5 August 2009
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
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[1] Christian Observer Highlights for August 2009
[2] U.S. Government Healthcare Takeover Bill is Blueprint for Abortion Expansion, Euthanasia, Eugenics, and Communism
[3] Morningstar Ministries Comments on U.S. Health Care Bill in “National Health Scare”
[4] UCC Leadership Signs Letter Urging UCC Church Activism towards Creating a National Healthcare System
[5] Center Congregational Church of Atlanta, Georgia, Being Bankrupted by UCC Southeastern Conference Efforts to Seize Church
[6] Free Church of Scotland Wins Church Property Dispute with Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
[7] Free Church of Scotland Minister Urges Traditionalists in the Church of Scotland to Merge with the Free Church
[8] 28 July 2009 Tornado on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, Characterized as God’s Wrath for Homosexual Civil Partnership and Sabbath Breaking
[9] Church of Scotland Minister Calling for Overturn of Gag Order Regarding Homosexuality and Homosexual Ordination
[10] EPC 2009 General Assembly Recordings and Text of Selected Presentations Available
[11] Mummer Banjo Maker Emery ‘Jim’ Ivan, 81, Dies 25 July 2009
[12] Internal Revenue Service Drops Eleven-Month Investigation of Minnesota Pastor’s Sermons
[13] IRS Grants Tax-Exempt Status to Coalition for Life of Iowa after Dropping Gag-Order Requirements
[14] Sixty Pakistani Christian Houses Torched by Muslims over Blasphemy Charges
[15] Muslims Kidnap Two Coptic Christian Teen Girls in Alexandria, Egypt
[16] Presbyterian Church of Korea Congregation in Taiwan Joins Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
[17] William Symington Biography Available 1 September 2009 from Reformation Heritage Books
[18] New Broadside of The Solemn League & Covenant Available from Westminster Letter Press
[19] August 2009 Reformation Voice Available Online
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[1] Christian Observer Highlights for August 2009
New Christian Observer articles for August 2009 include:
– Communities First Association: The Real Transformers by Stelle Slootmaker, Communications Associate, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
– Violence Violates Positive Behavior by Dr. Joe Renfro
– Thus it begins By Alex Buffalo
plus weekly Sabbath School lessons from Dr. Robert LaMay and daily devotionals from In the Gates by T.M. Moore.
+ Christian Observer, 9400 Fairview Avenue, Manassas, Virginia 20110, 703-335-2844, christianobserver@christianobserver.org
Peter Fleckenstein’s Common Sense from a Common Man blog on 30 July 2009 published “The HC [Healthcare] Monstrosity-All 1,018 Pages,” which cites more than 150 problems with HR 3200, the Health Care Bill currently before the U.S. House of Representatives.
A few of the problems Fleckenstein identifies include:
– The U.S. Federal Government (USFG) will establish School Based Health Clinics think birth control and abortions – without parental involvement.
– USFG Home Visitation Program sends USFG agents into your home to tell you how to parent.
– USFG will decide what medical conditions get treated.
– USFG Attorney General will have access to all medical records.
– USFG will decide what End of Life treatment you get, and what doctors can issue End of Life orders.
– USFG mandates instruction and consultation on living wills and durable powers of attorney.
– USFG mandates Advance Care Planning Consultation for seniors – think Euthanasia.
– USFG will restrict medical insurance enrollment of special needs people – think Eugenics.
– USFG mandates that hospitals cannot expand.
– USFG will mandate waiting periods for hospital readmission.
– USFG will set standards for doctors’ time and professional judgment, and the value of persons.
– USFG will have direct access to your bank accounts.
– USFG will issue national health ID card to everyone.
– USFG will decide upon what health care benefits you are allowed.
– USFG will substantially raise taxes and fees.
Another good synopsis of Fleckenstein’s HR 3200 summary is available from the Liberty Counsel.
+ Common Sense from a Common Man Blog
+ Liberty Counsel, Post Office Box 540774, Orlando, Florida 32854, 800-671-1776, Liberty@LC.org
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[3] Morningstar Ministries Comments on U.S. Health Care Bill in “National Health Scare”
Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries wrote a Special Bulletin “National Health Scare,” in response to the Liberty Counsel synopsis of HR 3200, Health Care Bill, and drew several overall conclusions about the proposed legislation:
– The bill is “diabolical,” and is “…about euthanasia, the power to determine who lives or dies in America.”
