Soviet National Anthem Played at Obama Gathering

At least some members of the much-touted crowd of 75,000 people at a May 18 rally in Portland for Barack Obama may have been there, in part, to see a popular local band that normally opens its concerts with the national anthem -- of the former Soviet Union.

National media outlets have widely reported estimates of between 72,000 and 75,000 people in attendance at Obama's rally. What they have largely failed to report, however, is that many in the crowd may have attended as much for a free concert as to express their support for the Democratic frontrunner.

"The rally drew 75,000 people, but the media did not give any credit to the opening act, The Decemberists, who are wildly popular in Portland," says Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute of the Media Research Center. "I'm not saying that Obama wouldn't have drawn a big crowd, but certainly when you have a band that popular opening for him on a beautiful day, that probably should have been mentioned [by the media]." By not mentioning the band, Knight says, the media has been able to avoid a well-known fact about The Decemberists. "You'd think the media would find it interesting that a presidential candidate had a band open for him that typically plays the Soviet national anthem, the song that celebrates communism in Russia," Knight says. "But the media has taken no interest in it."

Update on Rick Warren's Pastors' Conference

Click here: sliceoflaodicea.com » Update: Rick Warren Pastors’ Conference Underway

Witnessing Last Weekend at the "Gay Pride Parade" in Long Beach

God brought up people to our cart to take free materials about Jesus and how to be saved...such as an "I Was Gay" tract (testimony of former homosexual) and an article on the antibiblical teachings of "The Secret" (popular New Age book and DVD endorsed by Oprah).
People gather around the cart out of curiosity and usually take something for free. We have tracts for Catholics, New Agers, and are stocked full of CDs and books of testimonies of former homosexuals, prostitutes, and "sex addicts" who have come to know Jesus to walk in newness of life. We want to always speak the truth in love, realizing that our salvation is a gift from God, and the ground is level at the foot of the cross--we are all sinners with the same capacity for sin.

Some people from our team had conversations off to the side of the cart with people about Jesus.

Mike witnessing at the cart to a man the Lord brought up...(We wait on God to bring the people over and don't stand on the corner yelling anything or handing out materials. We feel that it brings more glory to God to let Him bring the people over as He chooses to have in-depth conversations with us about Jesus, the Bible, and how to be saved).

We had a team of four Christians to work in evangelism at our "Free Love (Romans 6:23)" evangelism cart at the "Gay Pride Parade." The conversations we had seemed very fruitful. Two teen girls and one teenaged boy listened as we told them how to be saved. We shared with them the Gospel, and they were receptive! They made a profession of faith in Christ. All of our testimonies on CD were available and books and tracts from former homosexuals. [A more detailed update will soon follow].

"Mothering God"

Below is an email I received about a hymn titled "Mothering God" in the United Methodist Hymnal:

I am listening to your interview with Dr. Stan, I thought you'd be interested at least to know about a hymnal published by the UMC: The Faith We Sing...In The Faith We Sing, I ran across a hymn titled "Mothering God." Apparently, the UMC realized its constituency would have problems with it, too, so they have Joel B Green write this apologia for it:

http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/FaithWeSing.aspx?sec=content&div=related01

See also the related resources:

http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/FaithWeSing.aspx?div=related

Joel B Green is a powerhouse theologian in the UMC. When the above article, "God-Language Matters," was published, he was a dean at Asbury Theological Seminary. Recently he's on the adjunct faculty. Asbury, as you may know, is a conservative Wesleyan seminary, and is not a UMC school. Many Bible-believing United Methodists go there for seminary. If you search for Joel B Green as author, you'll see that he is published by both liberal and conservative publishers.

Much of the hermeneutics of the Mother-God side is laughable. Moses asked YHWH, “Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’?” (Num 11:12), and no one seems confused about Moses' masculinity!

If you read "God-Language Matters," you'll see the incrementalism. A lot of what Green wrote is acceptable: Satan can't tell flat-out lies all the time. So the Enemy mixes truth and falsehood. How can so many people not see that? The publishers have left themselves all kinds of outs; for example, this is not an "official" UM hymnal.

