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.

West Virginia Coal Mine Tragedy of 2010

COMFORT, W.Va. (AP) — Time stopped five days ago for the families of 29 coal miners killed in the devastating explosion at Upper Big Branch mine.

As thousands waited, hoping for any word someone might have survived Monday's blast, life in coal country chugged on, men trudging underground day and night to fill the trucks and trains that haul away coal around the clock.

Mining is a way of life here. So is death.

Just miles from where families gathered to wait for news, a peddler of mining gear did brisk business and tired miners covered in coal dust picked up pizzas at the end of their shifts. In the quiet, humble neighborhoods that hug the Big Coal River, the work never stopped.

"When the World Trade Center was bombed, the world didn't shut down," said James Lipford, 38, a miner from Seth who was driving to the V-Mart convenience store early Saturday when he heard the last four bodies had been found deep inside Massey Energy Co.'s mine in Montcoal.

He knew three of those killed and worried all week, but never thought about quitting. After all, he says, coal company shareholders still expect profits. Homeowners expect to be able to turn on their lights with electricity generated by coal. His family expects him to bring home a paycheck so they can buy groceries.

"We go with a heavy heart," he said, "but you have to go."

It was the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since 1970, when an explosion killed 38 in Hyden, Ky.

Seven bodies were pulled from Upper Big Branch immediately after Monday's blast, but dangerous gases forced rescue crews out and it took days for them to get back in. They hoped four miners they had not accounted for might somehow have made it to a refuge chamber stocked with food, water and oxygen, but word came early Saturday that all had been found dead.

Crews realized late Friday they had walked past the four bodies that first day, but could not see them because the air was so smoky and dusty. The massive blast left the inside of the mine a mess of twisted tracks, boulders and debris. Two other miners were injured and one remains hospitalized.

Twenty-eight of those killed worked for Virginia-based Massey and one was a contract worker for the company, which has been under scrutiny since the explosion for a string of safety violations at the mine. CEO Don Blankenship, who was with the families when they learned the miners were dead, has strongly defended the company's record and disputed accusations from miners that he puts coal profits ahead of safety.

Officials have not said what caused the blast, though they believe high levels of methane gas may have played a role. Massey has been repeatedly cited and fined for problems with the system that vents methane and for allowing combustible dust to build up.

President Barack Obama said Saturday that steps must be taken to make sure such an explosion does not happen again.

"We cannot bring back the men we lost," he said in a statement. "What we can do, in their memory, is thoroughly investigate this tragedy and demand accountability."

A team of federal investigators will arrive Monday, but for now the focus is on burying the dead and removing the remaining bodies, a grim process that started Saturday.

A complete list of victims has not been released, but most of the names are public knowledge. In the hollows studded with blooming redbuds, everybody knows everybody, and word spreads fast.

Four funerals were held Friday, with more scheduled for the weekend. Nearly two dozen will follow in the weeks ahead.

At Jarrell's General Merchandise in Dry Creek, clerk Lavon Collins thought about her friends and neighbors and the three dead men she knew, all from the small communities along Clear Fork Road.

"You'll never, ever forget, but you have to go on," Collins said.

Rock Creek barber Mark Aliff came into Jarrell's to buy spray paint and nails so he could add to the hundreds of handmade signs supporting the miners that dot yards, porches and fences across the valley. He knew some of the victims, too, young men whose hair he has cut for nearly 25 years.

"I watched them grow into the coal miners they were today," said Aliff, who woke to blaring ambulance sirens around midnight Friday and nudged his wife awake.

"They got somebody out alive and they were getting him an ambulance is what I was hoping," he said, his voice trailing off.

Aliff hauled the red paint to his shop to write a message aimed at not just the miners' families, but the larger family of the coalfields.

"It's going to say 'God Bless Our Coal Miners and Families' to include everybody else that's not a coal miner but has a friend or somebody that's in the mines," he said. "I want to include everyone."

Here, mining and logging are the most reliable and lucrative ways to earn a living. Coal mining pays well and the work is relatively stable, an attractive option for young men not interested in college.

"A lot of people look at mining as a job for the uneducated, for the impoverished," said Jonathan Word, 21, whose great-grandfather died in a mining explosion decades ago. "But it's just a job, and they've got to support themselves."

