COMPELLING FALLOUT THREE DAYS AFTER TERROR IN BOSTON

Update 6:00 a.m. 

Correction (8:10 a.m.): Boston Police Department has identified suspects as Chechnyan brothers; 26 year old Tamerlan Tzarnaev and Dzhokhar Tzarnaev, 19. There was a shoot out this Morning. Tamerlan is dead and Dzhokhar is on the run.

CNN: “You can’t blame any group for extremists.”

The vicious attack on Steve Emerson

What is the American left doing about the reign of terror in Boston on Patriots’ Day? Why of course—they are rising to the defense of Islamic Jihad. Just hours after the bombing I deduced the perpetrators could only be Islamic Jihadists:

Of course these terrorists that hit Boston Monday are Islamic jihadists. Has any stepped forward to claim credit? Not yet. But go here for a list of nearly 20 Muslim leaders praising the attack. This is not some half baked young American charged up by a rant from a wild eyed Imam at the local mosque. The symbolism of the attack on Patriots’ Day is exactly what al Qaeda linked jihadists do. Dear reader, you are at war. This is your declared enemy.  Committed Islamists understand that Islam cannot exist where freedom reigns.  This war is the story of the twenty first century. Never forget domestic radical, Dave Foreman, paraphrasing Jesus, said, “This is war. There are no sidelines and there are no spectators.”

The link to the list of Muslim leaders was compiled by the number one woman “standing in the gap” against this dark scourge, Pamela Geller. Geller’s partner in her activist work is Robert Spencer, one of the two leading American scholars on the Islamic Caliphate and its present war against America, Israel, Christians and Jews.

The other is Steve Emerson. Mr. Emerson founded the Investigative Project on Terrorism in 1995. IPT is recognized as the world’s most comprehensive data center on radical Islamic terrorist groups.

Emerson appeared Wednesday night on Hannity. In addition to giving Hannity analysis, Emerson broke the news that the young Saudi, hospitalized by the blast in Boston for a day, will be quietly deported Tuesday.

After the program Wednesday night, Hannity, through his own sources, confirmed Emerson’s newsbreak. Thursday morning, “Big Sis,” Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in an angry response to Congressman Jeff Duncan, R, SC, denied the deportation of the Saudi saying, “There is so much reported on this that’s been wrong, I can’t even begin to tell you . . .”

The left in the big Internet media sprang into action. The vicious attack on Mr. Emerson was relentless and breathtaking. This is typical:

Steve Emerson Bungles It Again: Saudi National Not Being Deported—

Said a dude at Gawker named Cord Jefferson. He went on:

The anatomy of a rumor: Last night, a man named Steve Emerson, “terrorism expert,” was called upon to talk about the Boston bombing on jumped-up carnival barker Sean Hannity’s Fox News program. Citing unnamed sources, Emerson told Hannity that Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi, the 22-year-old Saudi national once considered a “person of interest” in the Boston case, was to be deported by the U.S. government on Tuesday “on national security grounds.” “This is the way things are done with Saudi Arabia,” said Emerson. “You don’t arrest their citizens, you deport them because they don’t want them to be embarrassed and that’s the way we appease them.”

From there, it was off to the Islamophobia races as wingnut sites like WND and Gateway Pundit and Free Republic all scrambled to spread Emerson’s gospel far and wide. The Saudi was guilty! Hooray!

Or not. Because all it took was one phone call to discover that Emerson’s “scoop” was like so many scoops since Monday: total bullsh..t.

A law enforcement official told me about an hour ago that the story of Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi being deported is “not true at all.” He continued:

[Alharbi] and the guy we have in custody are two different people. They’re two different people with two different names. Yes, there was a person arrested. But the person we have in custody is not [Alharbi] and has nothing to do with the [Boston bombing]. We arrest people on a daily basis across the country—that’s what we do here. Also, not even the person we arrested is being deported at this time.

So there you have it.

