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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] The President’s Evolution and Our Culture’s Degradation: A Call to Prayer and a Plea for Revival

[2] Erskine College and Theological Seminary Decline Further into Accommodation, Evil, and Irrelevancy

[3] Why Terrorists are after Africa’s Christians

[4] Law Society bans Christian Concern Marriage Event

[5] California Presbyterian Church Leaves PCUSA for Not Embracing Homosexuality Enough

[6] PCUSA Presbytery of the Redwoods Now Supports Minister Who Wed Same-Sex Couples

[7] PCUSA Plans Staff Reduction

[8] Lafayette, Indiana, Pastor Arrested after Cameras Found in Church Bathroom

[9] Reformed Fellowship Sale on “Jesus Loves the Little Children: Why We Baptize Children” by Daniel R. Hyde

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[1] The President’s Evolution and Our Culture’s Degradation: A Call to Prayer and a Plea for Revival

Commentary by Dr. Michael A. Milton

We often cannot fully grasp the historical significance of events as they happen. The 24/7 news feeds into our homes could desensitize us to even the most remarkable of events. Yet, the announcement of a United States president (and vice president) publicly endorsing same-sex marriage is to support that which God explicitly condemns. It is shameful and a reproach to decency and honor and a sad commentary on the regrettable departure of our national leaders from the biblical heritage that has guided our country. The president’s announcement came hours after another of our states voted to protect the God-ordained institution of marriage and was thus particularly painful for citizens in North Carolina and further deepened the obvious cultural divide in our nation.

I join many other Christian leaders, churches and ministries asking God’s power for revival to come upon our country as we face this latest assault on the law of God. While we pray for our president and his family, we ask the Lord to bring repentance and Spirit-wrought renewed faith to him and all. Oh, that we might seek Him and live!

Now more than ever we at Reformed Theological Seminary must be vigilant in our sacred calling to raise up godly pastors and other servants of the Church who will courageously, boldly and compassionately declare Jesus Christ’s Word to our people. That Word brings abundant life and eternal life.

May God have mercy for the sake of His Church and stir us all to prayer like never before. Then, this remarkably sad moment for our country would have brought about something good.

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+ Reformed Theological Seminary, 2101 Carmel Road, Charlotte, North Carolina 28226, 704-366-5066, Fax: 704-366-9295

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[2] Erskine College and Theological Seminary Decline Further into Accommodation, Evil, and Irrelevancy

In ARPTalk Issue #56, titled “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” (“a nonsense word meaning nothing”) the Rev. Dr. Charles Wilson reports on several recent occurrences of “nonsense…meaning nothing” concerning  Erskine College (EC), Erskine Theological Seminary (ETS), and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP), which illustrate EC’s and ETS’s continuing decline into accommodation, evil, and irrelevancy including:

– A speech made by ARP Moderator of the General Synod the Rev. Andy Putnam to the EC student body where Mr. Putnam stated: “And we also don’t want Erskine to be another regional liberal arts school where you can only find Christ in the Bible department. What we’re going after is something much more difficult to attain – something that requires sacrifice, determination and direction: an authentically Christian liberal arts educational experience.” Dr. Wilson replies: “It is a denial of both present reality and what can be done…. Mr. Putnam’s words ignore the controversy of the last forty years in the ARP Church over Erskine College and Seminary – especially the last four years. In order to have an EC that is “an authentically Christian liberal arts” college, EC must have a faculty, administration, and board that are “authentically Christian” and know what Christian liberal arts is and have a vision for EC becoming a Christian liberal arts college. None of that is in place, nor does it have a ghost of a chance of being put into place in the face of the opposition of the alums, the faculty, the administration, and the board.”

– At the 12 May 2012 EC graduation ceremony, an honorary doctorate was introduced and conferred by Mr. Bill Lesesne, a founder and director of the EC Foundation, Dr. Wilson states that “the EC Foundation was founded to divert money from Erskine so that the attorneys who sued the ARP Church after the “Snow Synod” could be paid.”

– The majority report of the EC Board of Trustees (EBOT) ad hoc committee, which addressed the ARP 2011 synod request to amend the by-laws of the EBOT to comply with Synod’s policy for removal of trustees for cause, states that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ (SACS) and the Association of Theological Schools’ (ATS) policies will not allow the request of Synod to be adopted and implemented by the EBOT on penalty of loss of accreditation by SACS and ATS. Dr. Wilson states that the majority EBOT ad hoc committee report assertion is demonstrably false, as the EBOT ad hoc committee minority report, signed by eleven members of the committee, points out that there are effectively seven schools, one within 100 miles of EC, with a policy like the one requested by the 2011 ARP Synod, having both SACS and ATS accreditation.

– At the 12 May 2012 ETS graduation ceremony, ETS conferred a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree on a Muslim cleric. Dr. Wilson points out that the imam now joins “at least one Unitarian minister, at least one Mormon cleric, and at least one Jewish rabbi” in receiving ETS degrees, and concludes: “What a hall of shame for the ARP Church! What a condemnation for a seminary that has as its motto “For Christ and His Church.” Let me hasten also to note that diversity is the coin of hell and not of heaven.”

Dr. Wilson further reports that the EC Fall 2012 entering class as of early May 2012 has only 111 new students of the 230-250 predicted by EC President Dr. David Norman. Dr. Wilson states that “to get the 119 students needed to reach the minimum of 230 by mid-August, the pocketbook of the endowment is going to be opened wide. As in past years, students will have to be bought, and poorly qualified students at that. At this point EC ceases to be academically concerned. Academically concerned institutions turn down students. At this point, the only thing necessary to get into EC is a beating heart.”

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+ ARPTalk Blog, 864-882-6337, wilson6114@bellsouth.net

+ Erskine College, 2 Washington Street, Due West, South Carolina 29639, 864-379-2131, 864-379-2167, norman@erskine.edu

+ Erskine Theological Seminary, Post Office Box 668, Due West, South Carolina 29639, 800-770-6936

+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1 Cleveland Street Suite 110, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729

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[3] Why Terrorists are after Africa’s Christians

By Fernando Perez – moderated by WEA-RLC Executive Director Godfrey Yogaraja

From Boko Haram in Sub-Saharan Africa to al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa, Islamist terrorists across the continent have heightened attacks on Christians. This seems to be a part of an emerging strategy of al-Qaeda and associated local groups, which must be taken and dealt with seriously.

On April 29, Boko Haram members gunned down at least sixteen Christians and wounded more than twenty-two others as they targeted an area inside the Bayero University campus in northern Nigeria where churches hold Sunday services. The same day, its gunmen shot at worshippers inside a chapel of the Church of Christ in Nigeria in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing the pastor who was preparing for Communion and four congregants.

Also on April 29, a man believed to be from Somalia’s al-Shabaab group set off a grenade during a church service in Nairobi, Kenya, killing a worshipper and injuring fifteen others.

These attacks came on the heels of the vandalism of the Sudan Evangelical Presbyterian Church Bible School in Khartoum on April 21. About 500 alleged members of Ansaar al-Suna, a Salafi faction which adheres to a textual interpretation of Islam, attacked the church compound in the West Gerief district of the Sudanese capital, burning Bibles and destroying and looting property.

Just before the attack in Sudan was reported, an estimated 300 Christians had to flee the city of Timbuktu in Mali after Ansar Dine, an Islamist extremist group loyal to al-Qaeda, announced in the second week of April that it was imposing Sharia law in the city. This followed the previous month’s military coup in northern parts of the country aided by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an Islamist militia which aims to overthrow the Algerian government and institute an Islamic state and whose links with al-Qaeda predate the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

It is believed that Osama bin Laden was in Sudan from 1991 to 1996, when he was allegedly expelled by the Sudanese government under U.S. pressure. Al-Qaeda has had links with local groups in African nations for decades. Apart from al-Shabaab and AQIM, al-Qaeda has had direct links with the Libyan Islamic Movement (formerly known as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group) in Libya, and Somali insurgents allegedly sheltered by Eritrea.

But now, the number of such organizations is growing as al-Qaeda is desperately looking for new territories to establish its new bases in the wake of the NATO-led mission in its traditional heartland, such as Afghanistan.

The global terror group wants to create areas in African nations where it can establish its control, as well as ungoverned areas or failed states where it can operate more or less freely. To achieve this, the terror group is seeking to strengthen local Islamist groups and give them a transnational vision and a religious motivation to carry on with their existing struggles as well as broaden the scope of their operations by including Western and Christian targets.

It is believed that al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab and AQIM provided technical sophistication and weaponry to BokoHaram, which had been targeting police stations and local people with machetes until 2010. But now, Christians are one of its primary targets and the methods includes bombing. Boko Haram killed at least 510 people and destroyed over 350 churches in 10 northern states of Nigeria last year.

In February 2012, al-Shabaab for the first time officially pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. Al-Shabaab leader Mukhtar Abu al-Zubair sent an audio message to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, saying: “On behalf of the soldiers and the commanders in al-Shabaab, we pledge allegiance to you. So lead us to the path of jihad and martyrdom that was drawn by our imam, the martyr Osama,” as reported by CNN.

Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Africa, representing the global terror network locally, have established links with several other smaller local groups.

As London-based security analyst Valentina Soria, author of Global Jihad Sustained Through Africa, believes, “The aim is now for the central leadership [of al-Qaeda] to try to forge strategic relationships with like-minded groups in Africa … like al-Shabab, and obviously strengthen the already existing relationship with AQIM,” as quoted by the British newspaper Daily Mail. She adds that al-Qaeda is also working with other terror organizations to secure stable footholds in “volatile” countries.

While it was anticipated that the Arab Spring would give a blow to terrorist groups by showing that autocratic, non-Islamic regimes could be overthrown by largely peaceful protests as opposed to armed struggles, the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa also offered some opportunities to the terror network.

The actors in the uprisings in various countries were diverse in their motives. Especially the ones who helped initiate revolutions were largely secular-minded. But extremist factions were naturally emboldened by the fall of regimes in some countries like Egypt. And then, there was, and is, widespread disillusionment among people as the transition to democracy has been chaotic. Al-Qaeda is seeking to exploit all that.

In the countries in transition from dictatorship to democracy, al-Qaeda is calling for the establishment of pure Islamic governance, saying the overthrowing of the regimes is just half work done.

Two weeks after the killing of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda released a message by its former leader, saying: “We watch with you this great historic event and we share with you joy and happiness and delight and felicity … We are happy for what makes you happy, and we are sad for what makes you sad. So congratulations to you for your victories.” Laden’s message was identical to that of his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri, who said: “Your jihadi brethren are confronting alongside you the same enemy, America and its Western allies, those who set up … Husni Mubarak, Zein al-Abidin b. Ali, Ali Abdallah Saleh, Abdallah b. Hussein [sic] and their ilk to rule over you.”

Al-Qaeda finds a fertile ground in Africa, which has numerous insurgencies, volatile geopolitics, weak and corrupt governments and easy availability of arms and presence of large Muslim and Christian populations. Local militant groups also find al-Qaeda attractive in hope of recruiting more youth with a more “challenging” transnational agenda and access to sophisticated weaponry and training.

The al-Qaeda strategy apparently includes incitement to sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians as it seeks to create civil wars and unrest, such as in Nigeria.

Such attempts are likely to accelerate in the near future if the international community fails to prevent radical Muslim movements from spreading across the continent. While military aid by the West to African allies to fight radical forces might be part of the solution, but that’s not all. It would also involve ensuring good governance, strengthening of democratic institutions and organizations, and removing the underlying conditions which are conducive for terrorism.

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+ Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance, 32 Ebenezer Place, Dehiwela, Sri Lanka, Contact by Email

+ World Evangelical Alliance, 74 Trinity Place, Suite 1400, New York, New York  10006, 212-233-3046, Fax: 646-957-9218, Contact Form

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[4] Law Society bans Christian Concern Marriage Event

Christian Concern reported 12 May 2012 that the Law Society of London, England, has revoked the booking of the ‘One Man, One Woman. Making the Case for Marriage for the Good of Society’ conference, originally scheduled for 23 May 2012, sponsored by Christian Concern, the World Congress of Families, and others, because the event “is contrary to our diversity policy, espousing as it does an ethos which is opposed to same-sex marriage.”

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+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page

+ World Congress of Families, 934 North Main Street, Rockford, Illinois 61103, 815-964-5819, Fax: 815-965-1826, info@worldcongress.org

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[5] California Presbyterian Church Leaves PCUSA for Not Embracing Homosexuality Enough

An 11 May 2012 article by Stoyan Zaimov of The Christian Post titled “Calif. Presbyterian Church Leaves PCUSA for Not Embracing Homosexuality Enough” reports that former Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) West Hollywood Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, California, formally joined the United Church of Christ on 12 May 2012 because the church believes that the PCUSA has not done enough to embrace homosexuals.

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+ The Christian Post, National Press Building, 529 14th Street Northwest, Suite 420, Washington DC 20045, 202-347-7734, info@christianpost.com

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org

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[6] PCUSA Presbytery of the Redwoods Now Supports Minister Who Wed Same-Sex Couples

A 15 May 2012 article Los Angeles Times article titled “Presbyterian Body Now Supports Minister Who Wed Same-Sex Couples” reports that the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)’s Presbytery of the Redwoods in a 74-18 vote rejected the PCUSA’s denunciation of the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr for performing weddings for homosexual couples.

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+ Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California 90012, 213-237-5000, Fax: 213-237-7679, Contact Page

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

+ Presbytery of the Redwoods, 1226A Salvador Avenue, Napa, California 94558, 707-224-5407, Fax: 707-224-4309, pbyrw@pacbell.net

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[7] PCUSA Plans Staff Reduction

A 14 May 2012 article in the Daily News of Bowling Green, Kentucky, reports that the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) General Assembly Mission Council, assuming approval of the PCUSA 2012 General Assembly meeting, will cut thirteen net positions representing four percent of its workforce, and impose budget reductions over the next two years because of reduced revenue due to membership losses.

