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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 June 27 , 2008 - Americans Believe in God, Heaven, Hell

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Past newsletters are available at: http://www.earstohear.net/eNewsletters/

Upfront - Americans Believe in God, Heaven, Hell By Amanda Carpenter - An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in God, heaven, hell, miracles, angels and demons according to a landmark study on religious attitudes. “Americans are nearly unanimous in saying they believe in God (92 percent), and large majorities believe in life after death (74 percent) and believe that Scripture is the word of God (63 percent),” according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life’s 268-page study released Monday. The study also found 59 percent of Americans believe in hell, 68 percent believe angels and demons are active in the world and 70 percent believe miracles “still occur today as they did in ancient times.” Although Americans seem to embrace similar religious concepts, they remain open-minded about different religions. “More than two-thirds of adults affiliated with a religious tradition agree that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their faith, a pattern that occurs in nearly all traditions,” the study concluded, based on 35,000 different interviews.

Take Action - (Alerts, Action, Petitions)

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Take Action - If you support Dr. Dobson and appreciate his strong stand for Christ, please send a respectful e-mail to the anti-Dobson Web site. A "coalition of pastors and other Christians" has launched an anti-Dobson Web site, to defend the "Christian faith and Barack Obama." The Web site, which attempts to compare statements from Obama and Dobson, is trying to collect signatures of those who disagree with Dr. Dobson. Minnery called it a stunt. "It seeks to inject animosity into the debate over Old Testament and New Testament truths," he said. "I thought this was the kind of thing that was beneath Senator Obama supporters, but apparently not."

Tell Congress: Terrorists Are Not US Citizens: (GrasstopsUSA.com) Are foreign terrorists American citizens? Should they have the rights of American citizens? Should they have the same rights as you or me? Apparently five justices of the United States Supreme Court think so! In Boumediene v. Bush, five justices ruled that terrorists captured in foreign lands -- potential bombers and assassins who've never set foot on United States soil -- have to be tried in an American civilian court WITH ALL THE RIGHTS GUARANTEED TO United States CITIZENS UNDER OUR CONSTITUTION! Essentially, a one man majority on the Supreme Court gave terrorists a get-out-of-jail-free card. This outrageous ruling -- this deliberate crippling of our nation's ability to fight war -- has snatched away congressional and presidential powers guaranteed by the United States Constitution. In other words, Justice Kennedy and four other radical judges basically had the gall and audacity to decree THAT THE CONSTITUTION ITSELF IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily.com understands just what has happened: "So, it's official! This court believes a majority of five judges in black robes decides the law of the land, not the Congress of the United States with the consent of the president." "I'm simply astonished that no other journalist -- no other pundit -- has observed the coup d'état that this decision represents in the American political system. "To make it clear, the Congress, anticipating just this kind of meddling in national security matters by the court, wrote legislation prohibiting it, as the Constitution permits it to do. The court ignored that restriction, meddled in national security matters that were not its business and verbally spanked the Congress, explaining, in most condescending fashion, that the 'political branches' actually had no say in 'what the law is.'" [Emphasis added] Ann Coulter understands as well: "But now, even aliens get special constitutional privileges merely for being caught on a battlefield trying to kill Americans." And Congressman John Shadegg understands: "It is outrageous that the Supreme Court of the United States has endangered innocent American lives so Guantanamo Bay detainees can experience the rights and freedoms of the society they seek to destroy." That's why Shadegg, on June 17th, introduced the Boumediene Jurisdiction Correction Act (H.R. 6274) which would give military courts exclusive jurisdiction over detained foreign enemy combatants being held at Guantanamo Bay.

“When the terrorists attack again—as Homeland Security has repeatedly warned us they will—how many survivors will be consoled because the Supreme Court and the State Department looked out for the ‘rights’ of terrorists before the rights of their dead loved ones?” - Cal Thomas

Ask your Representative and Senators to disclose their earmark requests. The leadership of the 110th Congress took control promising the “most honest, most open, most ethical Congress in history” and we are holding them to their word! While House and Senate rules do not require members of Congress to make their earmark requests available to the public, Americans deserve to know on which pet projects their elected representatives would lavish their hard-earned tax dollars. Transparency is a vital first step toward eliminating the tens of billions of dollars spent on congressional earmarks annually and ending the “culture of corruption” that earmarking breeds.

