Ragbag Headliners

Jesus’ Name Ruled ‘Unconstitutional’

A board of county commissioners in North Carolina is asking the Supreme Court for help: Its members don’t believe they should have to forbid volunteers from mentioning the name of Jesus in prayers offered before their meetings.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are standing by their victory in a U.S. circuit court decision that states even “a solitary reference to Jesus Christ” in invocations before the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners’ meetings could do “violence to the pluralistic and inclusive values that are a defining feature of American public life.”

Furthermore, wrote Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals majority opinion, legislative invocations offered in Jesus’ name are inherently “sectarian” and thus should be censored lest they make some attendees feel “uncomfortable, unwelcome and unwilling to participate in … public affairs.” -Vision To America

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Britain's Christians Are Being Vilified, Warns Lord Carey

Christians are being “persecuted” by courts and “driven underground” in the same way that homosexuals once were, a former Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

Lord Carey says worshippers are being “vilified” by the state, treated as “bigots” and sacked simply for expressing their beliefs.

The attack is part of a direct appeal to the European Court of Human Rights before a landmark case on religious freedom.

In a written submission seen by The Daily Telegraph, the former leader of more than 70 million Anglicans warns that the outward expression of traditional conservative Christian values has effectively been “banned” in Britain under a new “secular conformity of belief and conduct”.

His comments represent one of the strongest attacks on the impartiality of Britain’s judiciary from a religious leader.

He says Christians will face a “religious bar” to employment if rulings against wearing crosses and expressing their beliefs are not reversed. –The Telegraph

On one hand, there are some who consider the people in the video as amazing, brave and daring; to others, the people in the video are out-of-their mind and fixated on a combination of masochism and an outrageous "death wish". Which side do you prefer? Click on the link above, watch the video, and then make your decision.

The Next Step In Combating The Spread of HIV/AIDS Among Women And Girls

As the Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, it is my honor to join Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy and Lynn Rosenthal, the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, in announcing the next step in President Obama’s commitment to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst women and girls. Please read on for more details.

There are approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, including more than 290,000 women. Black and Hispanic women account for nearly three-quarters of new HIV infections among women. In July 2010, President Obama launched the first National HIV/AIDS Strategy to provide a coordinated national response to fight the epidemic, with the goals of reducing new infections, improving health outcomes, and decreasing HIV-related health disparities.

This past World AIDS Day, the President said that “When black women feel forgotten, even though they account for most of the new cases among women, then we’ve got to do more.” President Obama was joined by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a call to our partners—including government stakeholders at all levels, healthcare professionals, and HIV/AIDS service providers—to unite in an effort to usher in an “AIDS-free generation.” To reach this goal, it is clear we must address HIV among women, particularly among women of color.

As directed in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, Federal agencies are collaborating in new ways. We are embracing scientific findings to implement evidenced-based prevention methods in order to be more effective at preventing new HIV infections, and we are exploring new approaches to integrate prevention and care. As part of this ongoing collaborative approach, President Obama has issued a presidential memorandum establishing an inter-agency working group on the intersection of HIV/AIDS, violence against women and girls, and gender-related health disparities. The President has asked Lynn Rosenthal, the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women and Dr. Grant Colfax, the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, to serve as co-chairs.

The working group will include representatives from the Departments of Justice, Interior, Health and Human Services, Education, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and the Office of Management and Budget. We will also tap the wealth of expertise and experience of members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. In addition, representatives from the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, and the Gender Technical Working Group from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), will share lessons learned and evidence-based best practices based on the global experience.

When we address the domestic public health threat of HIV/AIDS, we cannot ignore the detrimental effects of gender-based violence and gender-related health disparities, particularly within underserved communities. The Administration commemorated this year’s National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day by hosting a White House event to highlight how these intersecting factors contribute to poor health outcomes among women and girls. It commits to an ongoing Federal effort to address the intersection of HIV/AIDS, violence against women, and gender-related health disparities through applying evidence-based strategies, engaging families and communities, supporting research and data collection, and mobilizing both public- and private-sector resources. –The Galy

Frozen Windows

A wife sent a text message to her husband at his workplace: "Windows at home frozen. What should I do?"

The husband replied via text: "Spray some de-icer or pour hot water on them."

A few minutes later, the wife sent another text: "Did it, now computer won't work at all!"

Author Unknown

We Don’t Live Under Caesar

Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, makes an often neglected point. Using Matthew 22:21 to support the claim that civil governments are not to be questioned or confronted by lesser magistrates or the people is misplaced and misunderstood.

Israel was under the domination of Rome. We don’t live under Caesar today, and the Americans didn’t live under Caesar in the eighteenth century. Their dispute with the British monarchy and Parliament was over contractual issues. England had violated an agreement made by two sovereign powers and governments. Actually, in terms of the states, there had been multiple violations because there were 13 state governments.

Paine has an extended discussion of Judges 8:22–23 where he describes “the King of Heaven” to be Israel’s “proper sovereign.” He then spends several pages quoting, discussing, and making application of the importance of 1 Samuel 8 to the modern situation. He concludes this section of Common Sense with these words: “In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom only) by the world in blood and ashes. ’Tis a form of government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it.”

There are restrictions on Caesar’s sovereignty, and by extension the sovereignty of all rulers, because we are told to “render to God the things that are God’s,” and Caesar is under God. The things that are God’s did not belong to Caesar, and what legitimate authority Caesar did possess had been given to him by God (Rom. 13:1).

Did Jesus give Caesar, and by analogy all civil governments, unlimited authority to rule without regard to God’s commandments? Whatever else Matthew 22:21 can tell us, and it can tell us a lot, we know that Scripture limits the sovereignty of Caesar.

When Christians protest against unjust judicial decisions and overreaching congressional laws, they are often enjoined by their critics to remember that Caesar should be followed no matter what. The assumption seems to be that once “Caesar” speaks, there can be no objection or political action to challenge “Caesar.”

But we do not live under Caesar! The Caesars have been dead for nearly two millennia. We live under a constitutional system with checks and balances, built-in limitations of power, and a mechanism whereby political changes can be made. Americans can change the balance of power in government my using the right and freedom to vote.

Our “Caesar” is the United States Constitution, each state constitution, and the will of the people to make changes to their government. There is no need for anarchy or revolution when laws can be changed at the ballot box. The rise of tyranny lies with Christians who fail to take advantage of the freedoms in their possession and opt out of the political process. –Godfather Politics

You may not be happy with dinner,
but you're going to eat it anyway!

Prayer At School Portrayed As 'Grossly Inappropriate'

A legal group that defends religious liberty doesn't agree with the attorney for a Florida school district who says teachers who join in prayer at the campus flagpole before classes are violating the U.S. Constitution.

Pastor Ron Baker of Russell Baptist Church leads students, parents, and other community members in the 8:15 prayer every Monday morning at Clay Hill Elementary's flagpole. But when the Freedom From Religion Foundation heard about it, they called for it to be brought to an end, describing it as "grossly inappropriate" -- not to mention, unconstitutional -- for school officials and staffers to "actively participate in or promote student-run religious organizations and activities."

In response, Clay County schools attorney J. Bruce Bickner has said teacher participation in morning prayer after teachers have begun work is an endorsement of religion and Christianity -- an argument that Liberty Counsel attorney Steve Crampton does not endorse.

