NEW YORK, March 31 /Christian Wire Service/ — Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the latest attempt to debunk Jesus:
"Since 1996, there has never been a year when the media didn’t offer us the same Easter present: the Jesus that Christians believe in is a hoax. During this period, ABC aired three shows that raised questions about the divinity of Jesus; Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Discovery Channel and NPR each made two contributions; and PBS aired one. And on April 2, NBC’s ‘Dateline’ will make its first presentation.
"The guest on ‘Dateline’ is Michael Baigent, whose new book, The Jesus Papers, has as its subtitle, Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History. The book debuted this week, a date the publisher, Harper, said was chosen more than a year ago to coincide with Easter. How thoughtful.
"Baigent, who is currently suing another fraud, Dan Brown of Da Vinci Code fame, contends in his latest fable that Jesus wasn’t divine (just a handy carpenter) and wasn’t born of a virgin birth. Naturally, he married Mary Magdalene and sired a child. This is old hat by now, but what makes this book so special is the revelation that Jesus didn’t die on the cross — he simply took off to recuperate. Get it? Now we know why the tomb was empty.
"In other words, those who crucified Jesus were incompetent. And all Jesus needed was a little R&R and he was good to go — to Home Depot or Lowes — wherever he could continue his trade.
"Baignet claims his book is non-fiction. But he once told us that the 1982 book that he co-authored, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, was non-fiction; he now admits it is ‘historical conjecture.’ In other words, he lied. When he was recently asked where he got the proof that Jesus was alive in A.D. 45, he said he got it from reports about a book he cannot find (I’m not making this up!). When asked how he knows the tomb was empty because Jesus needed some R&R, he said, ‘Unfortunately, in this case, there are no facts.’ Put differently, the guy is a crook and ‘Dateline’ has been had."
Posted by Walt as Apostasy at 9:29 PM EST
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Horror imagery distributed in Catholic Churches throughout North America by largest Catholic publisher.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 20, 2006 — The nation’s largest publisher of Catholic hymnals and missals, supplying two-thirds of U.S. Catholic churches, is promoting artwork filled with satanic pornography and occult imagery, including the swastika.
Michael A. Calace, who produced the feature film documentary “Rape of the Soul,” which profiles embedded imagery in both historical and contemporary religious art, discusses the sexual, satanic and occult imagery embeds, along with a variety of world-renowned experts.
Calace stated, “Use of the swastika is a hate crime, and is an image consistent in what is being promoted by most trusted Catholic organizations as an underlying message.”
Mr. Calace, an American Catholic and visual artist, showcases embedded images in religious art by literally identifying and extracting them, as major Catholic archdioceses, priests and organizations continue to requisition, approve, promote and execute such blasphemous imagery.
“Sex and horror is the fuel that promotes the scandalous behavior in the Church, not only from priests themselves, but also from ordinary people that view this material which is found directly in the pews of Churches as well as the Internet. This is the answer why, and Church leaders don’t have to look very far, because the problem is coming from within the Church itself,” said Mr. Calace.
Silver Sword International is the motion picture company that has produced feature film documentary, “Rape of the Soul,” (www.rapeofthesoul.com) showing theatrically in select cities.
For further information or interviews, please call Alyson Dutch at 310.456.7151.
Posted by Walt as Apostasy, General at 11:41 AM EST
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By Rev Michael Bresciani
We could choose dozens of references to the second coming to show that these are the times predicted just prior to the second coming. For example Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of wars. It is no secret that most of the wars fought throughout history have been fought in the last seventy five years. Or that most of the earthquakes ever recorded have taken place in the last twenty five years. But it is not these general signs that give us the greatest insight into the timing of the second coming. It is the four pillars of prophecy that place us smack in the middle of the last generation before Christ’s return. The four pillars are as follows.
