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Upfront - He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad. Mt. 12:30

Ashamed of the Gospel? Missed Opportunity at Virginia Tech Frank Pastore (Townhall.com) Let's test your knowledge of world religions. Below is the entire message delivered by one of the four religious leaders at last week's convocation at Virginia Tech, in the aftermath of the horrible mass murders that left 32 dead and 21 injured.

Take Action - (Alerts, Action, Petitions)

Ask Congress to preserve human life. (Susan B. Anthony List)Two weeks ago the U.S. Senate voted to approve two measures to fund stem cell research. S. 30, the HOPE Act, which maintains strict moral boundaries while advancing stem cell science, passed with a Senate vote of 70-28. This bill supports ethical stem cell research that does not depend upon the destruction of human life. S. 5, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which funds embryonic stem cell research at the expense of human life, passed with a Senate vote of 63-34. This bill supports the type of stem cell research that depends upon the destruction of human embryos.

Petition to expose media bias on immigration (Grassfire.org) The media is lying about our illegal immigration crisis. For example: The liberal media isn't going to report the fact that only 2 percent of illegal aliens are actually picking fruit and vegetables, but 41 percent are on welfare! The liberal media isn't going to report that 1 in 10 babies born in the U.S. are to illegal aliens. The liberal media isn't going to report that 60 percent of Housing and Urban Development funds go to illegal aliens. The liberal media isn't going to report that 13 Americans are killed each day by uninsured drunk driving illegals. (See also: Immigration)

War on Terror - (Radical Islam?)

Nancy Pelosi: The Terrorists' New Sweetheart (Center for Individual Freedom) - When last week we left silky-headed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, she was whoofing the treacherous air of foreign relations and deciding she likes it, she really likes it. So does Syrian ophthalmologist-turned-despot Bashar al-Assad, who sat knee-to-knee with Pelosi as she chatted him up about world peace. Only slightly rushed because of his next scheduled meetings with equally peace-loving representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah, Assad was demonstrably gracious as his support for terror, genocide, the assassination of foreign leaders and the destabilization of democracies got a big boost from the Pelosi visit.

Election 2008 - (Voting Resources)

The Hidden Issue Nathan Tabor (Townhall.com) To hear the mainstream news media tell it, the only issue really in play in the 2008 Presidential election is the war in Iraq. And, lest the voting public forget, the media are quick to report each casualty, mishap, and difficulty in Baghdad as mounting evidence for an immediate and unqualified U.S. troop withdrawal. What you're not hearing about is an issue that is likely to have a decisive impact on the Presidential race: abortion.

Same-sex Consequences

The "San Diego Twelve" Call On City Council To Eliminate Pornography In Public Park During Gay Pride Festival (JHReport) Last month, a group of Christian activists stepped out of their city's apathetic crowd to make a public stand against an elementary charter school after it was learned that the school was intentionally exposing young children to the pornographic influences of the annual San Diego Gay Pride Parade (www.onenewsnow.com/2007/03/outrage_over_san_diego_schools.php).  The Christian group, composed of twelve concerned citizens, were quickly named the "San Diego Twelve" by national news services.  You can hear a national news story about the San Diego Twelve by listening to this report:  www.onenewsnow.com/audio/2007/03/07/jimsandiegovoicer.mp3. Proving that they were not just a one-hit wonder, the San Diego Twelve have once again pressed forward with their impressive campaign to protect their city's youth from the San Diego Gay Pride organization's pornographic enterprises.
 

Education - (Education or Indoctrination? - Education Resources)

Mathematica Abstinence Study Doesn’t Add Up (Citizen Link) A study slamming abstinence-only education fails in the common sense department.

Saving 'No Child Left Behind' From Itself (FOXNEWS) Conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill have introduced a bill that would let states opt out of many of the mandates imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

News & Commentary - (News, Commentary, eSubscriptions)

Taxation without virtuous representation (Taxes & Economy)

Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Barrier to Tax Relief (Americans for Prosperity) “For example, few people realize that there’s a gaping loophole in Speaker Pelosi's new lobbyist gift ban that completely exempts taxpayer-funded government lobbyists. That means pork-project-seeking lobbyists for public universities or city governments can give literally any gift – courtside tickets to the Final Four, luxury box tickets to the Rose Bowl, for example – in an attempt to facilitate wasteful pork-barrel earmarks.

