August / September 2007
Dear ones,
Remember the Believers’ Retreat Reunion 12-14 October. We expect it to be like a family gathering. There are still some spaces left, so contact Marty at 270-965-2174 or e-mail her at mmmck@bellsouth.net. The deadline is 10 September, for she must turn in the housing list that day. After 10 September, you must make reservations directly with Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park. NOTE: we plan to have registration in the lobby of the lodge on Friday afternoon, as in the early retreats; Tom will be in charge of it, as a glad reunion.
A PICTURE WORTH 1,000 WORDS (AND SOME TEARS)
Recently, I saw a photograph that is one of the most eloquent and gripping I have ever seen; it is of a Marine officer presenting the folded flag to the small son of a Marine killed in Iraq. It could not be adequately reproduced here, but you may see it and read the story on the home page of our website (www.wordsforlivingmin.org). Please see it there.
ANOTHER PROMINENT “GAY” LEADER GOES STRAIGHT
In the April/May issue I reported the deliverance of Charlene Cothran, publisher of a prominent “gay” rights magazine who was set free from her lesbian lifestyle by the Spirit of God (we will still send a copy of her testimony/cover article to all who request it).
Now, there is another: Michael Glatze, founding editor of “Young Gay America” magazine, and prominent “gay” rights activist, has been changed by the power of God. Giving the glory to God for his liberation from the homosexual life, he says, “I feel strongly God has put me here for a reason.” During his struggle to know the truth, he wrote in his computer, “Homosexuality is death, and I choose life.” In a feature article he wrote for World Net Daily he said, “...coming out from under the influence of the homosexual mindset was the most liberating, beautiful and astonishing thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.” (WND/FOF)
TEEN PREGNANCY RATES ARE DOWN
Teen pregnancy and sexual activity rates are down, according to a mid-July report by the National Center for Health Statistics, which tracked these figures from 1991 to 2005. The decline in teen pregnancy and sexual activity can be correlated with the introduction of abstinence sex education (as opposed to condom sex education). In spite of the fact that power groups from the political left like Planned Parenthood and the National Education Association have fought against abstinence-based sex education, the abstinence programs that have been conducted have born excellent fruit. There has been a steady decline in sexual activity and pregnancy since the abstinence programs were initiated in 1991. In spite of the fact that abstinence works and teens respond to the idea, the abortion industry and its allies continue to oppose it. In July the Democrat-controlled Congress reluctantly allowed a 3-month extension of federal funding for the program, but it is due to expire at the end of the fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, vetoed a bill that included funding for abstinence education, and his public health officials say they don’t want the available federal funds, because they can’t spend them to teach birth control. (FOF)
ARCHEOLOGY: THE BIBLE WINS AGAIN!
Archeological discoveries continue to verify the Bible record. A small clay tablet, only the size of a small cracker, was discovered in 1920 near Baghdad; but the cuneiform inscription, dating from 595 BC, during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II, was not translated until early July of this year. It was found among 100,000 inscribed tablets in the museum of the University of Vienna by Dr Michael Jursa, one of a small number of scholars in the world able to read cuneiform script. The small tablet is a receipt for a purchase of gold in Babylon, 2,600 years ago. But, what makes it exciting is that it mentions the name of a Babylonian official named Nebo-Sarsekim, who is spoken of by name in Jeremiah 39. Dr. Irving Finkel of the British Museum calls it “a fantastic discovery—a world-class find.” He says, “A throw-away detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true...it means the whole narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power.” (PWB)
EINSTEIN ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was perhaps the greatest mathematical and scientific thinker of modern times. Born in Germany of fiercely irreligious Jewish parents, Einstein went through a variety of beliefs concerning God and eternal things. He attended a Catholic elementary school, took the standard course in religion “and enjoyed it immensely.” Later, perhaps as a rebellious reaction to his parents’ strident secularism, be became a fully observant Jew; but he later abandoned that. His final, unshakeable belief in God was based upon what today would be called “intelligent design”; he could not understand how anyone could observe the perfection of nature and not believe in nature’s Creator. He had a profound faith in, and reverence for, what he called “the mind of God” as expressed in the creation of the universe and its laws. He said, “We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws.” Further, he explained himself, “To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness [and] in this sense...I am a devoutly religious man.” (Time, et al)
EINSTEIN ON BELIEF IN JESUS
Today, many philosophers and debunkers not only insist that Jesus was not divine and deny His miracles, but many insist that He never even existed. Albert Einstein was not among them. In a 1929 interview he was asked about the influence of Christianity in his life and thinking. He replied, “As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.” Taken aback, the interviewer asked if he accepted the historical existence of Jesus. Einstein replied, “Unquestionably! No one can read the gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.” (Time, et al)
HILLARY AND BARAK TO SPEAK AT “GAY” FORUM
On 9 August the Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest homosexual activist organization, will host the first-ever presidential forum on homosexual issues (all positive, of course). Co-sponsoring the forum will be Logo, a cable TV channel devoted exclusively to homosexuals, their lifestyle and agenda; Logo is a division of MTV, a major purveyor of sex, violence (particularly violence against women), and hedonism today. Hillary Clinton and Barak Hussein Obama are already committed to speak at the Forum; other Democrat candidates are expected to join them. (BP)
A CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM-PRIEST?
