Prayer plumes the wings...

Prayer plumes the wings of God's young eaglets so that they may learn to mount above the clouds. Prayer brings inner strength to God's warriors and sends them forth to spiritual battle with their muscles firm and their armor in place. ...CH Spurgeon image

A.S. Haley: Fresno Judge Denies ECUSA’s Motion for Summary Judgment in San Joaquin

April 30, 2013

There is very good news for the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, now under the leadership of Bishop Eric Menees. Last Thursday, the Fresno Superior Court (Jeffrey Hamilton, J.) filed his decision adopting his tentative ruling of March 6 as his final ruling with respect to the Motion for Summary Judgment / Summary Adjudication filed by the plaintiff rump diocese and its bishop, Bishop Talton, and joined in by ECUSA itself.

The ruling denies ECUSA and its totem plaintiffs any summary judgment, because it finds that there are disputed issues of fact still to be resolved in connection with the Diocese's right to withdraw from ECUSA, as it voted to do in December 2007. In so doing, it adopts the "neutral principles of law" approach prescribed by the Court of Appeals, and it correctly applies that approach to find that the plaintiffs failed to show, as a matter of law, that anything in ECUSA's Constitution or canons, or anything in its long history with the Diocese, restricts the right of a Diocese to disaffiliate.

Now ECUSA will have to go to trial against Bishop Schofield on its claims that he was not authorized to lead his Diocese out of the Church. Since there was no canonical or constitutional provision which Bishop Schofield's Diocese could be said to have violated when it voted to disaffiliate, the present ruling will make it that much more difficult for ECUSA to prove its claims at trial. the rest

Rules set for Oklahoma Episcopal parishes to offer same-gender blessings
Guidelines have been established for same-gender blessing ceremonies to be performed in Oklahoma Episcopal churches, a state leader with the denomination said.

The Rt. Rev. Ed Konieczny, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, said three parishes already have expressed interest in starting the process so they can conduct such ceremonies, although he does not believe “there are large numbers of people out there waiting for this.” He declined to name the interested parishes, as they have yet to request formal approval...

The Economist: Banking on a bishop
Justin Welby, the new leader of nearly 80m Anglicans around the world, has won a respectful hearing for his ideas on banking and the British economy. Even if they disagree with the details, people have generally not reacted by saying "this man hasn't a clue what he is talking about" or "he should go back to singing hymns."

On April 21st, the archbishop of Canterbury suggested that big, unhealthy banks should be broken up into regional ones, as part of a "revolution in the aims" of banks designed to make sure that they served society as well as their own narrow interests. That sounded very like the proposal made last month by Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, for local lenders modelled on the German system. It comes at a time when the government faces hard decisions about the future of the Royal Bank of Scotland after its rescue by the tax-payer. Given the immediacy of the issue, some people will accuse the archbishop (who lists his hobbies as French culture, sailing and politics) of making narrow political points rather than broad moral ones.

But he also had some longer-term ideas on the financial sector. Drawing on his experience as a member of a parliamentary Banking Standards Commission, he said senior positions in banking ought to form a regulated profession which required qualifications. Partly because of the banking crisis, Britain had fallen not merely into a recession but a longer-term depression. "It therefore takes something very, very major to get us out of it," he told a meeting at Westminster organised by the Bible Society...

Scrolling around...April 30. 2013

More US babies die day they are born than any industrialized country, report shows
The US is a worse place for newborns than 68 other countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Peru, according to a report released Tuesday by Save the Children.

A million babies every year die on the same say they were born globally, including more than 11,000 American newborns, the report estimates. Most of them could be saved with fairly cheap interventions, the group says...

Anglican Bishops of the West Indies denounce Obama blackmail over gay rights The Anglican bishops of the West Indies have urged their governments to hold fast and resist pressure from Britain and the United States to legalize gay rights and gay marriage.

In a statement released on 25 April 2013 following the House of Bishops meeting in Barbados, bishops of the Church the Province of the West Indies (CPWI) reiterated their belief in marriage “defined as a faithful, committed, permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman.”...

Something Rotten in the Boy Scouts
...What is going on here? Deception, that’s what. There is a small group on the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts who want this policy to change. What they face is a membership that largely opposes the measure. So, they try to get their way by lying about a poll. But there is more deception than that.

The Executive Board took up the issue a few months ago and after a tsunami of protest punted the issue to a vote of their National Council set to take place on May 20th. There are usually 1400 voting members of this body who qualify through strict criteria. Insiders have been told there may be an additional 2,000 voting members at the upcoming meeting. Who are they? The Boy Scouts leaders aren’t telling. Are they trying to pack the meeting? It sure looks that way.

A group of Scouting parents have grown alarmed over these deceptive practices and have hired not one but two lawyers to represent their interests and not just their interests but the interest of fairness and making sure the Boy Scout Executive Committee sticks to their own by-laws that are very clear about who can vote. There are legal issues here and this whole process could end up on court...

Woman student in art parade dresses like pope—but naked from the waist down
...At an annual art school parade [at Carnegie Mellon University], a female student dressed up as the pope, and was naked from the waist down while she passed out condoms...

Planned Parenthood Threatens Nigerian UN Ambassador Over Abortion  Delegates from around the word are a the United Nations headquarters in New York City for the latest Commission on Population and Development. At that meeting, the international affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business is threatening the representative from Nigeria.