Is Attorney General Gonzalez under Condemnation Because He is Fighting Pornography? (National Catholic Register) Some administration critics say Gonzales fired eight U.S. attorneys as part of a Justice Department crackdown on obscenity. The firings sparked a political debacle for the Bush administration that has Gonzales fighting to keep his job.

Killing Babie (Abortion, Cloning, Porn)

(FRC-Action) In Their Own Words - While pro-lifers celebrated the Supreme Court victory on partial-birth abortion, the mood on Capitol Hill was far less jubilant. House and Senate leaders seem perturbed that such a devastating blow to abortion was dealt on their watch. For liberal lawmakers, who have become accustomed to waging--and winning--their battles in activist courts, this news came as a shock. Such a shock, that leaders like Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) seemed to momentarily forget what their position on the issue avowedly is. Despite voting for a partial-birth abortion ban every time it came up in Congress, Reid commented yesterday, "I would only say that this is the only decision a lot of us wish that Alito weren't there and O'Connor were there." FRC has called for a clarification from the majority leader. Not surprisingly, most of the media have focused on the reaction of the 2008 presidential contenders. Since Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was the only Illinois legislator to vote against the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in 2003 (a vote deemed so "extreme" that even NARAL refused to score it), few were surprised that he announced his displeasure with the PBA ruling. Nor did we need guess what Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) would say. "It is precisely this erosion of our constitutional rights that I warned against when I opposed the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito." Among Republicans, Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Sen. Sam Brownback (Kans.) all called the decision a victory. Only Rudy Giuliani offered tepid support for the ban, saying, simply, "I agree with it." Additional Resources Candidates split along party lines on ruling - See FRC follow-up also: Reid Between the lines.

Video Games & Television (Parents & Children Resources)

Parents Television Council - A Harris Interactive survey of 1,178 8- to 18-year-old video gamers indicates that 8.5% of them are pathologically or clinically addicted to the medium. Pathological gameplay was defined as interaction with video games that led to negative real-world outcomes, such as lower grades… Almost one out of 10 youth gamers show enough symptoms of damage to their school, family and psychological functioning to merit serious concern. Among young gamers classified as addicts, 65% had video game systems in their bedrooms, and they averaged 24.5 hours of gameplay weekly; they were also more likely to have been diagnosed with an attention deficit problem. When asked if they had ever felt "addicted to video games," 23% of all respondents answered positively (31% of boys and 13% of girls). Forty-four percent said they have friends who're addicted. The survey also found that those ages 8 to 12 played an average of 13 hours a week, while teens 13 to 18 logged 14 hours. Among boys, 94% reported playing video games in the last month. With girls factored into the total, that number decreases slightly to 80%. [informationweek.com, 4/2/07; UPI/news.digitaltrends.com, 4/3/07; UPI, 4/4/07; Focus on the Family's Culture Clips 4/9/07]

Survey: Violent video games 'exhilarating' escapism (CNN.com) - Players of violent video games believe they are just "exhilarating" escapism which does not desensitize them to real-life mayhem, according to a new British survey of one of the entertainment industry's fastest growing sectors. Read More Here However gamers do concede that people "who are already unhinged in some way" may be pushed over the edge if they play violent games obsessively. Some young gamers under the age of 15 said they found some of the violence upsetting. Uncomfortable about the level of gore portrayed in the graphics, they admitted to having nightmares.

Unplug the Baby Sitter By Phil Cooke  (Charisma Magazine) Giving your kids over to a TV set to keep them occupied is a horrifying choice. ...The information shows not only the disconnect between America's parents and their kids but also how much children are being indoctrinated by media from the start of their development. Trust me, most kids will become addicted to television early enough, so they don't need to begin watching when they are toddlers.

Hate" Crimes?   ("Hate Crimes")

Was Virginia Tech Massacre a Hate Crime? Absurdity of Hate Crimes Legislation (Christian Newswire) Biblical Family Advocates - Another recent story should give us pause as well, Jury gives S.D. woman life in prison, in which a black lesbian woman killed a white heterosexual woman, then burned and chain-sawed her body into pieces. Yet this case will not be listed as a hate crime because the black lesbian did not kill the white heterosexual because of orientation or color, she did it out of jealousy. "What is striking about these two cases is that it shows the amazing hypocrisy of those who want hate crimes legislation.

