FOURTH GRADER BARRED FROM READING BIBLE DURING RECESS

October 8, 2010

I remember a young pastor being asked not to return to my high school for the Bible studies he led for a small group at lunchtime. That was 1975.

To not allow a “stranger” (non-student, non-parent, non-teacher) onto a campus is one thing.  This story is something else.

If the Bible is not open for discussion during recess, then what is?

CR

The story from CitizenLink:

A five-year struggle for one Tennessee student’s religious liberties entered a new legal phase on Tuesday.

In 2005, the then-10-year-old Karns Elementary student and a few classmates read and discussed their Bibles during a recess period. When an unnamed parent complained, the principal ordered the student-led study to be stopped.

The Alliance Defense Fund, representing the minor and his parents, Samuel and Tina Whitson, appealed the case this week after receiving a negative jury verdict and being denied a new trial.  The case now goes to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Christian students shouldn’t be prohibited from reading and discussing their Bibles at public schools during non-instructional time,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum.  “That continues to be our primary concern in this case. The Constitution does not prohibit Bibles during recess; it prohibits the banning of Bibles during recess.”

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/10/knoxville-fourth-grader-barred-from-reading-bible-during-recess


CALIFORNIA PASTORS SILENT ON POT LEGISLATION

October 8, 2010

Why am I not surprised?

Could it be that it was very difficult in Garland County Arkansas, near the center of the supposed “Bible Belt,” to get signatures on a petition that was designed to keep foster kids out of homes with homosexual adults?

Could it be that most of the effort to get those signatures were made at the 230 churches in the county and many declined to help?

Yes, that is the reason that this story doesn’t surprise me.

The famed governor of “progressive” California has already signed into law something that has lessened the penalty for pot possession.  He thinks it will save the state money.

What message does all of this send our young people?  I guess that’s a question no one asks anymore.

Lord, have mercy.

CR

Here’s the story:

Russ Jones – OneNewsNow

A measure to legalize marijuana will be on California’s November ballot, but one organization fighting to defeat the bill says many pastors are silent on the issue, which is leaving the pro-legalization activists virtually unopposed.

Proposition 19 goes before California voters November 2. If passed, it will allow those who are 21 years old or older to possess, cultivate, or transport marijuana for personal use. It will also permit local governments to regulate and tax the commercial production of pot.

James Lambert, a former drug user who now supports the efforts of Marijuana Harms Families, explains that many pastors have been apathetic. “I’ve confronted pastors, and it’s very disheartening,” he shares. “I’ve gone to groups that represent a lot of different churches, and my meetings have been lukewarm at best.”

The rest of the story:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1197668


FRESHMAN ORIENTATION AT THE LUTHERAN GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE – MAKE SURE YOU PUT A SIGN ON THE DOOR SO THAT NO ONE INTERRUPTS THE SEXUAL ACTIVITY IN YOUR DORM

October 7, 2010

If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3

“Welcome class of 2014!”

That’s how this video ends.

Unbelievable.

I attended a Lutheran college.  Thankfully,  the college I attended was  a different denomination of Lutheranity than the one featured here.

I think, besides unborn children in the womb, college students are the most vulnerable humans in American society today.  My reasons are too many to list.

My first experience in college dorm life happened as one of the older students in an all-male dorm.  I had transferred in after graduating from a two-year college.  It was a Christian college.  Honestly, at times I thought someone had opened the door of the barn and let the wild horses loose.

Here is a blog post from a student attending a college with Christian terms attached to it.  The video at the end is so sad.  However, it helps to answer some of the questions as to why we are seeing so many problems among young adults today.

The college is named after a king of Sweden in the early 17th century. Some have called him “the father of modern warfare.”  How ironic.

The link includes the following information and the video.  Sit down while watching.

CR

By Phil Cleary, on Sep 15, 2010

Phil Cleary is a member of Gusties for Restoring America at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Before classes even start at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, MN, freshmen students are exposed to a series of orientation and thought reform activities to help them become more acquainted with the “college life.”

