Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog

If this film were a spoof of the Quran, we would be seeing Muslims rioting and burning things (they always burn stuff for some reason) in the streets.

A new movie set to be released this Friday will feature the Ten Commandments from the Bible in a very unflattering way.

”The Ten,” written by the same director of Wet Hot American Summer, is a compilation of ten different stories, each depicting one of the ancient commandments given to Moses by God.

Christians have expressed their concern about the film and how it degrades and insults God and His laws. Many critics, however, believe the movie will have little influence.

“The Ten Commandments have been a cornerstone of our society for nearly one hundred years,” explained “The Ten” director David Wain on the film’s website. “If you’ve ever taken a Sunday off, or if you’ve ever stopped yourself from murdering someone, then you yourself have been following the Ten Commandments without even knowing it.”

The film has a number of stars in it including Paul Rudd, Adam Brody, Gretchen Mol, Winona Ryder, Oliver Platt and Jessica Alba. Each of them either stars or plays minor roles in each of the short scripts. Each uses the Bible to create a foundation for an often inappropriate caricature.

A main example of one of the acts tells the story of a virgin librarian who takes a trip to Mexico and experiences a sexual awakening with a local named Jesus H. Christ.

Other shorts include a prisoner coveting his inmate’s “wife,” a woman who steals a ventriloquist doll after she falls in love with it, and a police detective who covets his neighbor’s Cat Scan machine.

Some Christian leaders feel that the film is part of a larger trend of increasing antagonism toward Christianity and religion in America.

“This is going to be a very negative attack on faith and values,” said Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, to World Net Daily. “It’s very sad society has descended into this attack mode.”

Original Link

Some great points here.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the newly named Catholic archbishop of Baltimore, Edwin F. O’Brien, in 1978, “helped found Courage, a group in New York that ministers to those with same-sex attractions and encourages them to lead celibate lives.”

The Sun’s Stephen Kiehl also reports:

“But Sam Sinnett, president of Dignity USA, a group for gay and lesbian Catholics, said:

“‘They keep talking about people changing their God-given sexual orientation. That’s just not a possibility. And any professional knows that. To live in willful ignorance of that is a terrible thing, particularly for a moral teacher.’”

Welcome to the Sun-world, Archbishop O’Brien! This Sun-printed statement suggests that you, as a moral teacher, are willfully ignorant and terrible.

Original Link

What on earth is up with this??

The United Methodist Church is being blasted for partnering with a Muslim group that is blatant about its mission.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR, recently announced a partnership with Muslim Aid, a British-based relief organization. The Muslim group is very clear about its Islamic mission — and on its website there are numerous references to the Koran and to Allah, says Mark Tooley with the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD).

“In its materials and on its website, it talks about the need to serve Allah,” he continues, “and one of its programs is to help Muslims around the world fulfill their Islamic obligations, which include an annual animal sacrifice, which Muslim Aid will assist them with.”

Tooley expects the denomination to spend more than the $15 million dollars already proposed on joint relief projects worldwide. “Even prior to this recently announced partnership, they had been working together in Sri Lanka in relation to tsunami victims there,” the IRD spokesman observes.

Tooley points out that while Muslim Aid is vocal in its beliefs, UMCOR has virtually no mention of God, Jesus Christ, or the Bible on its website. “No wonder there is such easy agreement between them,” he comments.

UMCOR’s operating budget last year was nearly $90 million, according to Tooley. He suggests that United Methodists and others might want to “ponder” why one of its denominational agencies appears hesitant to mention Jesus Christ, but seems to have no problem affiliating with a Muslim group that freely professes its service to Allah.

Original Link.

Here’s something you won’t hear from the Democrats and main stream press.

Two prominent US political scholars just back from Iraq said Monday the US troop surge strategy was making strides in some areas, but warned the Iraqi government was making “zero” progress.

The findings by independent Brookings Institution analysts Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, who have recently criticized White House strategy, furthered enflamed the heated political debate in Washington over Iraq.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives is due this week to hold more symbolic votes on bringing US troops home, in the latest of a string of so-far unsuccessful attempts to dictate President George W. Bush’s war strategy.

Pollack and O’Hanlon returned from eight days of meetings with US generals, diplomats and Iraqis saying they were more hopeful than they had expected.

They noted progress in the US battle against Al-Qaeda in Iraq in western Al-Anbar province, and said there had been impressive stabilization in the northern cities of Tal-Afar and Mosul.

But they warned that southern Iraq and the city of Basra were like the “Wild West,” pummeled by violence, and that security in the capital was uneven, with some neighborhoods returning to normal and others like a “war-zone.”

