Welcome to the March blog…and to a little March madness!
Champ chimp becomes chump after chomp
News reports quoted the owner of the “mad chimpanzee,” which had bitten off the hands and face of a neighbor lady, as saying that she had given the normally well-mannered chimp a dose of Xanax before he went wild. She later retracted that story. I wonder why she told it then took it back? Did the pharmaceutical company get involved? Psychopharmaceutical products are unpredictable. Read the story here:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=6901817
♦♦♦♦♦♦
You knew it was coming…
HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009
Hunters beware! This act provides for the implementation of a system of licensing for purchasers of certain firearms (handguns and certain rifles, I understand) and for a record of sale system for those firearms, and for “other purposes.” I do not believe this is likely to pass right away or perhaps in its present form, but deliberate steps are being made by the President and his appointees to register all firearms in preparation for ultimate confiscation. I recently was unable to buy ammunition locally because they were sold out in anticipation of humongous taxes that were in the process of being attached to all guns and ammo.
Read about it here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-45
http://righttruth.typepad.com/right_truth/2009/02/hr-45-.html
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Of homophobes and Christophobes!
I am pretty tired of jerks labeling people as “homophobes” simply because they oppose the promotion and celebration of the gay lifestyle. Homophobia is defined as “the fear of homosexuals” (New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language). More specifically, it refers to an aversion to the gross practices of that community. I have an aversion to the gay way, but I am not afraid of them. I know some of them. I have dealt with them and even pastored churches where they attended. I have loved their souls and prayed for them in their efforts to escape the un-gay lifestyle. I know some who seem to have overcome that practice and even the tendency. We all know it can be done through Christ (I Corinthians 6:9-11).
The radical homosexual agenda includes calling anyone who opposes whatever they promote a homophobe and hate-monger. The president and his recent appointees, along with prominent members of congress who are gay, are in total support of their agenda for social change. Due to their extreme disgust of anything Christian, perhaps they, along with the atheists and other anti-Christian activists, should they be labeled Christophobes? Christophobia would be defined as the fear of Christians. Would the pro-gay anti-Christian college professors, the crackpot politicians who pass hate crimes legislation solely to curry favor with the gay community, and the perverted activists who participate in gay pride parades, also fall into the category as Christophobes?
The gay lifestyle is the prime contributor to the HIV/AIDS syndrome. Billions have been spent on finding a way to curb the spread of AIDS. The answer really is simple, and it would not cost a dime; in fact, billions could be saved. How? By stopping the casual sex (called fornication in the Bible) that is practiced openly in the gay community. When sex is limited to normal relations within the confines of marriage, there is no fear of anyone contracting AIDS through sexual contact. How then do little children and old grandmas get AIDS? Primarily by transfusions of blood donated by gays and bi-sexuals and by coming into contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. But it all goes back to a homosexual lifestyle. They are the prime spreaders. They are costing American taxpayers billions in health care costs and lost wages, besides the grief they bring on the families of victims.
I resent my tax dollars going to promote anti-Christian, pro-gay values, parades and activities. President Obama has promised to make their agenda a priority during his presidency. They want to force mainstream America beyond tolerance, beyond saying “Live and let live.” They want us to approve their lifestyle and affirm it as a legitimate practice. They want to force Christians to recognize and celebrate its validity. No, thanks.
Is that hate speech? Is that encouraging violence to be perpetrated toward gay persons? Absolutely not. No person should suffer violence because of his or her sexual preference. (Some say a disproportionate number of violent crimes are committed by homosexuals. For information on homosexual violence go to http://www.familyresearchinst.org/FRI_EduPamphlet4.html#refs. The top serial killers in America are homosexuals.) By the same token, no straight person’s health should be put in jeopardy because of the ungodly lifestyle of the gays, nor should our children be subjected to the promotion of their lifestyle in the schoolroom. Nor should the public be inundated with their gross and shameless displays in gay pride parades.
Homophobe. I am sure they have tagged you and me with that label. While it is an insult and inaccurate, I think I would rather be thought of as that than as a “Christophobe.”
