A Terrorists Defense

April 30, 2009 at 4:45 pm (Extremists, Terrorists, al-Qaeda)
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Have you read the opinion in the LA Times from Joseph Margulies, co-counsel for Abu Zubayhad, al-Qaeda’s Chief of Operations,today?

Let’s not forget:

Abu Zubaydah, born in Saudi Arabia, has been closely tied to al-Qaeda since the group’s early years. He helped operate a popular terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 90’s. He is a known associate of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, and chief recruiter for al-Qaeda.

According to a BBC news profile he has used at least 37 aliases and considered a master of disguise. He played a lead role in one of the 2000 Millennium attack plots and a possible tangential role in a second.

Because of an intercepted call between Abu Zubaydah and Khadj Abu Hoshar, a Palestinian militant, a planned attack on a fully booked Radisson hotel in Amman, Jordan and three other sites targeting United States and Israeli tourists, which he was consequentially sentenced to death in absentia by a Jordanian court for his role in those plots.

As co-counsel for the accused it is understandable Mr. Margulies would try to redefine the case to garner public sympathy for his client, because this is such a richly politicized topic. From the credentials listed I see none which qualifies him as a psychologist capable of rending anything close to an accurate evaluation of Mr. Zubaydah’s mental state.

Could it be that the accused finally cracked from carrying all the quilt associated with the many years he was involved with terrorist activities and the atrocities he helped to commit on innocent people around the world?

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If You Truly Love America, Take Notice!

April 17, 2009 at 8:33 pm (Anti-Christian, Extremists, Patriotism, Politics, Veterans Affairs)
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I know I’ve been labeled as "extremist" by some who visit, but IMO many are also not seeing the big picture and the April 7  report from DHS. Although it does an injustice to military vets by demeaning them with implications that they are fertile targets for radical, violent groups and that conservatives are inclined towards racism; this speaks nothing of the comments made by the head of DHS, Janet Napolitano.

She linked the hundreds of thousands of returning vets to one (1) nut case, McVeigh that happened to be a vet.  So she made a feeble attempt to apologize for the wording, not the link. In the news conference she held she then went on to say, "we do not — nor will we ever –  monitor ideology or political beliefs."

When you read the report for yourself it is obvious that either she or someone in her charge are not only monitoring the ideologies and political beliefs of conservatives but also poisoning law enforcement agents with a bias against them and suggesting their beliefs lead to violence against the government.

The report came out after a similar remarks by the head of the Missouri Troopers were recently reported. So now if you voted for a third-party candidate, have a bumper sticker on your vehicle advocating pro-life, anti-gay, anti illegal immigration or a Christian religious symbol, if you voice opposing opinions of the current administration and/or its policies; you are scrutinized by law enforcement as possible extremist.

Since when has it been extremism to be voice political opposition or express your faith with a t-shirt with a religious (specifically Christian) symbol? Yes, there have been incidents of abortion clinic bombings and other horrible examples that the opposing side like to point out whenever statements like this are made. But these have been rare and the right-wingers have been just as outspoken against them, if not more so, than those using them as an excuse to justify their accusatory attempts to discredit the ones offering objections to the mischaracterizations.

Since when is being patriotic and operating when in God given, constitutional rights of freedom of speech and the practice of ones faith labeled extremism?  At the risk of incurring the scrutiny of the DHS, as if I haven’t already, I will say the report and statements made Napolitano are outrageous. No one is playing on "fears about several emergent issues" more than the current administration.

The President hasn’t made a speech regarding the economy or while on his overseas ‘apology tour’ that he hasn’t played on those fears and anxieties so he can justify dropping another spending plan, or private industry take-over by the government in the very near future.

If you think this report is unbiased and shouldn’t raise public alarm, how do you explain the fact there was not mention of the whacked out leftist from Hollywood, or any of the members of the other left-wing groups that are guilty of disrupting political conventions, etc. I could go on, but many of you will again blow it off as, whatever it takes to get our agenda implemented and besides this guy is an extremist.

This should make every American that truly loves their country take notice of just what our government is capable of and possibly buy some more ammo. That is what the second amendment was for, remember?

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Main Stream Media’s Attack on Christianity

April 8, 2009 at 7:35 pm (Anti-Christian)
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Twice a year the mainstream media launch attacks on Christianity, once during Christmas and the other during the current week designated ‘Holy Week’ climaxing on Easter Sunday, which is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, His victory over sin and death.

