It's Coming! I Can't Wait.

It is almost time!! This is for Gordon Knight, Mark Marshall, Bradley Russell, Grant Hodges, Lori Patterson, Vernon Charles, Coach K, Greg Paulus, John McCain, Barack Obama. Come on "Jump Around".

The Most Dangerous Time to Be a Black Baby

This article was taken from the Between Two Worlds blog by Justin Taylor. It is alarming.

Anne Hendershott:
It's never been a more dangerous time to be a black baby. While overall rates of abortion have declined to the lowest level since 1974, the Guttmacher Institute recently reported alarming increases in racial disparities between the rates of abortion for black and white women. Analyzing more than 30 years of data collected directly from abortion providers, Guttmacher found that black women's abortion rates are now five times greater than those of white women.

Currently, white women's rates of abortion have declined to 10.5 abortions per 1,000 women while black women's rates are an alarming 50 abortions per 1,000 black women. Put in terms of actual pregnancies, the figures are shocking: Nearly half of all African American pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973, the number of abortions by African American women has totaled more than twelve million.

May God have mercy, and may he give each of us fresh resolve to do something to stop this black genocide.

(justin taylor)

Gay Marriage may be coming to your Child's Elementary School!

Do you want your child to be taught about Gay Marriage in Elementary School?
Should this be taught to Kindergartners?

Smiling Baby

This is an ultrasound of one of our church members grandchild. She showed me this picture after my sermon. This child is smiling. I wish every expectant mother who was thinking about abortion could see this picture.



13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them! Psalm 139

Prop 8

Voting YES on Proposition 8 does 3 simple things:
-- It restores the definition of marriage to what the vast majority of California voters already approved and human history has understood marriage to be.
-- It overturns the outrageous decision of four activist Supreme Court judges who ignored the will of the people.
-- It protects our children from being taught in public schools that “same-sex marriage” is the same as traditional marriage.



Proposition 8 does not discriminate against gays; it simply restores the meaning of marriage and protects it as an essential institution that has benefited mankind since the beginning of time. Every culture in the world understands that marriage is between a man and a woman. Californians from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds, whether religious or not, agree that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Proposition 8 does not take away any rights from gay and lesbian domestic partners. Gays and lesbians in California can already enjoy all the legal rights and benefits of marriage. The California Family Code says, “domestic partners shall have all the rights, protections and benefits” of married spouses. There are NO exceptions to this. Proposition 8 will not change that.

The narrow decision of the State Supreme Court effectively renders all civil marriage meaningless and will result in tremendous confusion for children. The state Education Code (§51890) requires that teachers instruct children as young as kindergartners about marriage. If the gay marriage ruling becomes permanent, teachers will have little choice but to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage.

We should not accept a court decision that results in public school teachers teaching our kids that gay marriage is acceptable. That is an issue for parents to discuss with their children according to their own values and beliefs. It should not be forced on us and sinful unbiblical behavior should not be taught to our children by the government.

(taken from Fide-o)

Vote By God's Standards

This is taken from Tullian Tchividjian's blog. He is a Pastor and is Billy Graham's Grandson.



"My friend Josh recently reminded me of these great lines from my former teacher, John Frame, on Christians and political choices taken from his excellent book The Doctrine of the Christian Life."


…in some cultures (like the ancient Roman, in which the New Testament was written) there is not much that Christians can do, other than pray, to influence political structures and policies. But when they can influence them, they should. In modern democracies, all citizens are ‘lesser magistrates’ by virtue of the ballot box. Christians have an obligation to vote according to God’s standards. And, as they are gifted and called, they should influence others to vote in the same way.

This is not to say that political choices are always obvious. Often we must choose the lesser of two evils. Candidate Mershon may have a better view of one issue than Candidate Beates, while Beates has a better view on a different issue. It is an art to weigh the importance of different issues and to come to a godly conclusion. Each of us should have a large amount of tolerance for other Christians who come to conclusions that are different from ours. Rarely will one issue trump all others, though I must say that I will never vote for a candidate who advocates or facilitates the killing of unborn children.


What do you think? Let me know.
By the way, I want to thank you for all the postitive emails I have been getting about the blog, especially recently.
When you vote do you vote,do you vote Republican or Democrat first. Or do you vote Christian first and Republican or Democrat second.

When is it Acceptable for a ''Pro-Life'' Voter to Vote for a ''Pro-Choice'' Candidate?

This is a portion of an article by Gerard V. Bradley who is Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School and a Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute, where he is the Director of the Center on Religion and the Constitution. Professor Bradley sits on the editorial board of Public Discourse.

Read it and tell me what you think


Recent debates have centered on the question of when an otherwise "pro-life" voter is morally justified in voting for a "pro-choice" candidate. The question amounts to asking when is it fair--that is, just--to vote for a "pro-choice" candidate. The answer depends on applying the Golden Rule.

