religion – Page 397 – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Verse 32 of the Obama Impeachment song: “I found out through the news”

Maybe Obama never listens to anything people tell him?

Verse 32 of the Obama Impeachment song: “I found out through the news”

(as if sung by President Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”.

Twenty years in Wright’s Church pews;

I never listened to his views.

Found out everything through news.

I”m hopeless, this is my best excuse.

(The complete Obama impeachment song: https://lenbilen.com/2015/02/25/the-complete-obama-impeachment-song/ )

Some examples:

An Air Force One plane (not carrying the president at the time) made an unannounced pass over the Statue of Liberty on April 27, 2009, It turned out to be a White House-approved photo op, but panicked New Yorkers feared it might be some sort of terrorist attack. The next day, President Obama told reporters,

“It was something that, uh, we found out about, uh, along with all of you.”
On Fast and furious scandal:

“I heard on the news about this story, that, uh, Fast and Furious.”

For good measure, Attorney General Eric Holder—who had been sent regular briefings on Fast and Furious, a case approved by his criminal division—also said he was clueless about the case.

In May of 2013, a reporter asked the president: “When did you first learn that the IRS was targeting conservative political groups?”

Obama answered: “I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday.”

When it became public that the Obama administration had secretly seized phone records of AP news reporters, the White House said President Obama hadn’t known about it.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters in May of 2013,

“We don’t have any independent knowledge of that, [President Obama] found out about the news reports uh yesterday on the road.”

President Obama said he had no idea his government was spying on foreign leaders as outlined in an Inspector’s General report—until it was leaked to the news. On Oct. 28, 2013 he said,

“I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report before the IG report had been leaked through the press.”

In May of 2014, White House spokesman Carney said that the President was clueless about the waiting list scandal and coverup involving medical care for military veterans.

Carney told reporters, “You mean the specific allegations that I think were reported first by your news network out of Phoenix, I believe. We learned about them through the reports. I will double check if that is not the case. But that is when we learned about them and that is when I understand [V.A.] Secretary Shinseki learned about them, and he immediately took the action that he has taken.”

President Obama says he didn’t know about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address and server for official business until the New York Times published it in a story. The president told CBS News’ Bill Plante that he found out “the same time everybody else learned it through news reports.”

Verse 30 of the Obama Impeachment song. Genocide of Christians and Iran going Nuclear.

Former Rep. Frank Wolf, the leading voice for religious freedom in Congress for decades, says Christianity is on the verge of extinction in Iraq and the remaining steadfast believers do not see much effort from the U.S. or other Western nations to improve their plight.

He co-led a trip to Iraq in January to observe conditions for Christians and other minorities and to speak to people firsthand. The group recently released a report based on that trip titled, “Edge of Extinction: The Eradication of Religious and Ethnic Minorities in Iraq.” He said the conclusions of the visit were obvious.

“Two things. They’re really suffering and they’re really facing extinction,” said Wolf, who added that the people there are mystified at the relative silence in the midst of their suffering, since the Islamic State has very real plans to bring its savagery to the West as well.

“The threat ISIS poses is not only to them but to people in the West and, quite frankly, people in the United States,” Wolf said. “It’s kind of a conglomeration. They kept saying, ‘Why will no one in the West speak out for us? Does anyone care?’

This leads directly to verse 30 of the Obama Impeachment song (As if sung by Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”).

Christians killed in Middle East.

It doesn’t bother me the least.

Give Iran the nuclear beast.

“Religion of Peace” will have a feast.

The complete Obama impeachment song: https://lenbilen.com/2015/02/25/the-complete-obama-impeachment-song/

On “The sin of the world” and “The lie”, what does that mean?

