Federal Court Rules U.S National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional

Click to read full article from CNS News

By Melanie Hunter-Omar

(CNSNews.com) – A federal district court in Wisconsin ruled on Thursday that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, a decision that has angered a constitutional law firm that filed an amicus brief defending the National Day of Prayer.

The case was filed by The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based group that challenged the constitutionality of a 1988 law giving the president authority to designate the first Thursday in May as National Day of Prayer.

"It is unfortunate that this court failed to understand that a day set aside for prayer for the country represents a time-honored tradition that embraces the First Amendment, not violates it," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ.

"This decision runs counter to well established legal precedent and we're confident that this flawed decision ultimately will be overturned. We will be filing a brief representing members of Congress challenging this federal district court decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit,” Sekulow said in a statement.

“If the appeals court fails to reverse this decision, we're confident the Supreme Court will hear the case and ultimately determine that such proclamations and observances like the National Day of Prayer not only reflect our nation's rich history, but are indeed consistent with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," he added.

According to the ACLJ brief, the U.S. has a long history of recognizing a national day of prayer dating back to the late 1700’s with the Continental Congress, recommending that states set aside a day for prayer and thanksgiving. Therefore, “historical evidence establishing a National Day of Prayer as deeply embedded in the tradition and history of this country is indisputable,” the brief stated.

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JMC Ministries Response

If the U.S Supreme Court rules that The National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional that will not Stop Those who want to continue to prayer for our Country. We will continue to pray, we will continue to seek God and pray for our President and all our Govt. Leaders. 


In The Book of James it says, "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much." If God's people will humble themselves and pray he says he will hear our cries. WE MUST continue to pray in spite of the persecution that this FFRF Group tries to throw at us. We must also pray for them as well. When God's People pray Miracles happen.

Dog Stayed With Dying Master Until The End

Click to read full article from WKYC.com
STARK COUNTY -- A golden retriever named "Lady" was a good and loyal dog until the end.
Police and an investigator with the Stark County Coroner's Office believe that Lady stayed by her owner's side in a field just outside of Hartville for almost a week.
Parley Nichols, 81, was found dead there Wednesday night, about a mile from his home.
Nichols had dementia and was reported missing on April 8.
Even though family members passed out fliers and searched for Nichols, his body was only discovered after Lady barked at a passerby.
"This dog would not leave his side," said Stark County Coroner's Investigator Harry Campbell. "No question, she stayed out there on her own volition.
"(Lady) saw another human and started barking and wailing," said Campbell.
The preliminary findings of an autopsy lead the Stark County Coroner to believe that Nichols suffered a natural death due to heart and lung disease.
Campbell said the dog likely drank water from a nearby drainage ditch. But there were no signs of food near Nichols.
Campbell also said that a local newspaper dated April 7 was found with Nichols.
Family members are now caring for Lady.
Mary Nichols believes that Lady was with her relative the whole time he was missing.

Iceland's Volcanic Ash Cloud Shuts Down Most Of Europes Airports

LONDON (AP) — An enormous ash cloud from a remote Icelandic volcano caused the biggest flight disruption since the 2001 terrorist attacks as it drifted over northern Europe and stranded travelers on six continents. Officials said it could take days for the skies to become safe again in one of aviation's most congested areas.
The cloud, floating miles (kilometers) above Earth and capable of knocking out jet engines, wrecked travel plans for tens of thousands of people Thursday, from tourists and business travelers to politicians and royals. They couldn't see the source of their frustration — except indirectly, when the ash created vivid red and lavender sunsets.
Non-emergency flights in Britain were canceled, and most will stay grounded until at least midday Friday.
Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Belgium also closed their air space. France shut down 24 airports, including the main hub of Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Germany's Berlin and Hamburg were shut Thursday evening, and several flights out of the U.S. had to double back.

Kyla Evans, spokeswoman for air traffic service Eurocontrol, said half of all trans-Atlantic flights were expected to be canceled Friday.

