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He That Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear (Matthew 11:15-30)
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)
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EarsToHear.net
He That Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear
(Matthew 11:15-30)
For
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink;
but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
(Romans 14:17)
Challenging both secular wisdom and religious doctrines. - Will our descendants know moral virtue?
EarsToHear.net Newsletter
April 8, 2008 - What kind of 'Change' Will Obama Bring?
(Click links for complete columns)
Take Action - (Alerts, Action, Petitions)
Join many parents who intend to take a stand against this year's Day of Silence at your child's school. You will be taken to a "Walkout on Day of Silence Pledge/Petition" so you can add your name to a list of parents from your own school district who wish to make it known to their school district's administrators that they will be taking their children out of school when the Day of Silence event occurs.
Please protest against the pro-homosexual clubs now found at 96 Catholic university campuses. Protest now by clicking here. TFP - (The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) was born of a group of Catholic Americans concerned about the multiple crises shaking every aspect of American life. Founded in 1973, the American TFP was formed to resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and property.)
California Registered Voters - 150,000 Additional Signatures Needed to Defend Marriage! Only California registered voters can sign the petition to place the Marriage Protection Amendment on November’s ballots. If you are not a CA resident, please forward this message to family and friends in the state of California to make sure that they have done their part to defend marriage! Right now, activist homosexual organizations are pulling out all the stops to block this voter initiative in this crucial time – they have flown in teams from across the nation to work against the pro-marriage coalitions, formed phone banks to contact CA voters and attempt to dissuade them from protecting marriage, and are engaged in store-to-store campaigns to defeat the amendment.
(Click links for complete columns)
News and commentary (News & Commentary)
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"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." Franklin D. Roosevelt
Random Thoughts Thomas Sowell - Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.
08-14 Digest PatriotPost.us - A different sort of retirement home: When we retire, most of us worry about becoming ill and losing the home we have lived in for years, but for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his version of Social Security includes a 10,000-square-foot palatial estate valued at $1.6 million—in the America that Wright thinks God has damned. While the Rev. Wright is known for his ranting against the evils of the white race, his new dwelling will be situated in Tinley Park, a Chicago suburb that is less than two percent black, according to Census records. Wright’s former church, Trinity United Church of Christ, is also on the hook for a $10-million line of credit that was secured at the same time as the home mortgage. While it’s not unusual for a church to provide for a retired pastor, the scope of this package raises serious questions about its appropriateness. Maybe this is what Barack Obama means when he talks about “sharing the prosperity.” Meanwhile, Reverend Wright has cancelled several recent speaking engagements because of “security concerns.” Perhaps the former pastor to Barack and Michelle Obama can find sufficient security in his new home’s gated community. However, the questions about comments made by Jeremiah Wright will continue to dog the Obama presidential campaign even if Wright now keeps his trap shut.
Thousands Rally for Rep. Sally Kern - (4/2/08) This afternoon, close to 2,000 people packed the Rotunda of the Oklahoma State Building to show their support for State Representative Sally Kern. Rep. Kern has been the target of countless phone calls and emails -- most all of them hateful and threatening -- because of comments she made supporting traditional marriage. While homosexual activists sought to pressure Rep. Kern into retracting her remarks, she has stood firm. CWA Policy Analyst Martha Kleder spoke with Linda Caswell, State Director for CWA of Oklahoma, about this unprecedented rally off support which was organized by over 50 local pastors. Listen | Download (Related: From Liberty Counsel - Brenda's personnel file tells the true story. She received a good evaluation from her supervisor just days before she was terminated. You can read the actual personnel documents on a special web page we have dedicated to this case. - Read today's News Release on this case.)
08-14 Digest PatriotPost.us - Another Marine cleared in Haditha case - Though you wouldn’t know it from Leftmedia accounts or films like “Redacted” and “Battle for Haditha,” the case against the “Haditha Massacre” Marines has been falling apart for a couple of years now. In the most recent development, all charges were dropped against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum without explanation (read: lack of evidence). He is the third Marine to be exonerated, leaving only one to face court martial. “Lance Corporal Tatum wants to make it clear to the Marine Corps—especially other Marines—and everyone else that there were no deals in this decision,” said attorney Jack Zimmermann, a former military judge and retired Marine. “I have never had a client who would have more preferred to have a trial rather than have the charges dismissed in a deal. He has believed all along he did nothing wrong and was prepared and anxious to stand trial.” Somehow we doubt that Hollywood or Rep. Jack Murtha (D-“in cold blood”) will be apologizing for their rush to judgment.