Rob Lemon, who works at a mine up the road from Upper Big Branch, thinks about the risks every day. This week has made him think about his wife and daughters, and how it would be for them to live through a disaster like this, waiting a week to learn whether he had lived or died.

"It reminds you of how dangerous it is and it can be," Lemon said. "But we still all have a job to do."

In Whitesville, there is only one restaurant amid the boarded-up stores. And two funeral homes.

Just about everyone in town has a story about a miner who narrowly escaped death underground.

Sticking to the semblance of a routine helps them cope with the latest tragedy.

Click to read full article from Fox News

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JMC Ministries Response

Written by Miranda Caverley

As the great Granddaughter of a Coal Mine worker, my heart goes out to all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.

My Great Grandpa worked in the coal mine for years and barely made enough money to provide for his family. He stood over 6 feet tall but due to the constant bending and being hunched over working in the mines he eventually became permanently hunched over.  My Great Grandpa was a coal mine worker, a preacher and a wonderful man of God. He worked hard just like these men still do to provide Americans electricity and necessities of life. This is one of the most dangerous jobs in our Country and day after day these people go to work in spite of the health risks and the dangers to provide for their families and also for us the U.S citizens.

Let us not forget what has happened not only this past week but all the other mining tragedies that have happened through out the years. They should NOT Be forgotten.

We salute you and thank you the U.S Coal Miner. May God Bless you and keep you safe.

Westboro Baptist Church Is A Cult Spreading a Message of Hate

Click to read original article at Christian News Wire

CHARLESTON, W.V., April 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Thursday, April 8, the Westboro Baptist Church showed up in Charleston, West Virginia to protest. They said the Upper Big Branch Coal Mine accident happened because God is punishing America for homosexuality.
One flier said, "God hates WV! The dead miners are in Hell!" Signs proclaimed: "America Is Doomed," "Thank God for Dead Miners," "God Hates Your Tears," "God Hates West Virginia" and "God Hates You."
The Westboro Baptist Church is a cult and is not an evangelical church. They are a cult because they say they speak for God and they do not -- they are false prophets.
It is good to protest on various issues, including homosexuality. However, it is not good to say that God is saying something when He is not.
Whenever people speak, the message must line up with the Bible. We know that the Bible speaks against homosexuality. This is not even a debate.
However, the problem with the Westboro cult is that they personalize their messages against innocent individual soldiers or miners who were just doing their jobs.
Westboro uses the word 'hate' too loosely. They do not talk about forgiveness. Frankly, we are all doomed without the forgiveness of the Lord, even if we are not practicing some big sin.
The innocent miners and soldiers probably do not endorse homosexuality, however, Westboro vilifies them. Also, the miners and soldiers may be fellow Christians.
Steve McConkey, ChristianInvestigator.com President, says "There are definite judgments coming on the United States if we do not repent, especially in regards to America allowing abortion to run rampant. However, the Westboro cult does not speak for God as they individualize their false prophecies against innocent people. If they want to protest homosexuality, go to cities that promote homosexuality, but stay away from innocent victims."
The Westboro Baptist Church has the right to free speech despite their hate-filled speech. They are being used by Satan to make Christians look like false prophets. Also, they give ammunition for anti-Christian forces who are trying to limit Christian free speech.
ChristianInvestigator.com is the new name for UndergroundNews.us. ChristianInvestigator.com, a branch of 4 WINDS, is a news and apologetics ministry located in Madison, Wisconsin. Steve McConkey is the President and works with Olympic track and field athletes.

ChristianInvestigator.com was started for athletes, but the vast number of readers are now non-athletes.

_____________________________________

JMC Ministries Response

This so called “church” only has one purpose: to harass people and spread hate, and it isn’t just adults doing this these people even get young children to participate in picketing U.S soldiers funerals and now  with the West Virginia Coal Mine Tragedy.

They even went as far as suing one Fallen Soldiers father after they picketed his funeral forcing the father to pay their court costs because the Father Tried Suing this “church” for what they did at his sons funeral.