Let me explain. The "pro-life" position consists, basically, of these two propositions. First, that people begin at conception, so that to kill anyone from conception onwards is to kill a human person. Second, that it is wrong--morally wrong--to intentionally kill any innocent person. Neither proposition is about religious faith. No one needs religious faith to see and to say that both of these propositions are true. You can figure out when people begin, for example, by reflecting philosophically on scientific facts about human reproduction and development. And you can figure out that killing is wrong by reflecting upon the basic principles of justice-the natural law-which, at least according to Saint Paul, is inscribed upon your heart. Or you can consult almost any secular or religious moral code, or almost any society's civil law-including our own.

It won't do to say that one is "pro-life" because one views abortion with profound misgivings, or because one regrets that so many abortions occur and that the law should work to make it more rare, or because abortion is, in some sense, wrong and evil. Abortion is all these things. But abortion is much more than all these things. In an abortion someone who has the same right not to be killed that everyone else has, is killed. So abortion isn't just an unfortunate event, but it is morally wrong because it deprives a human person of his right to life-and thus we need to enact laws that protect the right to life for all people. This is the "pro-life" position I have in mind in asking under what circumstances is the "pro-life" voter morally justified in voting for a "pro-choice" candidate.

What about the "pro-choice" position? Is it really the case that someone who is "personally" "pro-life" could coherently be politically "pro-choice"? Is it really the same thing as being "pro-abortion"? Well, it is true that a "pro-choice" candidate for public office may never advise any particular women to have an abortion. The "pro-choice" candidate may even find abortion extremely distasteful and, perhaps, abhorrent. But the surgical procedure we call abortion is not the only subject matter of the "pro-choice" position. "Pro-choice" is also, and it is necessarily, a position about what public policies and laws we should have about abortion--specifically, whether abortion should be something women are free to choose, or not. "Pro-choice" is one answer to that policy inquiry. It is the answer that the legal protections which protect most of us from being killed should not protect all of us from being killed. Some people--the unborn--are to be exposed to deadly violence without legal aid or redress. And, so, just as ante-bellum Americans who refused to own slaves were nonetheless correctly called "pro-slavery"--because they affirmed the legal right of others to do so--Americans who today affirm the legal right of a women to have an abortion could correctly be called "pro-abortion," even if they judge abortion an option unworthy of their own choice.

This is the "pro-choice" position I have in mind in seeking to answer the question previously posed. This "pro-choice" position amounts to a grave injustice, one which "pro-choice" candidates necessarily embrace, support, and choose; it is precisely what being "pro-choice," at a minimum, actually means. Anyone who votes for a "pro-choice" candidate becomes morally responsible for this grave injustice. The "pro-life" voter who votes for a "pro-choice" candidate materially--that is, in fact and as a matter of foreseeable effect--cooperates in sustaining this country's radically defective legal structure about abortion. Take the case of presidential elections. Voting for a "pro-choice" candidate helps him to win the presidency, and helping him to win the presidency is, perforce, to help him make his declared "pro-choice" policies a reality (or, to the extent such policies are in place, to help him to block efforts to repeal them). The "pro-life" voter who votes for a "pro-choice" candidate knowingly declines to do what he or she can do to legally protect the unborn from being killed-namely, to vote for a "pro-life" candidate (if one is running).

Can I get an amen? If you are a Christian and this makes you mad, why?

Your Vote Counts

2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29:2

You think You Are Having a Bad Day!

Voter Guide

Ed Young Jr.: Scripture is the Best Voter Guide.
(taken from Baptist Press)

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--Scripture provides guidance for Christians in deciding which candidate to support on Election Day, Texas pastor Ed Young Jr. told his congregation Oct. 19.

It was the second part in a sermon series Young has dubbed "Politicked." The pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine gave five categories believers should examine about each political candidate.

"Once we ask ourselves these five questions and once we answer them, then we'll be ready to vote for the right person," he said.

The five categories are:

1. Character.

"Everything begins with character," said Young, pointing to Proverbs 29:2: "... If we elect righteous leaders, our government will be righteous, and if our government is righteous then the laws will be righteous."

Christians should take a political candidate's private conduct seriously, Young said.

"Character can be defined as who you are when no one's looking," he said. " ... For a long, long time, people have said, 'Who you are in private does not really affect who you area in public office.' ... That's absolutely, friends, nuts, because who you are in private is who you are. Who you are in private is who you are in public."

2. Conviction.

Reading from Proverbs 28:1 -- which says the "righteous are bold as a lion" -- Young said, "We need to elect lionesses and lions in this day -- people who are not politicians, but people who are statesmen, people who are leaders." That conviction, he said, must be based on God's Word.

He mentioned the "gay agenda" as one area where society is moving away from scriptural teachings.

