Long before America’s current absolute separation of church and state, colonial pastors regularly preached on politics. According to historians, 18th century sermons decisively encouraged future revolutionaries to resist King George. Moreover, in Western history, important and far-reaching political doctrines were typically deduced first by pastors, Christian professors, and believing philosophers, etc. In fact, without these eminent and brave men, there would be no modern free and prosperous West.
But today, American Believers languish in a ghetto assembled for anyone suggesting religion should influence public policy. Yet, as our currency reveals, previously such influences were assumed. If our forebears were under the same secularist strictures seen today, the early West would have never escaped mediocrity.
This essay argues the Bible contains unique standards regarding mankind which, when correctly applied, benefit and protect everyone. Further, ministers, many loathe to mention politics for fear of government reprisal, must preach these things without dread. The only way these men can truly serve their flocks is by preaching the whole Gospel, not avoiding some because of menacing government masters. Remember Acts, 5:27-29
The apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin (Jewish Council) for questioning by the high priest. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!”
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you.
4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.
8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.
13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.
14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.
16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.
18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,
19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!
23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,
26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel
28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.
29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,
30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
1 Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled.
2 You who answer prayer, to you all people will come.
3 When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.
4 Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.
5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
6 who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
7 who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.
9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.
1 All Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood.
2 In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler. ’”
3 When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, he made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel, as the Lord had promised through Samuel.
David Conquers Jerusalem
4 David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). The Jebusites who lived there
5 said to David, “You will not get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.
6 David had said, “Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander-in-chief.” Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and so he received the command.
7 David then took up residence in the fortress, and so it was called the City of David.
8 He built up the city around it, from the terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city.
9 And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him.
10 These were the chiefs of David’s mighty warriors—they, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the Lord had promised —
11 this is the list of David’s mighty warriors:
Jashobeam, a Hakmonite, was chief of the officers; he raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.
12 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the three mighty warriors.
13 He was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines.
14 But they took their stand in the middle of the field. They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.
15 Three of the thirty chiefs came down to David to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
16 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.
17 David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
18 So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the Lord.
19 “God forbid that I should do this!” he said. “Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?” Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors.
20 Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of the Three. He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three.
21 He was doubly honored above the Three and became their commander, even though he was not included among them.
22 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.
23 And he struck down an Egyptian who was five cubits tall. Although the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver’s rod in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.
24 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors.
25 He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.
26 The mighty warriors were: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,
27 Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,
28 Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa, Abiezer from Anathoth,
29 Sibbekai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,
30 Maharai the Netophathite, Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite,
31 Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin,
Benaiah the Pirathonite,
32 Hurai from the ravines of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,
33 Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,
34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite,
35 Ahiam son of Sakar the Hararite, Eliphal son of Ur,
36 Hepher the Mekerathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,
37 Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai son of Ezbai,
38 Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar son of Hagri,
39 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,
40 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,
41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad son of Ahlai,
42 Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, who was chief of the Reubenites, and the thirty with him,
43 Hanan son of Maakah, Joshaphat the Mithnite,
44 Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite,
45 Jediael son of Shimri, his brother Joha the Tizite,
46 Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,
“I think that you could define [Jesus] as a Utopian communist, where people would work together to solve our problems,” Modine told The Christian Post. I’m all for working together to solve our problems. But that’s not
Communism. Communism is forcing people to work for the goals of the State, and the State is a bunch of elites who claim they know what’s best for all of us. In the end, it’s these leaders who get the utopian spoils while the masses suffer.
Modine offers this simplistic reading of the Gospel accounts:
“According to the Bible, Jesus and his followers chose to own nothing, and shared their belongings. There were no needy people among them. Those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, put it at the Apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. By this definition, Jesus and his followers were communists.”
