The History of July 4th

Most people in the United States celebrate the 4th of July, but do you know exactly why the holiday is so important to our country? Imagine how you would feel if someone older than you (maybe an older sister or brother) kept telling you what to do all of the time and kept taking more and more of your allowance. That is how the colonists felt in the years leading up to 1776. Great Britain kept trying to make the colonists follow more rules and pay higher taxes.

People started getting mad and began making plans to be able to make their own rules. They no longer wanted Great Britain to be able to tell them what to do, so they decided to tell Great Britain that they were becoming an independent country. (To be independent means to take care of yourself, making your own rules and providing for your own needs.)  Read entire article >>

Independence Day (United States)

After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4.

A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife “Abigail: The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” Read entire article >>

As I type this there are fireworks and explosions going off in the background a day early. It gives one pause to reflect on all the Americans over the centuries that paid the ultimate price to ensure freedom for the citizens of this great nation and for the freedom of others. May God bless America and halt it’s dizzying tailspin into secularism and sin.

American Military Casualties/1775 - Present >>

2 Chronicles 7:14  “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Palin Resigning As Governor, Leaves Plans Secret

WASILLA, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abruptly announced Friday she is resigning from office at the end of the month, a shocking move that rattled the Republican party but left open the possibility she would seek a run for the White House in 2012.

Palin, 45, and her staff kept her future plans shrouded in mystery, and it was unclear if the controversial hockey mom would quietly return to private life or begin laying the foundation for a presidential bid.

Palin hinted she had a bigger role in mind, saying she wanted to make a “positive change outside government.” But she kept supporters in suspense, promising on Twitter: “We’ll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election … this is in Alaska’s best interest, my family’s happy … it is good. Stay tuned.”   Read entire article >>

A bad political move for her in my opinion. She promised the voters of Alaska that she would serve as their governor and then bails out on them. How do we know she won’t do that again if elected to a higher office?

My guess is that all the criticism of her family got to her. Why other politicians children are left alone and hers aren’t is anyone’s guess? There’s definitely a double-standard at work here by some despicable people.

Another possibility is that there’s a major scandal about to break and she’s getting out of the glare of the spotlight before it happens. Stay tuned.

Link from http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/

United Methodist Members Dying Faster than Americans
By Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter

In 2005, the United Methodist death rate was 134 percent of the U.S. death rate among those 15 years and older. Among UMC’s 62 annual conferences, or regional bodies, in the United States, 34 of them (representing 41 percent of UMC membership) reported death rates 20 percent or higher than their general population.

The graying and declining membership has led to numerous multi-million dollar ad campaigns in an effort to reach more people, particularly young ones.

“Rethink Church” is the United Methodist Church’s newest campaign targeting 19- to 34-year-olds who may not be familiar with the church or who are seeking to make their lives more meaningful. More than $20 million in ads are being launched over the next four years.  Read entire article >>

Here’s an ad campaign for the day and age we live in  straight from the mind of Jesus Himself:

Rev 2:4-5

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

Rev 3:1-2,18-19

“I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”

“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”

Go back to the beginning of the Church in the Book of Acts and see how they did ministry. Was there one main guy running the meetings while everyone else sat on their hands in the pews hoping the service would be over soon? Were people going to church to get something or were they going there to share and to give away whatever they had?

Those are two of the main problems within some churches:
1. The model is all wrong because not enough Christians are involved in ministry. This causes people to become bored or not go at all and it also causes pastor burnout because they’re doing all of the work.
2. A selfish attitude by some that go to church. “As you give so shall you receive.”

Solve these two problems and things will begin to click in the churches.

