USA: Hillary in 'inter-generational partnership' with eugenicist Sanger

30/03 One News Now |Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted an award from Planned Parenthood named after the pro-abortion group's founder, who once referred to blacks as "human weeds." 

... Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, says it is shocking that PlannedParenthood is not more savvy with its public-relations work. Sanger, she notes, was a leading eugenicist.
 
"She was very frank about her desire to exterminate African-Americans to 'purify the white race,'" Dannenfelser shares. "She said the best thing that families, big families can do is to kill its [sic] infants. This was a callous, angry, harsh eugenicist -- and I cannot believe that Planned Parenthood still names its top award after her."

Todd Bentley Begins Restoration Process - Part II

30/03 Special Bulletin - March 2009, By Rick Joyner

The response to our announcement that Todd had begun a restoration process was even greater than expected. It seems that not only is Todd’s restoration of great interest, but restoration in general is too. That is encouraging. This Special Bulletin is about much more than Todd, and it touches on some issues that may be the most important for Christians to examine in these times. l.

NOTE: scroll down for Part I

USA: Obama: No Friend of Pro-Lifers

Archived 11/08 | In a move that underscores Barack Obama's dedication to promoting abortion, the incoming president has named a prominent pro-abortion attorney to serve as a member of his Department of Justice Review Team.

30/03/09 Susan B. Anthony List | Across the country, Susan B. Anthony List members expressed outrage at Johnsen’s nomination, sending over 26,000 letters of opposition to their U.S. Senators. Johnsen was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 19th by a vote of 11-7.

While Johnsen served as the legal counsel for National Abortion & Reproductive Rights Action League (now NARAL Pro-Choice America), she authored numerous legal opinions rejecting any and all restrictions on abortion .

USA: Planned Parenthood honors Hillary Clinton

28/03 One News Now | U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told a Planned Parenthood convention that reproductive rights, as well as women's rights and empowerment, are key issues in President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Clinton vowed her support for these issues during a speech Friday evening at the Planned Parenthood's national conference in Houston.

 She was honored by Planned Parenthood...the nation's leading abortionist.... with its Margaret Sanger Award, the organization's highest honor, for her work throughout her public service career on behalf of women's health and reproductive rights.

 Clinton said these rights are building blocks of democracy as societies that deny and demean women's roles are ones more likely to engage in behavior that is negative, antidemocratic and that leads to violence and extremism.

 But local T.V. station, KHOU, reports that while applause welcomed Clinton inside the crowded ballroom, outside pro-life activists were holding a vigil.

UK: Cut in maternity leave to give fathers more time off

Watchdog demands greater equality for parents

Times Online | Statutory maternity leave should be cut to six months and new paid leave given to fathers, a report from the equalities watchdog says. The focus on maternity leave has entrenched the notion that only mothers look after children and damages women’s careers by making them less attractive employees, the group warns.

New mothers currently get nine months of paid leave, six weeks at 90 per cent of their salary and the rest at the statutory rate of £117.18 per week. The Government has promised that mothers will get a full year’s leave by 2010. Fathers currently get two weeks leave at the statutory rate. The Equality and Human Rights Commission said that these are the most unequal arrangements in Europe. It wants fathers and mothers to be entitled to four months of “parental leave” with at least eight weeks paid at 90 per cent of their salary and the rest at the statutory rate. Parental leave would be “use it or lose it” so fathers could not transfer any unused leave to their partners but another four months of partly paid “family leave” would be divided up between them.

USA: Planned Parenthood 'changing focus' to medical abortions

25/03 One News Now | American Life League has released a report on Planned Parenthood abortion facilities. The report shows that while the number of Planned Parenthood surgical abortion facilities has dropped, the taxpayer-funded abortion provider is simply "changing focus," says Marie Hahnenberg, a researcher for American Life League.
 
"[We've] discovered that Planned Parenthood is increasing its number of facilities that perform medical abortions," she notes, adding that they are performed through medication such as the dangerous abortion drug RU-486. "There's a first drug that the mother takes that would kill the preborn baby, and then Planned Parenthood gives the mother a second drug that the mother would take home," Hahnenberg explains. "And that second drug causes contractions, and she gives birth to her dead baby at home."

UK: Gay couple sue Christians for barring them from hotel bed

24/03 Mail online | The Christian owners of a seaside hotel may be prosecuted after refusing to allow a gay couple to stay in a double room. Peter and Hazelmary Bull are facing an unprecedented court case under controversial new equality laws.

Martyn Hall, who lives with his civil partner Steven Preddy, has lodged a county court claim for up to £5,000 in damages alleging 'direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation'.

But the Bulls deny the charge, saying they have a long-standing policy of banning all unmarried couples, both heterosexual and gay, from sharing a bed at the Chymorvah Private Hotel in Marazion near Penzance in Cornwall.

