"Same-Sex Marriage?"

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Gen.1. And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone' I will make him a helper comparable to him." Gen 2:18. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Gen. 2:21,22. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. Matt. 19:5. 

I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Lev. 18:22. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Roms, 1:24-27.

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:3. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

There is no judgment awaiting those who trust Him. But those who do not trust Him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants. John 3:16-24. Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Acts 3:19.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation' for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Rev. 2:10. For what is our hope, or joy or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you at His coming? 1 Thes. 2:19.  For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. Heb. 10:37.
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As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. Eph. 5:31-32.

If you love Me, obey My commandments. John 14:15. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Eph. 6:24.

A wise man once said: "And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, all that is pleasing to Him. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant, signed with His blood. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen" (Hebrews 13:20-21)
Paul the Apostle

News:

• MSN.com: The Supreme Court overturned the law blocking federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
• USA Today: Justices open door to same-sex marriages in California; despite the vote against it.
• NOAA: Extreme heat wave over the interior West reaches dangerous levels, challenges records and elevates wildfire threat.

"ObamaCare: A Job Killer?"

Local governments across the country have been quietly cutting part-time hours with one thing in mind: "skirt ObamaCare's costly employer mandate," according to John Merline of Investor's Business Daily. "The result is that part-time government workers--many of them low income--face pay cuts that can top $3,000 a year, and yet will still be left without employer-provided benefits."

School districts are scrambling for cover, alarmed by the new costs that may bust already strained budgets with the implementation of the new healthcare law. They have no choice but to avoid ObamaCare penalties and cut hours, some districts by as much as three-quarters of its part-time workforce. Chris Hipp, director of a Kansas special education cooperative, warned ObamaCare "could put us all out of business or change significantly how we do business."

Mayor John O'Reilly of Dearborn, Michigan said, "If we had to provide healthcare and other benefits to all of our employees, the burden on the city would be tremendous." Dearborn is cutting its roughly 700 part-time workers down to 28 hours a week.

It doesn't stop there.

According to Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Small business owners' fear of the effect of the new healthcare reform law on their bottom line is prompting many to hold off on hiring and even to shed jobs in some cases."

A recent Gallop poll found:

• 41% of small businesses have frozen hiring because of ObamaCare
• 24% are considering dropping healthcare all together.
• 19% have reduced the number of employees as a specific result of ObamaCare
• 18% have already cut hours in anticipation of ObamaCare
• 38% have delayed plans to expand because of ObamaCare
• 52% expect a reduction in the quality of healthcare under ObamaCare

ObamaCare (aka The Affordable Care Act) mandates companies with 50 or more full-time employees will have to either offer healthcare coverage or face a fine of $2,000 per full-time employee. Full-time has been redefined (in ObamaCare) as 30 hours or more.

Simple arithmetic predicts many employers will opt out for the cheapest solution: drop healthcare and pay the fine or cut hours to under thirty. Either option is certain to have a detrimental effect on our fragile economy. Imagine having your hours cut that drastically.

The irony?

Most Americans who currently lack health insurance (nearly two-thirds) don't plan to participate in ObamaCare! So why did we do it? And why on earth did we put the IRS in charge of it?

Not to be overly pessimistic, gang, but our economy is struggling between two forces: free enterprise, which requires a great deal of free choice and risk to thrive, and a government itching to control everything. If our government is allowed to expand its control, our economy will fold under this load of debt and regulation. Either we will have a massive recession or, more probably, inflation as the government tries to print enough money to pay its bills. Eventually, true economic principles will take over. Not even the Fed can overrule the laws of economics. And remember, according to the Bible, something has to happen to take us out of the picture. Could it be we don't manage to survive ObamaCare?

A wise man once said: "We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well" (James 5:14-15).

News:

• Drudge Report: IRS to pay its employees $70 million in bonuses despite claims of being short on resources.
• Fox News Channel: FBI Director Robert Mueller, during Congressional hearings, admits using drones to spy on people in the United States.
• MSN: President Obama calls for a reduction and eventual end to nuclear stockpiles.
• CNBC: ObamaCare in California will increase individual health insurance premiums by 64-146%.
• MSN Money: Stocks suffer worst two-day decline since November, 2011; down nearly 560 points.

"Is the Current News Cycle Prophetic?"

Imagine a world where everything is watched, recorded, and filed. Omnipresent government surveillance is the norm and our personal right to privacy is routinely violated--all justified in the name of the greater good.

Sounds like today's headlines, given the revelations over the weekend by Edward Snowden, who leaked details of a top-secret government surveillance program sponsored by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Actually, it's the premise of George Orwell's perennial classic, 1984, the story of totalitarian states using technological advancements to keep the masses under surveillance. The themes explored in this novel are so relevant President Obama even mentioned it in his news conference Friday in an attempt to defend the government surveillance programs:

"In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential program run amok, but when you actually look at the details, then I think we've struck the right balance."

(the "right balance" for who?)

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, also made a reference to Orwell's famous book:

"Kids will grow up knowing that every damn thing that they do is going to be recorded some place in a file. And I think that will have a very Orwellian and very inhibiting impact on the way we live our lives."

