I Agree The Pastoral Silence Has To End

 

The pastors silence is condoning what are government is doing to us.  Our pastors are suppose to take the lead and say “it is time for us to speak out”, “there is evil running in our land”.

The Christians in Germany remain silent during Hitler’s rise. They might of stopped Hitler by speaking up and his atrocities might of never been. Does the U.S. pastors want a repeat of what happened in Germany?

The pastoral silence must end! by Ken Hutcherson, World Net Daily

My friends, the time has come to stand up and speak. Today in the United States of America, there are over 450,000 churches, which includes evangelical, Protestant and Catholic. That means there are over one-half million pastors, ministers and priests overseeing these congregations. Further, the records will show, each week over 60 million people attend these churches’ services. On the other hand, there are less than 2 million Islamic people in the United States. Statistics show less than 3 percent of people profess to be of homosexual preference, yet you would never know that by watching television news or the shows they put on the air for every man, woman and child to watch. These two groups are considered “most favored” by the liberal agenda. So, I will ask you the question, pastor: Are you supposed to be protecting the tiny little minority attacking our Christian belief or the millions of sheep you have committed to the Lord you will protect? And by the way, whom do you fear more – the counterfeit or the Creator?

My friends, can you please step up to the plate like Jackie Robinson did so many years ago for every black person in America, and stand up for justice and equality as only Christ can grant? The freedom to own a gun to protect our families is being threatened hourly by those seeking our demise. Religious persecution of our children in the public schools is as deadly as any cancer we have ever seen. I can assure you the Islamic clerics in America wouldn’t sit back and say nothing! We, as a body of believers, are playing a dangerous game of “silent roulette,” with pastors afraid to speak out and yet holding a weapon no gun can be compared with. The words are “pastoral silence.” This silence has lead to alarming levels of intimidation and persecution of our children in the public schools. Our political system has sunk to an all-time low, encouraging “special-interest politicians” supporting anti-Christian values, such as gay marriage, no respect for human life (both unborn and born) and the removal of the middle class in America, with no consequence for their arrogant actions.

Where are you, my fellow pastors, who have remained silent in the genocide of millions of unborn children, the takeover of our once Judeo-Christian heritage in government, the courts and the recent abandonment of our peer in Iran, who is beaten daily for his Christian faith? Can you not even speak up against our State Department allowing this persecution to happen to this American Christian citizen?

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/the-pastoral-silence-must-end/#dX9KyGy7PXPlczLh.99

Secret Ingredient That Could Keep America Alive By Drew Zahn

 

Secret Ingredient That Could Keep America Alive by Drew Zahn, World Net Daily

WND Editor Joseph Farah told a national radio audience late last week that Election 2012 is evidence the U.S. has been “mortally wounded” and it’s time for Americans to stop looking for political “Band-Aid” solutions to the culture’s wider problems.

“It’s very clear, having been through this election now, that things are going to get worse in America before they get better,” Farah told Tim Wildmon and Ed Vitagliano, hosts of American Family Radio’s “Today’s Issues” program.

Farah suggested that many voters were hoping a Mitt Romney presidency would provide a respite from the erosion of constitutional freedoms and economic peril inflicted on America by President Obama, at least long enough for Christians and constitutional conservatives to regroup.

“But now reality has hit us,” Farah said, “that it’s only going to get worse. He’s going to be even more emboldened – and not just Obama, but it’s the entire Democratic political establishment, they are right in line with him, the culture is in line with him.

“What you watch on television and what you see in the movies and what your kids learn in school and what your older children learn in universities – all of this has an impact on the culture,” Farah said. “It’s driving it away from God, driving it away from the foundations of liberty that our Founding Fathers bequeathed to us.”

But Farah also told the hosts not all is doom and gloom.

“Here’s the good news,” Farah said, “God is still on the throne.”

In fact, Farah contended, the key to redeeming America’s current state lies where it always has: in the hands of God and His people.

“So what’s the answer?” Farah asked. “It’s very important that Christians get down on their knees … and take a good look at 2 Chronicles 7:14.”

That biblical passage states the promise from God, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Farah also explained that Christians can no longer allow themselves and their children to capitulate to an increasingly ungodly culture.