The church where I came across The Faith We Sing is not a big, urban church. It's neither big nor urban! It's a small, country church. It may show in miniature what happened a few generations ago and may explain why congregations didn't throw liberal ministers back at their bishops back then: the people are just too ignorant of the Bible and they have misplaced loyalties.

Let us pray that the upcoming generations will have SOME faithful churches to attend!

In Him,
Doc

After reading on [in her autobiography], I realized why she didn't tell the truth. She revealed that she was a postmodernist who didn't even like to use the word "truth."
--Mike S Adams
Feminists Say the Darndest Things

The "Plumb Line" is the Word of God

These study notes on the book of Amos was sent to me from a dear friend who is a Sunday School teacher at Theta Baptist (TN):

Just a little background on Amos...Amos preached to a rebellious Israel that was about to be judged by God. God said He would judge the surrounding nations because of their treatment of Israel specifically, and of people generally. But He was going to judge Israel and Judah because of their disobedience to God, thus the "plumb line" is the Word of God.

When we are "plumb" with the Word, we are in obedience to His Word. The plumb line is a vertical measurement. Horizontal measurement is a "level" and measures individual sections, and...it is best measured for level in relationship to the vertical plumb!

From http://www.builderbill-diy-help.com/string-line.html:

I visited Salisbury Cathedral, many years ago and stood directly under the centre of the cathedral's spire. It is of partly hollow stone construction, and towered over me for 404 ft. It was one of the tallest buildings in the world at the time it was built. I couldn't see the insides of the spire, there are beautiful arched ceiling overhead, but I was blown away by the incredible upward reaching space around me, with the slender columns transforming into Gothic arched stone ceilings.

What made what I was looking up at almost inconceivable, was that I knew that the tower and spire was added in 1330, a generation after the main building was finished. All 6400 tonnes of it sitting on four stone columns. These sat on, by modern standards, poor foundations.

In 1668 Sir Christopher Wren surveyed the spire and found that it had taken on a twenty nine and a half inch lean. He designed stone bracing between the support columns and a series of iron tie rods etc. to fix it. So how did he know that the spire was leaning?

Directly under the centre of the spire, set into the stone floor paving is a small brass datum mark. This mark would have been placed there nearly seven hundred years ago by the master masons.

At each stage of the construction as the scaffolding went higher a plumb bob would have been suspended, centered on that datum. All the measurements for each stage of work would have been related to that vertical line.

When the cap stone of the spire was set in place, it would have had an iron ring bolt set into it exactly above the datum. The maintenance staff would hang further plumb bobs from it over the centuries, to check that all was OK with the structure. So when Wren checked with a plumb bob he found as I said that the center of the spire was 29 1/2 inches away from the original datum. He set another brass datum into the stone floor, while he was doing his remedial work. Three hundred and thirty nine years later, modern instruments prove that old Chris and his boys had stopped the lean.

In the case of the spire of Salisbury, the masons were fully aware of the problems presented by the structure they were going to build.had to build the the stone skin very thin, to keep the weight as low as possible. They solved the problem of stability by building into the structure a series of timber struts and braces to give the slender structure stiffness to resist wind forces.
The struts and braces were held in position by the mason's scaffolding as the spire reached higher. When the capstone was placed in position a series of iron bars was suspended from it and they were attached to the timber struts and braces. As the scaffolding was removed the capstone above took the weight of these struts and braces and held them in position.

Just as important though, their weight added a firm hold down force to the capstone and upper masonry.

All this was done by a workforce that apart from one or two, was totally illiterate. In a time before universities and professors of engineering. In a time before, dare I say it, $350 laser levels.

Recommending Lamb and Lion Ministries (Israel)

David Reagan is an excellent teacher, and I am looking forward to learning from his sermons and monthly "Lamplighter" magazine. Learn more about God's promises to Israel and prophecies yet fulfilled with me here: http://www.lamblion.com/

LTW Update: Boulder

"Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains" (Psalm 36:5,6)

The Lord blessed our witness this Sunday at the Pearl Street Mall! Please praise His name with us!