Mrs Bull, a 62-year-old great-grandmother, said that even her brother and his female partner had to stay in separate rooms when they visited the hotel.

USA: Obama's Faith Team Lines Up

UK: Coroners Bill causes worry for some Christian campaigners

23/03 Premier Media | A new set of laws being debated in the UK Parliament today could see clergy in court if they speak out against homosexuality.

The Coroners and Justice Bill could reverse a free speech clause which currently protects people who discuss or criticise sexual conduct, or urge others to refrain from it. The Ministry of Justice has added a clause to proposed legislation which, if passed, will repeal this exception. Justice Secretary Jack Straw said there were no circumstances in which the right to freedom of speech could justify homophobic behaviour.

The government argues in reality, preachers wouldn't fall foul of the law. But Mike Judge from the Christian Institute tells Premier, despite those reassurances ministers must keep the right to preach on the subject: Whether you agree that homosexuality is acceptable is almost not the issue here. The issue is should people be free to express their opposition to a certain type of conduct without fear of coming into contact with police officers and the powers of the state.? ...... Link to audio report -

USA: Saudi Strong-arm Tactics in Virginia

22/03 Daniel Pipes | Jeffrey Imm (a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Federal government, with work for the FBI, DHS, and TSA) provides first-hand testimony at "Virginia: Bullying Mob Packs Govt Meeting in Support of Islamic Supremacist Institution" of what took place yesterday at a Fairfax County Planning Commission meeting. The topic was a possible exemption of the Islamic Saudi Academy from a zoning regulation so it could build an expansion of the school. According to Imm's estimate, 600 supporters of the ISA turned up wearing printed badges reading "I Support ISA" with the ISA logo and the Saudi Arabian emblem.

.... Several speakers challenging this expansion were loudly booed and laughed at. … During one of the few breaks in the heated meeting due to the overflowing crowd of ISA supporters, several of those who sought to speak out against the ISA were cornered and confronted by some ISA supporters.

Obama appointee no 'moderate' judge

One News Now | President Obama has nominated Federal Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Hamilton is being touted as a moderate, but Curt Levey of the Committee for Justice disagrees. "He's just your classic, liberal judicial activist on issues like abortion, criminal issues such as suppression of evidence and sex offenders, separation of church and state issues," he says.

It was Judge Hamilton who declared prayer in Jesus' name before the Indiana Legislature unconstitutional, but that decision did not stand for long

.... Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University's School of Law, also comments.
 
"[Hamilton] was nominated to the federal district bench by President Clinton even though he had no judicial experience and was rated as not qualified by the American Bar Association," he says. "What we have is Barack Obama nominating from all levels, now at the judicial branch, the most left-leaning people that you can imagine on every conceivable issue."

Luxembourg: Pro-life 'hero' unable to stop legalized killing

22/03 One News Now | Luxembourg has become the third nation to legalize doctor-assisted suicide. While that isn't good news to pro-lifers, there is a pro-life hero in the story.

The vote on the bill was 30-26, but it was stalled for some time. Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition explains. "The fact is that they've now gone to extreme measures even to carry this out because the Grand Duke of Luxembourg originally refused to sign the bill into law," he says.
 
That forced Parliament to take drastic action to make it legal. "They went as far as to change their constitution in order to make sure that he didn't need to sign the bill into law for it to become law," says the pro-life activist.

USA: Disturbing Justice Department Nominees

Charles Colson for the Christian Post | President Obama continues to fill out his Cabinet and sub-Cabinet positions. These are the officials who really run the U.S. government.

Some of his Justice Department appointments are causing particular alarm among Christians.

The three top appointees—David Ogden, Thomas Perrelli, and Elena Kagan—are, in the words of Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, “three of President Obama’s most objectionable nominees. . . . [They] have a legacy of championing abortion on demand, legalized obscenity, special rights for homosexuals, and euthanasia.” ... Let’s look at these.

David Ogden, the President’s nominee for deputy attorney general, is now waiting for the full Senate to vote on his nomination. Ogden has been a consistent advocate for the pornography industry. He has an especially disturbing record of opposing laws against child pornography. For example, he once argued that a law designed to ensure that models were of legal age would “burden too heavily and infringe too deeply on the right to produce First Amendment protected material.” -Ogden has also disputed the adverse mental health effects of abortion on women.

Thomas Perrelli is a name you may already know. Before becoming the President’s nominee for assistant attorney general, Perrelli served on Michael Schiavo’s legal team in the Terri Schiavo case. He helped fight the successful battle to allow Michael to have Terri starved to death, even though she was not suffering from any terminal illness and even though her parents offered to assume the entire burden of her care.

... Now, I have no illusions, with the political lineup the way it is in Washington, that we could block these nominations. But it’s terribly important that the Congress know that ordinary Americans are watching them, and are gravely concerned. They need to know that there are millions in this country ready to fight to defend life and the family

USA: What Are the Priorities for the U.S. Justice Department? 