On “The sin of the world” and “The lie”, what does that mean?
I am a man. I tend to forget anniversaries. They sneak up on me like a thief in the night, and suddenly and without warning I have to think and act fast to come up with something to celebrate the occasion. For women it is usually no problem. They do remember.
People react differently when disaster strikes. On a Monday, October 2, 2006 a man in Nickel Mines, Pa opened fire, killed 5 and wounded 5 Amish school girls in their little one room schoolhouse, then killed himself. The world reacted with horror, but the Amish attended the killer’s funeral and the murderer’s widow attended the funeral of one of the girls. The next Monday the school and privies and fence was no more, the yard and adjacent field was plowed. There was no trace there ever was a school. They chose not to remember the crime against their fellow men, but desired to follow the Lord Jesus’ admonition: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”
Not so the Muslims.
On November 14, 1914, in Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, the religious leader Sheikh-ul-Islam declared an Islamic holy war on behalf of the Ottoman government. He urged his Muslim followers to take up arms against Britain, France, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro in World War I.
The Fatwa reads in part: “Of those who go to the Jihad for the sake of happiness and salvation of the believers in God’s victory, the lot of those who remain alive is felicity, while the rank of those who depart to the next world is martyrdom. In accordance with God’s beautiful promise, those who sacrifice their lives to give life to the truth will have honor in this world, and their latter end is paradise.”
The following years nearly two million Christians, mostly Armenians were executed in a genocide. The men were hanged or beheaded, the women and girls were stripped naked, raped and then crucified by the thousands.
On November 14, 2014, exactly 100 years later the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. hosted a Muslim Friday prayer, off limits to Christians.
Coincidence? I think not.
The intent was good, reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. “If we show our good will, they will reciprocate, and the world will be a better place with peace and good will toward men.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming he proclaimed: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”.
Why is “the sin” singular? There are many sins, in fact everything that is not in perfect accordance with God’s will can be called a sin.
In a way the Muslim prayer in the Washington Cathedral is a good example of “the sin of the world”.
The Muslims issued the call to prayer, the men (separate from the women” prostrated themselves with their face to Mecca and their derrieres towards the crucifix, proclaiming “Allah Akbar”. In so doing they declared the Washington Cathedral “Dar-al-Islam”, territory claimed for the Islamic Caliphate in perpetuity. But that is not “The sin”.
The sin is denying Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Crucified, buried and resurrected. Somehow, in the minds of the Episcopal Church leaders, this is less important than ecumenism. The Muslims, while acknowledging the virgin birth of Jesus Christ deny his death, burial and resurrection. If they did accept this, that would make Muhammad a liar, thus blaspheming the Prophet.
There was a woman, Christine Weick, who drove all the way from her Tennessee home to deliver a message of truth to the Muslim worshipers: “Jesus Christ died on that cross over there. He is the reason why we are to worship only Him. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.”
She continued, “We have built, and allowed you here in mosques across this country. Why can’t you worship in your mosque, and leave our churches alone?”
She was quickly escorted out of the Cathedral and prayer continued with their faces to Mecca and their derrieres towards the cross.
The Sin is unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption, God reconciling us back to himself through the power of the cross. The sin of willfully separating ourselves from God and rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is what John the Baptist referred to when he said: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”.
Now for “The lie”.

Lies seem to be increasing, especially in politics. (Politics as you know comes from two Greek words: Poly which means many, and ticks which means blood sucking pests) Politics is also the art of the possible, where you bring different factions together and come to a solution that is mutually beneficial for all parties. This only works if the negotiations are based on truthfulness rather than lies.
So, what is “The lie”?
Satan is referred to as “the father of lies”, but that is lies in plural, and we are perfectly capable of lying ourselves, so let us not involve him here except for one thing: It started in the Garden of Eden. Satan, in the form of the serpent said: “Did God really say…?” This started the ball rolling and man was separated from God.
There are two scriptural references to “The lie”
Romans 1:24-25 (NKJV) Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
“The lie” can be best explained as refusal to accept and worship God as the Creator and sustainer of all things, and a strangely fitting anniversary can best explain the lie.
On April 22 1870, VladimirLenin (Владимир Ильич Ленин) was born. He is the father of modern revolutionary communism, atheistic and centered around the idea that power comes from the barrel of a gun.
April 22 1970, exactly 100 years later it was time for the first Earth day.
Coincidence? I think not.
It started innocently enough with Ira Einhorn (The unicorn killer) as master of ceremonies in Philadelphia, PA “We only have one earth, so we need to take care of her.” That’s what Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin believed. So he organized the movement. The mantra was: “By the year 2000 the earth will be 10 degrees colder than today unless we act to clean up our air”. This lead to the creation of the EPA, a Clean Air Act, and the threat of the new ice age was averted.
This was a great success, and the environmentalists grew bolder and wanted more action on pollution and habitat protection, but the movement was taken over by the communists, socialists and humanists that saw population control as the main goal to save the planet. They formed a coalition under the banner of “saving the world from the coming environmental catastrophe”.
It was now getting warmer again after the temporary cooling during the 60’s and 70’s, so the earth day movement needed a new attack point to continue their fight for a better and sustainable earth. They found an unlikely ally in Margaret Thatcher, who had her run in with the coal unions that was ruining Britain’s economy, mining coal seams as narrow as a few inches. She wanted to do away with unprofitable coal and concentrate on nuclear power, and the greenhouse effect of CO2 started to get promoted. It took on a life of its own. Research money was suddenly available to study the atmosphere and climate.
Let me pause here and indulge in a personal anecdote. Many years ago, around 1977 Dr. James Lovelock bought a number of HP Gas Chromatographs to set up in the remotest corners of the earth to study pollution and its effect on the climate. What he found was an unexpectedly large amount of dimethylsulphide (DMS) (ref 3) in the atmosphere, and that acted as a condensation point for cloud formation. He was then a paid consultant for Hewlett Packard, so he came over from his native England a couple of times a year, always willing to hold a seminar for us engineers, and at one of them he sprung “Daisy-world” on us, before it was published, mostly to see if we could poke holes in his hypothesis. It involved a world that consisted of only two flowers, black daisies and white daisies. The computer simulation starts out with a cold world and a weak sun. The sun warms up until suddenly black daisies appear and cover the earth. This warms the earth some more and white daisies appear. As the sun varies in intensity the mix of white and black daisies changes and this keeps the earth at a stable temperature, as they have different reflective properties. He then went on to say that the whole earth is like a living organism.
Some time later he presented the paper and the next year we asked him how it was received. “You won’t believe it”, he answered. ”Now there are people who actually believe the earth is a living organism. They demand follow-up articles that justifies their belief.” He had partly himself to blame, the name he chose was the GAIA hypothesis, Gaia being the Mother earth Goddess. Talking about religion the Mother Earth people now had their goddess, and expressions like. “The earth has a temperature” became commonplace. For me, being a Christian I read with wonderment what God has to say about the Ecosystem.