The key word is “chose.” Being able to choose is not communism. In fact, Jesus’ disciples did not take a vow of poverty. Peter still owned a home in Capernaum (Matt. 8:14–17; Mark 1:29–31; Luke 4:38), and when he thought Jesus’ death ended it all for him, he returned to his family’s fishing business (John 21:1–14). Paul made his living as a tentmaker (Acts 18:1–3). Unlike Communists who covet what others have, Paul word with his own hands and used some of what he earned to help others (20:33–35). This can’t be done in a Communist system (Phil. 4:14–16). The list of attempts at failed Communist systems is a long one.[1]
Modine jumps outside the gospels and tries to make his case by an appeal to the actions of the early followers of Jesus in the book of Acts (2:44–45 and 4:32–37). R.J. Rushdoony puts the events in their proper historical context:
“The ‘communism’ of the early church, in Acts, was not economic in any sense, and should not be considered as an economic experiment. The church took seriously our Lord’s prophecy concerning the coming fall of Jerusalem (Matthew 24). They knew that they were living in a doomed city and country. The logical step of faith was to make liquid their assets for ready flight. Some who made liquid their assets dedicated their funds in part or whole to the church, for the evangelization of Judea before its destruction [Luke 21:20–24].
What happens when an 89-year-old prisoner of war from World War II is put together with a service dog? The answer is changing the lives of scores of wounded American veterans returning home from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Irwin Stovroff, founder of Vets Helping Heroes, said he witnessed first-hand how service dogs can save the lives of veterans. He explained he was motivated to start a foundation for the purpose since government funds were largely unavailable.
“What motivated me was the fact that I realized these young heroes were coming back and were going to have one tough life,” Stovroff told WND’s Aaron Klein in a radio interview. “They had so many handicaps, being blind, losing arms, having seizures, post traumatic stress disorder, and our government had no funds for dogs.”
Vet Helping Heroes provides the funds needed to ensure that a specialized training process for each dog is tailored to respond to the specific needs of each injured soldier.
In some cases, the dogs learn to block off personal space for PTSD-suffering vets. In others, they are guides for soldiers who lost their sight in battle. Some dogs are even trained to signal an impending onset of seizure by barking, offering their owners a crucial second or two to prepare.
Stovroff says the training costs range from $10,000 up to $60,000 per dog, a sum well out of reach for most returning soldiers. Each dog can take up to two years to train. The training is a complex and extensive process that includes many stages.
“These young veterans coming back, this is the highest rate of suicide we have ever had in the military. … Anytime I have been able to work with a veteran and see that he gets a dog, it’s an entire change in his life,” he said.
So many dog stories making headlines these days -- might cats be feeling a bit jealous?
A privileged feline named Boots, who "walked from a bizarre death sentence," was the star in this recent post by Professor Jonathan Turley:
Boots was the pet of Georgia Lee Dvorak of Berwyn, Illinois. When Dvorak died, she specified in her will that 11-year-old Boots should be put to death. However, the executor of her $1.3 million will -- the Fifth Third Bank -- could not get themselves to euthanize the friendly cat. So they went to court and got the language set aside in a rare judicial intervention.
"We didn't want to euthanize this healthy, living animal," said bank senior vice president Jeffrey Schmidt. The judge agreed, and arrangements were made for the cat to be adopted into a "loving home."
"It raises an interesting question of the limits of a person in specifying conditions in a will," according to Turley. "While animals are property, they have more protections than a sofa."
The comments on Turley's post are quite revealing -- most in sympathetic support of the bank, the judge, and the cat.
Proper judicial intervention? Or law compromised in the name of compassion? Who can help but note the inconsistency among liberals as to the proper role of the courts, application of the law and privacy rights, and further, the stunning hypocrisy when it comes to regard for the life of a pet versus an unborn baby? In the progressive legal view, both pets and sofas in estates apparently have more protection than do unborn children.
Do these people that did the “Forty Days Of Prayer” for Planned Parenthood really believe God will answer them? Yes, God will answer their prayer and isn’t going to be the answer they want. God knows their hearts, good or evil, He will act accordingly.
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that made headlines after sinking in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975. , The entire crew of 29 went down with her.
When launched on June 8, 1958, she was the largest boat on North America's Great Lakes. She remains the largest boat to have sunk there. Nicknamed the "Mighty Fitz", "Fitz", or "Big Fitz". The ship suffered a series of mishaps during her launch: it took three attempts to break the champagne bottle used to christen her, and she collided with a pier when she entered the water.
For seventeen years, the Edmond Fitzgerald carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes ports. As a "workhorse" the Edmond Fitzgerald set seasonal haul records six times. She beat her own previous record. Her size, record-breaking performance, and "DJ captain" endeared the EdmondFitzgerald to boat watchers. Captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship's intercom system while passing through the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers and entertaining spectators at the Soo Locks with a running commentary about the Fitzgerald.