Steve Crampton (Liberty Counsel)"What a tragedy that we've come to where it's basically labeled a shameful thing to engage in prayer for your school and your educational activities," he laments.

The attorney argues that the Establishment Clause principle of the U.S. Constitution has been misinterpreted and misapplied. "Groups like Freedom From Religion Foundation delight in using it in excess to try to cleanse every mention, every hint of religion from the public square," he notes.


Crampton credits Bickner for pointing out that if prayers were moved up an hour, the sessions with teacher participation could continue without conflict. However, Pastor Baker fears such action would end the students' participation. –One News Now

Does The Crucifix ‘Provoke’ Muslims?

For a religion that is perpetually “misunderstood,” the consistency of Islam is remarkable. Consider how ostensibly diverse issues—complaints of “human rights” abuses at an American university and murder in an Egyptian classroom—are interconnected.

The Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights confirmed that it is investigating allegations that Catholic University of America [CUA] violated the human rights of Muslim students by not allowing them to form a Muslim student group and by not providing them rooms without Christian symbols for their daily prayers.  The investigation alleges that Muslim students “must perform their prayers surrounded by symbols of Catholicism – e.g., a wooden crucifix, paintings of Jesus, pictures of priests and theologians which many Muslim students find inappropriate.”

Behind the complaint is John F. Banzhaf III, a George Washington University professor whose website boasts that his “enemies” call him a “Legal-Terrorist” and “the Osama bin Laden of Torts.”  He asserts that Muslim students are “particularly offended” because they have to “meditate” at the school’s chapels and cathedral, where they pray while “having to stare up and be looked down upon by a cross of Jesus.”

Of course, as a private Christian institution, even Banzhaf admits “that it is technically not illegal for Catholic University to refuse to provide rooms devoid of religious icons.”  Still, according to this so-called “Legal-Terrorist,” that CUA refuses to compromise its Catholic image “suggests they are acting improperly and probably with malice.”

The reader is left to decide who really is acting “with malice”: a private institution operating under private—in this case, Christian—principles, or reportedly “offended” Muslims who are free to attend non-Christian institutions?

Banzhaf further tried to denigrate CUA by boasting of how neighboring Georgetown University, a nominally “Christian” university, “provides its Muslim students with a separate prayer room and even a Muslim chaplain”—as if it is not well known that Georgetown’s Arab and Islam departments receive much largesse by way of donations from the radical Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia (who, incidentally, refuse to permit churches on Saudi ground).

As Newt Gingrich observed regarding this affair: “Are you [Muslims] prepared to sponsor a Christian missionary in Mecca? Because if you’re not prepared to sponsor religious liberty in Saudi Arabia, don’t come and nag us with some hypocritical baloney.”

Notable, too, why Muslim students are seeking to create Islamic havens (or enclaves) in universities: as one of them put it, “Arab [code for “Muslim”] and American students have a difficult time befriending each other because people naturally gravitate towards others with similar backgrounds and interests.”  In fact, this is a product of Islam’s own doctrine of wala’ wa bara’, which commands Muslims to be loyal to one another, while completely disassociating themselves from non-Muslims.

Now, consider Muslim behavior toward Christian symbols, specifically the crucifix, where Muslims are the majority and thus in charge—where might not only makes right, but often exposes true sentiments.

Days ago it was revealed that a Christian student in Egypt was strangled and beaten to death by his Muslim teacher and fellow students—simply for refusing to obey the teacher’s orders to cover up his cross.  When the headmaster was informed of the attack in progress, he ignored it and “continued to sip his tea.”  And, as usual, Egyptian media covered it up, insisting the “conflict” was “non-sectarian” (worse, it was straightforward “Christian persecution”).

In the words of prominent Egyptian columnist Farida El-Shobashy, writing in the independent newspaper Masry Youm: “I was shaken to the bones when I read the news that a teacher forced a student to take off the crucifix he wore, and when the Christian student stood firm for his rights, the teacher quarreled with him, joined by some of the students; he was beastly assaulted until his last breath left him.”

Indeed, the Maspero massacre, where the Egyptian military killed dozens of demonstrating Christians—including by running them over with armored-vehicles—began with hostility for Christian symbols: Muslims insisted a Coptic church be stripped of its dome and cross, so it would not resemble a church; as one Muslim elder put it, “the Cross provokes us and our children.”  When Christians refused, Muslims destroyed the church.  This is what Christians were protesting when the Egyptian military mowed them down to cries of “Allahu Akbar.”

These two stories—one in Washington, D.C., the other Egypt—demonstrate remarkable consistency; only methods differ, according to circumstances. Where Islam is weak, “terrorist-lawyers” and Islamist organizations like CAIR complain about “human rights” abuses against Muslims; where Islam is dominant, Muslims take matters into their own hands, violating the human rights of others.

Yet if the methods differ, the motivation is one: the victory of Islam over all else; or, in the words of the Quran (8:39)—“Make war on them [“infidels”] until idolatry shall cease and Allah’s religion [Islam] shall reign supreme.” -Front Page Mag

Evangelical Evolutionists Meet In New York

The most sobering moment for attendees of the Biologos "Theology of Celebration" conference in New York City, March 20–22, came when David Kinnaman of Barna Research presented findings on what U.S. Protestant pastors believe about creation. More than half profess a 6-day, 24-hour creation of life. Fewer than one in five, on the other hand, follow Biologos in affirming an evolutionary process as God's method of creation.

Knowing that they are in a minority among Protestants did not limit the gathering's enthusiasm. About 60 participants came by special invitation, with the proviso that their names would not be publicized without permission. This was intended to encourage open conversation on sensitive topics. Attending were such luminaries as N. T. Wright, Alister McGrath, John Ortberg, Tim Keller, Scot McKnight, Os Guinness, Joel Hunter, and Andy Crouch. Prominent scientists included Ian Hutchinson of MIT and Jennifer Wiseman, senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. Forty-one pastors and parachurch leaders participated.

Two previous meetings had focused primarily on scientific evidence for the evolutionary process, and on interpretations of the biblical Adam. This year's program centered on concerns for the church—especially for young people who feel torn between science and the Bible.

Few Christian colleges or seminaries teach young earth creationism (YEC), participants noted during discussion groups. But less formal, grassroots educational initiatives, often centered on homeschooling, have won over the majority of evangelicals. "We have arguments, but they have a narrative," noted Tim Keller. Both young earth creationists and atheistic evolutionists tell a story tapping into an existing cultural narrative of decline. To develop a Biologos narrative is "the job of pastors," Keller said.

Participants seemed particularly appreciative of Westmont College's Jeffrey Schloss, who presented an elegant overview of evidence for evolution and closed with a critique of ideological evolutionists who make evolution into a universal explanation. Wheaton College Old Testament professor John Walton was also greatly appreciated for his new understandings of Genesis 1–2, interpreting it as the inauguration of the earth as God's temple.

Biologos was founded in 2007 by Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, after his book The Language of God elicited thousands of email questions. Collins was soon named director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and had to drop out of leadership, though he has maintained an active interest and attended the New York meetings. Under the leadership of Darrel Falk, a biologist at Point Loma Nazarene University, Biologos has launched a wide variety of initiatives to improve understanding between Christianity and science. –Christianity Today

Mitt Romney's Cousin Says Mormon Church A Fraud, Divides Families

While GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney is not known for a willingness to discuss his Mormon faith in detail, at least during his political speeches, a family member and former Mormon has come out to accuse The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of being a cult and a fraud.