The remaining 308 positions represents a reduction of one-half of the positions existing in 2002.

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+ Daily News, 813 College Street, Bowling Green, Kentucky 42102, 270-781-1700, amplifier@bgdailynews.com

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

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[8] Lafayette, Indiana, Pastor Arrested after Cameras Found in Church Bathroom

A 14 May 2012 article by John Terhune in the Journal and Courier titled “Lafayette Pastor Arrested after Cameras Found in Church Bathroom” reports that Robert Lyzenga, pastor of Sunrise Christian Reformed Church (Christian Reformed Church in North America) in Lafayette, Indiana, was arrested 10 May 2012 on suspicion of voyeurism, a Class D felony, after the pastor allegedly hid video cameras inside fake “air freshener” boxes secured to the inside of restroom stall doors.

Lyzenga has been suspended from all church duties.

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+ Journal and Courier, 217 North 6th Street, Lafayette, Indiana 47901

+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org

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[9] Reformed Fellowship Sale on “Jesus Loves the Little Children: Why We Baptize Children” by Daniel R. Hyde

Reformed Fellowship is offering through 30 June 2012 the book “Jesus Loves the Little Children: Why We Baptize Children” by Daniel R. Hyde for the sale price of US$3.00 plus US$3.50 shipping to U.S. addresses.

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+ Reformed Fellowship, Inc., 3363 Hickory Ridge Court Southwest, Wyoming, Michigan 49418, 616-532-8510, editor@reformedfellowship.net

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, an EPC Elder, Knows His Calvin in Vetoing Legislation Regarding Vanderbilt University

[2] Virginia Judge Recommends Redacting First Table from Ten Commandments School Display to Remove Government Endorsement of Religion

[3] Allegan, Michigan Police Forcibly Shut Down Conference on the U.S. Constitution and Sharia Law after Complaints from Islamic Terrorist Fundraising Group Council on Islamic-American Relations

[4] PCUSA-Affiliated Auburn Theological Seminary of New York, New York, Honor Planned Parenthood Executives

[5] 17,000 ‘Aphrodisiac’ Pills Made from Dead, Aborted Babies Seized by Police in South Korea

[6] 2012 Fraser Valley Bible Conference Recordings of Dr. Joel Beeke Speaking on “Living the Christian Life” Available for Free Download

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[1] Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, an EPC Elder, Knows His Calvin in Vetoing Legislation Regarding Vanderbilt University

By David Tulis – 3 May 2012

An announced veto by Gov. Bill Haslam pulls up short a bill that many Christians have reason to favor — one that puts Vanderbilt University in its place for a petty tyranny the nonsmokers on its board slapped on their inferiors in the name of tolerance, fairness, equity and fair play.

Vandy’s cocky little rule, one that conveniently gives a pass to fraternities and sororities, will proceed apace, giving the school’s parent body one more reason to suspect that enrolling a son or daughter there may be a slap on the cheek as well as a waste of family capital. Gov. Haslam’s veto adheres to a philosophy of limited government and a reluctance to use even the most well-intentioned power of the state to overwhelm a private institution’s government and to dictate terms.

Mr. Haslam, an elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, is following the thinking of the world’s foremost Christian reformer, John Calvin, a French theologian who is credited even by his enemies as having systematized the concept of modern political liberty that everyone from the tea party to Occupy Wall Street to Hamilton County government with its divided powers owe their thanks.

Calvin, whose major work is The Institutes of the Christian Religion, followed Martin Luther and Scotsman John Knox in enunciating limitations of the civil magistrate (or, as we say today, the state) that are the bulwark of western political liberty. With Calvin, the doctrines of government by covenant, interposition by the lesser magistrate and the duty of princes to avoid arbitrary and absolutist ways came into the modern consciousness. The American colonial concept of fractured national government with its competing power centers (executive, legislative, judicial) is a new historical development — and comes from Calvin.

IN A STATEMENT GIVEN REPORTERS, Gov. Haslam describes the Vanderbilt rule as an “all comers” policy. This usage is intended to imply the intent of a rule that forbids a Christian group from requiring Christianity of its directors and forcing such groups, if they are to receive university subsidies, to accept pagans, Wiccans and other worthies. The rule would let an historic revisionist take charge of a Jewish group that believes in the holocaust, a Yankee imperialist to take leadership of a Southern states’ rights group, a patriarchalist to take the helm of the campus feminists, and a Muslim to get his foot in the door of the Hindu fellowship.

As for HB 3576/SB 3597, the governor said:

I don’t agree with Vanderbilt’s “all-comers” policy. It is counterintuitive to make campus organizations open their membership and leadership positions to anyone and everyone, even when potential members philosophically disagree with the core values and beliefs of the organization.

The original version of HB 3576/SB 3597 only applied to public education institutions, and I believe it is appropriate for state government to be involved in policies of public colleges and universities.

The amended legislation that the General Assembly ultimately passed, however, also applies to private universities. Although I disagree with Vanderbilt’s policy, as someone who strongly believes in limited government, I think it is inappropriate for government to mandate the policies of a private institution. Therefore, I will veto HB 3576/SB 3597 in its current form.

The veto is the governor’s first, and follows a line of political genius that was sparked in the 1500s when Christendom rediscovered the word of God that had come, over centuries, to be smothered and lost by an ultimately unreformable Roman Catholic church.

The grounds for state intervention in the life of private Vanderbilt University are that the university receives taxpayer funds. The Assembly passed its bill Monday before adjourning Tuesday. A late amendment stipulated that any private university accepting $24 million or more in state funds is subject to the law. Rep. Mark Pody, a Lebanon Republican, told Andy Sher of the Times Free Press that Vandy gets at least that amount through the state’s welfare program for the sick poor, TennCare.

Among those who pushed for the Vandy intervention is David Fowler, a Christian activist with the Family Action Council of Tennessee, whose work in favor of Christendom is of long standing and great effect.

PERSONAL LIBERTY UNDER LAW and divided government are Christian concepts that national Republicans, Democrats enjoy, even though they have worked for years to overturn the concept. Calvin’s systematic work premised on the sovereignty of God assumes the totality of the fall in mankind and denies the possibility of salvation by man. The modern messianic state disputes this argument, and is constantly arranging to save us and predestine our lives by the U.S. Code.

Calvin in Book 4, Chapter 20, of the Institutes gives useful pointers about the use of authority:

– In discussing the obedience owed Kings, he says, “And, indeed, how preposterous were it, in pleasing men, to incur the offense of Him for whose sake you obey men! The Lord, therefore, is King of kings. When he opens his sacred mouth, he alone is to be heard, instead of all and above all. We are subject to the men who rule over us, but subject only in the Lord.”

– “On this ground Daniel denies that he had sinned *** when he refused to obey [King Darius’] impious decree *** because the king had exceeded his limits, and not only been injurious to men, but, by raising his horn against God, had virtually abrogated his own power.”

– “Although the Lord takes vengeance on unbridled domination, let us not therefore suppose that vengeance is committed to us, to whom no command has been given but to obey and suffer.”

– The following aphorism speaks to Christians living under tyranny. “When tyrants reign, let us first remember our faults, which are chastised by such scourges; and, therefore, humility will restrain our impatience. Besides, it is not in our power to remedy these evils, and all that remains for us is to implore the assistance of the Lord, in whose hand are the hearts of men and the revolutions of kingdoms.”

CALVIN IS STRICTLY AGAINST uprisings and warfare by guerrillas, insurrectionists, revolutionaries, terrorists and others. These are evils to be suppressed by warfare and bloodshed, and lawfully so. But the doctrines of the sovereignty of God that he explores disallow kingly tyranny as well, government by caprice and whim. Another reformed doctrine, that of sphere sovereignty (wherein church, family and state have each a jurisdictional prerogative), underlies the proper use of force.

Gov. Haslam grew up in a Presbyterian tradition of thought. A bright light for the reformed faith, Presbyterianism is full of hostility to tyrants and duty to God — both. His government may not be perfect. But Gov. Haslam rightly vetoed the Vandy bill because it is a use of force in a private conflict in which his government has no authority or competence.

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Sources:

John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids, Mich.; Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983) pp. 674, 675, 689

Calvinism has developed a rich and practical literature about the duty and limits of the civil magistracy and the duty and limits of citizenship in an earthly kingdom such as the State of Tennessee.

Douglas F. Kelly, The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World [;] The Influence of Calvin on Five Governments from the 16th through 18th Centuries

Rousas J. Rushdoony, The Nature of the American System

Junius Brutus, A Defence of Liberty Against Tyrants (Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos); this book was a bestseller in the colonies in the time leading to the first American war for independence

J.H. Merle D’Aubigne, The Protector (about Thomas Cromwell)

For an excellent analysis for the use of government, see the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647.

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David Tulis, a deacon at Brainerd Hills Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in America), is married and the father of four homeschooled children.

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+ Nooganomics, ReaderServices@Nooganomics.com

+ Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 17197 North Laurel Park Drive Suite 567, Livonia, Michigan 48152, 734-742-2020, Fax: 734-742-2033, webmaster@epc.org

+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org

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[2] Virginia Judge Recommends Redacting First Table from Ten Commandments School Display to Remove Government Endorsement of Religion

An 8 May 2012 Roanoke Times article by Laurence Hammack titled “Cut Ten Commandments down to Six?” reports that during a motions hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Virginia, concerning an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit opposing the display of the Ten Commandments at Narrows High School (NHS) in Giles County, Virginia, Judge Michael Urbanski suggested that concern about government endorsement of religion might be alleviated if the first four of the Ten Commandments were eliminated from the display.

The Giles County School Board (GCSB) ordered the removal of a Ten Commandments display at NHS after the Freedom from Religion Foundation complained about the display, then reversed themselves after a large public outcry.

The GCSB faces the possibility of having to pay the ACLU legal expenses that could total US$500,000 if the ACLU prevails. The GCSB is being represented pro bono by the Liberty Counsel.

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+ Roanoke Times, 201 West Campbell Avenue, Roanoke, Virginia 24010, 540-981-3211, debbie.meade@roanoke.com

+ American Civil Liberties Union, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10004, 212-549-2500, Contact Page

+ Freedom from Religion Foundation, Post Office Box 750, Madison,  Wisconsin 53701, 608-256-8900, Fax: 608-204-0422, info@ffrf.org

+ Liberty Counsel, Post Office Box 540774, Orlando, Florida 32854, 800-671-1776, Liberty@LC.org

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[3] Allegan, Michigan Police Forcibly Shut Down Conference on the U.S. Constitution and Sharia Law after Complaints from Islamic Terrorist Fundraising Group Council on Islamic-American Relations

A 3 May 2012 Western Center for Journalism article by Doug Book titled “Did Terror-Promoting CAIR Shut Down Pro-Constitution Event?” reports that a 26 January 2012 conference called “Constituting Michigan—Founding Principles Act” being held in the auditorium  of Allegan High School in Allegan, Michigan, was forcibly shut down by Allegan police after the executive director of the Council on Islamic-American Relations Michigan (CAIRM), Dawud Walid, wrote a letter to school officials complaining about the event and school officials subsequently notified the local police that Walid opposed the event.

The purpose of the event was “…to inform the public about the importance of honoring the United States Constitution, to recognize the internal threat to America posed by radical Muslims and the dangers to our free society caused by the imposition of Sharia law.”

On 30 April 2012, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) filed suit on behalf of conference organizer Michigan State Representative David Agema and the conference co-sponsors. “This case seeks to protect and vindicate fundamental constitutional rights…under the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution…and Michigan law…” wrote the TMLC in the filing.

Representative Agema is the Michigan House of Representatives sponsor of HB 4769, “The Restriction of Application of Foreign Laws Act.” The goal of the legislation is to ban the use of foreign or Sharia law by Michigan courts “…when those laws conflict with fundamental rights protected by the Constitution of the United States and the State of Michigan.”

CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, the largest terror-funding proceeding in U.S. legal history.

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+ Western Center for Journalism, 42104 North Venture Drive, Suite B-122, Anthem, Arizona 85086, 202-370-6366, Contact Page

+ Council on Islamic-American Relations Michigan, 21700 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, Michigan 48075, 248-559-2427, info@ciarmichigan.org

+ Thomas More Law Center, 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106, 734-827-2001, Fax: 734-930-7160, info@thomasmore.org

+ Council on American-Islamic Relations, 453 New Jersey Avenue Southeast, Washington DC 20003, 202-488-8787, Fax: 202-488-0833, info@cair.com

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[4] PCUSA-Affiliated Auburn Theological Seminary of New York, New York, Honor Planned Parenthood Executives

A 3 May 2012 Godfather Politics article by Giacomo titled “Presbyterian Seminary to Honor Leader of Planned Parenthood” reports that on 2 May 2012, Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)-affiliated Auburn Theological Seminary of New York, New York, honored Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards and chairman Cecilia Guthrie Boone during the seminary’s annual Lives of Commitment Benefit Breakfast.

The article’s author pointed out that the two women are “responsible for handing out contraceptives to thousands of women and school girls and performing around 300,000 murderous abortions annually.”

The author concluded:

Auburn Theological Seminary is a shining example of how far so many seminaries, Christian colleges, churches and denominations have strayed away from sound biblical teaching.  They have succumbed to the sinful lusts and desires of the world, forsaking God’s Word.  This liberal seminary reminds me of the words of the Apostle Peter who wrote (2 Peter 2:1-3),

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.  Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” [ESV]

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+ Godfather Politics, 457 Nathan Dean Boulevard, Dallas, Georgia 30132

+ Auburn Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway, New York, New York 10027, 212-662-4315, Fax: 212-663-5214, info@auburnseminary.org

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

+ Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 434 West 33rd Street, New York, New York 10001, 212-541-7800, Fax: 212-245-1845

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[5] 17,000 ‘Aphrodisiac’ Pills Made from Dead, Aborted Babies Seized by Police in South Korea

John Jalsevac of LifeSiteNews.com reported 7 May 2012 that since August 2011, South Korean customs officials have confiscated 17,000 Chinese-made pills containing dehydrated and crushed human flesh which are sold as aphrodisiacs and alternative medicine.

