Archive for November, 2005

Profile of a Christian Businessman

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

It’s getting harder these days to find business people who are not afraid to make their Christian values a part of their business operating procedures. One such man though is David Green, the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby.

One look at the company’s mission statement and hours of operation indicate an organization built around Christian values.

Their mission statement says:
In order to effectively serve our owners, employees, and customers the Board of Directors is committed to:
Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.
Offering our customers an exceptional selection and unbeatable value.
Serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals, and nurture families.
Providing a return on the owners’ investment, sharing the Lord’s blessings with our employees, and investing in our community.
We believe that it is by God’s grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured. He has been faithful in the past, we trust Him for our future.

Consider the store hours as well:
MONDAY through SATURDAY
Monday - 9:00 am to 8:00 pm

Tuesday - 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
Wednesday - 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
Thursday - 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
Friday - 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
Saturday - 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
ALL STORES CLOSED ON SUNDAY (emphasis mine -ed.)

Now it has to be somewhat of a financial sacrifice to be closed on Sundays, especially during the Christmas season, when your competition is not. I greatly respect them for taking this stand.

Although no company is perfect, it is good to see one who is not afraid to stand up for the Lord. Mr. Green and Hobby Lobby are a welcome addition to any community.

PJI Helps California Woman Secure Religious Accommodation at Work

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Agape Press reports a victory for our new sister in Christ, Isabel Mendoza, of Seal Beach, California, who became a Christian last summer.
After becoming a Christian, she asked her employer to change her work schedule so that she could attend church on Sunday mornings. Not only did they tell her no, they also told her she would have to take a vacation day in order to attend her own baptism.

From the article,
Mendoza contacted the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a pro-family legal group, for assistance in the matter. Brad Dacus, president of the legal education, defense, and policy organization, says the client’s employer reversed its original decision not long after receiving a letter explaining what the law says about workers’ rights with regard to their religious expression.
“The current state of the law is that, unless there is proof of undue hardship, under both state and federal law an employer must take measures to see if an employee can be accommodated with regards to having religious days off, including having Sunday off to go to church,” Dacus says. “If employees like Ms. Mendoza are not protected, she would have to choose between keeping and practicing her Christian faith and her ability to have a job.”
While employers’ responsibilities to accommodate their workers’ religious expression can be a “difficult area to navigate,” the PJI spokesman admits, he adds that the law is unequivocal on this point. The statute “clearly says that, if the employer is not going to suffer an undue burden or hardship, [it must] reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs and convictions to practice their faith,” he asserts.
“In 99 percent of the circumstances, there’s no reason why an employer should not allow an employee to be able to have time off to go to church,” Dacus notes. But because the legal issues involved can be tricky for all parties concerned, he says PJI is glad to assist both employers and employees of faith who wish to understand their rights and opportunities in the workplace.

Read the rest of the article here.

It always does my heart good to see a Christian win out against tyranny. I also want to recognize the efforts of the Pacific Justice Institute in defending Ms. Mendoza. It’s important for us to continue to support these Godly organizations.

Supreme Court Hears Youth Abortion Case

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

OK, now look…
An underage child or a person other than the parents or legal guardian of a child cannot even get non-life threatening aid for a child at a hospital or doctor, so how on earth can the pro-death crowd justify giving a child an abortion without getting the parents permission for the procedure let alone not telling them??? This is just about as two faced as the liberals have ever been. It makes me mad.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday deciphered highly technical legal arguments over an abortion law in the most highly-watched case to come before the justices this term.
New Hampshire Attorney General
Kelly Ayotte told the nine high court justices that a lower court was wrong to strike down the entire parental notification statute based on its finding that three pieces of the act were unconstitutional. The provisions in question, two of which deal with pregnant underage girls seeking abortion in emergency situations, would only apply to a tiny fraction of them, Ayotte said.
The most contentious part of the act was its lack of an exception for an abortion without parental notification for a girl who finds herself in a medical crisis that is not immediately life-threatening.

