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WHY ME?

Rick Marschall — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:18:00 EST

SCHWARTZ CREEK, MI - Last week my little corner of the country, mid-Michigan, made the news. Actually, after living here for five years, I still cannot describe the geography well. Some news-readers and weathermen describe the area as �central mid-Michigan,� or �northern southeast Michigan,� or �west of the �thumb�,� and �south of the Upper Peninsula.� But it wasn�t difficult for a freakish thunderstorm to find it last week. Almost 10 inches of rain fell in a five-hour period. Power was out for 15 hours. Experts called it a �Once in 500 years storm.� It was five solid hours of lightning and thunder, very strange, like in a cheap horror movie. I suffered a basement flood, damaging some of my archives and collection of thousands of books and hundreds of boxes just down there. This despite a rather comical -� I can say now -� routine of trying to keep the rising water from a dead sump pump, by candlelight, one pot at a time. The Little Dutch Boy I am not. Eventually I lost the race with the rising water and leaking walls.

What could be worse?

APPRECIATING MOM EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR

Jeremy Reynalds — Sun, 13 May 2012 07:54:00 EST

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -With Mother's Day on our minds, our thoughts obviously focus on 'mom.' For this year's celebration, let's make sure that we do more than just buy mom a rose or two, take her out to dinner and go back to the way we've acted all year. Let's make a resolution to start appreciating mom EVERY day of the year while we still have her.

Here's my mother's day story. While I wrote it in 2000 I believe that it is still just as relevant this year as it was back then.

The man made his way slowly up the stairs to the second floor of the hospital where his mother was a patient in the geriatric unit. He walked through the ward, passing by a variety of elderly people in various states of apparent mental difficulties and physical decay.

MOTHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS ARE WONDERFUL STORYTELLERS

Bill Ellis — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:48:00 EST

SCOTT DEPOT, WV -(ANS) - Nothing was more exciting to my childish mind than to hear Mom read a Bible story. It could be about Noah and the Ark, Samson and Delilah or Jonah and the Whale. My grandmothers told tales about the past, some of their experiences as children, teenagers and mothers -- a continuing of the oral tradition of ancestral learning.

What do you buy for the man on his 25th birthday, to whom you will be married in less than six months? Kitty bought for me a beautiful deluxe copy of Egermeier�s Bible Story Book, published by Warner Press. It has been read privately and to our children Elizabeth and Mark. That deluxe edition is now worn and frayed.

OBAMA�S SUPPORT OF GAY MARRIAGE IS TROUBLING

Ethan Edwards — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:20:00 EST

On Wednesday President Barack Obama came out and said he �personally� supports gay marriage. The euphemism designed to make gay marriage acceptable for the masses is now �marriage equality,� so we�ll use that term in this article. Barack Obama�s support for �marriage equality� is very troubling.

Christian groups are up in arms over Barack Obama�s newly �evolved� position on �marriage equality.� You can read a couple of examples of their outrage HERE and HERE. As a Christian publication and for the sake of full disclosure, let me say I am opposed to gay marriage aka �marriage equality.�

Marriage is defined either as a civil institution stamped for approval by man (via man�s law) or it is defined as a solemn vow made before and to God, according to the descriptions of marriage in the Holy Bible. God handed down the basics of marriage to Adam and to Eve. He laid out his vision for marriage at the beginning.

U.S. CHRISTIANS DEMAND CHRISTIAN LAW, PUNISHMENT FOR BLASPHEMERS AND NON-CHRISTIANS

Ethan Edwards — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:55:00 EST

Christian alliance demands punishment, even death penalty, under U.S. law for those who leave Christian faith, and for those who disagree with Christian belief

HOUSTON, TX - An unprecedented alliance has formed between the Catholic Church, Southern Baptists, U.S. Apostolics, and the Alliance of American Evangelical Churches. The new alliance has now demanded that U.S. law be changed to honor and protect the Christian laws upon which the U.S. was founded.

The combined groups represent millions of American Christians and plan to use all the political pressure they can bring to bear from their alliance, individual church organizations and their most prominent and influential church members.

The group, called Jesus Justice, will present a list of demands to the U.S. Congress that includes:

BITTER OR BETTER? THE CHOICE IS YOURS

No Author — Sun, 06 May 2012 07:03:00 EST

SCOTT DEPOT, WV - April 26, 2012, I was up at 5:30, sitting at the kitchen table, knowing that daylight would come even on a thundering morning. Where there is thunder, there is also lightning, one of nature�s most powerful forces.

