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The Word Of God States

“Sanctify•Strongs 37: hagiazo, hag-ee-ad´-zo; from 40; to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:—hallow, be holy, sanctify. them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
—John 17:17

“That he might sanctify•Strongs 37: hagiazo, hag-ee-ad´-zo; from 40; to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:—hallow, be holy, sanctify. and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word•Strongs 4487: rhema, hray´-mah; from 4483; an utterance (individually, collectively or specially),; by implication, a matter or topic (especially of narration, command or dispute); with a negative naught whatever:—+ evil, + nothing, saying, word. ,”
—Ephesians 5:26

Bible.is was introduced as an iPhone app just a year ago. Today it is also available for iPad and mobile Android devices, as well as on the web at www.Bible.is.

Wednesday, May 12A handout picture made available by the Israeli Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center (IMMRAC) shows a grey whale off the coast of Israel. The appearance of the grey whale off the coast of Israel has stunned scientists, in what was thought to be the first time the giant mammal has been seen outside the Pacific in several hundred years.

The Word Of God States

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”
— Psalms 150:6

“A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”
—Matthew 16:4

JERUSALEM (AFP) – – The appearance of a grey whale off the coast of Israel has stunned scientists, in what was thought to be the first time the giant mammal has been seen outside the Pacific in several hundred years.

The whale, which was first sighted off Herzliya in central Israel on Saturday, is believed to have travelled thousands of miles from the north Pacific after losing its way in search of food.

“It’s an unbelievable event which has been described as one of the most important whale sightings ever,” said Dr Aviad Scheinin, chairman of the Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center which identified the creature.

A population of grey whales once inhabited the north Atlantic but became extinct in the 17th or 18th centuries and has not been seen there since.

The remaining colonies live in the western and eastern sectors of the north Pacific.

“What has amazed the entire marine mammal research community is there haven’t been any grey whales in the Atlantic since the 18th century,” he said. Scheinin said the creature, a mature whale measuring some 12 metres (39 feet) and weighing around 20 tonnes, probably reached the Atlantic through the Northwest Passage, an Arctic sea route that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is normally covered with ice.

“Here you have an animal that is supposed to live in the Pacific and because the ice in the Arctic is melting, it managed to get through this corridor near the Bering Strait,” Scheinin told AFP.

The population which lives in the northeastern Pacific normally migrates southwards in around October, heading for warmer waters around the Gulf of California in a huge round trip of at least 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometres).

So when autumn came, this particular grey whale began travelling south, keeping the land mass on the left and heading for the Californian Gulf with the aim of “turning left” into the bay.

But instead, it reached Gibraltar and turned left into the Mediterranean and ended up off the shores of Israel, Scheinin said.

“The question now is: are we going to see the re-colonisation of the Atlantic?” he said. “This is very important ecologically because of the change of habitat. It emphasises the climate change that we are going through.”

So far, the whale seems to be happy enough in the waters off the shores of Israel, he said.

“It is pretty thin, which indicates the trip was quite harsh, but we think it can survive here,” he said. “Grey whales are very generalist in what they feed on.”

Now experts are mulling the possibility of tracking the whale by satellite — a costly operation that would need outside funding and expertise, Scheinin said.

“It’s quite a big operation to do this. If it stays around here for the next month, it’s worth having someone come in and do this professionally,” he said.

“It will be interesting to see where it goes and to follow it.”

Scientists have discovered the earliest known Hebrew writing – an inscription dating from the 10th century B.C., during the period of King David’s reign.

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The Word Of God States

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed •Strongs 3339: metamorphoo, met-am-or-fo´-o; from 3326 and 3445; to transform (literally or figuratively, “metamorphose”):—change, transfigure, transform. by the renewing•Strongs 3563: nous, nooce; probably from the base of 1097; the intellect, i.e. mind (divine or human; in thought, feeling, or will); by implication, meaning:—mind, understanding. Compare 5590. of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
—Romans 12:2

Knowledge Increased

“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
—Daniel 12:4

The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible’s Old Testament is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of Hebrew.)

Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older, scientists announced this month.

“It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research,” said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text.

BCE stands for “before common era,” and is equivalent to B.C., or before Christ.

The writing was discovered more than a year ago on a pottery shard dug up during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, near Israel’s Elah valley. The excavations were carried out by archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At first, scientists could not tell if the writing was Hebrew or some other local language.

Finally, Galil was able to decipher the text. He identified words particular to the Hebrew language and content specific to Hebrew culture to prove that the writing was, in fact, Hebrew.

“It uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew, such as asah (‘did’) and avad (‘worked’), which were rarely used in other regional languages,” Galil said. “Particular words that appear in the text, such as almanah (‘widow’) are specific to Hebrew and are written differently in other local languages.”

The ancient text is written in ink on a trapezoid-shaped piece of pottery about 6 inches by 6.5 inches (15 cm by 16.5 cm). It appears to be a social statement about how people should treat slaves, widows and orphans. In English, it reads (by numbered line):

1′ you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2′ Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3′ [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4′ the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5′ Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.

The content, which has some missing letters, is similar to some Biblical scriptures, such as Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, and Exodus 23:3, but does not appear to be copied from any Biblical text.

Young children spanked by their parents may grow up to be happier and more successful than those who have never been hit, a study has found.

The Word Of God States

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
—Proverbs 22:6

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
—Hebrews 12:11

According to the research, children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely as teenagers to perform better at school and were more likely to carry out volunteer work and to want to go to college than their peers who had never been physically disciplined.

But children who continued to be spanked into adolescence showed clear behavioral problems.

Children’s groups and lawmakers in the UK have tried several times to have physical chastisement by parents outlawed, the Times of London reported. They claim it is a form of abuse that causes long-term harm to children and say banning it would send a clear signal that violence is unacceptable.

However, Marjorie Gunnoe, professor of psychology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said her study showed there was insufficient evidence to deny parents the freedom to choose how they discipline their children.

“The claims made for not spanking children fail to hold up. They are not consistent with the data,” said Gunnoe. “I think of spanking as a dangerous tool, but there are times when there is a job big enough for a dangerous tool. You just don’t use it for all your jobs.”

Research into the effects of spanking was previously hampered by the inability to find enough children who had never been spanked, given its past cultural acceptability.

But Gunnoe’s work drew on a study of 2,600 people, about a quarter of whom had never been physically chastised.

A COSMIC butterfly stretches its wings in a stunning new picture from the Hubble space telescope.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”
—Psalms 19:1

Whirl of fortune … snap of a distant galaxy

But the delicate insect is really vast streams of gas racing at over 600,000mph from a dying star.

The image tops several spectacular new snaps taken by the orbiting eye on the sky since it was repaired and upgraded in daring spacewalks by shuttle astronauts in May.

Its new camera is ten times better – and its digital “film” was built by a British company, e2v Technologies of Chelmsford, Essex.

Another dramatic new shot from Nasa’s Hubble family album shows the Cat’s Eye nebula – a cloud of gas heated to millions of degrees around another doomed star in the constellation of Draco, the dragon.

Hubble also peered six million light-years beyond our own Milky Way to capture a galaxy of billions of stars in the Great Bear.

What a gas … Cat’s Eye stares across space

A suggested lesson plan that calls on students to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help President Obama following his address to students nationwide is troubling and establishes the president as a “superintendent in chief,” education experts told FOXNews.com.