Read the rest from Fox News here.

OT (off topic):
The pro-abortion crowd has been giving states, who offer “Choose Life” license tags, fits. They say they have not been given equal time. OK then, I don’t have a problem with them having their “Choose Death” license tags. I’d say that would be a nice touch to their cars.

Restoring ‘Christmas’ — Lowe’s Axes ‘Holiday Trees’ Campaign

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005


Yeah!!! Score one for the Good Guys!!!

(AgapePress) - The president of a Mississippi-based pro-family group says he’s pleased that Lowe’s home improvement stores have stopped selling “holiday trees” and have changed to offering “Christmas trees.”
According to the
American Family Association (AFA), several major retailers have joined in a politically correct “push to ban” the use of the term “Christmas” in their advertising and in-store promotions. Included in that list, says AFA, are such major outlets as Kmart, Sears, Target, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens. Last week, the pro-family group brought to the attention of the public that another retailer — this time the home improvement retailer Lowe’s — appeared to have jumped on the bandwagon as well. AFA reported that instead of selling “Christmas trees,” Lowe’s was offering fresh-cut “holiday trees.” (See earlier story)
Following that revelation, “thousands of AFA supporters contacted Lowe’s to express their displeasure,” states an AFA press release — resulting in the retailer announcing it was going to refer to all its trees as Christmas trees “to ensure consistency of our message and to avoid confusion among our customers.” In addition, Lowe’s said it had removed a “Holiday Trees” banner from their storefronts.
Why make such a big deal about the advertising phraseology employed by retailers? AFA president Tim Wildmon responds.

Tim Wildmon”The secularization of Christmas is a serious problem, especially in the retail business today,” Wildmon says. “These big corporations are wanting to make money off people at Christmastime for celebrating Christmas, but they want to call it a ‘holiday season’ — they don’t want to identify it as Christmas because that might offend one or two percent of the American public.”
And since retailers are unable to remove “Christ” from “Christmas,” says the AFA president, many of are simply trying to do away with Christmas. Such “anti-Christian bias,” he adds, does not bode well with consumers.
“Companies who choose to abandon the national observance of Christmas are finding that Americans are not afraid to speak out with their pocketbooks,” he says. Last year the pro-family group called for a boycott of Federated Stores because the retailer had banned “Merry Christmas” in its advertising. But this year, “they are using ‘Merry Christmas,’” notes Wildmon.
AFA also reports that more than 400,000 individuals have signed an
online petition to stop retailers’ ban on the use of “Christmas.” The AFA leader says while this petition, which is being sent to retailers, likely will have no effect on company policies this year, it could affect things next year.
As for the Lowe’s announcement, Wildmon offers kudos, saying it is “good to know Lowe’s is a company that listens to their customers,” That quality, he says, is a “rarity in today’s politically correct retail market.”

Good for them. I wonder if any of the others will come around. Keep praying about this and putting what pressure you can on them to make the change.

Update:
Restoring ‘Christmas’ — Walgreen’s, Kroger Respond

(AgapePress) - You win some — and you lose some. That adage seems to apply appropriately to one group’s ongoing efforts to keep “Christ” in Christmas, at least on the retail front.
According to the founder of Mississippi-based American Family Association (AFA), it is apparent that at least one retailer — Walgreen’s — has gotten the message that it is not in their best interest to continue avoiding use of the phrase “Merry Christmas” in its advertising campaigns and in-store promotions. Speaking earlier today (Dec. 1) on American Family Radio, Donald E. Wildmon said an AFA supporter had heard from Walgreen’s, indicating that although it is too late to change this season’s advertising materials, next year “things will be different.”
He says a consumer response representative with Walgreen’s is distributing a letter stating that “Next year, you can be assured our advertising will better incorporate ‘Christmas’ — and our holiday trees will be called Christmas trees.”

