JMC Ministries Response
Written by: Miranda Caverley
The reality of Teen Violence has finally hit the mainstream Media as you will see in this video by CNN. It is frightening how many young people are involved in violence, or even murder on a daily bases. The fact that the media hasn't been covering this for years just shows us that the world is unconcerned with the children of today. As you will hear in the video even the parents of these children who are dishing out this violence are telling their kids "you gotta stand up for yourself" The parents are contributing to the violence, and the children are only doing what they see and are taught. If we are going to prosecute the children for the violence, shouldn't the parents have some kind of punishment for teaching the children to behave this way?
Many of our articles we have posted on Eternal Flame News are about youth. The reason why we continue to post these kinds of stories is to get the word out. We have a generation of children that is in serious trouble America, and if we don't stand up and reach out to the children of today who are living this kind of lifestyle of violence, drugs, and sex we are going to lose them. They are our future and if we don't bring them up with morals and the values our country was founded on I feel we are heading for very dark times in our Nation.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Teen Raises Money for Children in need this Christmas
At a time when most teenagers are thinking about their own Christmas presents, Tyler Noble is busy making Christmas brighter for 18 other teens.
Noble, an 18-year-old Zane Trace graduate has been collecting money for Project Hope, to help sponsor local families who need some help this holiday season.
"It actually started in October, I was watching 'National Lampoon'sChristmas
Vacation' and the part where the little girl doesn't have anything for Christmas just kind of hit me," he said.
"A lot of the service organizations focus on kids up to age 12, so I wanted to do something for that other group of kids," he said.
Tyler raised $1,700, surpassing his goal of $1,500. He then went to Job and Family services to get the names of some local kids whose families might need some help this year. All the 18 kids Tyler is helping are between the ages of 13 and 18. He said kids in that age group often are left out this time of year.
JMC Ministries Response
We thank you for not conforming to the ways of this world, being soldiers for Christ, and continue to carry HIS love to all the world.
Noble, an 18-year-old Zane Trace graduate has been collecting money for Project Hope, to help sponsor local families who need some help this holiday season.
"It actually started in October, I was watching 'National Lampoon's
"A lot of the service organizations focus on kids up to age 12, so I wanted to do something for that other group of kids," he said.
Tyler raised $1,700, surpassing his goal of $1,500. He then went to Job and Family services to get the names of some local kids whose families might need some help this year. All the 18 kids Tyler is helping are between the ages of 13 and 18. He said kids in that age group often are left out this time of year.
JMC Ministries Response
written by Miranda Caverley
This article is from our local newspaper. It is such a blessing to see young men of God stepping out of their comfort zones and making a difference in their community and schools.
I am also a graduate of Zane Trace High School, and I am proud to know there are young men walking through those halls carrying the gospel of the Lord in their hearts. I pray that many other students at Zane Trace and others across our community are influenced by what this young man has accomplished to help others. It gives us hope in our future generations when we see Godly children rising up and setting themselves apart from the world and everything it says is "cool"
Friday, December 11, 2009
Uganda Remembers Death Penalty for Refusing Homosexual Relations With King Mwanga
The Death Penalty in Uganda
MEDIA ADVISORY, Dec. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- By official count 22 young men were executed under Uganda's law on homosexuality. The law in question required that all men and boys in Uganda be willing to submit to the homosexual seduction of it's ruler, King Mwanga. When Ugandans began to convert to Christianity in the 1800s, a group of Catholics, led by Charles Lwanga, refused to allow themselves to be sodomized by the King. Enraged, King Mwanga had them torturously bound, marched 37 miles and then roasted alive in a fire pit. The date of their execution was June 3rd, 1886, and is today a national holiday commemorating Uganda's rejection of homosexuality and commitment to Christian values.