– Legislation similar to HR 3200 would have made Hitler’s and Stalin’s mass-murders much easier to accomplish and would have facilitated many more murders than were committed.
– Allowing for every possible benefit of the doubt, HR 3200 reflects “…profound evil and evil intent at work….”
– Medically-untrained, but all-powerful U.S. Federal Government bureaucrats will make the “…ultimate decisions for the health, well-being, and even the lives of Americans.”
– HR 3200 “…has the potential for totalitarian control to be imposed on America to a degree that Hitler and Stalin could not have even imagined.”
– HR 3200 “…would actually make America into a national concentration camp, and…ultimately…a national death camp.”
– “[W]hat is coming out of the Obama Administration is evil, more evil than anything I thought I would ever see in America.”
Rick Joyner too remembers his friend, Col. Eugene Bird – former U.S. Commandant of the Spandau Prison in Germany, explaining to Joyner that “…the evil spirit of death that took over Germany gained entry through its health care system.”
Joyner’s article goes on to make many more profound observations, and the editor strongly recommends that the reader access and read the entire article.
+ MorningStar Ministries, 375 Star Light Drive, Fort Mill, South Carolina 29715
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[4] UCC Leadership Signs Letter Urging UCC Church Activism towards Creating a National Healthcare System
United Church of Christ (UCC) leaders including General Minister and President the Rev. John H. Thomas, incoming General Minister and President the Rev. Geoffrey Black, Executive Minister for Justice and Witness Ministries the Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, and Minister for Health Care Justice Barbara T. Baylor, have signed a pastoral letter addressed to UCC members calling upon their churches “to actively work towards the creation of a national health care system and to affirm the moral and justice imperatives of equal access for all people.”
+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org
As reported in the 27 May 2009 Presbyterians Week, The Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ (SEUCC) is suing thirty-six member Center Congregational Church (CCC) in Atlanta, Georgia to oust them from their church property because the CCC membership in 2006 voted to leave the United Church of Christ (UCC) and join the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, after the UCC General Synod meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in 2005 endorsed homosexual marriage.
CCC pastor the Rev. J.R. McAliley III, on 3 August 2009, released an open letter to “Brothers and Sisters in Christ,” explaining that the church has so far incurred US$40 thousand in legal fees in preparation of a final brief for an upcoming court hearing, and currently the church has a legal bill due for US$17 thousand with only US$9 thousand remaining in all church accounts.
McAliley explains: “The legal impact of our case – defining “the Congregational Denomination” – is one with implications for every Church and Organization historically associated with the Congregational Way,” pointing out that the goal of the UCC/SECUCC is not the church property currently valued at $US500 thousand per se, but that: “Legal “ownership” of the designation as the true legal successor to “the Congregational Denomination” is [the UCC/SECUCC goal,] and the implications will spread like a tsunami.”
McAliley concludes the letter with an appeal for prayer, and an appeal for financial contributions towards CCC’s legal efforts.
+ Center Congregational Church, 1055 Moores Mill Road Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia 30327, 404-351-2747, JRMcAlileyIII@netscape.net
+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org
+ National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, Post Office Box 288, Oak Creek, Wisconsin 53154, 800-262-1620, Fax: 414-764-0319
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[6] Free Church of Scotland Wins Church Property Dispute with Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
A lawsuit over the ownership of the church and manse in Broadford on the Isle of Skye in Scotland was decided 3 August 2009 with the judge ruling in favor of the Free Church of Scotland (FCS) over the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) (FCSC).
The Broadford congregation left the FCS in 2000 when the FCSC was formed after a dispute over church government within the FCS.
The judge, Lord Uist, concluded that the FCSC had entirely separated themselves from the FCS, “… and have no right under the trust to the use and [occupy the] property intended for the benefit of the FCS.”
With about a dozen similar church property disputes still unresolved, the Rev. John Macleod, principal clerk of the FCSC said: “Our legal committee will be studying Lord Uist’s findings and consulting our lawyers in early course.”