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Strong Delusion

“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong•Strongs 1753: energeia, en-erg´-i-ah; from 1756; efficiency (“energy”):—operation, strong, (effectual) working. delusion•Strongs 4106: plane, plan´-ay; feminine of 4108 (as abstractly); objectively, fraudulence; subjectively, a straying from orthodoxy or piety:—deceit, to deceive, delusion, error.
•Strongs 4108: planos, plan´-os; of uncertain affinity; roving (as a tramp), i.e. (by implication) an impostor or misleader; –deceiver, seducing. , that they should believe a lie:”
—2Thessalonians 2:11

The Word Of God States

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed•Strongs 3339: metamorphoo, met-am-or-fo´-o; from 3326 and 3445; to transform (literally or figuratively, “metamorphose”):—change, transfigure, transform. by the renewing•Strongs 3563: nous, nooce; probably from the base of 1097; the intellect, i.e. mind (divine or human; in thought, feeling, or will); by implication, meaning:—mind, understanding. Compare 5590. of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
—Romans 12:2

“That he might sanctify•Strongs 37: hagiazo, hag-ee-ad´-zo; from 40; to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:—hallow, be holy, sanctify. and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word•Strongs 4487: rhema, hray´-mah; from 4483; an utterance (individually, collectively or specially),; by implication, a matter or topic (especially of narration, command or dispute); with a negative naught whatever:—+ evil, + nothing, saying, word. ,”
—Ephesians 5:26

A suggested lesson plan that calls on school kids to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help President Obama is troubling some education experts, who say it establishes the president as a “superintendent in chief” and may indoctrinate children to support him politically.

But the White House says the speech is merely “designed to encourage kids to stay in school.”

Obama will deliver a national address directly to students on Tuesday, which will be the first day of classes for many children across the country. The address, to be broadcast live on the White House’s Web site, was announced in a letter to school principals last week by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Obama intends to “challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning,” Duncan wrote. Obama will also call for a “shared responsibility” among students, parents and educators to maximize learning potential.

“The goal of the speech and the lesson plans is to challenge students to work hard in school, to not drop out and to meet short-term goals like behaving in class, doing their homework and goals that parents and teachers alike can agree are noble,” Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman, told FOXNews.com. “This isn’t a policy speech. This is a speech designed to encourage kids to stay in school.”

But in advance of the address, the Department of Education has offered educators “classroom activities” to coincide with Obama’s message.

Students in grades pre-K-6, for example, are encouraged to “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.”

Teachers are also given guidance to tell students to “build background knowledge about the president of the United States by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama.”

During the speech, “teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful.”

For grades 7-12, the Department of Education suggests teachers prepare by excerpting quotes from Obama’s speeches on education for their students to contemplate — and ask as questions such as “Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? How will he inspire us? How will he challenge us?”

Activities suggested for after the speech include asking students “what resonated with you from President Obama’s speech? What lines/phrase do you remember?”

Obama announced his intention to deliver the address to students during an interview with Damon Weaver, a middle school student from Florida who gained a following of his own last year on the campaign trail for his interviews of high-profile figures.

The Department of Education is using the president’s address to kick off a video contest titled, “I Am What I Learn,” in which students are invited to submit videos of up to two minutes on the importance of education in achieving their dreams.

Obama’s critics say the lesson plans and the president’s calls for a “supportive community” are troubling on many levels.

“In general, I don’t think there’s a problem if the president uses the bully pulpit to tell kids to work hard, study hard and things like that. But there are some troubling hints in this, both educationally and politically,” said Neal McCluskey, associate director of Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom.

Among the concerns, McCluskey said, is the notion that students who do not support Obama or his educational policies will begin the school year “behind the eight ball,” or somehow academically trailing their peers.

“It essentially tries to force kids to say the president and the presidency is inspiring, and that’s very problematic,” McCluskey said. “It’s very concerning that you would do that.”

Parents of public school students would also have to pay for that “indoctrination,” regardless of their political background, he said.

“That’s the fundamental problem. They could easily be funding the indoctrination of their children.”

Meanwhile, Patti Kinney, a former teacher and middle school principal with 33 years of teaching experience, said she found nothing wrong with the lesson plans.

“They’re designed as a menu, so it doesn’t mean you have to do everything,” said Kinney, associate director for middle level services at the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “You have to pick and choose which will work best for your class.”