The 'Recession' Is a Media Myth (John Lott Jr. Foxnews.com) During the 2000 election, with Bill Clinton as president, the economy was viewed through rose-colored glasses. According to polls, voters didn’t realize that the country was in a recession. Although the economy started shrinking in July 2000, most Americans through the entire year thought that the economy was fine. But over the last half-year, the media and politicians have said we were in a recession even while the economy was still growing. ...Over 78 percent more negative news stories discussed a recession when the economy under a Republican was soaring than occurred under a Democrat when the economy was shrinking. A little perspective on the economy would be helpful. The average unemployment rate during President Clinton was 5.2 percent. The average under President George W. Bush is just slightly below 5.2. The current unemployment rate is4.8 percent, almost half a percentage point lower than these averages. The average inflation rate under Clinton was 2.6 percent, under Bush it is 2.7 percent. Indeed, one has to go back to the Kennedy administration to find a lower average rate. True the inflation rate over the last year has gone up to 4 percent, but that is still lower than the average inflation rate under all the presidents from Nixon through Bush’s father. Gas prices are indeed up 33 percent over the last year, but to get an average of 4 percent means that lots of other prices must have stayed the same or gone down. On other fronts, seasonally adjusted civilian employment is 650,000 people greater than it was a year ago. Personal income grew at a strong half of one percent in just February. Despite all that, this last week, Barack Obama proclaimed “As most experts know, our economy is in a recession.” Hillary Clinton made similar staements last fall. Yet, as any economist knows, a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth, and we haven’t even had one single quarter of negative growth reported. The economy slowed down significantly during the end of last year, but that was after a sizzling annual GDP growth rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter.
“Fitna,” The Face of Radical Islam — Their Aim Destroy the United States - *WARNING: This video is very violent and graphic.* - The new Dutch video, Fitna, released last week caused international controversy for its shocking exposition of Radical Islam and the Quran. Sadly, as a result of threats to the filmmaker’s staff, the video was withdrawn from several websites over the weekend. However, TMLC and others, not to be intimidated by such threats, continued to show the video on their sites — we still have free speech here. Near the end of this video you will see adherents to Radical Islam specifically announce their aim to destroy the United States. Although the video is graphically violent, it is a testament to the true mission of Radical Islam. The video is available for you to watch here at the TMLC website. (See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitna_%28film%29)
"FITNA" -- IT'S NOT LIKE MUSLIMS EVER OFFENDED ANYONE GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary By Don Feder - It's important for Muslims to keep reminding us that there is absolutely, positively no relationship between Islam and violence. Otherwise it's easy to forget.
Islam’s ‘Public Enemy #1’ - A third reason for Botros’s success is that his polemical technique has proven irrefutable. Each of his episodes has a theme — from the pressing to the esoteric — often expressed as a question (e.g., “Is jihad an obligation for all Muslims?”; “Are women inferior to men in Islam?”; “Did Mohammed say that adulterous female monkeys should be stoned?” “Is drinking the urine of prophets salutary according to sharia?”). To answer the question, Botros meticulously quotes — always careful to give sources and reference numbers — from authoritative Islamic texts on the subject, starting from the Koran; then from the canonical sayings of the prophet — the Hadith; and finally from the words of prominent Muslim theologians past and present — the illustrious ulema. ...More often than not, the response from the ulema is deafening silence — which has only made Botros and Life TV more enticing to Muslim viewers. The ulema who have publicly addressed Botros’s conclusions often find themselves forced to agree with him — which has led to some amusing (and embarrassing) moments on live Arabic TV. ...But the ultimate reason for Botros’s success is that — unlike his Western counterparts who criticize Islam from a political standpoint — his primary interest is the salvation of souls. He often begins and concludes his programs by stating that he loves all Muslims as fellow humans and wants to steer them away from falsehood to Truth. To that end, he doesn’t just expose troubling aspects of Islam. Before concluding every program, he quotes pertinent biblical verses and invites all his viewers to come to Christ. ,,,Botros’s motive is not to incite the West against Islam, promote “Israeli interests,” or “demonize” Muslims, but to draw Muslims away from the dead legalism of sharia to the spirituality of Christianity. Many Western critics fail to appreciate that, to disempower radical Islam, something theocentric and spiritually satisfying — not secularism, democracy, capitalism, materialism, feminism, etc. — must be offered in its place. The truths of one religion can only be challenged and supplanted by the truths of another. And so Father Zakaria Botros has been fighting fire with fire.