We find this in Genesis 1:6-8 (NIV) And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
The creation story is interesting reading. God takes a whole day out His busy schedule of creation just to create the clouds. In days three to five of creation He adds the statement “And God saw that it was good”, on day six it was “very good”. Could it be that God knows the ecosystem is fragile and we are going to mess it up beyond repair? Exactly why was it then very good? Could it be it was very good after the whole creation was complete, all the components that make up a stable ecosystem was put in place? First then could He finally say: Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Let us hurry back to our quest for something other than pollution that acts as a negative feedback to make the temperature system stable. With some anxiety (we are part of the ecosystem, so we better try to understand it) but also assurance we return to the GAIA factor.
As is mentioned before, Dr. Lovelock had found unusually high amounts of dimethylsulphide (DMS) in places far from any pollution source. Something must have put it there. It turns out DMS is a waste product from phytoplankton, an abundant life form in the oceans, low on the food chain. As ocean temperature rises, phytoplankton levels increase, suggesting a possible feedback mechanism. The DMS molecules act as a condensation kernel for the formation of Clouds. This is something that it is hard to get a grip on. Clouds have a positive feedback as they hold in heat once captured by the earth, but that is more than offset by the large negative feedback that is caused by the albedo factor. The white clouds act as a reflector, and more of the solar energy gets reflected back out into space. This negative feedback factor can be as high as – 1.9 W m-2/°C. This means there is a strong negative feedback in the ecosystem keeping the earth from boiling over since water vapor is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2.
None of this mattered to the Mother Earth people believing in GAIA. They formed a coalition with the communists and socialists and Global Governance advocates and convinced U.N. that CO2 was bad and needed to be controlled, and so IPCC was formed to give the scientific justification why it was necessary to control CO2 emissions. I do not know how many Global Climate models there are out there, but I have seen (1) a chart with 73 Climate models, all pointing to a rapidly warming earth, plotted versus reality, which shows a more or less stable temperature versus time. But the models are all paid for by Government money, so the more, the merrier. They all do a lousy job modeling clouds, so no wonder they fail. (2) But they produce the result the funding agencies demanded for continuing funding, so the charade goes on. The models are all based on a positive feedback with increasing temperatures. When it gets warmer, the atmosphere can hold more water vapor, and since water vapor is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2, it gets warmer still. In reality, the opposite is true. With increased water vapor there will form clouds earlier and lasting longer, leading to a negative feedback that tends to keep temperatures more stable. More CO2 will aid in that stability. Granted, there is still increasing temperatures with increasing CO2, but instead of a gain of 2 to 3, which the models predict, there is an attenuation of about 2 to 3, so the real temperature rise is one ninth to a quarter of what the models predict.
But the models are useful for one thing: To create an urgency in people, so they will go along with Global Governance, or an unelected government taking control of the energy resources.
But even that is a side issue. The real issue is people control as expressed in Agenda 21. The world has about 7.1 billion people, and some have calculated that an ideal, sustainable world has room for only 700 million people, if enough areas are set aside for wildlife and nature preserves. After all, the animals were here first!
This attitude is expressed in a number of recent government advisers.
The “architect” of Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber’s abortion advocacy is of a particularly pungent eugenics variety. He’s on record repeatedly making the case from social science that abortion is a “social good” because it reduces the number of “marginal children,” by which he means urban poor—those he says can be counted on to commit crimes if they were ever born.
The Presidential Science Advisor John Holdren has a plethora of population control suggestions:
Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society.
One way to carry out this disapproval might be to insist that all illegitimate babies be put up for adoption—especially those born to minors, who generally are not capable of caring properly for a child alone. If a single mother really wished to keep her baby, she might be obliged to go through adoption proceedings and demonstrate her ability to support and care for it. Adoption proceedings probably should remain more difficult for single people than for married couples, in recognition of the relative difficulty of raising children alone. It would even be possible to require pregnant single women to marry or have abortions, perhaps as an alternative to placement for adoption, depending on the society.
On Involuntary fertility control :…
A program of sterilizing women after their second or third child, despite the relatively greater difficulty of the operation than vasectomy, might be easier to implement than trying to sterilize men.
…
The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births.
Toward a Planetary Regime:
…
Perhaps those agencies, combined with UNEP and the United Nations population agencies, might eventually be developed into a Planetary Regime—sort of an international superagency for population, resources, and environment. Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, at least insofar as international implications exist. Thus the Regime could have the power to control pollution not only in the atmosphere and oceans, but also in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes that cross international boundaries or that discharge into the oceans. The Regime might also be a logical central agency for regulating all international trade, perhaps including assistance from DCs to LDCs, and including all food on the international market.

