Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Billy Graham ministry aims to take revivals online

The remarkable success of evangelist Billy Graham's Crusades for Christ did not come from his preaching alone, but also the immense amount of preparation and follow-up that went into planning each revival.

Now, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is taking that experience and harnessing it to save souls through the Internet in a way that perhaps only such a large and established organization can.

The basic premise is simple: Use search engines to find people who are looking for answers to life's big questions and direct them to a website, http://www.peacewithgod.net . From there, seekers are led through a series of readings and videos loosely tied to John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

At the end of the series, they are offered a chance to pray and to accept Jesus. Those who do become a little point of light on a Google Earth application, showing more than 476,000 souls around the world who have been saved through the site since it went live last year.

But that's not where it stops.

"People don't make decisions and then show up in church the next week," Director of Internet Evangelism John Cass said. "These same people who are hurting in this world are still walking by churches on every corner."

Although the site has been running in a beta mode, it is expected to be fully functional within a month. At that point hundreds of volunteers will also be online, doing everything from answering basic questions about God and Christianity to leading interested visitors through a 5-week online discipleship course.

Those new Christians will be encouraged to join local churches that are cooperating with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on the project.

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George Soros Spends $400 Million On 'Open Society' Education, 'Social Action,' Colleges And Universities

School is letting out around the United States, but for George Soros, education never stops. Soros has given more than $400 million to colleges and universities, including money to most prominent institutions in the United States. He also helped establish Central European University (CEU) which, in turn, uses its resources to promote his personal goal of an “open society.”
Imagine that, a whole university funded by one of the most controversial figures in the world. Soros has used that $400 million worldwide to indoctrinate students and teach them to promote liberal, and in some cases extremist, causes. But don’t expect the American news media to make it a big issue, even though they have done so for the Koch brothers.
CEU, which is essentially Soros’s own university, has received $250 million from the liberal billionaire. The Founder and Chairman of the Board is none other than Soros. More than half of CEU’s 20 member board are closely tied to the liberal financier. President of the Soros-funded Bard College Leon Botstein is Chairman of the Board.
While the Left shrivels at the thought of the Koch brother’s donations to universities, Soros gave more than 50 times as much. Bard College was the American institution that received the most from Soros (more than $75 million). Grants to Bard for “community service and social action” included a Palestinian youth group and an initiative to educate prisoners across the country.
All of the Ivy League universities, along with a variety of state schools, private institutions, and even religiously-affiliated institutions, were also funded by Soros.

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Abortion INVESTIGATION: Sex-Selection in America



Civil Rights Leader Resigns From NAACP National Board Over Gay Marriage Endorsement

The debate over gay marriage in the African American community continues to rage one month after President Barack Obama endorsed same-sex marriage. Weeks after the NAACP, an African-American civil rights organization, passed a resolution also backing gay marriage as a civil right, the Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., a member of the organization’s national board, has resigned.
According to KCCI, Ratliff, who also served as the NAACP’s Iowa/Nebraska conference president, has been uncertain about his future role in the group since its decision to follow in Obama’s footsteps. On May 28, World Magazine reported:
The Rev. Keith A. Ratliff Sr. said he is “in prayer” about his relationship with the NAACP following its endorsement of same-sex marriage on May 19…“I’m against same-sex marriage,” he told CitizenLink. “There are a number of issues that the NAACP has to address and deal with, and I certainly don’t think same-sex marriage should be a top priority.” Ratliff added that the gay rights movement should not be compared with the civil rights movement: “There is not a parallel between the homosexual community and the struggles of African-Americans in our country. I haven’t seen any signs on any restrooms that say ‘For Homosexuals Only.’ Homosexuals do not have to sit on the back of the bus, as African-Americans had to.”
Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr. Resigns From NAACP Board Over Gay MarriageAfter prayer, it seems his decision has been solidified.
“I want to thank the NAACP for the privilege to humbly serve in such an organization and thank all those I had the privilege to work with in the states of Iowa, Nebraska and throughout the country,” Ratliff said in a statement announcing his decision to exit his leadership role in the nation’s oldest civil rights group.

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Church Loses Majority of Members & Faces Foreclosure Following Pastor’s Support for Gay Marriage

Liberal Talk Show Host Bill Press says, "I Hate The National Anthem, It's Stupid And Embarrassing"



"PRESS (11:31:) … But it’s an abomination. First it ranges two octaves most people can only do kind of one octave. I mean when you think about it, it’s bombs bursting in air rocket’s red glare it all kinds of, you know a lot of national anthems are that way, all kinds of military jargon and the land there’s only one phrase ‘the land of the free’ which is kind of nice and ‘the home of the brave?’ I don’t know.
OGBURN: I mean I get that part.
PRESS: Are we [Americans] the only ones who are brave on the planet? I mean all the brave people live here. I mean it’s just stupid I think. I’m embarrassed, I’m embarrassed every time I hear it."

