philippine Christian University. Ptr Berlin joined them for lunch with conversations on his past student activisms and a worship fellowship followed in the afternoon with his cellmates.
2) Ptr Berlin was visited also by his youngest son, 14 year old Pinyen, after the boy's hospital confinement due to his operation on the adhesions in his small intestines last week of February 2008. The boy wore face mask to protect him from further infections.
3) Ptr Berlin's brother Rev Leslie Guerrero, from the Church Among the Palms at the University of the Philippines-LB-Laguna, donated a handsome and strudy "beatbox" for the Prison Ministry to match the guitar used by the Choir.
4) A sumptumous Dinner sponsored by the Mission Team, with the Mendoza family and with the Guerrero family was held at Max's Restaurant. (Not known to everyone that the Mendozas and the Guerreros are family friends way back the UTS-campus life.) The 3 groups with mutual appreciations with each other were expressed thru a short but warm fellowship.
On March 29 was the 100th. graduation celebration of the Union Theological Seminary (UTS) where Ptr Berlin is enrolled for his internship program thru the prison ministry while in jail. Among the special awards given mostly to the graduating students, Ptr Berlin coveted the award on "Community Empowerment" for his excellence in empowering his community- the prisoners and the administration of the jail for the glory of God. While receiving the Certificate of award by his/our father Sam and his wife Mylene on the stage of the Salakot Chapel, a pre-video tape for his "acceptance speech" was shown to the audience. I saw Mylene smiling but with her tearful eyes. (Only if my brother is present to join her to receive his award ...)
On March 30, German Missionaries led by the National Office of the UCCP visited also Ptr Berlin.
Two more months to go, will Ptr Berlin be freed before then? Let us continue praying for the fast resolution of his case at the Supreme Court and his fast freedom.
May our life be inspired by the ministry of Ptr Berlin inside the jail. Thank you very much............ Danielle
To All:
Last March 27 2008 marked exactly the 10th. month of Pastor Berlin Guerrero in jail after that May 27 2007 abduction. How was that day for him and for us?
1) Some 8 young members of the American Mission Team from the Valley View Community Church from Ohio, USA visited Ptr Berlin in jail. The Team was led by Ms Bickbick Mendoza-Miller (a Filipina Balikbayan in Dasmarinas). The visit was a surprise to Ptr Berlin and a tearful reunion between him and Bickbick as classmates from gradeschool to college in the Philippine Christian University. Ptr Berlin joined them for lunch with conversations on his past student activisms and a worship fellowship followed in the afternoon with his cellmates.
2) Ptr Berlin was visited also by his youngest son, 14 year old Pinyen, after the boy's hospital confinement due to his operation on the adhesions in his small intestines last week of February 2008. The boy wore face mask to protect him from further infections.
3) Ptr Berlin's brother Rev Leslie Guerrero, from the Church Among the Palms at the University of the Philippines-LB-Laguna, donated a handsome and strudy "beatbox" for the Prison Ministry to match the guitar used by the Choir.
4) A sumptumous Dinner sponsored by the Mission Team, with the Mendoza family and with the Guerrero family was held at Max's Restaurant. (Not known to everyone that the Mendozas and the Guerreros are family friends way back the UTS-campus life.) The 3 groups with mutual appreciations with each other were expressed thru a short but warm fellowship.
On March 29 was the 100th. graduation celebration of the Union Theological Seminary (UTS) where Ptr Berlin is enrolled for his internship program thru the prison ministry while in jail. Among the special awards given mostly to the graduating students, Ptr Berlin coveted the award on "Community Empowerment" for his excellence in empowering his community- the prisoners and the administration of the jail for the glory of God. While receiving the Certificate of award by his/our father Sam and his wife Mylene on the stage of the Salakot Chapel, a pre-video tape for his "acceptance speech" was shown to the audience. I saw Mylene smiling but with her tearful eyes. (Only if my brother is present to join her to receive his award ...)
On March 30, German Missionaries led by the National Office of the UCCP visited also Ptr Berlin.
Two more months to go, will Ptr Berlin be freed before then? Let us continue praying for the fast resolution of his case at the Supreme Court and his fast freedom.
May our life be inspired by the ministry of Ptr Berlin inside the jail. Thank you very much............ Danielle
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