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Rejoice Always? Really? By Greg Laurie

 

I needed to be reminded of this. Sometimes I forget. I know if I do somebody else did too, so hear is you reminder, lol.

Rejoice always? Really? by Greg Laurie, World Net Daily

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! When the apostle Paul wrote these words, he wasn’t kicking back on some Mediterranean beach. He was incarcerated, under house arrest because he had appealed to Caesar as a Roman citizen. He was waiting for the time when he would have his moment with the leader of Rome.

Paul didn’t know what was going to happen. He didn’t know what his future would be. To make matters even worse, some of the Christians were against Paul and were criticizing him. So Paul, in a difficult situation, trapped in this prison cell under house arrest, said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 NIV). In the original language, this is not a suggestion; it is a command.

Some people may be more prone to worry and anxiety than others, but that doesn’t rationalize it. I think we would all do ourselves a favor if we would stop taking ourselves too seriously and lighten up a little bit. I think we can find humor in a lot of situations, sometimes even very difficult ones.

In the worst circumstances imaginable, Paul was saying, “Hey everyone. News flash: Let’s all lighten up a little bit. Rejoice in the Lord always.” Anyone can rejoice when things are going reasonably well. But when you are facing adversity or hardship or sickness and then you rejoice, you are obeying God.

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America's 2 Choices: Judgment Or Revival By Greg Laurie

 

Greg Laurie believes America has two choices, judgment and revival. I believe we have hope in our future, revival. The signs are there to see. God isn’t through with us.

America's 2 choices: Judgment or revival by Greg Laurie over at World Net Daily

What is the future of the United States of America? Are we doomed to go in the way of so many other nations throughout history? Will America end up in the ash heap of history? Or are our greatest days still ahead?

No one can say with any certainty what the future of America is. But I will say this: It is worth noting that in Scripture, the United States is not to be found in the last-days scenario. I am not saying she won’t be there in some way, shape, or form. But there is no clear passage of Scripture that identifies the superpower known today as the United States of America. So it makes me wonder where we are. In Scripture, the greatest nation on earth is conspicuously absent from the world stage during the end times.

We do know this much. Rome was once the reigning superpower on the face of the earth. It had the most powerful military anywhere. But before Rome collapsed externally, she collapsed internally. And I think we would do well to look at the soul of our country right now. I am for a strong military and for taking seriously any foreign threats. But having said that, what about an internal collapse?

Will Durant, who wrote an excellent book on the history of Rome, had this observation about its fall: “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has first destroyed itself from within.”

The difference between Rome and the United States is that this country was initially built on a Judeo-Christian foundation. But we have strayed dramatically from the original vision of our Founding Fathers that produced this wonderful thing we call America. What once was freedom of religion seems to have now become freedom from religion. We have succeeded in getting God out of our schools, out of our sporting events, out of our public places and out of our workplaces.

Christmas was once, at least to some degree, a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Now, “Merry Christmas” has turned into “Happy Holidays” and “Seasons Greetings.” And some have replaced the word “Christmas” entirely with terms like “Winter Solstice.”

Then there is Good Friday and Easter, which are days to remember the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. These have been turned into Spring Break. It seems we are pushing against those values.

But here is the thing we need to remember: The freedom we now enjoy was built on the foundation of absolute truth. And when you remove that foundation, this freedom actually can turn into anarchy. We see our country today saying, “Well, we don’t want to live by those standards anymore. We don’t like the idea of a family consisting of a man and a woman who are married for life. We don’t like the idea of things being right and things being wrong. We want to live according to moral relativism, where we can all choose our own truths.”

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Never A Last Resort By Greg Laurie

 

Never a last resort by Greg Laurie over at World Net Daily

A hardened old sea captain who was very vocal about his atheism was suddenly washed overboard one night during a radical storm. Surprisingly, his men could hear him actually crying out to God for help. Upon rescuing the captain, his crew asked him, “Didn’t you say that you don’t believe in God?”

The captain replied, “Well, if there isn’t a God, there ought to be in times like this.”

We should never think of prayer as a last resort, but should instead make it our first one. Obviously, if you are ill, by all means, go to a doctor. If you find yourself facing an emergency, of course call 911. But we also need to pray – immediately. It may simply be matter of saying, “Lord, help!” Or, “Lord, intervene!” Or, “Lord, show me what to do!” Or, “Lord, give me wisdom!”

