Pastor Wants Christians To Take Back The Rainbow And Restore It's Biblical Symbol

Christian Post--A Washington pastor fed up with the "hijacking" of the symbol of God's covenant of peace created after what the Bible calls the great flood, wants to rouse Christians from their apathetic slumber and "take back the rainbow" from those using the symbol to push against biblical standards, especially the institution of marriage.

In the Book of Genesis, God makes a promise with Noah to never again flood the earth. As a sign of that vow, God creates a rainbow, explaining in chapter nine, verse 13 (NIV): "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

The rainbow, God tells Noah, stands as a reminder of His "covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind" to never again bring a flood to destroy all life.

That symbol of God's promise has since been "liquidated of its meaning," according to Dr. Kenneth L. Hutcherson, Senior Pastor and Co-Founder of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Wash.

Hutcherson, in collaboration with Antioch's Bible school director Pastor James Hansen, says in an online commentary titled "Take Back the Rainbow," that Christians have surrendered entirely too much to the world, especially in regard to the issues of marriage and homosexuality. The fact that the rainbow, with its covenantal significance, has especially been co-opted by "the homosexual movement" is particularly troubling to Hutcherson.

"Rainbows used to mean something very different than they do today," the pastors write on Antioch's website. "It used to be understood as the sign God put in the sky to remind us that even when He's angry about sin, He'd never again destroy the earth with a global flood. But of course, that's not what most people associate a rainbow with today."
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Dying Couple Reunited Through The Help Of Local News Station

LORAIN, Ohio — A dying man’s last wish is to be with his seriously ill wife, yet it appeared they might never see each other again. The couple’s son refused to accept that and contacted the FOX 8 Call For Action department.
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first-century artifacts found within an ancient Jerusalem tomb are the earliest representations of Christianity ever found, researchers say.

Fox News--Long-unrecognized lettering confirms that first-century artifacts found within an ancient Jerusalem tomb are the earliest representations of Christianity ever found, researchers say.

Two Hebrew scholars who examined photographs showing the inside of the tomb agree that markings on an ossuary — a box made to hold human remains — are stylized letters that spell out the name of Jonah, the researchers said Thursday (April 19). Jonah was the Old Testament prophet whose story of being swallowed by a great fish was embraced by the early followers of Jesus.

The tomb, located 6.5 feet (2 meters) below an apartment building in the East Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem, was discovered in 1981 but resealed after Orthodox Jewish groups opposed its excavation.

Two decades later, the group got license to enter the tomb, which has been dated to before A.D. 70.

Researchers led by James Tabor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte did not enter the tomb themselves but instead used a remote camera to explore it. Their analysis of the images was reported Feb. 28 in the journal The Bible and Interpretation.

The Hebrew scholars' translation of the stylized letters on the ossuary have yet to be published.

Troubled tomb
On one of the ossuaries was an inscription depicting "divine Jehovah," and a second had a picture that appeared to be a fish with a stick figure in its mouth, said to represent Jonah. If they fully understand these drawings, the researchers said, then they have found the oldest Christian artifacts, the earliest Christian art and the first evidence of faith in Jesus' resurrection. Similar depictions of Jonah were used by later Christian groups and became an important expression of the faith in later centuries.

'The engraver has rather ingeniously combined the stick figure of Jonah with the Hebrew letters spelling out his name.'- James Tabor, University of North Carolina

When the tomb and its contents were first disclosed, many biblical scholars offered alternate interpretations of the iconography and disputed the tomb's connections to Christianity. They said the image is more likely a funerary monument and not a fish at all. [Religious Mysteries: 8 Alleged Relics of Jesus]

Hebrew hint
After the initial announcement, the team continued to examine the images from their robot scout. Strange markings inside the fish head stood out to the researchers, and they called upon James Charlesworth, a Hebrew script scholar from the Princeton Theological Seminary.

The researchers said Charlesworth confirmed their interpretation of the marks: The lines that make up what they thought was a stick figure could also be viewed as four Hebrew letters. The script is similar to that from the Dead Sea Scrolls and seems to spell out "YONAH," the Hebrew name of Jonah.

"This discovery by Professor Charlesworth is quite remarkable and had been overlooked in our initial analysis," Tabor said in a statement. "The engraver has apparently rather ingeniously combined what we took to be the stick figure of Jonah with the four Hebrew letters spelling out his name."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/04/20/ancient-bone-box-called-oldest-christian-artifact/#ixzz1tGHIPruw

Obama To Trademark "GI Bill" In Effort To Protect Veterans From Being Swindled By Fraudulent Marketing Practices Of Colleges

FORT STEWART, Ga. –  The Obama administration wants to trademark the term "GI Bill" in an effort to shield veterans and military families from being swindled or misled by schools that target their federal education benefits.

President Barack Obama is signing a wide-ranging order on Friday that partially addresses growing complaints about fraudulent marketing and recruiting practices aimed at military families eligible for federal education aid under the GI Bill.

First, the president and first lady Michelle Obama paid tribute to fallen soldiers, walking slowly hand in hand along the Fort Stewart Warriors Walk, a wide path lined with 441 memorial trees. The base of each tree bore a granite marker with a soldier's name.

The president and his wife then were to speak to troops at this Army post in Georgia, where Obama will sign an executive order mandating several new education protections for military service members

Though there is little the federal government can do to shut down diploma mills, the new protections would make it harder for post-secondary and technical schools to misrepresent themselves to military students.

