McCain, Letterman Spar on 'Late Show'
http://newsmax.com/entertainment/mccain_letterman/2008/04/01/84743.html
Republican presidential nominee-to-be John McCain on Tuesday sparred with David Letterman during a taping of his "Late Show." Letterman joked during his monologue that the senator from Arizona reminded him of "the guy at the hardware store who makes the keys" and of "the guy who can't stop talking about how well his tomatoes are doing."
After he added that McCain looked like "the guy who points out the spots they missed at the car wash," the senator appeared on stage.
"You think that stuff's pretty funny, don't you?" McCain asked.
He tossed at Letterman: "Well, you look like a guy whose laptop would be seized by the authorities."
McCain also said the host resembled the guy caught smuggling reptiles in his pants, to which Letterman replied, "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it."
The White House hopeful also compared Letterman to the manager of a creepy motel, the guy who enjoys watching his swim trunks inflate in a hot tub and the guy about whom neighbors later say, "He mostly kept to himself."
Later in the show, the two discussed more serious issues, including the national credit crisis, Iraqi casualties, the U.S. prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the government's bailout of investment firm Bear Stearns and accusations that McCain is not a true conservative Republican.
"I think maybe some people think that you ought to have exactly the same position they have on every issue," McCain said.
Among Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman" in February, and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois was a guest in January.
Hillary Clinton Lies About Bosnia Trip
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07027.shtml
WASHINGTON -- Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton has lied about her trip to Bosnia in 1996. On at least three occasions Hillary has recounted stories about how she and her daughter were under attack from sniper's fire when they landed in Bosnia.
Hillary Clinton has said she misspoke, but if she did have a memory lapse, she had the same memory lapse at least three times on the campaign trail during the past year. What is so astonishing is that a Presidential Candidate can tell lies and then think it is OK continue to lie to the American public.
Neil Cavuto of Fox News called Hillary Clinton's story a lie. It just can't be called anything else considering the facts of the case and Hillary doesn't seem to regret being caught in this type of "misstatement."
Don Swarthout, President of Christians Reviving America's Values said, "The worst thing about this whole story is the fact America's Society has developed a tolerance for allowing Presidential Candidates to tell lies and we all accept it."
Swarthout said, "I am tired of people who are running for President and our elected officials lying to us all of the time...and the America people seemingly just accept it as part of the political process. When are we going to wake up and demand the truth?"
Swarthout made a very important and powerful statement when he said, "I believe we have a right to expect a government based upon the principles of God...instead of a government based upon the principles of the devil."
"As American's we have a right to expect a government based upon the standards of telling us the plain truth and treating people who elected them with some human respect. As American's we all have to start saying these things," Swarthout said.
"We are announcing the start of Don Swarthout Ministries to speak more as a Christian to the people of America. We have gotten off track by somehow thinking doing wrong is right in America. We must return to the principles that made America great and those are the principles of Christianity. People who want me to speak at their events or Church should just call me," Swarthout concluded.
Mike Baker: Stuff We’ve Learned This Past Week
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344688,00.html
It’s time to play one of the PWB’s most popular games… Stuff We’ve Learned This Past Week.
The rules are simple, not surprising if you look at the collective bandwidth of the PWB staff; simply sit yourself down with the beverage of your choice, stare off into the distance for a good minute or two, and think hard about what stuff you know now that you didn’t know last week. I’ll go first.
Mind you, when it’s your turn, don’t prioritize the stuff on your list…simply blurt out whatever pops into your head regardless of where it might fit on the scale of what’s relevant. The important thing is to do an inventory of what crap has happened during the past week that a) caught you by surprise, b) made you say to no one in particular “Huh, would ya’ look at that…” or c) was simply stuff you didn’t know.
I got into the habit of playing this game during one of my first assignments overseas with the CIA. I had a boss who ran regular Monday morning operational meetings to discuss, among other things, operational activity. It was a time to rally the troops, review major cases and make sure we weren’t doing anything out on the streets that could get him in trouble and possibly jeopardize his chances for promotion.
During my first weekly meeting, he went around the small windowless office asking each officer what they were doing, whether they were engaged in any shenanigans that the intelligence committees should know about and, interestingly, what they learned last week.
Huh? A test?
The fact that no one else seemed surprised at his line of questioning indicated that this was a regular routine. As the new knuckledragger in town that week, I was spared the grilling and just had to sit there nodding smartly while being introduced.
The following Monday, after having spent the past week under the command of the QuizMaster, I was ready to play the game. First question — What was I doing?
I opened up my activity file marked with a Top Secret stamp and a Clash sticker and took the floor… (Note: Business tip… always arrive at meetings with a file, a notebook or an official looking clipboard. Do not let others near you view the contents of the file, notebook or clipboard and occasionally refer to the contents as if dealing with critical documents. This will make you appear important and possibly compensate for a lack of intelligence on your part.)