Petition: Ask Congress to Investigate ACORN - Dear Chairman Frank, The Consumers Rights League recently issued a whistleblower report that reveals that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and its affiliate ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) may have reaped substantial financial gains by misusing taxpayer dollars for political ends and by attacking lending corporations for the same ‘predatory’ lending practices it regularly engages in.

The ACORN Obama Knows By Michelle Malkin - If you don't know what ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is all about, you better bone up. This left-wing group takes in 40 percent of its revenues from American taxpayers -- you and me -- and has leveraged nearly four decades of government subsidies to fund affiliates that promote the welfare state and undermine capitalism and self-reliance, some of which have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and encouraging voter fraud. A new whistleblower report from the Consumer Rights League claims that Chicago-based ACORN has commingled public tax dollars with political projects. Who in Washington will fight to ensure that your money isn't being spent on these radical activities? Don't bother asking Barack Obama. He cut his ideological teeth working with ACORN as a "community organizer" and legal representative. Naturally, ACORN's political action committee has warmly endorsed his presidential candidacy. ACORN head Maude Hurd gushes that Obama is the candidate who "best understands and can affect change on the issues ACORN cares about" -- like ensuring their massive pipeline to your hard-earned money. Let's take a closer look at the ACORN Obama knows.

News and commentary (News & Commentary)

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Scientist: 'Global warming' scheme to push global tax

E-verify is a working solution to illegal immigration

Court rules illegal immigrants are residents

Is Wahhabism Continuing to Spread Throughout the Globe? (The following article is based on reports obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.) Wahhabism is a fundamentalist movement, named after Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703-1792). It remains the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Islamic world. Wahhabis believe that some Muslim groups such as Shia or Sunni Islam follow novel or non-Islamic practices.Wahhabi theology advocates puritanical and legalistic stances in matters of faith and religious practice. Wahhabists see their role as a movement to restore Islam from what they perceive to be innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies and idolatries. There are many practices that they believe are contrary to Islam.

The Needless Burden of Local Assistance Grants - These projects can be correctly called “pork.” The fact that these projects could be paid for easily at the local level shows how state lawmakers are using the grants as gifts to constituents. Despite the wasted money, there are some Local Assistance Grants being used for legitimate functions of state government. For example, the City of Fargo is getting $10,000 to purchase a used fire truck. This would have been 10 percent of Fargo’s $97,163 budget. The City of Payne received $7,500 to help buy fire hydrants and leak detection and prevention equipment. The cost would have been 30 percent of Payne’s budget. These grants were allocated to important health and safety projects whose funding would have put an undue burden on the local governments. ...Pork spending has become so engrained in politics that a longtime senator suggested that taking away his highway money was like slapping his wife. As long as that remains the mindset of politicians, taxpayers will be left with money wasted and bad public policy.

Michael Barone - “As we enter the second half of the campaign year, facts are undermining the Democratic narrative that has dominated our politics since about the time Hurricane Katrina rolled into the Gulf coast—most importantly, the facts about Iraq. During the Democratic primary season, all the party’s candidates veered hardly a jot or tittle from the narrative that helped the Democrats sweep the November 2006 elections. Iraq is spiraling into civil war, we invaded unwisely and have botched things ever since, no good outcome is possible, and it is time to get out of there as fast as we can. In January 2007, when George W. Bush ordered the surge strategy, which John McCain had advocated since the summer of 2003, Barack Obama informed us that the surge couldn’t work. The only thing to do was to get out as soon as possible. That stance proved to be a good move toward winning the presidential nomination—but it was poor prophecy. It is beyond doubt now that the surge has been hugely successful, beyond even the hopes of its strongest advocates.”

Bob Barr, the spoiler Conservative political commentator Phil Kent says long-shot Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr may thwart John McCain's White House bid if he's able to attract a significant amount of voters disenchanted with the GOP.