Carrying a full cargo of taconite ore pellets with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in command, the Edmund Fitzgerald embarked on her final voyage from Superior, Wisconsin (near Duluth), on the afternoon of November 9, 1975. En route to a steel mill near Detroit, Michigan, she joined a second freighter, the SS Arthur M. Anderson. By the next day the two ships were caught in the midst of a massive winter storm on Lake Superior, with near hurricane-force winds and waves up to 35 feet high. Shortly after 7:10 p.m. the EdmondFitzgerald suddenly sank in Canadian waters 530 feet deep, approximately 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay. Although the EdmondFitzgerald had reported being in difficulty earlier, no distress signals were sent before she sank. Her crew of 29 all perished, and no bodies were recovered.
Many theories, books, studies and expeditions have examined the cause of the sinking. The Fitzgerald may have fallen victim to the high waves of the storm, suffered structural failure, been swamped with water entering through her cargo hatches or deck, experienced topside damage, or shoaled in a shallow part of Lake Superior. The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is one of the best-known disasters in the history of Great Lakes shipping. Gordon Lightfoot made it the subject of his 1976 hit song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".
Investigations into the sinking led to changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations and practices that included mandatory survival suits, depth finders, positioning systems, increased freeboard, and more frequent inspection of vessels.
Quinn's personal life was as volatile and passionate as the characters he played in films. His first wife was the adopted daughter of Cecil B. DeMille, and actress Katherine DeMille. Quinn and DeMille’s adopted daughter were married in 1937. The couple had five children: Christopher, Christina. Catalina, Duncan, and Valentina.
Their first child, Christopher, aged 2, drowned in the swimming pool of next-door neighbor W.C. Fields.
Quinn and DeMille were divorced in 1965, following his affair with costume designer Jolanda Addolori.
In 1966, Quinn married Italian film costume designer Jolanda Addolori. They had three children: Francesco, Danny, and Lorenzo. The union ended in 1997, after Quinn fathered children with his secretary, Katherine Benvin.
Quinn then married Benvin, with whom he had two children, Antonia and Ryan Nicholas. Quinn and Benvin remained together until his death.
Quinn also fathered two other children with Friedel Dunbar: Sean Quinn, a New Jersey real estate agent, and Alexander Anthony Quinn, an event producer in Los Angeles, CA.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
1) Bill Maher is trying to defame Romney on giving to his Mormon church. Maher is coming across as a meathead because the response is “so”. People are allowed to give to their church if they want to. There is no law against it. Bill Maher needs learn silence is golden.
On April 22, a touching ceremony was held at Arlington Cemetery for Major General Orde Wingate. Though a British Army officer, he was buried at Arlington in 1950.
Orde Wingate was the Tim Tebow of the British, American, and future Israeli armies. Why? Because like Tim Tebow, he was a devout Christian who found his inspiration in the Bible, and like Tim Tebow he was able to innovate and find ways to succeed even when he lacked equipment and mass.
Wingate got many of his ideas from the Bible, and he applied them in Ethiopia, where he was sent to confront Italian forces occupying the country. Wingate formed what we would call a "special force" consisting of British, Sudanese, and Ethiopian troops, to which were added Palestinian (later Israeli) Haganah SNS units. The group's size was, at its largest, some 1,700 men -- but it succeeded in forcing the surrender of over 20,000 Italian front-line troops, largely by deceiving the Italian Expeditionary Force on the size of the Wingate operation. Wingate's unit was called the Gideon Force, named after the Bible's Gideon. The name Gideon comes from the Hebrew Gidon, meaning Destroyer or Mighty Warrior.
Before his operation in Ethiopia, Wingate played a critical role in training and leading the Haganah, the Jewish self-defense force responsible for the Special Night Squads. While subsequent British-post World War II actions in Palestine, under a British mandate, found the British Army at loggerheads with the Haganah, before World War II the Haganah proved helpful to British interests. In fact, one of the important objectives of Haganah forces, supported by Wingate and the British, was to prevent Arab sabotage of the petroleum pipelines belonging to the Iraq Petroleum Company and to confront the Arab Revolt, then in progress.
Most importantly, Wingate devised unique battle tactics, particularly night operations, and provided extensive training for Haganah forces. The ideas put forward by Wingate eventually formed the basis of ideas about how to run a military force, strongly at variance with traditional attitudes.
