The quake centered in Indonesia that unleashed a devastating tsunami occurred exactly 1 hour and 58 minutes after the quake in Bam, Iran, which killed 26,000 people.
Read the World Net Daily report.
People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has offered Al-Jazeera $10,000 to broadcast pictures of animals being slaughtered because of the war in Iraq.
The aptly named Morons.org tells the story.
Macy's has abandoned the spirit of Christmas that prompted the wonderful movie, "Miracle on 34th Street." The 2004 Ebenezer Awards were recently announced by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. This award is given to those who most aggregiously violate the spirit of Christmas each year. For 2004, Macy's department stores qualified for this award by banning the phrase, "Merry Christmas" from their banners and from verbal usage by their employees. Macy's employees were instructed to say, "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings."
One can only hope that during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday the Macy's employees will not be forbidden to speak his name. I'd hate to go into a Macy's during that holiday only to be greeted with, "Happy Minority Leader Day, sir."
Read the article about this year's Ebenezer Awards.
The news of the earthquake and ensuing tsunamis has hit the world hard. The pictures of children lying dead on the ground with their parents crying over them is almost too hard to imagine. Such pain, such devastation, such grief.
None of us knows why this happened, but our ancestors knew who was in control of such things. Our parents called these things "acts of God." This acknowledges that God is sovereign over all things—including "natural disasters." It does not blame God for evil; it does not imply that God is punishing those who died or lost family members or businesses as a result of the quake. It simply says, "God is in control."
That's a good thing to remember as the impact of this fierce event sinks in—God is in control. He has a grip on everything. Nothing takes him by surprise. And the Bible tells us that he works everything out according to his will to bring glory to himself. However this human tragedy has affected your life, you can rest assured that it will ultimately bring glory to God. If the glory of God is your supreme desire, you can rejoice in this event—even if you lost a loved one. Because this too will bring glory to God.
What a great God we serve.
The following article was written and published by Newsmax. I re-publish the article in its entirety here, but check out Newsmax for more excellent journalism.
Kidnapped Baby Wasn't a 'Fetus'
The pro-abortion media establishment had a hard time accurately reporting one of the Christmas season's saddest stories, the infant who was kidnapped from her mother's butchered womb.
As we expected, initial news stories referred to the abducted "fetus." Yet four days later, even when tiny Victoria Jo Stinnett was in good physical health after her ordeal, one wire story again called her a "fetus."
Does that mean the "journalist" thought it was still OK to kill Victoria?
No wonder Big Media refuses to understand why most American voters oppose the horrors of partial-birth abortion, and why newspapers keep losing circulation.
Of course, many newspapers and other media have editorialized that they consider disabled 41-year-old Terri Schiavo deserving of death.
This quote is out of context, but it’s fun anyway:
Ecclesiastes 10:2
A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left.
Of course if you take verses out of context you can prove anything. Here's one that proves the existence of Santa Clause (KJV only):
Zechariah 2:6
"Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD"
Lakshmi Chaudhry, senior editor of AlterNet has written an article that reveals the depths of hatred for those of us that voted for George Bush. The Unbearable Darkness of Being is a good indication of where the article heads. One quote to whet your appetite:
John Edwards was right in a way. There are two Americas: one that values tolerance, justice, and equality; the other that believes in Divine Will. But now that the Democrats lost the election – and control over every branch of government – I get to live in their America. And Carville wants me to talk to these guys? Or is he really saying that I need to be more like them? After all, it's not like I have any values that might be worth holding on to. Why not just put my silly liberal preoccupations with choice or sexual freedom aside so we can all come together as one nation—one nation under God, Guns, and (hating) Gays.
In response to my post on why evangelicals voted for Bush, Buster Stronghart said...
Is there a single thing about Democrats that might be seen as good by Christians? Is the good samaritan dead? Should we allow the poor to remain hungry, uneducated, and without healthcare? Is that okay?
Just asking you to think a little before you answer.
I've thought about it and have an answer to his questions:
Yes, there are many good things about Democrats that are seen as good by Christians. I know Democrats who have nice cars, nice hair, and nice Republican wives or husbands. I even know Democrats who are Christians, although they obviously don't take their Christianity seriously if they have voted Democrat in recent times.
But the question here should be: Does God see a single good thing about Democrats (or Republicans, or Independents)? The answer is NO!
Romans 3: 10-12 says:
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
In those verses, the apostle Paul was talking about the similarities and complete sinfulness of both Jews and non-Jews. But it applies to Democrats and Republicans as well, "For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22-23). Therefore, if Christians wish to think like God thinks, we should not see a single thing good about Democrats (or anyone else who has not been washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ).