Yet sometimes people will do everything they can do fix their situation, and when nothing has worked out, they say, “Well, all we can do now is (gulp) … just pray.” All we can do now? We are calling on Almighty God, creator of the heavens and Earth.

As Thomas Watson said, “When God lays men on their backs, then they look up to heaven.”

Matthew’s gospel records the story of a woman who had spent all of her money on doctors, yet nothing had worked. So she reasoned that if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, she could be healed. Standing in the crowd as Jesus passed by, she reached out, and with as much faith as she could muster, she touched the hem of his garment. And miraculously, she was healed instantly (see Matthew 9:20–22).

Like this woman, we need to look to God, recognizing that through our hardships, he can accomplish great things. God knows all things – past, present and future. God is uniquely qualified to know when to ordain or to permit evil and suffering and when not to. Therefore, if God allows something in your life or even brings it into your life, he has a plan in mind for it.

We love the idea of following God when things are going the way we want them to go. But then, when we hit a rough patch, we say, “Wait … whoa! I don’t want to go through that.”

I was with my grandchildren the other day – all girls – and I said, “Let’s play this. …” They were so excited and were jumping up and down. We got out the toy and started playing, and then we moved from one toy to another to another. After a while, it looked like a whirlwind had ripped through the room.

So I told them, “Now it is time to clean up.” All of the sudden, they weren’t so happy anymore.

“I always have to clean up,” declared one.

“Yeah, I do too,” said the other.

“We took these out to play with them,” I said. “Let’s put them away.” And no one was happy.

The same can be true of us when we don’t like where God is leading.

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Trying To Explain The Inexplicable By Greg Laurie

 

Trying to explain the inexplicable by Greg Laurie over at World Net Daily

A crisis hits hard. It hits fast. And it takes no prisoners. Sometimes a crisis is so epic that you eventually look back on it as a dividing point in your life. You remember your life before and after the crisis.

For Job, it was when his world came crashing down on him in one day. For Joseph, it was the betrayal of his brothers that changed the course of his life. For Jesus, it was when the religious leaders and one of His own handpicked disciples turned on Him.

A crisis is like a mighty and unexpected storm that overtakes your boat. And when this happens, the first thing we usually ask is, Why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this? At the outset, there are no real answers to questions like this. It is very unlikely we ever will have the answers to the whys of life – until we get to heaven.

In our minds, we may believe that we are somehow exempt from suffering. We just won’t have tragedy befall us. We won’t get cancer. We won’t have spouses leave us. We won’t have anyone we love die in any kind of accident. We won’t have problems with our kids. If that is the way you think, then it is time for your wake-up call. We cannot control these things. Crisis will come into our lives.

Ironically, I have had people say to me after the death of my son, “Why has this happened to you, of all people?” I find that to be a curious question, the assumption being that I somehow get a free pass because I am a pastor. But I live in the same fallen world as everyone else. And the Bible says the rain falls upon the just and the unjust (see Matthew 5:45).

I think it is very important not to make the mistake of always trying to find cause and effect for everything that happens. Sometimes if something bad happens to someone, we will say, “Well, they were bad people, and because of that, this happened in their lives.” That may be true. But sometimes bad stuff simply happens, and there is no cause and effect at all. That is because sin is in the world. And because of this, we have aging and sickness and disabilities and, yes, even death. But these things were never a part of God’s original plan.

On one occasion, Jesus’ disciples brought up the subject of a tower that had fallen on a group of Gentiles. The Gentiles were non-Jews – nonbelievers. Everyone knew about this tragedy, and the supposition was that it happened to these people because they were nonbelievers. So Jesus said, “Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too” (Luke 13:4 NLT).

Here is what Jesus was saying, in effect: “Don’t say this happened because they were sinners. You think they were the worst sinners? News flash: Unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

Bad things happen inexplicably.