"I became convinced that it's a fraud," Park Romney, an ex-Mormon high priest and Romney's cousin, shared with the BBC. "I am alienated from my family. Their doctrine, their protocol and their culture as enforced by bishops encourages the families to disassociate themselves from the apostate."

Expanding on his reasons for why he was led to believe the LDS Church is a fraud, the Republican's cousin revealed:

"There's compelling evidence that the Mormon Church leaders knowingly and willfully misrepresent the historical truth of their origins and of the church for the purpose of deceiving their members into a state of mind that renders them exploitable."

However, members of the LDS Church disagree with Park Romney's accusations, and maintain that their religion is not a cult, and does not try to divide families by shunning members who have openly disagreed with the church's teachings.

"If I had a son or a daughter who left the church or was alienated or had a problem, I can tell you I would not cut that child out of family life," LDS Church elder Jeffrey Holland told the BBC. "We don't use that word and we don't know that practice," he said when asked about "shunning" ex-members.

"If that is what they believe, it's probably a good thing they leave, because we're not a cult," Holland continued. "I have chosen this church because of the faith that I feel and the inspiration that comes, but if people want to call us a cult, you can call us a cult. But we are 14 million and growing."

Mormonism, however, is still considered a fringe belief system by many Christians in the country, with some calling it a cult religion and asking people avoid voting for Romney based on his involvement with the LDS Church.

"Evangelical Christians should not vote for Mitt Romney because he's a Mormon, therefore not a real Christian," Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, has said on several occasions.

"This nomination would be in the bag if it weren't for the Mormon factor," John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, who works on the intersection of religion and politics, told the New York Times.

A recent poll by the Pew Forum revealed that Mormons themselves still do not feel they are being accepted by the larger American society, with 62 percent of Mormon respondents saying that Americans know little or nothing about Mormonism. No less than 46 percent of them also believe that Americans discriminate against Mormons – they identified only gays and Muslims as facing a higher level of discrimination in the U.S.

However, more than half – 63 percent -- believe that the acceptance of Mormonism is indeed on the rise, which is tied with Mitt Romney's surge in popularity and the increasing likelihood that he will become the Republican presidential nominee to challenge President Barack Obama in November's general election. –Christian Post

Messy Mondays: Seven Lies about Homeschoolers

(OFFICIAL VIDEO)

The Devil Has Infiltrated The SDA Church, And Has Been Using SDA Universities To His Advantage

The sermon [on the attached YouTube video] about Islam and the Qur'an by Dwight Nelson, the senior pastor of the Pioneer Church of Andrews University, and the La Sierra University's Biological Science Department's offering a course in evolution are rather disturbing, to say the least. Each one has to make sure that he/she sticks to The Bible and clings on to God because the flood of modern diabolic deception can easily sweep anyone.

^^^*^^^

  

SDA church says Allah is God!

A Rose For You

Flowers and kind words from a friend while one is still alive to fully appreciate them are far better than a truckload of flowers and kind words in one's funeral.

Here is a special rose just for you from me.

Hopefully, it brightens your day.

Happiness helps to make one appreciative;

Trials help to make one strong;

Sorrows help to keep one human;

Failures help to keep one humble;

Success helps to make one glow;

But only kind words from true friends keep one going!

~ Author Unknown ~

             Pass this on to the special folks in your life - your friends
and your relatives.

Why Anti-Semitism Is Moving Toward The Mainstream

For the first time since the end of World War II, classic anti-Semitic tropes—“the Jews” control the world and are to blame for everything that goes wrong, including the financial crisis; The Jews killed Christian children in order to use the blood to bake Matzo; the Holocaust never happened—are becoming acceptable and legitimate subjects for academic and political discussion.  To understand why these absurd and reprehensible views, once reserved for the racist fringes of academia and politics, are now moving closer to the mainstream, consider the attitudes of two men, one an academic, the other a politician, toward those who express or endorse such bigotry.  The academic is Professor Brian Leiter.  The politician is Ron Paul.

You’ve probably never heard of Leiter.  He’s a relatively obscure professor of jurisprudence, who is trying to elevate his profile by publishing a gossipy blog about law school professors.  He is a colleague of John Mearsheimer, a prominent and world famous professor at the University of Chicago.

Several months ago Mearsheimer enthusiastically endorsed a book, really a pamphlet, that included all the classic anti-Semitic tropes.  It was entitled “The Wandering Who” and written by Gilad Atzmon, a British version of David Duke, who plays the saxophone and has no academic connections.  Atzmon writes that we must take “very seriously” the claim that “the Jewish people are trying to control the world.” He calls the recent credit crunch “the Zio punch.” He says “the Holocaust narrative” doesn’t make “historical sense” and expresses doubt that Auschwitz was a death camp.  He invites students to accept the “accusations of Jews making Matzo out of young Goyim’s blood.”

Books and pamphlets of this sort are written every day by obscure anti-Semites and published by disreputable presses that specialize in this kind of garbage.  No one ever takes notice, except for neo-Nazis around the world who welcome any additions to the literature of hate.

What is remarkable about the publication of this hateful piece of anti-Semitic trash, is that it was enthusiastically endorsed by two prominent American professors, John Mearsheimer and Richard Falk, who urged readers, including students, to read, “reflect upon” and “discuss widely” the themes of Atzmon’s book.  Never before has any such book received the imprimatur of such established academics.

I was not shocked by these endorsements, because I knew that both of these academics had previously crossed “red lines,” separating legitimate criticism of Israel from subtle anti-Semitism.  Mearsheimer has accused American Jews of dual loyalty, and Falk has repeatedly compared Israel to Nazi Germany.  Both were so enthusiastic about Atzmon’s anti-Zionism—he has written that Israel is “worse” than the Nazis—that they were prepared to give him a pass on his classic “blood libel” anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.  No great surprise there.

What was surprising—indeed shocking—was the fact that Mearsheimer’s relatively apolitical colleague, Brian Leiter, rushed to Mearsheimer’s defense.  Without bothering even to read Atzmon’s book, Leiter pronounced that Atzmon’s “positions [do not mark him] as an anti-Semite [but rather as] cosmopolitan.” Leiter also certified that Atzmon “does not deny the Holocaust or the gas chambers.” Had Leiter read the book, he could not have made either statement.

Atzmon himself credits “a man who…was an anti-Semite” for “many of [his] insights”  and calls himself a “self-hating Jew” who has contempt for “the Jew in me.”  If that’s not an admission of anti-Semitism, rather than “cosmopolitanism,” I don’t know what is.  As far as the Holocaust is concerned, Atzmon asserts that it is not “an historical narrative.”  And as to the gas chambers, he doubts that the “Nazis ran a death factory in Auschwitz-Berkanau.”

Leiter went so far as to condemn those who dared to criticize Mearsheimer for endorsing Atzmon’s book, calling their criticism “hysterical” and not “advance[ing] honest intellectual discourse.” And he defended Mearsheimer’s endorsement as “straight forward.”