Kinney said suggestions like asking students to recall “other historic moments” when the president spoke to the nation and to hone their listening skills by taking notes during the address are useful.

“You’re asking them to listen to particular things and to take notes,” she said. “That’s a good teaching strategy to help students develop their listening skills.”

Asked if she was troubled by the suggestion that students write letters “about what they can do to help the president,” Kinney said she would have reworked that sentence.

“I would have probably reworded that to say goals the president is suggesting,” Kinney said. “But again, you call upon teacher expertise to do what’s appropriate with their students … I did not see anything that I saw as problematic.”

Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, said the suggested lesson plans cross the line between instruction and advocacy.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for teachers to ask students to help promote the president’s preferred school reforms and policies,” Hess said. “It very much starts to set up the president as a superintendent in chief.”

Amid the debate on the federal government’s level of involvement on issues like health care and others, Hess said, “There’s a lot of people” on both sides of the political spectrum who will rightfully be concerned with the president’s call to action.

“It shows exactly what the problem is,” he said. “This is going to open the door to all kinds of concerns.”

After reading the Department of Education lesson plans for the speech, McCluskey said he noticed several passages that should set off “alarm bells,” including language that attempts to “glorify President Obama” in the minds of young students.

“It could be a blatantly political move,” he said. “Nobody knows for sure, but it gives that impression.”

McCluskey also noted that the lesson plans for young students contain suggestions to write letters to themselves on how they can help the president, but that suggestion is not in the lesson plan for middle and high schoolers — perhaps due to the likelihood of increased political ties at that age.

“You don’t want to see this coming from the president,” McCluskey said. “You don’t want to see this coming from the federal government.”

FOXNews.com’s David Paulsen contributed to this report.

The lawmakers gazed in awe at the figure before them. The Goracle had seen the future, and he had come to tell them about it.

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Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

The Word Of God States

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
—John3:3

“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish•Strongs 622:apollumi, ap-ol´-loo-mee; from 575 and the base of 3639; to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively:—destroy, die, lose, mar, perish., but have eternal life.”
—John3:15

What the Goracle saw in the future was not good: temperature changes that “would bring a screeching halt to human civilization and threaten the fabric of life everywhere on the Earth — and this is within this century, if we don’t change.”

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry (D-Mass.), appealed to hear more of the Goracle’s premonitions. “Share with us, if you would, sort of the immediate vision that you see in this transformative process as we move to this new economy,” he beseeched.

“Geothermal energy,” the Goracle prophesied. “This has great potential; it is not very far off.”

Another lawmaker asked about the future of nuclear power. “I have grown skeptical about the degree to which it will expand,” the Goracle spoke.

A third asked the legislative future — and here the Goracle spoke in riddle. “The road to Copenhagen has three steps to it,” he said.

Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) begged the Goracle to look further into the future. “What does your modeling tell you about how long we’re going to be around as a species?” he inquired.

The Goracle chuckled. “I don’t claim the expertise to answer a question like that, Senator.”

It was a jarring reminder that the Goracle is, indeed, mortal. Once Al Gore was a mere vice president, but now he is a Nobel laureate and climate-change prophet. He repeats phrases such as “unified national smart grid” the way he once did “no controlling legal authority” — and the ridicule has been replaced by worship, even by his political foes.

“Tennessee,” gushed Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Gore’s home state, “has a legacy of having people here in the Senate and in public service that have been of major consequence and contributed in a major way to the public debate, and you no doubt have helped build that legacy.” If that wasn’t quite enough, Corker added: “Very much enjoyed your sense of humor, too.”

Humor? From Al Gore? “I benefit from low expectations,” he replied.

The Goracle’s powers seem to come from his ability to scare the bejesus out of people. “We must face up to this urgent and unprecedented threat to the existence of our civilization,” he said. And: “This is the most serious challenge the world has ever faced.” And: It “could completely end human civilization, and it is rushing at us with such speed and force.”