"God has told us from cover to cover that there is only one context where sex should be enjoyed and practiced and celebrated -- marriage.... The Bible tells me and it tells you that during the end of time ... what is right [will be viewed as] wrong and [what is] wrong [will be viewed as] right."

Referencing those who compare the homosexual movement to the civil rights movement, Young said, "I've known a lot of former homosexuals but I've never met a former African American."

3. Courage.

"Does this candidate display courage?" Young asked. "Can you look at this candidate's life -- the history of him or her -- and say, 'You know what? He stood up for courage there. She stood up for courage.' ... Courage is the God-given ability to stand.... Conviction is belief. Courage is behavior."

Pointing to Proverbs 11:3, Young said, "The other day I heard a candidate being interviewed, and here's the response the candidate made to a question on morality, ... 'Well, for me as a Christian.' ... That was a relativistic answer. … The relativist says, 'What's right for you is true for you and what's true for you is true for you.'"

Giving an example of the absurdity of relativism, Young said someone could say, as part of the relativistic worldview, "What's true for me is to fly airliners into the sides of skyscrapers and kill hundreds and hundreds of people."

4. Compassion.

Giving the biblical definition of compassion, Young read from Proverbs 31:8-9, which says, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." He also read from Proverbs 24:11, "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter."

Abortion, Young said, is an issue where a political candidate must show compassion.

"We're taking the lives, of ... 3,200 babies a day -- taking the lives of developing babies -- when you'll get thrown in prison and pay an astronomical fine if you disturb the eggs of developing sea turtles," he said. "What's right is wrong and [what's] wrong is right."

5. Constituency.

Young said examining who supports and opposes the candidate can help determine who to support.

"I can meet your friends, without even meeting you, and tell you what kind of a person you are," Young said. "Who applauds this potential candidate and who opposes them? We better wake up and smell the coffee, here, friends. If the mainstream secular media supports a candidate or an issue, there is a great chance that something is sideways, [and] you better look at that one very, very closely. Who opposes them? Who is for them?"

A Great President

"Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
-- March 17, 1865 - Abraham Lincoln's Speech to One Hundred Fortieth Indiana Regiment

Can a Christian vote for a Pro Abortion President

Senator Barack Hussein Obama said, "The first thing I'll do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."






What is the Freedom of Choice Act.
Read what Senator Barbara Boxer said, "The Freedom of Choice Act supercedes any law, regulation or local ordinance that impinges on a woman’s right to choose. That means a poor woman cannot be denied the use of Medicaid if she chooses to have an abortion."
In other words, state governments and the federal government would be mandated to fund abortion with taxpayer money.

David Freddoso said this is what this bill entails.
"This bill would effectively cancel every state, federal, and local regulation of abortion, no matter how modest or reasonable. It would even, according to the National Organization of Women, abolish all state restrictions on government funding for abortions. If Obama becomes president and lives up to this promise, then everyone who pays income tax will be paying an abortionist to perform an abortion."

Should I be required, as a Christian, to pay for someone's abortion?
Can a Christian vote for a Pro Abortion President?

Good For CPR

This from Fox News:

Sounds like the Bee Gees knew what they were talking about — and were years ahead of medical research.

The band's iconic 1977 disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim, U.S. doctors have found.

The American Heart Association calls for chest compressions to be administered at a rate of 100 per minute during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Ironically, "Stayin' Alive" chimes in with 103 beats per minute, Reuters reports.

In a small study headed by Dr. David Matlock of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, listening to "Stayin' Alive" helped 15 doctors and medical students to perform chest compressions on dummies at the proper speed, according to the Reuters report.

"The theme 'Stayin' Alive' is very appropriate for the situation," Matlock told Reuters. "Everybody's heard it at some point in their life. People know the song and can keep it in their head."

The findings will be presented this month at a meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians in Chicago.


Help your heart and listen to one of the Greatest Bands and Songs of all Time!!

Joe the Plumber Speaks!

Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama please let Joe keep his money!
You can make $275,000 a year plumbing! You go Joe.

Joe the Plumber

Will everyone please pray for Joe the Plumber. Seems as if he is undecided about how he will vote but both McCain and Obama really seemed concerned for him. I think I will have Christa to put his name in the bulletin.

By the way, Who won the debate last night in your opinion?

This is Good

This video is called 99 Ballons. You need to watch it.

http://www.ignitermedia.com/products/iv/singles/570/99-Balloons

Driscoll on the Cross

The curious paradox of the atoning death of a bloody Jesus rising above the plane of human history with a mocking crown of thorns is that he is offensive in an attractive way.

It is the utter horror of the cross that cuts through the chatter, noise, and nonsense of our day to rivet our attention, shut our mouths, and compel us to listen to an impassioned dying man who is crying out for the forgiveness of our sins and to ask why he suffered.

