Here is a change of pace culture clash story.

A group of seven Amish farmers in Michigan are refusing to tag their livestock with radio frequency ID devices claiming that the Federal tagging program:

“constitutes some form of a ‘mark of the Beast’ and/or represents an infringement of their ‘dominion over cattle and all living things’ in violation of their fundamental religious beliefs.”

The Amish claim that the program is against their religious beliefs –that it is part of an ongoing attempt to number every living thing, a practice mentioned in the Book of Revelation that is linked to the Devil.

The Amish farmers have filed a lawsuit against the Federal government in order to opt out of the program. According to Federal officials, they should be suing the State of Michigan. The Fed. program is optional–it is the State that is requiring all farmers to comply.

The US department of agriculture (USDA) says that its cattle tagging plan is a voluntary national tracking system created to help contain outbreaks of mad cow, or foot and mouth disease.

It should be interesting to see how a court will balance the interests of safe public food sources with religious freedom.           *Top

(Video length- 4:45) I found this video on Michelle Malkin’s blog. It shows the San Francisco police department  protecting and escorting a group of Christians out of the Castro District in San Francisco, CA. It’s only 4 minutes and 45 seconds long but it seems to last forever–actually viewing it for a minute is probably more than enough to get the idea.

The event happened last Friday night in the Castro District, a predominantly gay community in the city of San Francisco, California. The group of Christian young people had been conducting a street ministry every Friday night for quite some time in the Castro district–talking to people about Jesus and how the Lord loves them and can change lives. Also, they would usually sing worship songs and pray over the community.

Last Friday night was different, as they proceeded with their street ministry, a mob formed and began to assault the group in a number of different ways–pushing, hitting, pouring drinks over them, then it escalated towards perversion as the group formed a circle and prayed.

The Police finally showed up and the video records them protecting and escorting the Christians out of the Castro neighborhood with continual shouts and warnings from the mob not to come back–”Christians are not welcome here”.

For a more complete report–go to Michelle’s article.

Response: The response to the passage of Proposition 8–(the Traditional Marriage amendment), has turned a new page with gay activists declaring war on Christians. Those who have demanded tolerance have now themselves become intolerant.

With a sympathetic press and media in tow, the intolerant gay activists are learning quickly that there are no ‘politically correct’ consequences to their radical activism. All of the recent actions against churches, Christian groups, or individual Christians and their property have one thing in common–no arrests!

Evangelicals, and other allied religious groups like conservative Catholics and Mormons, are the only minorities in America not protected by ‘hate crime’ penalties and legislation. Again–has a page has been turned and is it now ‘open-season’ on Christians in America?     *Top

Image by jmtimages via Flickr

Now the fun begins! Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejab has been talking about an apocalyptic Shia/Islamic scenario for several years now–predicting that ‘the Hidden Imam‘ would soon return as the end-time Mahdi that establishes Islamic rule over the entire world.

Following the election of Barack Obama, some Shities actually believe that Obama could be a possible fulfillment of an end-time Islamic prophecy.——–> <Read the whole article>      *Top     

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Map (Orissa -darkened area) via Wikipedia

This has been a very bad year for Christians in India, particularly those living in the state of Orissa. Here is a summary of the unbelievable persecution and violence against Christians so far this year:

-In Orissa State, 65 identified people have been killed and 85 are still unaccounted for.
Among those killed were one man buried alive near the village of Rudangla; several
people burnt to death and others cut into pieces.

- 117 churches of all Christian denominations destroyed. Not a single Hindu temple has
been destroyed – despite allegations of retaliation by Christians.

- Approximately 5,000 homes destroyed.

- An unspecified number of Christian businesses destroyed, with the loss of livelihood for
their owners.

- 54,000 people displaced from their homes, forced to take shelter in 14 State-sponsored
Relief Camps in Kandhamal District; together with many hundreds living in non-State
camps, including 2 ‘camps’ in densely overcrowded buildings in Cuttsack town.

- It is estimated that about 20,000 are still living in the jungle or have fled to big cities.
Some may be living with relatives elsewhere.

- In addition to the violence in Kandhamal District, 2 other Districts, Japati and Baragras
District, have also experienced similar atrocities, including killings, looting and burning
of churches and homes. 2 Relief camps have been established for approximately 2,700
people who have had to flee their homes.

Response: It was really hard to keep up with all the persecution against Christians this year in India, especially in the state of Orissa. With the publication of this article by Christianity Today, you can see that thousands of Christians were affected by the persecution.

Figures like–’54,000 displaced from their homes’ are hard to imagine– and ‘5,000 homes destroyed’ with 65 dead and 85 still missing– really does confirm that the police and authorities not only did little to stop the violence but lends credence to the claims that some were actually involved in the atrocities.        *Top 

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Image via Wikipedia

All across the nation today, gay activists are picketing and demonstrating in front of Mormon temples, houses of worship, and LDS owned businesses. Yesterday, ‘white powder’ was mailed and received at a number of LDS temples.

What brought all this on–all this reaction against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

There is the perception that the Mormon Church bankrolled the passage of Proposition 8–the traditional marriage amendment in California, ending Same-sex marriage in the state.