“Well Chief, Operation REDACTED is moving forward… we’ve XXXXREDACTEDXXXX which left us with XXXXREDACTEDXXXX. The chopper was late but XXXXREDACTEDXXXX a donkey and a tribesman named XXXXREDACTEDXXXX but who we all called Stinky after the incident involving XXXXREDACTEDXXXX with a can of squeesy cheese.”
“ Other than that,” I said, “we’re ready to move on XXXXREDACTEDXXXX with two hours notice and will install XXXXREDACTEDXXXX as the country’s new Grand Wazoo after securing XXXXREDACTEDXXXX and disposing of XXXXREDACTEDXXXX in a suitable manner. We’re pretty sure it’s gonna’ work.”
Folks, including the boss, seemed satisfied with my answers.
Next question; Am I engaged in any operational hijinks that could affect SpyBoy’s ascent to the pinnacle of CIA success? “Negative… all operational activity has been briefed to the relevant committees and they’ve all signed off. You’re in the clear sir…smooth sailing even if things go skeewampus.”
And finally, What did I learn this past week?
(Note: Business tip #2… based on actual experience, the following response should not be used. In fact, when answering questions, always pause and think about what you’re about to say… play it over in your head to see if there may be any potential for misinterpretation or misunderstanding as to your meaning.)
“Uh, this past week I learned that you’re a tool.”
Folks, except for the boss, seemed very satisfied with my answer. While we never played the 'What Did We Learn Last Week' game ever again in that location, it did become a popular drinking game in future assignments.
So without further rambling, the PWB presents, Stuff We’ve Learned This Past Week:
Item 1: I had no idea that Senator Barack Obama couldn’t bowl.
If you missed this on the television or internet sites, count yourselves among the lucky and the blessed. There is something uncomfortable about watching a grown, apparently athletic man, perform like a major goober in a pedestrian sport like bowling. He rolled a 37 during an informal stop at a bowling alley in Pennsylvania. That is the equivalent of getting nothing but your name correct on a math test.
To be fair, the PWB, in concert with the Council on Research and Politics (CRAP) down in Washington DC obtained a sizeable grant last year to study the correlation between leadership skills and average bowling scores. After spending a lot of tax dollars, we can finally report that there is no linkage between leadership skills and bowling scores. However, an addendum to the report will be released in April that does identify a fairly specific link between bowling scores and average quantity of beer consumed.
Regardless, Obama’s inability to keep the ball from rolling to the left was stuff I didn’t know before last week.
Item 2: Senator Clinton comes under fire for failure to come under fire.
About the time last week that Obama was telling us he hadn’t heard his long time Pastor Jeremiah Wright make incendiary comments during sermons at the Trinity Church in Chicago over the past two decades, Senator Clinton decided to shoot herself in the foot by dipping into her bag of wartime stories. She dragged out the old chestnut about coming under fire from snipers on the Tuzla tarmac during a visit to Bosnia while First Lady in the Clinton adminstration.
While Bosnia may seem like ancient history to many, it wasn’t that long ago that is was the world’s principle conflict. Clinton did in fact visit during a time of violence and continuing conflict. The problem is that she has retold the story of that visit a few times, and each time has given the impression that bullets were whizzing and folks were zigzagging their way from the military transport to cover. The vision of Hillary, and Chelsea, in helmets dashing from the plane to a bunker while some grizzled Sarge named Corky yells “Serpentine…serpentine…” is admittedly tough to imagine.
It turns out that the reason it was difficult to envision was because it didn’t really happen that way. Yes it was a dangerous time, and yes there were major security concerns for the visit, but the Battle of the Bulge it was not. The First Lady did not low crawl to safety through an enemy fusillade.
The twist here is that the correct spelling of “fusillade” is stuff I didn’t know before last week.
So, you get the idea. That’s how to play Stuff We’ve Learned this Past Week. Now it’s your turn. Send us an email to peoplesweeklybrief@hotmail.com and tell us what crap you know now that you didn’t know last week. It doesn’t have to be about world events or politics… it could be sports, life in general or what your cousin Mabel gets up to when she thinks nobody’s looking. And if you haven’t learned any new stuff during the past week, you might need to get out more.
Till next week, stay safe.
UK's first hybrid embryos created
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7323298.stm
Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal.
The embryos survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a range of illnesses.
It comes a month before MPs are to debate the future of such research.
The Catholic Church describes it as "monstrous". But medical bodies and patient groups say such research is vital for our understanding of disease.
They argue that the work could pave the way for new treatments for conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Egg shortages
Under the microscope the round bundles of cells look like any other three-day-old embryos.
In fact they are hybrids - part-human, part-animal.
"We are dealing with a clump of cells which would never go on to develop," said Professor John Burn of Newcastle University.