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Flash: We Know Who Wins! By Pastor Ken Hutcherson And Pastor James Hansen

 

Flash: We know who wins! by Pastor Ken Hutcherson and Pastor James Hansen over at World Net Daily

As pollsters are gearing up for what looks to be an unforgettable political battle come this November, we have a hunch as to who is going to come out on top in this presidential election. No, it’s not Obama. And, no, it isn’t Romney, either. It’s not even a write-in candidate. Nope, the real winner of this election is going to be the longstanding incumbent, Alphabet Soup. Incumbent Soup has used several shorthand monikers in the past, some of which include NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and FOX. And though his name never seems to appear on any ballot, rest assured that he’s there, and he hasn’t lost an election in years.

You see, the networks are like the promoter who pits two fighters against each other. No matter what the outcome is, he gets paid, while the boxers in the ring are the ones getting their clocks cleaned. So the pugilists take risks while the promoter and his groupies sit safely in their air-conditioned box seats. Sweaty trunks or pressed suits? Which would you rather wear?

Of course, one could make the case that the promoter takes all the financial risks of the event. After all, if he doesn’t get the word out, no one will know about the fight. And if no one shows up to watch, it has been a colossal waste of time, energy and expense. Point taken. But the question we should be reflecting on is, “Where is the promoter’s money coming from?” Answering that question may show us that the promoter is taking fewer risks than we might think.

The irony of Alphabet Soup’s campaign is that it’s actually funded by the other candidates. When they or the super PACs that support them raise truckloads of cash, large percentages are willingly funneled right into Soup’s coffer. How’s that for redistribution of wealth? The guys throwing punches are the same guys who are paying people to cheer for them (nobody ever said self-aggrandizement was cheap). What’s even more noteworthy is that while Candidate Soup often berates free-market capitalism, he has no qualms with taking other people’s money for services rendered. He has the ambidextrous ability to wag a finger with one hand while simultaneously using the other to write invoices. Maybe that’s a gift, but we’re beginning to think that we should send Soup two washcloths for Christmas … one for each face. 

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Oprah’s Career ‘Tanking Because Of Obama’ By Joe Kovacs

 

It is sad see this happen to Oprah  but she made choices that are costing her a lively hood she was good at. Backing Obama was one of them.

Oprah’s career ‘tanking because of Obama’ by Joe Kovacs over at World Net Daily

Oprah Winfrey’s virtual vanishing from America’s airwaves is the direct result of her political support for Barack Obama, according to the nation’s top-rated radio host.

“Oprah threw away her TV career for Obama,” Rush Limbaugh said this afternoon. “If you want to know why Oprah’s not on television anymore, it’s because she supported Obama. If you want to know why Oprah is flailing away on a cable network that nobody watches, it’s because of Obama.”

Oprah is best-known for her self-titled TV talk show, which became the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally broadcast from 1986 to 2011.

But her latest venture, the cable channel OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, is flirting with disaster, struggling to attract viewers since its debut in January 2011.

Last month, Bloomberg reported OWN may have lost a staggering $330 million since its inception.

“The company needs to provide investors with a roadmap for this business,” said Paul Sweeney, senior analyst with Bloomberg Industries. “Specifically, how long will they stomach these losses before they make a serious change in strategy?”

Limbaugh says Winfrey’s fall is not difficult to trace.

“Oprah decided that she would let her racial association take precedence over her television and broadcasting knowledge,” he said.

“When she decided that … she had Obama on [her show] and made him a millionaire. She put him on TV to sell his first book. It made him an overnight millionaire. It helped establish him as a rising figure in the Democrat Party. It helped get his biography out there. OK, that’s all well and good. There ought to be some gratitude from Obama for that.

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Bill O’Reilly Talks About Occupy

 

Bill O’Reilly segment spotlights WND reporting over at World Net Daily

 

In his recent Talking Points Memo segment on his popular Fox News show, Bill O’Reilly apparently reference information from a WND article about the radicals behind the Occupy movement.

 

WND’s investigative pieces are regularly utilized as research tools by cable news and talk radio hosts.

 

On Wednesday night, O’Reilly’s Memo segment was titled “Who is behind the Occupy Wall Street Movement?”

 

Stated O’Reilly: “‘The Factor’ has been investigating who exactly is behind the Occupy Movement, which is now very well organized and no longer a citizen protest. Rather, it is a hardcore far-left movement designed to cause as much trouble as possible.