The Chinese manufacturers obtain the corpses of aborted or stillborn babies from hospitals and abortion facilities, and then dehydrate the bodies before crushing them and making them into pills.

Human rights activists in China say that 35,000 abortions are performed daily, ten times the daily number in the U.S., and many of which are forced upon the mothers by the Chinese government because of the country’s one-child policy.

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+ LifeSiteNews.com, Incorporated, Post Office Box 25382, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15220, 866-787-9947, lsn@lifesitenews.com

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[6] 2012 Fraser Valley Bible Conference Recordings of Dr. Joel Beeke Speaking on “Living the Christian Life” Available for Free Download

The 2012 Fraser Valley Bible Conference was held 27-28 April 2012 at the Emmanuel Free Reformed Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, where conference speaker the Rev. Dr. Joel Beeke, president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, spoke on three topics under the theme “Living the Christian Life.”

Recordings of the conference are available for free download:

– Cultivating Sanctification: How Can I Be More Holy? — Part 1 [Dr. Joel Beeke]

– Developing Spiritual Maturity: How Can I Grow in Christ? — Part 2 [Dr. Joel Beeke]

– Overcoming Enemies of Holiness: How Can I Conquer Sin? — Part 3 with Q&A [Dr. Joel Beeke]

The 2012 Fraser Valley Bible Conference was a joint effort between several churches in the greater Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada, representing the Free Reformed Churches of North America, the United Reformed Churches in North America, and the Heritage Reformed Churches.

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+ Free Reformed Churches of North America, c/o Free Reformed Publications, Post Office Box 1094, Mitchell, Ontario, Canada N0K 1N0, 519-348-0020

+ United Reformed Churches in North America, c/o the Rev. Bradd Nymeyer, 227 1st Avenue Southeast, Sioux Center, Iowa 51250, 712-722-1965, statedclerk@urcna.org

+ Heritage Reformed Churches, info@heritagereformed.com

+ Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, 2965 Leonard Street Northeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, 616-977-0599, Fax: 616-285-3246, info@puritanseminary.org

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] Christian Observer Highlights for May 2012

[2] Internet Evangelist Bill Keller Claims “A Vote for Romney will Lead One Million Plus Souls to Hell”

[3] World Council of Churches and All Africa Conference of Churches Issue Joint Statement after Muslim Extremists Burn Gerief West Bible School and the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Khartoum, Sudan

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[1] Christian Observer Highlights for May 2012

New Christian Observer articles for April 2012 include:

– Onward to the Obvious: “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” – Romans 3:3 Geneva Bible – by David Brand – Part Three of a multipart article – The traditional biblical rendering of pistis or faith, vs. the rendering of pistis as faithfulness by the English Revised Version Committee in 1881, and how the revised version proponents weakened the meaning of faith by denial of God’s immutability, by changing the meaning of anthropomorphic language in the Bible to demonstrating contingency instead of condescension, and by weakening the sufficiency for salvation of Christ’s death on the cross;

– The Learning that Kills the Mind – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro – the harmful effects of modern communications technology upon the student’s ability to “…come to the knowledge of the truth” (II Timothy 3:7);

Plus, regular features including weekly Sabbath School Lessons by Christian Observer Assistant Editor Dr. Robert LaMay, and Daily Devotionals by T.M. Moore, dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe.

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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

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[2] Internet Evangelist Bill Keller Claims “A Vote for Romney will Lead One Million Plus Souls to Hell”

In a 25 April 2012 press release, Internet evangelist Bill Keller, the founder of LivePrayer.com, said “…that a vote for Mormon cult member Mitt Romney will insure at least 1 million souls will end up in hell!!!”

Keller stated “…that Romney’s Mormon cult is gearing up for the election of the first Mormon President in November. They are already gearing up their “evangelism” efforts to bring new converts to their cult’s false teachings. Keller claims, “The Bible clearly teaches Mormon doctrine is 100 percent inconsistent with Biblical Christianity and those who buy into what Paul calls ‘another Gospel,’ will die and their soul[s] be lost for all eternity.”

Keller emphasized that he has never told anyone who to or not to vote for and never endorses any political candidate, and said, “Christians have a real dilemma this November. It is like Satan flipping a two-headed coin with his head on both sides. How can anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ vote for our current President who in every word and deed has proven to be a true enemy of God on every major spiritual issue of the day. He has been a staunch advocate for the legalized slaughter of babies, promoted the radical homosexual agenda, and been a friend to the enemies of Israel.”

Keller went on, “The Republican choice will be a member of the satanic Mormon cult who will never have to say a word for his cult to take advantage of their ultimate goal since they were founded 200 years ago, and that is to gain mainstream acceptance, giving them all the ammunition they need to aggressively seek converts to their cults beliefs. Conservative estimates are that they will gain at least one million new converts, meaning a Romney election will help insure at least one million souls will burn in hell for all eternity! Any ‘Christian leader’ who supports Romney obviously cares more about politics than souls!!!”

Keller concluded, “For Christians to vote with a clear conscience, they will have to pray hard about ALL candidates for President, meaning looking at the third party candidates as well. In the end, as I shared last November a Romney/Obama match-up means that God has finally taken His hand of protection and blessing off of this nation for our gross sins and wickedness. The reality is, NO politician has the true answers this nation needs, since our true problems are spiritual and not political, and the only hope for the United States is to repent of our sins and turn back to God and Biblical Truth.”

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+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ Liveprayer.com, 6660 46th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33709, Contact Page

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[3] World Council of Churches and All Africa Conference of Churches Issue Joint Statement after Muslim Extremists Burn Gerief West Bible School and the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Khartoum, Sudan

“The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) express grave concern over the escalating armed conflict between Sudan and South Sudan and call upon both parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid any further deterioration of the situation.

“We call for mutual respect of the territorial integrity of each other’s state. We have followed with deep concern the developments that led to the occupation of Heglig by the armed forces of the Republic of South Sudan and advocate for a just and peaceful resolution of the conflict starting with immediate ceasefire.

“The WCC and the AACC deplore loss of life caused by the escalation of the conflict. We call on both parties to resist from hardening of positions and instead agree to resolve any differences through talks as they did in the run up to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). We implore the parties to use the CPA as the framework and model for resolving the border issue and all other outstanding issues. In this regard we call upon the Government of Kenya, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union (AU) and International Community to double their diplomatic efforts at helping Sudan and South Sudan to de-escalate the military campaigns and sit around the table to negotiate.

“We wish to emphasize that war should not continue to be considered as a viable option. And any full-blown war between Sudan and South Sudan will have security implications for the whole region and precipitate a humanitarian disaster. Therefore it must be avoided at all costs.

“We wish to emphasize that war should not continue to be considered as a viable option. And any full-blown war between Sudan and South Sudan will have security implications for the whole region and precipitate a humanitarian disaster. Therefore it must be avoided at all costs.

“The WCC and the AACC wish to assure the Sudanese churches and People of our prayerful support and solidarity in seeking a peaceful solution to the prevailing conflict. We are prepared at any and all times to be at the disposal of the Sudan Council of Churches and its member churches and work together to save lives and promote peace, healing and reconciliation in South Sudan and Sudan.”

Geneva 17 April 2012                          Nairobi 17 April 2012

For: World Council of Churches       For: All Africa Conference of Churches

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit                 Rev. Dr André Karamaga

WCC General Secretary                    AACC General Secretary

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+ All Africa Conference of Churches, Post Office Box 14205 – 00800, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya, 254-20-4441483, Fax: 254-20-4443241, Contact Page

+ World Council of Churches, 150 route de Ferney, CH-1211, Geneva 2, Switzerland, 41-22-791-6111, Fax: 41-22-791-0361

+ Compass Direct News Service, Post Office Box 27250, Santa Ana, California 92799, 949-862-0304, Fax: 949-752-6536, info@compassdirect.org

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] And He Was Not

[2] Largest PCUSA Church in Colorado Votes to Leave for Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians

[3] Hungarian Government Pressing Ahead with Religion Classes at All Schools

[4] Hardback Version of the book McIntire: Defender of Faith and Freedom Available from CarlMcIntire.com

[5] Planned Parenthood Priests of Baal and Molech in the Midst of Forty Days of Prayer for Abortion

[6] World Congress of Families Meetings in May 2012

[7] Islam is State Religion of Ohio Prison System

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[1] And He Was Not

By T. M. Moore

[Editor’s Note: the Rev. T.M. Moore is the editor of the Worldview Church, serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum, and serves as principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. Mr. Moore has additionally authored a daily devotional for the Christian Observer every day since the web-based version began publication on 31 October 2008.]

And then God took him.

The Lord accepts into his household those of good will and compassion; they are the company who always keep within themselves the likeness and image of God, and do not go against the Father’s law.

  - Anonymous, Fis Adomnan (Irish 9th century)

Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

  - Genesis 5.24

“Mr. Moore, my name is Charles Colson, and I work for a ministry called Prison Fellowship.”

Thus began one of the most important relationships of my life. It ended all too soon, when, like Enoch, Chuck was suddenly summoned home.

I had just come home from work and was catching the news before dinner when the phone rang. Our daughter, Ashley, answered, and came into the den to say it was for me. “Hello?” I ventured, and then came Chuck’s reply.

He introduced himself as though he had no reason to expect that I should know who he was. That same humility characterized Chuck though all the twenty-five years I knew him, during which we worked together on a wide range of projects.

Chuck was a man of eminent good will and compassion, as witness the way he devoted his life to the last, the lost, and the least among us. He loved prison inmates not just because he had been one of them, but because he saw something in them few bothered to observe:

They are made in the image and likeness of God.

God’s call to Chuck to work with prisoners is in many ways of parable of the Gospel itself, and of its promise to bring redemption and renewal to even the most lawless, downcast, and defeated person – or society.

Chuck understood that unless a society is grounded in the truth of the Gospel and divine Law – the works of the Law being written on the hearts of all men (Romans 2:14, 15) – there is no possibility of justice, no hope that compassion can prevail, and no abiding way to work for good will among men. From this conviction sprang his devotion to Christian worldview and to training leaders to build the Church in the years to come.

I will miss Chuck. From that first call, when he asked me to come by his office for an interview, to the night, now almost three weeks ago, I wheeled him off the platform to the waiting EMTs, I counted him as a friend, and he treated me like one. While I’m sure my contribution was never as important or significant as he always insisted it was, it was a great privilege and a source of deep satisfaction and joy to be in his company and be drawn along in the slipstream of the break-neck pace at which he sought the Kingdom and righteousness of God.

Chuck walked with God. And then God took him.

Thanks be to God.

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+ The Fellowship of Albee, Contact Page

+ Prison Fellowship, 44180 Riverside Parkway, Lansdowne, Virginia 20176, 800-206-9764, Contact Page

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[2] Largest PCUSA Church in Colorado Votes to Leave for Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians

A 23 April 2012 article by Michael Gryboski in The Christian Post titled “Largest Presbyterian Church in Colorado Votes to Leave PCUSA” reports that in a 22 April 2012 congregational meeting, 1,689 of 1,769 congregants present out of the 4000 members of First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs (FPCCS), Colorado, voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in order to join the Covenant Presbyterian Church.

FPCCS voted to leave the PCUSA largely over the PCUSA’s 2010 decision to allow the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals.

The FPCCS vote will come before the PCUSA’s Pueblo Presbytery at the presbytery’s 16 June 2012 meeting.

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+ The Christian Post, National Press Building, 529 14th Street Northwest, Suite 420, Washington DC 20045, 202-347-7734, info@christianpost.com

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

+ Pueblo Presbytery, 803 W. 4th Street, Suite H, Pueblo, Colorado 81003, 719-542-1013, Fax: 719-545-7956, puebloep@aol.com

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[3] Hungarian Government Pressing Ahead with Religion Classes at All Schools

A 23 April 2012 Politics.hu article titled “Government Pressing Ahead with Religion Classes At all Schools, Support for Hungarian-Language Nurseries in Neighboring Countries” reports that the government of Hungary is moving to implement provisions of the new public education laws including the requirement for all children at public and private primary schools to attend one ethics or religious education class per week.

Ethics classes will be taught be school teachers that have completed a sixty-hour training session, and the religious education classes will be taught by teachers from state-registered churches whose curriculum has been approved by the school.

The head of the educational office of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Kornel Papp, said that guidelines from Hungary’s secretariat in charge of education should be available by the summer of 2012.

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+ Politics.hu, 36-30-370-3561, editors@politics.hu

+ Reformed Church in Hungary, MRE Zsinata1146 Budapest, Abonyi u. 21, Hungary, 30-3361-666, info@reformatus.hu

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[4] Hardback Version of the book McIntire: Defender of Faith and Freedom Available from CarlMcIntire.com

A hardbound version of McIntire: Defender of Faith and Freedom is again available on CarlMcIntire.com for US$35 plus US$3.99 shipping to U.S. addresses. The paperback version of the book is available for list price US$28 from Xulon Press and from Amazon.com.

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+ Carl McIntire: Defender of Faith and Freedom, Contact Page

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[5] Planned Parenthood Priests of Baal and Molech in the Midst of Forty Days of Prayer for Abortion

A 19 April 2012 article by Jordon Sekulow and Matthew Clark on Lifenews.com titled “Abortion Doc Runs Group Making Planned Parenthood ‘Prayers’” reports that Planned Parenthood is promoting its own “40 Days of Prayer: Supporting Women Everywhere” between 18 March 2012 and 27 April 2012, which encourages pro-abortion supporters to offer prayers of “thanks for abortion providers” and the “sacred care” they provide.