MEDIA EPIC FAIL: Election Recall Coverage Limited

Some members of the national news media are coming under heavy criticism today for their coverage, or lack thereof, of last night’s Wisconsin recall vote.
Incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker easily won the race with 53 percent of the vote, compared to 46 percent for Democrat challenger Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee.
At 9 p.m. Eastern, when polls officially closed and networks could make their prediction, all of the cable networks including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all announced the race was “too close to call.”
Radio host Rush Limbaugh said CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer sounded “joyous” when he declared at 9 p.m.: “We begin with breaking news out of Wisconsin where polls have just closed in a recall vote that could preview November’s election. Look at this! Our exit polls show it’s a 50/50 race as of this minute!”
“Why was Wolf Blitzer excited?” asked Limbaugh this afternoon. “Why was 50/50 exciting to Wolf Blitzer and anybody on the left? It was because all the pre-election polls had Walker winning by anywhere from 3 to 10 [points].”
During the 9 o’clock hour, CNN actually departed from election news to cover Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in Britain.
But at 10 p.m., Blitzer returned with another update on the vote, but his tone was much more low key, without the exuberance expressed an hour earlier.
“We have breaking news,” said Blitzer. “CNN can now project a winner in the Wisconsin gubernatorial contest. The incumbent Republican, Scott Walker, will retain his job as the governor of Wisconsin. The Democratic challenger Tom Barrett will not be the next governor of Wisconsin. Once again, he loses to Scott Walker.”
“Notice how Blitzer stopped talking at that point about how the Wisconsin vote would be a preview of November,” Limbaugh said.
“Once they called it for Walker, then this race didn’t mean anything. Didn’t mean a thing. At 9 o’clock, when they believed their own exit polls, it was nirvana. And I guarantee you, throughout the Democrat Party coast to coast, they are looking at all the polling data they’ve got and they’re wondering, ‘Is any of it right?’ All the polling data they have that shows Obama with whatever number of electoral votes now based on polling, all the polling data they have that shows Obama’s personal likability – which is pretty high in these polls – they’re looking at it and they’re wondering if they can trust any of it. And the odds are, if they’re smart, they’re going to tell themselves they can’t.”
Today at the Politico, analyst Dylan Byers wrote:
MSNBC was blatantly rooting for Tom Barrett to defeat Gov. Scott Walker, even sending union champion Ed Schultz to cover an event with no apologies for the dog he has in the fight. (Earlier tonight, Chris Matthews even told Schultz that if he wasn’t an MSNBC host, he could be head of the AFL-CIO.) When it became clear that Barrett would lose, Schultz looked almost teary eyed. Not long after, the network’s contributors immediately began suggesting that this was, in fact, good news for Obama – who, after all, hadn’t even set foot in Wisconsin – and began attacking Mitt Romney.

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Christian Law Group: ObamaCare Is Worse Than You Think

A Christian-based legal defense alliance is warning Americans who already believe that President Barack Obama's health care plan is a bad idea that the "ObamaCare mandate is worse than you think."

"Everyone likes a good surprise, but no one likes a bad surprise. So, you're really not going to like the surprises buried in the 2,700 pages of this document," says the narrator of a short video produced by the Alliance Defense Fund.
"Did you know that with ObamaCare you will have to pay for life-saving drugs, but life-ending drugs are free. One hundred percent free. If this plan were really about health care wouldn't it be the other way around?"
ADF lawyer Matt Bowman told The Christian Post Tuesday that the new campaign against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) is an effort to reveal more details about the health care plan that may not be as well known.
"We wanted to raise awareness that Americans are not subjects. ObamaCare treats Americans as subjects instead of citizens of a free country," Bowman argued. "There are extremely alarming attacks on religious freedom and sanctity of human life."
While Obama continues to tout his plan, even embracing the term "Obamacare," it's not clear whether the mandate will still exist by the November election.

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Walker Survives Recall; Thanks God for 'Abundant Grace'

Gov. Scott Walker easily survived his recall election brought on by organized labor in Wisconsin on Tuesday by winning 54 percent of the vote against his Democrat rival, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who came away with 45 percent.

"First of all, … I want to thank God for His abundant grace. Next, I particularly want to thank not only all of you here, but people all across the state. I want to thank you for your prayers," Walker told supporters.
It was the third time in the nation's history that a sitting governor had to face a recall vote and the election was not confined to Wisconsin, as groups on both sides of the issue saw the race as a preview of what may happen in November.
Early estimates put total spending in the race above $65 million, much of it coming from outside the state.
Although the contest was bitter from beginning to end, Walker offered a conciliatory tone in his remarks when declaring victory.
"The election is over. It's time to move Wisconsin forward," Walker told the crowd gathered at his headquarters. "Tomorrow we are all Wisconsinites."

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