Emerson’s name has been popping up a lot in the wake of the marathon bombing, due in large part to the fact that he appears to have a real desire to pin the attack on a Muslim group. On Tuesday morning Emerson took to C-SPAN to posit that Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi, the man he would one day later say is getting deported, should be carefully considered as the bomber because “the burns on his skin match the explosive residue of the bomb that exploded.” In other words, Alharbi is suspicious because the injuries he sustained in a bombing match up perfectly with the kind of bomb used in the attack. A few hours later, authorities would completely exonerate Alharbi, and a day after that is when Emerson would go public with his next bogus story about the young man being deported, also a lie.

With insight like that, it’s a wonder Emerson isn’t in the employ of the U.S. government and instead heads up the notorious anti-Islam circus the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Before we deal with the critical core issue, let’s clean up the rest of Jefferson’s mess.

  • Putting terrorism expert in quotes diminishes Jefferson, not Emerson. Mr. Emerson released his documentary, Jihad in America, in 1995—ten years after he realized we were facing an Islamic “holy war.”
  • Jefferson uses the cheap and spineless leftwing Alinsky tactic of besmirching throughout as he did calling Hannity a “hopped-up carnival barker.” And, “…off to the Islamophobia races as wingnut sites…”
  • Jefferson, like all Progressives—particularly the Obama Administration—will never admit we are under attack from Islam therefore everyone like Emerson must be smeared with remarks like, “[Emerson] … appears to have a real desire to pin the attack on a Muslim group.
  • Once again, Mr. Emerson’s IPT is recognized as the world’s most comprehensive data center on radical Islamic terrorist groups.

As to the substance, Emerson was back with the very calm Hannity Thursday night declaring he has an ICE document showing Alharbi, the Saudi in question, is scheduled for deportation next Tuesday. To which Hannity declared he has confirmation from multiple sources. Emerson revealed that members of Congress have the ICE document and it will be made public. The segment is not yet up on You Tube. You should temporarily find it at Fox News Hannity and, when it is posted on You Tube, I will have it here. For now, click the image:

Emerson has ICE.doc.Hannity

By the way, you can watch the Emerson documentary, Jihad in America, here:

Posted in Islamic war against America, Jinad/Shariah, Liberals Deatroying America | 1 Comment

STAND WITH PALIN AND LEVIN TODAY AGAINST EVERY PRO GUN CONTROL POLITICIAN

Liberty is at stake today

Update 5:30 p.m.—Success today

The United States Senate “delivered a devastating blow to President Obama’s agenda to regulate guns Wednesday by defeating a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks,” according to The Hill. “It failed by a vote of 54 to 46, with five Democrats voting against it. Only four Republicans supported it.”

You may be among those Americans pledged not to support politicians who vote for further erosion of the Second Amendment (gun legislation). The individual vote information to keep track of is:

Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor (Ark.), Max Baucus (Mont.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Mark Begich (Alaska) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) voted against it. Reid supported the measure but voted against it to preserve his ability to bring the measure up again.”

GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Susan Collins (Maine), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.) voted ‘yes.’”

It is important to note this vote marks the end of the always improbable political relationship between Senator McCain and Governor Sarah Palin.

Update 7:10 p.m. Rejoice!

The Washington Post reports in angry remarks following the defeat of a bipartisan amendment on background checks President Obama charged this was a, “Pretty Shameful day.”

Members of the United States Senate will cast a key gun control vote today. The votes to pass the bill were not there Monday. Please join Sarah Palin, Mark Levin and me in a pledge to not support any politician who casts another federal gun law to control free Americans. Please work today to add others to the pledge. Liberty is at stake today.

Breitbart said on Monday, Palin, in a Facebook post, said, “the latest gun control bill should be filibustered and defeated.” She declared she “will not support politicians

2 Amendment line

who support any more limits on our Second Amendment rights.”