It should be no surprise, therefore, that modern Ugandans are very unhappy that homosexual political activists from Europe and the United States are working aggressively to re-homosexualize their nation. Ugandan citizens report a growing number of foreign homosexual men coming to their country to turn desperately poor young men from the slums into their personal houseboys, and that some girls in public schools have been paid to recruit others into lesbianism. Foreign interests have exerted intense pressure on Uganda's government to compromise its laws regarding sexual morality, often using their control over foreign aid funding for leverage....
As a Christian attorney and international human rights advocate who has worked closely with Uganda's pro- family movement, I have a special interest in this issue. In my view, homosexuality (indeed all sex outside of marriage) should be actively discouraged by society -- but only as aggressively as necessary to prevent the mainstreaming of alternative sexual lifestyles, and with concern for the preservation of the liberties of those who desire to keep their personal lifestyles private. Marriage-based culture served humanity very favorably during the centuries when homosexuality was disapproved but tolerated as a sub-culture in America, England and elsewhere. It has obviously not fared well in the decades since the so- called sexual revolution kicked open Pandora's Box and unleashed both rampant heterosexual promiscuity and "Gay Pride" on the world.
In March of this year I had the privilege of addressing members of the Ugandan parliament in their national assembly hall when the anti-homosexuality law was just being considered...
By Dr. Scott Lively
To: National & International Desks
Contact: Dr. Scott Lively,
413-250-0984
Full editorial at
http://www.defendthefamily.com/pfrc/newsarchives.php?id=4480922
JMC RESPONSE
Written by:
Jeremy Caverley
Many people are quick to judge and have a reaction without righteous judgment.
Proverbs 8:13-15 (New International Version)
13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech.
14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine;
I have understanding and power.
15 By me kings reign
and rulers make laws that are just;
But at the same time some people decide to take out their own judgment like King Mwanga did. The debate between Christians who are against homosexuality isn’t something new to us. Each generation and culture has decided which path to take.
In today’s society we see a war going on between free love and marriage. And the deciding factor now is a court. God has been removed from the law of this Earth.
As history shows, the world will become more dark than ever before. Values will continue to morph until everything is not black or white anymore but a fine gray.
The Bible-God’s Holy Word and the law for Christians to follow-clearly states about sex and it’s true place in marriage between a man and a woman.
Matthew 19:4-6 (Amplified Bible)
4He replied, Have you never read that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female,
5And said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united firmly (joined inseparably) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?(A)
6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder (separate).
Cross references:
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (New Century Version)
9-10 Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not inherit God's kingdom. Do not be fooled. Those who sin sexually, worship idols, take part in adultery, those who are male prostitutes, or men who have sexual relations with other men, those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, lie about others, or rob—these people will not inherit God's kingdom.
So now after reflecting on God’s word you have to make a choice! Will you become like King Mwanga and demand that all must obey your lifestyle or be put to shame, ridicule, or even death?! Certainly not I pray!
As Christians we must learn to love the sinner but not the sin. From my own point of view I don’t believe that homosexuality is a complete lifestyle but a sex act that you partake in.
Yes if you decide, to those who want to stop living as a homosexual, to change only the Lord can truly heal you.
Mankind has failed in reaching people for the Lord in this respect!
Too many Christians are shunned away because of there sinful natures. So with this in mind I must now remind you that we that are the children of God and are high priests that can go directly to the Father in heaven. That ALL SIN is COMMON to MAN! That IRON does sharpen iron. We should learn to love one another and help reach those that are most in need of such a basic gift. The gift of love and forgiveness.
Proverbs 28:13 (New American Standard Bible)
13He who (A)conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
But he who (B)confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.
Cross references:
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (Contemporary English Version)
12Even if you think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall. 13You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations.
Proverbs 27:17 (New International Version)
17 As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.
Mark 3:28 (New Living Translation)
28 “I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Church Taken to Court for feeding the homeless
Nov. 23 2009
A judge ordered a Phoenix church to stop feeding the homeless on its property, citing zoning violation.
Retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice Robert Corcoran ruled in early November that CrossRoads United Methodist Church in north Phoenix was functioning as a charity dining hall in a residential neighborhood.