• In fact, the Good Samaritan is not living now or dead, he was just a parable, not a true story. However, one of the many reasons that I vote Republican is because I believe in the principles taught in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I believe that we should help struggling people to get back on their feet and to be able to fend for themselves once they have done so. I don't believe in forcing these people to remain in their squalor while we give them such things as TVs, cigarettes, alcohol, junk food, and absentee ballots already filled out for the Democrat ticket. I believe that we should secure the liberty of those who would be abused as was the man who was robbed in the parable. Thus the reason for my support of the war in Iraq.
• No, we shouldn't allow the poor to remain hungry (1 John 3:17). That is why I support Republican efforts to help people in poverty to learn a trade so they can make a living, support their families, and contribute to society. This, too, is a biblical principle—that we when we are blessed by God we should turn around and give to others who have less than we.
• We should not deny education to the poor and no one that I know of is advocating a prohibition on education (making it a rather odd statement from someone who advises "think before you answer." The Republicans are trying to improve education for the poor by giving them educational choice through school vouchers, another positive effort that the Democrats are violently opposed to. The Bible says Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). We need to give parents the opportunity to train a child in the appropriate way—not in the way the public school system thinks is best for the majority of the children.
• I'm not particularly happy about the fact that some people are without healthcare and I well understand that situation since my family was one of those families without healthcare for almost a decade because we couldn't afford it. We were able to get out of that regretable situation through the good samaritan-like efforts of Christians who helped us through that time of poverty while I worked to learn a craft that I could use to support my family. This is the way that Christians believe we should take care of the poor who cannot afford healthcare. The Christian community is commanded to care for the poor in our communities and many local churches are doing that very thing. We are also commanded to give alms in secret, which precludes going on CBS News and telling Dan Rather what wonderful people we Christians are for taking care of the poor.
The question is not whether or not I like Democrats, but are you a follower of Jesus Christ? The answer to this will mean everything after these other issues are no longer important.
Harvard professor Sissela Bok writes in the book Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life.
If I state something that is false but I sincerely believe it to be true, I haven’t lied; I’m merely mistaken. But if I state a number of things that happen to be true but deliberately leave out a single exonerating fact or present information out of context, all with the intent to deceive, I have lied.
Thinking back on the 2004 presidential election campaign I am struck with the truth as presented by Professor Bok.
George Bush was accused of lying to the American people when he said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. But this wasn't a lie. George Bush believed this to be true as did essentially every other leader in the free world.
Michael Moore, in Farenheit 9-11, presented interviews and footage of President Bush speaking to auditoriums filled with people, among other things. Each of these items was factual on its own. But through judicious use of tape splicing, intentional non-inclusion of certain interview responses, and presentation of material so out-of-context as to strain the bounds of reason, Moore proclaimed a lie.
For an equally outlandish documentary (but much more enjoyable), see Fellowship 9/11, in which Michael Moore questions Aragorn's integrity after the Helms Deep debacle. Very funny if you're a Lord of the Rings fan.
Senator Arlen Spector (R - Pennsylvania) has indicated that were he the head of the judiciary committee he would apply a judicial litmus test before bringing the president's judicial nominees forward for approval. He claims that he doesn't want anyone to tamper with Roe v. Wade, the case that made abortion-on-demand legal in the United States.
Many conservative activists and talk show hosts are screaming about how wrong this is and many others don't understand what all the fuss is about. I'll leave the discussions of consitutional law to the constitutional scholars and historians. But I want to know what the Bible says about this.
Proverbs 24:23
Partiality in judging is not good.
That seems pretty clear to me.
Here's a response to a previous post:
Anonymous said...
What point is it with a president holding up the cross in one hand and nukeclear device in the other. Where the cross is used to pull the people in the direction he wants then hit the trigger on "the bad people". I say; for the sake of OUR world - Let no religion deside how the world is controlled.
No religion decides how the world is controlled. God decides how the world is controlled.
Psalm 33: 10-12
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord"
Christianity is benevolent. If the United States follows the teachings of the Bible, we will never "hit the trigger on the bad people." We will only defend our nation from attack and help others who need our help defending their own freedoms.
As morning breaks I look to you, O God,
To be my strength this day
Dr. James White's most recent post on his blog casts light on one of the practical benefits of biblical calvinism. Now that the presidential election is in the past and we know who will lead the free world for the next four years (Lord willing), many of us are praying for God's guidance in the coming years. We pray that God will cause George Bush to make judicial appointments of judges who respect our consitution and are not in opposition to the religious principles laid out in the Bible. We pray that God will set our president and his cabinet on a course of action that will glorify God and will lead our nation toward righteousness.