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At London's Heathrow airport, normally one of the world's busiest with more than 1,200 flights and 180,000 travelers a day, passengers stared forlornly at departure boards on which every flight was listed as canceled.
"We made it all the way to takeoff on the plane. ... They even showed us the safety video," said Sarah Davis, 29, a physiotherapist from Portsmouth in southern England who was hoping to fly to Los Angeles. "I'm upset. I only get so much vacation."
A volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH'-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) glacier began erupting Wednesday for the second time in less than a month, triggering floods and shooting smoke and steam miles into the air. Video showed spectacular images of hot gases melting the thick ice, sending cascades of water thundering down the steep slopes of the volcano.
About 700 people from rural areas near the volcano were evacuated Thursday because of flash flooding, as water carrying icebergs the size of small houses rushed down the mountain. Most evacuees were allowed to return home after the floods subsided, but more flash floods are expected as long as the volcano keeps erupting, said Rognvaldur Olafsson of the Civil Protection Department.

Click to read full article from Fox News

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JMC Ministries Response

Since January 2010 we have had massive earthquake in Haiti, One of the larges earthquakes EVER Recorded in Chile', A Earthquake that just hit this week in China killing hundreds, and Now this Enormous Volcano that has erupted in Iceland.   So many disasters in just a few months and to us it just keeps confirming that we are living in the last days. Jesus Said in Matthew Chapter 24 That There would be Natural Disasters, Plagues, and Pestilence as the world has never before seen.  Everything that has been going on definitely can be declared as signs of the end of time.

It is a scary time we live in today but we also can rejoice because we know that everyday that passes we are getting closer and closer to going home to heaven and living with Jesus Eternally. We must Rejoice the Lord in the face of the disasters that are happening, rejoice when we are persecuted, Because Jesus is coming soon.

San Antonio Opens Homeless Haven

Russia Stops Adoptions To U.S

Click to read full story at Fox News

MOSCOW -- Russia has suspended all adoptions to U.S. families until the two countries can agree on procedures, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday -- a week after an American woman sent her 7-year-old adopted son back to Russia on a plane by himself.

The boy's return -- without supervision or explanation aside from a note he carried from his adoptive mother saying he had psychological problems -- incensed Russian authorities and the public, and prompted aggressive media coverage of foreign adoptions.

A U.S. delegation will visit Moscow "in the next few days" to discuss a possible bilateral adoption agreement, ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.

"Russia believes that only such an agreement which will contain effective tools for Russian and U.S. officials to monitor the living conditions of adopted Russian children will ensure that recent tragedies in the United States will not be repeated," Nesterenko said in a televised briefing.

The Tennessee woman who sent back her adopted Russian son last Thursday claimed she had been misled by his Russian orphanage about his condition.

Russians were outraged that no charges were filed against her in the United States.

"How can we prosecute a person who abused the rights of a Russian child abroad?" Russia's children's rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, said in a televised interview Wednesday. "If there was an adoption treaty in place, we would have legal means to protect Russian children abroad.

Some 3,000 U.S. applications for adopting Russian children are now pending, according to the Joint Council on International Children's Services, which represents many U.S. agencies engaged in international adoption.

But the numbers have declined sharply in recent years -- with only 1,586 U.S. adoptions from Russia last year, compared with more than 5,800 in 2004.

Russia itself has been a big factor in the drop-off, adoption experts said, citing a perception that many children from Russian orphanages can present special challenges, due to such conditions as fetal alcohol syndrome.

Russian lawmakers for years have nevertheless suggested suspending such adoptions, after other cases of abuse and even killings of Russian children adopted in the United States.

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JMC Ministries shared this story about the woman who put this little boy on a plane and basically did a “return to sender” and abandoned her son. To read the this article click

Russia to put Freeze on Adoptions After U.S woman Returns Adopted Son

US: Govt Calls preaching Clear and Present Danger

Evangelist Arrested for Preaching Near Liberty Bell from Repent America on Vimeo.

Click to read full story from World Net Daily

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Liberty Bell engraving that states: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

A panel of judges at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today heard arguments that free speech should be allowed on public property at the site of the famous Liberty Bell, which itself quotes from the Bible in stating, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

The arguments came in a case involving Michael Marcavage, a minister whose work includes street preaching. He was fined and put on probation for preaching to the public on a sidewalk outside the Liberty Bell center after a trial in which government prosecutors described his message and actions as a "clear and present danger."