CrossRoads, however, argues that it is not violating city ordinance because it is feeding the homeless as a ministry of the church and not as a dining hall. Once a week, the Methodist Church offers the homeless and the poor in the neighborhood a pancake breakfast before Saturday worship service.
Church officials decided to appeal the ruling last week.
“We must stand together with those of us who are suffering and for other ministries and churches on whom this decision will have a great impact,” said the Rev. Dottie Escobedo-Frank, senior pastor of CrossRoads, to the United Methodist News Service. “We just can’t stop caring for and feeding those who need us most.”
The church has a 50-year history of feeding the homeless and caring for the poor in the community.
But it was the very members of the community that raised concern about the church’s feeding ministry. Some residents complained about the homeless people wandering around the neighborhood, bringing trash to the area and cited fear of increased crime due to their presence.
“They broke into electric boxes and had their bikes and things chained up to fences, and set up camp right in our back yard,” said Talitha Cerino, who lives nearby, to the ABC News station in Phoenix.
“I don’t necessarily know that I would want to be walking down Central on a Saturday morning to see a parade of homeless individuals riding their bikes to get to their free meal in the morning,” Cerino said.
More than 100 people come each week for the pancake breakfast and service program.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Christians Start Bible Blitz on Social Networking Sites to reach the lost and inspire others.
MEDIA ADVISORY, Dec. 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christians, churches and youth groups of all denominations are working together to fill the USA with God's Word and the truth about God in US history. Participants are doing this in a nationwide outreach called Bible Blitz USA.
Every Monday, a Bible verse and a patriotic God quote are emailed to all signed up to share across America during the week. Free graphics are also included.
Popular ways to Bible Blitz USA are to spread the quotes on social websites like Facebook, Twitter and Christian Chirp, church bulletins, blogs, school papers, dinner conversations, articles, online comments to stories, church newsletters, home schools and videos. People also memorize the quotes each week.
"I feel good sharing about God and our Christian nation. I love the results", said one participant.
To sign up, go to www.PrayDailyAmerica.com/BibleBlitzUSA.html. Pray Daily America is a national ministry uniting the USA in Christ, based on loving God and loving one another.
"Bible Blitz USA is a fun and easy way for entire youth groups to help the USA, while learning about the Bible and US history. It is a powerful tool that God has made available to help every church member to get involved in sharing the Gospel," said one pastor.
to sign up, go to:
www.PrayDailyAmerica.com/BibleBlitzUSA.html
Holy Cow! Connecticut Cow born with Cross on Forehead
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
STERLING, Conn. — A holy cow in Connecticut, perhaps? Or maybe a divine bovine?
A calf with a white marking on its forehead in the approximate shape of a cross was born last week at a dairy farm in Sterling, a small rustic town on the Rhode Island border.
Owner Brad Davis tells WFSB-TV he thinks the marking may be a message from above, though he's still trying to figure out what that message might be.
The mostly brown calf is half Jersey, half Holstein. Neighborhood children have named it Moses.
The chairman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Dairy Science tells the Norwich Bulletin newspaper it's not unusual for a Holstein cow to have a white marking on its head. But department chairman Ric Grummer says the cross shape is unique.
Missionary turns 100 years old and still going strong!
Today marks the centennial of Lesslie Newbigin's birthday, who was born December 8, 1909 and died January 30, 1998. Andy Rowell, a doctoral student at Duke University, wrote 10 things you probably did not know about Newbigin. Christianity Today also profiled Newbigin in 1996. Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society was included in CT's "Books of the Century" and "The Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals."
It was an unlikely adventure to launch a global ministry—a tediously long bus journey from Madras, India, to Birmingham, England. It was an unlikely background for a champion of the gospel to emerge from—the theologically liberal Student Christian Movement. It was an unlikely age at which to unintentionally initiate the emergent and missional church movements—age 66 after 35 years of cross-cultural missionary service. But Bishop Lesslie Newbigin made his most important contribution and did his most profound thinking in his 70s and 80s. Can this man, whose birth centenary was celebrated in December, help today's church navigate a critical period of change?