I woke up at 5:00, thinking about Dr. W. Dale Oldham, my pastor during college and graduate years. He was the best preacher I ever heard Sunday after Sunday and in any kind of event, he was a master in the pulpit. I had been reading again his biography, Giants Along My Path � and many of those giants also became my friends. He was the father of Doug Oldham.

I finished editing my syndicated column for last week and was wondering what I would write about this week. Later in the day, I was intently reading the book, Grace for the Widow, by Joyce Rogers, who became a widow on November 23, 2005, when her husband, Dr. Adrian Rogers, one of the world�s greatest preachers, died as the result of colon cancer that had spread to his liver.

HOME IS WHERE GOD'S HEART IS

Rick Marschall — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:18:00 EST

SWARTZ CREEK MI - (ANS)- Both life and death are parts of the Great Adventure. And no matter how paradisiacal we imagine Heaven to be, we will be disappointed... by our imaginations. God has much in store.

I had a friend in college named Danny Platnick. A brilliant but very quirky guy. He never failed to surprise us, his friends, with flashes of brilliance and quirkiness, and sometimes the most random things, which often challenged us to be more random, usually unsuccessfully.

GOD'S IDEAL CONTEMPORARY WOMAN - ADAPTED FROM PROVERBS 31:10-31

No Author — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:16:00 EST

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - Can a man find an honorable and commendable wife? She is far more precious to him than wealth or status. He can trust confidently in her. She will so satisfy him, he will have no longing to turn to another. She will be an asset to him socially, spiritually and vocationally.

She is a diligent worker at home and in her career. She shops wisely, looking for quality products she can afford. Early each morning she spends time alone with God, then plans the day's tasks for herself and her children.

She is frugal with her time and energy, evaluating her current obligations before committing herself to new areas of responsibility. Through physical exercise she maintains fitness; through mental and spiritual discipline she gains wisdom to do all that is required of her.

TERRY JONES DOING HATE IN THE NAME OF THE GOD OF LOVE

Ethan Edwards — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:18:00 EST

Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is in prison facing execution by hanging for the charge of apostasy, meaning he was convicted of converting from Islam to Christianity. Youcef is a man after Christ�s own heart, like the Apostle Paul, or the Disciples Peter or John, Youcef has stood before the face of evil and remained true to Christ�s teachings.

Three times Pastor Youcef was told by the Iranian courts that if he denounced Christ he could walk away free from punishment. Three times he refused.

Contrast Youcef, a true man of God following after Christ, with Gainesville Florida�s �Pastor� Terry Jones, a self-righteous seeker of publicity who has once again set fire to a Koran. This time Jones claims he burned the holy book of the Muslim faith in order to protest the treatment of Pastor Youcef.

CONTROVERSY: LGBT AND THE UMC

Ethan Edwards — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:06:00 EST

Man v God in the United Methodist Church

In today�s The Cypress Times is an article called �UNITED METHODISTS: NEXT TO OPEN THE DOORS TO LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER CHRISTIANS?� From April 24 through May 4^th, the United Methodist General Conference will meet, and part of their discussion will be to consider whether or not to remove all barriers to membership and ordination of gay people. The winds of controversy are sure to howl around the Tampa, Florida meeting like the biggest and baddest of all hurricanes.

The idea of gay people worshiping openly in a Christian church tends to rile up a lot of people. It particularly angers some people from a background of fundamentalist churches and some in Evangelical churches.

CHUCK COLSON, LEVON HELM: DIFFERENT MEN, SIMILAR LESSONS

Rick Marschall — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:46:00 EST

SWARTZ CREEK MI - This past week, two iconic figures of American culture, both of whom made their marks in the 1970s, died. Chuck Colson was a powerful political operative, convicted felon in the Watergate scandal, and then a leading force in the evangelical church. Levon Helm grew up in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas; played various -- and 'fused' -- forms of country, folk, blues, and gospel music; was a major member of 'The Band' that backed Bob Dylan; and became an inspiration to two generations of singers and songwriters.

There is no case to be made for 'ideological bookends,' or the irony of two enemies in the culture wars: that is not the fabric I wish to weave. These two men did not face off 40 years ago; Levon, for instance, Levon was not even a part of any major protest movement in the pop music of his day, otherwise a common association.