While most all colleges have activities and events designed to help students get to know each other and the school they will be studying at for the next four years, what many students, parents, and alumni probably don’t know is the type of activities to which students are actually exposed.

If they did, they might be surprised.

As a freshman student at Gustavus Adolphus College, I recalled numerous students, including me, who were petrified by the extent to which freshmen orientation was actually more like a series of thought reform experiences in which the boundaries of acceptable discourse on campus were shifted in favor of left-wing ideas, values, and culture.

That is why I’ve gone through the trouble of producing the video below.

Featured today are a few clips from the “Inside Scoop,” an hour-long event during orientation that makes it on the “mandatory” schedule for incoming Gustavus students.

It contains a series of clips featuring sexually suggestive theatrics explaining to incoming students such things as: where to get free condoms on campus; how to signal to your roommate that you are busy having sex (so he waits until later to come in); and how to tell your roommate you’re gay (as well as the appropriate response you are to take when receiving such information).

Caution: Video contains scenes and language not suitable for all audiences.

Freshman Orientation at the Lutheran Gustavus Adolphus College (ELCA)

Part 2

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors in those first few days or even hours after you drop your son or daughter off for their first year of College?

At many college’s and universities, the thought reform and attitude adjusting starts early — before ever entering the classroom.  These activities are something that can easily be caught on tape and shared with the public.

Below is the “inside look” at how incoming students of Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, MN are introduced to college life.

This second thought-reform seminar (different from the first, which I shared with you earlier this week) introduces students to all the basic canons of western thought that are crucial to a liberal arts education:

  • Understanding “LGPBBTTQ&A”
  • How to discern the difference between your “sex” and your “gender”
  • A call to censor the content of speech after screaming cuss words at students in the dark

Helpful to keep in mind while watching is that this college presents its mission as tied to the fact that it is a college of the church: It is a “private residential liberal arts college firmly rooted in its Swedish and Lutheran heritage.”

Caution: Video contains explicit content not suitable for all audiences.

Freshman Orientation at Gustavus Infiltrated by Student with Video Camera.


REFLECTIONS ON PRO-LIFE WEEKEND 2010

October 3, 2010

It’s been hot and dry in Hot Springs for most of the Summer.  The weather has finally turned cooler.  There are so many things to do.  Many outings have had to wait because of the weather.  Finally, we had a great weekend to be outside.  And many chose to spend it making a statement about the American tragedy that has continued legally since 1973.

A crowd of close to 100 arrived an hour after noon yesterday, to help create a “Crosses for Life” memorial.  My second year at the event, I soon found myself amongst those of all ages.  As the crosses were pounded into the hard ground, others were being prepared and brought to the “front lines.”

The crosses are well designed.  They only need to be removed from a specially designed bag, the attached crosspiece swung open. Finally, the screw connecting the two pieces of the cross together must be checked and possibly tightened by screwdriver.

Because of the lack of rain the past few months, men with metal poles had to prepare the ground where some of the crosses were to be placed.

The day turned out to be 10 degrees warmer than the meteorologists expected.  Halfway through the work, it was suggested that a water break be taken.  The suggestion was ignored by those with the hammers, and the crosses continued to go up.

As the work progressed, the talk decreased.  The noise of the traffic on one of the most traveled streets in Hot Springs was soon the main sound, besides the knocking of wood by many different types of pounders.

In no time, the dry ground in front of the Nazarene Church was transformed into a memorial to the lives lost to abortion.  Pastor Ken Carney asked each of the participants to touch one of the crosses as he prayed.  My friend’s voice cracked with emotion as he prayed about a subject so close to our hearts.

The memorial will remain for two weeks when many of the crosses will be removed by some of the same folks who helped install them.  The “Crosses for Life” will then be taken to another church where they will create another memorial.

Photo by Barbara Anable

This afternoon, another group of those believing that life should be protected from the time of conception, congregated at another busy spot in the Spa City.  It was arguably the most beautiful day, weather-wise, that Hot Springs had seen in 4 months.