Though some lawmakers tangled with Gore on his last visit to Capitol Hill, none did on the Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. Dick Lugar (Ind.), the ranking Republican, agreed that there will be “an almost existential impact” from the climate changes Gore described.

As such, the Goracle, even when questioned, was shown great deference. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), challenging Gore over spent nuclear fuel, began by saying: “I stand to be corrected, and I defer to your position, you’re probably right, and I’m probably wrong.” He ended his question by saying: “I’m not questioning you; I’m questioning myself.”

Others sought to buy the Goracle’s favor by offering him gifts. “Thank you for your incredible leadership; you make this crystalline for those who don’t either understand it or want to understand it,” gushed Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who went on to ask: “Will you join me this summer at the Jersey Shore?”

The chairman worried that the Goracle may have been offended by “naysayers” who thought it funny that Gore’s testimony before the committee came on a morning after a snow-and-ice storm in the capital. “The little snow in Washington does nothing to diminish the reality of the crisis,” Kerry said at the start of the hearing.

The climate was well controlled inside the hearing room, although Gore, suffering from a case of personal climate change, perspired heavily during his testimony. The Goracle presented the latest version of his climate-change slide show to the senators: a globe with yellow and red blotches, a house falling into water, and ones with obscure titles such as “Warming Impacts Ugandan Coffee Growing Region.” At one point he flashed a biblical passage on the screen, but he quickly removed it. “I’m not proselytizing,” he explained. A graphic showing a disappearing rain forest was accompanied by construction noises.

The Goracle supplied abundant metaphors to accompany his visuals. Oil demand: “This roller coaster is headed for a crash, and we’re in the front car.” Polar ice: “Like a beating heart, and the permanent ice looks almost like blood spilling out of a body along the eastern coast of Greenland.”

The lawmakers joined in. “There are a lot of ways to skin a cat,” contributed Isakson, who is unlikely to get the Humane Society endorsement. “And if we have the dire circumstances we’re facing, we need to find every way to skin every cat.”

Mostly, however, the lawmakers took turns asking the Goracle for advice, as if playing with a Magic 8 Ball.

Lugar, a 32-year veteran of the Senate, asked Gore, as a “practical politician,” how to get the votes for climate-change legislation. “I am a recovering politician. I’m on about Step 9,” the Goracle replied, before providing his vision.

Prospects for regulating a future carbon emissions market? “There’s a high degree of confidence.” The future of automobiles in China and India? “I wouldn’t give up on electric vehicles.” The potential of solar power in those countries? “I have no question about it at all.”

Of course not. He’s the Goracle.