The group that wrote the prayers is Faith Aloud, among whose board members include partial-birth abortion doctor LeRoy Carhart.

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+ LifeNews.com, Post Office Box 270841, Fort Collins, Colorado 80527, news@lifenews.com

+ Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 434 West 33rd Street, New York, New York 10001, 212-541-7800, Fax: 212-245-1845

+ Faith Aloud, 3672 Arsenal Street – Suite A, St. Louis, Missouri 63116, 888-717-5010, info@faithaloud.org

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[6] World Congress of Families Meetings in May 2012

The World Congress of Families has two events scheduled for May 2012.

The first is “One Man, One Woman: Making the Case for Marriage, for the Good of Society,” scheduled for 23 May 2012 at The Law Society in London, England. The colloquium includes “Remembering the Nature of Marriage” with Peter Duckworth, Barrister and Family Specialist; “Observing the State of Marriage” with Sir Paul Coleridge, High Court Judge, Family Division, and Allan C. Carlson, Founder, World Congress of Families; and “Making the Case for Marriage” with Phillip Blond , Director, ResPublica, Cristina Odone, Journalist and Media Commentator, and Ben Harris-Quinney, Chairman, The Bow Group.

The second is “Marriage and Family, Future of Society,” scheduled for 25-27 May 2012 at the Palace of Congresses in Madrid, Spain. The extensive program is available at:

http://congresomundial.es/wcf-vi-madrid/program/

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+ World Congress of Families, 934 North Main Street, Rockford, Illinois 61103, 815-964-5819, Fax: 815-965-1826, info@worldcongress.org

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[7] Islam is State Religion of Ohio Prison System

A 21 April 2012 Godfather Politics article by Giacomo titled “Islam is State Religion of Ohio Prison System” reports that after Muslims jailed in Ohio prisons started to demand they be fed meals that were ‘halal’ meals per Sharia law, Gary Mohr, Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction ordered all prison kitchens to stop using pork and to make the meals Islam friendly. Mohr was attempting to prevent a lawsuit by the Muslim prisoners.

Non-Muslim inmate James Rivers subsequently filed a lawsuit against Mohr and the Ohio prison system for forcing all inmates to eat halal Muslim meals. United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Judge James S. Guin dismissed Rivers’ case, writing:

Plaintiff asserts that this…violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, subjects him to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eight Amendment, denies him substantive and procedural due process, and denies him Equal Protection.

While the removal of pork from prison meals may benefit Muslim as well as Jewish inmates, it also creates a meal that can be eaten by all inmates regardless of faith.

[Nor would] a reasonable person … conclude that the menu change endorsed the Muslim faith. The choice is neutral to religion. Several faiths prohibit the consumption of pork…

Plaintiff has not alleged any facts or cited any law which suggest he has a constitutionally protected interest in eating pork as part of his prison diet…

Plaintiff’s substantive due process claim is based on conduct alleged to be so severe that it shocks the conscience…To the contrary, Plaintiff objects to being treated the same as all other inmates. He does not allege he was denied pork while all other inmates were served this dish. Instead, he complains that all inmates are treated the same, regardless of whether they have a religious dietary restriction of this nature.

Former Navy chaplain Dr. Gordon James Klingenschmitt, director of The Pray in Jesus Name Project commented on Judge Guin’s dismissal ruling:

In other words, because the prison enforces Muslim Sharia law equally upon all prisoners, none of them face discrimination–they are all treated as Muslims equally, and forced to eat Muslim food equally, so Christians have no dietary rights.

Godfather Politics writer Giocamo concludes:

Every day or two, I see another example of Islam and Sharia law creeping into the American judicial and governmental systems while Christianity is being pushed out and ruled against time and time again.  Mark my words, if Barack Hussein Obama is elected to a second term, the thirteen stars on the US flag will be replaced by a star and crescent.

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+ Godfather Politics, 457 Nathan Dean Boulevard, Dallas, Georgia 30132

+ Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 770 West Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43222, 614-752-1159, drc.publicinfo@odrc.state.oh.us

+ United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Carl B. Stokes United States Court House, 801 West Superior Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113, 216-357-7000, OHNDdb_CleGeneral@ohnd.uscourts.gov

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi, Celebrates 175th Anniversary

[2] Additional Corrections and Clarifications RE: Great Britain

[3] A Conspicuous Absence: Why There is No Separation of Church and State Outcry on North Carolina’s Proposition One Debate

[4] U.S. President Obama’s Former Church Minister Preaches at Charleston, West Virginia Revival – Says U.S. 3rd President Thomas Jefferson was a Pedophile, and Says “White Supremacy” Drives “World Policy”

[5] Martin Lloyd-Jones Recording Trust Makes 1600 Sermons Available for Free MP3 Download

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[1] First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi, Celebrates 175th Anniversary

On the occasion of the approaching 175^th anniversary of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi, (FPCJ) Senior Pastor the Rev. Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III wrote the following during the week of 1 April 2012:

Exactly 175 years ago, this coming Lord’s Day, April 8, 2012, the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson was organized. It was on Saturday afternoon, April 8, 1837, that the Rev. Peter Donan, our founding pastor, met with four people: Mrs. Margaret E. Mayson, Mrs. Susan Patton, and John Robb and his wife, Marion. The organizational meeting was held in “the Old State House,” Mississippi’s first capitol, a small two-story structure on the northeast corner of East Capitol and North President Streets. That means we are celebrating our dodransbicentennial this month (for those of you who like the Latin titles of anniversaries!).

Mr. Donan had been born, we think, in Broughton Mains, Wigtownshire, Scotland, in 1806. He was educated in Nashville, Tennessee, attended Princeton from 1827-1830 (where he studied under the great theologian Charles Hodge and the justly revered pastor-professor Samuel Miller at Princeton Seminary), was licensed and ordained in New York in 1830, became a stated supply pastor in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1831, and in New Orleans in 1832, before becoming the pastor of the Mt. Salus Church, in Clinton, Mississippi from 1833 to 1836.

When Mr. Donan came over in the spring of 1837 to start a new Presbyterian work in the young State Capital of Mississippi, he (and his original, tiny little flock) could scarcely have dreamt what their humble start would begin and become.

Since 1837, that little handful has grown into a large congregation of souls, and has done so through the direct experience of plague, war, displacement, depression, civil strife of the deepest kind, dramatic social and demographic change, theological and denominational controversy and more-not to mention the personal trials and toils of individual members and families. It is wholly appropriate then that we proclaim “The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad” and “Hither by Thy help we’ve come.”

As Brister [H. Ware, the Rev., FPCJ Minister of Pastoral Care] reminded us on Sunday evening [1 April 2012], we really have a responsibility to “remember” our past. Not so that we can look back nostalgically and pine for the good ole days, but so that we can remember how the Lord has spared us, forgiven us, protected us, guided us, preserved us, sustained us and blessed us. And so that we can look forward realizing that the Lord has blessed us in order that we might be a blessing, and hence we are under a blessed obligation to serve.

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+ First Presbyterian Church, 1390 North State Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39202, 601-353-8316, Fax: 601-973-9119, receptionist@fpcjackson.org

+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org

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[2] Additional Corrections and Clarifications RE: Great Britain

Another Presbyterians Week reader from “across the pond” wrote to say that the 4 April 2012 Presbyterians Week article “[3] Correction and Clarification” was not completely correct nor completely clarified.

The reader writes:

Whilst it’s true that the [United Kingdom (UK)] is separating out into different nations and territories in terms of government, the Scottish legal system is entirely distinct from the legal system in the rest of the United Kingdom and always has been.

The term Great Britain does NOT include the whole of the United Kingdom but applies to the Nations of Scotland and England and the Principality of Wales, but EXCLUDES Northern Ireland which is an integral part of the UK though with it’s own legislature covering many areas of government.

The editor expresses his thanks to the Presbyterians Week readers who sent corrections and clarifications about the subject issue, and encourages all Presbyterians Week readers to let the editor know if they ever find anything amiss.

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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

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[3] A Conspicuous Absence: Why There is No Separation of Church and State Outcry on North Carolina’s Proposition One Debate

Commentary by Dr. Michael A. Milton

I was appalled. A sign in front of a Baptist church in Charlotte openly advocates its opposition to Proposition One in North Carolina. The proposition, which is due to go to the ballot in NC on May 8, 2012, reads:

“Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State. .”

One familiar with the Bible’s unequivocal teaching that God ordained marriage is solely between one man and one woman, as well as the Bible’s condemnation of adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, and incest, might be confused by this Baptist church’s position.

The fact is there are a host of others, a variety of more liberal denominations and religious groups, now coming out to pronounce that Proposition One in North Carolina is evidence of hatred and intolerance by those who preach the sanctity of biblical marriage. However, radical groups, including churches and pastors, have that right, according to our Constitution.

Now let me be clear: I think they are wrong, and are pushing our nation onto the brink of self destruction. They are fulfilling St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans, that those who have denied God and God’s Word, ultimately end up codifying that which God abhors.

Yet, although I think they are wrong in their assertion, I say again, they have every right to speak. This episode of churches speaking into the State’s affairs is lacking in one thing: the shrill voices of the separation of Church and State groups.

Where are the famous “separation” activists of the world on this occasion? The undeniable evidence suggests that as long as churches advocate radical, left wing politics, they are safe from the groups who would scream “Separation of Church and State.”  If the message reflects left wing political positions activist clergy have no fear of putting their message on a church sign on a busy street in the state’s largest city.

Ah, but let a congregation—or a minister—speak into the culture from a conservative Biblical position, that sodomy is ungodly, should be condemned as sin, and that believers have a God given responsibility to take a stand for righteousness in the public square, you will hear the familiar cries of “crossing the line” of politics and religion.

When the left wing groups come out against the public proclamation of conservative biblical positions, many local lay leaders will cower beneath the attacks of Atheist groups and liberal Protestant groups as they threaten to sue them to strip them of tax exemption and will have to tell their minister to “stay away from politics.”  Sadly, for too long, too many have done just that.

Yet speaking the truth of God from His Word into the public arena of our nation is not only biblical and with great historical precedent in America, it is critically needed at this time, when the sanctity of marriage in North Carolina needs the same constitutional protection that 30 other states already have.

Perhaps the conspicuous absence of Separation of Church and State outcries in the debate on Proposition One in NC means that religious liberty is alive and well and that gospel ministers, in fact, have the right to apply their understanding of Scripture to culture without threat. Or maybe it just means that the unmolested voicing of one’s position publicly is applied to all groups but evangelical, pro family, pro life, Catholic and Protestant voices. We will see.

By the way, consider this commentary my own “yard sign” for the support of biblical truth that marriage is ordained by God, sustained by God, and regulated by God’s Word. That means marriage is between a man and a woman.  There can be no lines of separation there.

Michael Anthony Milton (Ph.D., University of Wales) serves as the chancellor/CEO elect of Reformed Theological Seminary (one of the largest accredited seminaries in the country), a U.S. Army chaplain (instructing at the Armed Forces Chaplain School) and the James M. Baird Jr. chair of pastoral theology at RTS/Charlotte. He is an author, songwriter, singer, ordained minister, former pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tenn., and he previously served as the president of RTS/Charlotte. Dr. Milton also hosts a national Bible teaching television program, Faith For Living, reaching 70,000,000 potential households through DirecTV, Legacy TV network, YouTube and iTunes. It is also available as a free app in the Android and iPhone markets. The Faith for Living radio program is broadcast on several stations in the southeast. For 16 years he served in the business world and has also served as a top-secret Navy linguist.

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+ Reformed Theological Seminary, 2101 Carmel Road, Charlotte, North Carolina 28226, 704-366-5066, Fax: 704-366-9295

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[4] U.S. President Obama’s Former Church Minister Preaches at Charleston, West Virginia Revival – Says U.S. 3rd President Thomas Jefferson was a Pedophile, and Says “White Supremacy” Drives “World Policy”

U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama for twenty years attended the Trinity United Church of Christ (United Church of Christ) in Chicago, Illinois, under the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright. Though Dr. Wright is now retired from the Trinity pulpit, he spoke several times the week of 1 April 2012 at a week-long revival held at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Charleston, West Virginia.

A 9 April 2012 article by Billy Hallowell in THEBLAZE.COM titled “Rev. Wright Unleashed: ‘White Supremacy’ Drives ‘World Policy,’ Allah & Yahweh Are the ‘Same’…and Clarence Thomas Is Worshiping ‘Some Other God’” reports that Dr. Wright raised a few eyebrows with some of the things that he preached.

In a message on John 18, Wright said that Jesus and Pontius Pilate were speaking “two different languages,” and that “the Italian army — Roman soldiers” were “occupying Palestinian territory.”

Dr. Wright said of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that though Justice Thomas “looks like” them, Justice Thomas is “worshiping some other God.”

Dr. Wright said: “The god of racists is not the God of righteousness. The god of the greedy is not the God of grace. The god of Wall Street is not the God of Main Street. Those are two different gods and I ain’t talking about Allah and Yahweh. Those are the same names for the same God.”

Dr. Wright continued: “I am in the text. Pilate was European…Jesus was not European. They live in a world shaped by European standards of beauty, shaped by Moynihan studies, shaped by bell curves — they live in a different world from your world all together. They are ignorant and arrogant and these are graduates of Harvard and Yale setting policies over you based on the stupidity of David Hume…Voltaire, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Thomas Jefferson — a pedophile — Theodore Roosevelt and a racist Supreme Court.”

Dr. Wright added: “The ignorance and arrogance of white supremacy have the movers and shapers of world policy living in a different world from people of color all together. And the sooner you realize that the better off you’re gonna be.”