The abortion giant essentially is saying it will try to get the ambassador removed from her position if she doesn’t support “reproductive rights” language that could ultimately lead to the UN endorsing abortion...

Abortion Doc Who OKd Infanticide Backtracks, Calls Pro-Lifers “Terrorists”
“Technically – you know, legally we would be obligated to help it, you know, to survive. But, you know, it probably wouldn’t. It’s all in how vigorously you do things to help a fetus survive at this point. Let’s say you went into labor, the membranes ruptured, and you delivered before we got to the termination part of the procedure here, you know? Then we would do things – we would – we would not help it. We wouldn’t intubate. It would be, you know, uh, a person, a terminal person in the hospital, let’s say, that had cancer, you know? You wouldn’t do any extra procedures to help that person survive. Like ‘do not resuscitate’ orders. We would do the same things here.”

The death of churches in the Islam world
Christians throughout the Islamic world are under attack. Unlike Muslim attacks on Christians, which are regularly confused with a myriad of social factors, the ongoing attacks on Christian churches in the Muslim world are perhaps the most visible expression of Christian persecution under Islam. In churches, Christians throughout the Islamic world are simply being Christians—peacefully and apolitically worshipping their God. And yet modern day Muslim governments try to prevent them, Muslim mobs attack them, and Muslim jihadis massacre them...

Mikey Weinstein at HuffPo-Fundamentalist Christian Monsters
...If these fundamentalist Christian monsters of human degradation, marginalization, humiliation and tyranny cannot broker or barter your acceptance of their putrid theology, then they crave for your universal silence in the face of their rapacious reign of theocratic terror. Indeed, they ceaselessly lust, ache, and pine for you to do absolutely nothing to thwart their oppression. Comply, my friends, and you, too, become as monstrously savage as are they. I beg you, do not feed these hideous monsters with your stoic lethargy, callousness and neutrality. Do not lubricate the path of their racism, bigotry, and prejudice. Doing so directly threatens the national security of our beautiful nation...
 Comments at Stand Firm and MCJ

Tsarnaev family received $100G in benefits
The Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section 8 housing from 2002 to 2012, the Herald has learned.

“The breadth of the benefits the family was receiving was stunning,” said a person with knowledge of documents handed over to a legislative committee today...


Daft Punk Cockatoo

Love is God's preservative...

Love is God's preservative. It surrounds our souls with a power greater than the power of the devil and the world around us. It keeps us balanced; it insulates us against the hostility that exists in our world. Love is the shelter of the Most High; it is the substance of the Place of Immunity. ...Francis Frangipane image

SPRING 4K (ULTRA HD)

Apr 21, 2013

Anglican Unscripted Episode 70

April 28, 2013

In Episode 70, your hosts talk about their experiences from the New Wineskins Global Conference held in Ridgecrest, NC. Kevin and George also discuss (in depth) the Boston Bombing and the new hobby terrorist. In our legal segment Allan Haley tries to redeem his years of Unscripted Legal Commentary by demanding that judges follow the D**n law. Oh... and much more including Gafcon news.

Scrolling around... April 29, 2013

CIA sent tens of millions of dollars to Afghan president's office
For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.

All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current and former advisers to the Afghan leader...

Back Alley Abortions or at Kermit Gosnell’s Front Door: No Difference
...Indeed, the legalization of abortion has failed to prevent women from being exploited, abused, traumatized, maimed, injured and killed before, during and after abortion...

Democrats lose sequester battle: Problem was, when the spending cuts came, nobody noticed
...But there's another lesson in the FAA furlough fiasco: Whatever politicians control, they will use against you to get what they want. The furloughs weren't a reasoned effort to save money: They were an attempt to punish voters for not approving tax increases. If the politicians could have shut down ESPN and blamed insufficient revenue, they would have done that, too...

The Post-Welfare State Family ...Even the most redistributive president in history can’t change the laws of arithmetic. As can be seen most recently in Jonathan V. Last’s book What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, the song of demographic unsustainability remains the same on both sides of the Atlantic. From Nicosia to Athens, London to Washington, D.C., the benefits promised to seniors and others before Western people stopped having babies will be shouldered in the years to come by a shrinking cadre of younger taxpayers. Nor is the discrepancy just some accounting shortfall to be finessed. As British psychiatrist and pundit Theodore Dalrymple once noted, this crisis is system-wide, “civilizational.”
 First baby born in shrinking Spanish village in 45 years

Doctor Tells Undercover Pregnant Mom: ‘We Would Not Help’ Baby Born Alive During Late-Term Abortion  ...While the medical professional noted that his intention is to remove the pregnancy “intact,” he noted that this doesn’t always happen. Additionally, he described the process and also made some curious comments about potentially declining to use life-saving measures, should the baby be born alive.

“I cut the umbilical cord first, wait for that to expire, and then we do it that way,” said Santangelo. “So hopefully…the fetus will expire first and then we do the pregnancy termination that way.”...
Undercover video: abortion worker tells woman to flush baby down toilet

How colleges scam the working class ...For a case study in how colleges came to this point of curricular incoherence, a recent report by the National Association of Scholars looked at Bowdoin College in Maine, which abolished all general-education requirements in 1969. As the school’s newsletter put it back then, “Bowdoin does not prescribe a pattern of required liberal arts courses for all students. Instead, each student determines, with the help and approval of his academic counselor, what pattern of courses is most ‘liberating’ for him.”...