 

“The sincere occupiers left a long time ago. What’s left are the professional agitators. The Occupy Movement is now being run out of Washington, D.C., and offices belonging to the Institute for Policy Studies, a far-left outfit. The director of the group is John Cavanagh, a long-time liberal activist. His non-profit institute accepts money from, surprise, George Soros through the Tides Foundation. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved.”

 

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Alveda C. King Gives NAACP What For

 

Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece blasts NAACP over at World Net Daily

 

Alveda C. King, heir to a long line of NAACP leaders, says the black civil rights organization is taking a wrong turn with its recent decision to endorse same-sex “marriage.”

“Neither my great-grandfather, an NAACP founder; my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., an NAACP leader; my father, Rev. A.D. Williams King; nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda,” said King, founder of King for America

 

The NAACP announced Saturday that its board of directors passed a resolution endorsing marriage “equality.”

 

“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law,” said NAACP CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous in a prepared statement. “The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people.”

 

The next paragraph of the NAACP resolution states: “The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the ‘political, educational, social and economic equality’ of all people. Therefore, the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the constitutional rights of LGBT citizens. We support marriage quality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Further, we strongly affirm the religious freedoms of all people as protected by the First Amendment.”

 

King said that in the 21st century, “the anti-traditional marriage community is in league with the anti-life community, and together with the NAACP and other sympathizers, they are seeking a world where homosexual marriage and abortion will supposedly set the captives free.”

 

Her statement was one of many from leaders of black organizations who reacted in opposition to the NAACP’s statement.

 

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Everyday Jesus By Greg Laurie

 

Everyday Jesus by Greg Laurie over at World Net Daily

 

C.S. Lewis observed that even atheists have moments of doubt. Maybe you have begun to doubt your doubts. Maybe you have begun to wonder about the meaning and purpose of your life. Maybe you are wondering, Can God change someone like me? Well, the answer is yes. He can and He will.

 

In the Bible there is a story of a man whose life was radically changed. His name was Matthew, and he was a tax collector. Being a tax collector meant working for the Roman government. But Matthew was a Jew, so he was seen as a traitor, because Rome was the occupying force in Israel at that time. He was seen as a collaborator with the enemy, a turncoat, someone who had abandoned his people. To be a tax collector in that culture was the worst thing you could do. Think of an ambulance-chasing lawyer mixed with a used-car salesman who works as a telemarketer at night, and that is the idea of how a tax collector would have been viewed in the first century.

 

Matthew probably thought Jesus never would call someone like him. But then his life changed, and his world was rocked when Jesus said two words to him: “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). And Matthew got up and followed.

 

That night, Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to be His dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and other notorious sinners. He had his life impacted by God and wanted to tell his friends. Matthew was a successful man. He was a wealthy man. Being a tax collector for Rome meant that not only would he be paid by the government, but he could add to the taxes he collected from others and become very wealthy.

 

Matthew had reached the pinnacle of success, yet there was something lacking in his life. He had money. He had power. But he was lonely. And he was looking for the meaning of life. He had gone out of his way to offend his fellow Jews and even to offend God himself.

 

In the same way, there are people today who go out of their way to be offensive, to live a radical life – just to get a little attention from other people. Maybe they were turned off by church. Maybe a pastor or a minister or a priest somehow misrepresented God to them, and they don’t want anything to do with Christians.

But Jesus did not say, “Follow My people.” Rather, he said, “Follow Me.” And Jesus never will be hypocritical. He never will be inconsistent. He will be everything that He has promised to be.

 

Does that mean it is necessary to give up something to follow Jesus Christ? The answer is yes. It means giving up emptiness and loneliness and guilt and the ever-present fear of death. In its place, Jesus will give fulfillment and friendship and forgiveness and the guarantee of heaven when we die. It is God’s trade-in deal for us, because Jesus is still saying, “Follow Me.”

 

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God- Just Too Embarrassing To Keep Around By Alan Keyes

 

God- Just too embarrassing to keep around by Alan Keyes over at World Net Daily

 

Most individuals have experiences that pose a fundamental question about who they are. They go through life professing to believe in God or love or something; or else professing to believe in nothing much at all. Then they confront a situation in which they cannot escape a choice; where, by action or inaction they will declare to all the world, or to themselves and God alone, the truth or falsity of what, inwardly or outwardly, they have professed to be.