Levin immediately agreed with Palin, saying he would join her in not supporting politicians who favor more gun control.  “I join Sarah Palin—I won’t support any member of Congress who votes for more gun control laws,” Levin wrote in a Monday Facebook post later in the day.

Palin also linked to this Sarahpac report that explained why the Obama-backed gun registry bill, which is sponsored by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Pat Toomey (R-PA), and Joe Manchin (D-WV), would: increase government power over private gun transactions by potentially turning American citizens into felons for selling a firearm without performing a background check; create a path to a national gun registry; raise privacy concerns over the patient-doctor relationship; and cause increased lawsuits against gun owners while not decreasing crime.

The Hill noted, for the the Schumer-Manchin-Toomey gun registry bill to pass, at least five Republicans would have to support it; 55 Senators caucus with Democrats, and two Democrats voted against allowing the bill to proceed last week.

ACTION STEPS

  1. Read the linked Sarahpac report.
  2. Commit to stand firmly with us. 
  3. Get on the phone; exhort likeminded patriots to follow the same steps.
  4. Do it for Liberty.
Posted in Character, Defend the Right to Bear Arms | Leave a comment

THE SYMBOLISM OF PATRIOTS’ DAY 2013

The real context for the events in Boston Monday

Minute Man.Lexington Green

As most of us now know, Massachusetts celebrates Patriots’ Day annually the third Monday of April. Actually, Maine and the Wisconsin public schools do too. This is of course to honor the patriots who chose God as their sovereign and Jesus as their King—not George of England—at Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775 marking the commencement of the American Revolutionary War. The typical definition of “patriot” is, “someone who feels or voices expressions of support for their country.” This works for patriots of most countries but not the American patriot whose pledge is, “My country ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty.” That is God given—endowed—Liberty; which brings us to the 2013 Boston Marathon.

Bostonmarathonlogo

As we all learned, the Boston Marathon is always held on Patriots’ Day. Most learned that the Boston Marathon is one of the six World Marathon Majors. It is not a stretch to call it the most prestigious marathon in the world with the highest entrance standards.

Who would possibly want to launch a terrorist attack at the 2013 Boston Marathon? That’s pretty clear. It would be those who are at war with American Liberty. Could it be progressives? After all, Progressive President Obama’s friend, Bill Ayers, is an unrepentant domestic progressive terrorist. Actually American progressives are very pleased with the success they are having with abortion, destruction of the family, dominance in schools and universities, the “news” media, and Hollywood. Many of the Marathon runners are sympathetic to most of the progressive agenda. No. Radical American progressives would not terrorize the Boston Marathon.

Islamic Jihad at work

Of course these terrorists that hit Boston Monday are Islamic jihadists. Has any stepped forward to claim credit? Not yet. But go here for a list of nearly 20 Muslim leaders praising the attack. This is not some half baked young American charged up by a rant from a wild eyed Imam at the local mosque. The symbolism of the attack on Patriots’ Day is exactly what al Qaeda linked jihadists do. Dear reader, you are at war. This is your declared enemy.  Committed Islamists understand that Islam cannot exist where freedom reigns.  This war is the story of the twenty first century. Never forget domestic radical, Dave Foreman, paraphrasing Jesus, said, “This is war. There are no sidelines and there are no spectators.”

IED control; not gun control

Rush.Who knew

One more thing, we must not “let this crisis go to waste.” Members of Congress, such as Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, Dianne Feinstein, D, CA, need to forget about legislating gun control against law abiding American Citizens and pass a tough law against IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in America.

Update: Today Rush addressed the daunting task ahead as we head down the road of IED control.

RUSH: . . . Well, I don’t know.  Background check on the pressure cooker?  May happen.  Do the mentally ill use pressure cookers?  I’m trying to think.  I think, you know, when I was growing up, I saw one.  I think my grandmother had a pressure cooker.  If I’m not mistaken, I saw one being used. It was on the top of her stove.  I didn’t know she was so dangerous.  She had a pressure cooker, and it was on the top of the stove.  There was something in it.  I don’t know what she had in it.  But it was on top of the stove and there was smoke coming out of there.  Something was escaping from it.  Well, yeah, it would have exploded had the pressure cooker top not been on top of the pressure cooker, keeping the pressure inside.  She could have blown up the kitchen and everybody in it.