The Decline of Men in One Word – Porn – And How Colleges Aid and Abet It The latest column from Julie Baumgardner, president of First Things First, offers a great summary of how porn is destroying men, based on the research from Dr. Phil Zimbardo, a psychology professor at Stanford University, as well as Dr. Gary Wilson, who has studied the neuroscience behind porn watching.

The long and the short of it – porn causes: Erectile dysfunction. Depression. Social anxiety. Severe memory impairment. The list goes on and on, really....

6 Months After Sandy: Many Recovered, Thousands Still Homeless
...By many measures, the recovery from Sandy, which struck Oct. 29, has been slow. From Maryland to New Hampshire, the National Hurricane Center attributes 72 deaths directly to Sandy and 87 others indirectly from causes such as hypothermia due to power outages, carbon monoxide poisoning and accidents during cleanup efforts, for a total of 159...

Witnessing is just being honest...

Has it never dawned upon you that the essence of witnessing is just plain honesty? You are salt - whether you feel like it or not. You are not told to act like salt but to be what you are. You are a light. God has done a work in your life. Don't try to shine. Let the light that God put there shine out. It demands no more than honesty. It demands honesty before unbelievers. In fact such honesty is ninety per cent of witnessing. Witnessing is not putting on a Christian front as to convince prospective customers. Witnessing is just being honest, that is, being true to what God has made you in your speech and everyday behaviour. ...John White image

Scrolling around...April 25, 2013

Journalism and the first few minutes after childbirth
There is nothing new about journalists arguing about the loaded language that surrounds our public debates about abortion.

For starters, there is the whole “pro-choice” vs. “anti-abortion” thing and all of the years in which editors in so many mainstream newsrooms granted one side of the debate it’s positive, vague, self-chosen label while slapping a label on the other side that was, for many, too negative and too narrow. Most of all, only one side of the debate had to wrestle with the ugly word “abortion.” Who can oppose “choice,” the ultimate buzz word of the American Way of Life?...

Albert Mohler: Same-Sex Marriage as a Civil Right—Are Wrongs Rights?
We should have seen it coming. Back in 1989 two young activists pushing for the normalization of homosexuality coauthored a book intended to serve as a political strategy manual and public relations guide for their movement. In After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s, authors Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen argued that efforts to normalize homosexuality and homosexual relationships would fail unless their movement shifted its argument to a demand for civil rights, rather than for moral acceptance. Kirk and Madsen argued that homosexual activists and their allies should avoid talking about sex and sexuality. Instead, “the imagery of sex per se should be downplayed, and the issue of gay rights reduced, as far as possible, to an abstract social question.”

Beyond Kirk and Madsen and their public relations strategy, an even more effective legal strategy was developed along the same lines. Legal theorists and litigators began to argue that homosexuals were a class of citizens denied basic civil liberties, and that the courts should declare them to be a protected class, using civil rights precedents to force a moral and legal revolution.

That revolution has happened, and it has been stunningly successful. The advocates for the normalization of homosexuality and the legalization of same-sex marriage have used legal arguments developed from the civil rights era to their advantage. Arguments used to end the scourge of racial segregation were deployed to normalize homosexuality and homosexual relationships. Over the years, these arguments have led to such major developments as the decriminalization of homosexual behaviors, the inclusion of homosexuals within the United States military, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in some states...

Defense Department blocks Baptist website, calls content ‘hostile’
Chaplains with the Southern Baptist Convention said the U.S. military has blocked access to its website on bases around the nation, calling the content “hostile” and inappropriate.

The blocking comes just weeks after Army personnel cited Roman Catholics and evangelical Christians as possible examples of extremists. The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation’s largest Protestant group and stands steadfast in its opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Chaplains told Fox News that SBC.net had been censored, and those trying to access the site at various military bases were greeted with a warning: “The site you have requested has been blocked by Team CONUS … due to hostile content,” Fox News reported. Team CONUS is in charge of the computer network for the Defense Department, Fox News said...

The Real Problem With the Internet Sales Tax
...Rather, as an SBA guidebook for small businesses points out, you have to file a tax return with each and every locality for which you have collected tax. The bill streamlines this a bit, but you've still got to keep 50 states’ worth of records and file 40-odd states worth of returns...

Sweden: State officials keep boy “captive” for four years
...And the crime of Annie and Christer Johansson? Not sending their son, Domenic, to school. (Family pictured right.) They insisted on educating him at home. That’s illegal in Sweden – or it is now; amazingly, it wasn’t when Domenic was first taken into custody...

Britain’s House of Commons Debates Place of Sharia Law In England In Britain yesterday, in the House of Commons, MP Kris Hopkins opened a debate on Sharia Law, questioning whether the government planned to recognize and provide resources for Sharia councils. The full text of the debate is available from the House of Commons website...

Fox News to air one-hour special on Gosnell trial
The special program will air at 9 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, according to Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.

Scotland: Victory for Catholic midwives in abortion conscience case  Two Catholic midwives have won the right to be exempt from involvement in abortion procedures following a ruling by an appeal court in Scotland...

He gives power to the faint...

He gives power to the faint,

And to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

And young men shall fall exhausted;

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles;

They shall run and not be weary;

They shall walk and not faint.

-Isaiah 40:29-30

The eagle flies in storms while other birds seek shelter and other animals run and hide. With an adjustment of his wings, the eagle can fly almost motionless even in the face of great winds. The eagle uses the strong winds of the storm to lift him higher and higher until he rises above the clouds. The eagle has no power to stop a storm, but he knows how to overcome without fear. ...Kenneth Price image

Scrolling around...April 24, 2013

The State Funerals of Christendom
Will Margaret Thatcher’s in St. Paul’s be the last in a long civilized line?