They were created by injecting DNA derived from human skin cells into eggs taken from cows ovaries which have had virtually all their genetic material removed.
So what possible justification can scientists offer for doing what the Catholic Church has branded "experiments of Frankenstein proportion"?
The Newcastle team say they are using cow ovaries because human eggs from donors are a precious resource and in short supply.
The hybrid embryos are purely for research and would never be allowed to develop beyond 14 days when they are still smaller than a pinhead.
Scientists want to extract stem cells, the body's master cells, from the embryos, in order to increase understanding of a whole range of diseases from diabetes to stroke and ultimately to produce treatments.
Professor John Burn from Newcastle University says the research is entirely ethical.
"This is licensed work which has been carefully evaluated. This is a process in a dish, and we are dealing with a clump of cells which would never go on to develop. It's a laboratory process and these embryos would never be implanted into anyone.
"We now have preliminary data which looks promising but this is very much work in progress and the next step is to get the embryos to survive to around six days when we can hopefully derive stem cells from them."
Free vote allowed
The research in Newcastle was approved by the UK's fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
"It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular bill," said Cardinal Keith O'Brien.
It acted ahead of the passing of new legislation which will specifically allow the creation of hybrid embryos so as not to hold back research.
The bill setting out the new legislation is not due to be debated in the House of Commons until next month.
It is highly controversial and last week Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave in to demands for a free vote on the issue.
Critics from the Roman Catholic Church say the creation of hybrids is immoral.
"It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular bill," Cardinal Keith O'Brien, archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh declared last week.
Not for the first time developments in science have outpaced the debate from legislators.
For supporters of embryo research the creation of hybrid embryos is a small but significant move forward.
For opponents it is a step too far.
Student Sues Wisconsin School After Getting a Zero for Religious Drawing
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344350,00.html
MADISON, Wis. — A Tomah High School student has filed a federal lawsuit alleging his art teacher censored his drawing because it featured a cross and a biblical reference.
The lawsuit alleges other students were allowed to draw "demonic" images and asks a judge to declare a class policy prohibiting religion in art unconstitutional.
"We hear so much today about tolerance," said David Cortman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal advocacy group representing the student. "But where is the tolerance for religious beliefs? The whole purpose of art is to reflect your own personal experience. To tell a student his religious beliefs can legally be censored sends the wrong message."
Tomah School District Business Manager Greg Gaarder said the district hadn't seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.
According to the lawsuit, the student's art teacher asked his class in February to draw landscapes. The student, a senior identified in the lawsuit by the initials A.P., added a cross and the words "John 3:16 A sign of love" in his drawing.
His teacher, Julie Millin, asked him to remove the reference to the Bible, saying students were making remarks about it. He refused, and she gave him a zero on the project.
Millin showed the student a policy for the class that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in artwork. The lawsuit claims Millin told the boy he had signed away his constitutional rights when he signed the policy at the beginning of the semester.
The boy tore the policy up in front of Millin, who kicked him out of class. Later that day, assistant principal Cale Jackson told the boy his religious expression infringed on other students' rights.
Jackson told the boy, his stepfather and his pastor at a meeting a week later that religious expression could be legally censored in class assignments. Millin stated at the meeting the cross in the drawing also infringed on other students' rights.
The boy received two detentions for tearing up the policy. Jackson referred questions about the lawsuit to Gaarder.
Sometime after that meeting, the boy's metals teacher rejected his idea to build a chain-mail cross, telling him it was religious and could offend someone, the lawsuit claims. The boy decided in March to shelve plans to make a pin with the words "pray" and "praise" on it because he was afraid he'd get a zero for a grade.
The lawsuit also alleges school officials allow other religious items and artwork to be displayed on campus.
A Buddha and Hindu figurines are on display in a social studies classroom, the lawsuit claims, adding the teacher passionately teaches Hindu principles to students.
In addition, a replica of Michaelangelo's "The Creation of Man" is displayed at the school's entrance, a picture of a six-limbed Hindu deity is in the school's hallway and a drawing of a robed sorcerer hangs on a hallway bulletin board.
Drawings of Medusa, the Grim Reaper with a scythe and a being with a horned head and protruding tongue hang in the art room and demonic masks are displayed in the metals room, the lawsuit alleges.
A.P. suffered unequal treatment because of his religion even though student expression is protected by the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday.
"Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate," the lawsuit said. "No compelling state interest exists to justify the censorship of A.P.'s religious expression."
Son of Pastor Injured in Bombing in the West Bank
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07029.shtml
Amiel Ortiz, the teenage son of a Messianic pastor David Ortiz, was seriously injured when a bomb deliver ed to the family's home in the Jewish settlement town of Ariel went off in his hands on March 20.
The explosive was reportedly delivered in one of the gift baskets Jews exchange on the Purim holiday. At last report, Amiel was in serious condition, unconscious and breathing through a respirator.