For more info on homosexual violence and their political agenda, go to http://americansfortruth.com/index.php
For Obama’s agenda about homosexuality, same sex marriage and other social issues, go to his web site at www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/
The top six U.S. male serial killers were all gay:
• Donald Harvey claimed 37 victims in Kentucky;
• John Wayne Gacy raped and killed 33 boys in Chicago, burying them under his house and in his yard;
• Patrick Kearney accounted for 32, cutting his victims into small pieces after sex and leaving them in trash bags along the Los Angeles freeways;
• Bruce Davis molested and killed 27 young men and boys in Illinois;
• A gay sex-murder-torture ring (Corll-Henley-Brooks) sent 27 Texas men and boys to their grave; and
• Juan Corona was convicted of murdering 25 migrant workers (he “made love” with their corpses).
Although the total number of victims dispatched by a given killer is often in doubt, (e.g., homosexual Henry Lucas claimed that he killed 350), it appears that the modern world record for serial killing is held by a Russian homosexual, Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of raping, murdering and eating parts of at least 21 boys, 17 women and 14 girls. The pathology of eating one’s sexual victims also characterized Milwaukee’s Jeffrey Dahmer in 1992. He not only killed 17 young men and boys, but cooked and ate their body parts.
A Presbyterian is speaking out on homosexual bigots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PktixA31C1I&feature=channel
Are we afraid to continue to teach the Bible truth about this sin?
♦♦♦♦♦♦
ISC Conference
The Institute of Soteric Counseling is hosting its eighth annual training conference in Indianapolis, IN on October 15,16. Those who are interested in learning the biblical method of helping others to emotional health are invited. For those on track to certification, this is your opportunity to finish and receive your certificate. All are welcome to attend. For details, go to soteric.org.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Sexy Weekends
I have noticed that some of the charismatic churches have begun to focus on sex. Now, is that a surprise? No? Then you probably know about the news stories in Charisma that some churches are requiring that female staff members have breast implants. And about all the adultery stories, and the homosexuality, and the divorces, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
The Sexy Weekends some of the megachurches are sponsoring feature commitments for married couples to have sex every day for seven days. Of course, they are quick to say that sex is only for married couples. Is this just a way to get to talk about sex in a legitimate context? Why do they like to put SEX on their signs in huge letters, as though they were on a 1980s Houston freeway advertising a strip club? If they want to talk about legitimate sex in the proper, appropriate context in church, no problem. But to obviously get glee from posting it on billboards and huge church signs is over the line, in my opinion, to say nothing of encouraging their parishioners to commit themselves to a daily routine, as though they were committing to prayer or fasting on certain days.
It’s just the charismatic megachurches, you say? Nay. Some UPCI churches are sponsoring these “sexy weekends” and garnering commitments for sex on successive days.
C’mon, pastors! Don’tcha know it is only the infected rats that follow the Pied Piper! “But ye have not so learned Christ” (Ephesians 4:20).
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Obama’s Promises
Recently I went to www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/
and read Obama’s political agenda. Scary.
In case you can’t or prefer not to go there, here is some of his “civil rights” agenda in a nutshell taken from his web site:
They will also pass “the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.”
They will “expand the Hate Crimes Statutes: President Obama and Vice President Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section.”
They will “end Racial Profiling: President Obama and Vice President Biden will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.”
They will “eliminate Sentencing Disparities: President Obama and Vice President Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.”
They will expand Use of Drug Courts: President Obama and Vice President Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.”
They will lend “support for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) Community [by expanding the] Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability.”
They will “fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.”
They will “support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions.”
They will “oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.”
They will “expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.”
They will “promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education [he feels it should start in kindergarten] that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma—too often tied to homophobia—that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.
They “will work to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent ruling….” [It seems to be perfectly fine to work to overturn a law they don’t like, but for the conservatives to work to overturn one that takes human life by the millions, that is called “mean-spirited” and “hateful.” – ed.]