When the Bible is abandoned as the Church’s standard for faith and practice, there is no limit to the bizarre possibilities in the name of orthodoxy. In England a few years ago, an Anglican priest declared himself an atheist, but wanted to continue as a priest. And now, in June, Ann Holmes Redding, a female Episcopal priest in Seattle, declared that she is both a Christian and a Muslim; what is more, her bishop approves, and sees no reason that she cannot be both. Redding, a black woman who wears her hair in dreadlocks, has a PhD from Union Theological Seminary in New York. She made a Muslim profession of faith in March 2006, declaring that Allah is God and Muhammad is his prophet. She says that becoming a Muslim was “like coming home,” because there are more people of color in the world than whites. I find her logic very strange. As a matter of fact, she would probably be dismayed to learn that Muhammed had a number of Negro slaves, and the Arabic word for Negro is also their word for slave. In Muslim tradition, blacks were seen to have no other value. (BP/Seattle Times)
NAACP REFUSES TO QUESTION ABORTION
The National Association of Colored People is just one of many formerly admirable organizations that have drifted far from their original goals and values. The NAACP, like the PTA, American Library Association, and the American Association of Retired People, has become part of what might be called “the solid left.” Its policies and values have become the usual mix of left-wing, social and political radicalism in a variety of forms, including being passionately pro-abortion. There is still a remnant of honest delegates who seek to turn the organization back to its original goals, but that minority is like a child crying in the wilderness, ignored and resented by the power structure. One of these reformers is Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Martin Luther King. She was a delegate to the national convention in Detroit in July. She tried in vain to have a resolution brought to the floor for a reading; the resolution, presented by the Macon, Ga. chapter, addressed the destructive impact that abortion is having on black women, who are 4 times more likely than white women to have an abortion, with its serious health risks. Similar resolutions have been ignored in past years. (FOF/OneNewsNow)
MITT ROMNEY AND PORNOGRAPHY
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, runs on a pro-family, pro-morality platform, and he is doing well at it. Now, however, he is under fire from some conservatives for his former role as a board member of the Marriott hotel empire. Why? Because Marriott is the nation’s leading distributor of pay-per-view TV pornography (their in-room service). Like Romney, the Marriott brothers, founders of the hotel empire, are devout Mormons—right down to their magic underwear. All this is despite the ongoing ad campaign to present Mormonism as a paragon of wholesome morality. Romney says that he was unaware of the porn business; considering that he was a highly paid insider and board member, this is hard to believe. (AP/OneNewsNow)
A HINDU PRAYER FOR THE US SENATE
The opening prayer of invocation for the US Senate on 12 July was offered by a Hindu “holy man.” This is the first time in US history that such a prayer has been offered other than by a Christian or Jew, the first time that a prayer for a session of the senate has not been offered to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Buddy Smith, speaking for the American Family Association, said that it represents an official stamp of approval on paganism by the US government. One must wonder to which of the millions of Hindu gods the prayer was directed; and, with radical Democrats in control, what will be next? (AP/OneNewsNow)
THIEF CHOOSES WRONG VICTIM
Senior citizen Bill Barnes, age 72, got some cash from a bank machine in Grand Rapids, Michigan, put it into his pocket and went into a nearby convenience store. In the store, he felt a hand going into his pocket, and acted. He grabbed the thief’s wrist with his left hand, and began to land solid punches with his right. Barnes, an old Marine from the 1950s and a Golden Gloves boxer, continued to beat the thief until a store manager threw the thief to the ground. The manager probably saved the thief from severe injury by pulling him away and throwing him down, for Barnes wasn’t quitting; “There was blood everywhere!” another manager said. Old Marine Barnes said of the incident, “I guess he thought I was an easy mark.” The thief could not have been more wrong; he was a living demonstration of Psalm 9:16: “The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.” (FoxNews.com)
HERO’S STORY “TOO POSITIVE” FOR BBC