Second Amendment (Second Amendment)

"Gun-Free Zones" = Sanctuaries for Maniacal Killers  (Center for Individual Freedom) - Question: What type of victims do homicidal maniacs like Cho Seung-Hui prefer? Answer: Unarmed ones. Like clockwork, this week's horrific murders at Virginia Tech prompted the instantaneous but typical, tired and misguided calls for increased infringements upon the Second Amendment's individual right to keep and bear arms. For example, Newsweek's Howard Fineman hoped that it "might prompt a new wave of legislation -- not just talk but legislation -- to limit the sale of handguns in America," and the New York Times reflexively demanded more useless anti-gun laws. For its part, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence incorrectly decried "how easy it is for an individual to get powerful weapons in our country," despite the fact that Mr. Cho used two commonplace pistol models and had no criminal record.

Are gun-free nations or "zones" safer? Mark M. Alexander (PatriotPost.us) History records the consequences of disarming people, both in terms of protection, in their person and property, from tyrannical governments and from criminals. Regarding the latter, "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."

(Of course you already saw the EarsToHear.net mandatory PatriotPost.us 07-16 Digest - Congratulations Mr. Hinkler. Your “sound policy” created a “safe campus” for only one student—Cho Seung-Hui—who was able to slaughter 32 people without interruption.)

Should Christians Use a Gun? By Andrew Longman - (ChristianWorldViewNetwork.com) ...Christians will rightly raise the question, “What about turning the other cheek?” Jesus told his disciples not to resist an evil person but to allow that person to strike them on the other cheek if the first was hit. Notice carefully: he is speaking to his disciples about what the evil person is doing to them. He did not say, “If an evil person hits your child with a sword, give them your other child too.” He said that if they are going to attack you, the believer who will go straight to heaven if you die, let them be evil. He did not give a blanket absolution to cowards for failure to defend others.

"To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them," warned George Mason.

"It is a basic principle of a tyrant to unarm his people of weapons, money and all means whereby they resist his power." Sir Walter Raleigh  Liberal humanists want to revoke the Second Amendment which would emboldened criminals, as they will be free to harm law abiding citizens. "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them -- Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in -- I would have done it." Senator Dianne Feinstein on banning guns. "We're going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy! We're going to beat guns into submission!" Senator Charles Schumer, NY

"...the Constitution does not say that government shall decree the right to keep and bear arms. The Constitution says '... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'" Former President Ronald Reagan, 1983 address to the NRA Annual Members Banquet

"[R]especting the right to keep and bear arms is one of the best ways governments can reduce crime. Conversely, cities where the government imposes gun control have higher crime rates. Far from making people safer, gun control endangers innocent people by increasing the odds that they will be victimized! Gun control also increases the odds that people will lose their lives and liberties to power-hungry government officials. Tyrannical governments throughout the world kill approximately 2,000,000 people annually. Many of these victims of tyranny were first disarmed by their governments. ... I would remind my colleagues that policies prohibiting the private ownership of firearms were strongly supported by tyrants such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung." Rep. Ron Paul

"A government that does not trust it's law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is itself unworthy of trust." James Madison, Federalist Papers

"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes ...such laws serve rather to encourage than to prev homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." Thomas Jefferson 'Commonplace Book' 1775.

Contemplate (What is the Kingdom of God?)

You Need God By Gloria Copeland (Charisma Magazine) God is the only one who knows where you need to go in life and how to get you there. Suppose you walked into your kitchen one morning and found Jesus sitting at the table.

Who is Your God - A Sermon By Dr Charles S. Price

Published in the GOLDEN GRAIN - Volume 27 - Number 12 - March, 1953

Is it not true that many accept their Christianity as an investment? Do they not live merely for the sake of rewards, and "give" for the sake of what shall be given in return? That is pagan! Quite a few regard their religious experience as nothing more than a penance. Instead of denying self, they practice self-denial; and along the paths of their own self-mortification, they travel so far as to deny themselves many beautiful things the Lord would add to them if they would only learn in sincerity first to SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Where a man's treasure is, there his heart is also. There are many things in life which are not wrong in themselves, but they become wrong when the desire for them takes first place in mind, in heart, and in will. The true Christian ought to be perfectly content with nothing more than the operation of the perfect will of God. It is when we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness that "other things are added unto us."

The natural man instinctively reaches out for the "other things" because he believes they are essential to his life. Perhaps they are to the natural man, but when we are lifted out of the realm of the natural into the spiritual, we arrive at the place where we can know the will of God concerning every department of life.

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