Private sales of pressure cookers?  I don’t know how you stop that.  How you gonna stop a pressure cooker private sale?  My grandmother didn’t like hers and wanted to sell it to somebody down the street, how you gonna stop that?  I don’t know unless you register them.  That would be the only way you would know.  If there’s an exchange of pressure cookers, you know, from one person to — well, that’s another thing, too.  I was gonna mention that.  I don’t know why a private citizen needs ball bearings.  What in the name of Sam Hill does anybody, in a private home in this country, need with ball bearings? . . .

Posted in History, Islamic war against America, Jinad/Shariah, Liberty | Leave a comment

PROFESSOR HARRIS-PERRY: LIBERAL COLLECTIVIST HONESTY ON DISPLAY

Liberal collectivists are getting surprisingly bold and therefore more honest. You may remember last September, in their National Convention, Democrats declared, “Government’s is the only thing we all belong to.” Here are two half minute videos; chose one or both. This choice points out your owner, the government, has a hierarchy:

This choice ends with Clint Eastwood making clear who owns what:

[Eastwood end]

When we speak of our children, the possessive is a clear sense of primary relationship and responsibility. That primary relationship and that responsibility belong to parents. Collectivists have for generations pushed for expansive programs centralizing money and control saying it is for the children. How can anyone oppose that without being against the children? One highly prominent collectivist wrote a book called, It Takes a Village to Raise a child.

Now comes Mellissa Harris-Perry. It is true that most collectivists have hyphenated names but this is no ordinary collectivist. Melissa Harris-Perry is not only an American author, television host and collectivist political commentator who hosts a weekend news and opinion television show on MSNBC; Harris-Perry is a professor of political science at Tulane University. This ought to give Harris-Perry the authority to decide what is best for your kids. Give her a 30 second listen:

 

For some reason the notion that you will act to stop the takeover of your children seemed to escape Harris-Perry. She answered the emotional email objections yesterday:

Allow me to double down

My inbox began filling with hateful, personal attacks on Monday, apparently as a result of conservative reactions to a recent “Lean Forward” advertisement now airing on MSNBC, which you can view above. What I thought was an uncontroversial comment on my desire for Americans to see children as everyone’s responsibility has created a bit of a tempest in the right’s teapot. Allow me to double down.

One thing is for sure: I have no intention of apologizing for saying that our children, all of our children, are part of more than our households, they are part of our communities and deserve to have the care, attention, resources, respect and opportunities of those communities. …”

Let us be as clear as Eastwood. Harris-Perry and the collectivist crowd intend to prevail. They will be willing to compromise taking half a child. They know when we compromise, we lose.

This is really about who is above We the People whom Eastwood declared owns the country. In response to a demand, in the name of sovereign king George, by British Major Pitcairn in April 1775, Reverend Jonas Clarke shot back, “We recognize no Sovereign but God and no King but Jesus.” For two hundred years Americans, as a general proposition, knew the fear of God. Americans are no longer so clear. We must be as clear as Professor Harris-Perry and the rest of the progressives. This is an ancient battle with only two sides.

Jesus said, “He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.” And again He said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

Professor Harris-Perry and the rest cannot give credibility to a risen Jesus. They know when they do, they lose. Today is your day of decision. Are you with Him or are you with Harris-Perry and the collectivists? What are you going to do about it?

