Albert Mohler: Can Evangelical Chaplains Serve God and Country?—The Crisis Arrives
Can chaplains committed to historic biblical Christianity serve in the United States military? That question, though inconceivable to our nation’s founders, is now front and center. And the answer to that question will answer another, even more important question: Can religious liberty survive under America’s new moral order?
The repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, coupled with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, set the stage for this crisis. The full normalization of same-sex relationships within the U.S. military is part of the unprecedented moral revolution that is now reshaping American culture at virtually every level.
The crisis in the chaplaincy arrived with these developments. The presenting issue is clear: Can a chaplain committed to historic biblical Christianity remain in military service? Does the normalization of homosexuality require that all members of the military, including chaplains, join the moral revolution, even if doing so requires them to abandon their biblical convictions?
The answer, at least from the advocates of the moral revolution, is that evangelical Christian chaplains must go—and Southern Baptist chaplains must go first...
Boy Scouts or an alternative? Churches continue to deliberate A 6,000-member Southern Baptist church in North Carolina has announced plans to end its 60-year sponsorship of a Boy Scout troop in light of the Scouts' vote in May to admit open homosexuals to membership.
Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., instead will sponsor a troop of the newly formed Trail Life USA, which requires adult leaders to sign a statement of faith and requires both boys and leaders to live by a code of conduct that defines "any sexual activity outside the context of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman" as "sinful" and "inconsistent with the values and principles of the program." Trail Life USA will accept boys who are experiencing same-sex attraction or gender confusion. It will not, however, receive into membership boys that are openly homosexual or transgendered...
As denominations decline, numbers of unpaid ministers rise The 50 members of All Saints Episcopal Church in Hitchcock, Texas, are looking forward to December, when Mark Marmon will be ordained their priest.
One reason for the excitement? They won’t have to pay him.
A 57-year-old fly fishing guide, Marmon, whose wife is a lawyer, says he doesn’t want or need a church salary. He belongs to a growing breed of mainline Protestant ministers who serve congregations in exchange for little or no compensation...
Florida abortionist calls unborn baby a frog is only a baby when it is born and separate from it’s “host” ...Florida Abortionist Randall Whitney said this to pro-lifers. The unborn baby, “Would not have been a full baby…It is not a being..It is not a baby. The baby is when its born, it is separate from its host…I grew up in the church…It’s not a human being…it’s a frog.”...
Census on Obama’s 1st Term: Real Median Income Down $2,627; People in Poverty Up 6,667,000; Record 46,496,000 Now Poor
During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.
The record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, is more than twice the population of Syria, which, according to the CIA, has 22,457,336 people.
In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012...
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
No difficulties in your case can baffle him...
...Hannah Whitall Smith image
Scrolling around...September 17, 2013
Don't Segregate the Youth
...I spent 10 years serving in a church where the youth ministry was segregated from the congregation. The constant challenge before us was to somehow teach and give them a taste of what the church is meant to be, even though they weren't experiencing it themselves. Most of the youth didn't worship with the rest of the congregation, nor did they experience aspects of gathered church life beyond "Youth Sunday."
The next church I served in was vastly different. There I learned how to effectively model and shape a biblical view of the church for the youth. What was so different? To start, students were part of the church. Rather than a token "Youth Sunday," we regularly had students serving as ushers, greeters, choristers, music volunteers, and Scripture readers. Some of our older teens were teaching Sunday school, and when the church gathered for various functions, teens joined in the mix. This was an intergenerational church family where relationships spanned decades and all ages served side by side. Sure, we had youth Bible study groups and other activities specifically for students, but that never precluded their involvement in the gathered church.
Together as the diverse, multi-generational body of Christ, we worshiped God, sat under the preaching of his Word, prayed, shared communion, and enjoyed fellowship. As a result, students weren't left wondering about the church's purpose; they were experiencing it according to Acts 2:42-47. They learned the church exists chiefly to glorify God, not to please them. They experienced what it means for elders to "equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12-13)...
Drug-resistant 'superbugs' deemed urgent threats, CDC says
Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, a diarrhea-causing superbug and a class of fast-growing killer bacteria dubbed a "nightmare" were classified as urgent public-health threats in the United States on Monday.
According to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 2 million people in the United States develop serious bacterial infections that are resistant to one or more types of antibiotics each year, and at least 23,000 die from the infections.
"For organism after organism, we're seeing this steady increase in resistance rates," Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a telephone interview. "We don't have new drugs about to come out of the pipeline. If and when we get new drugs, unless we do a better job of protecting them, we'll lose those, also."... image
India Gender Crisis: Mortality Rate for Girls 75% Higher Than Boys ...Women in India are confronted with a compounding crisis. By most estimates, there are tens of millions of women missing in India due to the devaluing of female life beginning in the womb.
Sex-selective abortion and female infanticide have led to lopsided sex ratios. In parts of India, for example, 126 boys are born for every 100 girls. This in turn leads to a shortage of marriageable women, which then leads to trafficking in persons, bride-selling, and prostitution....
Jerry Brown Vetoes Sales of Human Eggs in California
California Gov. Jerry Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, vetoed a measure that would have enabled a potentially lucrative market for women to sell their eggs for medical research.
“Not everything in life is for sale, nor should it be,” said Brown in his Aug. 13 statement on the veto of bill A.B. 926. “This bill would legalize the payment of money in exchange for a woman submitting to invasive procedures to stimulate, extract and harvest her eggs for scientific research. The questions raised here are not simple; they touch matters that are both personal and philosophical.”
Brown zeroed in on an increasingly complex aspect of egg sellers' understanding of the implications...
5 ways Obamacare could mess with your privacy
Obamacare’s start date, October 1st, is rapidly approaching. As the impending Tuesday draws nearer and nearer, new headlines are drawing attention to unsettling aspects of the system. Troubling enough was the NSA surveillance scandal this summer. Now, add sensitive medical information to the mix. Concerned citizens are raising privacy questions, from sex life to social security numbers, under the new system. How could your own privacy be affected by Obamacare?...
Taking Baby-Killing to a New Low
...And to think: The same people who pushed so hard for the legalization of abortion so that a woman wouldn’t have to get a back-alley abortion with a wire coat hanger are the same ones who not only ignore the pervasive health code violations in scores of clinics nationwide, but also are taking things one step further by backing a bill whereby non-physicians can suck a baby out of its mother’s womb...
Study Shows One Abortion Ups Premature Birth Risk for Women by 36 Percent ...With premature births leading to an assortment of physical and mental health problems for unborn children, the researcher says women should be told of the risk before having an abortion.
Dr. Prakesh Shah, a professor at the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is the main author of the new study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
He found that women who have just one abortion in either the first or second trimester of pregnancy, when abortions are most routinely performed, have a 35 percent increased risk of having a low-birth-weight baby in the next pregnancy and a 36 percent increased risk of having a baby born prematurely.
The risk substantially increases for the millions of women who have had more than one abortion and become pregnant.
In those cases, women having multiple abortions have a 93 percent increased risk of subsequently having a premature baby and a 72 percent increased risk of having an underweight baby....
Maaloula's cathedral and churches empty of Christians as Syria's latest front-line fight takes its toll
On Sunday thousands of Christians should have filled its streets for the festival of the Holy Cross. But instead the streets of Maaloula are filled with soldiers and tanks, spent bullet casings and the noise of Syria's latest front-line fight.
Maaloula is a special place. It has been a safe haven for Christians for 2,000 years - until now. It was a place of refuge so secure in its rugged mountain isolation that a dialect of the language of Christ, Aramaic, is still spoken here. But not today.
Its Christian community of 2,000 has fled. In the tight alleyways and streets that wind up the Maaloula's mountainside their language has been replaced by the Arabic of two bitter enemies: rebels from three Islamist groups and the soldiers of President Bashar al-Assad...
...I spent 10 years serving in a church where the youth ministry was segregated from the congregation. The constant challenge before us was to somehow teach and give them a taste of what the church is meant to be, even though they weren't experiencing it themselves. Most of the youth didn't worship with the rest of the congregation, nor did they experience aspects of gathered church life beyond "Youth Sunday."
The next church I served in was vastly different. There I learned how to effectively model and shape a biblical view of the church for the youth. What was so different? To start, students were part of the church. Rather than a token "Youth Sunday," we regularly had students serving as ushers, greeters, choristers, music volunteers, and Scripture readers. Some of our older teens were teaching Sunday school, and when the church gathered for various functions, teens joined in the mix. This was an intergenerational church family where relationships spanned decades and all ages served side by side. Sure, we had youth Bible study groups and other activities specifically for students, but that never precluded their involvement in the gathered church.
Together as the diverse, multi-generational body of Christ, we worshiped God, sat under the preaching of his Word, prayed, shared communion, and enjoyed fellowship. As a result, students weren't left wondering about the church's purpose; they were experiencing it according to Acts 2:42-47. They learned the church exists chiefly to glorify God, not to please them. They experienced what it means for elders to "equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12-13)...
Drug-resistant 'superbugs' deemed urgent threats, CDC saysAntibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, a diarrhea-causing superbug and a class of fast-growing killer bacteria dubbed a "nightmare" were classified as urgent public-health threats in the United States on Monday.
According to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 2 million people in the United States develop serious bacterial infections that are resistant to one or more types of antibiotics each year, and at least 23,000 die from the infections.
"For organism after organism, we're seeing this steady increase in resistance rates," Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a telephone interview. "We don't have new drugs about to come out of the pipeline. If and when we get new drugs, unless we do a better job of protecting them, we'll lose those, also."... image
India Gender Crisis: Mortality Rate for Girls 75% Higher Than Boys ...Women in India are confronted with a compounding crisis. By most estimates, there are tens of millions of women missing in India due to the devaluing of female life beginning in the womb.
Sex-selective abortion and female infanticide have led to lopsided sex ratios. In parts of India, for example, 126 boys are born for every 100 girls. This in turn leads to a shortage of marriageable women, which then leads to trafficking in persons, bride-selling, and prostitution....
Jerry Brown Vetoes Sales of Human Eggs in California
California Gov. Jerry Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, vetoed a measure that would have enabled a potentially lucrative market for women to sell their eggs for medical research.
“Not everything in life is for sale, nor should it be,” said Brown in his Aug. 13 statement on the veto of bill A.B. 926. “This bill would legalize the payment of money in exchange for a woman submitting to invasive procedures to stimulate, extract and harvest her eggs for scientific research. The questions raised here are not simple; they touch matters that are both personal and philosophical.”
Brown zeroed in on an increasingly complex aspect of egg sellers' understanding of the implications...
5 ways Obamacare could mess with your privacy
Obamacare’s start date, October 1st, is rapidly approaching. As the impending Tuesday draws nearer and nearer, new headlines are drawing attention to unsettling aspects of the system. Troubling enough was the NSA surveillance scandal this summer. Now, add sensitive medical information to the mix. Concerned citizens are raising privacy questions, from sex life to social security numbers, under the new system. How could your own privacy be affected by Obamacare?...
Taking Baby-Killing to a New Low
...And to think: The same people who pushed so hard for the legalization of abortion so that a woman wouldn’t have to get a back-alley abortion with a wire coat hanger are the same ones who not only ignore the pervasive health code violations in scores of clinics nationwide, but also are taking things one step further by backing a bill whereby non-physicians can suck a baby out of its mother’s womb...
Study Shows One Abortion Ups Premature Birth Risk for Women by 36 Percent ...With premature births leading to an assortment of physical and mental health problems for unborn children, the researcher says women should be told of the risk before having an abortion.
Dr. Prakesh Shah, a professor at the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is the main author of the new study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
He found that women who have just one abortion in either the first or second trimester of pregnancy, when abortions are most routinely performed, have a 35 percent increased risk of having a low-birth-weight baby in the next pregnancy and a 36 percent increased risk of having a baby born prematurely.
The risk substantially increases for the millions of women who have had more than one abortion and become pregnant.
In those cases, women having multiple abortions have a 93 percent increased risk of subsequently having a premature baby and a 72 percent increased risk of having an underweight baby....
Maaloula's cathedral and churches empty of Christians as Syria's latest front-line fight takes its toll
On Sunday thousands of Christians should have filled its streets for the festival of the Holy Cross. But instead the streets of Maaloula are filled with soldiers and tanks, spent bullet casings and the noise of Syria's latest front-line fight.
Maaloula is a special place. It has been a safe haven for Christians for 2,000 years - until now. It was a place of refuge so secure in its rugged mountain isolation that a dialect of the language of Christ, Aramaic, is still spoken here. But not today.
Its Christian community of 2,000 has fled. In the tight alleyways and streets that wind up the Maaloula's mountainside their language has been replaced by the Arabic of two bitter enemies: rebels from three Islamist groups and the soldiers of President Bashar al-Assad...
Monday, September 16, 2013
Come, Lord Jesus, and abide in my heart...
Scrolling around...September 16, 2013
'Biblical' Floods Leave Thousands Homeless
Some of the worst flooding in Colorado history has claimed the lives of at least six people, left hundreds unaccounted for and thousands homeless, causing the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team to deploy to the Rocky Mountains.
With rains falling through the weekend and most areas suffering from a sudden surge caused by 15 inches of rain, mudslides have complicated an enormous disaster area from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.
“It’s the worst that anyone has ever seen,” says Al New, Rapid Response Team manager of deployments and operations. “They’re calling it their 100-year flood.”...
For prayer: Police search for active shooter on grounds of Washington Navy Yard in Southeast D.C. Police said that at least three, possibly four, people were shot. All are in critical condition, authorities said.
What we know: Colorado's floods, by the numbers
Wretched weather continued to hamper rescue efforts in Colorado on Sunday as officials released damage estimates illustrating the magnitude of the disaster.
Too Bad ObamaCare Works as Intended
Year after year, Forbes magazine places Wegmans Food Markets high on its “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, usually in the top five in the country. The supermarkets are based in Rochester, New York, a region that has been hit hard by economic stagnation, with downsizing at several companies (like Xerox and Kodak) that were once the biggest employers in the region. Wegmans has been a refuge for many employees, drawn to its generous salaries, bonuses, and benefits package. Last year Forbes cited its low turnover rate (3.4 percent last year) as a factor in why the supermarkets are such popular places to work. Despite the critical role that the supermarket chain plays in the local economy, Wegmans became a less coveted place to work this summer when it was announced that some part-time workers’ health benefits would be cut thanks to ObamaCare, and earlier this week it was announced that Trader Joe’s would do the same....
Royal Baby Prince George Receives Painting from Down's Syndrome Artist Tazia Fawley
Prince William and Kate Middleton have accepted a painting from an artist with Down's syndrome for Prince George's nursery.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were given the painting, worth £2,000, by Tazia Fawley, who lives in Somerset...
For Firefighters, Solar Panels Are A New Type Of Trouble
...Panels and wiring stay energized even when panel breakers are open, Reuters notes, so a panel poses a risk even when a circuit is ostensibly turned off. And if firefighters need to make holes in the roof, panels can impede fire crews in fighting a fire...
Audit Finds IRS Employees Don’t Follow Their Own Rules ...“Neither we nor the IRS know with any degree of precision how well the IRS is complying with direct contact provisions,” the auditors wrote.
The Office of Appeals handled more than 72,000 cases during the audit period, which ran Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2012.
“When the sample results are projected to the population, we estimate that the deviations may have negatively affected 8,277 taxpayers,” auditors wrote.
Of a greater concern to the auditors was the possibility the IRS could be vulnerable to lawsuits from taxpayers who try to recover monetary damages from the agency if they believe its personnel are intentionally disregarding the rules.
During the same time, the Treasury Inspector General closed 13 direct contact complaints involving IRS personnel, but only two employees were disciplined or counseled by IRS management officials for their actions, according to the audit report...
Abortion Clinics Closing at Record Rate
...This year, 42 clinics that provided surgical abortions have shut their doors, and two that offered chemical abortions by drugs also have closed, according to Operation Rescue, which monitors closings and health and safety violations by clinics nationwide. That number far surpasses the 25 surgical clinics shutdown last year and the 30 in 2011, by Operation Rescue's count. While others estimate a smaller number of closings, the pattern is clear.
Some of the shutdowns have been of major clinics. For instance, Virginia's No. 1 abortion provider closed, The Washington Post reported in July. NOVA Women's Healthcare in Fairfax, Va., shut down after state and local governments enacted regulations the abortion provider appeared unable to meet. The northern Virginia clinic performed 3,066 abortions in 2012 and 3,567 in 2011...
Abortion Practitioners Played Catch With Bodies of Babies Killed in Abortion ...Former workers in the abortion industry have told us stories about playing games of toss with aborted babies in the hallway. Your mind has to invert what is going on: to make it a game, a joke, something positive. It’s the only way to keep from going crazy — and some of them do...
Two Christians murdered in Egypt for refusing to pay Muslim poll tax Two Coptic Christian government employees have been shot dead for refusing to pay Jizya, the Muslim poll tax on Christians.
According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), Emad Damian, 50, and his cousin Medhat Damian, 37, from the village of Sahel Selim in Assuit Province, were contacted two days before their murder by the leader of a Muslim gang.
He was identified by Watany Coptic Newspaper as Ashraf Ahmed Mohammed Khalajah, a registered criminal from the village...
Some of the worst flooding in Colorado history has claimed the lives of at least six people, left hundreds unaccounted for and thousands homeless, causing the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team to deploy to the Rocky Mountains.
With rains falling through the weekend and most areas suffering from a sudden surge caused by 15 inches of rain, mudslides have complicated an enormous disaster area from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.
“It’s the worst that anyone has ever seen,” says Al New, Rapid Response Team manager of deployments and operations. “They’re calling it their 100-year flood.”...
For prayer: Police search for active shooter on grounds of Washington Navy Yard in Southeast D.C. Police said that at least three, possibly four, people were shot. All are in critical condition, authorities said.
What we know: Colorado's floods, by the numbers
Wretched weather continued to hamper rescue efforts in Colorado on Sunday as officials released damage estimates illustrating the magnitude of the disaster.
By the numbers, here's some analysis of what we know about Colorado's floods, along with what we don't...
Too Bad ObamaCare Works as Intended
Year after year, Forbes magazine places Wegmans Food Markets high on its “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, usually in the top five in the country. The supermarkets are based in Rochester, New York, a region that has been hit hard by economic stagnation, with downsizing at several companies (like Xerox and Kodak) that were once the biggest employers in the region. Wegmans has been a refuge for many employees, drawn to its generous salaries, bonuses, and benefits package. Last year Forbes cited its low turnover rate (3.4 percent last year) as a factor in why the supermarkets are such popular places to work. Despite the critical role that the supermarket chain plays in the local economy, Wegmans became a less coveted place to work this summer when it was announced that some part-time workers’ health benefits would be cut thanks to ObamaCare, and earlier this week it was announced that Trader Joe’s would do the same....
Royal Baby Prince George Receives Painting from Down's Syndrome Artist Tazia Fawley
Prince William and Kate Middleton have accepted a painting from an artist with Down's syndrome for Prince George's nursery.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were given the painting, worth £2,000, by Tazia Fawley, who lives in Somerset...
For Firefighters, Solar Panels Are A New Type Of Trouble
...Panels and wiring stay energized even when panel breakers are open, Reuters notes, so a panel poses a risk even when a circuit is ostensibly turned off. And if firefighters need to make holes in the roof, panels can impede fire crews in fighting a fire...
Audit Finds IRS Employees Don’t Follow Their Own Rules ...“Neither we nor the IRS know with any degree of precision how well the IRS is complying with direct contact provisions,” the auditors wrote.
The Office of Appeals handled more than 72,000 cases during the audit period, which ran Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2012.
“When the sample results are projected to the population, we estimate that the deviations may have negatively affected 8,277 taxpayers,” auditors wrote.
Of a greater concern to the auditors was the possibility the IRS could be vulnerable to lawsuits from taxpayers who try to recover monetary damages from the agency if they believe its personnel are intentionally disregarding the rules.
During the same time, the Treasury Inspector General closed 13 direct contact complaints involving IRS personnel, but only two employees were disciplined or counseled by IRS management officials for their actions, according to the audit report...
Abortion Clinics Closing at Record Rate
...This year, 42 clinics that provided surgical abortions have shut their doors, and two that offered chemical abortions by drugs also have closed, according to Operation Rescue, which monitors closings and health and safety violations by clinics nationwide. That number far surpasses the 25 surgical clinics shutdown last year and the 30 in 2011, by Operation Rescue's count. While others estimate a smaller number of closings, the pattern is clear.
Some of the shutdowns have been of major clinics. For instance, Virginia's No. 1 abortion provider closed, The Washington Post reported in July. NOVA Women's Healthcare in Fairfax, Va., shut down after state and local governments enacted regulations the abortion provider appeared unable to meet. The northern Virginia clinic performed 3,066 abortions in 2012 and 3,567 in 2011...
Abortion Practitioners Played Catch With Bodies of Babies Killed in Abortion ...Former workers in the abortion industry have told us stories about playing games of toss with aborted babies in the hallway. Your mind has to invert what is going on: to make it a game, a joke, something positive. It’s the only way to keep from going crazy — and some of them do...
Two Christians murdered in Egypt for refusing to pay Muslim poll tax Two Coptic Christian government employees have been shot dead for refusing to pay Jizya, the Muslim poll tax on Christians.
According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), Emad Damian, 50, and his cousin Medhat Damian, 37, from the village of Sahel Selim in Assuit Province, were contacted two days before their murder by the leader of a Muslim gang.
He was identified by Watany Coptic Newspaper as Ashraf Ahmed Mohammed Khalajah, a registered criminal from the village...
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens...
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
-Isaiah 40:26
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
-Psalm 8:3-4
The Big Dipper over the Darling Hill Observatory
on a clear Saturday night 9/14/13
Picture by Raymond Dague
The Big Dipper over the Darling Hill Observatory
on a clear Saturday night 9/14/13
Picture by Raymond Dague
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