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Days of Lot

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. ”
—Luke 17:26-30

The Word of God States

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
—John 3:17

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
—1 John 1:9

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
—Luke 15:7

In an interview with The Associated Press, Haggard did not rule out a return to public life or the pulpit. He spoke before he appeared before TV critics in Los Angeles to promote “The Trials of Ted Haggard,” an HBO documentary on Haggard’s exile after his confession to “sexual immorality” and fall as a top evangelical leader.
“I am guilty. I am responsible,” Haggard, 52, said Friday in a phone interview. “I got off track, and I am deeply sorry and I repent … I’m moving along in a positive direction.”
Haggard resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals and was fired from the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., in November 2006 amid allegations that he paid a male prostitute for sex and used methamphetamine.
In a written apology at the time, Haggard confessed to a long battle against feelings contrary to his beliefs and admitted buying the drugs but said he never used them.
During a guest sermon last November at a friend’s church in Illinois, Haggard said a co-worker of his father molested him when he was 7, an experience that “started to produce fruit” later. Clarifying that Friday, Haggard said: “I’m certainly not saying that because of that, I did this. I did what I did by my choice, and I’m responsible for it.”
Haggard said he isn’t qualified to judge what factors into one’s sexuality, but still believes it’s “God’s perfect plan” for marriage to be between a man and woman.
“I think sexuality is confusing and complex,” Haggard said. “I am totally completely satisfied with the relationship with my wife now, but I went through a wandering in the wilderness time, and I just thank God I’m on the other side of that.”
Asked whether he could define his sexual identity, Haggard said: “The stereotypical boxes don’t work for me. My story’s got some gray areas in it. And, of course, I’m sad about that but it’s the reality.”
Later Friday, in a Q&A session with reporters at a Television Critics Association meeting in Universal City, Calif., Haggard said he should have been more open with his family and his congregation earlier, calling his actions “hypocrisy.”
Asked to expand on his attitude toward homosexuality, Haggard said, “I believe all human beings fall short of the standards they believe in.”
He added, “I would say the biggest change is I now know about hatred than I ever dreamed, and I know it doesn’t help. And I know more about judgment and I know it doesn’t help. Since my experience, I know more about the power of love and forgiveness. I know a lot more about the necessity of people not judging one another.”
At the time the film was shot in 2007, Haggard described still occasionally struggling with same-sex attraction. Asked Friday whether those attractions remain, Haggard did not say definitively but said he was “not anywhere near” where he was at that time.
In the documentary premiering Jan. 29, Haggard is shown shuffling from motel to motel, driving a moving truck, enrolling in a college psychology course, struggling as a door-to-door salesman and pondering his fate while laying in a motel bed in a white undershirt.
“At this stage in my life, I’m a loser — a first-class loser,” he says.
Now back living in Colorado Springs, Haggard said Friday he hopes to build his business selling insurance and debt-reduction software and is considering marketing himself through a speakers bureau to share his story — “if the terms were right. I have to earn a living.”
“If what I have is helpful to other people, then I want to make that available to them,” he said. “If it’s not, then I’m perfectly happy building my business.”
Haggard also plans to launch a nonprofit group to help the poor and needy, his Web site says. As for a return to pastoring a church, Haggard said: “I have learned enough to know a lot can happen to anybody. And when Jesus is our Lord, we can’t plan our path.”
The nature of Haggard’s return — and his harsh words in the film for his former church — is drawing criticism. Haggard is also is to tape an “Oprah Winfrey Show” appearance next week for an episode scheduled to air this month, a spokesman for the show confirmed Friday.
“If you’re going to come out and begin a new life, why would you choose an HBO documentary, then meet with the liberal Hollywood press?” said H.B. London, a former counselor to Haggard and an executive at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs. “The fact that he’s attacking the church or New Life Church, when they did so much to help him and his family, is below the belt.”
Haggard lashes out at “the church” in the documentary, which was produced by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said “the church has said go to hell” and “the church chose not to forgive me.”
Over a 14-month period ending Dec. 31, 2007, New Life Church paid the Haggard family $309,020 in salary and benefits, according to a church document obtained by The Associated Press.
The payout included $152,360 in salary for Ted Haggard, $62,177 in salary for his wife, Gayle, $26,426 for counseling, $11,168 for legal fees and $26,000 to help care for the couple’s special-needs son, who is in his early 20s.
Haggard on Friday said his family is grateful for the severance, but he was angry for being forced to leave Colorado Springs as one condition. He also challenged the church’s statement that he halted a process meant to restore him, saying he still receives counseling.
The church has since released Haggard from all restrictions, including a prohibition on speaking publicly, and both Haggard and church leadership say relations are positive.
Haggard’s successor at New Life, Brady Boyd, wrote in a blog post Friday that “the motives behind every decision” involving the Haggards were pure, and the church was generous in its severance and support. He would not respond to Haggard’s specific complaints.
In the AP interview, Haggard credited his therapists, whom he described as Christian believers who used secular therapy methods.
“I just thought a spiritual solution would be the solution to everything that’s internal,” Haggard said. “That turned out not to be the case.”
Of Mike Jones, his accuser, Haggard said: “I know he’s gone through a lot. When he said he had to say something, I believe it. And I think that was God encouraging him to do that.”
Jones said Friday he considers Haggard a salesman seeking attention for his business.
“I know he’s apologized to his church and family, blah, blah,” Jones said. “But the people he hurt is the gay community, and he’s never apologized to the gay community. He owes that.”
Haggard has said his childhood experiences, including same-sex “sex play” with friends when he was in the seventh grade, started to manifest themselves when he turned 50, a few months before the scandal. That conflicts with Jones’ statement that Haggard paid him for sex for three years. Haggard on Friday declined to discuss the discrepancy.
___
Associated Press Television Writer Lynn Elber in Universal City, Calif., contributed to this report.