Posted in Character, Christian life and service, Christian Victory, Engaging the culture, Liberty, Reclaiming and Restoring America, This Brave New World | Leave a comment

JOE MILLER JUST LANCED THE FESTERING BILL O’REILLY BOIL

Bill O’Reilly has been a festering sore among those who pay attention to Fox News Channel for about three years. There are a number of thing that have surfaced. He treats some, for example liberal Alan Colmes, with rude contempt. He is obviously afraid to report Islam and the worldwide Islamist threat accurately He gives Islamism, Jihad and Shariah law a pass every time.

He defends President Obama against charges of lawlessness and abuse from conservative spokespeople who lack the microphone to take him on. His takedown of one of the great heroines of American renewal, Michele Bachmann, is a recent case in point. Congresswoman Bachmann criticized Obama for the unprecedented lavish lifestyle he and his family lives at taxpayer expense. O’Reilly, without Bachmann present, berated her for picking on the Obama’s when, O’Reilly declared, (paraphrasing) “President Bush spent much more personally than Obama is spending. That’s a fact. If Bachmann is going to criticize President Obama, she better have her facts straight.”

The facts are O’Reilly purposely misrepresented the facts. The facts are President Bush’s personal expenses cost $3,100 billion in eight years. The facts are President Obama went through $5,600 billion in his first four years on his way to over $11.5 billion in his two terms. (You may have noticed the Obama’s have picked up the vacationing pace at our expense since the 2012 election. The facts are if President Bush (or Obama) operated as miserly as Jimmy Carter, in today’s money, they would go through at least $3,000 billion in eight years. Bachmann was right. O’Reilly obviously wanted to smear the “Bible thumping” Bachmann.

Which brings us to Joe Miller. If you are a conservative or Tea Party American, you know Joe Miller. If you receive my Daily Call email you are given regular chances to connect through Twitter to Joe and his work. If you were on hand in the 2010 election, you might remember Joe Miller was on the Liberty List as the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Alaska. Joe runs the important Web Site, Restoring Liberty. Miller and his team are as good as any conservative activist at combing the Web every day. I get Joe’s daily email with links to the stories he has uncovered. They also write editorial posts. Yesterday, they turned on the “sanctimonious” Bill O’Reilly over the contemptuous “Bible Thumper” putdown of believers. (O’Reilly claims not to be a believer declaring Jesus was a philosopher.) Let’s just reprint the Restoring Liberty editorial squaring the “Bible Thumper” matter.

Restoring Liberty.4.8.2013

Matt Johnson, April 8, 2013 

Bill O,Reilly.CaricatureDear Bill O’Reilly,

You’re a pinhead! Just watched your segment with Laura Ingraham on “Bible thumping.” While you are correct that arguments from religious authority will not work, using pejorative epithets like “Bible thumper” is inherently offensive no matter how accurate you think it might be. It is an attempt to marginalize, ridicule and belittle fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. It’s a whole lot like calling homosexuals the queer F word.

What you are implying is that Christians are beating people up with the Bible, and that the Bible has no place in public life. You appear to also be suggesting that Biblical wisdom stands in stark contrast to rational discourse. None of that is true. In fact, it could hardly be further from the truth. Every significant idea at the core of Western thought has its genesis in the Christian synthesis of Hebrew religion and Greek philosophy.

While I believe that conservatives have done a poor job arguing the “gay marriage” issue, the whole concept of government-sanctioned same-sex marriage is fundamentally irreconcilable with the intent of the government’s involvement with marriage in the first place.

Government-sanctioned marriage is NOT a Right, it is the government’s implementation of the “general welfare” clause in which it seeks to encourage behavior that is salubrious, and discourage that which is deleterious.

Traditional marriage is privileged because in the long history of human experience, it has been linked to human flourishing and the well-being of society. It has always been the foundation of Western Civilization, and provides certain benefits to society that same-sex marriage simply cannot. These are not religious statements. They are historical and empirically verifiable.

This whole debate has absolutely NOTHING to do with freedom or equality under the law. Gays can already get married in America, they just can’t access certain government benefits (such as tax breaks) offered to traditional families. Nor should the government offer such benefits, because those relationships do not offer back the same benefits to society.