20/03 Concerned Women of America | With yet another radical, life-long committed abortion advocate tapped to a high-ranking position at the United State Department of Justice (DOJ), one has to wonder what the Obama Administration's priorities are when it comes to law enforcement. If this administration were to commission the painting of the President's portrait, you'd assume they would call on an exceptional artist with a proven record in this area, someone whose work is distinguished in portraits and fine art. They wouldn't call on a life-long house painter.

Looking at many of President Obama's nominations, you would think he was staffing Planned Parenthood's legal staff instead of the DOJ.

Dawn Johnsen, nominated to be the next Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, is the latest of such nominees. She has dedicated her life to the promotion of abortion without any restrictions. Johnsen, former staff attorney for the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project in New York and former legal director at NARAL Pro-Choice America, even opposes the partial-birth abortion ban, which prevented the gruesome procedure by which a doctor would crush the skull of a baby whose head was just inches from being out of the mother's womb.

Johnsen is not just "pro-choice." Plenty of pro-choice people are against the horrible partial-birth abortion procedure. For Johnsen abortion seems to be above all laws, including the Constitution. That seemed clear when in a Supreme Court brief she was willing to manipulate the Thirteenth Amendment, directed towards slavery, to promote a woman's right to terminate the life of her unborn baby.

She has also adopted a radical view of rights for the unborn saying, "[F]etal rights laws would not only infringe on constitutionally protected liberty and privacy rights of individual women, they would also serve to disadvantage women as women…"1 Her view is amazingly radical, because while some people believe this way because they argue the fetus is not a child, Johnsen seems to recognize that the fetus is a person, but apparently believes he or she doesn't have any rights until the mother decides the baby should have them.

Christians Turn to God Over Moral Crisis in UK

03/03 The Christian Post | LONDON – “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done” was the prayer of hundreds of Christians who gathered at a central London church on Saturday to cry out to God over the moral and spiritual crisis in the United Kingdom. The State of the Nation gathering also focused on repentance over the church’s silence in the face of immoral legislation passed over the decades, particularly in the areas of the unborn child and marriage.

...David Noakes, a member of the State of the Nation facilitating group, said the prayer meeting was possibly the most important gathering since World War II. “Only then it was a nation. Now it is a remnant people. But don’t be dismayed that it is a remnant,” he said, pointing to the battle won by the Lord with the 300 warriors of Gideon.

Noakes chided the church for failing to speak out against ungodly legislation and urged the church not to be swayed by political correctness. “God is not politically correct but biblically correct,” he said, adding that the church needed to cast out the sin within its own ranks and return to a fear of the Lord.

USA: A Chilling New Approach to Prayer

Center for Moral Clarity News | We've noted before that Barack Obama seems to have been ill-served by the spiritual leaders he's chosen. He simply wasn't taught a thoroughly biblical worldview, and it's unrealistic for Bible-believing Christians to expect that of him. His faith, like that of many in the pews of our churches on Sundays, is clearly that of the milk-fed variety.

One disturbing result of that fact has surfaced in the early weeks of Obama's term. It's great that he has incorporated prayer in the public rallies he's held as President. The unfortunate and scarcely reported aspect of those prayers is that they've been vetted in advance by the federal government.

We're all for a public display of faith. What's objectionable is that the clergy and lay people asked to pray have been asked to submit their prayers to the White House in advance of the rallies where they're spoken. There's no evidence that the White House has yet asked an invocator for editorial changes, but that's hardly the point. Should we really want the administration passing judgment on a person's theology?

We find ourselves in the odd position of agreeing with Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who asked U.S. News & World Report's Dan Gilgoff, "Why would you even request getting a copy of the prayer in advance if you didn't want to exercise the power to change it or even cancel it?”

The presence of a vetter has already had adverse effects. Gilgoff notes that a Baptist preacher in Fort Myers, Fla., readily admits omitting the name of Jesus from the prayer he gave before Obama's visit to promote the economic stimulus bill. "For some strange reason,” the Rev. James Bing told Gilgoff, "the word Jesus is like pouring gasoline on fire for some in this country. You learn how to work around that.” Why any Christian should want to "work around” the name of Jesus in a public forum escapes us. A "prayer” that doesn't invoke the name of the One who is prayed to is nothing but a poem in our book.

Somehow, we believe this isn't what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they forbid the government from establishing religion in the First Amendment. We hope the Obama administration stops this offensive practice of vetting prayers immediately.

Source Link: http://cmc.rodparsley.com/News.aspx?nid=3470

UK: Hate cleric leads jihad cash appeal

15/03 Times Online | AN Islamic cleric, whose supporters led a hate-filled protest against British troops returning from Iraq, has urged his followers to give cash to front-line mujaheddin fighters.