In Matthew 24. Jesus says the generation that sees the events He described beginning to happen will not pass away before everything happens; in other words, the end-time events will all take place within one generation.

Most prophecy scholars agree that 1948, the year the nation of Israel was reborn, started the prophetic clock ticking down the last generation.

In 1948:

• Israel became a nation again after over 2,000 years
• The transistor chip was invented
• The global economy was born
• The United Nations was created
• The Treaty of Rome was signed which evolved into the European Union
• The World Council of Churches was formed
• The Treaty of Brussels was signed (a predecessor of NATO)
• UFOs became a national obsession
• and George Orwell's 1984 was written about a futuristic government with overreaching, abusive powers

Prophetic? Maybe. Maybe not. But on the heels of the IRS and DOJ revelations, these new super-secret surveillance programs of the NSA put the United States (in the words of Timothy Carney from The Washington Examiner) "on the slippery slope of tyranny." And let's not forget: The Bible predicts a slide in that direction.

A wise man once said: "Big Brother is Watching You." -- George Orwell, 1984

"Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there. All governments have been placed in power by God...For the authorities do not frighten people who are doing right, but they frighten people who do wrong" (Romans 13: 1-3).

"Another reason for right living is that you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for the coming of our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (Romans 13: 11).

News:

• Daily Caller: IRS allegedly seizes millions of medical records from California healthcare provider; House committee to investigate
• CNS News.com: IRS cancels an order for spying equipment including miniature cameras after the order became public
• KFI Radio: Colorado wildfire claims 360 homes

"Public Enemy #1: Christians?"

Jesus said, "When the world hates you, remember it hated Me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? 'A servant is not greater than the master'. Since they persecute Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you! The people of the world will hate you because you belong to Me, for they don't know God who sent Me" (John 15: 18-21).

Guess who got the top spot on a military terrorist list?

If evangelical Christianity didn't pop into your head--no cigar for you! Apparently, we're being labelled "religious extremists" these days because we have the nerve to believe Jesus is who He claimed to be and that there is no other way into heaven except through faith in Christ as presented in the Gospel.

The problem is this: if we are right, then others must be wrong. And according to a military training brief: "every religion has some followers that believe that their beliefs, customs and traditions are the only 'right way' and that all others practice their faith the 'wrong way'.

Yeah, so what? The very essence of true Christianity teaches that Christ paid the penalty for our sin through His death in our place. Only those who repent and receive this pardon will enter God's Kingdom. Those are God's rules. We are free to accept His wonderful gift or reject it and pay for our own sins in hell. Our simple faith threatens no one, and yet it lands us right smack at the very top of a terrorist watch list! The list includes:

1. Evangelical Christianity
2. Muslim Brotherhood
3. Orthodox Judaism
4. Christian identity (Is this us again?!)
5. al Quaeda
6. Hamas
7. Abu Sayyah (who?)
8. Ku Klux Klan
9. Sri Ram Sene (Hindus)
10. Catholicism

etc., etc., etc....

Jesus was not simply a wise teacher or a prophet. He claimed to be the Son of God. If He wasn't God, then He was a liar. There is no middle ground. Our proof that He was who He claimed to be is His empty tomb. His death without the resurrection would have been meaningless. His resurrected body, witnessed by over 500 people, tells us His sacrifice for us was accepted by God. Because He lives, we will live also.

Get it? We can't all be right.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Either Jesus knew what He was talking about or He didn't. If He didn't, then being #1 on the hit parade of terrorists is the least of our problems.

...Meanwhile, back at the Pentagon, someone is rewriting the list. Army spokesman George Wright told Fox News that this was an "isolated incident not condoned by the Department of the Army. This list was not produced by the Army and certainly does not reflect our policy or doctrine. It was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of command's knowledge or permission."

So, who's responsible?

Apparently, a U.S. Army training instructor acted on his own--a rogue with no authority. (Maybe he should be on the list!) Wright said after the complaint was lodged, the presenter deleted the list, and apologized. "We consider the matter closed," he said.

In our opinion, he got off easy. Some on this list might have called for his head.

But wait...there's more...

Tuesday, we received an urgent email from the Family Research Council warning of more of the same:

"The Department of Defense is meeting with and heeding the advice of Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation."

Why? Weinstein demanded that the military develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Gospel during spiritual counselling of our troops.

In a recent article Mikey Weinstein called conservative Christians "human monsters" and "evil, fundamentalist Christian creatures". What did Weinstein say motivates us? "Horrific hatred and blinding bigotry." (Look who's calling the kettle black!)

Why on earth would the military give this guy the time of day? The fact that they have should alarm every freedom-loving citizen in the country--Christian or not.

A wise man once said: "Every absurdity has a champion to defend it, for error is always talkative." -- Oliver Goldsmith

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake...but he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 24:9,13).

News:

• National Weather Service: Oklahoma tornado upgraded to a maximum EF5; biggest tornado in recorded history
• The Hill: The House voted to delay the Dept. of Homeland Security from buying millions of rounds of ammunition until they report on why it's needed.
• New York Times: U.S. is secretly collecting records of Verizon customers according to a highly-classified court order disclosed Wednesday.
• The Washington Post: U.S. intelligence mining data from 9 internet companies in secret program that enables analysts to track individuals movements.