Does the fall of mainstream media create opportunity for Christianity?
by Gary Bourgeault

If you listen to the newscasts or visit online news sites, you probably know that mainstream media is collapsing, and before the smoke clears, it’ll be a much weaker and less profitable industry for a long time into the future. What this does is provide a tremendous opportunity for Christianity, and the big and important question becomes, “If we’re up to the task.“

A huge problem for believers is that so many have become overcome by or embrace pop culture and its tenets. Offering up a similar version and just slapping the label “Christian” on it won’t do either. To simply offer up a watered down pop culture, news and entertainment alternative is not the way to go. We must be salt and light in this earth or we’ll be good for nothing except to be trodden under foot.  Read entire article >>

Absolutely correct! There’s a daily temptation, even in doing a site like this, to try to figure out how the successful, worldly sites are doing it and copy that. The truth is that “there is nothing new under the sun” and there will be similarities no matter how original one tries to be.

The key is to do what you love to do and would do for free. One of the biggest mistakes I made as a young man was to abandon my dream of being a starving musician and take the easy route instead. Every job I worked at I eventually ended up hating. The most successful people are the ones who do what they love and get paid for doing it.

Christians are in the world, not of it. We should be a cut above everyone else because the Holy Spirit indwells us. That doesn’t mean everyone one of us will be a success in the eyes of the world, but we should be as excellent as we know how to be.

If you have a website or a blog of your own, do you pray for others to succeed or do you hope they fail so there’s less competition? The answer to that is an indication of whether you are acting “worldly” or like a child of Jesus.

Judge Says Hyperlinks Should Be Banned to Save Newspapers
Nicholas Carlson/The Business Insider

Famous and respected New York Judge Richard Posner says maybe we should ban links to save newspapers.

From his blog: “Imagine if the New York Times migrated entirely to the World Wide Web. Could it support, out of advertising and subscriber revenues, as large a news-gathering apparatus as it does today? This seems unlikely, because it is much easier to create a web site and free ride on other sites than to create a print newspaper and free ride on other print newspapers, in part because of the lag in print publication; what is staler than last week’s news.

Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion.”  Read entire article >>

The internet is only part of the reason that newspapers are going down the toilet. Only around 1 in 3 Americans are online and only a small percentage of them use hyperlinks in their posts. Most people don’t have a blog or a website.

The main reason is that newpaper and TV reporting has become shoddy, overly slanted towards the left(this last election being a prime example), and many Americans have become disgusted with the media. Start reporting the news with straight facts and see if the public will come back. It’s more a matter of lost trust than anything.

This is typical of what is happening in America. A failed business or individual, instead of taking a hard look at why their failing, finds someone else to blame. The music industry is using the same model and will continue to fail. It appears that the newspaper people have learned nothing from their debacle.

Police Taser Pastor ‘Helping’ Driver in Traffic Stop

Police used a Taser on a pastor and pepper spray to disperse his congregants Wednesday after the pastor allegedly interfered with a traffic stop in the church parking lot. Congregants say they were in the Iglesia Profetica Peniel church for an early morning prayer when pastor Jose Elias Moran went to assist the stopped driver, a church member, by asking the police what had happened.

“A pastor has to tend to his flock,” she said. “That is all he was doing.”  Read entire article >>

It sounds like the Pastor stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong. Being a police officer is a dangerous business. The simplest traffic stop can quickly spiral out of control and become deadly. People shouldn’t interfere with a police officers’ duties. In fact I’m pretty sure there are laws against that.  On another note, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that the cop was white and that there were some racial overtones here.

‘Family’: Fundamentalism, Friends In High Places

In the book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, author Jeff Sharlet examines the power wielded by a secretive Christian group known as the Family, or the Fellowship.
Founded in 1935 in opposition to FDR’s New Deal, the evangelical group’s views on religion and politics are so singular that some other Christian-right organizations consider them heretical.

The Family was founded in 1935 by a minister named Abraham Vereide after, he claimed, he had a vision in which God came to him in the person of the head of the United States Steel Corporation.  Read entire article >>

Welcome to the official website of The Family International >>

The article seems mighty different from what’s found on ‘The Family” website. Here is an interview with the author of the book entitled, “Christ Über Alles.” >>

What is Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder that affects about 1.1 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. People with schizophrenia sometimes hear voices others don’t hear, believe that others are broadcasting their thoughts to the world, or become convinced that others are plotting to harm them. These experiences can make them fearful and withdrawn and cause difficulties when they try to have relationships with others.