Wingate's last venture was operating in Burma behind enemy (Japanese) lines. Japan had a far superior force, but Wingate's leadership of his small force of "Chindits" -- which comprised the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and, in 1944, the 3rd Indian Infantry Division -- caused the Japanese many problems. The name "Chindit" is a corrupted form of Chinthe, which is a Burmese mythical beast that guards the doors of Buddhist temples. While there are different views about the overall success of the Chindit operation, some military historians claim --based on Japanese Army wartime assessments found in captured documents -- that the Chindit penetration of Japanese Army forces forestalled the will of Japan's military leaders to invade India. Had the war moved to India, it would certainly have stirred nationalistic sentiments there, and it could have significantly affected the Pacific War operation and its final outcome. Even worse, out-and-out war could have forced the redeployment of U.K. forces from the European theater, delaying D-Day and giving Hitler more time to mount a defense against the Allies.
Wingate died when his aircraft crashed in India while returning from Burma. The bodies of the nine men lost in the B-25H Mitchell Bomber were first interred in India, but in 1950, they were moved to Arlington Cemetery, where there is a memorial to them in Section 12 at site 288
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—
3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,
8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Final Greetings
21 Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing.
22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.
23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa.
2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua.
3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him.
4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me.”
But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died.
6 So Saul and his three sons died, and all his house died together.
7 When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
9 They stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news among their idols and their people.
10 They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung up his head in the temple of Dagon.
11 When all the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 all their valiant men went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. Then they buried their bones under the great tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance,
14 and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.
Nudging President Barack Obama out of the sanctuary of the Roman Catholic Church, is going to need helping hands of both the celestial and earth bound.
St. Michael and the Archangels must be rooting for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, but are foot soldiers on Mother Earth being tossed aside by the rank and file ostensibly on Cardinal Dolan’s side?
Pastor Fr. Dan Papineau at St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, has cut two parishioners off from an already agreed to letter campaign, and blames his change of mind on the local bishop’s office.
“I received a response from a Diocesan spokesperson on the review of the text and procedure for implementing the Religious Freedom Campaign as reviewed by the Vicar General, Monsignor Richard Harris,” Fr. Papineau wrote in a letter to parishioners Cathy Tyler and Sherri Timmerman.
Fr. Papineau states the following:
“The matters we are concerned about are within the province of the Bishop and only the Bishop can speak from the pulpit.
The letters are political in nature and could cause an IRS investigation resulting in the loss of our 501c status.
Priest (sic) should never issue political statements or promote letters that they have drafted.
And that this initiative is a dangerous precedent that should not be done.” (Emphasis CFP’s).
They recommend referring the parishioners to read the statement put out by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in reference to the HHS Mandate.
These people that come against the church, don’t realize what their up against. God will turn their war on the church against them. God has some mighty ‘prayer warriors’.
While a group that opposes expressions of Christianity in public forums wants the IRS to use its formidable power to crack down on what pastors say, one legal foundation says, “Bring it on,” promising a “legal war” if churches are attacked on such issues.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State Executive Director Barry Lynn recently wrote a letter to the IRS demanding help in quashing the speech of a leader in the Roman Catholic Diocese in Peoria, Ill.
The April 19 letter calls a recent homily given by Bishop Daniel Jenky a violation of IRS regulations relating to the tax-exempt status of the church, because Jenky cited atrocities of past governments, specifically naming Hitler and Stalin, and then cited the failings of the Obama administration.
The homily was also reprinted in the Catholic Post, and urged Catholics to stand by their religious convictions, even outside the walls of the church.
“Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care,” he said.
“In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path,” the homily says.
The homily included the plea, “Now things have come to such a pass in America that this is a battle that we could lose, but before the awesome judgment seat of Almighty God this is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral.”
It has been said that if you aim at nothing, you are bound to hit it. Every day, the clock is ticking. Every day, life is moving forward. What is the meaning of your life? It is especially good to determine this while you are young, because you will decide the evening of your life by the morning of it – or the end of your life by the beginning.
How is life going for you right now? Have you reached your goals? Have you realized those dreams? Is it working out for you?
The story is told of an artist who sculpted a beautiful angel and wanted the opinion of the master artist, Michelangelo, on his work. Michelangelo looked at the sculpture for a few moments, circled it a time or two, and finally concluded, “Well, it lacks only one thing.” Then he left.