Participants applaud speakers in the Faith in Action Interfaith Gathering at the Wells Fargo Theater in the Colorado convention Center in Denver on Sunday Aug. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Bill Ross)

The Word Of God States

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
—John 3:17

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
—1 John 5:12

Be Separate

“Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.”
—Deuteronomy 22:11

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”
—2Corinthians 6:17

DENVER – At the first official event Sunday of the Democratic National Convention, a choir belted out a gospel song and was followed by a rabbi reciting a Torah reading about forgiveness and the future.

Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote “Dead Man Walking,” assailed the death penalty and the use of torture.

Young Muslim women in headscarves sat near older African-American women in their finest Sunday hats.

Four years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable at a Democratic National Convention. In 2004, there was one interfaith lunch at the Democratic gala in Boston.

But that same year, “values voters” helped re-elect President Bush, giving Democrats of faith the opening they needed to make party leaders listen to them.

The result was on display at Sunday’s interfaith service, staged in a theater inside the Colorado Convention Center, and will be evident throughout the convention agenda and on the sidelines.

There will be four “faith caucus” meetings, blessings to open and close each night, and panels and parties run by Democratic-leaning religious advocacy groups that didn’t even exist in 2004 — not to mention protests from religious groups and leaders opposed to the Democratic platform.

Other challenges may come from within. At Sunday’s service, Bishop Charles Blake, head of the predominantly black Church of God in Christ and a self-described pro-life Democrat, said Barack Obama should be pressed to “elaborate upon his stated intention to reduce the number of abortions by providing alternative programs.”

One hallmark of Democratic faith efforts at the convention is diversity, which might soften objections from party activists wary of the Christian right or any mixing of religion and politics. Behind the scenes, efforts to attract the religious vote will concentrate largely on Christian “values voters.”

“If we create or become a mirror image of the religious right, we have failed,” said Burns Strider, who ran religious outreach for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and now does faith-based political consulting. “But if we have increased the number of chairs around the table, … then we’ve succeeded.”

One reason religion is playing such a prominent role at this week’s convention is that Obama has made faith outreach prominent in his campaign.

“People of faith are being engaged in the convention in a new and robust way ,and it’s because of Senator Obama’s acknowledgment that people of faith and values have an important place in American public life,” said Joshua DuBois, the Obama campaign’s religious affairs director.

The campaign is giving a platform to people who otherwise would not have been invited to or attended a Democratic convention. One example is Joel Hunter, a moderate evangelical megachurch pastor from Orlando, Fla., who will offer the benediction Thursday, the night Obama accepts the nomination.

“Now there’s a genuine interest in speaking with groups and religious groups who were previously considered enemies,” said Rachel Laser, who works on culture issues for the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.

Laser helped broker compromise language in the Democrats’ abortion platform that acknowledges the need to help women who want to keep their pregnancies. Hunter and liberal evangelical leader Jim Wallis were involved, as were new groups such as Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

Despite all the effort, there is little evidence religious votes are shifting. A Pew poll released last week showed the political preferences of religious voters, including highly sought Catholics and white evangelicals, have scarcely budged since 2004.

Catholics are up for grabs, but white evangelicals have become so solidly Republican, Obama has little chance of carving too deeply into the Republican lead, said Allen Hertzke, a University of Oklahoma political scientist.