In Great Britain, the Victoria Cross is the highest decoration for bravery in combat, comparable to our Medal of Honor. The recipient, if he lives, forever has “VC” after his name. Last year Private Johnson Beharry, a young, black British soldier was decorated by Queen Elizabeth with the Victoria Cross for repeated acts of heroism in rescuing fellow soldiers from two ambushes in Iraq, despite severe head wounds to himself. The BBC had a contract to produce a 90-minute TV docudrama about Beharry’s heroism, but backed out of the deal, stating that the story was “too positive” and would offend people opposed to the war. In other words, it would make Private Beharry and his fellow soldiers, and their selfless service, look too good and that, in BBC’s view, would be bad. (London Sunday Telegraph)
FROM WISCONSIN WITH LOVE
As the Mississippi Gulf Coast continues to rebuild following Hurricane Katrina, help continues to come from people who care, all over the country. Wesley Church, our church on the coast, recently received a large gift from St Charles Catholic Church and High School in Hartland, Wisconsin. To raise the money, the track teams (boys and girls) of St. Charles HS, sponsored by families and the St. Charles congregation, put on a money-raising fund-run, logging in a total of 100 miles in less than 2 hours. The money will be used for a church playground, replacing the one destroyed by Katrina; it will be open to the Ocean Springs community.
MARTY’S CORNER
Most of you know that our son Jeff, a surgeon, founded The Cornerstone Foundation (www.crstone.org), a non-profit charitable organization committed to building and administering a hospital-based evangelical outreach on the north coast of Honduras, Central America. He and his family have been living there as medical missionaries for seven years. Jeff recently wrote the following (somewhat condensed to meet the confines of this newsletter) epistle
Re: illegal immigration which is both enlightening and also one that I have not heard anybody else make.
I see the current illegal alien arrangement as untenable for all parties because it is predicated by a system of laws which we apparently have neither the will nor the intent to enforce. It is ultimately destructive for all parties because it is an arrangement motivated by mutual exploitation. The essence of the contract is that industry in the U.S. is looking for a cheap work force, not citizens. The illegal alien is looking for a place to make more money, not citizenship. Neither side seems to mind breaking the law to get what they want. I believe that the current legislation (June 2007) before the Senate would only make this situation worse, maybe 12 million times worse, because it would legitimize lawbreakers by making more laws which we would have neither the will nor the intent to enforce. And, it would doublespeak the lie by calling mutual exploitation “grounds for citizenship.” This is just my opinion, and, like every US citizen, I have one.
What I know about more than most US citizens is what the illegal alien arrangement looks like from the other side of the US border. God has given us a heart for the people we care for in His service here in Honduras, and it is for these people, the people left behind, that I would like to make a point. Our perspective is from years of experience with the families, the communities, and a country that illegal aliens have left behind—the side where we live, work and minister along with over 30 other American missionary doctors, nurses and staff. At Hospital Loma de Luz we care for the rural poor, hundreds of patients a week, about 20,000 patients a year. Probably every one of them has a friend, a neighbor, a relative—often all of the above— “que fue mojado” (gone…to try to enter the USA and stay there illegally). We live out in this community in rural Honduras. My neighbors are the rural poor.
I probably know more than a hundred, probably know of thousands, of people personally that have gone mojado. Ninety eight out of a hundred are young men. I have never heard of a single instance of a husband taking his wife. I have never heard of a single instance of anyone taking their children. Wives and children are always left behind. Some of these young men make it. Some of them don’t. Some of them send money back. Some of them don’t. They will be gone a few months or a few years, and then just show back up again. But, basically nobody ever comes back and stays. And nobody plans to go to the US and stay. They come and they go, but never stay with the intent to make that place a better place. Of the hundreds I know, or know of, who have gone, I can think of three who came back planning to stick it out, to raise their children, and contribute to their communities back here in Honduras. Two of those three have gone again; one is still talking about it. All the time that this significant percentage of our population is gone “al norte,” life here goes on. But it goes on without the husband, without the father in the house, without the development of new jobs and stronger communities based upon the imaginations, the strivings, the hard work of these lost young sons, brothers, fathers, (and occasionally mothers). Life here is often referred to as “la lucha” (“the battle”… to make it through the day, feed your children, and maybe make things a little better).