The main target of the White House action is for-profit colleges and universities that market heavily to military families because of the easy availability of federal money under the GI Bill.

Some post-secondary schools target current and former military service members using deceptive military-themed websites that appear to be government-run or connected to the GI Bill benefit system, administration officials said.

The financial regulation overhaul that Obama signed in 2010 included the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with specific authority to protect members of the military from predatory financial practices.

The law set up an Office of Service Member Affairs to help members of the military and their families "make better informed decisions regarding consumer financial products and services."

Bills pending in Congress, largely backed by Democrats and unlikely to become law soon, would do many of the same things Obama was ordering Friday.

Obama's order will also set a new gauge that potential students can use to calculate how much a school will really cost in tuition and fees. Schools are asked to voluntarily participate in the "Know Before You Owe" system this school year and would be required to do so next year.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/27/obama-targeting-fraudulent-loan-marketing-to-vets/#ixzz1tGEm9838

U.S Transportation Secretary Seeks Nation Wide Ban Of Cellphones While Driving

SAN ANTONIO, April 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called on Thursday for a federal law to ban talking on a cell phone or texting while driving any type of vehicle on any road in the country.

Tough federal legislation is the only way to deal with what he called a "national epidemic," he said at a distracted-driving summit in San Antonio, Texas, that drew doctors, advocates and government officials.

LaHood said it is important for the police to have "the opportunity to write tickets when people are foolishly thinking they can drive safely or use a cell phone and text and drive."

LaHood has previously criticized behind-the-wheel use of cell phones and other devices, but calling for a federal law prohibiting the practice takes his effort to a new level.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 3,000 fatal traffic accidents nationwide last year were the result of distracted driving. Using a cell phone while driving delays reaction time the same amount as having a blood alcohol concentration of .08, the legal limit, the highway agency said.

But Gary Biller, president of the National Motorists Association, said laws banning specific actions like talking on a phone or texting are not necessary because those actions are already covered by existing distracted-driving laws. It would be more productive, he said, to invest resources in campaigns that discourage inattentive driving in general.

"It shouldn't matter if the driver is distracted by a conversation with another vehicle passenger, tuning the radio, eating a snack, or talking on a cell phone," Biller said in a statement. "Existing laws cover all those distractions and more."

LaHood said, however, he was not as concerned about people who eat, apply makeup, or perform other distracting activities in cars because "not everyone does that."

"But everyone has a cell phone and too many of us think it is OK to talk on our phones while we are driving," he said at the summit, sponsored by insurance company USAA, the Texas Department of Transportation and Shriners Hospitals for Children.

LaHood was joined by people who have been hurt in accidents caused by motorists talking on cell phones, including children in wheelchairs who were paralyzed. Such accidents are "100 percent preventable," he said.

He compared the situation facing the United States today with the problem of drunk driving 20-30 years ago.

"It used to be that if an officer pulled you over for drunk driving, he would pat you on the back, maybe call you a cab or take you home, but he wouldn't arrest you," LaHood said. "Now that has changed, and the same enforcement can work for people who talk on cell phones while driving."

Thirty-eight states have laws restricting or outlawing the use of electronic devices while driving, LaHood said.
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Wycliffe Bible Translators To Review Bible Translation That Removed Father, Son, & Holy Spirit After Complaints

By Associated Press, Published: April 26

One of the largest Bible translators in the world is undergoing an independent review after critics claimed language in some of their translations intended for Muslim countries misses the essential Christian idea of Trinity: the father, son and the holy spirit or ghost.

Critics argue that using words like “Messiah” instead of “Son” and “Lord” instead of “Father” badly distorts the doctrine, in which God is said to be one being in three persons.

“If you remove ‘son,’ you have to remove ‘father,’ and if you remove those, the whole thread of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation is unraveled,” said the Rev. Georges Houssney, the president of Horizons International, a Christian organization that works extensively with Muslims and himself a translator of the Bible into Arabic.

Orlando, Fla.-based Wycliffe Bible Translators argues the translations have never been about avoiding controversy, but choosing words that most accurately reflect the Gospels: Some concepts relating God to family members don’t make sense in some cultures, so the language needs to reflect that.

“People are saying we’re trying to do translation work that’s not offensive to Muslims, and that’s just not true,” Wycliffe CEO Bob Creson said. “We are committed to the accurate translation of God’s word. That is our highest value.”

Translating the collection of ancient documents assembled together as the Bible has never been easy.

Disputes over biblical language date from the early centuries of Christianity when the original Hebrew and
Greek texts were brought to new countries, to making the Shakespearean language of the King James Version more understandable to modern readers.

Last month, Wycliffe agreed to an independent review of its policies by the World Evangelical Alliance, which plans to appoint a panel of experts to determine whether Wycliffe and affiliated groups are improperly replacing the terms “Son of God” and “God the Father.”

The decision comes after a growing number of critics decried the materials as attempts to avoid controversy that fundamentally altered Christian theology. The dispute moved from Internet forums and online petitions to concern from large Christian bodies. The Assemblies of God — one of the largest Pentecostal fellowships, with more than 60 million members in affiliated churches worldwide — announced it would review its longstanding relationship with Wycliffe.
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