If the government does indeed sanction same-same marriage on account of specious arguments put forward under the banner of human “Rights” and “equal protection,” not only will the good of the order not be served, but under this false flag an inherent contradiction will be established between the “free exercise” of the First Amendment and the “equal protection” guaranteed by the Fourteenth.

I enjoy watching your show, but you could not be more wrong on this issue. Nor could your choice of words be more ill-informed.

Here is the O’Reilly abuse of Laura Ingraham. Check it out for yourself.

Now, That’s finally off my chest.

Posted in Character, Defending Christianity, Engaging the culture, Liberty List, Reclaiming and Restoring America | Leave a comment

REMEMBERING MAGGIE

If you are among those who read this, you already know of the death of former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. We remember Margaret Thatcher along with President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, as the three leaders who brought about the fall of Soviet communism. This is accurate. It is correct to see that as leadership that destabilized the Soviet Empire. But equally as important is the difference each leader made internally.

Margaret Thatcher at Camp David near Thurmont, Maryland, America - 22 Dec 1984

Mrs. Thatcher’s situation was that the United Kingdom was nearly as pitiful and hopeless as it is today. There was no evidence the British public were ready for anything other than the dole. Steve Forbes put it this way Monday:

It’s hard to appreciate today how desperate Britain’s condition was before Thatcher took office.  Its economy was a laughing stock, the perennial sick man of Europe.  Strikes were endemic and union bosses effectively governed the country.  Her Conservative Party had long ago made its peace with the welfare state and the ethos of high spending and high taxes.

Forbes allowed that previous Tory Prime Minister, Edward Heath, “wanted to revive Britain, he hadn’t a clue how to do it.” Thatcher had a clue she had clear vision and she had political skill. One thing more she had a “titanium spine.”

She was one of the most quotable figures of the twentieth—or any—Century. Enjoy these 17:

  • “In politics, if you want something said, ask a man; if you want to get something done, ask a woman.” (1965)
  • “There are dangers in consensus: it could be an attempt to satisfy people holding no particular views about anything. … No great party can survive except on the basis of firm beliefs about what it wants to do.” (1968)
  • “The Russians . . . . know that they are a super power in only one sense—the military sense. They are a failure in human and economic terms.” (1976 Whereupon the Soviets dubbed her the “Iron Lady”) 
  • “I would just like to remember some words of St. Francis of Assisi which I think are really just particularly apt at the moment. ‘Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.” (1979 Upon becoming PM)
  • “You turn if you want to; the lady’s not for turning.” (1980 to the Conservative Party)
  • “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”
  • “I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”
  • “I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”
  • “The fact that we are gathered here, now—shocked but composed and determined—is a sign not only that this attack has failed but that all attempts to destroy democracy will fail.” (1984 after IRA terrorist bombing)
  • “I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society — from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.” (1984)
  • “There is no week, nor day, nor hour, when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their supreme confidence in themselves, and lose their roughness and spirit of defiance. Tyranny may always enter — there is no charm or bar against it.” (1984)
  • “We can do business together.” (1984 to Gorbachev)
  • “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well.” (1986)
  • “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.” (1987)
  • “If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing.” (1989)
  • “No, no, no.” (1990 To the question should the UK join EU currency)
  • “Ronnie and I got to know each other at a time when we were both in Opposition, and when a good many people intended to keep us there. They failed, and the conservative 1980s were the result. But in a certain sense, we remained an opposition, we were never the establishment. As Ron once put it: the nine most dangerous words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’ As usual, he was right.” (2002 Ronald Reagan Eulogy) 

Hat Tip

 

ABC News,  Politico,  Business Insider,  New Zealand Herald

Posted in Character, History, Liberty, World Events | Leave a comment

JESUS CONCLUDES HIS MINISTRY WITH WORDS FOR ALL

It seems good today to focus Jesus’ last words of His ministry. They are clear and pointed for the disciples who were there and for us. We find them in the Gospel according to Mark (Twenty First Century King James version), Chapter 16, verses 14-20:

Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat; and He upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not those who had seen Him after He was risen. And He said unto them,

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen.