Symptoms usually develop in men in their late teens or early twenties and women in the twenties and thirties, but in rare cases, can appear in childhood. They can include hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, movement disorders, flat affect, social withdrawal, and cognitive deficits.  Read entire article >>

Unlocked: the secrets of schizophrenia
Scientific breakthrough offers hope of new treatments for mental condition
By Steve Connor, science editor

Scientists have discovered a remarkable similarity between the genetic faults behind both schizophrenia and manic depression in a breakthrough that is expected to open the way to new treatments for two of the most common mental illnesses, affecting millions of people.  Read entire article >>

Some celebrities who suffered with schizophrenia: Mary Todd Lincoln(wife of Abraham Lincoln), Peter Green(guitarist for Fleetwood Mac), Jack Kerouac(writer, poet), Syd Barrett(original member of Pink Floyd), Clara Bow(actress), Veronica Lake(actress), Jim Gordon(drummer for Derek and the Dominoes).

Ant mega-colony takes over world
Matt Walker/Editor, Earth News

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered. Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.  Read entire article >>

Proverbs 6:6-8

“Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.”

Original article >>

The defaced Georgia Guidestones

Ten Commandments of the Antichrist: The Georgia Guidestones

By Joseph Laycock/religiondispatches.org

Back in April, Wired magazine published a story on the history of a strange monument in rural Elberton, Georgia (“granite capital of the world”) known as the Georgia Guidestones. The monument consists of four 16-foot-high slabs of granite arranged around a central column and topped with a capstone weighing 25,000 pounds. Carved onto the face of each slab is a list of ten precepts for creating a better society, written in eight modern languages. On the four sides of the capstone are written the words, “Let These Be Guidestones to An Age of Reason” in Sanskrit, Babylonian cuneiform, Classical Greek, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The central column and capstone are also equipped with holes, astronomically aligned so that the Guidestones can serve as a compass and clock.  Read entire article >>

It just goes to show that human beings can make a conspiracy theory or a doctrine out of most anything; a book, a slab of stone, the alignment of the stars, a series of events, and even a date like Dec. 21, 2012. The safest thing for a Christian thing to do is to match everything and everyone with the Bible—the ‘logos’ word of God. If it doesn’t match then it’s not of heavenly origin and not God’s will.

Devil inside: Identifying the Demonic Archetype
Ryan Omega/LA Occult & Paranormal Examiner

Unlike entities in fairy tales and other stories, demons do not think of themselves as “evil.” In fact, you would be very hard pressed to find anyone on Earth who thought of themselves as a bad person; even Adolf Hitler in his extermination of Jewish people thought he was doing Germany a service. So demons and the demonic archetype do not operate from the standpoint of being a villain. Like angels, demons are surprisingly service oriented as well; but the reasoning behind the service is very different.  Read entire article >>

This is such a strange article. It uses no scriptural proof or links to other sources. It’s almost as if the author knows about this from first-hand experience. Some examples:

In determining the demonic archetype, do you or someone you know exhibit the following traits:
~Someone who likes to debate to the point of being argumentative?
~When taking charge, rules the area with near domination?
~An unusual addiction to games or mental challenges?
~Can spend long amounts of time justifying excuses and reasons?

That might describe many people on internet forums or who leave comments on blogs.

The idea that demons can love and can’t lie outright contrasts with scripture.

John 8:44

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Then there’s this article that goes with it:

People who are angels on earth: The Angelic Archetype
Ryan Omega/LA Occult & Paranormal Examiner

Angels do reincarnate as humans and in human form, they usually exhibit certain kinds of characteristics. Do you or someone you know exhibit the following traits?