Those gone mojado have deserted the battlefield, lured away to a land where they don’t plan to join in the battle there either. They plan to take advantage of a situation where they can make money faster, pay no taxes, and abandon the fight to those left behind. There in a land where they don’t speak the language, and don’t understand the culture, they take advantage of a rich country which enforces its laws arbitrarily. They live in subcultures exploiting but never understanding their employers, who, in turn, exploit but never understand them. That is not a formula for the long-range good of the United States of America. But it is also not a formula for the long-range good of the countries and communities and families of Latin America.
So, what should be done from the perspective far south of the border—a perspective that seeks the good both of the US and of the countries of Central and South America? First, secure and enforce the southern border of the USA. That would immediately change the siren call of “el Norte” from a song about easy money with no laws, no taxes, and no commitments, to a very different song about a land of opportunity coupled with responsibility and sacrifice... one in which you have to wait your turn and show your commitment before you can become a member. I have no doubt that many, probably more than half of the missing 12 million, would return to their homelands and try to make their own communities better. They would not stay in the USA. With a border secured, and a good work force on this southern side of the border, I believe that more companies would decide to develop industry in Latin America. With a border secured I believe that we could and should then revise our laws of immigration and naturalization for LEGAL access processed more speedily whether it is for travel, medical care, students, guest workers, and future citizens from abroad. But until the border is secure, any further legislation is just a thin veneer of pandering, patronization and false promises on the old formula of mutual exploitation. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: I was angry with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways. (Hebrews 2:7a, 10)
A MINISTRY OF POETRY
Our friend Gary Bertnick of Sedona, Arizona is a completed Jew. He is also a gifted writer, specializing in powerful free verse. He writes “In my youth I left intellectual and moral despair behind after receiving the revelation of the reality of Yeshua/Jesus and walked into the light of God’s Kingdom.” You can read his works on his web site at www.silvercordspirit.com, or contact him at PO Box 566, Sedona, AZ 86339.
“MENDING HEARTS” WOMEN’S CONFERENCE
Our friend Carol Cole, a longtime participant in our Believers’ Retreats, will be conducting a women’s conference at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park, 24-25 August. For information, call Carol at (618) 378-9100, 841-1327 or 841-4451; or e-mail Carol at cccole@hamiltoncom.net.
MILESTONES
Died 27 May - Earl Chenault Dragoo, friend of my youth, in Demotte, Ind, at age 82.
28 June - Mick Oxley, minister, retired Royal Air Force officer, authority on Freemasonry, Islam and other false religions, and long-time friend, in Crescent City, Fla.
A FINAL WORD
Treasure and use each day as if it were your last, and never give up hope; God has a limitless supply of new beginnings, and He makes beautiful things out of broken pieces.
You are precious,
(Sources: AFRN-American Family Radio News; AP-Associated Press; BAR-Biblical Archeology Review;BBC-British Broadcasting Corp.; BP-Baptist Press; C-Charisma; CBN-Christian Broadcasting Network; CR-Congressional Record; CSN-Calvary Satellite Network; EP-Evangelical Press; Fox (Fox News); FOF-Focus on the Family; FRC-Family Research Council; GN-Good News Magazine; HC-History Channel; IMG-Israel My Glory; JP-Jerusalem Post; LAT-L.A. Times; Mil-Military Magazine; NR-National Review; NM NewsMax.com; NW-Newsweek; NYP-New York Post; NYT-New York Times; ONN-OneNewsNow; PBS-Public Broadcast System; PWB-Pastors' Weekly Briefing; RTLB-Right to Life Education Foundation Bulletin; RTLGC-Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati; USAT-USA Today; USNWR-U.S. News and World Report; VOM-Voice of Martyrs; W-World Magazine; WP-Wikipedia; WND-World Net Daily; WT-Washington Times; WW-Washington Watch.)