The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries’ shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits.
We will need to surrender national sovereignty to an armed international police force:
If this could be accomplished, security might be provided by an armed international organization, a global analogue of a police force. Many people have recognized this as a goal, but the way to reach it remains obscure in a world where factionalism seems, if anything, to be increasing. The first step necessarily involves partial surrender of sovereignty to an international organization.
This is more than enough to give a hint on what the Obama Administration meant by “Fundamental transformation”
This is what happens when people start to serve “The Creature rather than the Creator” and that is “The Lie”.

The connection between “The sin” and “The lie”, represented by Muslims annihilating Christians, and progressives annihilating people is their hatred for the Cross. The Muslims deny Jesus Christ as redeemer by his substitutionary death on the cross, and the progressives deny the cross as redemption of mankind, substituting God with man as redeemer.

This explains the hatred of the cross. It is an offense and a stumbling block for the unbeliever.

Lennart Bilén, 2014

(1) Real temperature over time versus predicted by models.

(2) Model cloud cover versus rality

(3) https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/05/16/ocean-bacteria-are-programmed-to-alter-climate-gases/comment-page-1/#comment-2216450

Muslims claim: First to discover the earth is round and first to discover America. Wrong on both counts.

Muslims claim: First to discover the earth is round and first to discover America. Wrong on both counts.
The first claim:
Muslim scientists working around 1,200 years ago were the first to determine that the Earth is a sphere, Turkey’s science, industry and technology minister, becoming the latest Turkish official to inform the world about apparent scientific firsts on the part of Islamic world.

Speaking at a reception for business leader in the Central Anatolian province of Konya late Nov. 28, Minister Fikri Işık stressed the contributions of the Islamic world to science throughout history. “Some 700-800 years before Galileo, 71 Muslim scientists led by al-Khwarizmi convened by the order of the Caliph Al-Ma’mun and revealed that the Earth is a sphere,” he said. Işık added that a copy of the original document is currently in the Museum of Islamic Science and Technology in Istanbul. (Hurriet Daily News, Turkey, Nov 29, 2014).

This claim is easy to refute.
In the Holy Bible, the prophet Isaiah says in chapter 40, verse 22.
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
When Isaiah wrote this verse he used the Hebrew word “khug” to describe the shape of the earth. Although this word is commonly translated into the English word “circle,” the literal meaning of this word is “a sphere.”
This was written more than 2800 years ago. The earliest scroll of the Prophet Isaiah is from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and was copied about 125 B.C. clearly before there were any Muslims.