 

Particularly in such matters of character, I agree with Theodore Roosevelt that some observations are “… true of the Nation, as of the individual. …” From the outset, the United States has professed to be a nation that holds certain “truths to be self-evident,” as our Declaration of Independence says. Of course, if there is no truth, there can be no self-evident truths. Among the self-evident truths is the notion that we are “created equal.” Of course, if there was no creation, we are not created, equal or otherwise.

 

Thanks to the same profession of self-evident truth, we are a nation that relies on the concept of human rights. These rights do not depend on human will, judgment, power or legislation because they are a natural endowment, gifted to us in our very nature by the Creator who proclaimed the “… laws of nature and of nature’s God.” But of course, if there is no God, then …

 

I know from firsthand experience that, years ago, guides at historic sites maintained by our National Park Service stopped quoting such God acknowledging phrases from the Declaration of Independence. I’ve noticed, too, that when July 4 rolls around, the elitist faction’s blaring media touts it as “Independence Day.” They neglect to mention that July 4 is not the date Congress voted to approve the resolution that declared the nation’s independence (that’s July 2). It’s the date on which they approved the words of the Declaration of Independence and authorized its publication. It seems that our God-rejecting elites would rather we didn’t dwell too much on the words of the Declaration. But if there is no Declaration of Independence, what becomes of our claim to God-endowed unalienable rights; and a government dedicated to securing those rights, that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed?

 

It’s always worth noting that through all the centuries when God or the gods were held up by powerful elites to validate their claims of power, it didn’t occur to them to drive all talk of divine authority away from the precincts of government. But since the logic of Christ’s influence opened human minds to God’s empowering love, even for the weakest and poorest of those who truly acknowledge Him; and since he offered the way for everyone to lay claim to true self-government; the “superior people” have decided to tap the undercurrent of God-rejecting atheism. They were more than willing to suppress it as long as superstition and error made divine authority a bulwark of their domination. As it became instead a burning light of truth, revealing the arrogance and abuse inherent in that domination, well, I guess God just became too embarrassing to keep around.

 

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Evangelical Pastors Declare- 'We are gay'! By Ken Hutcherson And James Hansen

 

Ken Hutcherson and James Hansen talk about the true meaning of being gay is.

 

Evangelical pastors declare- 'We are gay'! by Ken Hutcherson and James Hansen over at World Net Daily

 

Coming out of the closet is a difficult decision to make, especially when close, personal relationships are at stake. Will my family abandon me? Will my friends still look at me the same? Will this announcement be worth the risk? These are indeed valid concerns that can make a person live like a double agent for years. And even though this decision is acutely personal, it does help to stand alongside someone else who is ready to announce the very same thing. It is a shared declaration. Coming out may be a personal choice, but doing it with someone you love somehow feels so right. It is with this spirit of unity that we, Pastor Ken Hutcherson and ministerial partner James Hansen, would like to shout loud and proud, “We are gay!”

 

For full disclosure, most of the people who are close to us have known for years how gay we are. Both of our wives know we’re gay and are completely supportive of this lifestyle choice. Our coworkers know we’re gay and have often asked us how they, too, can live as a gay Christian. And even though we’ve never made a formal announcement together, the bulk of our congregation has suspected it for years. How could they not? Our gayness is obvious in the way we talk and the way we act toward one another. Hold a gaydar up to either of us and it’s likely to read “Fabulous!”

 

So, this announcement will only come as a surprise to people who don’t know us that well. For those on the outside looking in, this would be the furthest thing they would ever imagine coming from two pastors at a conservative evangelical church. For some reason, Christians aren’t allowed to be gay. We’re seen as angry, oppressive malcontents who look like they’ve been baptized in vinegar. We’re often caricatured as plastic phonies who are willfully naïve, or miserable misfits who aren’t happy unless they’re unhappy. But from our perspective, certain individuals in another community seem like they’re the unhappy ones who are overtly hostile to anyone who disagrees with them.