The case began in October 2007 when Marcavage, director of the Repent America ministry, was arrested by supervising U.S. Park Ranger Alan Saperstein.

Marcavage ultimately was charged with violating a so-called "verbal permit" and "interfering with agency functions."

It was Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Goldberg during the June 2008 trial who argued Marcavage's peaceful preaching presented a "clear and present danger." Goldberg asked the judge to send a message not only to Marcavage but to anyone who would stand on public property and share their beliefs without government permission.

According to Marcavage, Independence National Historical Park Law Enforcement Specialist Donald Reed recently reaffirmed that free speech activities are banned on any of the public sidewalks surrounding the park that align city streets without first obtaining government permission. Even with a permit, the activities must be confined to a designated "free speech zone."

"In Philadelphia, the birthplace of American freedom, at the site of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, freedom is under attack by the very government that was established here to protect it," Marcavage said.

"The blessings of liberty that God bestowed upon our nation continue to be lost while the Gospel of Jesus Christ is silenced," he continued. "If the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the ruling and finds that the federal government can ban Americans from speaking to others on matters that are important to them in the public forum or without advanced government permission, then this could very well be the final nail in the coffin of our freedoms."

Marcavage told WND that based on their questioning, the three appellate judges – Michael Fisher, Thomas Hardiman and Robert Cowen – appeared to wonder about the prohibition of a Gospel message when other protesters with another message were left untouched. He noted commercial speech also was taking place in the same area where he was arrested.

"We obviously hope that what they revealed through the very hard questioning will be favorable toward freedom," Marcavage told WND.

He said it is "absurd" that Americans have to fight for the right to speak freely on a public sidewalk near Independence Hall, where much of the work writing the U.S. Constitution was done, and adjacent to the exhibit of the Liberty Bell, one of the best-known symbols of freedom in the world.

Repent America is an evangelistic organization based in Philadelphia whose leaders "know that there is a literal hell and a lake of fire where the unsaved will burn for all eternity; therefore, we act upon this truth without reservation and GO OUT into the communities of America declaring the Word of God and proclaiming the Good News."

WND reported earlier when Marcavage brought, with the help of private practice attorney C. Scott Shields, a complaint against the government over the speech infringement. That case is on hold while the current case is on appeal.

Marcavage was restricted from preaching even though Komen Breast Cancer walkers were "utilizing the same sidewalk as a forum for expressing their opinions and viewpoints," court records reveal.

"However, Mr. Marcavage was told that he couldn't stand on the … block and express his viewpoint and was instead given a verbal permit to express his viewpoint in another part of the Independence Mall, far away from where the Breast Cancer walkers were expressing their viewpoint," court records said.

6.9 magnitude Earthquake Hits China

BEIJING -- A series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous Tibetan area of western China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, officials said. Many more people were trapped and the toll was expected to rise.

The largest quake was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey as magnitude 6.9. In the aftermath, panicked people, many bleeding from their wounds, flooded the streets of a Qinghai province township where most of the homes had been flattened. Students were reportedly buried inside several damaged schools.

Paramilitary police used shovels to dig through the rubble in the town, footage on state television showed. Officials said excavators were not available and with most of the roads leading to the nearest airport damaged, equipment and rescuers would have a hard time reaching the area. Hospitals were overwhelmed, many lacking even the most basic supplies, and doctors were in short supply.

Downed phone lines, strong winds and frequent aftershocks also hindered rescue efforts, said Wu Yong, commander of the local army garrison, who said the death toll "may rise further as lots of houses collapsed."

With many people forced outside, the provincial government said it was rushing 5,000 tents and 100,000 coats and blankets to the mountainous region, at around 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) -high and where night time temperatures plunge below freezing.

Workers were racing to release water from a reservoir in the disaster area where a crack had formed after the quake to prevent a flood, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

The Wednesday quake, which struck at 7:49 a.m. local time (2349 GMT, 7:49 p.m. EDT), was centered on Yushu county, in the southern part of Qinghai, near Tibet, with a population of about 100,000, mostly herders and farmers.