Newbigin was born 100 years ago on December 8, 1909. After completing theological studies at Cambridge University and working briefly for the Student Christian Movement, he left for India in 1936 to labor as a missionary, evangelist, and apologist. There he was instrumental in bringing together the Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches from India, Pakistan, and Burma into one ecumenical denomination: the Church of South India. On his return to England, he was shocked to find that the West was as urgent a mission field as the East. Refusing to settle into retirement, he wrote prolifically, issuing a clarion call to the Western church to rediscover its missionary mandate.
This was not merely a response to the declining state of the church, but the result of Newbigin's wrestling with the interplay of such enormous ideas as election, modernity, contextualization, the end of Christendom, and missional ecclesiology. Seeing the bigger picture of the gospel has inspired many of Newbigin's readers to grasp more fully the interaction between gospel, church, and culture. Three major themes stand out as particularly pertinent to our time.
Bigger than we think
When I speak with students around the world, I find them confident in their ability to present the gospel. They tell me that God loves me, that I have sinned, that Christ died for me, and that I need to believe in Jesus to get to heaven. Their confidence is reassuring, but their content is worrying. Doctoral students and seminarians often seem to have no deeper grasp of the gospel than do Sunday school children. The gospel they present has been reduced to a personalized product that offers the ultimate bargain—exchanging spiritual poverty for eternal riches. The problem with much of our evangelism is not what we include but what we omit: the Holy Spirit, the church, persecution, obedience, mission, reconciliation, resurrection, and new creation.
The gospel according to Newbigin challenges this thinking in two distinct ways. First, he calls us back to a gospel that brings personal reconciliation with God, but also a gospel that connects us with God's reconciling purposes in conscience, culture, church, creation, and cosmos. Second, he calls us back to a gospel that is more than a series of bullet points, a story that centers on the flesh-and-blood character of the divine Christ.
Newbigin's call is earthed in his careful exposition of John's gospel, but it draws as well on thinkers such as Martin Buber, Michael Polanyi, Hans Frei, and Alasdair MacIntyre, synthesizing their reflections into a powerful, unwittingly postmodern-friendly apologetic. Newbigin encourages us to tell the stories of the gospel as part of the grand sweep of the biblical drama. This is vital if an increasingly biblically illiterate generation is going to hear the gospel for the first time. We must explain that the stories of Jesus, true both historically and experientially, are the only way to understand how our individual stories make sense, and we must demand a personal decision to follow the Lord of all history.
As Newbigin explained in 1994, "The true understanding of the Bible is that it tells a story of which my life is a part, the story of God's tireless, loving, wrathful, inexhaustible patience with the human family, and of our unbelief, blindness, disobedience. To accept this story as the truth of the human story (and so of my story) commits me personally to a life of discernment and obedience in the new circumstances of each day."
As we tell the Jesus story, we draw people to him as a person worthy of allegiance rather than as a proposition to be evaluated.
Newbigin the evangelist's own lifelong commitment to church unity throws down the gauntlet. Whatever we need to do to help this generation to hear the gospel, we need to do together.
As Newbigin wrote, "I have been called and commissioned, through no merit of mine, to carry this message, to tell this story, to give this invitation. It is not my story or my invitation. It has no coercive intent. It is an invitation from the one who loved you and gave himself up for you. That invitation will come with winsomeness if it comes from a community in which the grace of the Redeemer is at work."
North Korean Children Starving to death in the streets
By Worthy News Correspondents Eric Leijenaar reporting from the Netherlands and Stefan J. Bos
Many children die in North Korea of starvation, aid workers and local Christians say.
PYONGYANG/AMSTERDAM (Worthy News)-- Christians in North Korea said Wednesday, November 25, a massive famine has broken out in their autocratic-ruled nation with many children "dying" while security forces send malnourished people to labor camps for allegedly refusing to join the "100-Day Battle."