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+ THEBLAZE.COM LLC, 1270 Avenue of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, New York 10036, contact@theblaze.com

+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org

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[5] Martin Lloyd-Jones Recording Trust Makes 1600 Sermons Available for Free MP3 Download

The Martin Lloyd-Jones Recordings Trust has made available 1600 MP3 sermon recordings available for free download at:

http://www.mlj-usa.com/audiolibrary

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+ Martin Lloyd-Jones Recordings Trust, 5 Caxton House, Wellesley Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8ET, England, 44-0-233-662-262, Fax: 44-0-1233-638-810, admin@mlj.org.uk

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] Porcine Fascism in Michigan

[2] First Dutch Reformed Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, Converted to Muslim School

[3] Mali Christians Flee Imposition of Sharia

[4] Norwich Reformed Church Banned from Operating Book Stall in Norwich, England-Owned Facility for Producing “Hate Motivated”  Literature against Islam

[5] Internet Evangelist Bill Keller Asks “Why Would Christians Vote for Romney and Listen to Beck, Both Cult Members?”

[6] Reformed Presbyterian Church – Hanover Presbytery to Meet Thursday 19 April 2012

[7] The Two Empires in Japan: A Record of the Church—State Conflict

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[1] Porcine Fascism in Michigan

A 16 April 2012 Natural News article by Mike Adams titled “Michigan Government Unleashes Armed Raids on Small Pig Farmers, Forces Farmer to Shoot All His Own Pigs” reports that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has conducted two armed raids involving six vehicles and ten armed men on pig farmers, one in Kalkaska County at Fife Lake and another in Cheboygan County, with the intent of shooting all the farmers’ pigs under a new “Invasive Species Order” (ISO) declaring traditional livestock to be an invasive species.

The ISO declares farmers who raise the subject pigs to be felons, and MDNR officials were ready to make arrests on the scene and prosecute the farmers.

One of the farmers shot all of his pigs in advance of the raid in an attempt to not be arrested and charged with a felony, and described the subsequent MDNR raid at his farm:

“I was served a search warrant yesterday at 7: 45 a.m. I have killed all my hogs. [MDNR] gave me papers that say I do not have any hogs on my property. All they saw were dead hogs laying around from my mass slaughtering. It took twelve guys four times in there to kill all of them, sows with young, pregnant sows, dozens of piglets, and old mature boars. It has been a sad few weeks. Does anyone know what it feels like to open fire on twenty baby piglets in one group which weigh between five pounds and fifteen pounds? They are so adorable and cute. They commented to everyone that they never saw a fence built so tough and no way would a hog get out of this area.

+ Natural News, P. O. Box 29-99 Taichung, Taichung City 40899, Taiwan, Contact Page

+ Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Executive Office, Post Office Box 30028, Lansing, Michigan 48909, 517-373-2329, DNR-Director@michigan.gov

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[2] First Dutch Reformed Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, Converted to Muslim School

A 15 April 2012 Times Live article titled “Uproar over Conversion of Church to Muslim School” reports that the first Dutch Reformed Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, has been sold to Muslim buyers for conversion into a Muslim school.

The church pastor, the Rev. Hennie van Rooyen said that the church was sold because maintenance of the building was too expensive.

The church was previously being rented by an independent Pentecostal church led by Bishop Ryan Sooknunan. The bishop accused Van Rooyen and the Dutch Reformed Church, by selling the church, to have violated an agreement made with him. Sooknunan threatened to take legal action, and said the he would arrange a march in protest of the sale.

+ Times Live, 4 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa, 011-280-3000, Contact Page

+ Dutch Reformed Church, Posbus 13528, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria, South Africa, 27-0-12-342-0092, Fax: 27-0-12-342-0380, algemenesinode@ngkerk.org.za

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[3] Mali Christians Flee Imposition of Sharia

Ethnic Tuareg rebels have seized control of northern Mali. Whilst the main rebel group, the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, is professedly secular, its ally, a jihadist faction known as Ansar Dine, has wrested control, hoisted the black flag of al-Qaeda and announced the imposition of Sharia Law. The Tuareg rebellion has devastated northern Mali. There have been reports of pack rapes and violence, whilst the massive destruction and widespread looting has left the humanitarian aid sector totally crippled. Christian charities and churches have been destroyed. With Christians being targeted, virtually the entire Christian population of northern Mali has been forced to flee.

+ Religious Liberty Monitoring, info@elizabethkendal.com

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[4] Norwich Reformed Church Banned from Operating Book Stall in Norwich, England-Owned Facility for Producing “Hate Motivated”  Literature against Islam

A 16 April 2012 BBC article titled “Norwich Reformed Church Banned for Islam ‘Hate’ Leaflet” reports that the City Council of Norwich, England, has banned the Norwich Reformed Church from further operation of a church bookstall in the city-owned Hay Hill park because of the church circulating a leaflet titled “Why Not Islam,” which a complainant characterized as “hate-motivated” literature against Islam. Additionally, the church has been banned from further use of the city-owned Eaton Park Community Centre which the church has used as a place of worship since 1994.

The City Council instituted the ban after they “…received a complaint from a member of the public about material published by the Norwich Reformed Church which uses council facilities… [that] was considered to be hate motivated.” The City Council added that they had a “duty to foster good relations between people of all backgrounds and religions.”

The church is appealing its eviction from city-owned facilities, characterizing the council’s action as “a violation of freedom of speech.”

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+ BBC, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS, England, Fax: 020-8008-2398

+ Amyraldian Association, 8 Le Strange Close, Norwich, NR2 3PN, England, nrchurch@yahoo.com

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[5] Internet Evangelist Bill Keller Asks “Why Would Christians Vote for Romney and Listen to Beck, Both Cult Members?”

Bill Keller, Internet Evangelist and the founder of LivePrayer.com, asks the question why Christians would vote for Mitt Romney and listen to Glenn Beck, both proud and unapologetic members of the Satanic Mormon cult?

Keller was in the national news in 2007 for his now infamous quote, “a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan,” and has demanded that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and media personality Glenn Beck quit lying to people that they are a Christian, when the beliefs of their cult are 100 percent inconsistent with Biblical Christianity!

Keller says, “Beck, Romney, and others in their cult use the words ‘god’ and ‘jesus,’ yet the ‘god’ and ‘jesus’ of the Mormon cult are NOT the God and Jesus of the Bible! They view the Bible as a flawed and incomplete book usurped by the writings of their cult’s founder, Joseph Smith, who history documents as being a racist, pedophile, polygamist, and murderer!”

Keller goes on, “Mormon doctrine teaches their ‘god’ used to be a human who rose to god-like status, just like Romney, Beck, and all Mormons believe they will too after their death. The ‘jesus’ of the Mormon cult is the natural offspring of their ‘god’ Elohim who had sex with Mary, meaning their ‘jesus’ is a created being and NOT a deity as the Bible, not some creed, teaches, and who they believe is the brother of Lucifer.”

Keller adds, “Beck, Romney, and members of their cult believe that America was colonized by Israelites who sailed to the New World in 600 BC and that those with black skin are under the ‘curse of Cain.’ Romney and all ‘Temple Mormons’ also wears magical underwear with satanic markings 24/7, which is why the pictures of him at the beach this past weekend showed him with a body suit on instead of bare chested.”

Keller continues, “The media doesn’t understand that the reason Romney acts ‘out of touch’ is because he is guided by his cult’s fantastical beliefs that also drive Beck’s apocalyptical rants. Romney truly believes he is the ‘chosen one’ to fulfill his cult’s prophecy of having a Mormon President rescue the nation in chaos, set aside the US Constitution, and enact a Mormon theocracy. This is why President Obama and his re-election team want to face Romney so bad[ly]. Through their super pac and surrogates, they will use the media to educate people on the fantastical beliefs held by Romney and members of his cult!”

Keller concludes, “I could care less what fantasies Romney, Beck, and those in their cult choose to believe, but I do care that they lie to people saying they are a Christian, when a person who believes in the teachings of the Mormon cult are no more a Christian than a Muslim is. It is amusing when Beck condemns the false theology of Jeremiah Wright when his own theology is equally as false! Most appalling are prominent Christians like David Barton, John Hagee, James Robison, Jay Sekulow, and others who have sold out the faith to help Romney and Beck perpetuate their lie that they are Christians, aiding that cult to lead ignorant souls to hell for eternity.”

Keller said that he is not worried about being politically correct or being labeled as a ‘bigot’ by those whose only concern is politics, since at stake are the eternal souls of men! “According to the Bible, not Bill Keller” said Keller, “those who believe in a false gospel like the Mormon’s teach, will die and be in hell for all eternity. Sadly, the political pundits like Karl Rove denounce those who dare to tell the truth about Romney’s cult since they are only concerned with winning elections and not those souls who will be drawn to Romney’s cult and end up in hell for all eternity!”

Keller has challenged Glenn ‘The Truth Lives Here’ Beck to a public debate about Mormon doctrine, but those challenges have gone unanswered since “he will never publicly debate a Christian theologian about what his cult teaches since it would destroy his ability to lie to the public, especially Christians who have never studied Mormonism, that he is a Christian. Romney needs Christians to vote for him, and Beck relies on ignorant Christians to fund his multi-million dollar business empire.”

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+ Liveprayer.com, 6660 46th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33709, Contact Page

+ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 50 East North Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150, 801-240-2640, Contact Page

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[6] Reformed Presbyterian Church – Hanover Presbytery to Meet Thursday 19 April 2012

The Reformed Presbyterian Church-Hanover Presbytery will meet for its 2012 Annual Stated Meeting on Thursday, 17 May 2012 beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the Reformed Presbyterian Church, 9400 Fairview Avenue, Manassas, Virginia 20110.

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+ Reformed Presbyterian Church-Hanover Presbytery , c/o the Rev. Dr. Allen Church, Stated Clerk, hanoverpresbyter@yahoo.com

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[7] The Two Empires in Japan: A Record of the Church—State Conflict

A book by John M. L. Young – a founder of the Presbyterian Church in Japan, author of the book Missions: Biblical Motive and Aim, and Presbyterian missionary in Japan in the mid-20th century.

 “To what lengths are God’s people and His churches prepared to go in order to preserve themselves, avoid persecution, or pursue growth?”

This question, posed by Matt Filbert, director of Reformed Presbyterian Missions, is comprehensively answered in this recently released edition of The Two Empires in Japan.

First published in 1961, Young asks the questions that were presented to missionaries in Japan as far back as the l500’s. The answers and lessons contained within this book are still of value to Christ’s church today.

John M. L. Young describes the deep conflict that resulted when the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ met with the animosity of the Emperor of Japan and Shinto shrine religion. Providing the historical background behind modern developments of the church in Japan, he also details the time that he himself lived through there. In doing so, he provides the doctrinal groundwork for standing firm for Christ under persecution within a resistant culture.

Young fully understood the dangers of compromise, especially to the truth and authority of the Word of God. He sympathetically addresses the mistakes and compromises of missionaries and churches, and gives stirring accounts of the brave testimony and terrible price paid by believers for the sake of Christ over centuries of mission work in Japan.

Once again the Church is facing pressures from secular and religious antagonists, not only in Japan, but also in the West. Young’s work delivers a warning and an encouragement to God’s people, compelling them to uphold Scripture in times of persecution, and to aim to glorify God no matter what the political and social pressures of the day.

The Two Empires in Japan consists of fifteen chapters and a useful bibliography for further reading. Steven Miller (adjunct professor of missions at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary), Shigeru Takiura (pastor of Okamoto Keiyaku Reformed Presbyterian Church), and Sam Boyle (former missionary to Japan) provide three forwards.

ISBN: 978-1-884527-36-4, 196 pages, US$12.00 retail

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+ Crown & Covenant Publications, 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-241-0436, info@crownandcovenant.com

+ Reformed Presbyterian Missions, 3004 5th Avenue, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania 15010, 724-384-8327, ProclaimChrist@rpmissions.org

+ Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-1177, Fax: 412-731-8861

+ Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 7418 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-8690, Fax: 412-731-4834, info@rpts.edu

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] Death of Mrs. Anne Elliott, Widow of Christian Observer Publisher the Rev. Dr. Edwin Elliott

[2] Christian Observer Highlights for April 2012

[3] Correction and Clarification

[4] Uniform Bible Lessons Committee Still Looking Ahead after 140 Years

[5] RPTS Webinar “An Exegetical Consideration of Creationism from a Hebrew Language Perspective of Genesis” Scheduled for 5 April 2012

[6] Calling All College Students with a Passion for Writing

[7] Are UFOs Biblical?

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[1] Death of Mrs. Anne Elliott, Widow of Christian Observer Publisher the Rev. Dr. Edwin Elliott

Anne Bindon Brisebois Elliott was born 15 October 1946 in Arlington, Virginia, and died peacefully at her home in Manassas, Virginia, on 30 March 2012 following a short battle with cancer.

Anne Elliott attended the College of William & Mary, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and met her husband, Edwin Elliott. Mrs. Elliott went on to earn a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Maryland.

The Elliotts moved to Mississippi for several years and then returned to Manassas, Virginia.  Mrs. Elliott was an active member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Manassas, where her husband the Rev. Dr. Edwin P. Elliott Jr. was pastor for thirty-one years. In addition, Mrs. Elliott worked as a typesetter with the Reformation Educational Foundation and as an editor with Human Technology, Inc.

Mrs. Elliott and her husband Edwin were married for forty-one years until he predeceased her in October 2009. Mrs. Elliott is survived by her three daughters and her son-in-law, Laura Elliott, Rebecca and Jerome Zadell, and Elizabeth Elliott; her mother, Lucy Brisebois; her brother, Frank Brisebois, his wife Lizette, and their three sons; and her brother-in-law Francis Elliott, his wife Grace, and their four sons.

A funeral service for Anne Elliott was held 3 April 2012 at the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Manassas, with the Rev. Dr. Allen Church presiding. Mrs. Elliott was buried beside her husband Edwin at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Charles City County, Virginia.