Participants in “Life Chain” chose from four signs.  They were provided by The Garland County Right to Life.

Everyone grabbed a sign and found a spot on either side of the busy street near the famous bath houses.  What a contrast to last year.  Traffic was very heavy as the beautiful day prompted many to take the drive or stroll through the historic part of town.

“Life Chain” is a time of prayer for those holding signs.  The noise of the traffic made this part of the event easier, as it would have been difficult to have any type of a discussion over the loud sounds of vehicles.

Few protested our “statement.”  One of those who did told me that I should be ashamed of myself.

I did feel badly about one thing…that I couldn’t do more to stop the killing.

May God have mercy on us.  And may God bless all who were involved in the pro-life events this weekend.

Chris Reimers


PRO-LIFE WEEKEND IN HOT SPRINGS

September 30, 2010
During last year’s “Crosses for Life,” Bethany Butler hands her brother Brock a cross for placement. Their father was preparing crosses and handing them to Bethany. Is that Ben Hooten in the background?

Two events will be held in the Spa city this weekend by those who believe that life is sacred from the time of conception.

On Saturday, October 2nd, the “Crosses for Life” will be installed on the lawn at the First Church of the Nazarene at 3904 Central Avenue.   The “Crosses for Life” are a silent witness to the children who die by abortion every day in our country.

The work will begin at 1:00 p.m.  If you would like to help, bring a large hammer or small sledge hammer, work gloves, water, and sun protection.

Rain didn’t stop the 2009 Life Chain.

On Sunday, October 3rd, a “Life Chain” will be formed at the Hill Wheatly Plaza at Central and Reserve streets.

Life Chain is a prayerful and peaceful public witness of pro-life people, standing for one hour, praying for our nation and an end to abortion. It is a visual statement of solidarity by those from all walks of life in our community.

The event will begin at 1:30 and will end at 2:30.

For those who would like to be a part of the event, you will stand with thousands of pro-lifers throughout the USA and Canada! You will be a light in a darkened world as you help put an end to abortion through prayer!

Bring your whole family!

Water, lawn chairs, umbrellas and strollers are welcome!

RAIN or SHINE

Signs will be provided in both English and Spanish. Identical signs are used in all Life Chains across the continent.

Be courteous; do not block access to parking or to business entrances.

Do not stand on National Park Property.

See http://www.LifeChain.net for more than 1740 locations in 1470 cities and towns across the United States and Canada

For more information on either event, call Kelly at 501-463-1796 or email GarlandCountyRightToLife@gmail.com.

Zanlynn and Zander survey their fine work at the 2009 “Crosses for Life.”

Manny, creator of the blog “Kairos Now”, saw this article and added two posts dealing with the abortion issue.  You may want to check them out.

http://kairosinfinite.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/in-remembrance


A REAL STAR

September 30, 2010

……A big “thank you” to Barbara Anable for this post.

In early 1940, Kate Smith, a fiercely patriotic American, and the biggest star on radio, was deeply worried about her country. She asked Irving Berlin if he could give her a song that would reignite the spirit of American patriotism and faith. He said he had a song that he had written in 1917, but never used it.

He said she could have it.

She sat at the piano & played it and realized how good it was.

She called Mr. Berlin and told him that she couldn’t take this from him for nothing. So, they agreed that any money that would be made off the song would be donated to the Boy Scouts of America.

Thanks to Kate Smith and Irving Berlin, the Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties.

This clip is from the movie “You’re in the Army Now”.

If you watch to the end, you will see a familiar face.

Frank Sinatra said that when Kate Smith, whom he considered the greatest singer of his age, first sang this song on the radio, a million guys got ‘dust’ in their eyes and had to wipe the tears the ‘dust’ cost.