Read the rest here.

Philippians 4:6
New International Version (NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Pennsylvania Sept. 11 Memorial Redesigned

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

For those of you who missed it, the image to the right was the original proposed design for the September 11th, Flight 93 Memorial in
Pennsylvania. They called it the “The Crescent of Embrace”. Now I don’t know about you, but if radical islamic terrorist had highjacked a flight with my relatives on it and we knew that the symbol of islam is the crescent, I would think that the last thing we would want a memorial to be shaped like would be a crescent. But that just me…or is it.

It seems like the memorial has been redesigned after a grass roots protest (much of it from the blogshere). Of course the artist and related people couldn’t see the problem, but then we have learned to expect that.

The good news is that the design has been changed to a bowl instead of a cresent.
(I haven’t been able to find a picture of the new design yet).

Read the article here.

History Links:
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin
Little Green Footballs
Little Green Footballs
Little Green Footballs

Another school censoring Christmas?

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

The Jackson County School System in Jefferson, Georgia has told their teachers and staff not to wear any religious pins and refrain from referring to a party as a “Christmas” party. They have also censored certain religious Christmas songs from its “winter” program, according to this article on WorldNetDaily.com.

The district has reportedly prohibited teachers from wearing “any pins, angels, crosses, clothing” that contain any religious connotation or affiliation, referring to any party as a “Christmas” party, or displaying a Bible in their rooms. ADF says the district has also removed certain religious Christmas songs from a “winter” concert and censored the word “God” from another song.

Alliance Defense Fund senior legal counsel David Cortman said “Jackson County school officials are attempting to prohibit teachers from expressing any religious aspect of Christmas,” Cortman stated in the letter. “Classroom decorations may no longer include nativity scenes and angels. Jackson County has gone so far as to prohibit the common greeting ‘Merry Christmas,’ and also now refers to the Christmas break as ‘Winter Break.’”

Says the attorney: “Many school districts aren’t trying to be difficult; they simply don’t know the facts about the law. The fear, disinformation and intimidation that the ACLU and other groups like them have promoted over the years with regard to religious expression on public property at Christmastime have led to such misconceptions. ADF desires to educate schools, teachers, and students on the truth about what the law really says.”

WorldNetDaily is conducting a poll to see how people feel about this issue.

Just one more attack against the Christian and OUR holiday, Christmas!!

Hat tip to at Rapture Ready News

House Speaker: Call it a “Christmas Tree”

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Jennifer at the Scriptorium found this article buried in the news.
See her comments below

11/30/2005
SPEAKER OF HOUSE FIGHTS TO CALL IT CHRISTMAS TREE
Filed under:
Christian News — Jennifer Rast @ 5:52 am
You know, there is only ONE holiday this time of year that is celebrated by buying a tree, decorating it, and putting it in your house. That one tree chopping, Christmas light hanging, gifts under the tree holiday is CHRISTMAS. Why do we have to call Christmas trees something they aren’t (a holiday tree - as if every holiday this time of year has a tree) just to avoid using a religious word in public? If Christmas offends you, then you’re an intolerant bigot, and you should practice what you undoubtedly preach every other day of the year.
At least someone in Congress
gets it. Is there an election year coming up? It’s strange to see a Republican acting like a Republican these days.

If it’s a spruce tree adorned with 10,000 lights and 5,000 ornaments displayed on the Capitol grounds in December, it’s a Christmas tree and that’s what it should be called, says House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
Hastert, R-Ill., in a letter to the Architect of the Capitol, recommended that the annual Capitol Holiday Tree, as it has been called the past several years, be renamed the Capitol Christmas Tree.
“I strongly urge that we return to this tradition and join the White House, countless other public institutions and millions of American families in celebrating the holiday season with a Christmas tree,” Hastert wrote to Architect Alan Hantman.
His office said the tree began to be referred to as the Holiday Tree in the 1990s. Spokesman Ron Bonjean said the reasons were unclear.
On Dec. 8 Hastert will flip the switch to light the tree, a 65-foot Engelmann Spruce from the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. On Tuesday workmen were erecting the tree on the West Front of the Capitol.