The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registering 5.0 or higher. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the largest quake's magnitude at 7.1. Qinghai averages more than five earthquakes a year of at least magnitude 5.0, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. They normally do not cause much damage in the sparsely populated province.

Residents fled as the ground shook, toppling houses made of mud and wood, as well as temples, gas stations, electric poles and the top of a Buddhist pagoda in a park, witnesses and state media said. The quake also triggered landslides, Xinhua said.

"Nearly all the houses made of mud and wood collapsed. There was so much dust in the air, we couldn't see anything," said Ren Yu, general manager of Yushu Hotel in Jiegu, the county's main town. "There was a lot of panic. People were crying on the streets. Some of our staff, who were reunited with their parents, were also in tears."

More than 100 guests of the hotel, which was relatively undamaged, were evacuated to open spaces such as public squares, Ren told The Associated Press by phone. After transporting guests to safety, hotel staff then helped in rescue efforts in other buildings, Ren said.

"We pulled out 70 people, but some of them died on the way to the hospital," Ren said, adding other survivors were put in tents in the hotel yard while they awaited assistance.

The death toll rose to about 400 by afternoon, according to China Central Television. Emergency official Pubucairen, who goes by only one name, was quoted as saying that the number of injured has risen to more than 10,000. The official said rescuers were treating the injured at hospitals, race tracks and sports stadiums.

President Hu Jintao sent a vice premier to supervise rescue efforts and more than 5,000 soldiers, medical workers and other rescuers were mobilized, joining 700 soldiers already on the ground, Xinhua said. A message of sympathy also came from the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of the often fervently Buddhist Tibetans who is reviled by Chinese leaders.

Click to read Full Story from Fox News

Christian Singer Song writer Jennifer Knapp Announces She Is Gay

 Jennifer Knapp is a lesbian. Kind of. She resists the label, insisting that it feels unnatural and foreign, that she’s just the Jennifer Knapp she’s always been, just with a significant relationship with a woman. As Knapp sings on “Inside,” the track from Letting Go that “I play when I get angry,” what Knapp fears the most is that “I know they’ll bury me / Before they hear the whole story.” Her sexuality is certainly part of why Knapp left music and dropped out of sight to the other side of the world for nearly a decade. She fell in love with her girlfriend (whose name she chooses to not reveal), and after eight years together, there’s no denying that anymore. But there were also conflicts with her business partner (with whom she had a hand in the early Christian music career of Katy Hudson, who has gone on to kiss her own girls as Katy Perry). Music had become about work instead of about joy. And then there was the rift between her faith and her sexuality. “I thought I had to exchange one for the other,” she says.

It’s a struggle familiar to most gay people, even those who haven’t had to make room for sex and God, often uncomfortable bedfellows. Choosing to come out can still mean choosing away from family and friends who just can’t accept us as well as making institutions like marriage and parenthood exponentially more difficult to access. For Knapp, the process of bringing faith and sexuality into a coherent self required her to step away from her life and career in the U.S. The music that had spoken through her voice and hands became completely alienating. “I would think, I don’t even have a right to sing a song I wrote, because I am a hypocrite,” she says. Knapp spent her first three years as “a PlayStation guru,” and, when she tired of that, spent four years working at everything but music. She didn’t even pick up a guitar until her last year in Sydney. “I was building something new, starting something fresh,” she says. “I had to go someplace that would completely redefine my perspective of who I was in the universe.”

Knapp no longer feels like being gay and being Christian are in opposition, even if others do. “I’m quite comfortable to live with parts of myself that don’t make sense to you,” she says. She acknowledges that such peace is hard-won in her community. “I keep running across people living closeted, who have literally chosen one or the other,” Knapp marvels. And she knows she risks losing some of her biggest fans when word of her sexuality goes public. “I think it’s going to be shocking and feel like a betrayal to some people who live their spiritual lives through the music they listen to,” says Knapp. That’s part of why she’s decided to come out in advance of the record — she doesn’t want people to love her music and then discover that their own values won’t let them sing along full-throated.