[Editor’s Note: Having had the privilege of being a close friend to Edwin Elliott for several years, I came to appreciate the depth of love that Edwin and Anne had for each other and for their three daughters.

I additionally learned that one of Anne’s great-grandfathers was Benjamin A. Colonna, Virginia Military Institute Class of 1864, Captain of the New Market Cadet Corps, who led the charge of the V.M.I. cadets at the May 1864 Battle of New Market, Virginia. I believe that the degree of faithfulness Anne showed toward her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to her husband, and to her family was a direct reflection of the character of her great-grandfather.

I too learned that much of the writings of Gordon H. Clark first made available through the Reformation Educational Foundation were made possible by the masterful editing into well organized books performed by Anne Elliott upon a large quantity of Gordon Clark’s handwritten notes.

Anne Elliott was a faithful Christian, wife, and mother, a gifted scholar, and an otherwise remarkable woman whose friendship, support, and encouragement will be greatly missed. I do though rejoice that Anne is now free of this fallen and cursed world, in the presence of her Lord and Savior, and reunited with her best friend Edwin whose absence these past two and one-half years Anne bore with such grace and Christian contentment.]

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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

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[2] Christian Observer Highlights for April 2012

New Christian Observer articles for April 2012 include:

– 1800 Years of History Undone?: “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” – Romans 3:3 Geneva Bible – by David Brand – Part Two of a multipart article – The Bible and the church fathers on pistis or faith, vs. the rendering of pistis as faithfulness by the English Revised Version Committee in 1881 that suppressed the Bible’s witness to its own infallibility;

– The Battle for the Minds – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro – The U.S. culture wars and their effect on the U.S. educational system;

Plus, regular features including weekly Sabbath School Lessons by Christian Observer Assistant Editor Dr. Robert LaMay, and Daily Devotionals by T.M. Moore, dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe.

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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

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[3] Correction and Clarification

Regarding the 28 March 2012 Presbyterians Week article “[6] Great Britain Moves toward Removing Gender Specific Terms from Official and Legal Documents,” a reader from England pointed out that with the ongoing devolution process in Great Britain and the resulting separate administrations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the subject article should have read “England Moves toward Removing….”

The reader additionally expects Scotland to enact similar legislation, points out that the four parts of Great Britain are each approaching these issues at their own separate paces, and notes that Northern Ireland has so far refused to allow homosexual adoptions despite pressure from the National Government.

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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

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[4] Uniform Bible Lessons Committee Still Looking Ahead after 140 Years

Each Sunday, thousands of church schools open their bibles to the same passage to study the word of God.

That’s more than a coincidence: it’s called the “uniform principle.” Common bible lessons have been prepared by the National Council of Churches  (NCC)’s Committee on the Uniform Series for 140 years as of April 2012.

An anniversary celebration of the curriculum series was held the week of 18 March 2012 in San Antonio, Texas, and was presided over by the Rev. Dr. Roderick Lewis, General Secretary of the General Department of Publications of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Uniform Series Committee is lodged in the NCC‘s Education and Leadership Ministries Commission (ELMC). Dr. Daryl Ingram, Executive Director of the Christian Education Department of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, is chair of the Commission. Brenda Tribett is the program specialist who provides staff coordination for the uniform series.

Twenty-two denominations and their representative staff form the Uniform Series committee which meets annually.

[Editor’s Note: The Christian Observer publishes weekly Sabbath School lessons based upon the uniform series, which are prepared by Christian Observer Assistant Editor the Rev. Dr. Robert LaMay.]

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+ National Council of Churches, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 880, New York, New York 10115

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[5] RPTS Webinar “An Exegetical Consideration of Creationism from a Hebrew Language Perspective of Genesis” Scheduled for 5 April 2012

A webinar “An Exegetical Consideration of Creationism from a Hebrew Language Perspective of Genesis” will be presented 5 April 2012 at 3:00 p.m. eastern time by the Rev. C.J. Williams, Professor of Old Testament Studies at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The webinar is a practical examination of the first chapter of Genesis and the historic belief in six literal, sequential twenty-four hour days of creation. Additionally, there will be a discussion on how one’s view of Genesis impacts one’s worldview, gospel witness, and personal faith.

The webinar will be available at:

https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/bffa2e59/15577477,

 and will be recorded for those who are unable to access the live webinar.

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+ Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 7418 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-8690, Fax: 412-731-4834, info@rpts.edu

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[6] Calling All College Students with a Passion for Writing

If you are a Christian student journalist in western Pennsylvania or eastern Ohio with a passion for writing, circle 17 April 2012 as an important date.

World Journalism Institute, in conjunction with WORLD on Campus, will be conducting a series of free journalism seminars at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for Christian college journalists nearby Geneva College area who want to develop their skills as journalists.

The half-day conference, entitled “The Skills and Worldview of the Christian Journalist,” is designed to help students improve the skills necessary to integrate a passion for Christ with a passion for great journalism.

The seminar leaders will be Warren Cole Smith, associate publisher of WORLD magazine; Leigh Jones, editor of WORLDonCampus.com; and Edward Lee Pitts, reporter and Washington Bureau Chief for WORLD magazine.

Seminar sessions will cover topics such as the basics of news writing, including story structure; common mistakes made by beginning journalists, and how to avoid them; basic interviewing skills, including a few tricks of the trade; how to integrate a Christian worldview into the practice of journalism; and how to write for WORLDonCampus.com.

Following the seminar sessions there will be a free pizza dinner for all participants.

The World Journalism Institute (worldji.com) is a division of the World News Group with the mission to recruit, equip, place and encourage Christian journalists in the newsrooms of America and the world. World on Campus is a news website for college students looking for news from a perspective that will help them develop a Christian worldview.  The World News Group also includes WORLD magazine and World Radio.

To register for the journalism conference at Geneva College, go to worldji.com and select “Programs.”  Scroll down to the Geneva College Conference.

For more information, please contact:

Hannah Kaminer

Geneva Conference Administrator

828-232-5431

hkaminer@gwpub.com

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+ WORLD Magazine, 85 Tunnel Road, Suite 12, Asheville, North Carolina  28805, 828-232-5415, Fax: 828-253-1556, mailbag@worldmag.com

+ Geneva College, 3200 College Avenue, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania 15010, 724-846-5100, Fax: 724.847.6696, pr@geneva.edu

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[7] Are UFOs Biblical?

The Trinity Foundation has published a new Review titled “Are UFOs Biblical?” by W. Gary Crampton, Th. D., which is available at:

http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/Review%20305%20Are%20UFOs%20Biblical%20-%20Crampton.pdf

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+ The Trinity Foundation, Post Office Box 68, Unicoi, Tennessee 37692, 423-743-0199, Fax: 423-743-2005, tjtrinityfound@aol.com

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] CRCNA and RCA Plan for Joint 2014 Synods

[2] Former Treasurer of North Presbyterian Church in Elmira, New York, Faces Trial – Accused of Embezzling US$83,000 from Church

[3] Church of Scotland Secretary of Mission and Discipleship Council Resigns after Financial Process Audit

[4] Anniversary and Update – Cornerstone Ministries Investments, Inc.,  Ponzi Scheme Fraud

[5] Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand Minister Calls for Ordination of Homosexual Clergy

[6] Great Britain Moves toward Removing Gender Specific Terms from Official and Legal Documents

[7] Jesus Seminar Speakers Say Jesus Christ was Illiterate

[8] Faith Leaders Call for Resignation of President of Malawi

[9] At Spring 2012 Presbytery Meeting, ARP Church Released by Mississippi Presbytery to Oversight of the Communion of Anglican Churches, and Memorial to ARP Synod on Historical Adam Approved

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[1] CRCNA and RCA Plan for Joint 2014 Synods

The Board of Trustees of the Christian Reformed Church in North America  (CRCNA) has recommended that Synod 2012 accept an invitation from the Reformed Church in America  (RCA) to hold their synods at the same time and in the same place in 2014.

The proposal — pending a favorable site review — is that both synods would meet on the campus of Central College in Pella, Iowa, with some sessions held jointly.

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+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org

+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org

+ Central College, 812 University, Pella, Iowa 50219, 877-462-3687, admission@central.edu

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[2] Former Treasurer of North Presbyterian Church in Elmira, New York, Faces Trial – Accused of Embezzling US$83,000 from Church

A 20 March 2012 Star Gazette by Jason Whong titled “Elmira Church Treasurer Indicted” reports that Donald Maus, former treasurer of North Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)) was indicted in October 2011on a charge of second degree larceny for embezzling more than US$83,000 from the church between August 2009 and February 2011, and is scheduled to appear in court on 12 April 2012.

Maus’ ability to embezzle the church funds was attributed to lax accounting controls, and several changes have since been made to address the issue including two required signatories for checks and retention of an external auditing company.

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+ Star Gazette, 201 Baldwin Street, Elmira, New York 14901, 607-734-5151,

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

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[3] Church of Scotland Secretary of Mission and Discipleship Council Resigns after Financial Process Audit

The BBC reported 23 March 2012 that Dr. Steven Mallon, secretary of the mission and discipleship council of the Church of Scotland (COS), resigned his post after an internal audit discovered financial process irregularities.

The COS plans to take remediation measures including the clarification of rules, guidelines, processes, and the on-going training of staff.

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+ BBC, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS, England, Fax: 020-8008-2398

+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722

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[4] Anniversary and Update – Cornerstone Ministries Investments, Inc.,  Ponzi Scheme Fraud

15 March 2012 marked the one-year anniversary of the publication of the first of five 2012 Christian Observer articles and one letter to the editor concerning the twenty-plus year history of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and its ongoing enablement of Cornerstone Ministries Investments (CMI) in carrying out what one bankruptcy court investigator called a “[US]$140 million Ponzi scheme.”

The five articles and letter are:

– Unfinished Business for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) – 15 March 2011 – by Christian Observer Managing Editor Bob Williams

– Letter to the Editor: Insights into Cornerstone Ministries – 30 April 2011 – by CMI creditor Ken Boodhoo, PhD

– Protecting What God Has Given You From Those Who Use His Name – 1 August 2011 – by Chapter 11 bankruptcy investigator Pat Huddleston

– Should Cornerstone Ministries Investments Have Existed? – Part One – 15 August 2011 – by CMI creditor Bob Wildrick

– Should Cornerstone Ministries Investments Have Existed? – Part Two – 4 October 2011 – by CMI creditor Bob Wildrick

– Should Cornerstone Ministries Investments Have Existed? – Part Three – 6 December 2011 – by CMI creditor Bob Wildrick

Other than a few blog articles referencing the Christian Observer articles, and the republication of several of these articles by The Aquila Report, there has otherwise been silence from the PCA and CMI’s former principal officers. Two of these officers are Teaching Elders in good standing with the PCA‘s Metro Atlanta Presbytery (MAP), one of whom was called in December 2010 as full time senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Sharpsburg, Georgia.

In related news, a 28 February 2012 article by Michelle A. Samaad in the Credit Union Times titled “IBM Southeast Employees FCU Investment Suit Settled” reports that a settlement has been reached in the three-year-old class action suit by members against the IBM Southeast Federal Credit Union for the sale of fraudulent investments consisting of CMI bonds sold through Wellstone Securities, LLP (WSLLP) , a broker-dealer corporation set up under the African-American Church Growth Foundation Inc., the brainchild of CMI exec John Underwood, to own and manage WSLLP – thus skirting securities laws preventing CMI from distributing their own securities through an affiliated broker dealer.

More than 100 defrauded credit union members have agreed to settle for US$8.8 million, which represents eighty-five percent of the total damages sustained by the members.

As for the 3500 defrauded investors and their $142 million investments in CMI bonds represented in the February 2008 CMI bankruptcy, bond holders received a settlement distribution in December 2011 of 6.38 percent for the estate and an additional 4.5 percent if the investor had elected the Private Actions Trust.

And still, after more than twenty years, there is unfinished business in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

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+ Credit Union Times, 33-41 Newark Street, 2nd Floor, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, 201-526-1230, Fax: 201-526-1260, scooke@cutimes.com

+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org

+ Metro Atlanta Presbytery, Post Office Box 2648, Duluth, Georgia 30096, metroatlantapresbytery@gmail.com

+ The Aquila Report, c/o Metokos Press, 211 Main Street, Suite 108,  Narrows, Virginia 24124, 540-726-8223, operations@theaquilareport.com

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[5] Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand Minister Calls for Ordination of Homosexual Clergy

A 21 March 2012 article in GayNZ titled “Minister Calls for Presbyterians to Include Gays” reports that Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) minister the Rev. Dr. Allan Davidson, speaking at the funeral of homosexual minister the Rev. David Clark of Auckland, New Zealand, called for the PCANZ to allow the ordination of homosexual clergy.

The PCANZ General Assembly voted in 2004 and ratified in 2006 measures that do not allow the ordination of homosexual, bisexual, and transgender persons.

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+ GayNZ, Post Office Box 108-169, Symonds Street, Auckland 1150, New Zealand, 09-412-6067, Contact Page

+ Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, Level 1, Terralink House, 275-283 Cuba Street, Post Office Box 9049, Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand, 04-801-6000 Fax: 04-801-6001,  info@presbyterian.org.nz

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[6] Great Britain Moves toward Removing Gender Specific Terms from Official and Legal Documents

A 21 March 2012 Godfather Politics article by Giacomo titled “UK to Remove ‘Husband’ ‘Wife’ ‘Bride’ and ‘Bridegroom’ from Official Documents” reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron recently released a consultation paper with suggested reforms including the intent to open ‘civil marriage’ to homosexual couples.  The term ‘religious marriage’ will only be used for traditional couples consisting of a man and a woman.

If the reforms are passed, official documents such as marriage licenses will be changed to remove the terms ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ and replace them with ‘spouses’ and ‘partners’.  Additionally, the use of the terms ‘bride’ and ‘bridegroom’ are discouraged so to not offend homosexual couples.