Jesus never sat out on streets or went to peoples funerals and said they burn in hell. Or even that He God hates West Virginia, or even the soldiers that have lost their lives for the freedom those people use so wrongly to spread their hate speech. NO Jesus never did this. He came and showed love, compassion and forgiveness.

This is clearly an example of what Jesus called as false prophets and false teachings. We must pray for these people and the children that are caught up in this hate and damnation judgment of others pray they find the truth  because the TRUTH sets us free.

7 year old boy Returns Stolen Money

Click to read original Story from Fox 59

RICHMOND, IN - A seven year-old boy found a folder full of stolen money cashed from security checks at a local non-profit agency. He knew he couldn't keep it, he said it was the right thing to return the money to its rightful owners.
A seven year-old boy made a huge discovery on the side of Interstate 70 in Richmond. Gregory Payne III, who lives in Catlettsburg, Kentucky was visiting his grandmother in Richmond, Ind. for spring break when he noticed something beyond her backyard.
He said he was cleaning, when he spotted folders beyond the fence near the interstate.
"I thought it was somebody's homework," said Payne.
Inside the folders he found documents and $1400 in cash.
"What would be the right thing to do?" his mother asked.
Gregory told his mom he felt he should return the money. The folders had been stolen from a safe at the non-profit Achieva Resources just a few blocks away. Achieva provides assisted living for the developmentally disabled and helps children with disabilities.
"I would have loved to have kept it but I wanted to do the right thing," said the soft spoken young man.
"The first thing I thought was a seven year-old old boy to be that honest it was amazing," said Dan Stewart, CEO of Achieva.
The money had just been cashed from eight of the disabled residents social security checks. Stewart said some of the money had been deposited in the bank but the cash was meant for spending money for things like food and clothing.
Achieva held a special celebration to thank Gregory for his selfless act returning the money and gave him a $100 reward.
His mom, Stephanie Mann, was extremely proud.
"These people really have very little, so to take anything away from them was so sad, but to be able to give it back was even sweeter," said Stephanie Mann.
Her son clearly felt good about his decision.
Gregory's lesson: "Always do the right thing."

Copyright © 2010, WXIN-TV, Indianapolis

Indiana School Students Fight to Keep Prayer at Graduation

An Indiana public school board is not giving up its school prayer without a fight.

In a rare decision, Greenwood High School is fighting to keep its years-long tradition of holding a student-led prayer during graduation ceremonies.

"For us to just kowtow and just say, 'Yes, sir. Sorry, sir,' well, we're not going to do that," said school board president Joe Farley. "This board is prepared to take on the courts."

In September, members of Greenwood's senior class gathered in the auditorium to vote on whether to include a prayer in their graduation ceremony. The majority of students voted in favor of the prayer. Eric Workman, this year's top-ranked student and expected valedictorian, voted against it.

Last month, hoping to quash the tradition permanently before his May 28 commencement, Workman, now 18, filed a lawsuit with the backing of the Indiana branch of the ACLU against the school district and the high school principal.

This is just one of many similar instances of school-prayer-related controversy unfolding in districts across the country; in almost every case, prayer in school has come up short.

• In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that students at a Texas public high school could not vote to approve holding student-led prayers over the public address system during school football games.

• In 1992, a Supreme Court ruling outlawed prayers by clergy at public school graduations.

• Non-denominational prayer has also been deemed unconstitutional.

"A lot of these schools, to avoid lawsuits or fights, will settle or change their practices," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar for the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in Washington, D.C., referencing a case in Florida last year in which a complaint by a student immediately resulted in an apology and reversal in school policy district-wide.

Last month, student-led prayer offered daily through the public address system at Alabama's Alexandria High School stopped after a student questioned its legality.

"A lot of school districts take the path of least resistance," Haynes said.

The Greenwood school board president says he's well aware of what has transpired in other districts. But he said the board, with the support of the community, is prepared to spend tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a formal ruling from the courts. The school is expected to present its arguments in Indiana's federal Southern District at the end of the month.

"I think one of the reasons why people go along with the flow is you're dealing with a student and taxpayers' money. Then the ACLU gets involved and they're expecting the school to pay for everything, and you don't want to put the funds at risk.  But there just comes a time when you just have to stand up," Farley said.