Why Did Gosnell Sever the Babies' Spinal Cord If They Were Already Dead?
...One has to wonder of course why did Gosnell need to sever the baby's spines if they were already dead? Why would he have done that? Is it standard operating procedure to desecrate the corpses of babies post mortem?...

Kidnapped Syrian bishops in hands of 'Chechens'
The kidnappers of two Orthodox bishops seized in northern Syria are Chechen fighters, sources in the Syriac and Greek Orthodox dioceses in Aleppo said on Tuesday...

H7N9 Bird Flu 'One of Most Lethal Influenza Viruses' and Greater Risk than H5N1
"This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far." Taiwan confirms first H7N9 bird flu case outside China

ObamaPhone Program Cost Spinning Out of Control
...Have a cell phone? You’re paying for this program then. It’s funded by a tax found right on your cell phone bill... image

Henan House Church Revival Meeting Raided, U.S. Church Leader Under House Arrest
A well-known U.S. church leader, Dennis Balcombe, was being held by police under house arrest following a Saturday raid on a house church revival meeting and his current whereabouts are unknown, ChinaAid has learned.

Also in Henan province, seven house church leaders in Pingdingshan have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 7-1/2 years in prison on cult charges...

Middle School Girls Forced to Ask Classmates for ‘Lesbian Kiss’ During Anti-Bullying Presentation
During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to ask one another for a kiss. They were also taught words such as “pansexual” and “genderqueer.”

A Boy's Life with Unisex Scouts
The Boy Scouts are en route to holding that there is nothing to being a boy, and nothing to the boy’s becoming a man; they might as well be the Unisex Scouts, as they are in Canada, where the scouting movement has collapsed...

Church of Scotland suggests an order of service for a civil partnership blessings
...A spokesman said: “On the one hand the report offers the Church a way of allowing the ordination of ministers in same-sex relationships who have entered into a civil partnership, while protecting both individuals and congregations who in conscience do not agree with the theological principles which underpin that choice.

“On the other hand the report, while reaffirming its belief that homophobia is sinful, invites the Church to reaffirm its traditional stance that the only appropriate expression of sexual activity should be within marriage between one man and one woman.”...

Syria: Metropolitans Kidnapped Outside Aleppo, Driver Murdered

Syria: Metropolitans Kidnapped Outside Aleppo, Driver Murdered
Obama is backing and arming the jihadists in Syria. Once again, Obama backs the Islamic supremacist horse -- every time. He is consistent in this.

Gunmen abduct two bishops in northern Syria

Syria: Franciscan Church Utterly Destroyed
The Franciscan church and associated monastery in the Syrian town of Deir ez-Zor were destroyed in a violent explosion. This was reported by the Vienna-based foundation "Pro Oriente", citing the Vatican's Fides news agency on Sunday. Speaking to the press agency Tony Haddad said, the Franciscan Church was until then the only remaining undamaged Christian house of worship in the city on the Euphrates. It remains unclear how the church was destroyed.

Eyewitnesses reported that rebels entrenched in the Church, following which government soldiers took the church under attack. There is also the version of a car bomb.

Israeli official: Syria using chemical weapons
"According to our professional assessment, the regime has used deadly chemical weapons against armed rebels on a number of occasions in the past few months. For instance, on March 19, 2013, victims suffered from shrunken pupils, foaming from the mouth and other symptoms which indicate the use of deadly chemical weapons. The type of chemical weapons was likely sarin, as well as neutralizing and nonlethal chemical weapons."

Dear Lord, if at this evening hour...

Dear Lord, if at this evening hour I think only of myself and my own condition and my own day’s record of service, then I can find no peace before I go to sleep, but only bitterness of spirit and miserable despair. Therefore, O Father, let me think rather of Thee and rejoice that Thy love is great enough to blot out all my sins. And, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, let me think of Thee, and lean upon Thy heavenly righteousness, taking no pleasure in what I am before Thee but only in what Thou art for me and in my stead. And, O Holy Spirit, do Thou think within me, and so move within my mind and will that as the days go by I may be more and more conformed to the righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord; to Whom be glory forever. Amen. ...John Baillie image

Christian hymns dropped from Anglican school where 75 percent of pupils are Muslim

Headmaster insists Christian values are 'more prevalent here than I have experienced in non-Church of England schools'
April 22, 2013

Excerpt:
Headmaster Paul McAteer said the approach was to be "sensitive to the fact that we do have many different faiths in the school." As justification, he added that Christian values were "more prevalent here than I have experienced in non-Church of England schools."

McAteer also stresses that the Church of England describes itself as "a faith for all faiths . The values we support are very much Christian values of honesty, integrity, justice."

According to the school's prospectus its assemblies - which McAteer said contain a "moral message" - reflect humanitarian and spiritual issues "that concern everyone."

The gender-separated prayer rooms at Slough and Eton, McAteer says were not specifically for Muslim pupils, but said that it tended to be Muslim children that use them. the rest

Hymns silenced in largely Muslim Anglican school

Scrolling around...April 22, 2013

Nearly 15,000 French mayors will refuse to marry gay couples
Meyer, who is mayor of Sotteville-sous-le-Val in northern France, observed that some of the mayors in the group have said they “would resign if the law is adopted,” while others “have said they will refuse” to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Christians launch landmark human rights case
Christians are to launch a landmark legal case arguing their religion is being treated as a “thought crime” by government and courts....

