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Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford Dies at 93


Gerald Rudolph Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died Tuesday. He was 93 years old.

No cause of death was stated by his family in their announcement. Ford had battled pneumonia in January 2006 and underwent two heart treatments — including an angioplasty — in August at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He died at 6:45 p.m. PST at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," Ford's wife, Betty Ford, said in a brief statement issued from her husband's office.. "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Perhaps Prince Charles Not The First 'Defender of faith'

You may remember some time ago Prince Charles of England revealed his desire to be coronated as the first generic "Defender of faith" in England rather than the traditional "Defender of the faith," referring specifically to Christianity. It is no secret that Charles' faith has been on shaky grounds at best as he has demonstrated his, uh, how should we say...lack of spiritual fruits as giving evidence of salvation.

That being said, it was a bit of a surprise to me to read in a CBS news report of his mother's own watering down of the position of the monarchy in a report on the annual Christmas address to her subjects:
"The wisdom and experience of the great religions point to the need to nurture and guide the young, and to encourage respect for the elderly," the queen said in a prerecorded message filmed at Southwark Cathedral in London.

She added that the pressures of modern life sometimes seemed to weaken family ties and that ignorance and misunderstanding led to the danger of a real divide opening up between the generations.

It's tradition in Britain that Christmas dinner stops for the Queen's message, reports

In the speech broadcast to Britain and its former colonies, the queen's Christmas broadcast featured for the first time ever footage of Muslims praying in a mosque.

Britain's 1.5 million Muslims have been at the center of a number of controversies over the past year, from the continued focus on the threat of Islamist terrorism to a particularly heated debate on the full veil worn by some women.

"It is very easy to concentrate on the differences between the religious faiths and to forget what they have in common — people of different faiths are bound together by the need to help the younger generation to become considerate and active citizens," the monarch stressed.

People of different faiths were bound together by the need to help the young become considerate citizens and all religious communities encouraged the bridging of the generation gap, she said.

There were also scenes of the opening of Europe's largest Hindu temple the Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) in central England and from a reception attended by the queen and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
While I believe it is very important for people of various faiths to interact with one another in a manner of mutual respect, all of whom are created in the image of God and, thus, worthy of respect, it is telling when a speech designed to celebrate the coming of Christ as the one and only savior for mankind is used to promote the acceptance of Hinduism and Islam and other "great religions of the world" within British society.

The queen demonstrated her watery belief system when she followed by claiming that Christ came to bring tolerance for other faiths, thereby leading to the implication that that thing He said about being the only way to the Father must somehow have been misunderstood by His followers:
"I have lived long enough to know that things never remain quite the same for very long," she said.

"One of the things that has not changed all that much for me is the celebration of Christmas.

"It remains a time when I try to put aside the anxieties of the moment and remember that Christ was born to bring peace and tolerance to a troubled world."
Apparently, her celebration of Christmas has not changed, but her belief in the claims of Christ have. Though Christ did not come to promote violence and intolerance, acceptance of other faiths as somehow legitimate ways to God is certainly antithetical to all He ever said and did. The Queen has apparently sold out to the same religious ambiguity demonstrated by her son, the soon to be 'defender of faith', Charles, Prince of Wails...uh, Wales, that is.

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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Does This Guy Ever Post Anymore?

Not much. At least not yet. Things are going very well at my new church, but I'm finding it takes a great deal of time and is simply a higher priority (obviously) than blogging. I do hope to get back into it after we get our house in order, which is getting there, and settle into a consistent pattern. Life is just too crazy right now.

In case I don't get another post in before Monday, I wish all of you a very merry and blessed Christmas and an incredible New Year.

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Friday, December 15, 2006

Boxes, boxes, boxes!!

This week has been nothing but moving boxes from one place to another for me. Monday, I drove back to Louisville to load up a truck and bring all of our junk belongings down to Tennessee. Beautiful weather on the drive down, beautiful weather on the drive back...rain all day in between...loading day.

Nevertheless, with the help of a couple of great friends, I got it all in and headed back down on Wednesday. In spite of a series of minor problems (battery on the car I was towing died on the trailer leading me to have to go buy a new one...I guess the thrill of the ride was just too much for it), I made it down and had wonderful weather and a great group of guys to help me unload yesterday.

I have spent the last 24 hours wading through a sea of boxes trying to make it somewhat livable and inviting when my family arrives tomorrow. It will feel more like home when they get here (though cable was hooked up yesterday and it is amazing how much more homey it feels with t.v.--sad commentary on life, isn't it?)

Though today is technically my day off, I have to catch up on preparations for Sunday since I've been so busy with other (though not greater) priorities this past week. In spite of all the chaos, I love my new job and the wonderful people I am quickly coming to love as well. The Lord willing, this will be my last moving adventure for a long, long time.

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Thursday, December 07, 2006

Dropped Off the Face of the Earth

...well, not exactly, but you might think so.

As for a quick update, I got moved to the Chattanooga area (sort of...more on that in a minute) and working on completion of my first week on the job. It has been great so far. I'm exhausted, but excited. I believe God is going to do some really great things here and am becoming more convinced of that every day as I talk to more people.

Next week, I head back to Louisville, load up and head back. As you can imagine, posting will continue to be sparse for a while. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

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Friday, December 01, 2006

Crosswalk: Islam - the 'Elephant' in Europe's 'Living Room'?

From Crosswalk.com:

An author and producer of a documentary on Islam says the long-term future of Europe will be quite bleak if it doesn't recognize the "elephant" that has invaded its living room, AgapePress reports. Gregory Davis' new book is called Religion of Peace? Islam's War Against the World. He also produced the documentary entitled Islam: What the West Needs to Know. Davis says Europe needs to do something about the influx and influence of Islam while it still can. "The West now, including Europe, certainly has the upper hand in just about every respect," he observes. "If there was the will among Europeans to stop this Islamization ... of their continent, they could do it -- but there doesn't seem to be any will. There doesn't seem to be any real recognition of the problem." Davis says if things do not change, he is afraid the long-term scenario will be real warfare on the European continent.

I don't think it is a stretch to say the United States will not be far behind. People of the West have come to love and embrace pluralism at all costs too much to see or care about the dangers involved or the consequences to follow.

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