Local Christians suspect that the Ortiz family was targeted by militants angered by the family's evangelistic work. Christians in the region face frequent opposition from authorities, Orthodox Jews and Muslims for their efforts to share Christ.
Pray for healing for Amiel. Ask God to give comfort and protection to the Ortiz family as they serve Him. Pray that their passion for Christ will be the light that draws others to Jesus (Matthew 5:14-16).
The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/348570.aspx
In 1981, Indiana Jones made his big-screen debut re-igniting world-wide interest in history's most hunted relic: the Ark of the Covenant.
That same year, two real-life raiders went on their own search for the Ark. There were no Nazis and no snake pits - like the movie.
Just two renegade Rabbis on a mission. Their search came to an end in Jerusalem.
"God signed, like with a pen, the location where the Ark of the Covenant was located. You can see it today even, on the rock," said Gershon Salomon, Founder of Temple Mount Faithful.
Designed by God, created by Moses, and revered by the Israelites, from the Sinai Desert to the Temple of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant was the place of meeting between God and man.
In 586 B.C., Israel was conquered by the Babylonians. The Temple was raided by Nebuchadnezzar's army and the Ark disappeared from the pages of history.
"What happened, why did this most dramatic instrument of God's glory and power in human history suddenly vanish?," questioned Joel Rosenberg, Author of Dead Heat.
"All what we know is legends," said Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay who believes the legends are what makes so many people interested in finding the Ark.
Those legends stretch all over the ancient world - starting with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.
"The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood and it was gold plated. Such an amount of gold would be melted down at the time of war immediately after it was captured," Barkay told CBN.
When asked if he thought the Ark itself was destroyed at that time, Barkay told CBN that is what he believed.
Jewish writings say the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark on Mount Nebo in Jordan. Another legend claims it was smuggled to Ethiopia by the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
In Israel, most Rabbis agree that when it comes to the Ark all roads lead back to Jerusalem. They say the Ark never left the city. To them, the so-called "Lost Ark" was never really lost.
On June 7, 1967, Israeli troops recaptured Jerusalem in the Six-day War. The Western Wall was in Jewish hands and those hands were ready to dig.
Archaeologists exposed parts of the wall that had been buried for 2000 years. Not all of the digging was done legally. In 1981, two of Israel's highest-ranking Rabbis, Shlomo Goren and Yehuda Getz picked up their pick-axes and started chiseling their way under the Temple Mount.
"And he knew that at the end of the gate he will come to the secret room where the ark of covenant is located," said Salomon, who was also one of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall in 1967.
Salomon was there 14 years later the night Rabbi Getz opened a secret passage in the Wall and remembers their conversation.
"It was after midnight. And he called me and said to me, Gershon, come immediately, don't wait, your dream is going to be fulfilled. 'What happened?,' I told him. 'The Messiah came?' And he told me, 'He is coming almost.'"
What came next was a subterranean slugftest according to Salomon.
"Arab demonstrations, you know? The Israelis are coming to build their temple underneath the dome of the rock."
At the end of the day, the passage to the Temple Mount was permanently sealed by Israeli Police.
"No doubt, I tell you. No doubt, we needed just two days more to come to the place where the ark of the covenant is located," Salomon explained.
"The work was done without archaeological supervision and when I was the official archaeologist of Jerusalem, I decided to stop the work," said Archaeologist Dan Bahat, who directed the excavation of the Western Wall tunnels.
According to him, the search for the Ark stops with Jeremiah 3:16.
"Prophet Jeremiah says, there will come a day when the ark of the covenant will not be seen, nor will it be visited which means that somehow, he sees the days when it will not be there. In other words, this was a hint from God. Don't look for the Ark of the Covenant!"
Scholars may not agree on the fate of the Ark but many of them agree on one thing: it's discovery could set in motion another event that's been 2000 years in the making - the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.
"Perhaps when it's time to build the third temple, the second temple treasures will be found. Why? Because in Ezra and Nehemiah the Bible indicated that when it was time to build the second temple, God restored the treasures from the first temple which of course have been carted off to Babylon," said Rosenberg.
"When it's time to build a third temple, the second temple's treasures would be found. Wouldn't that be dramatic?," he concluded.
"It is soon to come, I tell you, I promise you, and you check me. Test me. It will be in our lifetime," added Salomon.
Treasury Official Calls Iran 'Central Banker of Terrorism'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344530,00.html
WASHINGTON — A senior Treasury Department official called Iran "the central banker of terrorism" in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee, but said the United States is succeeding in chasing money tied to the Al Qaeda terror group.
Outlining some of what Iran is known to be doing to support anti-American and anti-Israeli fighters, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said Iran "uses its global financial ties and its state-owned banks to pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and to fund terrorism."