The Siege of Egypt's St. Mark Cathedral
Even the Western mainstream media recently came around to affirming that Egyptian security forces were involved in the attack on the cathedral.

Boston bomber Tamerlan made 6 visits to a known Islamic militant in Russian republic of Dagestan
The FBI was alerted by Russia's security services to serious new concerns about one of the Boston bomb suspects as recently as last November, it was claimed on Sunday night.

Saudi Students in U.S. Up More Than 500% Since Sept. 11, 2001
...The 34,139 Saudi Arabian students in the United States for the 2011-2012 school year was more than the total of 30,256 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the University of Connecticut this school year...

Putting Lipstick on the Obamacare Pig
Even formerly enthusiastic Democrats now predict a “train wreck.”

Leon Kass: The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial
..."As pain is to the body so repugnance is to the soul," Dr. Kass says as we sit down for an interview in his book-lined office at the American Enterprise Institute, where he is the Madden-Jewett Scholar. "So too with anger and compassion. Repugnance is some kind of wake-up call that there is something untoward going on and attention must be paid. These passions are not simply irrational. They contain within them the germ of insight. You cannot give proper verbal account of the horror of evil, yet a culture that couldn't be absolutely horrified by such things is dead."

The observation may not sound controversial, yet Dr. Kass, who was the chairman of President George W. Bush's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005, has often found himself in a minority among bioethicists when it comes to abortion, euthanasia, embryonic research, cloning and other right-to-life questions. Dr. Kass's emphasis on what he calls "the wisdom of repugnance," for example, has been assailed by liberal thinkers. The philosopher Martha Nussbaum, for instance, said in a 2004 critique of Dr. Kass's work that repugnance has been used in the past "as a powerful weapon in social efforts to exclude certain groups and persons."

Dr. Kass says his critics misunderstand the role of repugnance in his thinking. "It's not that repugnance is always right," he says. "There was once repugnance at interracial marriage, and there have been other repugnancies that turned out to be mere prejudice. But you wouldn't want to live in a society where people feel no guilt or shame just because guilt and shame are sometimes disruptive—or in a society that doesn't feel righteous indignation at the sight of injustice."...

Most Young People Don’t Know Planned Parenthood Does Abortions
According to research Students for Life of America published last June, a majority of young people do not even know Planned Parenthood does abortions, and often have a “favorable” view of the abortion Goliath.

Bill Mahar on comparing violence of Islam to Christianity
..actually was honest...

We sheep need a shepherd...

 In our sickness we need a savior, in our wanderings a guide, in our blindness someone to show us the light, in our thirst the fountain of living water which quenches for ever the thirst of those who drink from it. We dead people need life, we sheep need a shepherd, we children need a teacher, the whole world needs Jesus!

If we would understand the profound wisdom of the most holy shepherd and teacher, the ruler of the universe and the Word of the Father, when using an allegory he calls himself the shepherd of the sheep, we can do so for he is also the teacher of little ones.

Speaking at some length through Ezekiel to the Jewish elders, he gives them a salutary example of true solicitude. I will bind up the injured, he says; I will heal the sick; I will bring back the strays and pasture them on my holy mountain. These are the promises of the Good Shepherd.

Pasture us children like sheep, Lord. Fill us with your own food, the food of righteousness. As our guide we pray you to lead us to your holy mountain, the Church on high, touching the heavens.

I will be their shepherd, he says, and I will be close to them, like their own clothing. He desires to save my flesh by clothing it in the robe of immortality and he has anointed my body. They shall call on me, he says, and I will answer, “Here I am.” Lord, you have heard me more quickly than I ever hoped!

And if they pass over they shall not fall says the Lord, meaning that we who are passing over into immortality shall not fall into corruption, for he will preserve us. He has said he would and to do so is his own wish. Such is our Teacher, both good and just.

He said he had not come to be served but to serve; and so the gospel shows him tired out, he who labored for our sake and promised to give his life as ransom for many, a thing which, as he said, only the Good Shepherd will do.

How bountiful the giver who for our sake gives his most precious possession, his own life! He is a real benefactor and friend, who desired to be our brother when he might have been our Lord, and who in his goodness even went so far as to die for us! 
...Clement of Alexandria image

Scrolling around...April 21, 2013

Muslim Persecution of Christians: February, 2013
Half of the Victims Were under the Age of Six

Boy Scouts propose motion to allow gay scouts, maintain adult ban
“The proposal says, in essence, that homosexuality is morally acceptable until a boy turns 18 - then, when he comes of age, he's removed from the Scouts,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. “The policy is incoherent and, sadly, an affront to the notion that Scouts are brave, reverent, and 'morally straight.'” 

The Human Egg Rush
...There’s also no reason to think these morally and ethically dubious practices will be confined to consenting adults in first-world countries. If enough eggs cannot be obtained locally, look for egg harvesting companies to be formed to acquire ova from impoverished women in the developing world.

Such biological colonialism is already occurring. For example, destitute Indian women are paid to gestate babies and supply eggs—practices that occasionally result in their deaths. In 2010, a seventeen-year-old Indian girl died after undergoing her third paid egg extraction in eighteen months.