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Kosher Regulations from the Bible
Th
e word kosher comes from a Hebrew word meaning “fit” or “proper.” Jewish kosher food laws are an extension of the commandment in Exodus 23:19, “You shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk,” and the list of prohibited foods in Leviticus 11. These regulations are complex, and this is only a summary:
1. Only animals that chew their cud and have divided hooves may be eaten. (This rules out meat from pigs and many other animals.)
2. There are twenty-four specifically forbidden species of birds, but kosher observers usually limit fowl to chicken, turkey, duck, and goose.
3. Meat and poultry must be slaughtered in a particular way. Trained and certified slaughterers sever the trachea and esophagus with a special knife, then inspectors make sure the internal organs have no abnormalities.
4. No blood may be consumed, so before meat is eaten, the blood must be removed by salting or broiling.
5. Fish must have fins and scales that are easily removed, and they must be visible to the consumer when purchased. All shellfish are prohibited. Fish and meat must not be eaten together.
6. Meat and milk must never be cooked or eaten together, and as a safeguard they must not be prepared or served with the same equipment or dishes. A kosher kitchen must have two sets of utensils, one for meat and poultry and the other for dairy foods. Cheese must be certified to make sure it has been processed in a kosher manner.
7. Bread containing dairy ingredients cannot be eaten, since bread is served with most meals and one could accidentally eat dairy bread with a meat meal.
8. Food containing neither meat nor dairy products or processed with the same equipment is called pareve, and it may be eaten with either meat or dairy meals.
Source: T. J. McTavish, A Theological Miscellany
♦♦♦♦♦♦
SELAH in the Psalms
The term selah occurs seventy-one times in thirty-nine of the Psalms. No one is sure what it means. Some think of it as a reminder to [pause and] meditate on what has been said. More likely, however, it comes from the verb salal, to “lift up” a song. It might indicate a place where instruments play an interlude. Or it could designate a point where free-flowing vocal and instrumental praise occurred, perhaps using a familiar refrain such as “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, / for his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps. 136:1). – Source: T. J. McTavish, A Theological Miscellany
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Words of wisdom
Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist.” – Anonymous
“Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.” – Thomas Jefferson
Gun control is not about guns; it’s about control.
If you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any. You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.
“My child, if you co-sign a loan for a friend or guarantee the debt of someone you hardly know—if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased. Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do. Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.” – Solomon (Proverbs 6:1-5)
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Aramaic and Hebrew words in the New Testament
Aramaic, the language of some parts of the Old Testament (portions of Daniel and Ezra), is a sister language of Hebrew. It was the ordinary language of Judea and Galilee in the first century, and it is sometimes called “Hebrew” in the New Testament. Jesus probably could speak some Greek, as there were Greek-speaking cities in Galilee, and He conversed with a Greek-speaking Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30). Since Jesus mainly taught the common people, though, Aramaic was His language and that of the earliest Christians.
Abba…………………………………….. Father
akeldama……………………………… “field of blood,” perhaps a proper name (Acts 1:19)
EIoi, Eloi, lama sabachthani….. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34, after Ps, 22:1)
ephphatha…………………………….. “Be opened” (Mark 7:34)
korbanas……………………………….. The temple treasury (Matt. 27:6)
mammonas……………….…………… “Mammon,” “riches” (Matt. 6:24)
rnaranatha …………………….………. “Our Lord has come” or “Our Lord, come!” (I Cor. 16:22)
talitha koumi ……………………..…. “Little girl, arise!” (Mark 5:41)
rabbi …………………..……………….. “My Master” or “My great one” (rabboni in John 20:16)
raca ……………………………………… “You fool” (Matt. 5:22)
Other words are actually Hebrew, though transmitted through Aramaic:
Alleluia ……………… “Praise Yahweh”
amen ………………… “Truly, reliably”
korban ………………. “Dedicated offering” (Mark 7:11)
pascha …………….… Passover
geenna ………………. Gehenna, from gei hinnom, or Valley of Hinnom, the Jerusalem city dump
manna ……………….. Manna, literally, “What is it?”
sabaoth ………………. From Hebrew meaning “hosts, armies” (Rom. 9:29; James 5:4)
sabbaton ……………… Sabbath
satanas ……………….. Satan, or “the adversary”
Source: T. J. McTavish, A Theological Miscellany
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Why are we so passionate about the new administration and the direction it seems to be taking us?