Click to Read Full Article From Fox News

Atheist Still Trying to Get “Under God” Out of Pledge Of Allegiance

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

At least 40 members of Congress and more than 80,000 Americans are urging a federal appeals court to uphold the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the phrase "under God," according to a constitutional law group.

The American Center for Law and Justice, or ACLJ, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit today. According to the group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is appealing a lower-court decision that the pledge shouldn't be removed from New Hampshire schools because it embraces patriotism, not religion.

"There is absolutely no legal reason to strike the words 'under God' from the pledge and reject this time-honored tradition," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, which filed an amicus brief in the initial case in federal district court. "Once again this is nothing more than another futile attempt to rewrite history – a legal challenge that has no merit and should be rejected by the appeals court."

The ACLJ filed the amicus brief on behalf of 42 members of Congress: Sens. Sam Brownback and James Inhofe and 40 members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Reps. Robert Aderholt, Todd Akin, Rodney Alexander, Gresham Barrett, Roscoe Bartlett, Rob Bishop, Marsha Blackburn, Roy Blunt, Ken Calvert, Tom Cole, John Abney Culberson, Mario Diaz-Balart, Jeff Flake, Randy Forbes, Trent Franks, Scott Garrett, Phil Gingrey, Jeb Hensarling, Wally Herger, Peter Hoekstra, Walter Jones, Steve King, Jack Kingston, John Kline, Frank Lucas, John McHugh, Donald Manzullo, Jim Marshall, Gary Miller, Jeff Miller, Sue Wilkins Myrick, Mike Pence, Joseph Pitts, Pete Sessions, John Shadegg, John Shimkus, Mark Souder, John Sullivan, Lee Terry and Joe Wilson.

More than 80,000 Americans have signed on to the ACLJ's Committee to Protect "Under God" – including parents of children who attend public schools and wish to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety.

click to read full article from World Net Daily

Yemen: Child Bride Dies of Internal Bleeding 3 Days After Marriage

click to read original article from CNN

(CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni bride died of internal bleeding following intercourse three days after she was married off to an older man, the United Nations Children's Fund said.

The girl was married to a man at least twice her age, said Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Her death is "a painful reminder of the risks girls face when they are married too soon," Kaag said Thursday.

Amal Basha, chairwoman of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights, a Yemeni human rights group, identified the girl Friday as Elham Mahdi.

"Elham was married on March 29th and died three days later" and lived in Yemen's Hajjah province, Basha said.

The death is the latest in a series of child marriage cases in Yemen, where the minimum age to tie the knot is still under debate.

In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni girl forced into marriage died during childbirth. Her baby also died, according to the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.

Fawziya Ammodi was in labor for three days before she died of severe bleeding, said Ahmed al-Qureshi, president of the organization.

"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," al-Qureshi said.

Child brides are common in Yemen, where the United Nations estimates that one in three girls are married before age 18. Most are married off to older men with more than one wife, according to a study by Sanaa University.

For the girl's parents, marriage means the daughters are no longer a financial or moral burden. Most times, parents get a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.

"Early marriage places girls at increased risk of dropping out of school, being exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, and even losing their lives from pregnancy, childbirth and other complications," UNICEF said.

The issue of Yemeni child brides made headlines in 2008 when 10-year-old Nujood Ali was pulled out of school and married. Her husband beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.

To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.

After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.

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

Click To Read Full Article From Fox News

MOSCOW  -- A top Russian official demanded that all child adoptions by U.S. families be frozen Friday after a woman from Tennessee shipped her 7-year-old adopted Russian grandson on a one-way flight back to Moscow all alone.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the actions by the grandmother, Nancy Hansen of Shelbyville, "the last straw" in a string of U.S. adoptions gone wrong, including three in which Russian children had died in the United States. The cases have prompted outrage in Russia, where foreign adoption failures are reported with gusto.

The Russian education ministry immediately suspended the license of the group involved in the adoption -- the World Association for Children and Parents, a Renton, Washington-based agency -- for the duration of an investigation. In Tennessee, authorities were investigating the adoptive mother, Torry Hansen.

Any possible freeze could affect hundreds of American families. Last year, nearly 1,600 Russian children were adopted in the United States.