Muslims Coming to Christ Kerby Anderson - It is amazing how many Muslims are coming to Christ. As I have been doing radio interviews on my new book, A Biblical Point of View on Islam, I have been talking about these conversions and hear some encouraging stories. But I am not the only person who is noticing the increasing number of conversions. Joel Rosenberg in his book Epicenter describes some amazing stories of Muslims converting to Christianity. For example, in Algeria more than 80,000 Muslims have committed their lives to Christ in a last few years. While this is considered the birthplace of Augustine, it is hardly a Christian country today. In fact, the Muslim clerics in this country have actually banned evangelism. There are newspaper articles in Morocco that worry that perhaps as many as 40,000 Muslims have converted to Christianity in the last few years. Even if the estimated figure of 25,000 conversions is more accurate, you can easily see that we are witnessing quite a conversion to Christianity even in Muslim countries in the Middle East.
Free Exercise, Not Theocracy,
2008 Congressional Pig Book Summary The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW's annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2008 Pig Book identified 11,610 projects at a cost of $17.2 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2008. A "pork" project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures. To qualify as pork, a project must meet one of seven criteria that were developed in 1991 by CAGW and the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition. Despite last year’s ethics and lobbying “reform,” pork-barrel earmarks - the currency of corruption in Washington, D.C. - are alive and well. Complete Pork Database: Search all 11,610 projects by keyword, member, state, party or appropriations bill.
Why You Are Paying Twice The Taxes of 40 Years Ago - By Rebecca Hagelin - You know the expression “The numbers don’t lie”? Well, after you spend a few minutes perusing The Heritage Foundation’s new “2008 Federal Revenue and Spending Book of Charts,” you may wish they did. Ever wonder where your tax money goes? How much the “richest 1 percent” shells out in taxes? How bad congressional pork-barrel spending is? What it will take to pay Social Security and Medicare benefits to the baby boomers? How high the federal budget deficit is set to climb in the decades ahead? The pathetic truth is boldly presented in Heritage’s Book of Charts, along with the answers to many other questions. Our analysts used official calculations from the federal government’s own budget, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Census Bureau, as well as information from watchdog groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste, to outline what can only be described as a slow-motion fiscal train wreck. Let’s start with something that all of us -- rich, poor and in between -- can relate to: how much we pay per household in taxes. ...If you listen to some politicians, you probably think the tax burden got lighter for the rich and heavier for the poor. But that’s not at all what the Congressional Budget Office numbers show. The top 1 percent of earners went from paying 27.7 percent of the tax burden to 31.2 percent -- an increase of 12.6 percent. The bottom 20 percent, meanwhile, saw its share of the tax burden go from 9.1 percent to 4.3 percent. That’s right: It was actually cut in half, and then some. Try finding that out by reading The New York Times or watching CBS News.
Cities switch off lights for Earth Hour - In an effort intended to draw attention to global warming, governments, businesses and individuals turned off lights for an hour over the weekend. --- Economist and blogger Don Boudreaux points out that if we measure environmental virtue by non-use of lights, then impoverished North Korea is a global leader in this regard — as demonstrated in this stunning photo.
Do Americans today still need labor unions? NO: LABOR UNIONS ADD TO COSTS AND DISCOURAGE PRODUCTIVITY - Heritage economist James Sherk - In today's knowledge economy, however, collective representation makes little sense. Machines perform most of the repetitive manufacturing tasks of yesteryear. Employers now want employees with individual insights and abilities. The fastest-growing occupations over the past quarter-century have been professional, technical, and managerial in nature. The jobs of the future include Web designers, interior decorators, and public-relations specialists, among others. These jobs depend on the creativity and skills of individual employees. Few workers today want a one-size-fits-all contract that ignores what they individually bring to the bargaining table. Union-negotiated, seniority-based promotions and raises feel like chains to workers who want to get ahead.
OBAMA SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR INSULTING MILLIONS OF ARMED CITIZENS, SAYS CCRKBA Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday insulted millions of legally-armed American citizens when he told a Pennsylvania newspaper that concealed carry poses a threat to innocent people, and he should immediately apologize for that remark, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.Senator Obama, quoted by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, admitted, “I am not in favor of concealed weapons. I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations.” ..."Barack Obama ignorantly believes that legally-armed Americans are as reckless and irresponsible as the criminals with whom his political sympathies evidently lay,” Gottlieb said. “He has been insisting for months that he supports the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, but here he is now campaigning in Pennsylvania, stating essentially that he would prefer Americans not exercise that right. “Legally-armed citizens are also voters, Mr. Obama,” Gottlieb stated, “and you have outrageously insulted every one of them. You owe these good citizens an apology.”
What kind of 'Change' Will Obama Bring? Tom Minnery (Go to
link for 26 footnotes and links.) - What does it take to be the most
liberal member of the United States Senate – farther left than Ted
Kennedy, John Kerry or even Hillary Clinton? For the answer, take a look
at a man who could be the next president of the United States: Barack
Obama. Sen. Obama was recently named the most liberal U.S. Senator, based
on the annual voting analysis by the non-partisan and highly respected
National Journal. If he emerges as
the Democratic nominee, one of the critical jobs of Focus Action will be
to uncover the real
Barack Obama—not the feel-good orator who speaks of “change” and
“hope,” but the man who would be the most left-wing president in our
nation’s history. And we’ll need your
continued help to do so.