Because of Calvinism's acceptance of the biblical doctrine of God's total sovereignty, calvinists believe that God controls the actions and plans of the world's leaders. Those who reject this doctrine cannot pray for God to guide our nation but only pray that God will try to influence the leader's direction, but if that leader rejects God's influence we're all in trouble.
I praise God that He "turns the hearts of kings."
Pray for our president as he chooses his cabinet and as he prepares his plan for the next four years. May God bless this nation through the leadership of the man He has chosen to lead us at this time.
ow that the liberals are vowing to move out of the U.S. because of the reelection of President Bush, another crack in their mask is visible. We've heard many liberals decry the election and say something like: “I can’t stay here anymore. I’m going to move to Canada.” But I have not heard any of them say that they will move to Mexico because of the election.
Now, I’m not holding my breath for this mass migration of liberals—as good as it would be for our country. If liberals followed up on promises such as these, Alec Baldwin would have been a foreigner for four years already. But it is interesting to note that they love proclaiming the idea of moving to the white-populated northern neighbor but never the hispanic-populated southern neighbor. Could it be that they don't want to be soiled by association with people of color or is it because the hispanic bloc of voters didn't deliver a high enough majority for the Democrats this time?
Extreme Prejudice From the London Daily Mirror (warning – obvious expletive deleted):
"As for the ones who put him in, across the Bible Belt and the South, us outsiders can only feel pity...the self-righteous, gun-totin', military lovin', sister marryin', abortion-hatin', gay-loathin', foreigner-despisin', non-passport ownin' red-necks, who believe God gave America the biggest **** in the world so it could urinate on the rest of us and make their land "free and strong."
Poor British liberal tabloid. It must be rough being a loser and having to live in a country that isn't America.
BTW: In case you didn't know, I live in the Bible Belt and in the South. I am a gun-toting, military loving, abortion hating, non-passport owning redneck. But I didn't marry my sister, I don't hate gays, and I don't think that America has any body parts that are capable of urination. I'm not self-righteous, but find my righteousness in Christ. I do, however, believe that America is free and strong.
y son David was Han Solo for Halloween. He had a great time carving a pumpkin with me. We set it out as it began to get dark and took some pictures. Then David and Kim (my wife) went to the neighbors' houses as I distributed candy to the trick-or-treaters.
The sad observation I have is the huge change from how it was when I was a kid. My parents would get grocery bags full of candy in preparation for Halloween. They would line up a few bags next to the door and distribute it to the lines and lines of kids that came to the house non-stop from the time the sun went down until about 9:00. During that time, my sister and I went door to door and typically filled two grocery bags with candy. We would return home in the middle of the evening to empty our bags on our beds so we could head back out and refill them.
We had only 4 groups of trick-or-treaters and the largest of those groups was only 3 kids. The majority of the time, I stood at the door and looked around the neighborhood hoping to see someone coming our way. I think many parents are so afraid of the dangers now that the kids have lost out on the whole deal. Also, many of the houses in our neighborhood were dark, which in Halloween parlance means, "Don't knock on my door—we don't give out candy."
Very sad.
’m teaching adult Sunday school. Wow! This is a new experience for me and it scares me to death. I can sing a solo in front of thousands of people, but teaching a handful of adults makes my legs wobble and my stomach do flips.
The course of study is John Piper's Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. What a fantastic book! My parents and sister always told me that you learn most when you teach. They were so right! I have loved every minute of this—even the studying and preparing.
The basis of Piper's concept is the fact that, as Blaise Pascal said, all of us seek pleasure—whether we want to admit it or not. Pascal actually said that even the person who commits suicide is seeking pleasure in some way, perhaps the pleasure of not having to deal with his current situation.
Piper builds on this premise by looking at the things that we might look to for pleasure and joy. He shows that seeking pleasure in worldly things is basically idolatry. The object of our desire should be God, who alone is able to fulfill our desires and passions, and who wants to bring us joy in Him.
This is a radical but biblical concept and is potentially life-changing. If you would like to live a fulfilled life with great joy, get this book and apply its principles. You won't regret it.
Some comments on the book:
"...a modern manual of true spirituality" —R. C. Sproul
"...[a]soul-stirring celebration of the pleasures of knowing God...a must-read for every Christian, and a feast for the spiritually hungry." ——John MacArthur
"The healthy biblical realism of this study in Christian motivation comes as a breath of fresh air. Jonathan Edwards, whose ghost walks through most of Piper's pages, would be delighted with his disciple." —JI Packer
"The first edition of this book profoundly influenced my life. I am delighted to commend the tenth anniversary edition." —Jerry Bridges