Even the NY Times has come out with an article saying that the LDS tipped the scale in support of Prop.8. Actually the article is one of the most slanted pieces that I have ever read. It leaves out a number of important facts:

     1. Black churches were nearly unanimous in their support of the amendment and it passed 70/30 in black areas–that was the real ‘tipping-point’ in the election. Blacks who came out in support of Obama for President, also supported Prop.8 (70%+) and put it over the top.

     2. Catholics, particularly the Knights of Columbus, gave $ millions to the campaign for Prop.8 and helped in getting the vote out.

     3. Evangelical Christians also gave $ millions in support and in volunteer time for the Prop.

The proposition probably would not have passed if any one of these groups had not supported it in the way that they did–particularly the black community.

Why then are the gay activists picking on the Mormons?  Probably because they are the easiest and the safest group to go after.

After all, LDS make up only 2% of the population in California and aren’t all that popular with the other supporters of the Prop.–Catholics, Evangelicals, or black Christians. 

Can you imagine what would happen if a bunch of ‘gay activists’ went to south central L.A. and picketed and screamed at folks out in front of black churches?          *Top 

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Photo: American Humanist Association

Washington D.C.: The American Humanist Association announced plans this week to plaster ads over 200 buses bearing its “godless holiday” message:

“Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake”

The atheist group plans to run the ads through December. The move comes one month after the British Humanist Association said it will run ads on London buses in January declaring: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life,” on London buses in January.

According to AHA executive director Roy Speckhardt, the group is sponsoring the ads to get across a message:

“Humanists have always understood that you don’t need a god to be good. So that’s the point we’re making with this advertising campaign. Morality doesn’t come from religion. It’s a set of values embraced by individuals and society based on empathy, fairness, and experience.”

Response:  Another indication that the ‘culture wars’ are heating up. The whole point of Christmas is that God has sent his Son into the World, that the world might be saved.

It is a celebration for Christians, that God came down in our midst and left us his Spirit to help us reach out to others in good will with the promise that one day there will be peace on earth. We give gifts to others in order to celebrate God’s gift to us–the ultimate reminder of something and someone greater and beyond ourselves.

There has been a concerted effort over the last few years to get Christ and religion out of the public square during the Christmas season and replace it with a ‘winter holiday’ instead. The AHA is an example of the ultimate ‘grinch’ that is trying to steal away the Christmas holiday and spirit of goodwill for their own crass purposes and promotion.            *Top

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Picture of activist ‘Bash Back’ group

Last Sunday (November 9, 2008) service started out the same way it usually does at Mount Hope Church in Lansing Michigan–announcements, worship songs, and prayers for the sick and for the new new President Elect–then all heck broke loose literally. The attack was summarized in one report:

the Michigan left declared open war on peaceful church goers. They did it with banners, chants, blasphemy, by storming the pulpit, by vandalizing the church facility, by potentially defiling the building with lude, public, sex acts and by intentionally forcing physical confrontations with worshipers.

In another report, it all began outside:

“Outside they were chanting ‘Jesus was a homo’ on a megaphone. They were beating on buckets, presumably to drown out what the pastor was saying inside the church, and carrying an upside-down pink cross. They set off the fire alarm.”

Then apparently more than 20 ‘Bash Back’ activists inside the church began shouting obscenities at church members, throwing confetti and condoms into the pews. The protesters carried a banner that read, “It’s okay to be gay! Bash Back!” and continued to shout out chants: “It’s okay to be gay” and “Jesus was a homo”.

The whole event was recorded on video by the activists and they brought a news reporter with them, hoping to be physically confronted by church members–which did not happen. Here a link to the news report.

The police were called in and for some reason the demonstrators were not arrested.

How did the church respond to the event? After the attack was over, Pastor David Williams led the congregation in prayer for the activists.

Mount Hope Church is not some radical group involved in political activism in any way but a peaceful evangelical Bible believing church:

“whose members provide free 24 hour counseling, prayer lines, catastrophic care for families dealing with medical emergencies, support groups for men, women and children dealing with a wide variety of life’s troubles, crisis intervention, marriage ministries, regular, organized volunteer work in and around the city, missions in dozens of countries across the globe, a construction ministry that has built over 100 churches, schools, orphanages and other projects all over the world and an in-depth prison ministry that reaches out, touches and helps the men and women the rest of society fears the most.  They also teach respect for all human life and the Biblical sanctity of marriage as an institution between one man and one woman.”

Wow! No wonder the church was attacked, they actually help people in the community!             *Top 

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At a news conference on Monday (Nov. 10) in New York, leaders of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors said that their negotiations with the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) had ended rather badly.

The Jewish holocaust survivors have asked the LDS leaders to refrain from posthumous baptism of Jewish victims of the holocaust. From the Mormon perspective–they believe that they are doing something eternally good.

This is a conflict that probably can not really be resolved and in the end will only bring some more bad publicity to the Mormons.

<<Read the complete article>>              *Top 

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Today (November 11, 2008) is Veteran’s Day in America. A day to be thankful for the service and sacrifice of 24.5 million veterans in America.

This is a great day to thank that special veteran that you know–father, brother, sister, uncle, neighbor…etc., and remember those who have passed on.

Thanks to everyone of you who have served the country and preserved our freedom. We really can’t thank you enough.

 *Now on DVD: Available from Skipstone Pictures, A Letter to Dad received the highest possible award– 5 Doves– by The Dove Foundation. The film has a powerful message with a great soundtrack.<<Read my review of the film>>

<<View the trailer>>