He also told lawmakers that Iran uses front companies and "cut-outs" to "engage in ostensibly innocent transactions that are actually related to its nuclear missile programs."
"We've seen Iran's banks request other financial institutions take their names off of transactions when processing them in the international financial system. This practice, which is even used by the central bank of Iran, is intended to evade the controls put in place by responsible financial institutions and has the effect of threatening to involve those financial institutions in transactions that they would never engage in if they knew who or what was really involved," Levey said.
Levey runs the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is responsible for tracking money being filtered into State Department-designated terror groups, for purposes of weapons proliferation and for the narcotics trade. In March, Treasury froze assets of Future Bank B.S.C., for allegedly being controlled by Iran's Bank Melli, which was previously designated by the Treasury Department for facilitating Iran's proliferation activities.
In all, since June 2005, OFAC has identified 51 entities and 12 individuals as proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, of whom 36 entities and 11 individuals were tied to Iran, nine entities and one individual were tied to North Korea and three entities were tied to Syria.
In February, OFAC froze assets of individuals said to be funneling weapons, money and terrorists through Syria to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Levey told lawmakers that efforts to cut off money to Al Qaeda has shown success — especially in the last 18 months — and cited senior Al Qaeda leaders' complaints that they have suicide bombers ready to go, but no money to finance operations.
"Al Qaeda's expression of concern about its financial difficulties is not limited to this one comment," Levey said. "This concern has recently been echoed elsewhere in Al Qaeda's upper ranks.
"This, in part, is the impact of being forced out of the formal financial system. Al Qaeda has had no choice but to turn to less reliable methods of raising, storing, and moving money, giving rise to opportunities for fraud and distrust within its ranks."
Evangelical leaders: Jews need Jesus Christ
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/evangelical.leaders.jews.need.jesus.christ/17630.htm
Dozens of prominent evangelical leaders have endorsed a statement declaring a fact that many Christians already hold to be true – that Jewish people need the Gospel and Jesus Christ to receive eternal life.
The statement, sponsored by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), expressed friendship and love for the Jewish people, but unapologetically declared that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ.
“We want to make it clear that, as evangelical Christians, we do not wish to offend our Jewish friends by the above statements; but we are compelled by our faith and commitment to the Scriptures to stand by these principles,” read the evangelical statement on “The Gospel and the Jewish People”.
An ad with the statement appeared in the New York Times on March 28 and will appear in other major secular newspapers and several Christian magazines throughout April and May.
“It is out of our profound respect for Jewish people that we seek to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them, and encourage others to do the same, for we believe that salvation is only found in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the World,” the statement continued.
Some of the key declarations made by the statement include:
• A pledge of commitment to be loving friends and to stand against injustices against the Jewish people. At the same time, affirming the belief that the most loving and Scriptural expression of friendship towards Jewish people, and anyone called a friend, is to candidly share the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ
• Affirming the belief that only through Jesus that all people can receive eternal life. If Jesus is not the Messiah of the Jewish people, He cannot be the Saviour of the World (Acts 4:12)
• Recognising that it is good and right for those with specialised knowledge, history and skills to use these gifts to introduce individuals to the Messiah, and that includes those ministries specifically directed to the Jewish people ( I Corinthians 9:20-22)
• Denouncing the use of deception of coercion in evangelism but rejecting the notion that it is deceptive for followers of Jesus Christ who were born Jewish to continue to identify as Jews (Romans 11:1)
“Increasingly, Jewish evangelism is being marginalised and even dismissed as irrelevant, inappropriate, unethical or deceptive by some segments of the church,” commented Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the WEA.
“This statement is an attempt to speak to the evangelical community about the biblical basis for sharing their faith with all people, including Jews.
“It is our hope that it will be received in the spirit it is intended by the non-evangelicals who see it,” he added.
Dr Tunnicliffe explained that the statement is made out of friendship and respect for the Jewish people, as well as out of a commitment to stand with the Jewish people who have suffered mistreatment “simply for being Jewish”.
“And that part of our friendship and care and respect is shown in our commitment to share the love of God in Christ whom we believe is their Saviour as well as ours,” he said.
Evangelical Christian leaders who affirmed the statement include the Rev Dr Lon Allison, director of the Billy Graham Center; Dr Mark Bailey, president of Dallas Theological Seminary; Doug Birdsall, executive chair of Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization; Dr. Yonggi Cho, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea; Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship; Dr Jerry B Jenkins, owner of Christian Writers Guild; Dr Haddon Robinson, president of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary; Gordon Showell-Rogers, General Secretary of European Evangelical Alliance; and Dr Lon Solomon, pastor of McLean Bible Church in McLean, Virginia, who is Jewish.
The World Evangelical Alliance is a 162-year-old global network of evangelical churches and organisations with members in 128 nations and claiming to represent more than 420 million evangelical Christians.