It’s not prevalent yet, but some people are starting to fight back at the anti-Christian Christmas bias in this country. Pray for them.

Original article.

Swedish pastor beats “hate crime” conviction

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Hat Tip: at Rapture Ready News.

Click for Source Article
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - In a unanimous 5-0 decision, Sweden’s Supreme Court today acquitted a pastor of a “hate crime” for presenting the biblical view of homosexual behavior in a sermon. “Voicing one’s conscience is a fundamental human right,” said Alliance Defense Fund Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull. “This is a huge victory for religious liberty everywhere. In this contest between religious freedom and the radical homosexual agenda, religious freedom prevailed.” The pastor, Ake Green, received a one-month jail sentence last year under a Swedish “hate crimes” law that forbids criticism of those who participate in homosexual behavior. In February, the Goeta Appeals Court overturned the decision. The government appealed the case to the Swedish Supreme Court, but today it ruled that Green did not break the law. “As David slew Goliath, Ake Green slew the radical homosexual agenda in this case,” Bull said. “We can only hope this will deter other attempts to censor Christian ministers from delivering Bible-based messages against harmful homosexual conduct. Ake Green is a hero, and we are grateful for his stand and his perseverance.” Bull founded and then served for a number of years as director of a Europe-wide religious liberties legal organization based in Strasburg, France. He attended Green’s trial Nov. 9 as an international observer. In April, Bull met with Green in Geneva, Switzerland, and counseled him with regard to his rights and international law. ADF coordinated and funded the filing of friend-of-the-court briefs for the case as well as the translation of trial transcripts into English. Numerous international groups have used these ADF transcripts to prepare their friend-of-the-court briefs on Green’s behalf. A link to a transcript of Ake Green’s sermon can be found at www.akegreen.org.

Pray for our pastors everywhere in the world. I fear that more and more, the truth preached from the Bible about homosexuality will be labeled “hate speech”.

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Still Leads Holiday TV Pack After 40 Years

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

I don’t know about you, but I grew up with these wonderful Christmas shows. Fox News reports that they are still very popular.

LOS ANGELES — Good grief, network executives said when they first saw Charles Schulz’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
“They thought it was too slow,” executive producer Lee Mendelson recalls being told by the powers-that-were at CBS in 1965.
But the special was an instant hit with critics and audiences. Forty years later, its ruminations on the spirit of Christmas, backed by a lilting jazz score by
Vince Guaraldi, remain fresh and affecting.
Schulz, the creator of
Charlie Brown and the rest of the “Peanuts” comic strip gang, never doubted that the program he’d written was good, Mendelson said. Schulz, who died in 2000, considered it his favorite of the “Peanuts” TV specials.
“I guess you can have an animated scene where you have a kid read from the Bible,” Mendelson said of the show, in which Charlie is depressed by the commercialization of Christmas until he is reminded of its unchanged meaning.
The sermon falls to Linus. “I can tell you what Christmas is about,” he says, recounting the story of Christ’s birth and ending with, “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

The rest of the article goes on to list a good portion of the Christmas shows that will be airing this season. I recommend printing the article and keeping it for future reference.
Let’s continue to support these wonderful Christmas Classics

Immanuel

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005












Isaiah 7:14 New International Version (NIV)
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you [
a] a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and [b] will call him Immanuel. [c]
Footnotes:
Isaiah 7:14 The Hebrew is plural.
Isaiah 7:14 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls and he or and they
Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel means God with us .

Matthew 1:18-25 New International Version (NIV)
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[
c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23″The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel“[
d]—which means, “God with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Footnotes:
Matthew 1:21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the LORD saves.
Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14


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