8 June 2011
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
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[1] Additional Christian Observer Articles for June 2011
[4] The Realities of Sharia Law
[6] PCUSA Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Assessed $US4700 for Pruning Its Own Crepe Myrtle Trees
[7] PCUSA Presbyteries Vote for New Form of Government
[8] Reformation Political Party Forming to Ground Government in Fear of the Lord
[9] Death of the Rev. John Wesley Morrow
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[1] Additional Christian Observer Articles for June 2011
Two additional articles have been published in the Christian Observer for June 2011:
In the Throes of Ecclesiological Crisis – by William B. Evans, Younts Professor of Bible and Religion at Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina – As the 2011 meeting of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) General Synod gets underway at the Bonclarken Conference Center in East Flat Rock, North Carolina, Dr. Evans discusses the long-standing divisions and disagreements within the ARP Church, most recently visible in the Erskine College and Theological Seminary crises, which threaten the relationship between the synod and the college, and threaten the future of the ARP Church itself; and,
DADT Repeal and the Military Chaplaincy – by Darrell Todd Maurina – the problems faced by evangelical military chaplains with the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations regarding homosexual soldiers, and when there are disagreements with “politically correct” issues being pushed by the military’s top leadership.
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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org
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A 6 June 2011 The Washington Post article by Ed O’Keefe titled “Robert Gates: No Opt-Out for Troops Opposed to Ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’” reports that during a meeting with U.S. Marines on 5 June 2011 at a base in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, retiring U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates listened as a Marine asked:
“Sir, we joined the Marine Corps because the Marine Corps has a set of standards and values that is better than that of the civilian sector, and we have gone and changed those values and repealed the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. We have not given the Marines a chance to decide whether they wish to continue serving under that. Is there going to be an option for those Marines that no longer wish to serve due to the fact their moral values have not changed?”
Gates answered:
“You’ll have to complete your … enlistment just like everybody else. The reality is that you don’t all agree with each other on your politics, you don’t agree with each other on your religion, you don’t agree with each other on a lot of things. But you still serve together. And you work together. And you look out for each other. And that’s all that matters.
“If we do this right, nothing will change. You will still have to abide by the same rules of behavior, the same discipline, the same respect for each other that has been the case through all the history of the Marine Corps.”
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+ The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington DC 20071, 202-334-6000, Contact Form
+ U.S. Marine Corps , Room 4A532, 3000 Marine Corps, Pentagon, Washington DC 20380, 703-614-1492
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A 3 June 2011 The Herald article titled “Vigil for Soldier Son of Minister” reports that Lance Corporal James Chalmers, 23, from Dunfermline, Scotland, of the 42 Commando, British Royal Marines, was seriously injured 27 May 2011 in Helmand, Afghanistan, by an improvised explosive device (IED) that killed Lieutenant Ollie Augustin, 23, and Royal Marine Sam Alexander, 28. Despite the severity of LCpl. Chalmers’ head, body, and leg injuries, he is reported to be improving.
LCpl. Chalmers is the son of Church of Scotland minister and principal clerk the Rev. John Chalmers.
The staff members of the Christian Observer extend our thoughts and prayers to LCpl. Chalmers and his family, as well as our condolences and prayers to the families of Lieutenant Augustin and Royal Marine Sam Alexander.
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+ The Herald, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow, Scotland G2 3QB, 0141- 302-7000, Fax: 0141-302-7117, On-lineEditor@theherald.co.uk
+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722
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[4] The Realities of Sharia Law
The following characteristics of Islamic Sharia law are excerpted from a list by Nonie Darwish, author of Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law. Recently a young woman was brutally whipped to death under Sharia law because she had been raped. See the entire list of thirty-four points at http://frontpagemag.com/2010/08/27/sharia-for-dummies/print.
1- A Muslim who leaves Islam must be killed immediately.
2 – A Muslim will be forgiven for murder of: an apostate, an adulterer, a highway robber. Vigilante street justice and honor killing is acceptable.
3 – A Muslim will not get the death penalty if he kills a non-Muslim, but will get it for killing a Muslim.
4 – Non-Muslims are not equal to Muslims under the law. They must comply to Islamic law if they are to remain safe. They are forbidden to marry Muslim women, publicly display wine or pork, recite their scriptures or openly celebrate their religious holidays or funerals. They are forbidden from building new churches or building them higher than mosques. They may not enter a mosque without permission. A non-Muslim is no longer protected if he leads a Muslim away from Islam.