"In the province Hwanghae it is again normal to see dead children lying on the streets," local Christians added in statements distributed by Open Doors, a Netherlands-based group supporting persecuted Christians in North Korea and other countries.
North Korean Christians blamed a nation-wide production-drive imposed by the regime of the country's leader Kim Jong-il, known as the "100-Day Battle", for the apparently worst famine in years.
"The people don't get the chance to keep themselves alive," Christians said in comments obtained by Worthy News and its partner agency BosNewsLife. Those seen as not working for the country's interests are immediately send to labor camps, where inmates have been tortured, Christians said.
The new '100-Day Battle', will take the total length of the mobilization period up to the end of the year, and possibly even into early 2010, pro-North Korean media reported.
MORE BATTLES
The publication of the General Association of North Korean Residents in Japan, Chosun Shinbo, reportedly said the latest battle followed the '150-Day Battle' when "many units have been achieving fruitful results."
"Without slowing down a bit, [the North Korean people will] keep up their vigor during the '100-Day Battle'."
Christians said the latest developments proof that Kim Jong-il is not able to provide enough food to the population. The current famine is becoming similar to the famine of the 1990s when at least an estimated one million people died of starvation, suggested Open Doors spokesman Jan Vermeer. Some estimates speak of "millions" of people.
"We have learned from our contacts [in North Korea] that parents die or leave their children because they can no longer see how their sons and daughters are dying of hunger," he told Worthy News.
"There are whole groups of children roaming through the country. If they are detained by police, they are brought to overfull orphanages where they die. To keep themselves alive, North Koreans are trading at night at illegal markets. The next day they have to report themselves again at their [state] working places," Vermeer added.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Town Outlaws Merry Christmas Sign and Menorah for Holiday Season
NORTH ANDOVER — First it was the menorah on the town common. Now it's the Merry Christmas sign on the fire station.
The town has put an end to a longtime holiday tradition ordering firefighters to take down their homemade Merry Christmas sign from outside the fire station after people complained. The sign had been up for a week before it was taken down Friday.
Fire Chief William Martineau said the sign was made by firefighters some 50 years ago and was never an issue before.
"I think Christmas is officially a religious holiday. But to all of us, it has always been a holiday for the kids," Martineau said. "It just seems sad."
The sign is now sitting in the basement and there's only one decoration hanging from the station — a Happy New Year sign.
This is the second holiday controversy in two weeks for the town.
Andover Rabbi Asher Bronstein has threatened a lawsuit against North Andover after the selectmen would not let him place a menorah on the town common for all eight days of Hanukkah.
Selectmen voted on Nov. 23 to allow the menorah for one day. They argue that their new town common policy only allows displays to stay up for one day, no matter what they are. That way all groups have equal time and there is no discrimination.
Attorneys for the town and the rabbi are in talks.
Town officials said yesterday that the menorah fight is what caused Merry Christmas to be outlawed at the fire station for the first time in five decades.
"This is political correctness run amok," selectmen's Chairman Tracy Watson said. "It's really an unfortunate turn of events. ... This has become all about religion, and from the start it has had nothing to do with religion. We were enforcing a policy."
Selectmen's phones are ringing off the hook with calls from all sides. The town is divided into people who believe the menorah should get its eight days and those who think the selectmen's policy is fair. Some do not want to see any religious displays on the common, saying even a day is too much.
Watson said she expects taking down the Merry Christmas sign is only going to rile people up more.
"It's going to make a lot of people angry," she said.
Town Manager Mark Rees said the fight over the menorah brought a "heightened sensitivity to these kind of issues."
JMC Ministries Response
Written By: Miranda Caverley
This year it seems Christmas has been under attack more than ever before. Everyday we are hearing story after story of people, businesses, churches, practically anyone who wants to celebrate Christmas being persecuted. So much that we at JMC Ministries wanted to share a story of one woman here in Ohio who took a stand for Christmas. Her name is Connie.