Norma McCorvey Takes Pro-Life Message to Television - “In 1973, I was a very confused 21-year-old, with one child, and facing an unplanned pregnancy," she says in the ad. "At the time, I fought to obtain a legal abortion, but truth be told, I have three daughters and have never had an abortion.” McCorvey goes on to share that she’s a Christian and that being involved in Roe v. Wade was the biggest mistake of her life. “You read about me in the history books, but now I’m dedicated to spreading the truth about preserving the dignity of all human life, from natural conception to natural death," she says.

"Politically Correct" - (Politically Correct) Examples and results of using unrighteous deception which lack Biblical Moral Virtue. Remove the Light (Jesus) and darkness (politically correct secular humanism) inevitably ensues.

(Click links for complete columns or reference.)

Muslims Demanding America To Bow To Sharia Law - All over the United States, radical Muslims are pushing companies to bow to Islamic law known as Sharia. They are doing this under the guise of religious freedom, but the political and cultural ideology of Islam recognizes only Allah as the supreme ruler over the world. Efforts are already underway here in America to introduce Sharia enclaves in some communities. In these enclaves, Constitutional concepts like one person/one vote would be replaced by Sharia concepts which values a woman’s vote at half that of a man. In many instances, Sharia law allocates rights based on gender and religion (Islam is the only legal religion) rather than individual rights. In the United Kingdom and France, such enclaves exist and have caused conflict between Islamists and the country’s civil law. What Muslims are doing has been referred to as “creeping Sharia” – that is, getting companies, communities and states to change policies in order to force everyone to obey Sharia law, a totalitarian system of regulations that govern Islamic theocracies. Caribou coffee shops and Church’s Fried Chicken are Saudi-owned companies which operate and manage their employees based on Sharia principles.

“Obama would bring us back to September 10th America. And September 10th is sure to be followed by September 11th.” - Andrew McCarthy

Religious Americans: My faith isn't the only way A new survey indicates that an increasing number of Americans -- including evangelicals -- no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

Scarborough Says that, Like Dr. Dobson, He was Appalled by Obama 2006 Speech - "Here's a man who doesn't deviate one iota from the extreme leftwing of his party, when it comes to values issues," the Vision America Action President charged. "He supports partial-birth abortion. As a member of the Illinois State Senate, he had a 100% perfect rating from Planned Parenthood." ...Scarborough noted that in a speech earlier this year, Obama said Jesus would have embraced homosexuals, citing the Sermon on the Mount. "Jesus would have embraced them as sinners, but rejected their sin," Scarborough explained. "For me, the most amazing part of this speech was when the Senator referred to the Book of Romans, which condemns homosexuality in no uncertain terms - as do Genesis and Leviticus - as an 'obscure text,'" Scarborough said. "As any committed Christian knows, it is fundamental to Christianity. This 'obscure' book is credited with launching the Reformation. I wonder how Martin Luther and John Calvin would feel about Obama's assertion." "For Obama, it seems, political correctness on certain social issues, rather that Holy Scripture, is his final authority for faith and practice." Scarborough commented. "When a man publicizes his 'Christianity' far and wide, Christians have every right to check him out. Based on the record, one can only conclude that Barack Obama does not adhere to traditional Christianity."

Obama's petition to Catholics, Evangelicals Political scientist and presidential historian Paul Kengor says Barack Obama's aggressive effort to reach out to centrist Evangelicals and Catholics is an appeal to social justice activists like Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo.

Perspective: Wreaking havoc on America When the Church isn't the salt of the earth or the light of the world, disaster awaits.

Scottish Schools Ban Father’s Day Cards - Thousands of students in Scotland were told they couldn’t make Father’s Day cards at school this year for fear of embarrassing classmates who live with single mothers or lesbians. School officials said the policy was adopted “in the interests of sensitivity,” and local authorities said teachers must adapt to the “changing patterns of family life.”

Indoctrination or Education? - (Education?) The good, the bad, and the ugly...
Without a Heritage every generation starts over
Will our descendants know moral virtue?