The Brian Leiters of the world are an important part of the reason why anti-Semitic tropes are creeping back to legitimacy in academia.  His knee-jerk defense of an admitted Jew hater—who, according to Leiter is not a despicable anti-Semite but an acceptable “cosmopolitan”—contributes to the legitimization of anti-Semitism.

The same can be said of Ron Paul, who everyone has heard of.  Paul has, according to The New York Times, refused to “disavow” the “support” of “white supremacists, survivalists and anti-Zionists who have rallied behind his candidacy.” (These “anti-Zionists” believe that “Zionists”—Jews—control the world, were responsible for the bombing of the Oklahoma federal building, and caused the economic downturn, because “most of the leaders involved in the federal and international banking system are Jews.”) He allowed his “Ron Paul survival report” to espouse David Duke type racism and anti-Semitism for years during the 1990s, claiming he was unaware that they were being promoted under his name.  Edward H. Crane, the founder of the libertarian CATO Institute, has said, “I wish Ron would condemn those fringe things that float around” his campaign, but he refuses to reject the support of these anti-Semites who form a significant part of his base.  The New York Times has criticized Paul for his failure to “convincingly repudiate racist remarks that were published under his name for years—or the enthusiastic support he is getting from racist groups,” including those that espouse “anti-Semitism and far right paranoia.”

Even now, Paul continues to accept contributions from Holocaust deniers, from those who blame the Jews for everything and from other bigots, thus lending some degree of legitimacy to their hateful views.

It has been said that “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”   Leiter and Paul may or may not be good men, but they are guilty of more than merely doing nothing.  They are, by their actions, helping to legitimate the oldest of bigotries.  Shame on them! -Front Pay Mag

Breathe

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." -Jeremiah 33:3

Athletes, when their time to shine has come, are taught young to "Just breathe." Performers, when getting ready to take the stage with every nerve on edge, are told, "Just breathe." Mothers in childbirth you are told, "Just breathe." Fathers, insecure about supporting their families, are told, "Just breathe." Prospective employees walking into that final interview remind themselves, "Just breathe."

There is something about breathing in the breath of life. The mere act of taking breath into our lungs calms the nerves and relaxes the mind. Now it's time for you to take that simple act to a level far beyond your imagination. As you take that deep breath, whisper the name of Jesus. With each deep breath, simply say one name, Jesus. Invite the King of kings into your circumstance. "Call on Me," God is saying to you, "and I will answer you," He promises. "And will show you great and mighty things which you do not know."

What a promise. What a relationship. What a great and merciful Lord we serve!

* * *

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, I will call upon You knowing that You will guide me in every step of life, and show me great and marvelous things that I do not know! In Jesus' name, Amen.

* * *

Breathe in the name of Jesus. After a time in this breath prayer, share what you experience.

Written by Jim Penner-Hour of Power

University Accused of Discriminating Against Muslims

New charges have recently been filed against the University on counts of illegal discrimination against its Muslim and female students. The allegations are being reviewed by the District of Colombia Office of Human Rights (OHR), which has the strictest discrimination laws in the country. President John H. Garvey and the University is being urged to respond to the charges.

John F. Banzhaf III, the George Washington University Professor of Public Interest Law who initiated the legal controversy surrounding same-sex residence halls, is also the one behind these new charges.

The official allegations claim that CUA, “does not provide space – as other universities do – for the many daily prayers Muslim students must make, forcing them instead to find temporarily empty classrooms where they are often surrounded by Catholic symbols which are incongruous to their religion,” according to a press release on PRLOG.com.

This formal complaint also maintains that the new same-sex residence halls are particularly discriminating against female students, which is a new position on the same-sex lawsuit that began last month.

Banzhaf claims that the University is denying Muslim students the same benefits that students of other religions are able to enjoy since there is no formal Muslim association sponsored by Catholic University but the Columbus School of Law has an association for Jewish students

“Denying Muslim students the opportunity for form a student group on campus could hardly be based upon any fundamental Catholic doctrine since Georgetown University not only has such a Muslim student group, but also provides its Muslim students with a separate prayer room and even a Muslim chaplain,” said Banzhaf in that press release.

Wiaam Al Salmi, a Muslim student at CUA who recently started the Arab American Association, which had is first meeting this week,  said, “The community here is very respectful of other religions and I feel free to openly practice it.”

As the number of Arabs has drastically increased over the past year, Al Salmi began this organization as a way to encourage American and Arab students to comfortably interact with one another. She found that Arab and American students have a difficult time befriending each other because people naturally gravitate towards others with similar backgrounds and interests. Although not limited to Muslim students, the Arab American Association has many Muslim members.

“The ideal mission of this student organization shall be bridging two cultures by developing a community that understands the Arabic culture, discusses cultural issues, eliminates stereotypes, and establishes a student association that will carry on in the future within CUA,” said Al Salmi.

With the number of Arab students increasing at CUA, the number of Muslim students has also grown. According to the Planning, Institutional Research, Student Learning Outcomes Assessment of CUA, in the fall of 2007, there were a total of 56 Muslim undergraduate, graduate and law students on campus. That number has more than doubled as of fall 2011, as 122 Muslim students are currently members of the CUA community.

“An important reason [that Muslims are gravitating towards Catholic universities] is that the Muslim students, especially those who are observant, feel comfortable and safe at the institution,” said President Garvey in an interview with NPR in December of 2010.  “It’s a place where their own faith practices are mirrored by our own. And they feel both welcome and understood at the campus.”

“Even though it’s a Catholic school, a lot of its teachings are very similar to Islam,” said Al Salmi. “It teaches respect, community service, love, worship etc. which are things that Islam also teaches.”

The discrimination charge asserts that although OHR has been investigating alleged discrimination on campus since Banzhaf’s lawsuit began, “neither the President nor anyone else speaking for the University has sought to explain to the public, or even to CUA’s own students, why it believes that its discrimination does not violate the Human Rights Act.”

“As University spokesman, I have repeatedly explained to anyone who has asked me, including the media, that we reject the premise of Banzhaf’s argument, namely that single-sex residence halls are discriminatory,” said Victor Nakas, University Vice President of Public Affairs. “And we also reject his assumption that the Human Rights Act requires residence halls to be co-ed.”

As these charges are being considered by the Office of Human Rights, the University administration said they will continue to work towards the betterment of its students.

“Catholic University is committed to the religious freedom and dignity of all members of its community,” said Nakas. “This includes the dozens of Muslims who come to the University for its academic excellence as well as its demonstrated history of outreach and dialogue to people of all faiths.” -The Tower

Monster Titanoboa Snake Invades New York

New York commuters arriving  at Grand Central Station were greeted by a monstrous sight: a 48-foot-long, 2,500-pound titanoboa snake.

The good news: It's not alive. Anymore. But the full-scale replica of the reptile -- which was unveiled at the commuter hub on March 22 -- is intended, as Smithsonian spokesperson Randall Kremer joked, to "scare the daylights out of people" -- actually has a higher calling: to "communicate science to a lot of people." The scientifically scary-accurate model will go a long way toward that: If this snake slithered by you, it would be waist-high and measure the length of a school bus. Think of it as the T-rex of snakes.