Connie works in a business office, and for Christmas her boss told everyone that they could decorate their desks and spaces for Christmas. After this announcement was made a fellow employee stood up and said that if anyone had the idea of bringing religious stuff in that she would file a grievance with the Human Resources Dept. (meaning she would try to get people fired from their job). Connie brought in a little angel and placed it on her desk along with other Christmas decortions a few days later. She decided not to take the angel down knowing what the co-worker had said. Connie then went home for the weekend. Over the weekend, Connie called a family member to tell them what had happened at her work. She told the family member that she wasn't sure if she would have job after Monday if the co-worker should be true to her word, and file a grievance for her having the angel on her desk. But Connie said that she would not take the angel off her desk no matter what. So on Monday Connie had to work late. Most of the other co-workers had left for the day when she saw the woman who was over the Human Resources dept. Connie stopped the lady and began telling her of what her co-worker had said about filing a grievance for having religious Christmas decorations on their desks. The lady from the Human Resources told Connie to come with her to her office because she wanted to show her something. The lady said she had only one decoration in her office for Christmas and she wanted Connie to see it. When the woman opened the door to the human resources office there on the desk was a small Nativity Scene!
Connie is a family of member of JMC Ministries and we felt we needed to share her story. Because there are so many silent victims facing this kind of persecution this Christmas season in the United States. We feel their stories need to be told.
Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.
John 15:20 (New International Version)
20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.'[a] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.1 Corinthians 4:12,13
12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
Romans 12:14 (New International Version)
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Christians in U.S forced into closets and hiding places to share the gospel
Click to Read full article From Christian Newswire
PENSACOLA, Fla., Dec. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- Trial testimony concluded this week in which Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) is seeking to intervene to overturn an ACLU court order that has already resulted in three school officials being charged with contempt. Liberty Counsel represents CEAI. Testimony revealed how this order has literally driven Christians to hide in closets to pray in order to avoid contempt charges.
In August, Liberty Counsel successfully defended Michelle Winkler, a clerical assistant, from contempt charges brought by the ACLU after her husband, who is not employed by the Santa Rosa County School District, offered a meal prayer at a privately sponsored event in a neighboring county. On Constitution Day, Liberty Counsel successfully defended Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman against criminal contempt charges, after the ACLU complained when Freeman offered a 15-second blessing for a lunch meal for about 20 adults with no students present.
During testimony, Michelle Winkler broke down on the witness stand when she described how a coworker sought comfort from her after losing her two-year-old child. The two hid behind a closet door to pray, for fear they would be seen and held in contempt of the court order. Denise Gibson, an elementary teacher for 20 years, testified the order forces her to tell parents she cannot respond if they talk about church or their faith. She may not even respond to an email from a parent if it contains a Scripture verse or "God bless you." Instead, the District requires her to open a separate email to respond rather than hit "reply," in order to eliminate any trace of religious language.
JMC Response
written by: Miranda Caverley
When we read of Christians hiding in closets and going into private places away from the watchful eye of the government or anyone that might come against them and arrest or put them on trial for praying or talking about God. We think of China, Russia, North Korea, and other Communist/Socialist countries that oppress the freedom of religion. But no, we are reading about The United States of America. Where it is written in the our own constitution that we have freedom of religion! WHERE IS THE FREEDOM, that our forefathers wrote into law that we have the right to?
Christians! Why do we keep allowing organization like the ACLU to trample on our freedoms and scare us into the closets and hiding places to talk about God and his wonderful Love? Why have Christians stopped standing up and NOT being ashamed of the Gospel like the prophets, the disciples, and especially Jesus the Son of God?
They didn’t care what man thought of them! They didn’t care that they were put into prison, or brought before high courts to be prosecuted! They rejoiced, and even in prison behind bars rejoiced! Like Paul and Silas while in prison they sang songs of praise to the Lord, and there came a massive earthquake and destroyed the prison and they were set free! When we obey the Lord he will make a way for us out of the bondage and persecution!