• The re-birth of the nation of Israel. The Jewish people will possess the same general area as ancient Israel and be in full possession of the city of Jerusalem. Hosea 2:14:23, Ezekiel 16:58-63, Ezekiel 37:27-27
• The birth of a nation in the same general geographic
area as the old Roman Empire. Daniel 2:lf. Daniel 7:lf. Rev. 17:lf
• The building of a new temple in Jerusalem where oblations and burnt sacrifices will be offered daily by the Jewish priesthood. Ezekiel 40: 1f
• The rise out of the European continent of the world’s last, and worst dictator. He will present himself to the world as its very savior in the new Jewish temple, which causes the final judgments to fall on the earth, Gods wrath, Armageddon and the physical and literal return of Jesus Christ to the earth. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. 1John 2:18-27.2, John 1:7, Daniel 7:8- 20, Daniel 8:23-25, Mt. 24:24, Rev.16:lf, Rev.13:11-18
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Posted by Walt as Prophecy at 10:07 AM EST
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by Sharon Hughes
email: Sharon@changingworldviews.com
website: ChangingWorldviews.com
Actor Rob Reiner, who gained his fame as ‘Meathead’ on the popular All in the Family sitcom, has successfully taken his liberal television political views to California’s government. But he has his eyes on the nation as well. The Washington Post describes his "dual crusade: to change the direction of politics and to improve the performance of kids in schools. He bids, someday, to be the Democrats’ answer to Ronald Reagan."
It was just a few years ago, in 1998, when Reiner’s Prop 10 passed and got him appointed as the first Chair of First 5 California Children and Families Commission by Governor Gray Davis, to implement Prop 10’s "health care, preschool and other critical services to prepare them (preschoolers) to succeed in school."
Prop 10 put a 50-cent per pack tax on cigarettes and has generated more than $4 billion since 1999, with 20 percent of the money going to First 5. In 2004-05 alone First 5’s share of the money was $119 million. Today Reiner and his commission are facing a full-scale audit into allegations they used government money to promote his newest initiative, Prop 82, which will be on California’s June ballot. If passed, Prop 82 will establish universal preschool for all 4 year olds in the Golden State.
But what’s Reiner and his campaign not telling us about his newest initiative?
First, what Reiner says Prop 82 will do:
- Establish "free" voluntary, half-day state/government-run preschools for all 4-year-olds regardless of want or need.
- Will be funded by taxing the top 1.7% of income earners in California, increasing taxes to 11% on individuals with taxable income of $400,000 / couples of $800,000 or more.
- Will Cost an estimated $2.3 billion a year. (That’s $8,000 per child which is more than some kindergarten through Grade12 schools pay for a full day.
- Requires all pre-school teachers to have a Bachelor’s Degree.
- Kids who go to preschool will do better in kindergarten and elementary school, graduate from high school, attend college, get better jobs with higher salaries and become happy consumers who will be less likely to do drugs and commit crimes than those who don’t go to preschool.
- Based on a RAND Corporation study (funded by the pro-universal-preschool Packard Foundation) claims for every $1 spent on preschool, society will get back $2.62 in long-term benefits such as better student performance and lower crime.
What Reiner is not telling you:
Claiming he consulted with educational experts, interestingly Reiner failed to sit down with any associations representing preschools. He failed to consult with any of the California K-12 school reform groups. And he never talked with any home-schooling organizations. So, who did he consult? The existing interlocking layers of dysfunctional bureaucracy, California state, county and district levels of education, where parents, voters and taxpayers have very little say or control. Prop 82 will hand preschools over to the same bureaucracy.
Reiner also fails to consider the substantial analysis and findings on the effects of early preschool on under 5 year olds in his efforts to gain preschool for all. Consider:
Stanford University Findings:
In their review, "How Much is Too Much? - the Influence of Preschool Centers on Children’s Development Nationwide’ they detail their analysis which utilized data from 14,162 kindergartners and their parents and teachers. Which found that children from poor families had gains in cognitive skills when attending preschools by about 10%, and double that for English-proficient Hispanic children. However, they also found that there is less evidence of cognitive skill gains for youngsters from middle-class home, or for other children from lower-income families compared with their counterparts who remain at home with a parent.
The Stanford study also states that there is little known about possible impacts from the duration (the age at which children enter preschool) or the intensity (hours enrolled each week) of attendance. And that attendance in preschool centers, even for short periods of time each week, hinders the rate at which young children develop social skills and display the motivation to engage classroom tasks. This confirms other studies showing increased behavior problems caused by out of home care.
More Findings:
In January 2006, UC Santa Barbara researchers found that whatever student achievement gains can be attributed to preschool attendance largely evaporates after a few years in elementary school. In other words, by about 2nd grade skill levels of children who attended preschool and those who did not were the same and remained so throughout the rest of their education.
UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Fuller issued a study last year that examined research on teacher education and preschool, and found that studies claiming to show a connection between teachers holding bachelor’s degrees and better student performance were statistically and methodologically flawed.
Georgetown University Professor William Gormley admits a universal pre-K program may or may not be the best path to school readiness. There is inconsistent evidence as to whether universal preschool helps improve the short-term performance of middle and upper-income children.
Other information to consider:
Lance T. Izumi, Director of Education Studies and Senior Fellow in California studies at the Pacific Research Institute says about Prop 82 specifically, "Preschool for all is a seductive proposition, but the reality is that the purported benefits would likely be much less than what Rob Reiner and his cohorts are promising. And with experts arguing that Reiner’s cost estimate of $2 billion is way too low, universal preschool looks to be a very expensive bad idea."
John Bruer, author of “The Myth of the First Three Years” and President of the James S. McDonnel Foundation writes," Brain science has nothing to say about what happens to babies’ brains when parents read to them. There’s nothing wrong with reading, but in other cultures they’re not as concerned with it as we are. We have to be careful in our attempts to use biology to justify our values. Human children thrive under a great variety of social and cultural conditions. Yes, kids should be ready to read when they start school. But starting at age 7 is not a biological constraint."
Dr. Karen Effrem, pediatrician, and board member of the ICSPP (International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology) said regarding this issue, "There is a significant element of indoctrination in these programs as evidenced by the Head Start national standards and the National Association for the Education of Young Children standards that bring up issues of gender identity, homosexuality, environmentalism, and social activism with three and four year olds. Preschool does not raise test scores. Despite a quadrupling of the number of four year olds attending preschool nationally over the past 40 years, test scores in reading, math, and science have remained stagnant over the same period.” See her testimony before the Minnesota Senate Early Childhood Finance Division: Dr. Karen Effrem Testimony Against SF 2841 - Preschool Socioemotional Screening
And just for the record, Paul Haubner, a specialist for the National Education Association has said, "The schools cannot allow parents to influence the kind of values-education their children receive in school; that is what is wrong with those who say there is a universal system of values. Our (humanistic) goals are incompatible with theirs. We must change their values.“
I don’t think so!
When looking at Prop 82, or any universal preschool-for-all proposals, we need to keep in mind that while little kids need and deserve a secure place to spend their days where they can grow and develop during the first 5 years of life, that home is still a child’s best "preschool" for the vast majority of American children. If mom must work, daycare is a better alternative. More on that in Part II.
Sharon Hughes is President of The Center for Changing Worldviews and a radio talk show host on KDIA in San Francisco, RIGHTALK.com, and online at Oneplace.com. Her column appears in many recognized news sites and publications, most recently FRONTPAGEMAG, Publius Pundit and NewsBusters.org. For further information visit her Website http://www.changingworldviews.com/; Blogsite http://changingworldviews.blogspot.com/ and new WOMANTalk Blog http://womantalkblog.blogspot.com/
Or Contact: sharon@changingworldviews.com
Changing Worldviews
P.O. Box 750624
Petaluma, CA 94975-0624
Posted by Walt as Family Values, Social Issues at 2:32 AM EST
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The most obvious traits exhibited may not always indicate the best prospect for a new pastor.
We do not have a happy report to give. We have not been able to find a
suitable candidate for this church, though we have one promising prospect.
Thank you for your suggestions. We have followed up on each one with
interviews or by calling at least three references. The following is our
confidential report.
ADAM: Good man but has problems with his wife. One reference told us how he
and his wife enjoyed walking nude in the woods.
NOAH: Former pastorate of 120 years with no converts. Prone to unrealistic
building projects.
JOSEPH: A big thinker, but a braggart; believes in dream interpreting and
has a prison record.
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Posted by Walt as Humor at 11:21 AM EST
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WASHINGTON, March 17 Christian Wire Service/ — Concerned Women for America (CWA) expressed outrage that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still refuses to pull the abortion pill RU-486 from the market even after announcing today that two more women who took the drug have died.
"The FDA has pulled other drugs that have caused fewer deaths and less severe complications than RU-486. Why the double-standard for an abortion drug that is now linked to the deaths of seven healthy women and over 800 other reported complications?" stated Wendy Wright, president of CWA.
The FDA admits that only 10 percent of complications suffered by patients from drugs get reported. Over 800 complications due to RU-486 have been reported to the FDA.