He never told the artist what the statue lacked, so the artist sent a friend to Michelangelo to try and find out. Michelangelo told him, “It lacks only life.”
That is how it is for a lot of us. Maybe you have the ultimate house or the coolest car or the beautiful wife or the successful husband. You are firing on all cylinders. But something is missing. What is it? It lacks only life.
We search for meaning in life, trying to find it through the things this culture says we need to be happy, such as possessions or accomplishments or sex or some other thing.
But we fall short. And none of these things meet the deepest need of our lives.
I grew up in a broken home. My mom was a beautiful woman, sort of a Marilyn Monroe look-alike. She was married and divorced seven times and was an alcoholic. In many ways, I had to take care of my mom. Sometimes she would be out all night drinking, and she wouldn’t come home at all. When she did come home, she would usually collapse, and I would need to put her to bed. That was my life. I didn’t understand that wasn’t normal. But it was normal for me.
Yet ironically, as I got older, I ended up in the party lifestyle. I was drinking. I was smoking. I was hanging out with people who did those things. And I thought, Well, this isn’t where the answer is. I don’t want to live like my mom lived, and here I am, doing the same things.
Around that time, the whole drug culture was coming on strong. People told us that drugs would expand our consciousness, so I got into drugs, and they certainly didn’t make things any better. In fact, it made things a whole lot worse. So I knew where the answer wasn’t. I knew it wasn’t in the lifestyle of my mother. I knew it wasn’t in the life I had been living. I knew it wasn’t in the drug culture. So where was it? For me, it was a process of elimination.
On my high school campus, we had some very outspoken Christians who actually walked around, carrying their Bible in public. We called them Jesus Freaks.
My friends actually warned me. “Hey, Greg, be careful. There are a lot of Jesus freaks on this campus.”
I said, “Yeah, like Greg Laurie is going to become a Jesus Freak. Hello! That is never going to happen.”
But one day I went to one of their meetings. No one invited me, but I went because I saw this cute girl, and I wanted to get to know her better. She was sitting there with the Jesus Freaks, and they were singing these weird little songs. And I thought, Look at these deranged people. They are nuts! I thought all the Jesus Freaks were a few clowns short of a circus.
Yet for the first time, I listened, and I opened my heart up. The guy who was speaking made a statement that got my attention: “Jesus said, ‘You are for Me or against Me.’” I looked around at the Jesus Freaks, and I thought, Well, they are definitely for Him. But I am not one of them. Does that mean that I am against Him? I didn’t want to be in the latter category. And that was the day I put my faith in Jesus Christ. That was the day I found the meaning and purpose of my life. And I have never regretted that decision.
Art critic Donald Kuspit, explains, "examining Quinn's many expressions of creativity together—his art and acting—we can see that he was a creative genius..."
Early in life Quinn had interest in painting and drawing. Throughout his teenage years he won various art competitions in California. Quinn focused his studies at Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles on drafting.
Later, Quinn studied briefly under Frank Lloyd Wright through the Taliesin Fellowship—an opportunity created by winning first prize in an architectural design contest. Through Wright's recommendation, Quinn took acting lessons as a form of post-operative speech therapy, which led to an acting career that spanned over six decades.
Apart from art classes taken in Chicago during the 1950s, Quinn never attended art school. He took advantage of books, museums, and amassing a sizable collection. He managed to give himself an effective education in the language of modern art. Quinn remained mostly self-taught, intuitively seeking out and exploring new ideas. There is observable history in his work because he had assiduously studied the modernist masterpieces on view in the galleries of New York, Mexico City, Paris, and London. When filming on location around the world, Quinn was exposed to regional contemporary art styles exhibited at local galleries and studied art history in each area.
In an endless search for inspiration, Quinn was influenced by his Mexican ancestry, decades of residency in Europe, and lengthy stays in Africa and the Middle East while filming in the 1970s and 1980s.
By the early 1980s, his work had caught the eyes of various gallery owners and was exhibited internationally, in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Mexico City. His work is now represented in both public and private collections throughout the world.
Quinn wrote two memoirs, The Original Sin (1972) and One Man Tango (1997), a number of scripts, and a series of unpublished stories currently in the collection of his archive.
2) Here is Dan Savage who is an apparatchik for Comrade Obama. As a matter of fact, Dan Savage is one of Obama’s favorite anti-bullying speakers. Dan Savage did an anti-bully speech that turned into Christian bashing session.