The clear fact each must face is Believers will be saved; nonbelievers will be damned.

Believers will have power in His name. It is essential to never lose sight of whose power it is. It is His power, not yours. Always take action in His name and only in His name.

He enumerates five powers available in His name. But we are not all the same. Few have ever demonstrated all five. But we all have some. If you seem to not yet have any of the enumerated five, work with a power that is available to you in His name. Remember the wonderful verse from There is a Balm in Gilead, “If you cannot preach like Peter, If you cannot pray like Paul, you can tell the love of Jesus; you can say He died for all.” I this passage, He really commanded us as believers, to share the Gospel to everyone everywhere.

Go do it and God bless you.

jesus-ascension

Posted in Christian life and service, Christian Victory | Leave a comment

KNOWN: JESUS CHRIST WAS RESURRECTED; UNKNOWN: IF JULIUS CAESAR LIVED

Christians know Jesus died on a cross, His death was atonement for all our sins, and He was resurrected on the third day. This is factually accepted as a matter of faith. Ephesians 2:8 begins, “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” 

But the critical skeptic cries out for proof. There s an organized form of criticism known as higher criticism. Wikipedia does not say,The resurrection of Jesus was His miraculous return to life on the Sunday following the Friday on which he was executed by crucifixion” Wikipedia says, “The resurrection of Jesus is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ miraculously returned to life on the Sunday following the Friday on which he was executed by crucifixion. It is the central tenet of Christian faith and theology.”

My response to skeptics has consistently been, “There is far more evidence that Jesus got out of the grave than Julius Caesar ever lived.” This flies directly in the face of all educated assumptions everywhere.  Staying with Wikipedia as our counterpoint, here’s how the Caesar page begins:

Gaius Julius Caesar, July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, Consul and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. (Notations omitted.)

The purpose is to show the one event is cast a “Christian belief” and the other as fact. Today there are at least three books in print written by Caesar. Jesus wrote nothing and is only quoted in the Bible. But wait. Caesar wrote about the Gallic wars eighty years before Jesus’ ministry. Caesar died 40 years before Jesus was born. This all happened some 1980 to 2100 years ago. We must rely on records (copied texts) that have come to us over the centuries. This is the simple truth. There are thousands of copies of the Bible going back to the seventh and eighth centuries and some few going back as far as the first century. We have no surviving trail of history or literature going back to the end of the Roman Republic. This is not to say Caesar did not live. This is only to say there is no proof such as ancient texts.

Christian faith does not rely on physical evidence. But skeptics need evidence. Of course they will never be satisfied. They flit, like butterflies, from hither to yon (literary lingo—just to impress you). But the skeptics are about to be flummoxed. Expect angry attacks.

Shroud of Turin

An artifact known as the Shroud of Turin is back in the news. The Shroud of Turin, upon inspection, seems to be a burial cloth with the imprint of a man obviously crucified in exactly the way Jesus was. Its history is unknown until about 1350 but quite precisely known since. In a loose sense in has been under the control of the Roman Catholic Church. It has been controversial the past 660 years—none more than the past 25.

The cloth was carbon dated in 1988 and found to only be about 650 years old. Skeptics knew they had won and turned their attention elsewhere. But believers continued a labor that paid off within the past few months. Also a group of scientists gave the Shroud serious attention and have released their report. This video posted in You Tube by the Most Holy Family Monastery is the best summary of the breathtaking results. Make the time quickly to learn this exciting gift to all in the Twenty First Century:

Tell friends to watch the video. Other important points to tell friends:

  • The carbon dating test in 1988 was fraudulent!
  • The cloth is some 2000 years old.
  • The pollen tests were accurate and prove the Shroud was in present day Palestine for some time.
  • The image is three dimensional! Scientists estimate the energy necessary to accomplish the event (resurrection) equals the energy necessary for the “big bang.” 
Posted in Christian Victory, Defending Christianity, Engaging the culture, Holy Week and Passover | Leave a comment

WHICH WORD WILL BE REDEFINED NEXT? WHO WILL ASSUME THE AUTHORITY TO DO IT?