Without a heritage every generation starts over.

"The philosophy of the schoolhouse in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." Abraham Lincoln

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again." Ronald Reagan

(Click links for complete columns / footnotes)

'Homeschoolers are Only Good for Cleaning Toilets' The following is submitted by Gary DeMar: The title for today's article is taken from a response to one of American Vision's daily articles. The respondent is an atheist who claims he can refute any argument raised in defense of the Christian faith. I have irritated him so much by answering his poorly researched responses he sends to me that his true character is spilling out in a public way. His personal emails to me are worse than what I have reproduced here. If you want to know what the world would be like with atheists in control, here's a little taste: - "It's good that Christians homeschool. We need citizens to clean our toilets and mow our lawns. Perhaps some homeschooled Christians will be able to fill these types of jobs. The rest will be unemployable retards like their parents." - Here's what I want homeschoolers to do:

Extra, Extra...

Theological Educational Institute (TEI) Update #201, June 19, 2008 The Biblical Power to Live in the Light? Or Stealth in Politics?

Dear Friends:

Greetings, as always, in the love of the Lord.

This is the first of three Updates which will focus on the debate over same-sex marriage, and always, with the focus being on the Gospel and how to minister it in the midst of such an all-encompassing debate.

My first focus is to challenge us as believers with respect to the power to live in the light -- from my recent book, The Six Pillars of Honest Politics (available at: http://shop.teinetwork.com/main.sc under "books," and see attachment). My second focus will be on the "metaethics of language" and my third focus will be on biblical and intellectual rigor.

There has been recent media attention drawn to a wealthy homosexual activist from Colorado, Tim Gill. For example, see a recent article in Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1606679,00.html; in The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200703/tim-gill, and also in a CBN report: http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/361991.aspx. He has funneled money strategically to defeat 50 out of 70 targeted political opponents across the nation, and has shifted Colorado politics enormously, and may be aiming to tip the State Senate this fall in New York -- to advance same-sex marriage there. And he, and his associates, deliberately do this in "stealth." At least up to now.

Do we in the church respond in kind, with stealthly politics? No. We are called to embrace the biblical power to live in the light, and there are three elements in view in the Bible: 1. Physics -- wherever light is presence, by definition and reality, darkness flees. 2. Ethics -- when we live openly in the sight of God and one another, with no hidden agendas, those who live in the darkness flee. 3. Spiritual domains -- Jesus is the light of the world, he calls us to be the same as his servants; and in the presence of such light, the devil, who is the prince of darkness, also flees. Much of the so-called "religious right" has failed in recent years, and all because of a genetic fallacy. The term "religious right" is political not theological, in contrast to the "secular left" and the "religious left." This language is reactive, not proactive. It allows the darkness to define the public language, and the light of the Gospel is so easily lost. I always speak of what is biblical as opposed to what is non-biblical, and the closest language I use to current political terms is to call myself a "pro-life libertarian" because it is rooted in the unalienable rights of life, liberty, property and hence, the power to pursue true happiness, rooted ultimately in Genesis 1-2. I eschew the political language of conservative versus liberal, right versus left, etc. It ends up only being a turf war of competing human egos. No thank you.

I will pick up on this theme in the next Update. But for now, let me sum up with these words:

Wherever the light is present, the darkness will flee. Do we live in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every breath we take? And do we know how to translate this into politics, and thus show God's mercy, which triumphs over evil, to a hurting world?

Blessings and your servant in Jesus,

John

To receive TEI Updates sign up at: http://www.teinetwork.com/contact.html

Disclaimer: EarsToHear.net does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article posted. All articles are aimed at challenging apathy and to encourage taking a stand for the values you represent. Please visit EarsToHear.net for further commentary.

EarsToHear.net Book: Lessons of the Holy Spirit - A Guide for Entering the Kingdom of God and Discover Why it Pleased God to Hide His Kingdom from the Wise - Click here for Press Release and lesson content. Covering many of the concepts categorized below and can be used for both personal challenges and group discussions. If you enjoy the Quiz on the Gospel of John, you will enjoy this book of 17 lessons.

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