+ The Herald, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow, Scotland G2 3QB, 0141- 302-7000, Fax: 0141-302-7117, On-lineEditor@theherald.co.uk
+ Free Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax: 0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk
+ Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), Rev. John MacLeod, Free Church Manse, Portmahomack, Ross-shire, Scotland, principalclerk@fccontinuing.org
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[7] Free Church of Scotland Minister Urges Traditionalists in the Church of Scotland to Merge with the Free Church
Free Church of Scotland minister the Rev. David Robertson on 30 July 2009 said that the Church of Scotland is “finished as a place for people who hold a more biblical view,” and urged them to join the Free Church of Scotland. Robertson said that the Free Church of Scotland could “provide a home” for Church of Scotland members unhappy with the appointment of Church of Scotland homosexual minister the Rev. Scott Rennie to the pulpit of Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, and the Church of Scotland’s same-sex marriage stance.
Robertson continued: “Instead of joining independent churches or fighting on for years and years and being a small minority within the [Church of Scotland], people should unite with other people who share the same point of view.”
The Free Church of Scotland is reviewing its policy of exclusive, a capella psalmody, which if relaxed would make the Free Church of Scotland more attractive to Church of Scotland members.
+ Press and Journal, Lang Stracht, Mastrick, Aberdeen AB15 6DF, Scotland, 01224-343311, pj.newsdesk@ajl.co.uk
+ Free Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax: 0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk
+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 4YN, 0131-225-5722
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[8] 28 July 2009 Tornado on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, Characterized as God’s Wrath for Homosexual Civil Partnership and Sabbath Breaking
On 28 July 2009, a tornado struck the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, coming ashore at the ferry terminal where Sabbath Day ferry service, over strong protest from the island’s Sabbatarians, had begun less than two weeks before, and the day after the first homosexual civil partnership ceremony was held on the island.
Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland pastor the Rev. James Tallach said: “I’m not in a position to say this was the will of God. I don’t have that information here. But I am prepared to say that it’s certain no good will come out of defying God’s law. That is what a Civil Partnership does. What happened on Monday was in defiance of God. We have also seen a clear breach of the Fourth Commandment, which regards keeping the Sabbath holy. Sunday sailings were also against the law of God.”
The tornado came struck about 10 p.m., damaging several cars, tearing slates, ridging, and ironwork off a number of roofs, and broke fences. Stornaway, Scotland, experienced a thirty minute power outage after a lightening strike, and a town water pumping station was disrupted by the lightening. There were no deaths or injuries.
British weather experts report that tornados are not unusual in the British Isles, but that summer tornados are a rarity.
+ Scottish Daily Record, One Central Quay, Glasgow G3 8DA, Scotland, 0141-309-3000, Fax: 0141-309-3645, readerseditor@dailyrecord.co.uk
+ Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, c/o Rev. Donald A. Ross, Free Presbyterian Manse, Laide, Ross-shire IV22 2NB, Scotland, daross@donaldalexander.freeserve.co.uk
Church of Scotland minister and Forward Together member the Rev. Louis Kinsey of St. Columba’s Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, is calling for the Church of Scotland to overturn its gag order on the discussion of homosexuality and the ordination of homosexuals until the 2011 General Assembly.
Writing on his personal blog, Kinsey said: “My hope is that the moratorium [gag order] will be challenged. It only serves to drive debate underground and it stifles the exchange of opinion. It is patronising because it implies that the assembly simply cannot and will not trust the members and ministers of the [Church of Scotland] to hold a public discussion in a spirit of respectful disagreement.”
+ Press and Journal, Lang Stracht, Mastrick, Aberdeen AB15 6DF, Scotland, 01224-343311, pj.newsdesk@ajl.co.uk
+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 4YN, 0131-225-5722
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[10] EPC 2009 General Assembly Recordings and Text of Selected Presentations Available
Recordings of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) 2009 General Assembly are available from National Conference Recording Service, and texts of the following EPC 2009 General Assembly presentations are available on the EPC website:
– The New Reformation by Rev. Scott McKee
– Unity of Essentials: American Calvinism and the EPC by Rev. Don Fortson
– The Layman article by Rev. Nate Atwood
+ Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 17197 North Laurel Park Drive Suite 567, Livonia, Michigan 48152, 734-742-2020, Fax: 734-742-2033, webmaster@epc.org
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[11] Mummer Banjo Maker Emery ‘Jim’ Ivan, 81, Dies 25 July 2009
Emery ‘Jim’ Ivan, 81, died 25 July 2009 at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospice in Darby, Pennsylvania, from the effects of heart disease.