This is evidenced by the past weeks anti-Christian articles and televised programs exhibiting the most notable instances of the secular media’s disdain for traditional Christians and the tenets of their faith. Especially during these times of year Anti-Christianism is the most acceptable prejudice on display.

Newsweek has proclaimed April 14th, “The Decline and Fall of Christian America” on its cover. The Washington Post/Newsweek “On Faith” blog featured a post that belittled the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Discovery Channel aired a documentary that painted Jesus as little more than an opportunistic politician who caught a bad break in a trial. FoxNews’ Bill O’Reilly is set to air a piece on “The Shroud of Turin.”

Easter is so central to understanding Jesus and His purpose, and Christians’ world-view, the escalation of the secular attack during Holy Week takes on a more existential dimensions, questioning Christianity’s relevance in the modern world, the true meaning of Christ’s lessons and ultimately, His divinity.

With this type of misrepresentation of the Christian Faith, it is easy to understand why many on this board would advocate that Jesus is either, a charismatic populist crusader, a doctrinaire Marxist or a “do your own thing” feel-good guru. Anything but the Son of God and full expression of His love to all His Creation.

The ultimate insult this week was delivered by President Obama himself when he declared to the world we are not a Christian Nation.

Although our founding fathers wisely set forth in our founding documents there would be no establishment of a STATE CHURCH, everything in those same documents also establish the fact that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values and principles. This is reinforced in the both the personal and public writings of our constitutional framers.

Even Thomas Jefferson declared, April 19, 1803, “I concur…in considering the moral precepts of Jesus, as more pure, correct, and sublime than those of ancient philosophers.”

Advocacy of other views is nothing more than opinions held by revisionist and attempts to further erode the underpinnings of this country.

For many Christian’s across the nation it is more and more difficult to support the President when through his policies and by his actions he is doing all within his power to undermine the very faith his professes to hold.

Like the media, his actions will reveal more about the man than all his eloquent words.

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A Lesson From Judges

October 25, 2008 at 6:41 am (Leadership)

In this book from the old testament the term “judges” is not a good translation of the Hebrew word (HSN 8199 – shaphat); “leader” is better. God raised up these heroes (and one heroine) to deliver local tribes of Israel from apostasy and then to govern them. After their conquest of the land of Canaan under Joshua, the people of Israel had become a much disorganized, loose confederacy.

Each tribe of Israel had become mostly isolated from the other tribes. Therefore, without leadership, they repeatedly fell into idolatry, foreign political domination, intermarriage with pagans, and other major sins. They were in a general state of spiritual confusion.

A key verse, says: “In those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Judges.17:6. A king was the authority, or the law as we would say in our day. When we look at America and its institutions; it is plain to see this is what is needed today.

We have our King, His name is Jesus. What we need more of are men and women who will stand on God’s word without compromise; not yielding to their thoughts, opinions and emotions unless they are aligned with God’s will, word and purpose.

The Book of Judges is fragmentary, and it is not chronological. Many scholars believe that some of the events were concurrent. About 350 years of some of the blackest pages in the history of the sons of Israel are covered and portrays the nation in disarray, and in need of help from God. In effect, it was their Dark Ages. There were regular cycles of falling away, salvation, restoration, and falling away again.

We can decipher seven apostasies, seven bondages, and seven deliverances. Over and over they forgot who the true God was. They repeatedly disobeyed God’s command to drive out the inhabitants of the land when they went in to possess it. They adopted Baal worship, the local Canaanite religion, abandoning the spiritual purity which the Lord required.

Consequently, they were not only surrounded by hostile nations who wanted the land which the Israelites had taken, the land which God had promised to them as an inheritance, they allowed their enemy in their midst. They had lost their sense of national unity under God, and they were an easy prey for enemy invasion. The book begins with compromise and ends with anarchy.

Again, as look into the wows of our nation, we need to comprehend the depth of wisdom in the patterns and principles God gave in this book when it comes to the establishment of a nation. Our forefathers were faithful with the trust God had placed in them to do just that. They founded what has become the greatest and wealthiest nation in history. Look how far we have strayed from the foundation that was set a little over two hundred years ago.

Even in the pulpit many are advocating and encouraging such things as same sex marriages, abortion, illegal immigration, etc. Have we learned any of the lessons in Judges or is every man doing that which was right in his own eyes?

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Want To Be Beautiful Again?