The second claim:

America was discovered by Muslims, not by Christopher Columbus, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has claimed, vowing to build a mosque “on that hill” in Cuba if the authorities of the Caribbean nation grant the permit.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the first Latin American Muslim leaders summit in Istanbul on Nov. 15, Erdoğan slammed colonialism before referring to a controversial claim about the discovery of the Americas.

“Muslim sailors had arrived in the shores of America in 1178. In his diaries, Christopher Columbus referred to the presence of a mosque on top of a mountain in Cuba,” Erdoğan said, claiming the diary is a proof that “the religion of Islam was widespread” when the first European explorer discovered the New World in 1492.

Dr. Youssef Mroueh of the As-Sunnah Foundation of America had publicized the claim about a pre-Columbian mosque in Cuba. In 1996, he wrote that “Columbus admitted in his papers that on Monday, October 21, 1492 CE while his ship was sailing near Gibara on the north-east coast of Cuba, he saw a mosque on top of a beautiful mountain.”

Some Muslim scholars aside, the same diary entry is widely understood as a metaphoric reference to a protuberance on the summit of a mountain that resembles a mosque’s dome or minaret. Moreover, although the first “widespread” habitation of the Americas is dated around 16,500–13,000 years ago, a pre-Columbian ruin of an Islamic structure has yet to be discovered.

What has been discovered though is at least one Viking settlement, in L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. Vinland was first recorded by Adam of Bremen, a geographer and historian, in his book Descriptio insularum Aquilonis of approximately A.D. 1075. Most of what is written about the Viking voyages to Vinland are from the two Icelandic sagas, The Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders. These Sagas, while written down about 250 years after the expeditions took place are believable, since they are backed up by archaeological finds, as opposed to the hill of the mosque.

To sum it up: The Holy Bible and the Vikings are more believable than the Muslims.

FDR Thanksgiving day proclamation 1942 versus BHO Thanksgiving day proclamation 2014. A timely reminder.

In the year 1942, with WWII raging and the outcome was far from certain, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made this Thanksgiving day proclamation:
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Across the uncertain ways of space and time our hearts echo those words, for the days are with us again when, at the gathering of the harvest, we solemnly express our dependence upon Almighty God.
The final months of this year, now almost spent, find our Republic and the Nations joined with it waging a battle on many fronts for the preservation of liberty.
In giving thanks for the greatest harvest in the history of our Nation, we who plant and reap can well resolve that in the year to come we will do all in our power to pass that milestone; for by our labors in the fields we can share some part of the sacrifice with our brothers and sons who wear the uniform of the United States.
It is fitting that we recall now the reverent words of George Washington, “Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy Protection,” and that every American in his own way lift his voice to heaven.
I recommend that all of us bear in mind this great Psalm:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Inspired with faith and courage by these words, let us turn again to the work that confronts us in this time of national emergency: in the armed services and the merchant marine; in factories and offices; on farms and in the mines; on highways, railways, and airways; in other places of public service to the Nation; and in our homes.
Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby invite the attention of the people to the joint resolution of Congress approved December 26, 1941, which designates the fourth Thursday in November of each year as Thanksgiving Day; and I request that both Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1942, and New Year’s Day, January 1, 1943, be observed in prayer, publicly and privately.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

.
One generation has passed, and under similar circumstances, the war on Radical Islam has been waging since Sep 11 2001, ISIS is gaining strength, genocide against Christians and other religious minorities is increasing, riots, arson and anarchy in the streets, President Obama makes this
Presidential Proclamation — Thanksgiving Day, 2014
– – – – – – –

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION
Thanksgiving Day invites us to reflect on the blessings we enjoy and the freedoms we cherish. As we gather with family and friends to take part in this uniquely American celebration, we give thanks for the extraordinary opportunities we have in a Nation of limitless possibilities, and we pay tribute to all those who defend our Union as members of our Armed Forces. This holiday reminds us to show compassion and concern for people we have never met and deep gratitude toward those who have sacrificed to help build the most prosperous Nation on earth. These traditions honor the rich history of our country and hold us together as one American family, no matter who we are or where we come from.

Nearly 400 years ago, a group of Pilgrims left their homeland and sailed across an ocean in pursuit of liberty and prosperity. With the friendship and kindness of the Wampanoag people, they learned to harvest the rich bounty of a new world.
Together, they shared a successful crop, celebrating bonds of community during a time of great hardship. Through times of war and of peace, the example of a Native tribe who extended a hand to a new people has endured. During the American Revolution and the Civil War, days of thanksgiving drew Americans together in prayer and in the spirit that guides us to better days, and in each year since, our Nation has paused to show our gratitude for our families, communities, and country.