We have changed our blog host to Blogger, so CLICK HERE to visit our new blog for this weeks update and prayer requests! (link: www.reachingboulderco.blogspot.com)

"The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (I Cor. 15:56-58)

New Video on Apologetics from Israel

From Living Hope Ministries:

Check out our most recent "in the making" video about the ancient city of Jericho on the main page at sourceflix.com. We will keep you updated as our work in Israel continues!

Watch The Making Of: Jericho

Suffering for a Stand

These stories show people paying a price for making a stand against homosexuality in the UK and here in Columbia, SC (school board members in SC can be contacted here about their position).

"This Is My Father's World"

I love to listen to an old hymn on one of my music CDs entitled "This Is My Father's World." The Lord owns it all. He knows His own. When I was a little girl I would sing another old hymn, which is close to my heart tonight. I am going to hit my knees soon and spend some time in prayer. It is good to be back home in NYC. I just got back with a full day ahead for tomorrow. I plan to set up the booth this weekend at Columbus Circle to do evangelism. I am looking forward to my time in prayer tonight. I will sing this song in praise to the Lord soon when I go to Him in love and worship:

My Father is rich in houses and lands
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands
Of rubies and diamonds of silver and gold
His coffers are full He has riches untold
I'm a child of the King
A child of the King
With Jesus my Savior
I'm a child of the King

I am thankful for His love. I got in some great updates from Boulder last weekend at the booth and last Sunday witnessing at the "Gay Pride Parade" in Long Beach. I plan to post details soon on the blog, plus post pictures of my witnessing in Tel Aviv last month in Israel to prostitutes in brothels with Dov, my Christian brother who does missionary work there. He goes to those dark places and offers the prostitutes Bibles in Russian in the "red light district" of Tel Aviv. He said that until he started going to the "down and out" God did not bless his ministry. It was when he started reaching the poor in the brothels and feeding the hungry that the Lord started growing his evangelistic outreach in Israel. As the Bible says God makes a home for the lonely, and He is close to the brokenhearted.

Jonathan, our leader for the Boulder outreach, wrote to let me know they ran out of Hebrew/English Old Testaments for the Jewish people of Boulder at the booth there last weekend. I told him I would send him more for the booth! He gave out a Hebrew/English New Testament to a Jewish guy named Noah!

I am going to go to the Lord now in prayer tonight. As I have referenced on the blog, God led me to fast and go without food in fervent prayer for many days this month. He has been faithful. I told Him tonight as I returned to my apartment in NYC that I was thankful for my prayer room here. I have had some wonderful times with the Lord beside my bed kneeling in prayer, singing hymns to Him and thanking Him for His love. Tonight I am going to thank Him for being such a Good Shepherd to me. Sheep are not smart animals. I don't know where I would be without a Shepherd like Jesus.

Praising Him for His love and telling others about THE MIRACLE OF HIS LOVE for me,

Dwayna

A Wonderful Father

I love my dad and have enjoyed spending time with him so much at his work during this visit to TN. As I told him goodbye today I said, "I have a wonderful father." He said, pointing up to heaven, "You have a wonderful Father." I am thankful for all my dad has taught me about loving Jesus. I wouldn't trade him for any other father in the world!

"...but the greatest of these is love..." 1 Cor. 13:13

Secret Societies

Recommending World Domination: The Agenda of Secret Societies by my friend, Martha Miller. Martha explains why a "Christian secret society" is an oxymoron, such as Freemasonry. Satan is the god of secrets. The true God of the Bible is a God of LIGHT who shines into the darkness to expose. Light has no fellowship with darkness (see 2 Corinthians 6:14).

"For God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

Open Letter Examining Teachings of John Eldredge

(Open letter to a church in TN after it was sent to a pastor there privately).

To Whom It May Concern,

Please let me voice my concern about the fact that the church is hosting a speaking engagement of John Eldredge (though I understand the church did not invite him, but he asked the church if he could use the facility). [Most attendees would will that the church] does at least take a positive view of John Eldredge's writings. A number of statements in his book The Sacred Romance to me seem at odds with Scripture. Let me give some examples.