March 13, 2008 at 4:27 am (Success)

We see it everywhere. It has invaded our society to it’s very core. Turn on the TV or pick up a magazine and the ads shout at us constantly the need to look beautiful. Trim down, shape up is the standard being thrown at us from all around. It is time to refocus. Let’s back up and take a good hard look at what is really being said.

“Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous – possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  Matt. 5:8 amp

This passage offers a stark contrast to what we are being bombarded with everyday. When we come into agreement with the Lord and begin to see us as He sees us we have a strong stance the cultural invasion. We should never compare ourselves to any standard other than the Lord’s for His opinion is what really matters.

This one verse can set you free if you will allow it to really sink in. When the Lord says you are blessed He is saying you have at your beck and call the ability to be happy. You can know and feel you are enviably fortunate, spiritually prosperous. You can know and possess the happiness which is produced by your personal experience of God’s favor; when we are especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace. All this regardless of our outward condition. When we are pure in heart we shall see God.

God is evident only when we are looking with seeing eyes, those which are truly seeking to know Him. Our true beauty comes from within, regardless of our outward conditions. Those conditions are subject to change. All we need to do is eat less, exercise more, live a healthier lifestyle. But through it all, God sees us as He created us, fearlessly and wondrously made and beautiful in His sight.

I like the Amplified Bible transliteration in this instance because it encapsulates and conveys the fullest meaning of the word most commonly translated, Blessed. In all the beginning verses in the Sermon on the Mount and in the Sermon of the Plains, Blessed is the first word used. And I love to be blessed because I know what the scriptures are actually saying. But I studied long and hard, laboring over the Greek, to discover the riches found in that one word. It was 1980 when I was given as a gift my first copy of the Amplified Version and Matt 5 was the first place I turned to see just how it read. I was astounded to find it confirmed my studies to the fullest.

 

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One Thing I Do

March 11, 2008 at 8:28 pm (Success)

Today we focus on something that is essential to our well being. This is a mind-set that you take on regardless of the circumstances or situations you are presently experiencing. Circumstance actually has little to do anything, other than offer us the opportunity to grow.

My brothers, I do not count myself to have taken possession, but one thing I do, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Php 3:13-14

Let’s take a closer look at what is being said here. The principle point that strikes me is ‘Forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before, I press on toward the mark for the prize…” To many times we focus on our past, the mistakes and failures we’ve made.

Instead, we need to heed this advice and leave it behind. None of us can go back and change a single thing. To continue to focus on ‘it’ only empowers it to rob us of the victory we have in the moment. ‘It’ is defined here as whatever you are complaining about, regretting, or worrying about.

Don’t curse your feebleness; instead, press on with your program to make yourself stronger. Move beyond regretting with ‘right thinking’ and positive actions toward your goals. Substitute ignorance with the knowledge you need to reach true success, happiness and fulfillment.

The last part of the verse speaks of ‘the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ Seeking Him first will keep our priorities in order and all these things will be added unto you.

Real Disciples are Destined by Decision! Do it today for a better tomorrow.

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How to Get Prayers Answered

February 28, 2008 at 11:21 pm (Prayer)

 

Spending the past two years traveling across the country teaching “How to Get Prayers Answered by God,” the elderly Pastor and his wife were returning to their home church ready to retire.

They were prepared to share how God had moved in response to their prayers and blessed them with many who had taken their seminars and learned the guidelines of prayers as set forth in the scriptures. Things such as asking in faith, the importance of being specific and believing you receive. Many were seeing significant results for themselves.

When they arrived home, their home church gave them a big retirement celebration and knowing the pastor’s life-long desire to go to Africa sent them on a safari. They arrived and daily the pastor would walk the jungle paths amazed by the beauty and the many different animals of which he could photograph since he didn’t want to harm them in any way.

One day he started down this particular path and a huge lion jumped up and roared so loudly the pastor fell to his knees praying, “Oh Lord, please make this a Christian lion.”

The lion sprang from his perch, ran down the path, knocked the pastor on his back, put his paw in the middle of the pastor’s chest and said, “Father, thank you for this food.”

Are we being specific enough when we pray? I have found in my experience that it’s only after I start getting into the details of the situation or circumstance I’m communing with the Lord about do I really start to have the assurance my prayers are being effectual.

I think sometimes we must ‘labor in prayer’ as the scripture say, being as persistent as Daniel, remembering this is our greatest weapon against the enemy. And this ‘labor of love’ is two dimensional. First for the ones we are praying for,  and then to the One we are praying to; the Lord, who considers our prayers as incense, a sweet smelling savor unto His nostrils.