Like our brothers and sisters in persecuted countries that are in prison or being faced with death everyday for their faith. Keep going, keep sharing the good news of the Lord to all that will listen! Because this world and all the things on it will pass away, but God and his promises to us are ETERNAL! They never fade, rot, or break, unlike everything of this world they last forever!
Jesus even said (paraphrase) “if they persecute me, they will persecute you.” They hung Jesus on a Cross and killed him, do you think as a Christian you will not face some sort of persecution when our own Savior and everyone else that followed HIS teaching did? Jesus only taught to love one another, and follow HIS ways which our own founding fathers founded the United States of America on! They even said that these rights that they put in the U.S constitution were our “God Given Rights”. Then why don’t we fight for them?
PENSACOLA, Fla., Dec. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- Trial testimony concluded this week in which Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) is seeking to intervene to overturn an ACLU court order that has already resulted in three school officials being charged with contempt. Liberty Counsel represents CEAI. Testimony revealed how this order has literally driven Christians to hide in closets to pray in order to avoid contempt charges.
In August, Liberty Counsel successfully defended Michelle Winkler, a clerical assistant, from contempt charges brought by the ACLU after her husband, who is not employed by the Santa Rosa County School District, offered a meal prayer at a privately sponsored event in a neighboring county. On Constitution Day, Liberty Counsel successfully defended Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman against criminal contempt charges, after the ACLU complained when Freeman offered a 15-second blessing for a lunch meal for about 20 adults with no students present.
During testimony, Michelle Winkler broke down on the witness stand when she described how a coworker sought comfort from her after losing her two-year-old child. The two hid behind a closet door to pray, for fear they would be seen and held in contempt of the court order. Denise Gibson, an elementary teacher for 20 years, testified the order forces her to tell parents she cannot respond if they talk about church or their faith. She may not even respond to an email from a parent if it contains a Scripture verse or "God bless you." Instead, the District requires her to open a separate email to respond rather than hit "reply," in order to eliminate any trace of religious language.
JMC Response
written by: Miranda Caverley
When we read of Christians hiding in closets and going into private places away from the watchful eye of the government or anyone that might come against them and arrest or put them on trial for praying or talking about God. We think of China, Russia, North Korea, and other Communist/Socialist countries that oppress the freedom of religion. But no, we are reading about The United States of America. Where it is written in the our own constitution that we have freedom of religion! WHERE IS THE FREEDOM, that our forefathers wrote into law that we have the right to?
Christians! Why do we keep allowing organization like the ACLU to trample on our freedoms and scare us into the closets and hiding places to talk about God and his wonderful Love? Why have Christians stopped standing up and NOT being ashamed of the Gospel like the prophets, the disciples, and especially Jesus the Son of God?
They didn’t care what man thought of them! They didn’t care that they were put into prison, or brought before high courts to be prosecuted! They rejoiced, and even in prison behind bars rejoiced! Like Paul and Silas while in prison they sang songs of praise to the Lord, and there came a massive earthquake and destroyed the prison and they were set free! When we obey the Lord he will make a way for us out of the bondage and persecution!
Like our brothers and sisters in persecuted countries that are in prison or being faced with death everyday for their faith. Keep going, keep sharing the good news of the Lord to all that will listen! Because this world and all the things on it will pass away, but God and his promises to us are ETERNAL! They never fade, rot, or break, unlike everything of this world they last forever!
Jesus even said (paraphrase) “if they persecute me, they will persecute you.” They hung Jesus on a Cross and killed him, do you think as a Christian you will not face some sort of persecution when our own Savior and everyone else that followed HIS teaching did? Jesus only taught to love one another, and follow HIS ways which our own founding fathers founded the United States of America on! They even said that these rights that they put in the U.S constitution were our “God Given Rights”. Then why don’t we fight for them?
Romans 1:16 (New International Version)
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
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