If you can watch and listen without ‘dust’ getting in your eyes, you have no soul. Sit back and enjoy a Real Star. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnQDW-NMaRs


THE LAW IN LAYMAN’S TERMS

September 30, 2010

Although removed from many places in America, God’s law cannot be removed from the Bible nor from the hearts of men.  Gerald Wheeler sent in this version of the simple rules provided by God  to help men live in peace.

In is impossible to understand the grace of God without understanding the Law.  How can we see that we are sinners in need unless we know the Law?

Here’s Gerald’s email:

In middle Tennessee they translated the ‘King James’ into ‘Jackson County’ language….no joke (posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro , TN ).

(1) Just one God

(2) Put nothin’ before God

(3) Watch yer mouth

(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin’

(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa

(6) No killin’

(7) No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal.

(8) Don’t take what ain’t yers

(9) No tellin’ tales or gossipin’

(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff

That’s it, plain an’ simple. Y’all have a nice day now ya hear!

And bless your little peapickin’ heart….


ATHEISTS AND AGNOSTICS OUTPERFORM CHRISTIANS ON TEST ABOUT RELIGION

September 29, 2010

…………I read this article and took the test.  I’m no Bible scholar but I couldn’t believe how easy the questions were.  Honestly, the results of this survey do not surprise me.  From highly educated “theologians” to those who never crack a book seeking God, our nation is, in my opinion, in the worst spiritual state ever.  Basic Bible truths are being manipulated and carelessly tossed aside in favor of man’s opinion.  When atheists know more about spiritual things than Christians, we are in desperate trouble.

One stat that is telling: only 45% could name the 4 gospels.

Chris Reimers

An excerpt from:

Survey: Americans don’t know much about religion

A new survey of Americans’ knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths.

Forty-five percent of Roman Catholics who participated in the study didn’t know that, according to church teaching, the bread and wine used in Holy Communion is not just a symbol, but becomes the body and blood of Christ.

More than half of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the person who inspired the Protestant Reformation.

The article:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1187078

The survey:

http://www.pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx


NEARNESS

September 25, 2010

So sweet in the evenings

God is so near

as I snuggle to dream, with peace.

Relaxed and with inner joy

a music my heart releases.

Washed over in a love that’s splendid,

knowing His truths.  His promises stand –

when in the meadow of gentle night

I see I’m in His hand.

The crickets are singing twilight to me,

there’s sky painting with a touch,

lifted up in Christ’s love, He says unto me,

“Life’s trials are never too much.”

-Debbie Frenzel

_____________________________________

Debbie lives in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Her hobbies include poetry and public speaking.  She is married to Art.


YOUTH UPRISING

September 23, 2010

Young Pro-Lifers on the Rise

By Darci N. Hill

This past spring I had the opportunity to attend a pro-life banquet sponsored by the Montgomery County Right to Life organization in Conroe, Texas. The featured speakers, as at most such events, were knowledgeable and committed, but they also shared another trait that should encourage everyone concerned for the future of the pro-life movement.

The first speaker was Laura Sprack, an eleventh-grade student who had won a Student Oratory contest sponsored by Montgomery County Right to Life. Miss Sprack spoke on the false illusion of euthanasia. She was poised, informed, and possessed an amazing command of her material. Seeing her on the stage speaking as well as she did gave me new hope for the pro-life message being articulated precisely and winsomely.

Sprack was followed on the podium by a young man named Shawn Carney. A whopping 28 years old, Carney is a co-founder of the Forty Days for Life prayer events, as well as the director of the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life in College Station, Texas (home of Texas A&M University). In his address, Carney rattled off some encouraging statistics regarding the most recent Forty Days for Life event he had helped organize. The forty-day vigil had been observed in 306 cities across the United States, he reported, and during those days of prayer and fasting, 2,818 abortion-minded women had chosen life over death for their babies, and six abortion facilities had completely closed. Most astounding of all, 32 workers in the abortion industry had been converted and quit their jobs!