 

For instance, Dan Savage claims to be gay. But he’s not. He’s just a vapid agitator who happens to be homosexual. His subcutaneous vitriol recently burst out at some high-school students when he saw they didn’t support his view of the Bible. And despite the obligatory apology he gave for his tirade, Savage’s hostility is what those teens will remember. Nice going, Mr. Tolerance. Now, we ask you, does Savage sound gay? Of course not. How could somebody that sour and unhappy label himself that way? For our part, we would like to extend the proverbial olive branch to this errant activist: Mr. Savage, please come over to our office and we’ll teach you how to be gay. You’ve tried it your way and it’s not getting you very far. It’s only made you a humorless bully. We promise that Jesus can bring you true happiness. If you let us show you how to really be gay, we know that you’ll leave our office a changed man. 

 

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Vets Help Heroes

 

Dog means life or death for war-wounded vets by and over at World Net Daily

 

 

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.

 

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'War' Promised If IRS Attacks Church Speech By Dave Tombers

 

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’.

 

'War' promised if IRS attacks church speech by Dave Tombers over at World Net Daily

 

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.” 

 

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Here is a ‘going to war’ music video for the church.

Me And The Jesus Freaks By Greg Laurie

 

Me and the Jesus Freaks by Greg Laurie over at World Net Daily

 

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.

 

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Citizens Resist King Obama By Nat Hentoff

 

Citizens resist King Obama by Nat Hentoff over at World Net Daily

 

With instant news coming at us continuously on cable and online, there may well be Americans who are unaware of the strong reaction to Barack Obama’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012. The law impelled Kenneth Roth, the executive director of the respected Human Rights Watch, to declare:

 

“President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention (imprisonment) without trial in U.S. law” (“U.S.: Refusal to Veto Detainee Bill a Historic Tragedy for Rights,” hrw.org, Dec. 15, 2011).

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This includes U.S. citizens.

 

Just as ignited is Judge Andrew Napolitano, the senior judicial analyst at Fox News, who, irrespective of his ultimate employer, is TV’s most compellingly informed protector of the Constitution. He warns:

 

“Essentially, this legislation would enable the president to divert from the criminal justice system, and thus to divert from the protections of the Constitution, any person he pleases” (“Can Congress steal your constitutional freedoms?” WND.com, Nov. 30, 2011).

 

As if he were our king.

 

Sounds like typical election year bombast, doesn’t it? But as I reported last week, the president, without going to court, can cage a U.S. citizen only “suspected of association” with our terrorist enemies (“Congress, Obama Codify Indefinite Detention,” Sheldon Richman, The Future of Freedom Foundation, fff.org, Dec. 27, 2011).

 

The Tenth Amendment Center adds: “The indefinite military detention of any person in the United States without charge or trial violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States (and) Article III of the Constitution of the United States” (“NDAA: Liberty Preservation Act,” tenthamendmentcenter.com).

 

How many students are learning any of this in the civics classes that are left in our public schools? 

 

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An Army Of Davids By Herman Cain

 

An army of Davids by Herman Cain over at World Net Daily

 

It’s tough being the underdog in any fight. But if a group of underdogs get together and work together, they can win. That’s the American people up against big government. We the People are fighting the political class.

 

The federal government has become too big, too bureaucratic and too controlling of our everyday lives, and it wants to control us even more every day, with every session of Congress. As a result, We the People are losing more and more of our liberties every day.

 

This administration is trying to tell us which cars to drive, which light bulbs to buy, what foods to eat, where not to take a vacation, how much health care we can have, what to believe, who to believe, how to live, how to spend our money, when to die, where to build a new plant for a business and what fairness ought to be – using our money!

 

Are we asleep, or just plain dumb and stupid?

 

Fairness is the liberty to make decisions about our lives and our money. But this administration is doing everything it can to take away our liberties with government mandates and income redistribution gimmicks like the Buffet Rule.

 

To make matters worse, we continue to see our tax dollars wasted on losing businesses and extravagant spending by government agencies while the national debt continues out of control.

 

In the Holy Bible, David was selected to fight the giant Philistine Goliath, because his brothers and the rest of the soldiers did not want to take on the task. It’s called a lack of courage. David was surely courageous, and because he thought “outside the box,” he found a way to defeat Goliath with a single stone and a sling shot.

 

He won! He killed Goliath.

 

The political class in Washington, D.C., has become the big-government Goliath. We the People must be an army of Davids to take our liberties back from Goliath.

