A hearing in the case of Geneva College v. Sebelius was held in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Reformation Day 31 October 2012. Geneva College of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which argued against the Obama administration’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit by Geneva College against the president’s abortion pill mandate. The ADF is additionally representing the Seneca Hardwood Lumber Company, a family-owned business in Cranberry, Pennsylvania.

The mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy penalties.

+ Alliance Defending Freedom, 15100 North 90th Street, Scottsdale, Arizona 85260, 800-835-5233, Fax: 480-444-0025

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

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

[2] Ligonier Ministries Offers 2012 West Coast Conference DVD Series Standing Firm for Contribution of Any Amount

R.C. Sproul writes:

“I’ve seen it again and again. Someone recognizes false teaching and arises to resist it. But instead of supporting the courageous person who wants to uphold Christ’s truth, other Christians call for that person to be silent. Fearing hostility from the culture or the wider body of professing Christians, many believers turn the guns inward and silence their fellow believer for the sake of peace.

“Yet peace that is won at the expense of the truth is no peace at all.

“Of course, so far as it depends upon us, we are to live peaceably with all (Rom. 12:18). But when God’s truth is attacked we must draw a line in the sand. Like Daniel of old, we must be willing to face the lions if that’s what it takes to guard the truth (Dan. 6).

“Even now, for example, Ligonier Ministries faces governmental pressure through new healthcare legislation that is hostile to the sanctity of human life. We can’t—and won’t—compromise by obeying laws forcing us to fund abortion on demand, no matter the cost.”

Ligonier Ministries wants to offer the ministry’s friends and supporters ready to hold the line for God’s truth a copy of the 2012 West Coast Conference DVD series Standing Firm as thanks for a gift of any amount at this URL:

https://www.ligonier.org/donate/?appeal=AA12E10000&pakcode=&fund=220.5010&source_message=the%20Standing%20Firm%20appeal

+ Ligonier Ministries, 400 Technology Park, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, 407-333-4244, Fax: 407-333-4233

[3] World Communion of Reformed Churches to leave Geneva, Switzerland for Hanover, Germany

The Executive Committee of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) has voted to relocate its offices from Geneva, Switzerland to Hanover, Germany. The results of the vote taken via email were announced [5 November 2012] by WCRC President Jerry Pillay.

“We welcome the move to Hanover which allows WCRC to continue to live out its mission as a Communion of churches. We will remain focused on our mandate of seeking church unity and justice in society and the economy and respect for the environment,” Pillay says in a statement.

The move comes in response to concerns about the cost of running an organization in Switzerland. These include staff salaries and the high value of the Swiss franc. Most WCRC membership fees and donations are made in Euros or American dollars that have dropped in value in the past several years against the strong Swiss franc.

The move to Hanover is scheduled for the end of December 2013. The new offices will be located at the Calvin Centre owned by the Evangelical Reformed Church of Germany where the Reformed Alliance has its offices. WCRC has a seven-member staff.

WCRC general secretary, Setri Nyomi, says: “I am grateful for the dedicated staff team of the WCRC who have faithfully given themselves and their professional gifts to the Reformed family of churches worldwide and have been at the forefront of making a difference in the world. They are the ones called upon to make new sacrifices at this time of relocation.”

The Reformed church movement has had its offices in Geneva since 1948 when the World Presbyterian Alliance (a WCRC predecessor organisation) moved from Edinburgh, Scotland. At the time the World Council of Churches was in formation and Reformed church leaders felt it important to be close to colleagues in the global ecumenical movement.

In responding to the decision, WCRC Vice-President Yvette Noble-Bloomfield says: “The World Communion of Reformed Churches in making the decision to relocate from Geneva to Hanover, has demonstrated the desire to place itself in a position to deepen its core calling and interpretation of character that can further its response to the history, life and purpose of member churches. There must be a desire and a hope for a future that is redemptive and passionate even in the face of the challenges of change and the costly risk of relationships.”

+ World Communion of Reformed Churches, 150 route de Ferney, Post Office Box 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, 41-22-791-6240, Fax: 41-22-791-6505, info@reformedchurches.org

[4] PCUSA Permanent Judicial Commission Exonerates Lesbian Minister Who ‘Married’ Same-Sex Partner

A 6 November 2012 The Christian Post article by Michael Gryboski titled “Lesbian Clergywoman Cleared of Charges by Highest PCUSA Commission” reports that on Sunday 4 November 2012, the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)’s Permanent Judicial Commission exonerated the Rev. Laurie McNeill of charges of violations of church law when McNeill ‘married’ her same sex partner in 2009.