5 – A non-Muslim cannot rule–even over a non-Muslim minority.
6 – There is no age limit for marriage of girls. The marriage contract can take place anytime after birth and can be consummated at age eight or nine.
7 – A man has the right to have up to four wives and none of them have a right to divorce him–even if he is polygamous.
8 – The testimony of a woman in court is half the value of a man.
9 – To prove rape, a woman must have four male witnesses.
10 – A Muslim woman must cover every inch of her body, which is considered ‘Awrah,’ a sexual organ.
11- It is obligatory for a Muslim to lie if the purpose is obligatory. That means that for the sake of abiding with Islam’s commandments, such as jihad, a Muslim is obliged to lie and should not have any feelings of guilt or shame associated with this kind of lying.
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+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
+ FrontPage Magazine, Post Office Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, California 91499, Contact Page
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A 3 June 2011 USA TODAY article titled “Court: N.Y. Can Block Sunday Worship Services in Public Schools” reported that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that allowed churches to continue holding services on Sundays in New York City public schools, because doing so would be “effectively allowing schools to be converted into churches on Sunday, [in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s] establishment clause.”
The appeals court said that schools being principally available for public use on Sundays causes an unintended bias in favor of Christian religions because Jews and Muslims generally cannot use schools on the days when their religions generally conduct services.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2001 decision in “Good News Club v. Milford Central School,” found it unconstitutional for a public school district in Milford, New York, to exclude a private Christian organization for children that had asked to use space in a school building after school hours to sing songs, read Bible lessons, memorize scripture and pray.
The appeals court decision rejected the applicability of the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision, saying that there is “an important difference between excluding the conduct of an event or activity that includes expression of a point of view, and excluding the expression of that point of view.”
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+ USA TODAY, 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Virginia 22108, 800-872-0001
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[6] PCUSA Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Assessed $US4700 for Pruning Its Own Crepe Myrtle Trees
A 2 June 2011 United Press International article titled “N.C. Church Fined For Tree Pruning” reports that the Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)) in Charlotte, North Carolina, was fined US$4700 by the city after the church pruned eight crepe myrtle trees on the church’s property.
City officials will work with the church to avoid the fine by replanting trees to replace the felled crepe myrtles, but will not allow the church to plant the same kind of trees.
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+ United Press International, 1133 19th Street Northwest, Washington DC 20036, 202-898-8000, Fax: 202-898-8048
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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[7] PCUSA Presbyteries Vote for New Form of Government
The Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) announced 7 June 2011 that a majority of the PCUSA’s 173 presbyteries have voted for a constitutional amendment that changes the PCUSA’s form of government that replaces the current eighteen chapter section of the PCUSA Book of Order with a new six chapter section. The new form of government will take effect on 10 July 2011.
The Presbyterian Coalition has published a number of resources explaining the problems with and the unintended consequences of the new form of government here:
http://www.reclaimbiblicalteaching.org/nfog.cfm
and has published a paper titled “Congregational Bylaws Changes Needed NOW in Case nFOG Passes” here:
http://www.reclaimbiblicalteaching.org/Bylaws%20changes%20needed%20if%20nFOGa%20passes.pdf
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
+ The Presbyterian Coalition, 4604 Grove Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23226, 804-615-3243, office@presbycoalition.org
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[8] Reformation Political Party Forming to Ground Government in Fear of the Lord
A political organization called the Reformation Party is being formed with the goal of making the foundation of sound government to be a true fear of the Lord, such as was conceived in the Solemn League and Covenant of 1642.
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+ Reformation Party, info@puritans.net
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[9] Death of the Rev. John Wesley Morrow
The Christian Observer has learned of the death of the Rev. John Wesley Morrow, 85, on 3 May 2011. After serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II and in the Merchant Marines following the war, Morrow returned to his home in Baltimore, Maryland, began working as a brick layer, and began attending Southwest Bible Presbyterian Church where he was drawn to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ by the preaching of the Gospel.
Mr. Morrow later joined the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and spent ten years in Mwingi, Kenya, managing plant maintenance and new building projects at the mission hospital there.
After returning to the United States, Mr. Morrow began ministry studies at Reformation Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began pastoring an old Bible Presbyterian mission church work in Finksburg, Maryland, and was ordained to the gospel ministry in the newly formed American Presbyterian Church. Mr. Morrow later moved to Westminster, Maryland, where he pastored a church for twenty years, providing his flock with sound Biblical teaching and catechizing.
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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org
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