“This is the first trip I have taken to Iraq that I actually came back more hopeful than I went over, (but) again that is a more qualified hopefulness,” Pollack told a small group of reporters.

“We saw considerably greater progress on the security side than I would have expected,” Pollack said, adding that some economic and political strides were evident at local levels.

But he warned he saw none of the critical, top-down political momentum from the Iraqi central government that US policy is designed to promote, describing it as “a complete mess.”

“Iraqi high-level politics remains completely log-jammed, we saw zero evidence of progress there,” Pollack said.

O’Hanlon said he was impressed by progress of US troops in fighting Al-Qaeda in Iraq after a tie-up between US forces and tribal sheikhs in Anbar.

But he warned the strategy to surge nearly 30,000 extra troops into Iraq, may simply be keeping the lid on other violence.

“The civil strife is something that we have more suppressed than solved,” he said, but added he would favor following the surge strategy for a few more months given new signs of momentum.

Pollack also cautioned some progress appeared to depend on the continued presence of US troops, the subject of a furious battle between Democrats in Congress, who want to bring most of the 159,000 soldiers home, and the White House, which rejects withdrawal timelines.

Original Link.

Oil prices are nearing all-time highs. The news of faster-than-expected economic growth had light, sweet crude for September trading at $77.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price was a penny shy of the highest-ever settlement price for a front-month contract that was set July 14, 2006. As troubling as the short-term price of oil has become, the long-term price looks far more menacing.

Jeffrey Currie, a London-based commodity analyst, says $95 crude is likely this year unless OPEC unexpectedly increases production, and declining inventories are raising the chances for $100 oil. Jeff Rubin at CIBC World Markets predicts $100 a barrel as soon as next year.

“We’re only a headline of significance away from $100 oil,” said John Kilduff, an analyst in the New York office of futures broker Man Financial Inc. “The unrelenting pressure of increased demand has left the market a coiled spring.” “New disruptions of Nigerian or Iraqi supplies, or any military strike against Iran , might trigger the rise,” said Kilduff.

Oil prices could triple in three months to more than $200 a barrel, given the right circumstances, according to Matthew Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co., a Houston investment bank.

We are a long way from 1998-1999 price crash when oil briefly fell below $10 a barrel. It seems hard to imagine that crude is now up 8 fold. In just the past 6 months, this precious commodity has risen 51 percent.

The key reason for the dire predictions is the simple fact that demand is up a million barrels a day. The demand increase is being led by the booming economies of India and China , which means more cars and trucks and more factories that burn oil and gas.

Another area that is putting upward pressure on oil prices is the decline in production on the part of major oil companies. The supply of oil is down by a million barrels a day. Most of the major oil firms reported their earnings last week, and every one of them reported a decline in their ability to bring oil to market:

British Petroleum said oil and gas output fell 5.3 percent to 3.804 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2007 compared with a year earlier.

Exxon Mobil said the company’s production dipped 1 percent on an oil equivalent basis. It saw the most weakness in fields that produce natural gas.

ConocoPhillips’ daily production for the quarter averaged 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 2.1 million barrels a day in the year-ago period. The company attributed the decrease to normal field declines, planned maintenance in the North Sea and its exit from Dubai , among other factors.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said in its latest report the daily oil and natural gas production averaged the equivalent of 583,000 barrels of crude a day during the quarter, down from 609,000 a year ago.

Royal Dutch Shell - Production slipped 2% to 3.18 million barrels of oil equivalent, hurt as violence in Nigeria has halted onshore production, and the country has moved to restrict offshore output to meet OPEC targets. Due to what Shell calls the “security situation,” 195,000 barrels of oil a day were shut in.

Venezuela’s national oil company — a major supplier of fuel to the United States — has seen oil production fall to 2.37 million barrels a day, down from 2.6 million barrels a day a year ago.

Bible prophecy makes no direct mention of oil, but I strongly believe it will be a major catalyst for several key end-time events. Any type of oil shock will draw the world’s focus towards the Middle East.

Original Link

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has told a German magazine that the United States has too many problems in Iraq to become involved in armed conflict with Iran.

Military action is sometimes discussed in Washington as an option in trying to derail what it sees as Iran’s drive to develop nuclear weapons.

The United States “is not in a position to get into a new military conflict”, Mottaki was quoted as saying in an excerpt of an interview to be published in Focus magazine.

“170,000 American soldiers can guarantee neither their own safety nor the security of Iraq,” he said.

The United States and its allies say Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran insists it is purely for peaceful power generation.

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran for failing to stop enrichment, but Mottaki reiterated that Iran had no intention of curtailing the programme.

Mottaki has dismissed the U.N. sanctions already imposed and said that tougher penalties would not change Iran’s mind.

There was no mention of plans for further talks between Iran and the United States on Iraq.

Original Link

Just a reminder…
Koran 47:36 says “Therefore do not falter or sue for peace when you have gained the upper hand.”

And with the track record the pali terrorist have of actually telling the truth and abiding by their agreements, we can pretty well figure that they are lying about this too.

For the first time in the history of the Palestinian Authority, the government does not mention in its proposed political platform the Arabic word mokawamah, meaning “resistance” or “armed struggle.” Instead, the new guidelines adhere to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s call for “national opposition to the occupation,” supporting the Arab peace initiative.

The new PA program presented by PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad on Friday includes the attainment of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement consisting of pre-1967 borders, Jerusalem as the capital of both states and the honoring of past agreements between the two.

The platform also calls for a just and agreed-upon resolution to the refugee problem on the basis of UN resolutions.

The proposal, which was presented to PA ministers, requires the approval of the PA parliament.

Government sources expressed cautious optimism over the omission of “armed struggle” from the new proposed guidelines. “It is an important declaration and a basis for continuing our cooperation with the PA government,” Israel Radio quoted the sources as saying.

However, Jerusalem officials stressed that they had not actually received the guidelines in writing and would therefore not give an official response.

Hamas slammed the proposal and vowed that it would continue the armed struggle.

The group’s spokesman in Gaza, Ayman Taha, told Israel Radio that “no decision can erase the resistance to the occupation.”

Army Radio reported that Abbas and Fayad showed the new Palestinian document to Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin during their meeting in Ramallah the previous day.

“It concerns peace with Israel and honoring past agreement with Israel,” confirmed the Meretz chairman. Beilin went on to say that it was “peace as an ideology” as opposed to an agreement as a last resort.

Abbas told reporters on Thursday that he hoped for “a comprehensive peace with the Israelis within a year or even less than that.” He also told the daily Ma’ariv that US President George W. Bush wished to broker a deal within a year. “I heard this with my own ears from the President himself and from Secretary of State [Condoleezza] Rice,” he said.

The new proposed PA document also includes the government’s declaration of its intention to restore PA rule to the Gaza Strip and extensively blames Hamas for “deviously and forcefully” taking over PA institutions.

According to the new proposed principles, Fayad’s government would end the anarchy in the PA and prevent citizens from moving around openly with weapons in Palestinians cities. Only PA security forces would have the right to bear arms.

The new PA platform also includes clauses on improving the status of women in Palestinian society, enhancing Palestinian education, preserving the environment, strengthening democratic institutions, upholding human rights, ensuring religious tolerance and guaranteeing cultural and political pluralism. It also vows to battle corruption and fight against the use of religion to justify murder and destructive practices.

Original Link.

I have often said that our blog has some of the most intelligent and well informed readership in the blogsphere.
With that said, I have pictures of an old radio, and am wondering if anyone else has seen a radio like this, and if so, what information do you have about it.
To my knowledge, I’m the only one in the whole world who owns a radio like this.
Here’s what I know about it:
The general make up and tube set indicate an early 1920’s design and manufacturing. It utilizes six identical triode tubes to drive all the sections of the radio.
I suspect that it originally had RCA UV-201 triode tubes in it, but it didn’t have any tubes in it when I got it. Since the UV-201’s are virtually impossible to find these days, and 01A’s (an “upgrade” to the UV-201’s) are quite expensive, I bought Type 30 triodes, which, according to specifications, should be close enough to run it.
It uses a Grid Leak and Condenser method of detection and has a class “A” amplifier on the speaker output.
Here are the pictures. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Standard Master Six Radio Front
Standard Master Six Verniers
Standard Master Six with Top Open
Standard Master Six Inside View
Standard Master Six Inside View from the Side
Standard Master Six Antenna and Speaker Connections
Standard Master Six Required Voltages

The U.N. Human Rights Council, since it’s inception, has passed more resolutions against Israel than any other country, despite horrible abuses in Africa and China. When the leader of the U.N. finally decides to point this fact out them, he gets criticized by the Islamic representatives of the council. Anyone else see a trend here? Clue in on the word “Islamic”.

(CNSNews.com) - After ensuring that the U.N. Human Rights Council, in its first year of operation, produced numerous resolutions condemning Israel, the Islamic bloc on Wednesday criticized U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon for highlighting that fact.At a meeting of the Geneva-based HRC, the representative of Pakistan — speaking on behalf of the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) — reportedly scolded Ban for his comments last month chiding the council for singling out Israel.

The Pakistani delegate was quoted as saying the HRC would have to “streamline its relationship” with the secretary-general.

Last month, Ban’s spokesman said in a statement that Ban was “disappointed at the council’s decision to single out only one specific regional item, given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world.”

Although the statement did not name the “regional item” concerned, the HRC has since its formation a year ago censured Israel 11 times — and no other country.

The spokesman added, “As regards the removal of mandates relating to two member states, [Ban] wishes to emphasize the need to consider all situations of possible human rights violations equally.”

The remark was a reference to a decision by the HRC to stop reporting on alleged human rights violations in Cuba and Belarus.

U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, decried the Pakistani envoy’s remarks Wednesday.

“We’re witnessing a dangerous attempt to censor the highest official of the United Nations, an effort to silence anyone who exposes the council’s repeated breaches of its own principles of equality, universality, and non-selectivity,” said the group’s executive director, Hillel Neuer.

Canada’s representative to the HRC was quoted as defending Ban during Wednesday’s meeting.

“We have to acknowledge that the secretary-general is entitled to his views, and it would ill behoove this council to appear to be constraining or discouraging the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression, a fundamental freedom we are committed to uphold,” he said.

The 47-seat council was established to replace the erstwhile Commission on Human Rights, which became a laughing stock after regimes accused of egregious rights abuses sought membership and used their positions to block scrutiny, while focusing disproportionately on their foes, notably Israel.

The new human rights apparatus was meant to be a crowning achievement of former secretary-general Kofi Annan’s effort to reform the world body, but Annan himself, a month before leaving office, criticized the council for focusing too much on the Arab-Israeli conflict while ignoring the atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region.

In line with a negotiated membership formula, the African and Asian regional groups hold 26 of the HRC’s 47 seats. And since OIC member states hold a majority in both of those regional groups, the Islamic bloc and its allies effectively dominate the council.

President Bush last month announced that the U.S. for the first time would send an envoy to the OIC.

“Our special envoy will listen to and learn from representatives from Muslim states, and will share with them America’s views and values,” he said.

The envoy has yet to be named, but a State Department official, Gregg Rickman, held talks with OIC officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this week.

According to an OIC statement, “the discussions focused on exchange of views on cooperation for further strengthening efforts to address the issue of discrimination and intolerance of religious faiths and for dialogue for reaching a historical reconciliation towards the Alliance of Civilizations.”

Rickman holds the post of the Secretary of State’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.

Original Link.

A Christian writer and radio talk-show host says a decision by Democratic presidential candidates to take part in an upcoming debate on “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender” (GLBT) issues is a poor political move because homosexuals comprise only a tiny portion of the electorate.

MTV’s homosexual cable network LOGO will be airing a Democratic presidential debate August 9 on how best to further the homosexual agenda. (See earlier story) According to news reports, candidates slated to participate are Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. Joe Solmonese — president of the Washington, DC-based Human Rights Campaign, one of the country’s most powerful homosexual activist groups — will be moderating the unprecedented event. HRC is coordinating the debate through a partnership with LOGO.

Greg Koukl is the founder and president of California-based Stand to Reason. Koukl says since the demographic for homosexuals is anywhere from one to three percent maximum, and the Democratic Party already owns that demographic, the candidates do not stand to gain anything by taking part in the GLBT debate.

“The Democrats are kind of, for lack of a better word, preening before the public to show everybody how liberal they actually are,” Koukl alleges. “[They want to demonstrate] that they would be willing to invest a significant amount of their time and energy to go before this small group of people and make a public statement of how progressive their views are, that they are the card-carrying liberals. They are proud of this.”

Koukl says the Democratic White House hopefuls may actually lose votes as a result of the debate because the majority of Americans do not embrace the “extreme” views of the homosexual lobby.

But the Christian leader also has criticism for his fellow believers on the matter. He believes the breakdown of traditional morality in the church is largely to blame for the aggressive promotion of the homosexual lifestyle in American politics today.

“I think Christians have not been very good in responding to this problem,” he shares. “In many ways, we are perpetrators of this because there is sexual immorality in our midst, including heterosexual immorality, that we’ve kind of cast a blind eye on — and that’s been a problem.”

He also alleges there are theological concerns in the church that have resulted in confusion about the issue of homosexuality. “People haven’t done their homework about the Bible and homosexuality,” he states bluntly.

The Stand to Reason leader says to a great degree, on issues such as homosexuality, the Christian church’s response to the culture has been “shrill and shallow” and lacking thoughtfulness.

Original Link.