Obama: As extreme as they come on family
issues - On abortion,
Obama’s 100 percent lifetime voting record from Planned Parenthood and
NARAL only begins to tell the story.
How about marriage and the homosexual agenda?
The price of “change”: Hold on to your wallet! Sen. Obama talks constantly about the need for “change.” But what he doesn’t tell you is the price tag, so allow me: It will be very expensive change. He supports raising taxes to pay for universal health care, his free college program and a host of other government expansions. Among his pet projects is a bill he sponsored called the Global Poverty Act, which would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid. Over 13 years, that will amount to a whopping $845 billion increase over current foreign-aid spending! Get your checkbooks ready!
National
security?
One area where Sen. Obama seems to have an aversion to spending is the War
on Terror. But it’s not just the admittedly controversial war in Iraq
where Obama has shown himself to be soft on terror:
One has to ask: Did he learn anything from 9/11?
Ditto
for Hillary?
On most of the issues I’ve mentioned, Hillary isn’t far behind Obama’s
extremism. In fact, she ranked as the 16th most liberal senator in
National Journal’s scoring. But the reality is that most people know
about Hillary. They remember her push for government-run health care. They
know of her radical pro-abortion stance. They may even recall her support
for allowing young children to sue their parents.
Obama, though, is the new kid on the block. In fact, a little more than three years ago, he was still an Illinois state senator. Now, the media is fawning over him … and isn’t about to delve into his leftist record.
"Some voters buy into disingenuous political speeches
because they are politically illiterate, a condition that is growing
alarmingly." Robert E. Kelly - The National Debt of the United States, 1941 to 2008
Yes, We Can -- Without The Government (Eyeblast.tv Video 00:04:01) Barack Obama's "Yes, we can" motto has been immortalized and satirized in online music videos over the past week. This video instead salutes Ronald Reagan for his can-do faith in Americans to succeed without their government.
The American Dream, Democratic Style Jeffrey Anderson - Listening to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton debate, one wonders why we didn’t all think of it before. It’s so unobjectionable, really. It turns out that Obama and Clinton just want to help out the average American worker by making everything more affordable. And it turns out that all you have to do to make things more affordable is get the federal government involved. Healthcare costs got you down? Well, let’s make them more affordable. All we have to do is funnel more money and decision-making power through the federal government. College tuition? Let’s make that more affordable by having the federal government pay for it. Housing costs? Retirement? Job training? Groceries? TVs? Cars? Boats? There’s nothing you can think of that the federal government can’t make more affordable.
Oprah Exposed: Over 2 Million Have Joined Oprah's Church Online (7 minute video) Who you are requires no belief. ...The man on the Cross is an archetypal image. ...My salvation comes from me....There is no sin...."One of the mistakes humans beings make is believing there is only one way."
Catholics Organize to Elect Barack Obama - Lately there's been much talk about the endorsements for Sen. Barack Obama made by two Catholic leaders: Republican pro-life jurist Doug Kmiec and Democratic pro-life Senator Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania. But these endorsements are just the tip of the iceberg. A well-organized effort is advancing behind the scenes to create a coalition of Catholics -- dissatisfied with the Iraq War, angry toward George W. Bush, and pushing "social justice" issues -- to win the Catholic vote in November 2008. To know who the players are in the Catholic push for Obama, one has only to look at a brochure for "The Convention for the Common Good" to be held in Philadelphia during July 11-13. The brains behind the convention are Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and NETWORK, a national Catholic social-justice lobby.
God said He was Beginning "A Unique Shaking and Cleansing of the White and Black American Church." Harry R. Jackson, Jr. - Eight years ago, I was waiting for God to show me what was happening in the presidential election. I remember fasting and intensely seeking the face of God during that time. Many were shouting that blacks had been disenfranchised in several states. Many Bible believing whites felt that God had ordained George Bush's presidency in order to avert a major judgment from God. I felt uneasy with the typical assessment of both black and white Christians. I was uniquely aware of the different set of moral priorities that these two powerful branches of the Church embraced. As I agonized in prayer, the Lord spoke to me that He was beginning a unique shaking and cleansing of the American church.
Disclaimer: EarsToHear.net does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article posted in its newsletters. All articles are aimed at challenging apathy and to encourage taking a stand for the values you represent. Please see associated EarsToHear.net links for its stance and commentary on the issues.
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