Statement 1

"Some years into our spiritual journey …a voice speaks to us in the midst of all we are doing. We listen and we are aware of a sigh. And under the sigh is something dangerous, something that feels adulterous and disloyal to the religion we are serving. We sense a passion deep within that threatens a total disregard for the program we are living; it feels reckless, wild. Unsettled, we turned and walked quickly away, like a woman who feels more than she wants to when her eyes meet those of a man not her husband." (page 1)

Question - This is the work of the Holy Spirit? If this is the work of the Holy Spirit, what is the difference between this and temptation?

Statement 2

"It is tragic for any person to lose touch with the life of their heart but especially for those of us who once heard the call in our heart and recognized it as the voice of Jesus of Nazareth. We may remember him inviting us to a life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure that we thought was lost." (page 7)

Question - On what scripture is this call to beauty, intimacy, and adventure based? Are we not called to take up our cross, follow him and deny ourselves? (Matt 16:24) Are we not told that those who would live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution? (2 Tim 3:12)

Statement 3

"The Romance whispers that we are someone special, that our heart is good because it was made for someone good; the Arrows tell us we are a dime a dozen, worthless, even dark and twisted, dirty.” (page 32)

Question - When did our heart become good? Does this refer to a time after our conversion but before the "Romance"? Does it not appear that the statement infers that the heart is good prior to encountering Christ? Where does this leave the doctrine of the Fall and the total depravity of man? If we assume there is good in our heart that merits God's love and attention, does that not actually diminish the significance of the grace of God when compared to a God that loves unlovely and rebellious sinners? Does the above statement not sound more like a premise of secular humanism which assumes that man is basically good and his problems are a function of a poor environment or bad upbringing?

Statement 4

"Satan mounted his rebellion through the power of one idea: God doesn't have a good heart.” (Page 76)

Question - Is there any hint in the Bible that Satan mounted his rebellion through the idea that God does not have a good heart? Are not the two main scripture references to Satan or the angel Lucifer in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28?

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isaiah 14:13-14).

Where in this passage is any reference to God's heart? Does it not sound more like the issue is Lucifer’s pride?

Statement 5

"God creates man and woman and sets them in Paradise. How long has he been planning this? Are we merely the replacement for the angels he lost, the first date he can find on the rebound?" (page 77)

Question -What possible relation can a statement like this have to the God who is the alpha and the omega, who knows the end from the beginning? Where is the God (according to Ephesians 1) who chose us before the foundation of the world? What can we possibly offer to God in the absence of his work in our lives? Where is the God of whom the psalmist asked "What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him?"? Where is the God of Isaiah chapter 40 of whom it is said, the Lord sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers"? Is this the God of Psalm 37 where it says of the wicked “The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.”?

Statement 6

“Surprisingly, we see in the first glimpse of God's wildness the goodness of his heart -- he gives us our freedom. In order for a true romance to occur, we had to be free to reject him. In "Disappointment with God", Philip Yancey reminds us that the powers of the Author are sufficient to win our hearts." (Page 77)

Question - Where does this leave the doctrine of election, predestination? Does not Romans 9:11 state "For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;”? How then can man resist the predetermined that will of God?

Statement 7

"The wildness of giving us freedom is even more staggering when we remember that God has already paid dearly for giving freedom to his angels. But because of his grand heart he goes ahead and takes the risk, and enormous, colossal risk." (page 78)

Question - Does God take risks? Does not the word risk implied uncertainty of the outcome? How could a God who is omnipotent and omniscient possibly take a risk? Is this the God of Isaiah 42:9 who says, “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.”? Again, how can a God who knows the end from the beginning take a risk?

Statement 7

"As Douglas John Hall has put it, "God's problem is not that God is not able to do certain things. God's problem is that God loves. Love complicates the life of God as it complicates every life.” (page 78)

Question - Can this possibly be the God of the Bible? How can anything be complicated for an all knowing God? How can anything be complicated for a God who brought the nation Israel out of Egypt 430 years to the day from the time Jacob went down to Egypt? (Ex 12:41)

In summary I would say that my reaction to the book is this. Though the book makes some good points, it simply goes too far in trying to convey the love God has for us by portraying God in terms we can identify with. It ends up painting God as a teenage boy who is not sure how things will turn out when he asks a girl for a date. I would ask that someone in a position of authority do or say something which could somehow communicate the fact that hosting John Eldredge is by no means an endorsement nor an approval of the unscriptural teaching contained in his book.