The U.S. has been the base of world missions for a hundred years or more. It has been a lighthouse that has guided many ships of state to calmer and safer waters. America has sent trillions of dollars overseas to help stabilize governments and help the impoverished. We have been on the front lines of gospel work. Our missions and missionaries have helped to bring literacy and hope to many backward nations.
Daniel Webster made this observation about America: “Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6,000 years may never happen again. If the American Constitution should fall, there will be anarchy throughout the world.” And that was spoken about 170 years ago!
But now we have given the reins of government to a man who has little experience in government, a record of illicit drugs and alleged gay sex (by more than one testimony), who openly proclaims his socialist agenda, who may well bankrupt America with bailouts, pork programs, and record national deficits. He ran on a platform of “Change!” and he is definitely setting a course to change the face of this Republic. He has installed a cabinet cursed with crooks and a staff of advisors that have the most liberal social agenda that could be imagined. That is why we are concerned. Our school children are being desensitized to the corruption, idolatry and gross sin that surrounds us. Our families are being negatively affected. Anti-Christian agendas are being pushed down our throats. That is why we are speaking out. That is why we are writing to our congressmen. That is why we are praying for the leadership of the Lord through these dark waters.
The church can and may have revival in the midst of all of this. We shall rejoice. But Bible revivalists did not sit and wait to see what might be born from sinful leadership before speaking out.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
A Brief Page From History
Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 to December 19, 1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
Thomas said this in a 1944 speech:
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism,’ they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”
He went on to say: “I no longer need to run as a Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform.” – Source:
http://www.connellsville.com/discuss/?thread=200902181205333
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Books are a pastor’s best friends
Before You Say “I Do”
This book has helped hundreds of couples circumvent marital catastrophe. Choosing a lifemate is meant to be a one-time event. It pays to get it right. This book will help in making the right choice. Don’t let anyone in your church get married before considering these twenty-five vital questions. Wedding planner included, along with other pertinent guides. Get a copy for every single in your church before they get too far along in their courtship. AM price only 3.95
Prophecy books by Réal F. Remillard
The Things Which Are
This is the newest in Brother Remillard’s series of books on Bible prophecy. Here he deals with the seven letters of Revelation that Christ sent to the churches in Asia. Each is analyzed and prophetically applied to Christendom and its overcomers. 81/2″X11″ format. AM price only 12.95.
Remillard’s other books include:
The Prophecies of Daniel – AM price only 16.95
Handbook of Prophetic Terminology – AM price only 10.95
Apostolic Perspectives on Biblical Eschatology – AM price only 11.95
Rightly Dividing the Word of Prophecy – AM price only 3.95
Package price: Order all prophecy books above and pay only 49.95, a savings of 6.80!
The ministry of Verbal Bean transcribed by Steven Carrier directly from the elder’s personal teaching on these important subjects:
Prayer – only 8.95
Works of the Holy Ghost – only 7.95
Order both for only 15.95
Only God Can Unfold A Rose
by Brenda Story
This book is long overdue. The author deals with a deeply personal topic, but one that is timely and relevant—women’s involvement with pornography, which is more prevalent than you can imagine. She offers hope to the hopeless, help for the hurting and light in the darkness of despair. The knowledge that there is complete healing and deliverance from the bondage of this sin is the desperate need of the hour. Read it and be moved to action—then pass it on to someone else. AM price only 9.95
How to order: Call 936-856-3419 or order online at advanceministries.org .
Thanks for ordering your books, Bibles and Bible studies from Advance Ministries!
May God give you record increase in March!
Jerry and Roffie Ensey
JREnsey Blog 