FIND YOUR BLUE SKY WONDER

Ethan Edwards — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:37:00 EST

If you live in our part of Texas then you know that the past several days have been as beautiful as it gets. Cool in the morning, not yet dripping with humidity, and a sky more blue and perfect than seems possible. Wonder is all around us.

On Sunday morning my wife and I were in Houston. We had stayed the night in a Galleria Hotel to celebrate my wife�s birthday and early in the morning I made the trip down 20 stories to grab some coffee. I walked outside in the early morning and felt the cool air, a blessing this time of year. It gave me reason to pause.

I took a moment to enjoy the perfect cloudless sky and take note of the cool wind on my face.

CHRIST IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Ethan Edwards — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:12:00 EST

America�s growing persecution of Jesus Christ and the silent church

The persecution of Christians in America is mounting to the point that soon even the head-in-the-sand crowd, a bizarre mix of both the casual and devout Christian, will no longer be able to deny that Christ is a target of hate designated for total eradication in the United States of America. Christ is being killed again. The tool of crucifixion deployed in the USA is not a cross, but rather political correctness and the lie of the necessity of absolute inclusion.

Jesus Christ is offensive to most Americans. Christ is offensive and perceived as the enemy to Americans who play happily on the field of secularism cloaked behind the ubiquitous term �political correctness.�

PLEASED TO MEET YOU. HOPE YOU GUESS MY NAME.

Ethan Edwards — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:15:00 EST

Neither myth nor legend he is as real as God and to deny that is to deny God�s existence

The embodiment of evil and father of all lies, he has many names; Apollyon, Beelzebub, The Enemy, The Wicked One, the god of this age, man of sin, son of perdition, prince of the power of the air, prince of darkness, ruler of this world, the Antichrist, the angel formerly known as Lucifer. The Devil.

As a culture we don�t believe that Satan is real. We don�t accept that he is a living entity, but rather we perceive him to be a silly caricature in a red suit with a pitchfork and pointy tail. He is not real, therefore he is not at work all around us. No devil. No real need for God.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD�S ABORTION PRAYER GUIDE

Ethan Edwards — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:32:00 EST

A California Planned Parenthood affiliate, i.e. abortion clinic, has released a Prayer Guide for abortion. Six Rivers Planned Parenthood in Eureka, California launched �40 Days of Prayer� in March and has offered a �prayer guide� for those seeking abortion, those who have had abortions, and for the support of the politics of abortion and of abortion doctors.

The �Prayer Guide� is seen by many as a mockery to the �40 Days of Life� prayer campaign which has proven to be very effective in helping to bring light into the darkness that is abortion on demand.

BLESSED. ASSURANCE.

Rick Marschall — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:23:00 EST

SWARTZ CREEK MI - The gifts of God. Spiritual gifts. The Bible talks about such things. Sometimes even dedicated Christians can lull themselves into thinking that spirituals gifts are activities we are drawn to, ways in which we like to serve, that we then ask God to bless. The twelfth chapter of First Corinthians, however, lists nine specific spiritual gifts of God. One is Faith. Now, if we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have imparted faith. And we can summon faith, to an extent, in our own spirits. But faith is also a GIFT. When we feel weak, it is not an admission of more weakness, but assurance, to ask God to grant a gift, an extra measure of faith. He offers it, all the time.

My good friend Melanie Bayless Veteto is our guest today, with a special message on this special subject:

MURDERED BECAUSE HE/SHE BELONGED TO THE 'THIRD GENDER'

No Author — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 08:08:00 EST

LAHORE, PAKISTAN - I had known Nadia (an Urdu name for females) for a long time. Every month 'she' would visit our locality, ring doorbells and ask for money.

Then Nadia disappeared for a long time and, after a few months, another member of her 'clan' visited our home and told my mother that 'Nadia has been murdered by a gang of guys who were mocking her on the street and, upon her cursing them, they were offended and took her life. But no police case was registered as her murder does not matter to them; neither did her life.'

Nadia was neither a male nor a female. She belonged to the neglected and underprivileged outcast group known as the 'Third Gender' who live lives of squalor in the slums of our society, such as in many underdeveloped and developing countries including Pakistan and India.