With God’s grace, this holiday season we carry forward the legacy of our forebears. In the company of our loved ones, we give thanks for the people we care about and the joy we share, and we remember those who are less fortunate. At shelters and soup kitchens, Americans give meaning to the simple truth that binds us together: we are our brother’s and our sister’s keepers. We remember how a determined people set out for a better world — how through faith and the charity of others, they forged a new life built on freedom and opportunity.

The spirit of Thanksgiving is universal. It is found in small moments between strangers, reunions shared with friends and loved ones, and in quiet prayers for others. Within the heart of America’s promise burns the inextinguishable belief that together we can advance our common prosperity — that we can build a more hopeful, more just, and more unified Nation. This Thanksgiving, let us recall the values that unite our diverse country, and let us resolve to strengthen these lasting ties.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 27, 2014, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States to join together — whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors — and give thanks for all we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.
BARACK OBAMA
The contrast could not be greater. The only reference left to God is God’s grace taken for granted. All the other references are about our dependence on each other, apart from God.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. While Obama speaks of getting together, his actions are driving us apart. This 2014 proclamation giving thanks to each other for a very successful year is not in the spirit of Thanksgiving, but is a symptom of the times we live in, “A Nation, divided, apart from God”.

Islam and death and the spread of Ebola.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said: “We love death like our enemies love life!”

Thanks to Ebola they are about to get their wishes granted.

The key is in Sharia law and how a traditional Muslim funeral is conducted.

When a Muslim dies it is the duty of the whole family – immediate or extended to participate in and conduct the funeral. First the body must be ceremonially cleansed (ghushi) by the immediate family (of the same sex of course), then the body is clothed in a plain cloth (the kafan), followed by the Janazah prayer, consisting of among other words four Allahu Akbar. The prayer is conducted standing up, not prostrate as in the five daily prayers, and anybody in the community may show respect by reciting the prayers.

The grave is shallow and dug perpendicular to Mecca. The body is then laid bare and sideways with the head facing Mecca, packed down by first the immediate family then by an extended group.

So we now have the whole family, and then potentially the whole community exposed to Ebola. This spreads from village to village until all are infected.

Into this Obama is sending 4000 battle trained troops to combat Ebola, but he is not issuing a travel ban.

This information is common knowledge (I took it from Wikipedia), but other sources corroborate this and are far more detailed. (And scary, knowing how contagious Ebola is).

Why is there no outcry from the world medical authorities about this? Are they so afraid to be called islamophobic that they cannot speak out?

And where is the press?

Here is a map of the most infected countries.

It started in southern Guinea, a Muslim country, then spread to North West Liberia, also Muslim province.

Fundamentalist Christianity vs . Fundamentalist Islam; What difference does it make?

Fundamentalist Christianity vs . Fundamentalist Islam; What difference does it make?
A few years ago when Rosie was on “the View” she made the following statement: “Fundamentalist Christianity and Fundamentalist Islam: There is NO difference!”
Now I am a fundamentalist Christian. I was not always one, nor did I know what it meant. Reading through the Bible (I always loved old Christian music and playing a record of a cantata of J.S. Bach over and over one night I realized he knew something I do not know, I must find out what that is) I started to read the Gospel of Matthew. Nothing moved me until chapter 27: 62 -65 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ 64 Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.”

That was when it hit me. I believed in God, but like the Pharisees I made sure Jesus was not risen, certainly not bodily. I liked the concept, but refused to accept the reality. What convinced me was the honesty in the language “that deceiver”, referring to the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees could only have said that if they in some way believed but refused to accept the claim he was to rise again. In a flash I saw my problem: If Jesus is not risen I miss out on Christianity.
The other thing that made me believe the Bible to be true was the Dead Sea Scrolls. As a child I had been told the book of Isaiah had been written after Christ. There was no other way to explain the many prophesies other than to say it had been modified after the birth of Christ. Then they found a complete scroll of Isaiah written at least 140 B.C. This convinced me the whole bible is true.
These are the five pillars of Christian Fundamentalism:
• The inerrancy of the Bible in the original languages
• The literal nature of the Biblical accounts, especially in regard to Christ’s miracles
• The Virgin Birth of Christ
• The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross
• The bodily resurrection and physical return of Christ
That is it. That defines Christian Fundamentalism.