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+ Godfather Politics, 457 Nathan Dean Boulevard, Dallas, Georgia 30132

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[7] Jesus Seminar Speakers Say Jesus Christ was Illiterate

Jeff Walton of the Institute on Religion and Democracy reports that at a recent Jesus Seminar event in Washington DC, Bernard Brandon Scott of Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Joanna Dewey, a professor emerita of Biblical Studies at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, asserted that early Christianity was an oral culture launched by an illiterate Jesus Christ.

The two seminary professors argued that a later move into “inherently male” manuscripts minimalized the role of women in the early church, while the earlier oral storytelling kept them in.

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+ Institute on Religion and Democracy, 1023 15th Street Northwest, Suite 601, Washington DC 20005-2601, 202-682-4131, Fax: 202-682-4136, info@theird.org

+ Westar Institute, Polebridge Press, Willamette University, 900 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301, 503-375-5323, Fax: 503-375-5324, westar@westarinstitute.org

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[8] Faith Leaders Call for Resignation of President of Malawi

A 22 March 2012 Ecumenical News International article by Frank Jomo titled “Malawi President Rejects Calls from Faith Leaders to Resign” reports that at a national meeting of civil society organizations in Malawi sponsored by the Public Affairs Committee (PAC), the assembled delegates issued a statement demanding that Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika “resign honorably within ninety days or if he thinks he is still popular, he should call for a referendum within the ninety days.” The statement additionally said that a failure by the president to meet the demands would lead to mass action.

The PAC is an organization consisting of the Catholic Church, the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, the Muslim Association of Malawi, the Quadria Association Malawi, and Pentecostal churches.

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+ Ecumenical News International, Post Office Box 2100, CH – 1211, Geneva 2, Switzerland, 41-22-791-6111, Fax: 41-22-788-7244,  eni@eni.ch

+ Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, General Synod, Post Office Box 30398, Capital City, Lilongwe 3, Malawi, 265-796064, ccapgeneral@africa-online.net

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[9] At Spring 2012 Presbytery Meeting, ARP Church Released by Mississippi Presbytery to Oversight of the Communion of Anglican Churches, and Memorial to ARP Synod on Historical Adam Approved

At the spring 2012 meeting of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP)’s Mississippi Valley Presbytery (MVP) held on 5-6 March 2012 at the French Camp Presbyterian Church in French Camp, Mississippi, the Covenant Presbyterian Church of Heber Springs, Arkansas was released to the oversight of the Communion of Anglican Churches.

The MVP additionally approved a memorial to the ARP Synod on the Historical Adam which was originally adopted by the Session of Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Louisville, Kentucky, on 18 February 2012 and which is as follows:

WHEREAS, the theory of evolution is a source of much debate and confusion in society, educational institutions, and churches today,

WHEREAS, the historicity of Adam has come under attack not only from secular groups and liberal churches, but also from professed evangelical individuals and institutions,

WHEREAS, the Old Testament Scriptures plainly teach that Adam and Eve, as the first man and woman, were the special creation of God, being made in His image (Gen. 1:27; 2:7,22),

WHEREAS, the New Testament Scriptures confirm that Adam and Eve were real, historical human beings (e.g., Matt. 19.4-5; Luke 3:38; Rom. 5.12-14; 1 Cor. 15:45; I Tim. 2:13-14),

WHEREAS, the confessional standards of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church also affirm these truths about Adam and Eve (e.g., WCF 4.2, 7.2; WLC Q. 17; WSC Q. 10),

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Session of Midlane Park Presbyterian Church requests that Mississippi Valley Presbytery hereby memorialize the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church to adopt the following affirmations and denials:

1. We affirm that Adam and Eve were special, unique, direct creations of God, created in His image, with Adam being formed from the dust of the ground and Eve being made from his side; as such, they were real human beings and the first man and woman,

2. We affirm that the account of creation as found in Genesis 1 and 2 is history;

3. We deny any teaching that claims that the account of creation as found in Genesis 1 and 2 is mythology;

4. We deny any theory that teaches that Adam and Eve descended from other biological life forms and that such a theory can be reasonably reconciled with either the Standards of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church or Holy Scripture.
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+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1 Cleveland Street Suite 110, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729

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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama Uses Video of Reformed Presbyterian Church of Manassas, Virginia, and Former Main Office of the Christian Observer, in Ad Announcing Outreach Group “African Americans for Obama”

[2] Prayer Vigil and News Conference in Support of Iranian Pastor Nadarkhani Held 7 March 2012 at Iranian Interests Section in Washington DC

[3] 21st Century Elijah Interrogatory Redux: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal [and Molech...] be he, then go after him.” (I Kings 18:21b)

[4] U.S. President May Order Killing of American Citizen, Says U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

[5] Former Taliban Lawyer Appointed to Number Three Position at the U.S. Justice Department

[6] Death Toll Rises to Nine in 11 March 2012 Church Suicide Bombing by Boko Haram Islamist Terrorists

[7] Free Church of Scotland(Continuing) Announces Moderator Designate for 2012 General Assembly

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[1] U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama Uses Video of Reformed Presbyterian Church of Manassas, Virginia, and Former Main Office of the Christian Observer, in Ad Announcing Outreach Group “African Americans for Obama”

An ad featuring U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama announcing the new advocacy group “African Americans for Obama” uses a video of the exterior of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Manassas, Virginia (Hanover Presbytery, Reformed Presbyterian Church) (RPCM), including a recruiting pitch for churches to appoint a “congregational captain” to lead the church’s reelection effort for the sitting U.S. president.

The ad can be viewed on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdjoHA5ocwU&feature=player_embedded

A 9 March 2012 article by Joel Gehrke in The Washington Examiner titled “Obama Ad Uses Conservative Church” reports that RPCM pastor the Rev. William Allen Church told The Washington Examiner that he would not allow the president or any other political candidate to set up a “congregational captain” among the RPCM congregation, then added:

We don’t do an official endorsement of any political campaign. But because of our conservative theology, biblical points of view — for instance, we’re pro-life and that sort of thing — so the practical implications of that come into play when people go cast their ballot. But I do not give a precise endorsement, whatsoever.

Regarding the ad’s appeal to African American churches, the pastor said: “We are multi-racial, but we don’t describe ourselves according to race. On the political allegiances of the congregation, he said that the congregation is mostly composed of Republicans and independents, with “maybe some Democrats.” The pastor added: “The only relationship [of the church to the Obama campaign is] that we do pray for all of our civil authorities.”

Christian Defense Coalition director and Hanover Presbytery minister the Rev. Pat Mahoney, who was ordained at RPCM, said that the use of the [RPCM] video reflects Obama’s insensitivity to Christian communities, and added: “It shows how the Obama administration treats faith as an absolute commodity. They just wanted what they thought was a pleasant-looking church.”

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+ YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Avenue, San Bruno, California 94066, 650-253-0000, Fax: 650-253-0001, press@youtube.com

+ The Washington Examiner, 1015 15th Street Northwest, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005, 202-903-2000, Contact Page

+ Hanover Presbytery, Reformed Presbyterian Church, hanoverpresbyter@yahoo.com

+ Christian Defense Coalition, Post Office Box 77168, Washington DC 20013, 202-547-1735, ChristianDefense@gmail.com

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[2] Prayer Vigil and News Conference in Support of Iranian Pastor Nadarkhani Held 7 March 2012 at Iranian Interests Section in Washington DC

Activists conducted a prayer vigil and held a news conference on 7 March 2012 in front of the Iranian Interests Section in Washington DC in support of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been sentenced to death in Iran for his refusal to renounce his Christian faith and embrace Islam.

The vigil participants called for the free nations of the world to keep the pressure on Iran to embrace human rights and religious freedom and demand that Pastor Nadarkhani be immediately released.

The activists also asked U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama to have a more visible role and personally make a public comment calling for the release of Pastor Nadarkhani instead of having statements read by White House Spokespersons.

Director of the Christian Defense Coalition and Reformed Presbyterian minister the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney stated:

We are gathering outside of the Iranian Interests Section to pray and ask God for the safety and immediate release of Pastor Nadarkhani. We are also leaving flowers in front of the Interests Section to show our solidarity for Pastor Nadarkhani, his family, and all our dear brothers and sisters who are persecuted around the world for their faith.

We are also praying that Iran embrace religious freedom for all and move away from a government that crushes human rights and the free expression of faith.

We also call upon [U.S.] President Obama to take a more active and visible role and that he personally make a public statement calling for the immediate release of Pastor Nadarkhani and not just issue statements through a White House Spokesperson.

Iran clearly takes notice that White House has only issued statements and that the President himself has not passionately spoken out on this issue.

It would seem if the President could personally call Sandra Fluke after harsh and mean-spirited statements were made about her by Rush Limbaugh, then he could personally call for the release of Pastor Nadarkhani who is has been sentenced to death by Iran for being a Christian and living out his faith.

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+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ Christian Defense Coalition, Post Office Box 77168, Washington DC 20013, 202-547-1735, ChristianDefense@gmail.com

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[3] 21st Century Elijah Interrogatory Redux: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal [and Molech...] be he, then go after him.” (I Kings 18:21b)

After groups including the Christian Defense Coalition (CDC) and Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital announced 23 February 2012 that they would encircle the U.S. Supreme Court building with prayer 25-28 March 2012 on the eve of and during the Obamacare oral arguments in memory of the 3300 unborn children that in the U.S. each day are killed through abortion.

A 9 March 2012 New York Times article by Robert Pear titled “White House Works to Shape Debate Over Health Law” reported that on 7 March 2012, “White House officials summoned dozens of leaders of nonprofit organizations that strongly back the health law to help them coordinate plans for a prayer vigil, press conferences and other events outside the court when justices hear arguments for three days beginning March 26,” thus summoning 21^st century Baal and Molech worshipers (Jeremiah 32:35) to a competing prayer vigil.

CDC Director and Reformed Presbyterian minister the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney’s comments about the presidential prayer vigil included:

The President again seems to be using ‘prayer and faith’ as a political commodity rather than as sincere held beliefs and values. His prayer vigils are tied to a public relations campaign to influence the public regarding support for ‘Obamacare’ rather than looking to God in humility and seeking His blessing and guidance.

It also troubling that President does not celebrate the National Day of Prayer at the White House or attend church on a regular basis, (as he did all during the 2008 campaign) yet he will call for prayer vigils to help support and promote his political agenda.

Mr. President, prayer should never be about advancing a political agenda but honoring God.

Finally, the President seems very ‘selective’ in celebrating and respecting faith and religious freedom. President Obama is calling for public prayer and expressions of faith to support legislation that crushes religious freedom with immoral and unjust HHS mandates against the Catholic Church.

I would suggest that the President pray and seek God to put forward health care legislation that honors the Constitution, respects religious freedom and protects innocent human life.

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+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ New York Times, 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, New York 10018, 212- 556-1234, executive-editor@nytimes.com

+ Christian Defense Coalition, Post Office Box 77168, Washington DC 20013, 202-547-1735, ChristianDefense@gmail.com

+ Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, 109 Second Avenue Northeast, Washington DC 20002, 202-546-8329, Fax: 202-546-6864, Info@FaithAndAction.org

+ Supreme Court of the United States, One First Street Northeast, Washington DC 20543, 202-479-3000
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[4] U.S. President May Order Killing of American Citizen, Says U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

A 5 March 2012 Los Angeles Times article by Richard A. Serrano and Andy Grimm titled “President May Order Killing of American Terrorists, Holder Says” reports that in a 9 March 2012 speech at Northwestern University Law School, U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told the audience that the U.S. president has the authority to order the killing of American citizens that are working in another country with Al Qaeda and its allies, saying the U.S. Constitution “does not require judicial approval before the president may use force abroad against a senior operational leader of a foreign terrorist organization with which the United States is at war — even if that individual happens to be a U.S. citizen.”

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+ Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California 90012, 213-237-5000, Fax: 213-237-7679, Contact Page

+ U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20530, 202-514-2000, askdoj@usdoj.gov

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[5] Former Taliban Lawyer Appointed to Number Three Position at the U.S. Justice Department

A 5 March 2012 The Daily Caller article by Caroline May titled “Former Taliban Defender Appointed to Third Highest Position at the Justice Department” reports that U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced 5 March 2012 that Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Tony West was promoted the prior week to Acting Associate Attorney General, the number three position at the U.S. Justice Department.

West was the lawyer that defended American terrorist John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban member sentenced to twenty years in prison after being captured in 2001 in Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban.

Former U.S. Justice Department official J. Christian Adams, who blew the whistle on the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case, in an interview on Fox News said that West defended other terrorists, and commented:

“Tony West took on, and his firm, took some of the most radical causes for America’s enemies before coming to the Justice Department.”

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+ The Daily Caller, 1050 17th Street Northwest # 900,Washington DC 20036,
202-466-3004, media@dailycaller.com

+ U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20530, 202-514-2000, askdoj@usdoj.gov

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[6] Death Toll Rises to Nine in 11 March 2012 Church Suicide Bombing by Boko Haram Islamist Terrorists

The death toll has risen to nine Christians killed in the 11 March 2012 bombing of a Roman Catholic church in Jos, Nigeria, by Boko Haram Islamist terrorists. Two of the dead were identified by their husbands, one finding his wife’s severed hand with her wedding ring still on it, and the other identified the body of his wife by the clothing she was wearing. Both women are survived by five children each along with their husbands. Two of the others killed were two Boy Scouts, eight-years-old and sixteen-years-old, that were assisting security personnel at the church compound gate in keeping out Islamist assailants. The bombers detonated their explosives after being stopped at the church compound gate.