“There still is a possibility that Obama will chip into the Republican advantage with this religious outreach,” Hertzke said. “Even if he gains just a few points, that could be decisive in a close election.”

The Word Of God States

Please read —Leviticus 18:1-25 (click here for chapter 18) and see the progressive decay of a society that turns from it’s creator.
— ITD Editor -

The Falling Away

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”
— 2Thessalonians 2:3

By warning off disaffected Anglican clergy, annoyed by women bishops and by male bishops who prefer to go to bed with a man rather than a woman, he knows what he is doing. No one likes those who jump ship.

Ex-colleagues, staying behind to ride out the storm, regard them as traitors. Those on the new craft they seek to board are embarrassed. The rest of us, looking on from afar, wonder what their previous conviction was worth to be cast off so easily.

In effect the Pope, far from holding open his door to welcome the malcontents, has told them to sort themselves out and make peace with their fellows, male and female. To show he means business, he has dispatched no fewer than three cardinals to convey his message to this week’s Lambeth Conference of 600 Anglican bishops at the University of Kent.

Pope Benedict and Archbishop Williams of Canterbury get on well. Both are theologians. This is a big plus. But the odds remain against Anglican peace; for the question is not whether the loose worldwide federation of 38 provinces will split: the core issue is how it is to handle the split which has already occurred.

As long ago as 2005, when the Primates worldwide met near Newry, Co Down, 19 — more than half of those present — refused to attend the Communion service because North American Episcopalian liberal clergy were present. It may be brutal to say it, but the current decennial gathering in Kent is a bit of a sham; for it no longer can be said fully to represent the Anglican Communion.

More than 200 of its bishops are not there — because they insist upon staying away. The largest body of absentees are those of the conservative Afro-Asian grouping who call themselves the Global South. Its main component is the powerful Anglican Church of Nigeria, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola.

The Global South said it would not be coming to the Conference unless the American Church’s gay Bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire — and those who consecrated him — are disciplined.

Williams has excluded Robinson from the conference in a vain bid to placate the conservatives, but Robinson (who abandoned his wife and children for his current male partner) has made it his business to be in London while it is on, thus exploiting the thirst of the media for rows in high places.

The focus of the battle is Robinson’s Episcopal Church of the USA, not large, but commanding disproportionate social prestige and great wealth.

Two years ago in Lagos, Akinola consecrated Martyn Minns, the conservative Episcopal rector of a small town in Virginia, as the first Bishop of the new Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which now provides a refuge for those opposed to the Robinson-type liberals.

This week supporters of Robinson flocked to a London church to hear him preach. But in the congregation was a posse of conservatives, one of whom stood up and harangued the controversial bishop when he rose to speak.

When he sought to go on, the conservatives began a slow hand-clap. A hymn was quickly announced while stewards ushered them to the door.

Archbishop Williams, of course, would prefer that Robinson keep quiet. That is the way it used to be, for homosexual clergy are no new phenomenon.

But they used to be discreet. A handful of the current Anglican bishops are known homosexuals, but they do not flaunt it. The problem is that today’s homosexual lobby is not content with mere legality. For the Anglicans the tragedy is that the collision has been upgraded into an institutional clash.

The Church of Ireland, under fire from the homosexual lobby for teetering along the top of the fence, refuses to ordain practising homosexuals, the line laid down at the last Lambeth Conference in 1998. But the issue is not as clear-cut as the majority might wish. History discloses that same-sex unions took place in Ireland, with all the normal marital symbols — and the participation of a priest — in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

In our own time are numerous tragedies. Alan Turing was the ultimate computing genius of Bletchley Park, solving the puzzles that laid bare the secrets of the Germans’ Enigma codes and probably contributing more than any other boffin to winning the Second World War. But Turing faced a court appearance on a homosexual charge in 1954 and chose, at the early age of 42, to eat an apple he had injected with cyanide. Apple Macintosh’s logo survives as the modern industry’s tribute.