+ 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

[5] PCUSA Permanent Judicial Commission Faults San Francisco Presbytery’s Gracious Dismissal Policy for Not Taking into Account the Value of Church Property

The Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)’s Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) ruled 28 October 2012 ruled that the ‘gracious dismissal policy’ of the Presbytery of San Francisco which states that the PCUSA trust clause “was not to be used as a weapon to threaten civil action against a congregation over issues of conscience” does not take into account the financial worth of church property, and thus exercises the PJC’s “declaratory authority to provide guidance to lower councils and prevent future violations.”

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

+ Presbytery of San Francisco, 2024 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, California 94704, 510-849-4393, Fax: 510-849-4398, krunyeon@sfpby.org

[6] Church of Scotland Presbyteries Establishing Special Committees to Negotiate Property Settlements with Churches Seceding over Ordination of Homosexual Ministers

A 3 November 2012 The Herald article by Brian Donnelly titled “Kirk Seeks Land Deal with Rebel Congregations” reports that presbyteries in the Church of Scotland are establishing special committees to negotiate property settlements with churches seceding over the ordination of homosexual ministers and what one church calls the Kirk’s “revisionist trajectory”.

The committees “are designed to diffuse potentially explosive legal wrangles between congregations” such as recent Kirk actions to seize the properties of the St. George’s Tron Church in Glasgow, Scotland, said actions generating a large public outcry.

A Kirk investigation found that twenty percent of Church of Scotland churches with up to 100,000 church members will likely leave the Kirk over the issue of homosexual ordination, and thus significantly diminish the UK£40 million raised every year by the current 1400 Kirk congregations.

+ The Herald, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow, Scotland G2 3QB, 0141- 302-7000, Fax: 0141-302-7117, On-lineEditor@theherald.co.uk

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

[7] News from the Trinity Foundation

The Results of The Trinity Foundation 2012 Christian Worldview Essay Contest are in.

The First Prize of US$3000 plus fifteen books goes to Laura Rader of Suffolk, Virginia, for her essay “Without a Prayer: Ayn Rand and the Close of Her System“.

The Second Prize of US$2000 plus ten books goes to Abigail Lashbrook of Newville, Pennsylvania, for her essay “Atlas Fell”.

There was no Third Prize Winner this year.

The latest Trinity Review – Part 2 of “The Church Irrational” by John W. Robbins has been posted on The Trinity Foundation website, as has information about The Trinity Foundation’s Ninth Annual (2013) Christian Worldview Essay Contest on Modern Philosophy by Gordon H. Clark.

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

[8] Headlines from Christian Concern

Headlines of the past week from Christian Concern:

— Maidstone, England Council Rejects Second ‘Lap Dancing’ Application

— Pregnancy Counselors in Ireland Giving Potentially Life-Threatening Advice on Abortion

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

[9] Headlines from The Christian Institute

Headlines of the past week from The Christian Institute:

— U.K. Charity Commission Accused of Suppressing Christianity

— U.K. Prime Minister Accused of Being ‘Misleading’ About Gay Marriage

— U.K. Schoolgirls of Thirteen Given Birth Control Implants during Lunch

+ The Christian Institute, Wilberforce House, 4 Park Road, Gosforth Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8DG, England, 44-0-191-281-5664, Fax: 44-0-191-281-4272, info@christian.org.uk

[10] Articles from LifesiteNews.com

Articles from the past week from LifesiteNews.com:

— U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Tied to Abortionist Accused of Malpractice, Patient’s Death, and Medicaid Fraud

— American Nurses Association Issues Draft Statement Opposing Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia

— Why Homosexual ‘Marriage’ Signals the End of Heterosexual Rights

— Nevada Court May Force Disabled Woman to Abort Her Child

— United Nations Agencies Ask Brazilian President to Criminalize ‘Homophobia’

— Australia’s University of South Wales blocks Pro-Life Group: Worried Group Would ‘Target Women’

— Irish Children’s Rights Referendum Will Make Children Property of the State Says U.S. Legal Expert

+ LifeSiteNews.com, Incorporated, 4 Family Life Lane, Front Royal, Virginia 22630, 888-678-6008, Contact Page

[11] Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining

Articles from the past week regarding kings and rulers setting themselves against the LORD and against his anointed:

— PETA Wants a Memorial to Dead Fish

— U.S. Vice President Biden Calls Transgender Discrimination the ‘Civil Rights Issue of Our Time’

— Obama Executive Order Expands Homeland Security into State and Local Areas

— Romney Surrogate Former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota: Roe V. Wade “Not Going to Be Reversed”

— Seven U.S. Senate Candidates Support Forcing Transgender Teachers on Classrooms

— New York Looters Plunder “In Broad Daylight” Spouting Socialist Dogma

— U.S. Center for Disease Control Says U.S. Birth Rate Hits All-Time Low; 40.7 Percent of Babies Born to Unmarried Women

— Obama Administration Mandates Oil Firms Hire Sea Turtle Observers

— Will a SWAT Team Invade Your Business?