~Thrive in a structured environment? Do you like to maintain order?
~Are you a good follower? And if the leadership isn’t working do you automatically take the lead?
~Suffer from upper back/shoulder pain often around the shoulder blades?
~Tend to wear close fitting clothes especially on formal occasions or times you want to impress?
~Feel far more comfortable dealing with members of the same sex than the opposite sex?*  Read entire article >>

I have a messed up rotator cuff that’s been bothering me for over twenty years. Do I qualify as an “angelic archetype?” I wish!

The comments after the first article are well worth reading.

Bono and the Art of Getting Results
How the Legendary Rocker Bridges the Gap Between Faith and Power
by Mitch Horowitz

Bono, the lion-haired, sun-glassed frontman of rock super-group U2, has spent most of this decade pioneering new ways for music to retake the political stage. His secret weapon? A deeply felt and seriously abiding sense of faith. Bono is not the only rock star possessed of spiritual and social passion. But he is, perhaps, the only one who unites the two in a manner that makes a real difference.

Bono often invokes the teachings of Christ as the driving force behind his activism. But his religious principles come from a childhood that provided no pat answers or ready-made dogma. The young Bono felt two major pulls in life: punk rock and Christianity. In his own fashion, he followed both.

Bono may be the sole public figure who maintains credibility with both traditionalist and progressive believers. Bono is on first-name (well, one-name) terms with leading politicians of the Christian right. But to evangelicals who want to claim Bono for their own, one is tempted to reply: You’ve got to be kidding. “I am a believer,” Bono said in 1997, “…but I find it hard to be around religion.  Read entire article >>

U2 Cover Michael Jackson On Opening World Tour Date
by Scott Colothan

U2 kicked off their gargantuan 360degree World Tour in Barcelona last night and took the opportunity to pay tribute to Michael Jackson.

While singing ‘Angel of Harlem’ the Irish rockers spliced lines of Jackson’s seminal tracks ‘Man In The Mirror’ and ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ into the song.

Read entire article >>

While I’m no fanatic of the band U2’s recordings or their frontman Bono, I can attest to their power on stage and the spell of love they weave over the audience. After literally seeing hundreds of bands live, I am of the opinion that they are one of a kind. In the Church, and I hesitate to put it this way, they would refer to it as an “anointing.”

Bono, for all his supposed egotism, has done much good for many people. He could have gone the way of other rockers with alcohol, drugs, and women. Instead you rarely hear of any scandal around him or the band. Hopefully they will record and perform for many years to come.

NEWS ALERT: Chinese Pastor And Wife Sentenced To One Year Labor Camp
By Worthy News Asia Service

BEIJING, CHINA (Worthy News)– The pastor of a major Chinese evangelical church and his wife have been sentenced to one year “re-education through labor” for “engaging in illegal religious activities,” trial observers confirmed Wednesday, July 1.

The case comes amid a reported crackdown on unauthorized worship services in several parts of China, a Communist-run nation where authorities say Christians are free to gather within state-backed denominations.  Read entire article >>

What was this couple’s “crime?” They were preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ outside of a state-backed church(whatever that means). Now they have to be “re-educated.” And yet we do business with this nation. Never take your freedom for granted.

• FOX’s BOOK of MARTYRS

• Voice Of The Martyrs

THE OCCULTIC WIZARD OF OZ
By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D./NewsWithViews.com

This movie is watched even today by many Christian parents with their children, who are oblivious to its occultic nature. The movie was based upon L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), a Theosophical work. Baum and his wife, Maud, were Theosophists who followed the teachings of Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, co-editor of the Theosophical Lucifer magazine.

The occultic, anti-Biblical Theosophical philosophy of Baum’s work is being absorbed unknowingly by millions of parents and their children even today. This Theosophical “save ourselves” principle can also be found in the Humanist Manifestos and in the New Age “god within” concepts, which are undermining the Biblical Truths of helpful prayers to the One True God and Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Read entire article >>

While I appreciate the investigative work the author has done in order to warn the rest of us of possible occultic origins in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ tale, I’m beginning to think that we’ll find something evil under every rock if we turn it over and look closely enough.

