17 December 2014

Wednesday, December 17, 2014, 0:00

This news item was posted in Presbyterians Week category.

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]

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“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] The Presbyterian Church USA’s Terrorist Ties

[2] Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Statement on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Outbreak of the 1989 Romanian Revolution

[3] South Carolina Federal Judge Orders over US$197,000 Attorney’s Fees, Costs Awarded to Christian Pro-Life Missionary Represented by National Legal Foundation Legal Team in 2005 Greenwood Graphic ‘Abortion’ Signs Case

[4] News from the Deepest Recesses of Hell

[5] The Thinning Blue Line

[6 Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining

[7] The Religion of Peace

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[1] The Presbyterian Church USA’s Terrorist Ties

A 9 December 2014 FrontPage Magazine article by Ari Lieberman titled “The Presbyterian Church USA’s Terrorist Ties” reports that the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) has maintained extensive contacts with the Islamist terrorist organization Hezbollah despite its designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S.

The article chronicles Hezbollah’s terrorist activities to include:

— The 18 April 1983suicide truck bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon which killed sixty-three people including seventeen Americans

— The October 1983 suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 220 marines and another twenty-one U.S. service personnel

— A recent global campaign of terror spanning five continents including an attack and bombing of a civilian tourist bus in Bulgaria that resulted in the deaths of six civilians

The article additionally details the efforts of Shurat HaDin (Israel Law center) in producing a thirty-eight-page complaint with the IRS alleging that the PCUSA has engaged in “a range of activities prohibited under U.S. tax law” which are wholly inconsistent with PCUSA’s stated aims when it filed for tax exempt status in 1964.

+ FrontPage Magazine, Post Office Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, California 91499, Contact Page

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

[2] Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Statement on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Outbreak of the 1989 Romanian Revolution

On the sixteenth of December – the twenty-fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the 1989 Romanian Revolution – we commemorate the sacrifices of those revolutionaries, heroes and martyrs whose courage and perseverance in the face of death led to the fall of the communist dictatorship.

We consider it important to highlight the role in the Romanian Revolution of the inhabitants of Temesvár (Timisoara), as their heroic opposition to dictatorship gave impetus to protest movements formed in Bucharest and other large cities. In those dramatic days the citizens of Romania declared their faith in the democratic transition, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Hungary, which had also suffered for decades under communism, watched these events with hopeful anticipation and contributed to the Revolution’s success with supportive intent.

When paying our respects to the heroes we should not forget László T?kés, whose unwavering stand for his community and his faith became the catalyst for changes which transformed Romania. The shared Hungarian-Romanian nature of the struggle for freedom and the solidarity between the two peoples played a key role in the success of the revolution. Romania’s citizens of differing ethnicities and religions were as one in sharing in the acts of revolution, setting an example of solidarity between nations, and showing that freedom is a universal value which can only be won through strength in unity.

On today’s anniversary we would like to express our conviction that Romania and Hungary will continue their shared path as members of Europe’s democratic communities and as strategic partners, and that this can open up new horizons to the two nations. We see one of our most important tasks, and also our shared responsibility, as fully utilizing the opportunities – offered by the membership of the EU and arising from close bilateral cooperation – for improving the situations of both the Hungarian minority in Romania and the Romanian minority in Hungary.

[Editor’s Note: The Rev. László T?kés, a minister of the Reformed Church in Romania, was a close friend of the late Rev. Dr. Edwin Elliott, publisher of the Christian Observer from 1988 until his death in 2009. Edwin Elliott, his brother Francis, and several others arranged for a FAX machine to be smuggled into Romania and delivered to László T?kés who used the FAX to send reports to the rest of Romania while he was under house arrest in Timisoara. An account of this historical incident can be found in the Rev. Dr. Frank Smith’s article “American Presbyterianism and the Cold War” in The Confessional Presbyterian Volume 6 (2012) available at URL http://www.cpjournal.com/store/products/the-confessional-presbyterian-6-2010/]

+ Embassy of Hungary, 3910 Shoemaker Street Northwest, Washington DC 20008, 202-362-6730, informacio.was@kum.hu

+ Bulgária-telepi Református Gyülekezet (Reformed Church in Romania), 400628 Kolozsvár – Cluj Napoca, Arad út 8-10 szám, Romania, 0264 – 415 756

+ The Confessional Presbyterian, Post Office Box 141084, Dallas, Texas 75214

December 14, 2014

Senior US District Court Judge Henry Herlong, Jr. issued his Opinion & Order awarding [US]$197,849.89 in attorney’s fees and costs to Christian pro-life missionary Steve Lefemine, director of Columbia Christians for Life, on December 1, 2014. Lefemine has been very ably represented for years by the National Legal Foundation (NLF), whose President is Steven Fitschen. This case has been adjudicated two different times by a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals [2012, 2014 ], and once by the United States Supreme Court [ 2012, per curiam, Lefemine v. Wideman, 133 S. Ct. 9 (2012)]. As of this release, neither side has declared an intent to appeal.