The growing demand for eggs also opens up the possibility of abortion becoming a remunerative activity. In order to increase the egg supply, Dutch and Israeli scientists are experimenting with ovaries taken from later-term aborted female fetuses. The ovaries are kept alive after the abortion and the fetus’s immature eggs extracted. If the eggs can ever be matured, the scientists theorize, they could be used in infertility treatments and biotechnological experiments.

The Huffington Post’s resident bioethicist, Jacob Appel, has already argued that women who want to abort should be paid to gestate longer in their term before undergoing termination. “If a woman has the fundamental right to terminate a pregnancy,” he asks, “why not the right to use the products of that terminated pregnancy as she sees fit? Many women would likely use the proceeds of such sales to finance college educations or to help raise their children.”...

“Family Meltdown and Economic Decline”
...It’s hard to overstate the breakdown of marriage and the rise of single-parent families. Consider out-of-wedlock births. In 1980, about 18 percent of births were to unmarried women; by 2009, the proportion was 41 percent. Among whites, the increase was from 11 percent to 36 percent; among African Americans, from 56 percent to 72 percent; among Hispanics, from 37 percent (1990) to 53 percent...

Anglican Mainstream Press Announcement – New Executive Secretary Appointed

April 19th, 2013

The Trustees of Anglican Mainstream are delighted to announce that the Revd Andrew Symes has accepted appointment as Executive Secretary of Anglican Mainstream in succession to Dr Chris Sugden. Andrew will take up the appointment on 1st August 2013 and will be based at the Anglican Mainstream office in Eynsham, near Oxford.

Andrew Symes, 47, is currently serving in the Diocese of Peterborough as Priest in Charge of the Parish of Kings Heath, a deprived council estate in Northampton, and Anglican Minister, ‘Church on the Heath’ Anglican/Baptist Ecumenical Partnership. He is Chair of Peterborough Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship and a member of the Church of England Evangelical Council. Prior to his ministry in Northampton he spent twelve years as a Crosslinks mission partner in South Africa, where he focussed on training of lay ministers and self supporting clergy in townships and other disadvantaged areas. In 2003 Andrew was one of the founder members of Anglican Mainstream Southern Africa. the rest

A.S. Haley: Problems with the Virginia Supreme Court’s Decision

Friday, April 19, 2013

For a judge, there is nothing so safe as subscribing to precedent, particularly if you do not have to re-examine it. You simply pronounce that you are following precedent, and add an entire string of case citations to "prove" you know what you are doing.

So it is with Justice Cleo E. Powell of the Virginia Supreme Court, the author of the decision in The Falls Church v. Protestant Episcopal Church (USA), which awards all of the real and personal property of what was once the largest parish in the Diocese of Virginia to that entity. (The Diocese is unable to put the property to the full use of which it is capable -- the remnant parish cannot even fill the main chapel -- and so the multi-million-dollar property comes to it as a wholly unearned windfall. No doubt the Diocese will eventually sell the property --to any entity except the congregation from whom it seized it -- in order to recoup some of the costs incurred in fighting for it.)

In one of her first major opinions since joining the Court in 2011, Justice Powell takes refuge in a coppice of previously planted judicial underbrush to justify her quixotic result. That underbrush can conceal a multitude of judicial sins, consisting chiefly of abdications of judicial responsibility. It serves at best as a trap for the unwary, into which the tyro all too easily falls. But at its worst, as we see Justice Powell deploy her precedents in the Court's opinion, it simply grows and expands, without order or restraint... the rest

Do not fret because of evildoers...

Psalm 37
 

Do not fret because of evildoers,

Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,

And wither as the green herb.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret—it only causes harm.

For evildoers shall be cut off;

But those who wait on the Lord,

They shall inherit the earth.

For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;

Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,

But it shall be no more.

But the meek shall inherit the earth,

And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

The wicked plots against the just,

And gnashes at him with his teeth.

The Lord laughs at him,

For He sees that his day is coming.

The wicked have drawn the sword

And have bent their bow,

To cast down the poor and needy,

To slay those who are of upright conduct.

Their sword shall enter their own heart,

And their bows shall be broken.

A little that a righteous man has

Is better than the riches of many wicked.

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

But the Lord upholds the righteous.

The Lord knows the days of the upright,

And their inheritance shall be forever.

They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,

And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

But the wicked shall perish;

And the enemies of the Lord,

Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.

Into smoke they shall vanish away.

image

 

 The wicked borrows and does not repay,

But the righteous shows mercy and gives.

 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,

But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,

And He delights in his way.

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;

For the Lord upholds him with His hand.

I have been young, and now am old;

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

Nor his descendants begging bread.

He is ever merciful, and lends;

And his descendants are blessed.

Depart from evil, and do good;

And dwell forevermore.

For the Lord loves justice,

And does not forsake His saints;

They are preserved forever,

But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.

The righteous shall inherit the land,

And dwell in it forever.

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom,

And his tongue talks of justice.

The law of his God is in his heart;

None of his steps shall slide.

The wicked watches the righteous,

And seeks to slay him.

The Lord will not leave him in his hand,

Nor condemn him when he is judged.

Wait on the Lord,

And keep His way,

And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;

When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

I have seen the wicked in great power,

And spreading himself like a native green tree.

Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more;

Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.

Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright;

For the future of that man is peace.

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;

The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

He is their strength in the time of trouble.

And the Lord shall help them and deliver them;

He shall deliver them from the wicked,

And save them,
Because they trust in Him. image

A really humble soul accepts its faults with patience...