Respectfully,

M.G.

"Christian Druids"?

We never tire in the Christian arena in the work of testing the spirits. Go here to read about neo-paganism passing as "Christian" witchcraft in the UK.

Reverend Angus Macleay, who is on the steering committee of the Evangelical Reform Group, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This ceremony certainly looks pagan"...

Emergent Church Leader Brian McLaren

In this short interview with Brian MacLaren, among other things, he rejects absolute Truth.

Compare his attitude to the words of Jesus:

"I am the Way the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through Me."
John 14:6

Great Sunday

I sang and gave an update on LTW at Theta Baptist Church this morning. It was great to see old friends. My mother used to play the piano in the little church every Sunday for years before moving to Knoxville. We showed a slide presentation of us doing the ministry in NYC at the booth, and it made me want to get out there again this weekend when I get back home! We give out sermons on CD from Theta Baptist at all of our booth locations. Last year I sang a song written by Clay Smith entitled "I Rest My Soul", and we want to make 100 copies of it for the lost. I am pictured above with two of the elders at Theta Baptist: Rick Martin and Clay Smith.
After church we stopped by my brother's house, and I had a great time with my nephews and cute little niece! It was nice being with my brother and his wife before heading back to Knoxville.

Now that I am back at my mother's house I am focusing on goals for LTW: I hope to finish a new slide presentation for our Boulder ministry by the end of the week and get started on our new web site for the lost at www.bygodsgrace.org . I must admit that my visit last week with my family has kept me from getting the work done I had planned to do. I love my family so much, but I was reminded in today's sermon at Theta Baptist that life is too short to not run the race with aim and waste no time for eternity! I return to NYC this Tuesday and plan on setting up the NYC booth this weekend and then heading for the UK to do evangelism there in June!

More on Dominionism

...Dominionists totally politicize the Gospel, thus marrying Christianity to secular institutions. Once it is wedded to secularism, Christianity adopts the same anthropocentric premises of secularism. One of the anthropocentric premises that tend to pervade secularized Christianity is the notion that man must save himself. This was a core contention of communism, fascism, and other forms of anti-theistic sociopolitical Utopianism. In the context of Dominionism, this contention is given a marginally theistic interpretation: Man fully embodies and facilitates the march of God on earth...

[Source: "Their Kingdom Come...Emergent World Order" ]

From: http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/

Witnessing in Long Beach Tonight and Tomorrow

Dan and a team will be out at the "Gay Pride Parade" in Long Beach, CA, today. I pray that the Lord will use him to reach many at the booth for God's glory with our testimonies on CD of former homosexuals who have come to Jesus and left the lifestyle of shame.

--------------------------------

As you can see from the below local ABC news video, many ex-gays are afraid to come out of the closet because of the harassment they will receive -- their names, phone numbers and personal information posted on gay websites; attacked at ex-gay exhibit booths; press releases issued against them, etc. The tactics of gay activists are to go after anyone who comes out publicly as ex-gay, force them back into the closet, and then claim that ex-gays don't exist because there aren't any out in public:

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0508/517023_video.html?ref=newsstory


Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays
pfox@pfox.orghttp://www.pfox.org/

This article is online at: http://pfox.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=227#227

It Takes More Faith To Be An Atheist

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356376,00.html

(The Institute for Creation Research, founded by Dr. Henry Morris, used to be located in San Deigo, CA, where I would visit its museum there and read about all of the scientists in history who believed in the Bible! Years ago I even took a psychic with me from Venice Beach to tour the museum and read about how creation supports evidence for a Creator).

Time With the Lord Today..."That I may know Him"

But what things were gain to me these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead…I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus...for many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame--who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Philippians 3:7-27

Extraterrestrials and the Catholic Church

Unless aliens are human beings (with moral reasoning in need of a Savior) extraterrestrials are not my brothers. Interestingly, they have been reported to appear to people who dabble in occult studies and spirituality. The Catholic church is obtuse enough biblically on the subject to call aliens our "brothers"...

Vatican Says It's Okay to Believe in Aliens