THE WEEK AFTER EASTER WAS AWESOME INDEED

Bill Ellis — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:24:00 EST

SCOTT DEPOT, WV - To say something is awesome, in the minds of some and especially the young, means that it is like none other. Sometimes in a church service we sing a little song which says repeatedly, 'Our God is an awesome God' and the phrase is sung over and over, often becoming faster and louder as though that makes God even more awesome.

On our way leaving a church service we may ask someone, 'How are you today?' and we may get their reply, 'I'm awesome man, awesome.' Then the word gets moved around to describe a game, an automobile, an unusual sandwich and before the day is over the pizza we had for lunch may be described as 'awesome man, awesome.'

A CROSS FOR EVERYONE AND A PURPOSE FOR ME

No Author — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:59:00 EST

WASHINGTON, DC - In the mid 1990's I heard Dr. Myles Munroe, the senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship, where his wife, Ruth Ann, serves as co-senior pastor, speak passionately about our 'life purpose', that purpose for which God has called us. That message moved me and challenged me to know what God's purpose was for my life. The very next day I began to search for my purpose in life. I kept asking myself, 'What did God create me to be?'

About that same time, I was reading a book by a Christian author where he asked the question 'Can you pay the price?' He reminded the reader of what Jesus had said in Matthew 16:24, 'Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'

THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO

Rick Marschall — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:06:00 EST

SWARTZ CREEK MI - (ANS)- Happy new year! That's one way to feel about the first day after Easter. 'He is risen!' 'He is risen indeed!' is how Christians of the first centuries would exchange greetings. All things are made new, after the Resurrection. But then, every day should bring the realization of a new life in Christ!

I have been thinking of the first times I heard about Jesus. Too early, thank God, to remember an exact day, because I was fortunate to be born into a family of believers. 'Church-goers.' As a child I had a standard faith -- I use the term because it was only in my twenties that I came to an intense, personal knowledge of biblical truth and relationship with Jesus: Born again. Yet, early on, seeds were planted; Bible stories were told; verses were memorized; prayers were said; hymns were sung.

EASTER 2012: WHY I BELIEVE

Jeremy Reynalds — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 06:01:00 EST

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - Nobody can deny that we live in a seriously troubled world.  We see evidence on a daily basis; violence and killings, a seriously troubled economy, ongoing and seemingly endless political partisan bickering, and so the list goes on.

What a depressing scenario! It's no wonder that prior to his death convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy Mcveigh was reported to have told the authors of 'American Terrorist,' (a book that chronicled McVeigh's life story and related his story of the crime) that he was looking forward to his impending execution.

He explained why. Because 'this world just doesn't hold anything for me ... I'll be glad to leave this (expletive) world.'

'SIMPLER TIMES' WITH 'THE PAINTER OF LIGHT'

Dan Wooding — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 06:00:00 EST

My meeting and interview with Thomas Kinkade, who died on Friday

CAMPBELL, CA - When I first heard the news that popular California artist Thomas Kinkade, 54, had died of natural causes on Friday (April 6, 2012) at his home in Los Gatos. California, it brought back memories of the time I first met Kinkade and later interviewed him.

Some 13 years ago, I had been invited to speak at the Home Church, in Campbell, California, which had started through the ministry of Pastor Mike and Trisha Kiley and calls itself a 'multi-ethnic, multi-generational church, with strong emphasis on reaching out to our local community.'

DID JESUS EXIST: BART EHRMAN SUPPORTS THE EVIDENCE - SORT OF

Brian Nixon — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:45:00 EST

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - OK, I have a deep confession to make. And let me say this statement may get me in trouble with some folk. But here it goes: I like the writings of Bart Ehrman.

I can hear the 'boos and hisses' from some segments in the stands.

But now let me clarify: I only agree with portions of his thought, and disagree, passionately, with many of his conclusions.

CAN EVANGELICALS SEEK SOCIAL JUSTICE?

No Author — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:22:00 EST

By Stanley C. Baldwin

It's like a constant drumbeat. As Republican primaries have moved from state to state, the pundits have kept telling us that evangelical voters favor conservative candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich and they oppose social justice initiatives. They favor 'getting the federal government out of our lives' except for sex-related issues--homosexuality, pornography, and abortion. That is what the pundits claim, and it's often true

However, that characterization of evangelicals is being challenged today by evangelicals themselves, of which I am one. I say 'challenged today,' but examples of evangelicals advocating for the poor, marginalized, vulnerable, and powerless are not new.

Please indulge me in a brief survey of the recent past.