Carney then began to talk about Abby Johnson, director of the Planned Parenthood (PP) facility in College Station, Texas, which, not coincidentally, is located next-door to the offices of the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life. Being so close to the PP facility afforded Carney some opportunities of speaking with Johnson, whom he knew from his student days, when they were classmates. He recalled having had several conversations with her over the years and, in particular, that she had once told him, “You’re not going to convert me!” But Carney persevered, continuing to pray for her and gently trying to persuade her to change her mind about abortion.

After telling the banquet audience these things, Carney then introduced the keynote speaker of the evening—Abby Johnson.

Abby Johnson’s Story

Johnson, an attractive twenty-something, worked at Planned Parenthood of College Station for eight years and was its director for two. So successful had she been at her job that she was named top director of a PP facility and was invited in March 2009 to attend the National Planned Parenthood Conference in Houston to receive an award. She even got to sit at the same table as Hillary Clinton, who was being presented with the Margaret Sanger Award that year—the most coveted award given by Planned Parenthood for championing abortion “rights.”

So, Johnson reminisced, just one year ago, she had been receiving the accolades of the most prominent pro-abortion advocates in the nation and meeting Hillary Clinton. Now she was speaking at a pro-life banquet, and the following Friday she would have the opportunity to meet one of the most prominent pro-life advocates in the nation, Sarah Palin.

Then Johnson began to talk about the event that triggered this dramatic change in her life: the day she witnessed an ultrasound-guided abortion. The PP facility in College Station had recently hired a husband-and-wife team from Austin who specialized in this procedure. As director of the center, Johnson wanted to learn all she could about it, so although she had never witnessed or assisted at an abortion before, she agreed to help with the ultrasound-guided procedure, which is portrayed as being safer for the mother than an unguided procedure, though it takes five minutes longer.

Johnson described the procedure in detail. Her task was to hold the ultrasound probe on the woman’s belly. Up on the screen she could see the 13-week-old fetus perfectly from head to toe. At first, it was lying still. Then, as the cannula (a straw-like tube connected to the suction machine) was inserted into the uterus and the vacuum turned on, the fetus began flailing and visibly attempting to move away from the instrument.

Johnson recalled that, one minute she saw a baby on the screen and the next minute it was simply gone, torn to pieces by the suction machine. It was at that moment that she decided to leave the abortion industry behind and completely turn her life around. That was October 6, 2009.

Now Johnson is participating in sidewalk counseling and prayer outside the very facility she once directed. As a speaker, she has become one of the most important pro-life voices in the nation. And she is still in her twenties.

So Young, So Many

Before introducing Johnson, Shawn Carney related an anecdote about the reaction of Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, to the pro-lifers who assembled in Washington, D.C., on January 22 for the 2010 March for Life. According to a story by Sarah Kliff in Newsweek, Keenan had traveled to Washington by train, and upon pulling into the station, she noticed the large crowds of pro-lifers. “I just thought, my gosh, they are so young,” she told Kliff. “There are so many of them, and they are so young.”

And she was not the only one struck by the ages of the estimated 400,000 attendees of the march. Robert McCartney, an admitted Roe v. Wade supporter, wrote in a Washington Post column that he, too, “was especially struck by the large number of young people” at the march. He noted that about half of the total number of marchers appeared “to be younger than thirty,” including “numerous large groups of teenagers.”

McCartney also commented on the enthusiasm and even confidence of the young pro-lifers—noting in particular the signs that read, “We are the pro-life generation”—while acknowledging that pro-abortion activists he spoke with “conceded that there’s less energy among young people on their side of the debate.”

What he witnessed took McCartney rather by surprise. He began his column by saying that he had expected to write about the irrelevance and the “quaintness” of the annual pro-life march. But when he took a closer look at this year’s march, he discovered “how wrong I was.”

Indeed, we who champion a culture of life have reason to hope, and cause to rejoice. •

From Salvo 14 (Autumn 2010)

…I would like to thank Joy McArtor for handing me this information.  It is always a blessing to read something as encouraging as this article. – CR