Above all, beware of letting go the spirit of peace because of your faults. Humble yourself before God because of them, repent, make such reparation for them as you are able, and then do not dwell upon them any more. It is often mere pride which frets at finding itself beset by the same often renewed faults, and at its lack of spiritual progress. Do not deceive yourself into the belief that such disquiet is humility. A really humble soul accepts its faults with patience, and goes afresh on in confidence and hope. ...Jean Nicolas Grou image

FBI releases photos/video of bombing suspects

 

VA Supreme Court hands down split decision in Falls Church case

April 18, 2013
By George Conger

From the court's website:

120919 The Falls Church v. Protestant Episcopal Church 04/18/2013 In a protracted and complex dispute between the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (together, the plaintiffs) and seven local congregations which disaffiliated from the plaintiffs, raising issues about whether the trial court properly applied neutral principles of law in deciding the ownership of church property, whether that application was constitutional, and whether the trial court granted the proper relief, the plaintiffs have shown that they have a proprietary interest in the property at issue, and that the fiduciary relationship required to impose a constructive trust exists under the facts presented. Thus, equity dictates that a constructive denominational trust be imposed on such property for the benefit of the plaintiffs. The judgment of the trial court with regard to the disposition of personal property acquired by the congregations after the vote to disaffiliate is reversed and that matter is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The judgment of the trial court regarding Code § 57-7.1 is reversed. The remainder of the trial court’s judgment is affirmed.

Here at Anglican Ink

The Falls Church statement on VA Supreme Court decision
April 18, 2013
By John Yates

Dear Friends,

We have received word from the Virginia Supreme Court that it has ruled in our appeal.  The Court’s decision reverses the trial court’s ruling as to a part of our church’s funds, and sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings regarding that point. But the Court has affirmed the trial court’s decision as to our church’s real property and much of the personal property, meaning that our lands, building, and much of our money have not been returned to us.  The Court’s decision is now posted on its web site at  http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1120919.pdf

Please join me in praising and thanking God for his faithfulness to us despite this result.  Although this is not the outcome we had hoped for, our faith and our future do not depend on court decisions.  The Lord works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28), and we had purposed to praise Him regardless of the outcome.  It is difficult to face the prospect of losing things that are precious to us, but ultimately we do not place our hope in land, buildings, or money.  We have followed the course that we prayerfully believed was right.  We have consistently sought to resolve this dispute outside the courts.  We are grateful that we live in a country in which recourse to the courts was open to us.  And it is a privilege to count this cost to be obedient to Christ.

There is no doubt in my mind that we as a church are much stronger as a result of the trials that we have undergone.  Our witness remains strong.  God has enabled us to continue to plant new churches and establish new ministries.  And we have been blessed by the friendship, support, and assistance that so many other churches continue to provide to us.  It is the body of Christ in action.  And together we are determined to move forward in faith, to continue to provide a beacon of Christ’s love to Northern Virginia, and to serve our brothers and sisters in our community and beyond.

We will be in touch after we have had a chance to review the Court’s written opinion more carefully, and our vestry plans to meet tomorrow to prayerfully consider our next steps.  We will keep you informed of further developments.

In the meantime, let’s continue to pray boldly that God would expand our vision and do beyond all that we can ask or imagine in our life as a church.  Nothing is impossible with Him.  To Him alone be all the honor, praise, and glory.

In the family,
John Yates

An Overview of the Complex Situation in South Carolina

A.S. Haley
Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Lawsuits in San Joaquin and Quincy have prevented me from doing an update on the situation in South Carolina, and one is sorely needed. The litigation there has greatly intensified since I last wrote. Let's recap, with links for those who want to view some of the actual pleadings, which are (sometimes sizable) pdf downloads. Here

First Things: Another Episcopal Church Property Dispute
This time it’s in South Carolina. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required)  on litigation between two rival factions in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. One faction, representing the leadership and about two-thirds of the membership, broke away from the national Episcopal Church in November over the national body’s liberal approach to sexuality and other issues. The minority faction has remained loyal to the national body. Both factions assert ownership of the diocese’s property, including St. Michael’s Church in Charleston (left). In total, the diocese’s church buildings, grounds, and cemeteries are worth around $500 million...

Sermon delivered by the Bishop of London at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher

April 17, 2013
By Richard Chartres

Excerpt:
She applied herself to her work with formidable energy and passion and continued to reflect on how faith and politics related to one another.

In the Lawrence Jewry lecture she said that:

"Christianity offers no easy solutions to political and economic issues. It teaches us that we cannot achieve a compassionate society simply by passing new laws and appointing more staff to administer them."

She was very aware that there are prior dispositions which are needed to make market economics and democratic institutions function well: the habits of truth-telling, mutual sympathy, and the capacity to cooperate. These dispositions are incubated and given power by our relationships. In her words, "the basic ties of the family are at the heart of our society and are the nursery of civic virtue". Such moral and spiritual capital is accumulated over many generations but can be easily eroded.

Life is a struggle to make the right choices and to achieve liberation from dependence, whether material or psychological. This genuine independence is the essential pre-condition for living in an other-centred way, beyond ourselves. The word Margaret Thatcher used at St Lawrence Jewry was "interdependence".