Here’s His number, just call Him up. He will answer.

“Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you wonderful and marvelous things that you know nothing about.” Jeremiah 33:3 gnb

Rejoicing with Power!

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On The Lighter Side

February 28, 2008 at 7:40 am (Faith)

One day Moses was high upon a mountain speaking to all the Israelites. In his zeal to relay the Lord’s message to them he stepped off  a steep cliff that was behind him.  Just as he started to fall he reached out, grabbed a branch jutting out from the side of the cliff, and shouted, “Oh Lord, please help me get back on top of this mountain.”

A voice from above said, “Moses do you love me?”

Moses said, “Yes Lord, I love you more than anything in this world. Please help me get back on top of this mountain.”

The Lord answered, “If you love me you will obey me.”

Moses said, “Lord you know I love you and yes I’ll obey you. But please help me get back on top of this mountain.”

The Lord said, “Moses, let go of the branch.”

I can’t count how many times in my life has God said to me to just let go of the branch.  And sometimes, especially when I was new in my walk with Him, I reluctantly did as requested and see Him work; His wonders to behold. It’s all about faith.

Thanks be to the Lord it gets easier as we grow. Amen?

Rejoicing with Power!

 

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What Does It Mean?

February 28, 2008 at 4:41 am (Christlikeness)

Have you paid any attention to the current political races? I know it’s boring a lot of times. We hear all the same rhetoric in debate after debate from candidates that make promise after promise; and never say anything that has any real substance.

One thing I have found interesting in it all is some of the statistics that have come out in the discussions of the races. For example; it was reported that up to 87% of the American population profess to be Christian. That got me thinking, if there is that many people here in the US who claim to be Christian; how can we have so many marriages (53%) ending in divorce? And that’s of those who attend church regularly. How can we have over 40,000 unborn babies being aborted each month? How can we have so much lawlessness in not just the cities but in rural America where just a few years ago you didn’t even lock the doors at night?

“It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and servant like his master.” Matt 10:25 nkjv

What does is mean to be a Real Disciple? To translate it roughly from the Greek this means; disciplined, learned, follower. When Jesus made this statement to the first-century followers it implied the possibility of not only being persecuted, but also being put to death. And although that is happening at an increasingly alarming rate in other parts of the world; here in our country that’s not the case.

Jesus said His followers would “be like Him.” So let’s explore what that means for those of us who call ourselves Christian in today’s complex world. In the next few posts we will look at a few illustrations we can glean from the Gospel of Mathew

Post your questions so we can look for the answers together as we allow God to transform our lives as we align ourselves with His word.

Rejoicing with Power!

 

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Alone? Separated? Isolated? Disconnected?

February 22, 2008 at 11:09 pm (Unity)

These words describe a dangerous condition we may find ourselves in if we don’t pay close attention to the way we are living. But at one time or another we have all found ourselves feeling all the above.

“Now all of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.” (1 Cor 12:27 nlt)

Do you consider yourself to be “a loner”? It may be this very mentality that has led to all these negative feelings.  Then these negative feelings have motivated you to take action. But in what direction have you been led?

There’s an old song that has a line in it that says, Looking for love in all the wrong places. When we are trying to escape from the circumstances we don’t like, many times we resort to a number of ways that only compound the situation and we end up in a worse condition than when we started.

Although Jesus could have accomplished His earthly ministry all alone, He chose twelve disciples to work with him. They went on to accomplish even greater works after Jesus departed. As we examine their lives it is clear to see the commitment they had for their decisions to follow Christ. They answered Jesus’ invitation to become one, as He and the Father are one.

It has always been our Heavenly Father’s design to enjoy oneness with Him, as well as a oneness in all our relationships. The cure for those feelings of isolation is to be obedient to Christ’s command to be connected to the other parts of the Body. Regular church attendance is a great place to start.

We want to help you to get the most from your walk with the Lord.  Here’s how.

  1. Use this as a place to share what you are learning in your walk with Christ then invite your friends to join you here to encourage one another.
  2. Start a local group to meet and discuss the topics we have discussed here.
  3. As we continue together, spiritual growth will happen not only in your own life, but the group as well.

As you earnestly seek God and his righteousness, God will move on your behalf.  As His Spirit speaks into your intimate relationship you will soon discover those negative feelings have all been replaced with His love and a sense of purpose.

 

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