Ministry urges Christians to adopt a terrorist for prayer
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ministry.urges.christians.to.adopt.a.terrorist.for.prayer/17612.htm
A new web-based ministry in the US is urging Christians to adopt a terrorist and pray for them as Jesus Christ instructed his disciples to love and pray for their enemies.
Adopt a Terrorist for Prayer (ATFP) agrees that the military needs to fight terrorism, but advocates prayer as a counter-offensive strategy not utilised by generals and politicians.
ATFP founder Dr Thomas Bruce believes the war on terrorism is a spiritual struggle against fear.
“The terrorists are just the highest profile intimidators in Satan's arsenal,” Bruce said in a statement. “They think they are serving God.”
Bruce believes terrorism achieves Satan’s intention when it destroys courage by creating fear.
“Fear destroys hope by inspiring despair. Despair destroys faith and spreads doubt. Doubt undermines trust and then isolates us from one another,” he contends. “You and I can resist the debilitating effects of terrorism by identifying with this prayer movement, encouraging each other, and challenging others to join.”
Terrorists are vulnerable to the authentic Word of God and to Jesus’ forgiving love, Bruce believes.
The idea was sparked by a retired US army general who spoke at a Fellowship of Christian Military Ministries conference about the need for spiritual resources in the battle against terrorism’s spiritual attack. Bruce began thinking about how to fight terrorism on a spiritual level starting in spring 2007.
His idea became reality more recently when the site, myatfp.org, became available online.
He cited what God said through the prophet Ezekiel – “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”
The website lists nearly a hundred prominent at-large and captured individuals identified by the FBI and US State Department as either terrorists or terrorism sponsors, enabling visitors to find a terrorist to pray for as well as see how many others are praying for them.
"It's all about connecting these prayer warriors to each other to see how others are praying, to encourage each other, to spread the word, and fight this war on terrorism in a powerful and spiritual way," said Bruce.
Hamas TV: Child Puppet 'Murders' Bush
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/349189.aspx
JERUSALEM, Israel - The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posted a video clip from Hamas TV depicting an Arab child stabbing President George W. Bush to death.
The puppet skit, aired on an al-Aksa satellite television children's program, shows a little boy confronting President Bush in the White House.
"You made me an orphan," he cries. "You took everything from me, Bush, and I must take revenge on you with this sword of Islam, the prophet's al-Battar sword," he says.
"You are impure, Bush," he says, and the White House "has been turned into a great mosque for the nation of Islam."
"Bush" tries to reason with the distraught and determined child, but to no avail.
"I will kill you, Bush, because that is your fate," says the little boy, as he stabs him over and over again, until his mission is accomplished.
"Ahhh, I killed him," he says.
Report: Non-Muslims Deserve to Be Punished
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344409,00.html
A report posted on Islam Watch, a site run by Muslims who oppose intolerant teachings and hatred for unbelievers, exposes a prominent Islamic cleric and lawyer who support extreme punishment for non-Muslims — including killing and rape.
A question-and-answer session with Imam Abdul Makin in an East London mosque asks why Allah would tell Muslims to kill and rape innocent non-Muslims, including their wives and daughters, according to Islam Watch.
"Because non-Muslims are never innocent, they are guilty of denying Allah and his prophet," the Imam says, according to the report. "If you don't believe me, here is the legal authority, the top Muslim lawyer of Britain."
The lawyer, Anjem Choudary, backs up the Imam's position, saying that all Muslims are innocent.
Click here to watch the interview with Islamic lawyer Anjem Choudary.
"You are innocent if you are a Muslim," Choudary tells the BBC. "Then you are innocent in the eyes of God. If you are not a Muslim, then you are guilty of not believing in God."
Choudary said he would not condemn a Muslim for any action.
"As a Muslim, I must support my Muslim brothers and sisters," Choudary said. "I must have hatred to everything that is not Muslim."
Click here to read the report from Islam Watch.
CNN Founder - Change of Heart on Religion?
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/349354.aspx
NEW YORK -- Ted Turner formed a $200 million partnership Tuesday with Lutherans and Methodists to fight malaria, apologizing for his past criticism of religion as he announced the effort.
Turner, 69, said he had only made a few disparaging comments a long time ago and that he is "always developing" his thinking as he grows older.
"I regret anything I said about religion that was negative," he said in a brief interview with The Associated Press.
Years ago, the CNN founder called Christianity a "religion for losers." He also wrote his own version of the 10 Commandments and asked CNN employees who commemorated Ash Wednesday whether they were "Jesus freaks," saying they should work for Fox. He apologized at the time.
Turner now says he does not consider himself agnostic or atheist, as he had sometimes described himself previously. He prays for sick friends because "it doesn't hurt," he said, and maintains several churches on his properties for his employees and others who live nearby.