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+ Compass Direct News Service, Post Office Box 27250, Santa Ana, California 92799, 949-862-0304, Fax: 949-752-6536, info@compassdirect.org

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[7] Free Church of Scotland(Continuing) Announces Moderator Designate for 2012 General Assembly

The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) announced 9 March 2012 that the Moderator Designate for the 2012 General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) is the Rev. James Gracie.

Mr. Gracie was born and brought up in Partick in Glasgow, Scotland. His family were associated with the former Grant Street Free Church of Scotland where his father was an elder.

On leaving school, he attended the West of Scotland Agricultural College for four years after which he joined the Scottish Milk Marketing Board as a Farm Management Assistant.

His career took a further turn when, in 1979, he accepted a post with the Department of Agriculture as an Agricultural Officer in Lairg in Sutherland, Scotland, principally employed in work for the Crofters Commission.

It was during this time that he began to take a very much deeper interest in spiritual things and came to a living personal faith.

Mr. Gracie was transferred to the Department of Agriculture office in Portree on the Island of Skye, Scotland, where he took up residence in his family’s ancestral home in Uig. He was asked to help by preaching in different congregations throughout the Island and even further afield.

He then applied to become a candidate for the ministry, was accepted and entered the theological course of the Free Church College in Edinburgh, Scotland.

It was while he was a student at the Free Church College that he met his wife Catriona who also comes from a Skye background. They have three daughters: Rachel (fourteen), Alison (twelve) and Lydia (ten).

Having completed his studies, Mr. Gracie was called to minister in the Island of Arran, Scotland, in 1994. His second charge was in North Uist, Scotland, and his present charge is in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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+ Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), Rev. John MacLeod, Free Church Manse, Portmahomack, Ross-shire, Scotland, principalclerk@fccontinuing.org
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Presbyterians Week Headlines

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[1] Christian Observer Highlights for March 2012

[2] Australian Ethicists Argue the Right to Kill Babies After They’re Born

[3] President Obama Elevates Providing Abortion Inducing Drugs and Sterilization above Religious Freedom and the First Amendment

[4] U.S. HHS Secretary Sebelius Says Reductions in Births from Contraceptive/Sterilization/Abortifacient Mandate will Pay for Program

[5] Pastor Steven Andrew – “Jesus Says Obama is Not a Christian — Obey God and Turn Away from Obama”

[6] BOND Action Founder and President the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Rebukes the Rev. Franklin Graham for Caving in to the NAACP, and Apologizing to U.S. President Obama

[7] The Syncretist Driven Life – The Next Chapter

[8] Muslim Terrorists Burn Down Seven Northeastern Nigerian Schools, Leaving Thousands of Students without Schools

[9] “William Hamilton is Dead” – God

[10] Radio Host Mocks Christians as Deadly Tornados Ravage the South

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[1] Christian Observer Highlights for March 2012

New articles in the Christian Observer for March 2012 include:

– Progressivism and Infallibility: “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” – Romans 3:3 Geneva Bible – by David Brand – Part One of a multipart article – The development of progressivism from the late 18^th into the 19^th century and the accompanying attack on biblical infallibility, culminating in development of the Revised English Version and its new rendering of the Greek pistis;

– Jesus Keeps Bad Company – The Scandal of the Company He Keeps – Gospel Reading: Mark 2: 13-17 – by the Rev. William H. Smith, a.k.a. The Christian Curmudgeon – A study of the Pharisees’ reaction when Jesus began keeping company with the “wrong” kind of people, and its application to the contemporary church;

– The Conflict of Contrasts – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro – Transcript of the 4 March 2012 WNEG AM 630 Christ Over All radio message – the inherent conflict resulting from the contrasts between the Judeo-Christian and the Islamic world views;

– The Food for Thought – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro – Federal food police in action in the Hoke County, North Carolina school system enforcing U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines on brown bag lunches brought from home, as a prime example of the U.S. Government seeking to dictate their mandates into every corner of the educational domain;

Plus, regular features including weekly Sabbath School Lessons by Christian Observer Assistant Editor Dr. Robert LaMay, and Daily Devotionals by T.M. Moore, dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe.

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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

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[2] Australian Ethicists Argue the Right to Kill Babies After They’re Born

The Liberty Counsel reported 2 March 2012 that an article entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?” was recently published in the London-based Journal of Medical Ethics, advocating that if abortion is allowed, then society also has the right to kill a newborn child. This outrageous deduction by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva takes abortion to its logical conclusion.

The abstract states: “By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

The authors are willing to admit that handicapped children are able to live happy lives but then advocate that, because of their burden on the rest of the family, the children should be able to be killed.

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, commented: “Abortion opens the door to infanticide. If you can kill a child in the womb, even up to the moment before birth, then there is no logical reason to protect life after birth. A human being begins at the moment of conception and should be afforded legal protection at all stages of life. This is the only logically defensible position. It is shocking to see people advocating killing children after they are born. It is just as shocking to see people advocating killing them before they are born.”

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+ Liberty Counsel, Post Office Box 540774, Orlando, Florida 32854, 800-671-1776, Liberty@LC.org

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[3] President Obama Elevates Providing Abortion Inducing Drugs and Sterilization above Religious Freedom and the First Amendment

In a 2 March 2012 press release, the Christian Defense Coalition states that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Contraceptive/Sterilization/Abortifacient mandates upon Christian institutions show that the Obama Administration seeks to impose their will on the faith community. President Obama continues to show a profound disrespect for religious freedom, liberty and personal conscience and treats faith as nothing more than a “political commodity.” The U.S. president can no longer portray himself as a candidate who embraces faith and religious liberty as he did in 2008.

The Christian Defense Coalition will lead major demonstrations in support of religious freedom at HHS headquarters in Washington DC on Friday, 23 March and in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday, 25 March 2012.

Reformed Presbyterian pastor and Director of the Christian Defense Coalition the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney states:

“It is stunning that America now has President and an administration who has put protecting abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization above the principles of religious freedom and the First Amendment [to the U.S. Constitution , i.e. Freedoms of Speech and Religion].

“President Obama continues to show a profound disrespect for religious liberty and respecting matters of individual conscience.  These unjust HHS mandates show this administration seeks to impose their will on the faith community and their values.

“When President Obama ran for President in 2008, he made his Christian faith a very visible part of his campaign.  It is now clear that was nothing more [than] political posturing and there appears very little commitment by the President to protect religious freedom and justice.

“This issue has now become a major issue in the 2012 elections and has energized the faith community more than Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Paul combined.

“We would encourage the President to move away from this reckless position of crushing and trampling the First Amendment and recommend he embrace the proposition that every American should have the right to freely practice their faith traditions without government interference or harassment.”

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+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ Christian Defense Coalition, Post Office Box 77168, Washington DC 20013, 202-547-1735, ChristianDefense@gmail.com

+ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington DC 20201, 877-696-6775, Contact Page

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[4] U.S. HHS Secretary Sebelius Says Reductions in Births from Contraceptive/Sterilization/Abortifacient Mandate will Pay for Program

A 1 March 2012 CNSNews.com article by Fred Lucas titled “Sebelius: Decrease in Human Beings Will Cover Cost of Contraception Mandate” reports that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on 1 March 2012 told a U.S. House of Representatives panel that the reduced number of  U.S. births in the United States will compensate employers and insurers for the cost of the new HHS Contraceptive/Sterilization/Abortifacient mandate requiring all health-care plans to cover U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive and abortifacient drugs, and sterilizations.

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+ CNSNews.com, 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, 877-267-6397, newsdesk@cnsnews.com

+ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington DC 20201, 877-696-6775, Contact Page

+ U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC 20515, 202- 224-3121, Contact Page

+ U.S. Food and Drug Administration , 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20993, 888-463-6332, druginfo@fda.hhs.gov

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[5] Pastor Steven Andrew – “Jesus Says Obama is Not a Christian — Obey God and Turn Away from Obama”

In a 1 March 2012 statement, Pastor Steven Andrew of USA Christian Ministries said “Christians are to obey God and turn away from Barack Obama — Obama is lost in sin.”

Pointing to the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “You will know them by their fruits,” Pastor Andrew explains that by looking at Obama’s fruits, Jesus says Obama is not a Christian (Matthew 7:16). For example, Obama advocated abandoning living babies to die who survive botched abortions, and covered Jesus’ name and cross on a lectern at Georgetown University.

Obama has removed references to God when quoting the Declaration of Independence and Bible verses from the Pentagon reports. Instead of saying the USA’s national motto is “In God We Trust,” Obama has lied, saying that it is something without God.

Pastor Andrew adds:

“God says homosexual sin is an abomination in Leviticus 18:22 and that He removes nations for homosexual sin (2 Peter 2:6). However, Obama promotes sexual and homosexual sin and is trying to change God’s holy marriage to unholy homosexual ‘marriage’.”

“Obama has tempted Americans to desire other people’s money in covetousness, but each person is to live for God-not to get other people’s money.”

“There is no place in the Holy Bible that says to follow anyone sinning. Instead, God says that Christians are to separate from (1 Corinthians 5:13), turn away from (2 Timothy 3:5), avoid (Romans 16:17), not help (2 Chronicles 19:2) and not listen to people like Obama (Psalm 1). No Christian can follow Obama in sin.”

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+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ USA Christian Ministries, 2059 Camden Avenue #280, San Jose, California 95124, Contact Page

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[6] BOND Action Founder and President the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Rebukes the Rev. Franklin Graham for Caving in to the NAACP, and Apologizing to U.S. President Obama

BOND Action Founder and President the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson on 29 February 2012 criticized evangelist the Rev. Franklin Graham after Graham apologized for questioning U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama‘s Christian faith. In a statement released 29 February 2012, Graham said, “I regret any comments I have ever made which may have cast any doubt on the personal faith of our president, Mr. Obama.” Graham also stated that he objects to Obama’s policy stances on abortion and same-sex marriage, which Graham considers to be in “direct conflict” with Scripture. Graham’s apology reportedly came on the heels of pressure from black churches and more than a dozen National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) religious subgroups. The NAACP accused Graham of “bearing false witness” and fomenting racism. Mr. Peterson issued the following statement regarding Graham’s forced apology:

“I am saddened to hear that Rev. Franklin Graham was bullied into issuing an apology for the truthful words he spoke, due to accusations of ‘racism’ by the NAACP and left-wing black clergy. Franklin Graham’s weakness is a pitiful representation of Christ and is disheartening to Christians in America and those persecuted around the world.

“This is a politically-motivated attack on a Christian leader by Democrats and the NAACP . Democrats could not allow the facts of what Graham said about Obama’s faith to stand and cast doubt in the minds of Christian voters. So they attacked the messenger, labeling him a racist and a liar. This is reminiscent of the intimidation used by Hitler in Nazi Germany.

“Barack Obama has shown without a doubt that he does not believe in a Judeo-Christian God. It’s unfortunate that white Christian men and women are being attacked for stating the obvious about this president and they’re too weak to stand for righteousness.”

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+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ BOND Action, Post Office Box 35586, Los Angeles, California 90035, 323-556-2623, info@bondaction.org

+ NAACP, 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21215, 410-580-5777, Contact Page

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[7] The Syncretist Driven Life – The Next Chapter

A 2 March 2012 article by Jim Hinch in the Orange County Register titled “Rick Warren Builds Bridge to Muslims” reports that Saddleback Church pastor the Rev. Rick Warren “has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.”

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+ Orange County Register, 625 North Grand Avenue, Santa Ana, California 92701, 877-469-7344, thorne@ocregister.com

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[8] Muslim Terrorists Burn Down Seven Northeastern Nigerian Schools, Leaving Thousands of Students without Schools

A 1 March 2012 Reuters article titled “Suspected Islamists Burn Down Seven Nigerian Schools” reports that arsonists suspected to be members of the Boko Haram Islamist terrorist group burned down seven schools in northeast Nigeria over several days leading to 1 March 2012, leaving thousands of students without their schools at midterm.

Reuters explains that Boko Haram, which translated means “Western education is sinful,” an Islamist movement styled after the Taliban.

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+ Thomson Reuters, 3 Times Square New York, New York 10036, 646-223-4000, general.info@thomsonreuters.com

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[9] “William Hamilton is Dead” – God

Mark Ellis of ASSIST News Service reported 3 March 2012 that radical theologian William Hamilton, who led the “God is Dead” movement in the 1960’s died in Portland, Oregon, at age eighty-seven.

In his 1966 book, “Radical Theology and the Death of God,” co-written with Thomas J.J. Altizer, Hamilton stated “The death of God is a metaphor. We needed to redefine Christianity as a possibility without the presence of God.”

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+ Assist USA, Post Office Box 609, Lake Forest, California 92609, 949-380-1558,  danjuma1@aol.com

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[10] Radio Host Mocks Christians as Deadly Tornados Ravage the South

Talk radio host Mike Malloy on 2 March 2012 used the deadly tornados ravaging the southern U.S. to further the atheist and evolutionary agenda.

Malloy said of southern Christians “Their God … keeps smashing them into little grease spots on the pavement in Alabama, and Mississippi, and Arkansas, and Georgia, and Oklahoma. You know, the Bible belt, where [in a mocking voice] they ain’t gonna let no [God’s name taken in vain] science get in the way, it says in the Bible, blah blah blah blah blah. So, according to their way of thinking, God with his omnipotent thumb reaches down here and so far tonight has smashed about twenty people into a grease spot on highway 12, or whatever the hell highway they live next to.”

Malloy’s website (www.mikemalloy.com) now contains an apology that says in part:

“Those comments, as published on various blog sites, were lifted out of context from a larger point I was making about the hypocrisy of many political leaders and commentators who refuse to acknowledge science, logic and fact in assessing disasters such as this one.”

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+ THEBLAZE.COM LLC, 1270 Avenue of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, New York 10036, contact@theblaze.com

+ The Mike Malloy Show, Post Office Box 238, Decatur, Georgia 30030, Mike@mikemalloy.com

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