— Potential Ten-Year Prison Terms for Pastors that Preach Biblical Truths

— National Health Service Hospitals in England Financially Rewarded at Least UK£12 million for Using Liverpool Care Pathway, which Can Include Removal of Food and Water from Terminal Patients

— Robber Disrupts Roanoke County, Virginia Church Service

— New Obamacare Tax Form Invades Your Privacy by Requiring Personal Health Information

— Obama’s 2009 Inauguration Pastor Joseph Lowery Says ‘All White People Are Going to Hell’

— Evergreen State College of Olympia, Washington’s ‘Nondiscrimination’ Policy Lets Man Change with Female Swim Team

— U.S. Federal Government Won’t Allow Dairy Farmers to Lower Milk Prices

— Christians in Laos told: Perform Animist Rituals or Face Eviction

— Messianic Jews in Israel Ordered To Pay Lesbians the Equivalent of US$20,000 for Not Allowing Same-Sex Wedding in Facilities

— 400 Percent Increase in Persecution of Christians in ‘10/40 Window’ Prompts Urgent Call for Prayer

— Buckingham Slate of Arvonia, Virginia Fined US$4000 by U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration for Missing Trash Can Lid

— Hurricane-Relief National Guardsmen Tossed Out of Manhattan’s Lexington Armory – for Victoria’s Secret Show

— Piedmont, Oklahoma Mother Fined $2500 after Three-Year-Old Son Urinates in Yard

+ Political Outcast

+ Freedom Outpost, 1116 N Market Street, Paris, Tennessee 38242, 73-644-2220, Contact Page

+ Front Porch Politics, Contact Page

+ Traditional Values Coalition, 139 “C” Street Southeast, Washington DC 20003, 202-547-8570, Fax: 202-546-6403, mail@traditionalvalues.org

+ American Vision, 3150-A Florence Road, Suite 2, Powder Springs, Georgia 30127, 800-628-9460, Fax: 770-222-7269, Comments@AmericanVision.org

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

+ The Telegraph, Victory House, Meeting House Lane, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4TT, England, 0800-316-6977, telegraphenquiries@telegraph.co.uk

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

+ WND, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, #351, Washington DC 20006, Contact Page

+ Last Resistance, Contact Page

+ Richmond Times Dispatch, 300 East Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, 804-649-6000, news@timesdispatch.com

+ New York Post, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036, 800-552-7678, aaquilina@nypost.com

[12] The Religion of Peace

Articles from the past week about the religion of peace:

— Devout Muslim Groups in Egypt Attempt To Legalize Pedophilia

— Jihad Recruiters in Minnesota Using Qur’an to Convince Young Muslims to Go Fight in Somalia

— Muslim Cleric in Dagestan Murdered for Preaching Peace

— Obama’s Courting of the Iranian Mullahs

— Four Iranian Christian leaders each Sentenced to One Year in Prison

— France Deports Devout Imam Who Called for Jihad, Jewish Genocide and Corporal Punishment of Woman

— Half of American Muslims Believe “Parodies” of Muhammad Should Be Prosecuted Criminally in the U.S., One In Eight Calls for Death Penalty for Insulting Islam, Forty Percent Support Sharia Law over U.S. Law

— Obama-Backed Rebels in Syria Burn Down Church

— Arab Media Report Exposes Security Breaches at Benghazi Consulate Only Hours before Assassination of U.S. Ambassador

— Mob Sets Pakistan Girls’ School on Fire over Alleged ‘Blasphemy’

— U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi Holds Secret Fundraiser With Islamists, Hamas-Linked Groups

— Iranians Chant ‘Death to America’ to Mark 1979 Embassy Takeover

— Academic Jihad against Texas Professor Fired for “Offending Muslim Students”

— Fatah-Lebanon Facebook Page Shows Muslim Mother Putting Suicide Belt on Child

— Muslim Mother in Wales Immolates Seven-Year-Old Son for ‘Failing to Learn the Koran’

— The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism

— Benghazi Investigator Former Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering Slams America and ‘Islamophobes’

— United Nations Official Calls for Making Islamic Istanbul, Turkey into the “Capital of the World”

— Secret Iran Nuclear-Bomb Plant Expanding

— Muslim Pressure Closes Church in Indonesia

— British Members of Parliament Release Report on Intensifying Pressure on Iranian Christian Converts

— Pastor Killed in Church Blast in Garissa, Kenya

— Pakistani Christian Pastor Arrested for Blasphemy

+ Atlas Shrugs, writeatlas@aol.com

+ Assyrian International News Agency

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

+ The Algemeiner Journal, Post Office Box 250746, Brooklyn, New York 11225, 718-771-0400, Fax: 718-771-0308, Contact Page

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

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

+ WND, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, #351, Washington DC 20006, Contact Page

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7 November 2012

Christian Observer Publishing