This newly discovered species, known as titanoboa  (yes, the words "titan" and "boa" are in there), which lived 65 million years ago, is about to have its close-up. The New York City appearance is promoting an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in D.C. opening on March 30, which ties in to a TV special on the Smithsonian Channel called, what else, "Titanoboa: Monster Snake." The two-hour program airs April 1.

Remains of the titanoboa were first discovered in a Colombian coal mine in 2005. One of the researchers specializing in the Paleocene era, the time after the death of the dinosaurs, was Jonathan Bloch. A vertebrate paleontologist from University of Florida's Museum of Natural History, the scientist led multiple expeditions, along with Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The team collected remains from the mine, which resulted in the find. Together with ancient-snake expert Jason Head of the University of Nebraska, they named the world's largest snake Titanoboa.

Speaking on the phone to Yahoo! News, Bloch admitted that when the team was first collecting the skeletons of Titanoboa, he didn't immediately understand what he had found until he returned to the lab. With the help of his students, he was able to identify the fossils as snakes, just much, much bigger than the ones of today. He described the enormous vertebrae as "sort of like if you saw a mouse skull the size of rhino skull."

The predator, which is related to a boa constrictor but actually behaved like an anaconda, lived in water and fed on fish, other titanoboas, and crocodiles (very, very large crocodiles).

If this sounds like Hollywood's next blockbuster, Bloch noted that this time around, truth is actually bigger than fiction: The predator from the movie "Anaconda," for one, is not as big as titanoboa. "This is really an example where reality and the past have exceeded the imaginations of Hollywood." -Yahoo News

RMR: Bear Tagging

Muslim Persecution Of Christians: February 2012

A pastor was attacked with acid and blinded by Muslims screaming, "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is Greater!"]

Half of Iraq's indigenous Christians are gone, due to the unleashed forces of jihad [holy war]. Many Christians fled to nearby Syria; yet, as the Assad regime comes under attack from al-Qaeda and others, the jihad now seeps into Syria, where Christians are experiencing a level of persecution unprecedented in the nation's modern history. Similarly, some 100,000 Christian Copts have fled their native Egypt since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime; and in northern regions of Nigeria, where the jihadi group, Boko Haram, has been slaughtering Christians, up to 95% of the Christian population has fled.

Meanwhile, the "big news" concerning the Muslim world in the month of February—the news that flooded the mainstream media and had U.S. politicians, beginning with President Obama, flustered, angry, and full of regret—was that some written-in [in Islam it is forbidden to write anything in a Korans] in Afghanistan were burned by U.S. soldiers because imprisoned Muslim inmates had been using them "to facilitate extremist communications."

Categorized by theme, February's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity.

Church Attacks

Algeria: Armed men raided and ransacked a church that had been formally recognized since 1958, and dismantled the crucifix. The pastor and his family, trapped inside, feared that "they could kill us." The pastor "has been repeatedly threatened and attacked since being ordained in 2007. In the summer of 2009, his wife was beaten and seriously injured by a group of unknown men. Then, in late 2011, heaps of trash were thrown over the compound walls while an angry mob shouted death threats."

Egypt: Thousands of Muslims attacked a Coptic church, and demanded the death of its pastor, who, along with "nearly 100 terrorized Copts sought refuge inside the church, while Muslim rioters were pelting the church with stones in an effort to break into the church, assault the Copts and torch the building." They did this because a Christian girl who, according to Islamic law, automatically became a Muslim when her father converted to Islam, fled from her father and was rumored to be hiding in the church.

Iran: Iran's Ministry of Intelligence has ordered the last two officially registered churches holding Friday Farsi-language services in Tehran—Farsi being the nation's Persian language—to discontinue the language: "Friday services in Tehran attracted the city's converts to Christianity as well as Muslims interested in Christianity, as Friday is most Iranians' day off during the week." Banning church use of Farsi prevents most Iranians from hearing the Gospel.

Kazakhstan: A new report notes that "Churches are being raided, leaders fined and Christian literature confiscated as the Kazakh authorities enforce new laws intended further to restrict religious freedom in the country."

Kuwait: A parliamentarian is set to submit a draft law banning the construction of churches. Originally, Osama al-Munawer announced on Twitter his plans on submitting a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in Kuwait. However, he later "clarified" his statement, saying that existing churches can remain, but the construction of new ones must be banned.

Macedonia: A two-century-old Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set on fire in response to "a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran." Earlier, "perpetrators attacked a[nother] church in the nearby village of Labunista, destroying a cross standing outside" and "also defaced a Macedonian flag outside Struga's municipal building, replacing it with a green flag representing Islam."

Nigeria: A Muslim suicide bomber forced his way into the grounds of a major church, killing two women and an 18-month-old child during Sunday morning service; 50 people were injured in the blast. In a separate incident, Muslims detonated a bomb outside a church building, injuring five, one critically: "The bomb, planted in a parked car, was left by suspected members of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia [Islamic law] throughout Nigeria."

Pakistan: A dozen armed Muslims stormed a church, seriously wounding two Christians: one man was shot and is in critical condition, the other risks having his arm amputated; another church member was thrown from the roof, after being struck repeatedly with a rifle butt. "The extremist raid was sparked by charges that [the] church was trying to evangelize Muslims in an attempt to convert them to Christianity. The community several times in the past has been the subject of assault and the pastor and his family the subject of death threats." As usual, the police, instead of pursuing the perpetrators, have opened an investigation against the pastor and 20 other church members.

Syria: Some 30 armed and masked jihadis attacked a Catholic monastery—unprecedented in Syria's modern history—demanding money. According to the Catholic Archbishop of Damascus, "the situation in the country is spiraling out of control as the armed opposition spreads its influence to different regions of the state."

Dhimmitude

[General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as Second-Class, "Tolerated" Citizens]

Bangladesh: Three American Christians were injured after their car was attacked by a Muslim mob who suspected they were converting Muslims into Christians: at least 200 angry locals chased the missionaries' car and threw stones at it, leaving three with cuts from broken glass.

Egypt: Rather than punishing the perpetrators who opened fire on and ran tanks over Christians protesting the constant destruction of their churches, the government arrested and is trying two priests in connection to the Maspero massacre. And although Egypt's new parliament has 498 seats, only six are Copts, even though Copts make up at the very least 10% of the population, and so should have approximately 50 seats. Finally, indicating how bad the situation is, Coptic protesters organized a demonstration on Tuesday in front of Parliament to protest "the disappearance and abduction of Coptic girls."

Indonesia: The Islamist Prosperous Justice Party complained about the Red Cross' symbol of a cross; they said it was too identifiable with Christian culture and traditions. Red Cross volunteers and activists rejected the claim, saying that any changes to the logo would be "tantamount to giving in to the extremists."

Iran: A pastor of a major house church movement began serving a five-year prison sentence for "crimes against the order." According to one activist, "His 'crimes' were being a pastor and possessing Christian materials." He is being beaten in jail and has grown ill, to the point where his hair has "turned fully gray."

Israel: A mob of around 50 Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christian tourists atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount, wounding three Israeli police officers in the process. The attack is believed to have been instigated by the former Muslim mufti of Jerusalem.

Pakistan: Yet another Christian woman, a teacher, has been targeted by Muslims on allegations that she burned a Koran. A mob stormed her school in an attempt to abduct her, but police took her into custody. Also, a Christian student who missed the grade to get into medical school by less than 0.1% would have earned 20 extra points if he had memorized the Koran—although no bonus points for having similar knowledge of the Bible.