Tragically, if we lose the offense of the cross, we also lose the attraction of the cross so that no one is compelled to look at Jesus. Therefore, Jesus does not need a marketing firm or a makeover as much as a prophet to preach the horror of the cross unashamedly.

—- Mark Driscoll, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches

True Faith

J.C. RYLE ON TRUE FAITH

True faith has nothing whatever of merit about it, and in the highest sense cannot be called 'a work'. It is but laying hold of a Savior's hand, leaning on a husband's arm and receiving a physician's medicine. It brings with it nothing to Christ but a sinful man's soul. It gives nothing, contributes nothing, pays nothing, performs nothing. It only receives, takes, accepts, grasps, and embraces the glorious gift of justification which Christ bestows, and by renewed daily acts enjoys that gift.
- J. C. Ryle, Old Paths, quoted in The Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson

"not of works, lest anyone should boast"

Heels Win!

UNC- 29
Notre Dame- 24

Saturday Quote

This quote is by John Newton. He is the guy who wrote the song we sing at church all the time.



“Salvation is wholly of grace, not only undeserved but undesired by us until God is pleased to awaken us to a sense of our need of it. And then we find everything prepared that our wants require or our wishes conceive; yea, that He has done exceedingly beyond what we could either ask or think.

Salvation is wholly of the Lord and bears those signatures of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness which distinguish all His works from the puny imitations of men. It is every way worthy of Himself, a great, a free, a full, a sure salvation.

It is great whether we consider the objects (miserable, hell-deserving sinners), the end (the restoration of such alienated creatures to His image and favor, to immortal life and happiness) or the means (the incarnation, humiliation, sufferings and death of His beloved Son). It is free, without exception of persons or cases, without any conditions or qualifications, but such as He, Himself, performs in them and bestows upon them.”

- John Newton, “The Consolation”, Works of John Newton: Vol III (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1985), 32

How many times should a Preacher Preach each week?

This is by Rob Faircloth taken from saidatsouther.com

What do you think?

Preachers and their churches occasionally have differing expectations regarding how many times the preacher will deliver a message each week. Some churches expect serious, sermon-type preaching three times each week: Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. Some preachers are pressed to develop a single expository sermon for Sunday morning alone.

Add to the expectation mix times for prayer meetings (do we actually pray at “prayer meetings” anymore? that’s a different subject), visitation, and other church functions, and soon the stamina of the pastor and tolerance of the congregation might be put to the test.

What Do You Think?

What is a minimum of preaching? Maximum? What other things are “must-haves” for the health of the congregation?

This Guy is better than Willie Nelson!

Erik Mongrain

World's Strongest Redneck @ ETBC

Here are some pics. from the World's Strongest Redneck's visit to ETBC.



I was about to send him to Frye Hospital after this!!!

Redneck Bluetooth

Steve spoke at our church last night. He is a redneck. I tried to give him my H12 motorola earpiece but he said he had his own. I see what he means now. Did I mention he is a redneck.

Irresistible Grace?

(by John Piper)







Learn your doctrine from texts. It stands up better that way, and feeds the soul. For example, learn irresistible grace from texts. In this way you will see it does not mean grace cannot be resisted; it means that when God chooses he can and will overcome that resistance.

In Isaiah 57:17-19, for instance. God chastises his rebellious people by striking them and hiding his face: “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry” (v. 17).

But they did not respond with repentance. Rather, they kept backsliding. They resisted: “But he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart” (v. 17). So grace can be resisted. In fact, Stephen said to the Jewish leaders, “You always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51).

What then does God do? Is he powerless to bring those who resist to repentance and wholeness? No. The next verse says, “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners” (v. 18).

So, in the face of recalcitrant, grace-resisting backsliding, God says, “I will heal him.” He will “restore”—the word is “make whole or complete”. It is related to the word shalom, peace. That wholeness and peace is mentioned in the next verse which explains how God turns around a grace-resisting backslider.

He does it by “creating the fruit of the lips. ‘Peace, peace (shalom, shalom), to the far and to the near,’ says the LORD, and I will heal him” (v. 19). God creates what is not there. This is how we are saved. And this is how we are brought back from backsliding. The grace of God triumphs over our resistance by creating praise where it did not exist.

He brings shalom, shalom to the near and the far. Wholeness, wholeness to the near and the far. He does it by “restoring,” that is, replacing the disease of resistance with the soundness of submission.

The point of irresistible grace is not that we can’t resist. We can and we do. The point is that when God chooses, he overcomes our resistance and restores a submissive spirit. He creates. He says, “Let there be light!” He heals. He leads. He restores. He comforts.

Therefore we never boast that we have returned from backsliding. We fall on our faces before the Lord and with trembling joy thank him for his irresistible grace.

The Catholic Vote

Catholicvote.com put this commercial together encouraging Catholics to vote. Is this good or bad in your opinion. Who do you think they are urging other Catholics to vote for?

1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Romans 13:1