These are the five pillars of Islam:

Shahadah: declaring there is no god except God, and Muhammad is God’s Messenger
Salat: ritual prayer five times a day at precise times determined by local sun time, not standard time, facing Mecca.
Zakat: giving 2.5% of one’s wealth to the poor and needy yearly, 1/8th of which must go to Jihad (Struggle or Holy War)
Sawm: fasting and self-control during the holy month of Ramadan, which occur 11 days earlier every year, making 103 Ramadans/century.
Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime if one is able.

Islamic fundamentalism may be best defined by what they do not believe in:
• Freedom from religious police.
• Equality issues between men and women.
• Separation of religion and state.
• Freedom of speech.
• Freedom of religion.

But Islamic Fundamentalists do believe:

Death to apostates.

Death (fatwa) to anyone insulting the Prophet.

Death to the Jews.

Death to Christians that do not acknowledge the superiority of Islam and Muhammad and do not pay the protection tax.

Death to converts to Christianity.

Sharia law is supreme to all other laws, and shall be practiced in all Islamic countries.

Islam is the religion of peace, and peace will come when the whole world is under Islam.

They believe the Bible is corrupted but the Quran is true to the last letter.

They believe the accounts of the Old Testament (the Book) when they do not conflict with the Quran.
They do believe in the virgin birth of Christ. (We can agree about something).
They do NOT believe Christ died on the Cross (it only seemed so unto the Jews), no substitutionary atonement exists. That is why the cross is so offensive to Muslims.
They believe Christ was directly translated to God, but since he never died he could not have been resurrected.
They believe Christ will return again and tell all Muhammad is greater, and that all crosses must be destroyed.
They believe Jesus was a Muslim (as was Moses and Abraham).

How do you become a Muslim convert?

Recite the Shahada in front of witnesses.

It is to be noted that President Obama has recited publicly the Shahada with a perfect Arab accent.

Therefore he is a Muslim to all Muslims.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s slogan: “Allah is its goal, the Prophet is the model, the Qur’an its constitution, jihad its path, and death for the sake of Allah its most sublime belief.”

Freedom of Worship or Freedom of Religion? What difference at this point does it make? A Limerick.

Is ‘Freedom of Worship’ Religion?
Confusion? Yes, more than a smidgen.
Both Barry and Hillary
make Freedom auxiliary.
The first of five freedoms: Religion.

This country was founded by people of faith. What type of faith depended to some extent on where they settled. Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, Swedenborgians, Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, Baptists, Lutherans and Presbyterians to name a few settled in Pennsylvania, the champion province for freedom of Religion. Other provinces, such as Virginia and Maryland were founded by Anglicans and Catholics. And of course the Puritans landed on Cape Cod. Most of them had one thing in common, faith, so when the constitution was formed they agreed that the faith issue should be free from meddling by Congress, both to the establishment of religion, and to prohibit the free exercise thereof.

So, what is the difference between freedom of worship and freedom of religion?

Mark Twain once said: The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Words matter. This is especially true when it comes to the words of our Constitution. Those words are especially cherished. Yet it seems the Obama administration has changed one key word in that foundational document.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2010 report revealed grave concern about both President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton substituting the term “freedom of religion” with the term “freedom of worship” in public pronouncements. Why the change?

The First Amendment has two clauses about Freedom of Religion. The first part is known as the Establishment Clause, and the second as the Free Exercise Clause. The Establishment Clause prohibits Government from passing laws that establishes an official religion or preferring one religion over another. The courts have interpreted the establishment clause to mean “separation of church and state”. The Free Exercise Clause prohibits Government from interfering with a person’s practice of his or her religion. However, courts have ruled that religious actions and rituals can be limited by civil and federal laws. Religious freedom is an absolute right, and includes the right to practice any religion of one’s choice, or no religion at all, and to do this without government interference.

November 2009, President Obama used the term “freedom of worship” at the memorial service for the victims of the Ft. Hood shooting. A few days later he did it again in speeches in both Japan and China. In December former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also used that terminology three times in a speech at Georgetown University and never once used the phrase “freedom of religion”. In January of 2010 Clinton used the “freedom of worship” term four times while addressing senators.

This change in phraseology could well be viewed by human rights defenders and officials in other countries as having concrete policy implications.” – U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2010 report.