The Supreme Court of the United States of America heard two cases this past week; both were about changing the definition of marriage.

The Minnesota legislature is in the process of changing the definition of marriage. The Minnesota House and Senate have completed hearings on the matter. The legislation will be passed this month. The real questions are being avoided. Today that changes. This is a starter of questions that must be raised.

The Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-3 to approve the change March 12. This was reported by the Associated Press; the news was run by newspapers across the country. The story has since been pulled. This is the url for the story in the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Minnesota-Senate-panel-passes-gay-marriage-bill-4347058.php#photo-4316927 This page and story no longer exists. The same is true for other newspapers that had run the story. The story is gone.

Question 1: Who at AP wiped the story from the internet? Why?

Question 2: Does a Minnesota legislator have the authority to redefine the word “marriage?” If so, where did she get it?  There seems to be no language in the Minnesota Constitution that grants her the power. If language granting that power were somehow found in the Constitution, who had the authority to put it there? Could some select individuals secretly have evolved that power? Were a large number of these evolved individuals chosen by the Minnesota voters to fill the legislature?

Question 3: Is something unique and peculiar about the word “marriage?” Can the Minnesota Legislature redefine any word? Grab a word. Can the words that form our vocabulary about the Universe we live in be redefined by the Minnesota legislature?

Question 4: What about words that frame other legal contracts? Can property be redefined? If a Warranty Deed establishes ownership in real property, what happens if the word “land” is changed to “tacos?” You no longer have the real property at a legal location. You only have any tacos that may be there.

Question 5: What if they decide to redefine the word truth? Jesus Christ declared that He, Himself is the truth. Perhaps none of those Minnesota legislators finds that troubling either.  Welcome the Brave New World.

Posted in Scandal, This Brave New World, This Present Darkness | Leave a comment

HOLY WEEK EASTER SUNDAY—JESUS LIVES! THE EVENT OVERSHADOWS EVERYONE EVERYDAY

A repost from Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012

Consider please that this historic event—

Real Light.empty-tomb.large

—touches every human being every day in some way.

Rejoice, again I say. Rejoice!

CELESTIAL REJOICING

Is it the sound of storm? Oh no!
It’s majestic music that I hear.
Faintly, then crescendo seems to overflow,
A harmony so vast as I draw near.

And every tone of instrument and voice,
Expresses triumph, gloriously hails the new.
In the angels’ presence, all rejoice,
What death and rising of the Lord made true.

That one, just one, came when the Father called;
The ransom paid, a new person has come forth.
And, angels in reverence enthralled,
Join the chorus, proclaiming wondrous worth.

The light of rainbow hues shines brightly out;
Myriads of angels, saints, sing out their praise,
While harmony beyond belief, loud as a shout,
Thrills the ears and hearts as voices raise.

From the gloom of night and heavy heart,
Sorrow, guilt, and shame all burdening down,
The light celestial seeking to impart,
Heaven’s healing glory to the earth’s sad frown.

That morning, the open grave, the ransom paid,
Made this rejoicing time available that each
One of us, whose sin, in surrender laid,
May have the joy Easter brings within our reach.

Now, Hallelujahs ring too, here on earth;
Flowers and joyous music greet the day.
Children celebrate as children do, with mirth,
and, “Happy Easter,” tells, “He made the way.”

Carol Morfit Welch

Posted in 2013, Christian life and service, Defending Christianity, Holy Week and Passover, Liberty, Living in the Light | Leave a comment