Ivan was renowned as a banjo maker for the Mummers String Bands, and was the inventor of the ‘Jany’ banjo, which had twenty-two frets, a higher range than a standard tenor banjo, and was constructed with what Ivan called ‘lungs,’ so that the banjo’s sound would project along the Mummers parade route between high-rise buildings on downtown Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ivan was a second-generation Hungarian, and attended music school at the First Hungarian Reformed Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ivan served in the U.S. Navy during World War II on the USS Capricornus and USS Chilton, and during the Korean War on the USS Paiute.
Jim Ivan is survived by two sisters, three nephews, and a niece. A fraternal funeral service was conducted 30 July 2009 at the Pennsylvania Burial Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
+ Philadelphia Inquirer, 400 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19130, 215-575-6484
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[12] Internal Revenue Service Drops Eleven-Month Investigation of Minnesota Pastor’s Sermons
Following an eleven-month investigation of two sermons of Pastor Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church in Warroad, Minnesota, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has closed its examination of the sermons due to a “procedural problem.” Pastor Booth submitted the text of two sermons he preached in 2008 regarding that year’s primary and general elections as part of the Alliance Defense Fund’s (ADF) Pulpit Initiative, which was designed to test the constitutionality of the 1954 [then-Senator Lyndon] Johnson Amendment to the U.S. Federal Tax Code that limited the free speech rights of ministers to preach in some areas of what the government considered to be “political” matters.
ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley commented: “This latest action from the IRS continues to leave churches in limbo when it comes to speaking freely from their pulpits. It illustrates everything that is wrong with the current enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. After an eleven-month audit, it is disingenuous for the IRS to simply close the file and walk away as if nothing happened.”
Stanley continued: “The IRS apparently has no desire to clarify the law for churches and has studiously avoided a court confrontation over this issue for years. They continue to vaguely interpret the law, leave churches guessing as to what the law actually means, and enforce the Johnson Amendment through fear and intimidation.”
Stanley concluded: “Instead of standing and fighting in court, the IRS prefers to run the other way. ADF would likely have waived any complaint about procedural concerns involved in the investigation stage of the audit in order to reach the merits of the case and clarify the law. Once a federal court has an opportunity to review the Johnson Amendment, we believe it will not take long for the court to strike it down as unconstitutional. Pastors have the right to preach from their pulpits on all issues, including candidates and elections. No pastor should fear the IRS.”
+ Alliance Defense Fund, 15100 North 90th Street, Scottsdale, Arizona 85260, 800-835-5233, Fax: 480-444-0025
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[13] IRS Grants Tax-Exempt Status to Coalition for Life of Iowa after Dropping Gag-Order Requirements
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), after long delays and unconstitutional demands to waive free-speech rights, has granted tax-exempt status to the Coalition for Life of Iowa (CLI).
The IRS delay included pressing CLI for “details” about the content of its members’ prayers at a Planned Parenthood (PP) abortion facility, and IRS demands that CLI refrain from activities at PP that could be construed as protesting or picketing by police or harassing or being confrontational with abortion-bound clients. The IRS also demanded that every member of the board of the CLI board of directors sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, that they will not picket or protest or organize others to picket or protest outside of PP facilities.
CLI obtained assistance from the Thomas More Society (TMS) in July 2009, and the TMS soon wrote the IRS a lengthy letter threatening legal action if the IRS persisted in violating CLI’s First Amendment rights. Soon thereafter, the IRS quietly advised the Coalition that it would receive its tax exemption, and the IRS‘s official Determination Letter was received by CLI in early August 2009, albeit backdated to 9 July 2009.