My son as a young boy could never watch this movie because the flying monkeys terrified him. Maybe he knew more than he let on. I  fear to ask the author what the munchkins represent.

Nuns in the U.S. Are Facing Scrutiny by the Vatican
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.

But for the last three decades, their numbers have been declining — to 60,000 today from 180,000 in 1965.

While some nuns say they are grateful that the Vatican is finally paying attention to their dwindling communities, many fear that the real motivation is to reel in American nuns who have reinterpreted their calling for the modern world.  Read entire article >>

While the Vatican, who is basically the employer of American nuns, has every right to do what they want; the resulting investigations may cause the number of nuns in America to dwindle. Some may quit while others may be dissuaded from joining in the first place because of this tactic by the Vatican.

Bible-Dispensing Family Arrested At Pride Festival

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―The Pride Festival kicked off in Loring Park Saturday. It’s now the third-largest gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender celebration in the country. Minneapolis Police arrested three people from Hayward, Wis. for trespassing. For 11 years, Brian and Doris Johnson have passed out free Bibles at the festival.

This year, they were not allowed to have a booth. Pride paid to rent the whole park and that gave them the right to choose which vendors they allowed in. The Johnsons said they are born-again Christians and they believe homosexuality is a sin.  Read entire article >>

The people who paid for the festival have the right to decide who can go there and what they can and can’t do. Unless the family that got arrested doesn’t mind paying a fine just to make a point, this seems kind of silly of them.

Is there really anyone left in the homosexual community who isn’t aware of what the Bible says about their lifestyle?  Would someone really say, “What? It says that? I’m shocked because I had no idea. Had I known that this was an abomination to God I would have remained straight. I’ll change my lifestyle immediately. Thanks for bailing me out!”

Sotheby’s hopes an ancient biblical manuscript will fetch $1 million
by Susan Adams/Forbes.com

In its July 7 London manuscripts sale, the auction house is offering a 1,500-year-old biblical document that includes layers of text and meaning–in three languages. Known as the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, the piece was written over the span of three centuries and stowed in a sacred monastery until landing in the hands of a pair of British twins by way of local Egyptian dealers.

The codex (Latin for “book”) dates to the sixth century, when Christian Palestinian scribes wrote down the words of Christ in Aramaic, the ancient language that is believed to have been close to the dialect spoken by the messiah himself.  Read entire article >>

Something smells fishy about this whole story. Watch it get turned into a book and a movie attempting to debunk the original meaning of Jesus’ words as written in the Holy Bible. Attacking God’s Word is big business these days.

Jellyfish Crop Circle Predicts Solar Storm on July 7 2009 - Symbolizes Magnetosphere

A site has explained the crop circle and symbols in it. It seems to be a warning of a Solar Storm to hit the Earth on July 7th 2009. The Jellyfish crop circle has the symbols of the eclipse in it, which on July 7th there will be a penumbral lunar eclipse.  Read entire article >>

Earth’s magnetosphere changes into the shape of a “jellyfish” whenever it is impacted by a severe solar storm

Whenever a severe solar storm impacts directly on Earth, then our planetary magnetic field or “magnetosphere” changes into the general shape of a “jellyfish.” That seems to be what those crop artists were telling us at Wayland’s Smithy on May 29, 2009.  Read entire article >>

It’s wise to take any article dealing with crop circles with a giant grain of salt. Still, it will be interesting if this comes to pass as predicted.

Whats coming this fall - Everyone Read, your life is at stake >>

Is the imposition of martial law an actual possibility or just another “tin-foil” hat conspiracy theory? These days nothing would surprise me any longer. Still, running around in fear is not the answer; preparedness is.