This is just a piece of an interview that Jennifer did with ADVOCATE.com.  It is very sad that some who call themselves Christians are living their lives against the teachings of the bible and believe that there is nothing wrong with it. Then in turn spreading this false teaching that God accepts anything that you do and it is not a sin to just live your life as you choose with no consequences. But there are.....

^{Leviticus 18:22}

²² " 'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

1 Corinthians 6:9, 10

⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ¹⁰nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

^{Romans 1:24-28}

²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. ²⁶Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.  

  

If it is OK to live this kind of lifestyle then why are these scriptures in the bible? Why was Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed if this kind of lifestyle is not sinful in the eyes of God?

It is said that people who practice homosexuality (especially men) have a higher risk of contracting HIV and AIDS. If this lifestyle is OK then why are there more chances to catch a life threatening disease and die from it than a normal man and woman relationship?

Because you are taking out of the context of what God created it for and they are using it for their own selfish desires. Ms. Knapp believes that being Gay and having a relationship with God can go hand in hand. How can this be, when God cannot even look upon sin? So how can you be hand in hand with him? 

We brothers and sisters in Christ need to lift Jennifer Knapp up in prayer, and that she see that what she is living is a lie and that she is being deceived by Satan. Not just pray for Jennifer but also Ray Boltz another Christian Artist that just in the past 2 years came out that he was Gay and he believes the same as Jennifer that it is ok and that God loves us and accepts us no matter what. We are sure that there are many more out there who are believing the lies like Jennifer and Ray are. And WE must pray for them and ask in Jesus name that the veil of deception be torn from their eyes and that they see the TRUTH For The TRUTH will Set you Free.

Jews Honor Holocaust Victims and the tragic death of Poland’s President

click to read original article from Fox News

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thousand of young Jews and Holocaust survivors are marching at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz to remember those who perished in the Holocaust and honor Poland's late president.

Some 10,000 people from around the world are walking between the Auschwitz and Birkenau sections of the death camp where the Nazis killed more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, during World War II.

Many marchers are wearing black armbands, and black ribbons top their white-and-blue Israeli flags, in memory of Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria who were killed Saturday with other top officials en route to WWII-era observances in western Russia.

Reports of of Anti-Semitic incidents against Jews doubled last year

Click to read original article from Fox News

JERUSALEM (AP) — Violent attacks against Jews worldwide more than doubled last year, fueled by a Muslim backlash in Europe in the aftermath of Israel's invasion of Gaza, according to a report released Sunday.

The Tel Aviv University study reported 1,129 anti-Semitic incidents last year, ranging from vandalism and arson against Jewish targets to beatings of Jews. The figure, up from 559 incidents the previous year, was the highest since the survey began more than 20 years ago.

The steepest increase in anti-Semitic violence occurred in Western Europe, especially Britain and France, where protests and anger by Muslim residents boiled over after Israel's invasion of Gaza in December 2008, said the report, compiled by the university's Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism.

The Israeli invasion, launched in response to years of Palestinian rocket attacks, killed some 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, according to local officials and human rights groups. Thirteen Israelis also died in the fighting.

Dina Porat, the report's editor, said protests against the war often led to incitement, which in turn erupted into physical violence. "The political goals are imbued with anti-Jewish sentiment, equations of Jews to Nazis," she said.

She said the study tracked only instances of physical violence against Jewish targets. "Verbal violence is violence of course, but we don't count it. Violence we regard as physical, and here we have clear indications."

For the first time in the report's history, incidents carried out by Muslims eclipsed those by right-wing extremists in cases where the perpetrator was identified, the report said.

Incidents in Britain shot up to 374 from 112 in 2008, and to 195 from 50 in France.

The United States registered only a slight increase, according to the study.

Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, which sponsors the report, said that the rise of anti-Semitic sentiment in Western Europe can be blamed on forces outside the region.

"This new phenomenon is financed and organized by pro-Islamic, pro-terrorist organizations and states," Kantor said.

The university issued its report on the eve of Israel's annual memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust.