Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog

Noah’s Ark (Nursery Version)

Painstakingly reproduced from his hand painted originals at Central Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, artist Doug Westbrook is now able to bring his hand crafted Bible Story Murals to you.

Produced on durable vinyl with high quality archival ink, each Bible Story Mural presents a different classic story from the pages of the Bible. From the Creation in Genesis to the Ascension of Christ, these wall sized murals will transform your rooms and hallways into a virtual Bible tour, stimulating the minds of children and adults alike.

Murals are available in almost any size and are installed much like standard vinyl wallpaper, using vinyl on vinyl (VOV) wallpaper paste. Full size murals are provided in 48 to 60 inch wide panels with a one inch overlay and can be installed in almost any hallway or room.

Each mural is designed to clean up easily with soap and water, lasting for years.

Give your children a Bible experience they will remember for a lifetime.

Bible Story Murals!!

Jonah and the Whale

See the Bible Story Murals Website Here

Many faithful in the Episcopal Church cannot abide with how far the leadership has moved away from what the Bible teaches, especially in the area of homosexuality, and would rather leave this fellowship than risk supporting something the Bible says is a sin.
Pray for the people in the Episcopal Church.

A spokesman with the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) says the U.S. Episcopal Church is at a crossroads.

This week, the House of Bishops plans to meet with conservative leaders in the church –known as primates. The conservative leaders will ask for assurance, that by September 30 the church will no longer approve the consecration of bishops living in homosexual relationships, or approve same sex blessings.

Ralph Webb is IRD director of Anglican Action and he says liberal leaders have not given any indication they will meet demands of the conservative leaders. “They have expressed dismay at the primates, for making such requests of the church. And, so, sadly, it doesn’t look like we’re going to see something positive,” he says.

Original Link.

I fear that this situation will come to a boil very soon. We need to pray for our President and those brave people who defend our country.

With the Iranian president on his way to the United Nations, the confrontation between America and the Islamic Republic is ratcheting up in Iraq and Washington.

American soldiers arrested an Iranian Quds Force operative in northern Iraq yesterday, in a clear signal that the war on Iran’s terror network in the country has not abated. At a press conference in Washington, President Bush emphasized the damage international pressure and mismanagement has done to the Iranian economy as a factor he said he hoped would persuade the mullahs to end their enrichment of uranium.

The diplomatic and military confrontations this week are preview of what is in store at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. President Ahmadinejad yesterday told CBS News that he was withdrawing his request to visit ground zero and lay a wreath at the site of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Nonetheless, the Iranian president, who has called for destruction of Israel and whose country hosts senior Al Qaeda leaders, will speak at Columbia University.

Original Link

The mayor of San Diego said Wednesday that he has changed his stance on same-sex “marriages” after revealing that his adult daughter is a lesbian.

Although he previously said he would veto a city council resolution supporting a legal fight to overturn California’s prohibition on same-sex “marriage,” Mayor Jerry Sanders told reporters that he could no longer support the position he took during his mayoral campaign two years ago and in the end signed the resolution.

“Two years ago, I believed that civil unions were a fair alternative,” he said at a news conference.

Sanders’ spokesman, Fred Sainz, had earlier informed the press that the mayor prefers civil unions – which offer some, but not all of the legal privileges found in marriages – over same-sex “marriages.”

“Those beliefs, in my case, have since changed,” the Republican mayor said Wednesday.

Sanders, who is up for re-election next year, acknowledged that many voters who supported his earlier stance may disagree, but he said he had to do what he believed was right.

According to the mayor’s spokesman, Sanders’ daughter Lisa told her parents four years ago that she is a lesbian and is in a committed relationship.

Original Link

A stunning report published by Jane’s Defense Weekly confirms rumors of a July explosion at a Syrian military base at al-Safir, near Aleppo, in which reportedly “dozens” of Iranian engineers were killed along with their Syrian counterparts.

Syria had originally dismissed reports of the explosion by saying the blast was generated by the desert heat causing the accidental detonation of a stockpile of explosives.

Jane’s reported that the explosion was actually triggered while the engineers were fitting a chemical warhead onto a Scud-C missile. The explosion and fire released containers of the deadly nerve agents VX and sarin gas, as well as a mustard gas blistering agent.

Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told reporters this week, “Iran has entered into strategic cooperation with Syria on conventional and nonconventional weapons development,” adding, “The Iranians are very big in Syria.”

Original Link

I have seen this text book and agree. It is teaching religious tenants for Islam while not teaching them for Judaism, Christianity or any other religion.

The “Five Pillars” of Islam – charity, fasting, prayer, belief and pilgrimage – are being taught to public school students in Nyssa, Ore., under the guise of world history, the school has confirmed to WND, even though a parent raised a complaint about the same teachings a year ago.

In a letter to parents following the concerns that were raised at that point, Supt. Don Grotting and other school officials told parents that the text called “Journey Across Time” features a chapter on “Islamic Civilizations.”

As part of that, “class activities have included guest speakers (including an American soldier serving in Iraq and a practicing Muslim woman who is an American citizen living in Mountain Home) who talked about geography, dress, climate, religion, economy and culture and student skits, in which students prepare and perform three- to five-minute skits about the tenets of Islam belief: charity, fasting, prayer, belief, and pilgrimage.”

Janine Weeks, the curriculum director at the school, this week told WND that the curriculum, and class activities, are continuing.

“We’ve not made any changes,” she said. “The content standards require that we present information about the rise of Islam in the context of world history.”

The McGraw-Hill book itself, according to its online outline, heavily emphasizes the positive aspects of Islam.

“Muslims were successful merchants, in part because they had a common language and a common currency. Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus grew wealthy from trade and became important centers of learning, government, and the arts. The cities featured mosques that served as Muslim houses of worship and centers of learning. The bazaar was a very important part of the Muslim city. Although Muslims enjoyed great success and cities grew, most Muslims lived in villages and farmed,” the book says.

“Muslims made valuable contributions in math, science, and the arts. Muslim scholars saved and translated the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Muslims are well known for their beautiful buildings. The Taj Mahal, which is made of marble and precious stone, is one of the world’s most beautiful buildings,” it says.

Meanwhile, in its chapter on Christianity, it notes that Christianity “attracted many followers because it gave meaning to people’s lives, appealed to their emotions, and promised happiness after death.”

It goes on to talk about the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church that still exists.

For a student exercise, it suggests students study the American Red Cross.

In its chapter on Judaism, the book notes “the 12 tribes of Israel often quarreled, so they asked a prophet to choose a king to unite them against their enemies.” Then, after World War II, “Palestine was divided into a Jewish nation called Israel.”

The parent who raised the concerns a year ago, Kendalee Garner, was contacted and told WND that essentially Christianity and Judaism are not being taught. “They teach the history of Hinduism but not the tenets of its faith,” she said.

“When I asked the teacher today if they were changing the curriculum she replied there is nothing we need to change,” she said.

Original Link.

Angels have always fascinated me. Even though the Bible teaches that we will some day be “judges” of angels, I catch myself being envious of these marvelous beings. They are so fortunate to be allowed to stand in the presence of God, doing His bidding. How fortunate they are. I long for the time when I will be in the presence of God and can finally do everything He wants me to do. No more human frailness, no more human failings.
I found this article about angels and it hit a note with me.

I have seen some of your paintings of angels. Not very accurate. Why do some of your artists try to make us look like lovely, soft women or cute, chubby babies? Let’s correct that idea right now. When you think of an angel, don’t think of soft clouds or little cupid-like cherubs decorating packages of bathroom tissue. Angels are terrible warriors. We are the army of the Living God, His heavenly host — a mighty, terrible host, surrounded with the blinding glory of the Almighty’s holiness. Our strength is incomprehensible to you humans. Why one night while the Assyrian army was surrounding Jerusalem, one of our host went through their camp and put to death 185,000 of their soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). Cute, chubby cherubs, ha! Every time a human actually sees one of us, he collapses in terror. That’s why we always have to start our conversations with: “Fear not!”

Like your human armies, we have ranks and orders, differing duties and tasks. Some angels are not quite so military of course, but me and my boys are a real army. We’ve been in on some of the great campaigns. Our regiment follows the Commander Himself. He has a very particular interest in earth. So many of our operations have brought us into this arena of conflict.

Earth, you know, is contested territory. Oh, there’s no real question of who really rules, but the final mop-up action is being delayed in order to compete certain rescue operations in which the Commander has taken a personal part. We look forward to the end of it all. The day is coming when the last battle will take place. All of the hostiles will gather against our Commander and will mount a terrible offensive. We (and some of you too) will be with Him when He meets the Enemy on that day! There’s no doubt at all about the outcome of that conflict.

In the meantime, our present missions are typically restraining actions related to the ongoing rescue program. We move into an area and secure a perimeter of operations from enemy interference. For instance, on one occasion, Dothan, the village of God’s prophet Elisha, was surrounded by the Syrian army. Our unit was deployed to ensure the safety of the prophet and clear the area of hostiles. Elisha knew we were there. He had notification from our Commander. But the prophet’s servant was uninformed about our presence. Elisha told his servant, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha requested from the Commander, that we angels be displayed for the servant’s benefit. So we executed a partial decloaking. The servant was duly impressed; as well he should be (2 Kings 6:8-17).

Most of the time, however, we remain unobserved. But we are present in fearsome power — hundreds, some times thousands of us. We’ve been there in countless operations with the Commander sometimes in warfare against the enemy, sometimes as auxiliary personnel to human endeavors.

I understand many of you may have the notion that serving in an army is a matter of grim, unquestioning duty. That may be the case in some human deployments, but it is emphatically not the case with us in the angel corps. Every last one of us serves because of love for the Commander. We would follow Him anywhere and do anything He requested. Perhaps you can get some idea of our motivation for service by remembering how the soldiers under David loved him. My squad was in the area one time when David and his command were surrounded by a band of Philistines. At that time David was in his stronghold and he casually remarked how good a drink of water from the well in Bethlehem would taste. Three of David’s men broke through the enemy lines without being discovered and I might add that one of our personnel had something to do with that. They drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David, just because they loved him. (1 Chronicles 11:15-19).

That’s how it is in this army. We love the Commander. Not one of us would hesitate in the slightest to perform any assignment that He might choose to give us. You can hear our love for Him in the songs we sing when we are on the march. How does your proverb go? There are four things that move with stately bearing: a lion, mighty among beasts who retreats before nothing, a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king with his army around him (Proverbs 30:29-31). You should see our King with His army around Him!

Actually, some of you did see something like that once. I mentioned earlier that our Commander has taken a very personal interest in the rescue operation on Earth. According to His own plan He left heaven and was born into your human race. It was His mission to effect a decisive blow to the key power center of the enemy, effectively opening the gates from the inside to secure the escape of the rescuees. We had been with Him in smaller companies since He joined Himself to His human mother’s flesh. We kept her under close guard during her season of pregnancy. But on the night He selected for His human birth, we were all there in full array. There was some possibility that the enemy would attempt to oppose His birth action, so we were prepared to secure the area. Of course, as it happened, the enemy was not encountered in the area that night. Only some time later did he mount a counterstrike through that King Herod. So on the night of our Commander’s birth we had nothing to do but stand watch, until we were ordered to reveal ourselves to a few shepherds. And after making the announcement about our Commanders birth, we sang.

Have you ever heard a really big men’s choir? Start with that idea, but imagine them not in choir robes, but girded for battle. Not grim draftees, but soldiers terrible in joy. Not so few you could count them if you tried, but thousands and thousands. Not bare, four-part harmony, but every voice with a slightly different song and all the voices fitting together like a million pieces of a stained-glass window into the glory of heaven. Not singing with weak human lungs, but sounding eternal chords like the ones that we used at the creation of the world. Not a song with a few words and a chorus, but a song that could not be contained even if you knew all the greatest words from all the languages of your earth. And this song, if you tried to sing it, would say, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom the Commander’s grace rests.” That is the kind of song the shepherds heard!

That night was singing — a song full of terrible love for the Commander, a song full of God’s love for the earth. And if you have love for this God who joined your human race, maybe one day you will sing with our army. As we stand before the throne of our Commander there will be a million upon a million voices of praise, voices singing of endless love, voices singing glory to God in the highest!

From The Twelve Voices of Christmas by Woodrow Kroll and Keith Ghormley, based on the original Twelve Voices broadcast heard on Back to the Bible.

Original Link.

Homosexual Indoctrination Grade 12 Curriculum to Start in British Columbia Schools [Excerpts]

Result of Human Rights settlement by the government with homosexual activists

Starting [the week of September 10], British Columbia introduced its grade 12 “Social Justice” elective course that will see homosexuality promoted in BC schools as an “alternate lifestyle” equivalent to natural marriage. The course is only the first part of a larger K-12 curriculum resulting from a Human Rights complaint settlement by the government with a pair of homosexual activists.

The British Columbia Human Rights Commission ordered that Murray Corren and his homosexual partner Peter Corren be allowed to force the BC Education Ministry to accept their curriculum and that parents will not be allowed to remove their children. Murray Corren wanted the K-12 curriculum to include, “Queer history and historical figures, the presence of positive queer role models — past and present — the contributions made by queers to various epochs, societies and civilizations and legal issues relating to (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) people, same-sex marriage and adoption.”

It was revealed in 2006 that the provincial government had signed the settlement contract with the two men giving them unprecedented control over the content of the curriculum. The contract stipulated that the education ministry would meet with the men every six months until September 1, 2007 to allow them to oversee the development process.

The Vancouver Sun reports that among the “key learning concepts” in the new course are “ableism, ageism, anthropocentrism, consumerism, cultural imperialism, extremism, feminism, fundamentalism, heterosexism, humanism, racism, sexism and speciesism.”

Heterosexism is defined as a “prejudice against homosexuals on the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm”.

Glen Hansman, president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association admitted in the Sun that the curriculum will require students to examine injustices to homosexuals because of the assumption that heterosexuality is normal and to “take a stand against these injustices.”

With the inclusion in the list of “speciesism”, the course will also introduce the concept of animal rights, a key issue in the world of secularist utilitarian bioethics that proposes human beings are no more important than animals. The term was coined by Peter Singer, the Princeton bioethicist who promotes infanticide and euthanasia on utilitarian grounds. Singer is generally considered the “father” of the modern extremist animal rights movement.

The pair particularly objected that the law allowed an opt-out provision in which teachers are under an obligation to advise parents when a subject deemed to be “sensitive” is raised in the classroom. The complaint demanded that homosexuality be removed from the list of issues considered officially “sensitive.”

Original Link.

Jimmy Carter needs to get back to the peanut farm and stay out of politics. His record as president shows that he has little knowledge or influence when it comes to politics. Carter continually bashes Israel while calling himself a Christian. Iran’s pesident has said that Israel must be elimintaed, that they need to be ‘wiped off the map’, etc. etc. yet Carter does not see Iran as a threat to Israel.

What planet is this guy from? It’s time for Jimmy Carter to get back to what he knows - peanuts.

Former President Jimmy Carter said that he does not think Iran poses an immediate threat to Israel, despite claims by Iranian officials that they have drawn up bombing plans if the Jewish state should attack.

Speaking on Wednesday at Emory University, Carter, who brokered the 1979 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt, said Israel’s superior military power and distance from Iran likely are enough to discourage an actual attack.

“Iran is quite distant from Israel,” said Carter, 83. “I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel.”

Iran’s deputy air force commander said Wednesday that Israel is within range of Iran’s medium-range missiles and bombers and that Teheran would strike back if Israel “makes a silly mistake.”

The White House said the comments almost sound geared toward provoking a fight and Israeli officials said they take the threats seriously.
Responding to a question from an Emory student during a public forum, Carter did not dismiss the desire of the Iranian government to attack Israel, noting a nuclear program Iran’s leaders claim is to fuel nuclear reactors, not make weapons.

Original Link

Let me state what is painfully obvious. Despite our most hopeful illusions, people are not really “good” nor do they really practice “peace”. While power corrupts, absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely and there is no safe place, neither high nor low, for the most vulnerable of our citizens.

The world is always at war. People fight, it’s what we do. We quarrel, often in deadly ways with other family members and we fight bitter, brutal battles with anyone who is “different” in terms of gender, class, race, ethnicity, tribe, religion, and ideology. The planet is perpetually plagued by civil and national wars. Not to be outdone, persecuted peoples internalize the prejudice and hatred leveled against them and unleash it against others like themselves.

Despite what has been learned about the European Holocaust, genocide has since become commonplace; it advances with arrogant impunity and is neither stopped nor punished by the “international community.” (Think Bosnia, Rwanda, Sudan). Rape and repeated, public gang-rape have become calculated weapons of war. It is no longer (merely) a spoil of war to which drunken, woman-hating soldiers feel entitled. An era of gender-cleansing has begun.

Even so: World wars, especially those which may involve nuclear weapons, outclass (so to speak) this chronic buzz of destruction.

We are poised on the precipice of just such a moment. Yeats’s “rough beast” is Islamic fundamentalism and it, literally, “slouches towards Bethlehem,” intent on destroying Judeo-Christian civilization.

Whether we conceive of this moment as World War Three or Four matters little. I happen to think that the Cold War never really ended since a Palestinianized Marxist-Leninism utterly hijacked the western campuses and media where it now functions as a fifth column arguing the barbarian’s case. On the other hand, Norman Podhoretz is right: This is a new enemy, one who combines elements of fascism and totalitarianism but in fundamentalist religious form.

The Middle East and the Muslim world has, by and large, been judenrein for quite some time. It has also become increasingly Islamified. My friend, the Egyptian dissident, Tarek Heggy, recently wrote me about his recent visit to his hometown of Port Said. Now, he said, “women are everywhere sheeted and hate blares from every mosque around the clock.” Gone are the Jews and the Christians and the non-religious Muslims; gone is the cosmopolitan splendor of the colonial-era Islamic East.

The Taliban (and Taliban-like ways) continue to plague the girls and women of Afghanistan, where I once lived. (By the way: My colleague, Rosanne Klass, has just re-issued her wonderful and beautifully written Memoir of her time in Afghanistan in the 1950s. It is titled “Land of the High Flags. Afghanistan When the Going Was Good” and I strongly recommend it. While Klass does not focus on Afghan women, she nevertheless paints a charming portrait of a Muslim country in a softer, gentler, and more hopeful time.)

Al-Qaeda continues to morph and everywhere remains at large–although the battle is joined in Iraq. Bin Laden continues his career in global video-production from some cave or rat-hole in No Man’s Land along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Iran continues to call for the extermination of the Jewish state–and its President is about to be welcomed by the United Nations in New York City.

The Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks, against whom Al Qaeda has issued a death warrant, has just been informed by his government that he is no longer safe in his home. Ayaan Hirsi Ali had to flee Holland; the late, great Oriana Fallaci fled her native Italy; I have dear friends who are either trying to leave England, France, and Germany or who are documenting the mounting tide of Jew- and America-hatred among European and immigrant Muslims. (At the same time, I know many Muslim dissidents who have found safer refuge in Europe and many Muslim feminists who are trying to rescue women from being battered, mutilated, and murdered on European soil).

Still, both America and Israel remain the world’s last best hope. American forces continue to engage the enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. On September 6, 2007 Israel apparently bombed nuclear weapons in Syria that were acquired from North Korea or Iran. For once, the Israelis are neither denying nor admitting
anything–nor are the Syrians.

More: As former Ambassador Yoram Ettinger pointed out in a lecture at my synagogue, Orach Chayim, during this last, awful period of permanent Intifada against Israel, Israel’s economy surged forward, Warren Buffett did not cancel his enormous investments in Israel just before the Lebanon war last summer–when he could have done so. Also, the demographic statistics have been greatly misunderstood. Based on Ettinger’s research, “the Jewish-Arab fertility gap has been reduced to one child (down from a 6 children gap in the 1960s)!”

Like Nobel Laureate, Professor Aumann, (about whom I have written before), Ambassador Ettinger is also urging that we look at the larger picture, examine the infra-structure, be prepared for the long haul.

Still, I remain distressed, uneasy, not only because the lives of both soldiers and civilians are being lost but because so many educated Americans continue to deny that we are really at war and that fundamentalist Islam (not merely terrorism) remains our Number One clear and present danger. Too many Americans are clinging to their illusions for dear life.

Fall has come in early this year and it is a soft and beautiful one here in New York City. Construction is booming, huge, new skyscrapers appear almost overnight, the long-awaited Second Avenue subway line is being dug out of the concrete. New Yorkers seem to be enjoying the weather, lingering at outdoor cafes, walking down streets and through parks, enjoying all the rich cultural offerings that characterize this great city which is also the capital of the world.

We can lose this in a second. And, we can also lose it slowly, in many seconds, if we do not fight back and fight to win. Indeed, we must win or we are doomed. As Edmund Burke has pointed out, evil inevitably triumphs when good people do nothing. We must all do something–actually, everything–if we are to save our way of life and our very lives.

———————————————-

Dr. Phyllis Chesler is the well known author of classic works, including the bestseller Women and Madness (1972) and The New Anti-Semitism (2003). She has just published The Death of Feminism: What’s Next in the Struggle for Women’s Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan), as well as an updated and revised edition of Women and Madness. She is an Emerita Professor of psychology and women’s studies, the co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969) and the National Women’s Health Network (1974). She is currently on the Board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and lives in New York City. Her website is www.phyllis-chesler.com.
We are delighted to have Dr. Chesler as a contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.