The federal lawsuit originated from an incident which occurred over nine years ago in Greenwood, South Carolina on November 3, 2005 during a Columbia Christians for Life (CCL) ‘Show the Truth’ Tour, in which about 20 men, women, and young adults were presenting a Christian pro-life witness at a busy intersection in Greenwood County. The Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office unconstitutionally forced CCL ministry team participants to cease displaying graphic pictures of babies [children] murdered by ‘abortion’ from the sidewalk or along the public right-of-way, both of which are traditional public forums for free speech and peaceable assembly, under the threat of being ticketed for breach of peace. The Title 42 lawsuit was filed October 31, 2008, and the US District Court (SC) Opinion & Order was issued July 8, 2010. As the same judge repeated in his December 1, 2014 Opinion & Order [p. 2], referring to his July 8, 2010 ruling, “This court held that the Defendants had infringed Lefemine’s rights of free speech, peaceable assembly, and free exercise of religion.” And so, “The court permanently enjoined the Defendants from “engaging in content-based restrictions on Plaintiff’s display of graphic signs without narrowly tailoring its restriction to serve a compelling state interest.”” However, “The court denied Lefemine’s request for attorney’s fees …” (Lefemine v. Davis, 732 F. Supp. 2d 624-25, 627). So the Christian pro-life position prevailed in the trial court’s July 8, 2010 Opinion & Order on the substantive issue of the constitutionally-protected right to display the graphic ‘abortion’ signs, however the US District Court (SC) refused to award Lefemine’s legal representation by the National Legal Foundation its due in attorney’s fees!

This anti-attorney’s fees ruling was upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals [2012], but then reversed by the United States Supreme Court [SCOTUS] on November 5, 2012 per curiam [ NLF Press Release ], in which the SCOTUS ruled ( without dissent from any of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices !) that Lefemine was legally a “prevailing party” in this case, and so attorney’s fees should ordinarily be recoverable unless there were “special circumstances” ( Lefemine v. Wideman, 133 S. Ct. 11 ). [emphasis added ]

The case was remanded to the Fourth Circuit; and then to the US District Court (SC); the latter court ruling [ 2013 ] there were special circumstances, again disallowing attorney’s fees. However, finally, on appeal, the Fourth Circuit reversed the District Court’s finding of special circumstances, remanded the case again to the District Court, this time ordering attorneys’ fees be awarded to Lefemine, “a prevailing civil rights plaintiff.” [July 11, 2014 Opinion, p. 20].

Steven Fitschen, NLF, says of the case, “We were so grateful to have vindicated Steve Lefemine’s constitutional rights of free speech, peaceable assembly, and free exercise of religion back in 2010. And now, over four years later, we are grateful to finally have been awarded fees. These fees will send a message to law enforcement all across the country that when the rights of pro-life protesters are trampled upon, serious consequences follow.”

“Glory to God for His Almighty Hand in this case,” says Steve Lefemine. “May He be pleased to use this case to encourage Christians in standing for truth in the public square as witnesses unto Jesus, Who Is The Truth ( Acts 1:8, John 14:6, KJV ). The Lord Jesus Christ says, “… I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). I wish also to express my gratitude for the fine work of the National Legal Foundation.”

+ Columbia Christians for Life, Post Office Box 12222, Columbia, South Carolina, 29211, CCL@ChristianLifeandLiberty.net

+ National Legal Foundation, Post Office Box 64427, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23467, 757-463-6133, nlf@nlf.net

[4] News from the Deepest Recesses of Hell

— 2014 on Record as the Year of the Satanic Attack against Christians

— U.S. Supreme Court Allows Abortionists to Violate U.S. Food and Drug Administration Guidelines When Using Abortifacient RU-486

— New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Orders Insurance Companies to Cover ‘Sex Change’ Procedures

— Ontario Province, Canada Forces All Doctors to Do Abortions or Refer for Them

— ‘Lucius II: The Prophecy’ Video Game Lets You Be the Antichrist

— Massive Incest Ring Busted, Parents Trade Children For Sex And Bestiality

— Pro-Abortion Salon Writer Margaret A. Woodbury Describes Watching Abortionist Pull Arms, Legs Off Unborn Baby

— New Prenatal Screening Tests are Leading to Abortions of Healthy Babies

— Brisbane, Australia Woman Has Abortion at Twenty-Eight Weeks Because Baby Would Have “Deformed” Left Hand