That’s not an inconsequential change: Freedom of worship means the ability to have church services, which is crucial, but leaves out protection for Christian schools, publications, and Christian compassionate ministries…’Freedom of religion’ means that ministries designed to help prisoners change their lives, or to help the poor enter the workforce, can teach what the Bible teaches. Under ‘freedom of worship,’ these ministries could become illegal, as they are in many parts of the world. This is a development to watch warily. – World Magazine.

This President clearly sees religion as a key part of foreign affairs, especially when the Muslim world is involved. He is ultra-careful to not offend followers of Islam. We already know the administration has rejected the term “radical Islam” or any similar language and refuses to admit religion plays a major role in terrorism.

This new terminology of “freedom of worship” might be given as a sign to Muslim nations and places with Christian persecution like China that they are not going to crack down on religious persecution for minority religions in those countries. That could explain why Obama first used the term after a radical Muslim killed Americans at Ft. Hood. And it could also explain why he used the term in speeches in China and Japan.

In my opinion Obama’s goal is to accommodate some aspects of Sharia law in this country. The State Department’s goal is to make this country sign the UNITED NATIONS Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention is signed by 194 countries but not US and Somalia. While looking good on paper the effect of this convention is that the State (Remember “separation of Church and State”) has superior claim on the children, not the parents.

We are talking Freedom of religion versus Freedom of worship. Let me illustrate the difference. Many missionaries and ex-pats live in Muslim countries. They enjoy freedom of worship, but not freedom of religion. One of the tenets of the Christian Faith is the obligation, right and privilege to proclaim the Good News. You can worship without fulfilling the great commission, and missionaries in Muslim countries risk their very lives were they to proclaim the Gospel without first being invited to do so. Even in this country some Christians were arrested for handing out Gospels of John outside a Muslim festival in Dearborn, MI. They exercised freedom of religion. Islam does by its very tenets not tolerate freedom of religion, but it does accept freedom of worship as a rule.

Our freedom of religion is at risk. This is a spiritual battle, and it must be fought with spiritual means. Pray! The future of our nation is at risk. Pray! The future of the world is in jeopardy. Pray!

Obama’s 2013 Thanksgiving proclamation vs Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation.

THANKSGIVING DAY,

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Thanksgiving offers each of us the chance to count our many blessings the freedoms we enjoy, the time we spend with loved ones, the brave men and women who defend our Nation at home and abroad. This tradition reminds us that no matter what our background or beliefs, no matter who we are or who we love, at our core we are first and foremost Americans.

Our annual celebration has roots in centuries old colonial customs. When we gather around the table, we follow the example of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags, who shared the fruits of a successful harvest nearly 400 years ago. When we offer our thanks, we mirror those who set aside a day of prayer. And when we join with friends and neighbors to alleviate suffering and make our communities whole, we honor the spirit of President Abraham Lincoln, who called on his fellow citizens to “fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

Our country has always been home to Americans who recognize the importance of giving back.

Today, we honor all those serving our Nation far from home. We also thank the first responders and medical professionals who work through the holiday to keep us safe, and we acknowledge the volunteers who dedicate this day to those less fortunate.

This Thanksgiving Day, let us forge deeper connections with our loved ones. Let us extend our gratitude and our compassion.

And let us lift each other up and recognize, in the oldest spirit of this tradition, that we rise or fall as one Nation, under God.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 28, 2013, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States to join together whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors and give thanks for all we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentysixth Day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty eighth.

BARACK OBAMA

This time Barack Obama quoted directly a part of Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation that mentions the Almighty hand. Unfortunately the quote is hanging without reference to what the Almighty hand refers to. Unfortunately the Almighty hand has gotten a wider connotation in modern use. Sen. Orrin Hatch among many others has mentioned “the almighty hand of the federal government”. We get a hint that it must refer to God since he puts it in the last part of the proclamation One Nation, under God. When he recited the Gettysburg address just a few days earlier he omitted the two words “Under God”.

In Abraham Lincolns address on the other hand it is obvious that it is to God we give thanks, not neighbors friends, first responders etc. We should and must be thankful for that.

But first we must give thanks to God. That is what Thanksgiving is all about.

See his proclamation below.

October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States
A Proclamation

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

Prayer at the cross at Mt Nittany. A Limerick.

Some friends from of old came to pray

how this land, full of sin lost its way.

So we went to the cross

to bemoan the great loss.

GOD answered: “I’m with you alway.”

Sunset over Mt Nittany, State College Pa. Aug 14 2013

Sunset over State College.