"Two more families are grieving because the FDA refuses to pull this dangerous drug from the market," said Wright. "By giving its approval, FDA participates in the deception that RU-486 is ‘safe.’ How many women must die before the FDA will act? Are their lives less important than making abortion convenient?"
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Posted by Walt as News Events, Social Issues at 11:43 PM EST
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University of Wisconsin–Madison officials warned against ceding to de-funding demand.
MADISON, Wis. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund’s Center for Academic Freedom have written a letter to University of Wisconsin–Madison officials in response to demands made by the Freedom from Religion Foundation that the school de-fund a Catholic student organization.
“Universities are supposed to be the marketplace of ideas,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David French. “Eliminating funding in order to placate an outside political organization amounts to viewpoint discrimination. We have written to the university to remind it that the law requires that its students and student organizations have equal rights to free speech and student fee funding. FFRF’s demands have no merit.”
FFRF’s Feb. 26 letter to school officials complained about funding allocated to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Roman Catholic Foundation. FFRF argued the university should de-fund UWRCF simply because the student group speaks from a Catholic viewpoint. On behalf of UWRCF and in response to FFRF’s demands, ADF issued a letter to university clarifying the law and noting the university cannot de-fund a group simply because it dislikes its message.
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Posted by Walt as Constitutional Issues at 11:31 PM EST
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Last month, more than 200 villagers in Haryana, India, had gathered in the courtyard of a believer’s home to watch the Man of Mercy film on the life of Jesus. Villagers watched with great interest. Some had even flocked outside the crowded courtyard’s four-foot wall to view the movie.
William and Eno, the Gospel for Asia missionaries showing Man of Mercy, thanked the Lord for bringing such a gathering. They prayed He would use this outreach opportunity for the salvation of many.
About an hour into the film, a group of young Hindu militants suddenly approached with threats and started beating the two young missionaries. Other believers tried to intervene but were unsuccessful in driving away the violent mob. The beatings and threats continued until finally, about 45 minutes later, police came and took control of the situation. But as soon as they left, another mob of close to 1,000 people surrounded the believer’s house, yelling out anti-Christian slogans and threatening those inside. Miraculously, God intervened and the owner was able to keep them from entering his property.
Hard as it may be to believe, this incident is only one among a growing number of recent reports citing persecution of believers in India.
"If this were an isolated incident," shares K.P. Yohannan, GFA founder and president, "it would still be extremely serious. But it is worse. All across India, Hindu radicals are openly attacking Christians, and the situation is getting more and more difficult for the believers. It seems as if the radical Hindus have all but declared war on Christians."
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Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 2:26 PM EST
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WASHINGTON, Mar. 3 /Christian Wire Service/ — The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that three pastors were severely attacked by a group of Hindu fundamentalists on February 26. They were released from a hospital in Maharashtra state on March 1. All three had received serious injuries to their heads, shoulders and legs.
The incident took place in Nere village, Panvel Taluka in Raigad district, near the state capital, Mumbai, at about 6:30 pm on Sunday while Rev. K.M. Philip, Rev. Biju Samuel and Rev. Reggie Thomas were leaving for a prayer meeting. The attackers were allegedly from the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP).
The victims belong to a Christian non-profit, Social and Evangelical Association for Love (SEAL), which works for the rehabilitation of neglected children, terminally ill and destitute people found on the streets and railway platforms. SEAL, which was founded by Philip, runs a home for the destitute at Vankani village, about 2 km from Nere, where the incident took place.
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Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 7:40 AM EST
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A Gospel for Asia native missionary and several other believers are in jail today because of a plot by radical Hindus to frame them for the murder of a child.
The 16-month-old child was suffering from a prolonged illness and was under medical care in Rajasthan, India. Because the parents had quarreled with the pastor’s family over some land, when the child died the radical Hindus saw an opportunity to place the blame on the Christians.
Apparently, members of a local Hindu political party advised the parents to dash their dead child’s body against some rocks, breaking its bones. They then took the body to a doctor for a post-mortem examination.
Only after threats from the radical Hindus did the physician reluctantly file a false report, citing murder as the cause. Then the radicals advised the parents to file murder charges against, among others, a GFA missionary and nine other Believers Church members, saying that the murder was part of a plot to grab land for a church building.
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Posted by Walt as Persecuted Church at 7:39 AM EST
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