Turkey: A new report notes that "Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media." The report adds that there is a "root of intolerance" in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths: "The removal of this root of intolerance is an urgent problem that still awaits to be dealt with."

Turkmenistan: A 77-year-old Christian man was detained and questioned by police for six hours after he tried to print copies of a small book of Christian poetry. He was forced to write a statement and banned from travelling outside his home region while the case is being investigated.

Uganda: Not long after a pastor was attacked with acid and blinded by Muslims screaming, "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is Greater!"], his friend, another pastor, was shot at by "Islamic extremists" in what is being described as "a new wave of persecution against Christians in Uganda."

Murder, Apostasy Issues, and More

Egypt: Two Christians were killed "after a Muslim racketeer opened fire on them for refusing to pay him extortion money." The local bishop "hold[s] security forces and local Muslims fully responsible for terrorizing the Copts living there, who are continuously being subjected to terror and kidnapping."

Iran: After enduring five months of uncertainty in a prison, a Christian convert who was arrested in her home by security authorities has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Authorities further arrested six to ten Christian converts from Islam while they were meeting for worship at a home in the southern city of Shiraz.

And of course Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani awaits execution for refusing to renounce Christianity.

Nigeria: A 79-year-old Christian woman and choir singer was found dead at her home, her throat slit with a note in Arabic left on her chest reading: "We will get you soon," a message believed to be directed at her son, a pastor at a local church.

Somalia: Al-Shabaab Muslims beheaded a 26-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity who had worked for a Christian humanitarian organization that the terrorist organization had banned. He is at least the third Christian to be beheaded in Somalia in recent months.

Turkey: A 12-year-old boy, Hussein, publicly professed his Christian faith by wearing a silver cross necklace in school. Accordingly, Muslim classmates began taunting and spitting on him. When the boy threatened to report one of the bullies, the bully's father threatened to kill him. His religion teacher beat him severely: "Like in most Islamic countries, students of all faiths are required to attend Islamic studies in school. Those who refuse to recite the Koran and Islamic prayers are often beaten by the teacher. And so it was for Hussein. He said he was punished regularly with a two-foot long rod because he wouldn't say the Islamic Shahada."

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of Muslim persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

    1. To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
    2. To show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it. –Stonegate Institute

Foot Note: Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

How My Four-Year-Old Son Came Out to Me: As Straight

Tommy has two moms and one gay biological dad. But at the age of 4, he had an announcement: He wasn't like us.

This story was originally published at Salon.

A week after my partner, Abbie, and I were married at Brooklyn’s City Hall, our 4-year-old son Tommy came out to me. Tommy had been excited about our wedding. He’d picked out his own tie and asked me to wear my hair like Princess Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.” But he had questions, too. “You already had a wedding,” he said — and he was right.

Three years before he was born, Abbie and I were married by an Episcopalian priest at the Bronx Botanical Gardens. Over 200 guests attended, and the ceremony took place in an enclosed garden on a warm night in July. It was one of the first same-sex weddings featured in a national bridal publication (Modern Bride 2004), and there is a picture of us from that day — two blond women in gowns — on Tommy’s bedside table.

The day Tommy came out to me, we were walking home from school. He was telling me about Taylor, his most recent crush, when he stopped in the middle of the story, looked up and said, “Mama, you know how you and Mommy are gay?”

I nodded and figured he was going to ask more questions about why we had to get married for the second time.

“Well,” he said, “I’m not. I’m a boy who likes girls.”

I was surprised by the declaration — we never thought Tommy was gay — but immediately replied, “That’s OK.”

“I knew you’d say that,” he said. “I just thought it was something I should tell you.”

We were walking by our local park, and the sidewalk was crowded with kids scooting alongside their parents. I was self-conscious about whether they heard our conversation. I imagined the other parents, straight parents, suspecting me, accusing me, as if it was my fault that Tommy felt he needed to come out to me, as if I had forced my “otherness” onto him.

“Were you scared when you knew you were gay?” Tommy asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I was. That’s a smart question.”

“Why were you scared?”

“I was afraid people wouldn’t like me because I was different.” I turned to Tommy to see if my answer upset him and added, “But that didn’t happen.”

“Good,” he said, and we headed home.

People have asked if I was at all disappointed to hear Tommy describe himself as straight. It’s a fair question. As parents, we want our kids to reflect who we are in the world. Others have asked if I was relieved. This question is problematic and assumptive, but the truth is that I was no more relieved than I was disappointed.

We’d introduced the word “gay” to Tommy early on, in part to give him the language to describe his family, but also because we knew that eventually he’d hear the term in a negative context. Abbie relied on Tommy’s love of Disney movies for an explanation: To be gay means that you are a princess who loves another princess or a prince who loves another prince. Though we were the ones to teach Tommy the word, it still impressed me to hear him use it to explain his own identity. There was nothing political or forced in his use of the word; it was a simple declaration. You are gay. I am not.

Tommy’s dad, Tim, is our close friend. Our original plan was that he would be our donor, and simply a male figure in Tommy’s life on par with our other dear friends. But his role in our family evolved shortly after Tommy’s birth, and to all of us he is unquestionably Tommy’s dad, not just his biological father. Though Tommy did not mention Tim during this conversation, he knows that his dad is also gay. Tim is single and when we talk about finding him a partner, Tommy understands that we are looking for another “prince.” -Alter Net

Outside and Play

Why Are Pastors Afraid To Speak About Politics?

An untapped resource to turn America around is found in the tens of thousands of churches in America. Many Christians don’t vote and their pastors encourage them to avoid politics. Then there are other churches where pastors are fearful of government reprisals, mostly from the IRS at the prompting of groups like the ACLU.

Keeping Christians from being involved beyond the church building and Sunday worship hour is becoming more common. But ever since Christians become politically active in the mid 1970s, secularists have gotten more vocal and strident. “That [Christians] may rant and rave against humanism and feminism and any other ‘ism’ on Sunday, but come Monday the children belong in school.”

Tyrannical regimes are most fearful of organizations that don’t easily acquiesce to authority. We’re seeing this take place in China. “On the first Sunday of 2012, nearly 50 members of Shouwang Church in Beijing were detained following the church’s decision to continue its outdoor worship services that began in April, ChinaAid has learned.”

The latest attempt in the United States at intimidation is Pastor Charles Patrick of the Sunago Christian Fellowship Church who applied for the right to open a charter school. The application was denied because the applicant was a pastor. –Vision To America

Oooops!

The Radical Claims Of Jesus

As we look into Jesus’ own words, a pattern seems to emerge.  Jesus made radical assertions about himself that, if true, unmistakably point to his deity.

One day Jesus was debating some Pharisees at the Temple, when suddenly he told them he is “the light of the world.” It is almost bizarre to picture this scene, where a traveling carpenter from the lowlands of Galilee tells these PhDs in religion that he is “the light of the world?” Believing that Yahweh is the light of the world, they replied indignantly:

“You are making false claims about yourself” (John 8:13 NLT).