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
+ Thomas More Law Center, 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106, 734-827-2001, Fax: 734-930-7160, info@thomasmore.org
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[14] Sixty Pakistani Christian Houses Torched by Muslims over Blasphemy Charges
Muslim arsonists torched sixty Pakistani Christian Houses, ransacked two Christian churches, and stole livestock from villagers in Toba Tek Singh, Gojra, Pakistan, after a young Christian boy had torn a piece of paper the boy had picked up, upon which was written several passages from the Koran. When the torn paper was found by Muslim villagers, other Muslims from the village and from surrounding villages were incited to commit the atrocities by charges of blasphemy made against the youngster and his father.
Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minorities, ordered the arrest of those responsible for the violence, and said that Pakistan’s blasphemy law is: “widely misused to victimize minorities and innocent people of Pakistan,” and later said: “The blasphemy laws need to be either amended or repealed. A Pakistani Christian, or any other member of minority communities, cannot commit [Muslim-defined] blasphemy.”
+ Assist USA, Post Office Box 609, Lake Forest, California 92609, 949-380-1558, danjuma1@aol.com
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[15] Muslims Kidnap Two Coptic Christian Teen Girls in Alexandria, Egypt
Muslims in Alexandria, Egypt kidnapped two teenage Christian Coptic girls in July 2009.
Amira Morgan, 16, was kidnapped on 18 July 2009 while on her way to work in a nearby plastics factory. Amira’s mother, Mrs. Samira Markos, received a phone call telling her that she would see her daughter again after the daughter converts to Islam. When Mrs. Markos went to a nearby mosque to inquire about her daughter’s whereabouts, she was warned not to report the abduction to the police, lest Mrs. Markos’ nine-year-old son be slaughtered before her eyes. Mrs. Markos and her son have left Alexandria, Egypt and gone into hiding.
Another kidnapping occurred on 22 July 2009, when Ingy Basta, 18, was out on an errand to have her cell phone repaired. Miss Basta was to have been engaged on 26 July 2009 to a Christian Coptic man.
Rasha Nour, Head of Egypt4Christ, reported on the systemic intolerance toward Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, and described a business of kidnapping and forced Islamization that is funded by Muslim businessmen and carried out with the collusion of Egyptian State Security and mosque sheikhs, where young Christian men and women are targeted, and kidnappers are paid approx. US$1250 for a young man and up to approx. US$1050 for a young woman depending on her beauty and her social status.
+ Assyrian International News Agency
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[16] Presbyterian Church of Korea Congregation in Taiwan Joins Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
With the blessing of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK), a PCK congregation in the Hsinchu, Taiwan area established in 2005 by Korean pastor the Rev. Kim Dong Ryul for Koreans living in Taiwan, has become an official church of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT). The Koreans thus far have been sharing a PCT church building, but expect to have their own church facilities in the near future.
+ Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, 334 Youth Road, Tainan City, 70144 Taiwan, 886-6-235-6277, Fax: 886-6-237-8882, enews@pctpress.org
+ Presbyterian Church of Korea, 02-3499-7600, prok@chol.com
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[17] William Symington Biography Available 1 September 2009 from Reformation Heritage Books
William Symington: Penman of the Scottish Covenanters by Roy Blackwood, with Michael LeFebvre, will be available from Reformation Heritage Books beginning 1 September 2009.
+ Reformation Heritage Books, 2965 Leonard Street Northeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, 616-977-0599, orders@heritagebooks.org
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[18] New Broadside of The Solemn League & Covenant Available from Westminster Letter Press
A new large broadside of the Solemn League & Covenant is available from Westminster Letter Press. The broadside, in limited edition, is printed on letter press in hand set type for Westminster Letter Press by Golgonooza Letter Foundry & Press on Twinrocker handmade paper.
+ Naphtali Press, Post Office Box 141084, Dallas, Texas 75214, naphtali@naphtali.com
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[19] August 2009 Reformation Voice Available Online
The August 2009 issue of Reformation Voice is available online at http://hra.witnesstoday.org/RVAugust2009.pdf.
Reformation Voice is a publication of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, whose purpose is to assist Reformed churches of the Heidelberg tradition to rediscover, preserve and celebrate their Reformed convictions and heritage through mutual fellowship, worship, prayer, work, counsel, and teaching.
+ Heidelberg Reformation Association, Rev. Howard Sloan, Secretary, 5543 Business 220, Bedford, Pennsylvania 15522
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