He said he has attended the churches a few times, but isn't a regular.
"I find it really hard to believe I'm going to hell," Turner said.
Turner said he had read the Bible "cover to cover twice" even though some of it is "pretty tedious" and considered becoming a missionary as a boy. But he rejected religion after his younger sister died of a form of lupus when they were both young.
On Tuesday, Turner's United Nations Foundation, which he started in 1997 with a $1 billion donation, launched the malaria project with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the United Methodist Church. The Protestant groups have been working overseas to fight poverty and prevent disease for more than a century.
"Religion is one of the bright spots as far as I'm concerned, even though there are some areas, like everything else, where they've gone over the top a little, in my opinion, " Turner said. "But I'm sure God, wherever he is, wants to see us get along with one another and love one another."
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also provided a $10 million grant that will help promote the campaign in churches. The Protestant groups together have more than 15 million U.S. members.
Turner's foundation had been working with many groups, including the Methodists, on the Nothing But Nets campaign, which provides insecticide-treated bed nets in needy communities. Lutheran World Relief also had been helping malaria-infected communities.
But their new joint project has an even more ambitious goal: to stop deaths from malaria.
The United Methodist Church will raise $100 million for the project. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, with their humanitarian arm Lutheran World Relief, will raise between $75 million and $100 million.
"This will be the largest campaign of its type ever for Lutherans," said the Rev. John Nunes, president and chief executive of Lutheran World Relief.
Turner has not completely embraced faith.
He said he continues to subscribe to his alternative commandments, which he called the "Ten Voluntary Initiatives." They include caring for people and the earth, promising not to have more than two children and contributing to the less fortunate.
Nunes said that while the new anti-malaria project will address the underlying poverty that contributes to the spread of the disease, it will not involve distributing contraception.
"The religious community is huge and has a very good reputation for being able to mobilize resources," Turner said. "Why not use them and be thankful?"
Court Rules on Gay Marriage Rights
http://www.newsmax.com/international/eu_gay_marriage_pension_rights/2008/04/01/84670.html
LUXEMBOURG -- EU nations that recognize same-sex unions as legal marriages must grant surviving partners the same pension rights as given to those in traditional marriages, the EU Court of Justice ruled Tuesday.
The Luxembourg-based court ruling was seen as a victory for a German man who was denied his partner's retirement plan payments after his partner died in 2005.
The EU court said pension plan had discriminated against the man on the grounds of sexual orientation because the men's relationship had been recognized under German law as a legally registered life partnership equivalent to a traditional marriage.
The court did not say, however, that all 27 EU nations must recognize same-sex unions, only that if they did they must grant life partners the same benefits.
Today, 10 EU nations do not recognize same-sex partnerships at all: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ireland, according to the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. France and Italy grant them very limited rights, the group said.
But elsewhere in the EU _ notably in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden _ life partnerships have acquired considerable social rights in the last 20 years.
Fox Television says FCC Got it All Wrong; Televised Burlesque is Suitable for Kids
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07026.shtml
NEW YORK -- On Feb. 22, 2008 the FCC issued a Forfeiture Order against 13 Fox TV Network stations, determining that the stations violated the broadcast indecency law when they aired an episode of "Married By America" that focused on adult-only parties featuring sexually oriented entertainment provided by nude or semi-nude female and male "strippers." On Monday of this week, Fox TV stated that it would not pay its part of the $91,000 fine, asserting that the FCC decision is "arbitrary and capricious, inconsistent with precedent and patently unconstitutional."
Robert Peters, President of Morality in Media, had the following comments:
"The FCC is to be commended for issuing a Forfeiture Order against Fox TV Network stations for airing program content that one might expect to see in a burlesque show, not in a medium that reaches into almost every American home and at a time of day when most children are still watching TV.
"I still remember my father talking about burlesque when I was a child; but neither my father nor any other sane adult of the 'great generation' would have recommended moving the burlesque stage from an 'adults only' performance hall to a public park so that everyone could share in the good times.
"As MIM's long-time general counsel Paul McGeady once put it, 'TV...communications partake of the nature of a public thoroughfare (albeit an electromagnetic one), and what may be prohibited on the public street [or park] should be equally prohibited on TV...'
"Once upon a time, TV broadcasters understood that their audience consisted of a cross section of the community, including children of all ages, and acted accordingly.
"Today, broadcast TV networks could care less about who is exposed to their programming. All they care about is Nielsen ratings, which continue to decline in proportion to the degree that the networks trample on community standards, while parading under an ACLU- styled banner of 'free speech. '
"Despite their protestations, however, the problem is not that TV broadcasters can no longer discern community standards. The problem is that the networks no longer care about those standards.
"Nor is the problem that most Americans will no longer watch decent programming that uplifts or enriches the human spirit. The problem is that the media is dominated by individuals who have utter contempt for mainstream values and who confuse pushing the envelope with genuine creativity."