Then Jesus told them that 2,000 years earlier, Abraham had foreseen him. Their response was incredulous:

“You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” (John 8:57 NLT)

Then Jesus shocked them even more:

“The truth is, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58 NLT)

Out of the blue, this maverick carpenter with no degree in religion claimed to eternal existence. Furthermore, he had used the I AM title (ego eimi),¹ the sacred Name of God for Himself! These religious experts lived and breathed the Old Testament Scriptures declaring Yahweh alone as God. They knew the Scripture spoken through Isaiah:

“I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be. I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior.” (Isaiah 43:10, 11 NLT)

Since the penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning, the Jewish leaders angrily picked up stones to kill Jesus. They thought Jesus was calling himself, “God.” At that point Jesus could have said, “Wait! You misunderstood me—I am not Yahweh.” But Jesus didn’t alter his statement, even at the risk of being killed.

Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis explains their anger:

“He says … ‘I am begotten of the One God, before Abraham was, I am,’ and remember what the words ‘I am’ were in Hebrew. They were the name of God, which must not be spoken by any human being, the name which it was death to utter.”²

Some may argue that this was an isolated instance. But Jesus also used “I AM” for himself on several other occasions. Let’s look at some of these, trying to imagine our reactions upon hearing Jesus’ radical claims:

“I am the light of the world” (John 8:12)

“I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6)

“I am the only way to the Father” (John 14:6)

“I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)

“I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11)

“I am the door” (John 10:9)

“I am the living bread” (John 6:51)

“I am the true vine” (John 15:1)

“I am the Alpha and Omega” (Rev. 1:7,8)

Once again, we must go back to context. In the Hebrew Scriptures, when Moses asked God his name at the burning bush, God answered, “I AM.” He was telling Moses that He is the only Creator, eternal and transcendent of time.

Since the time of Moses, no practicing Jew would ever refer to himself or anyone else by “I AM.” As a result, Jesus’ “I AM” claims infuriated the Jewish leaders. One time, for example, some leaders explained to Jesus why they were trying to kill him: “Because you, a mere man, have made yourself God” (John 10:33, NLT).

But the point here is not simply that such a phrase fumed the religious leaders. The point is that they know exactly what he was saying–he was claiming to be God, the Creator of the universe. It is only this claim that would have brought the accusation of blasphemy. To read into the text that Jesus claimed to be God is clearly warranted, not simply by his words, but also by their reaction to those words.

Some who teach that we are all gods might accept Jesus’ claims, as long as they weren’t exclusive. The idea that we are all part of God, and that within us is the seed of divinity, is simply not a possible meaning for Jesus’ words and actions. Such thoughts are revisionist, foreign to his teaching, foreign to his stated beliefs, and foreign to his disciples’ understanding of his teaching. Jesus taught that he is God in the way the Jews understood God and the way the Hebrew Scriptures portrayed God, not in the way the New Age movement understands God. Neither Jesus nor his audience had been weaned on Star Wars, and so when they spoke of God, they were not speaking of cosmic forces. It’s simply bad history to redefine what Jesus meant by the concept of God.

There are many who just aren’t able to accept Jesus as God, and want to call him a great moral teacher. But if Jesus wasn’t God, are we still okay by calling him a great moral teacher? Lewis argued, “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say.”³

In his quest for truth, Lewis knew that he could not have it both ways with the identity of Jesus.  Either Jesus was who he claimed to be–God in the flesh–or his claims were false.  And if they were false, Jesus could not be a great moral teacher. He would either be lying intentionally or he would be a lunatic with a God complex.

So the options we must choose from for Jesus’ true identity are:

•  Jesus was a liar who knowingly deceived us.

•  Jesus was a lunatic who was self-deceived.

•  Jesus was who he claimed to be–God. –Y-Jesus
______________________________

¹ Ego eimi is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Isaiah used to describe God in Isaiah 43:10, 11. Dr. James White notes, “The closest and most logical connection between John’s usage of ego eimi and the Old Testament is to be found in the Septuagint rendering of a particular Hebrew phrase, ani hu in the writings (primarily) of Isaiah. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew phrase ani hu as ego eimi in Isaiah 41:4, 43:10 and 46:4” (http://www.aomin.org/EGO.html).

² C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2,000), 157.

³ C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1972), 52.

Foot Note: The above post was excerpted from the Y-Jesus articles “Did Jesus Claim to Be God?” and “Is Jesus God?”

Ragbag Headliners

Shocking HIV Rates Among Black Women

The HIV rate among black women living in some U.S. cities is the same rate as that of some African countries, according to a new multicenter study presented Thursday at the 19th Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

The jarring findings acknowledge that HIV is not an infection that has been eradicated, but one that has been somewhat forgotten, researchers said.

The new data come from the ISIS study (The Women’s HIV Seroincidence Study), and reflect an analysis of at-risk women in six urban areas of the United States that have some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS: Baltimore, Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Washington, D.C., Newark and New York City. –Big Health Report

President Jimmy Carter Authors New Bible Book, Answers Hard Biblical Questions

Jimmy Carter served as the 39th president of the United States, founded the Carter Center and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. President Carter is also a Sunday School teacher and has followed that avocation since his earliest years. In this interview, HuffPost's Senior Religion Editor Paul Brandeis Raushenbush spoke to President Carter by phone about the hardest questions presented in the Bible: from gays, science, the role of women, slavery passages and more. The former president offered answers to each of them with the insights and spiritual wisdom he has included in his latest book: "NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter."

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Thank you so much for talking with me President Carter. As I warned, I am going to be asking the tough questions. So ... Did God write the Bible?

President Jimmy Carter: God inspired the Bible but didn’t write every word in the Bible. We know, for instance that stars can’t fall on the earth, stars are much larger than the earth. That was a limitation of knowledge of the universe or physics, or astronomy at that time, but that doesn’t bother me at all.

How do you approach the passages in the Bible that talk about God’s creation (Genesis 1:1) while maintaining a positive attitude towards science?

I happen to have an advantage there because I am a nuclear physicist by training and a deeply committed Christian. I don’t have any doubt in my own mind about God who created the entire universe. But I don’t adhere to passages that so and so was created 4000 years before Christ, and things of that kind. Today we have shown that the earth and the stars were created millions, even billions, of years before. We are exploring space and sub-atomic particles and learning new facts every day, facts that the Creator has known since the beginning of time.

What do you say to those who point to certain scriptures that women should not teach men or speak in church? (1 Corinthians 1:14)

I separated from the Southern Baptists when they adopted the discriminatory attitude towards women, because I believe what Paul taught in Galatians that there is no distinction in God’s eyes between men and women, slaves and masters, Jews and non-Jews -– everybody is created equally in the eyes of God.

There are some things that were said back in those days –- Paul also said that women should not be adorned, fix up their hair, put on cosmetics, and that every woman who goes in a place of worship should have her head covered. Paul also said that men should not cut their beards and advocated against people getting married, except if they couldn’t control their sexual urges. Those kinds of things applied to the customs of those days. Every worshipper has to decide if and when they want those particular passages to apply to them and their lives.

A lot of people point to the Bible for reasons why gay people should not be in the church, or accepted in any way.

Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.

I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.

What about passages saying slaves obey your masters? (Colossians 3:22) Do you think there is ever a time to say, ok, we know that we don’t agree with that passage, let's get rid of it?