The boy, Artyom Savelyev, arrived unaccompanied in Moscow on a United Airlines flight on Thursday from Washington. Social workers sent him to a Moscow hospital on Friday for a health checkup and criticized his adoptive mother for abandoning him.

The Kremlin children's rights office said the boy was carrying a letter from his adoptive mother saying she was returning him due to severe psychological problems.

"This child is mentally unstable. He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues," the letter said. "I was lied to and misled by the Russian Orphanage workers and director regarding his mental stability and other issues. ...

"After giving my best to this child, I am sorry to say that for the safety of my family, friends, and myself, I no longer wish to parent this child."

The boy was adopted last September from the town of Partizansk in Russia's Far East.

Nancy Hansen, the grandmother, told The Associated Press that she and the boy flew to Washington and she put the child on the plane with the note from her daughter. She vehemently rejected assertions of child abandonment by Russian authorities, saying he was watched over by a United Airlines stewardess and the family paid a man $200 to pick the boy up at the Moscow airport and take him to the Russian Education and Science Ministry.

Speaking from the home in Shelbyville that she shares with her daughter, Nancy Hansen said a social worker checked on the boy in January and reported to Russian authorities that there were no problems. But after that, the grandmother said incidents of hitting, kicking, spitting began to escalate, along with threats.

"He drew a picture of our house burning down and he'll tell anybody that he's going to burn our house down with us in it," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "It got to be where you feared for your safety. It was terrible."

Nancy Hansen said she and her daughter, a single mother, went to Russia together to adopt the boy, and she believes information about his behavioral problems was withheld from her daughter.

"The Russian orphanage officials completed lied to her because they wanted to get rid of him," Nancy Hansen said.

She also said the boy was very skinny when they picked him up, and he told them he had been beaten with a broom handle at the orphanage.

Russian state television on Friday showed the child in a yellow jacket holding the hands of two chaperones as he left a police precinct and entered a van bound for a Moscow medical clinic.

The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, said he was "deeply shocked by the news" and "very angry that any family would act so callously toward a child that they had legally adopted."

Anna Orlova, a spokeswoman for Kremlin's Children Rights Commissioner, told The Associated Press that she visited the boy on Friday and he told her that his mother was "bad," "did not love him," and used to pull his hair.

Russian officials said he turned up at the door of the Russian Education and Science Ministry on Thursday afternoon accompanied by a Russian man who handed over the boy and his documents, then left, officials said. The child holds a Russian passport with a U.S. visa that expired April 4, Russian officials said.

Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, said the agency is looking into Friday's allegations, although it does not handle international adoptions.

Bedford County Sheriff Randall Boyce also said Torry Hansen is under investigation although no charges have been filed. Officers were expected to interview her Friday afternoon.

Lavrov said his ministry would recommend that the U.S. and Russia hammer out an agreement before any new adoptions are allowed.

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JMC Ministries Response

So if you don’t like the child you adopted then you just put a “Return To Sender” sign on them and put them on a plane back to their home countries? 

Unbelievable!

When you adopt a child or even have a child of your own, you don’t know what kind of personality, health problems etc this child is going to have or even if they may have mental problems. This is the risk you take bringing a child into this world. We are human and humans are not perfect! If this woman wants a perfect child she will never find one.

Obviously if this child has mental problems as this woman is saying the little boy has. Putting him on a plane back to Russia by himself and abandoning him definitely is not going to help matters.

Now Russia is trying to put a stop on all adoptions outside of the country because of this one woman's choice. And thousands of little boys and girls will continue to live in orphanages and foster homes because of this one woman who didn’t want this little boy because she claims he has mental problems.

What if Jesus would do that to us? What if he would look at us and say, well you are too messed up to be in my family and you won’t be living with me in heaven. I’m sending you back where you came from.

How horrible would that be? But Jesus didn’t say that he said, “come just as you are” He died on the cross for the remission of our sins because we cannot be perfect enough for God in our own power with out the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Only through the blood of Jesus and you asking him for forgiveness of your sins and allowing him to come into your heart that we are made perfect in his sight.

Maybe this woman needs to remember that Jesus didn’t throw us away because we weren’t perfect and loved us anyway and never left us or abandoned us.