She referred to the Christian doctrine "that we are all members one of another, expressed in the concept of the Church on earth as the Body of Christ. From this we learn our interdependence and, as she said, the great truth that we do not achieve happiness or salvation in isolation from each other but as members of Society." the rest 

Music, Hymns, Poetry and Scripture – the solemn majesty of Lady Thatcher’s funeral
...The Address by the Bishop of London was a perfectly judged and quite moving account of the interplay between her faith and politics. He took us from Methodism to her understanding of interdependent civic virtue. And he set to rest once and for all the warped misinformation surrounding her understanding of society. The Bishop clearly grasped and understood her philosophy, which was not the rabid individualism of the Socialist caricature: “We cannot achieve a compassionate society simply by passing new laws and appointing more staff to administer them,” he explained succinctly, with a nod to sound money and civil service cuts. This was a bishop who knew and admired her – the sort of Anglican cleric the media tend to ignore when they seek to denigrate the Established Church or confect a church-state row. And he reminded us that death is the great leveller: all that lives must die...

Anger over President Obama’s Margaret Thatcher funeral ‘snub’
“What makes Washington’s little acts of thoughtlessness so telling is that they attract more attention than doing the right thing would.”

Scrolling around...April 18, 2013

Wealthy Pay $25,000 for Shots With Cells From Aborted Babies
It’s one of the oldest stories known to man – the wealthy who will pay anything, or do anything, to prolong youth. Nine defendants face criminal charges before a Hungarian Court for collaborating in a venture to provide “treatments” promising to help them regain lost vigor, mental acuity, even youthful appearance. The grisly enterprise came to an abrupt end with a raid by a Hungarian government agency in July 2007.

According to the charges on file, the defendants’ wealthy customers paid five million Hungarian forints, about $25,000 US, for a single shot of an as-yet-undetermined concoction of tissue and stem cells taken from aborted children...

Powerful Explosion Rocks West Fertilizer Plant
...At about midnight Thursday, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Trooper D.L. Wilson confirmed that the devastating explosion had claimed an untold number of lives from among the tight-knit community of 2,800, but he declined to specuate how many people had been killed. Throughout the morning, officials are still quick to point out that an official number of fatalities are not available, but that between 5 and 15 people are believed to have died based on current information.

Sgt. William Patrick Swanton, with the Waco Police Department, said as many as five volunteer firefighters are missing after the blast and that as many as six volunteer firefighters were believed to be at the plant when the explosion occurred.

Swanton said that before the explosion firefighters quickly realized the volatility of the situation and began to evacuate nearby homes and businesses....
Fertilizer plant explodes near Waco, Texas Pictures

Police hunt two persons of interest in Boston Marathon bombing, authorities say
A federal law enforcement source tells Fox News on Wednesday that investigators are looking for two men that are persons of interest in Monday's Boston Marathon terror attack and have distributed photos for "law enforcement eyes only."...

Delaware Launches Investigation of Planned Parenthood
Delaware state officials have launched an investigation of two Planned Parenthood locations after reports of unsanitary and unsafe conditions. “Planned Parenthood should no longer be self-regulated,” says a former employee who describes herself as radically pro-abortion...

Top Democrat: Obamacare 'Huge Train Wreck Coming Down'
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) warned he sees “a huge train wreck coming down” with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, known to its critics as Obamacare...

...“I'm very concerned that not enough is being done so far--very concerned," said Baucus. "Small businesses have no idea what to do, what to expect.”

Baucus appeared frustrated with Sebelius’s unresponsiveness in supplying the senator with information designed to educate and assist citizens with understanding the massively complex healthcare overhaul...

Senators reject expanding background checks in devastating blow to Obama
The Senate delivered a devastating blow to President Obama’s agenda Wednesday by defeating a bipartisan proposal that would have expanded background checks on gun sales.

It failed by a vote of 54-46, short of the necessary 60. A handful of Democrats voted against it and only four Republicans supported the measure backed by the White House.

The vote effectively halted gun control in the upper chamber...
Obama angrily denounces gun-rights groups as willful liars

D.C. can’t account for $1 billion for development
Despite a booming commercial real estate industry that is the envy of almost every U.S. city, the District of Columbia is unable to account for more than $1 billion of public/private funding in fiscal 2012 intended for local, small- and minority-owned businesses, according to a city report...

Fred Rogers talks about Tragic Events in the News

Scrolling around...April 16, 2013

Boston bombing:
Two bombs packed with ball bearings tore through crowds near the finish of the Boston Marathon killing three people and triggering a massive hunt for those behind an attack the White House said would be treated as "an act of terror"....

Boston Marathon blasts put world's cities on alert
The White House, New York's Times Square, and the preparations for former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's funeral in London all had enhanced and intensified law enforcement presence after Monday's two blasts in Boston...

Prompt and effective reaction by so many, amateurs as well as trained professionals, undoubtedly prevented the death toll from being much worse...

Boston Marathon bombing: Feds raid apartment, police seek rental van
Federal authorities late Monday removed several bags from an apartment in a nearby suburb. Police investigating the Boston Marathon bombing have also issued an alert for a rental van and for a hooded man who left the area before the blasts.

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Breaking media silence ...Media bias exists not only in how they cover stories, but in their choice of stories to cover...

Iran struck by magnitude 7.8 earthquake
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake has struck south-east Iran, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reports.

The epicentre of the huge quake was 86km (53 miles) from the city of Khash in Sistan Baluchistan province, near the border with Pakistan.

Tall buildings swayed in the Indian capital Delhi, while tremors were felt across the Gulf and wider Middle East...