Well, the principles of that are still applicable. It wasn’t a matter that the Bible endorses slavery, it was that throughout history, now and in the future there are going to be some who are in a subservient position like when I was commanding officer of a ship when I was in the submarine corps. It is meant to preserve the basic principles that don’t cause resentment or hatred or betrayal or false attitudes. But it also says that a master should respect your servant. So, it works both ways.

Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). How can you remain true to an exclusivist faith claim while respecting other faith traditions?

Jesus also taught that we should not judge other people (Matthew 7:1), and that it is God who judges people, so I am willing to let God make those judgments, in the ultimate time whenever it might come. I think ‘judge not that you be not judged’ is the best advice that I will follow. Maybe it is a rationalization, but it creates a lack of tension in my mind about that potential conflict.

There are many verses in the Bible that you could interpret very rigidly and that makes you ultimately into a fundamentalist. When you think you are better than anybody else -- that you are closer to God than other people, and therefore they are inferior to you and subhuman -- that leads to conflict and hatred and dissonance among people when we should be working for peace.

There is a scripture passage attributed to Jesus “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew: 10:34) How do you interpret that, in light of your basic belief in Jesus as the Prince of Peace?

For the last 35 or more years, my wife and I have read the Bible last thing every night and just last week we read that passage and discussed it a little bit. What Christ was saying was that when we have conflict in our mind or hearts, between our secular duties and teachings of Christ, we should put the teachings of Christ first.

He was predicting what would happen, that his teachings might cause divisions among people as they decided to follow God’s ordained duties such as peace, humility, service to others, alleviation of suffering, forgiveness -- when we face those conflicts, we should adhere to the principles that never change, to the moral values that are taught through religion.

Should we approach the Bible literally, or metaphorically?

When we go to the Bible we should keep in mind that the basic principles of the Bible are taught by God, but written down by human beings deprived of modern day knowledge. So there is some fallibility in the writings of the Bible. But the basic principles are applicable to my life and I don’t find any conflict among them.

The example that I set in my private life is to emulate what Christ did as he faced people who were despised like the lepers or the Samaritans. He reached out to them, he reached out to poor people, he reached out to people that were not Jews and treated them equally. The more despised and the more in need they were, the more he emphasized that we should go to and share with them our talent our ability, our wealth, our influence. Those are the things that guide my life and when I find a verse in the Bible that contradicts those things that I just described to you, I put into practice the things that I derive from my faith in Christ.  -Huffington Post

A One-Minute And 33-Second Sermon

Who came up with the idea that a sermon should be at least 30 minutes, anyway, when the average human attention span is between 10-15 minutes?

All preachers and lecturers ought to watch and learn from the attached video clip on how to properly preach a sermon in less than 2 minutes!

^^^*^^^

Why Are So Many Cool With Polygamy?

Poll shows moral, legal justifications for ban now in doubt

Polygamy has had very little support in the U.S. since the Republican Party in 1854 declared it, along with slavery, one of the “twin relics of barbarism,” and Congress banned it in 1862. The Mormon church officially abandoned plural marriage in 1890.

But when the California Supreme Court ruled in 2010 in favor of homosexual marriage, one dissenting justice warned that it would not be illogical to expect that support for polygamy soon would follow.

In fact, a polygamous group in Utah just last month challenged a ban on the practice in court, and now a new WND/Wenzel Poll, conducted exclusively for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies, indicates there is a surprisingly high level of support developing across the U.S.

A full 22 percent of the respondents say there is no legal justification for denying polygamy, based on the fact that legislation and judicial decisions have affirmed the validity of same-sex “marriage” for homosexuals.

Another 18.7 percent were uncertain.

Further, 18 percent of the respondents said there was no moral justification for denying polygamy, and 14.5 percent were uncertain.

The scientific telephone survey, conducted March 10-13, has a margin of error of 3.72 percentage points.

While only 6.1 percent said polygamy is a “preferred” lifestyle, another 15.9 percent said it is an “equally valid lifestyle.” Across America, that would mean tens of millions accept the idea.

“When the concept of polygamy was introduced to the respondent, one in five Americans said they saw it as either a preferred lifestyle or an equally acceptable lifestyle,” said Fritz Wenzel in his analysis of the results.

“About this same percentage said they saw no legal or moral justification for prohibiting the practice. While there was significant objection to this practice on moral grounds by conservatives, about one in five respondents across the philosophical spectrum said that, given legal rulings paving the way for gay marriage, they could not object to similar legal findings on polygamy.”

The move had been predicted in 2010 by California Supreme Court Justice Marvin Baxter, but he estimated the time frame would be in the 10-20 year range.

His dissent came in the high court’s opinion that created same-sex “marriage” in California. The decision just months later was overturned by voters who once again passed an amendment to define marriage in the state Constitution as a relationship between one man and one woman.

The vote set up a federal court lawsuit that resulted in a homosexual judge declaring that the amendment to limit marriage was unconstitutional.

The ruling from “gay” judge Vaughn Walker, who stood to benefit from his own court decision, is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Baxter warned in the state court ruling, “The bans on incestuous and polygamous marriages are ancient and deeprooted, and, as the majority suggests, they are supported by strong considerations of social policy.”

He continued, “Our society abhors such relationships, and the notion that our laws could not forever prohibit them seems preposterous. Yet here, the majority overturns, in abrupt fashion, an initiative statute confirming the equally deeprooted assumption that marriage is a union of partners of the opposite sex. The majority does so by relying on its own assessment of contemporary community values, and by inserting in our Constitution an expanded definition of the right to marry that contravenes express statutory law.”

He warned, “Who can say that, in 10, 15 or 20 years, an activist court might not rely on the majority’s analysis to conclude, on the basis of a perceived evolution in community values, that the laws prohibiting polygamous and incestuous marriages were no longer constitutionally justified?”

The primary pro-polygamy influences in the United States were the Mormon advocacy for the practice in the 1800s and the current influx of adherents to Islam.

It also resurfaced just last month in Utah, where a federal judge ruled there is enough evidence to allow a polygamous family – made famous by a television show – to sue over the state’s bigamy law.

It was reported U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups dismissed Utah’s governor and attorney general from the case but allowed the suit to proceed against Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Buhman. The AG had threatened to prosecute Kody Brown and his four wives – Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn – after the TLC show “Sister Wives” debuted in September 2010, but his office has not filed charges.

The family alleges the bigamy prohibition violates its constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, free exercise of religion, free speech and freedom of association.

The Wenzel poll showed 59 percent believe there is a legal justification to ban polygamy and 67 percent say there is a moral reason. That included 65 percent of Democrats, who reportedly are being asked to consider supporting homosexual “marriage” as a plank in their party’s national platform this year.

In the poll, 28 percent of respondent said polygamy is sinful, 33 percent said it is aberrant and destructive and 16 percent said it is aberrant. Those who described themselves as “progressive” were the most supportive, with 6 percent saying polygamy is preferred but a huge 29 percent saying it is equally valid. Those who described themselves as “moderates” followed, with 11 percent saying it is preferred and 19 percent saying it is equally valid.

Forty-six percent of the “very conservative” respondents said it is “sinful.”

Since some traditional marriage laws have been struck down because they do not permit same-sex couples to participate in the institution, do you believe there is any moral justification for denying polygamy in light of those legislative and court decisions? -WND