 

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Surviving Life's Shipwrecks By Greg Laurie

 

Surviving life's shipwrecks by Greg Laurie over at World Net Daily

 

In April 2008, I began teaching a series in the book of Acts at my church. Little did I know at the time that pretty much in the middle of that series, the greatest tragedy, trauma and shipwreck of my lifetime would take place.

 

I have had my share of hardships in life – more than many, but not as many as some. I had hoped that maybe the big shipwrecks were over. I always knew there would be storms and difficulties in the Christian life, but hopefully no big, traumatic events. I had hoped there would be relatively smooth sailing all the way to heaven. But with the unexpected death of my oldest son, Christopher, that was not to be.

 

The apostle Paul, a prominent figure in the book of Acts, was shipwrecked three times. In those days, travel by sea was primitive. It was harsh. You took your life into your own hands when you boarded one of those first-century sailing vessels. And Paul had lived through a shipwreck three times.

 

So how do we survive a shipwreck in life? We all will have them in some way, shape, or form. The reality of life is that you are either coming out of a storm or going into another one. That is just the way it is. There are times when you will have smooth sailing. There are times when the sky will be blue and the sun will be shining. There will be beautiful moments between the storms. And, not all the winds that blow in life are necessarily devastating.

 

On Paul’s voyage to Rome, we read in Acts that “the south wind blew softly” (Acts 27:13 NKJV). Sometimes that is the way it is. The south wind is blowing softly. You feel the warmth of the sun on your shoulders. Thank God for those moments. But then a storm comes.

 

Sometimes people think that when they are in the will of God, they will have smooth sailing. That was not true of the apostle Paul. He seemed to face every kind of adversity imaginable. He had many enemies that were jealous of his success and would follow him around and undermine him, intending to destroy him. He had many setbacks in life that involved beatings and physical harm. And he had a personal, physical disability that he prayed to be healed of, but God said no.

 

Commenting on those setbacks, he wrote, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9 NLT). 

 

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Stop Calling Al Sharpton 'Reverend' By Joseph Farah

 

I agree with Joseph Farah. It is time to stop calling Al Sharpton ‘reverend’. Al Sharpton has committed  blasphemy in comparing Jesus with Trayvon Martin . Al Sharpton isn’t practicing Christianity by race-baiting, trying to cause discord. Jesus nor the apostles did that. Bible tells us that when we read it.

 

Stop calling Al Sharpton 'reverend' by Joseph Farah over at World Net Daily

 

It’s time to stop calling Al Sharpton a reverend.

 

I don’t care if he ever got a degree in theology, which I doubt. I don’t care if he ever attended divinity school or seminary, which I doubt. I don’t care if he heads a “church” or gives impassioned sermons, which I doubt.

 

The man is an utter disgrace and shame to his professed religion of Christianity.

But let’s start with some definitions of “reverend”: “a title of respect prefixed to the name of a member of the clergy or a religious order; worthy to be revered; entitled to reverence.”

 

Do you think Al Sharpton qualified under that dictionary definition?

 

I don’t. He is a professional race hustler and shakedown artist, not someone to be revered.

He’s got a public history dating back to Howard Beach and Tawana Brawley and lots more. But what has angered me to the point of publicly defrocking this clown is the way he has diminished the work of Jesus in his utter exploitation of the Trayvon Martin case.

 

“We believe in Jesus, they crucified him and never had a charge,” he said recently. “They never charged, there wasn’t no crime on his indictment. So we’ve got to deal with the inequities of the criminal justice system. The fact that we (black people) are overly-incarcerated, the fact that we go to court and are treated differently, and the fact that when we’re victimized there is not the same response. That’s what Trayvon was about.”

 

Trayvon Martin compared to Jesus? By a supposed Christian minister?

 

Like nearly everyone else I know, I mourn the tragic death of Trayvon Martin. Don’t get me wrong. But he was not Jesus. Nobody is – especially not Sharpton, who should never be mistaken for one of his disciples.

 

First of all, Jesus was charged by the high priest Caiaphas with blasphemy for claiming to be the Messiah (Matthew 26:65). It was a wrongful charge because what Jesus said was true. But to suggest there was no charge displays an astonishing ignorance of His execution.

But that’s just a technicality in dissecting the rantings of a madman. Sharpton’s real offense is in committing blasphemy himself – in comparing Jesus with Trayvon Martin. 

 

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