Technology Statements
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2008/773/
We take passages in the Bible for granted, often failing to recognize the technological advancements that are implied by them. Some of these, in subtle ways, are implied prophecies.
Weapons of Mass Destruction
In the book of Matthew, Jesus indicates that:
Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened;
--Matthew 24:22
This is a technology statement. If we were reading this in 1860-before the Civil War-we would have a difficult time anticipating that “all flesh” could wipe itself out with muskets and bayonets! But today a potential nuclear cloud hangs over every geopolitical decision on Planet Earth.
Nuclear weapons appear to be specified in the Magog Invasion in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and neutron bombs are implied in Zechariah 14:12.
“Smart weapons” are implied in Jeremiah 50:9, where:
… their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
--Jeremiah 50:9
The word “arrow” is chets, which can mean a dart, arrow, or javelin; or, “any missile fired from an engine of war.” In the Septuagint, the Greek boli.j can mean anything thrown: a missile, such as an arrow or javelin.
Notice, however, that the adjective clause “as of a mighty expert man” is a descriptor of the arrow, not the shooter of the arrow. The key Hebrew word is sakal, which means prudent, wise, circumspect; with insight and comprehension. It is the arrow itself that has the intelligence! This, indeed, is further emphasized in the final clause: “...none shall return in vain.” They can’t miss! Sounds like “smart weapons”-guided missiles or smart bombs. And this was written over two thousand years ago!
Global TV News Coverage
We take our present world for granted, but several New Testament allusions imply worldwide television coverage of what will then be current events. Jesus instructs “those who are in Judea” to flee to the mountains when they “see” the “Abomination of Desolation” stand in the Holy Place in the Temple (Mt 24:15). This occurs in the Holy of Holies, a place that only the High Priest can enter, only once a year on Yom Kippur. It is not a public place. How can “those who are in Judea” see what is going on inside the Temple? On CNN, of course!
A similar event is the death and resurrection of the Two Witnesses in the Book of Revelation:
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
--Revelation 11:8-10
“People of all kindreds, tongues and nations shall see” what is going on in Jerusalem. We take this for granted, but this was written almost 2,000 years ago!
Global Electronic Funds Transfer
The Coming World Leader-through electronic funds transfer, credit cards, RFID chips, and related technologies of the “cashless society”-will establish himself by his widespread control of the global economy “…that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (Rev 13:17).
Pathways in the Sea
Here is an example of a Biblical reference which led to discovery.
Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in 1806. As an avid Bible reader, he was struck by the reference in Psalm 8 to “the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:8). He also noticed that Isaiah wrote of a “path through the mighty waters” (Isaiah 43:16). Are there pathways in the seas? Who could imagine such a thing? The pursuit of this enigma became Maury’s lifetime quest.
He entered the Navy in 1825 as a midshipman. By 1842 he was placed in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments, out of which grew the U.S. Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. To gather information on maritime winds and currents, Maury distributed to ship captains specially prepared logbooks from which he compiled pilot charts, enabling him to shorten the time of sea voyages. In 1848 he published maps of the main wind fields of the Earth.
Maury was ultimately able to produce charts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, a profile of the Atlantic seabed, and the first modern oceanographic text. He is internationally recognized as the “Father of Oceanography,” and Maury Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy is named in his honor. All because of a remez, a hint of something deeper, in a verse in the Psalms.
The Meteorological Cycle
Even the most basic understandings of our modern world we take for granted, yet many of these are relatively recent insights which emerged since the 15th century. The basic meteorological cycle was described in the Scriptures.
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
--Ecclesiastes 1:6-7
Water is heavier than air; how can this be?
For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.
--Job 36:27-28
Round Earth
Jesus describes an instantaneous event that occurs at night, before breakfast (grinding the day’s meal was a pre-breakfast chore), and during midday:
I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
--Luke 17:34-36
Job spoke of the Earth as a “sphere hanging on nothing” (Job 26:7); Isaiah describes it as a sphere (Isaiah 40:22). The Psalmist celebrates even the sun traveling throughout our galaxy, “from one end of heaven to the other” (Psalm 19:6).
Species Digitally Defined
Genesis 1 indicates that each species reproduces only “after its own kind.” We now have discovered that the DNA is a digital code; in fact, a three-out-of-four, error-correcting encryption system. It is so elegant that we are just beginning to understand parts of it. (There is probably less than one engineer in ten thousand that could design a code that even comes close!) We also discover that this very code system is behind all life on Planet Earth: all of it apparently came from the same Designer!
There are numerous examples of technical allusions contained in the Scriptures that preceded the insights of mankind, and that may even reach well beyond the understanding of the average reader; this is but a brief list. For a deeper look, see our newest briefing, Technology & the Bible.
No comments:
Post a Comment