A recording has emerged of Anjem Choudary, a self-styled sharia judge and former leader of the banned group Al-Muhajiroun, telling his followers to stop spending their money on their families and divert it to Muslim soldiers waging jihad, or holy war.

There were demands for Choudary to be investigated by police. He has previously called for British women to be forced to wear burqas and for adulterers to be killed. Several radical preachers have previously been jailed for urging British Muslims to give money to Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in Iraq.

USA: Build-a-baby workshops on the rise

13/03 One News Now| California firm called Fertility Institutes is advertising gender selection for in vitro fertilization (IVF), claiming to be the first to offer tests to pre-determine eye, skin, and hair color.

LifeSiteNews.com reports on the rapidly growing trend of sex-selection abortion, an idea many have considered since IVF technology was forming in the 1970s. The Fertility Institute's advertisement guarantees a 100-percent success rate and reads as follows: "For the first time ever, patients having genetic screening for abnormal chromosome conditions in their embryos will be able to elect expanded testing that can greatly increase the odds of achieving a healthy pregnancy with a preselected choice of gender, eye color, hair color and complexion, along with screening for potentially lethal diseases, screening for cancer tendencies (breast, colon, pancreas, prostate) and more."

Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America calls it a form of prejudice. "People who select children based on their skin color and sex are not much different from societies that stigmatize adults based on their skin color and sex," she contends. "Will these parents reject a child who slips through with a flaw?"

UK: Banking on Sharia

09/03 Robert Piggott, BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent | Among the ruined reputations of the financial world, there is one banking system that has emerged claiming the moral high ground. Islamic finance - which rules out the payment of interest - largely avoided the risky investments and trading of debt that prompted the credit crunch.

Banks offering Sharia-compliant accounts and selling Islamic mortgages say they are reaping the benefits. Institutions such as the Islamic Bank of Britain say they were attracting more customers and business - by no means all of them Muslim - even before the credit crunch.

USA: Obama reverses Bush limits on stem cell research

09/03 SMH.com.au | President Barack Obama has lifted a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, promising a "new frontier" for US science free of political interference. "Ultimately, I cannot guarantee that we will find the treatments and cures we seek. No president can promise that," Obama said at a White House ceremony before signing an order to lift the ban imposed by president George W Bush.

"But I can promise that we will seek them - actively, responsibly, and with the urgency required to make up for lost ground," he said. "Not just by opening up this new frontier of research today, but by supporting promising research of all kinds, including groundbreaking work to convert ordinary human cells into ones that resemble embryonic stem cells."

Todd Bentley Begins Restoration Process - Part I

09/03 Special Bulletin - March 2009, By Rick Joyner

Todd Bentley was used to spark the Lakeland Outpouring, which raised the faith level of much of the body of Christ. Testimonies of healings and miracles from it are now virtually all over the world. When Todd’s marriage failed, he abruptly stopped all ministry and virtually disappeared for almost nine months. In the meantime, his divorce was finalized and he has recently remarried.

    Todd has taken full responsibility for the failure of his marriage. He and Jessa also admit that their relationship was premature and should not have happened the way it did. Both are adamant that it was not the cause for the failure of his first marriage, nor did they begin their relationship until Todd was convinced that his marriage was over. They have both expressed that it was wrong and premature. They do not want to try and cover this up even though they know many will never accept them for it. Even so, they are married now and are resolved to make the most of their marriage, their lives, and to continue to serve the Lord in the best way that they can.

NOTE: scroll up for Part II

USA: This Prayer Approved by the White House?

03/03 R. Albert Mohler Jr | Is the Obama White House vetting prayers? Dan Gilgoff of U.S. News and World Report reports that this represents a "new tradition" established by the administration of President Barack Obama. As Gilgoff revealed, "In a departure from previous presidents, his public rallies are opening with invocations that have been commissioned and vetted by the White House."

The issue of public prayer is increasingly controversial in an age of religious diversity and increasing secularization. Yet, prayers at government ceremonies and events have been common since the nation's founding and, until recently, few prayers related to White House events have been controversial. Radical church/state separationists consider these prayers to be improper and perhaps unconstitutional, but this is a hard case to make given the nation's historic practice.

On the other hand, sign me up as an opponent of any prayer that is vetted by any government official or agency. For reasons having less to do with the Constitution and more to do with the nature of prayer, I cannot imagine that a Christian minister could in good conscience allow the government to edit or approve a prayer.

USA: Okla. Bill Promoting Discussion of 'Alternative Theories' to Evolution Fails

03/03 The Christian Post | The Oklahoma Senate's Education Committee has narrowly defeated legislation that would have allowed classroom discussion of alternative theories to evolution, along with other topics where science conflicts with religious or moral viewpoints.

The vote was 7-6 against Sen. Randy Brogdon's Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act.

Brogdon, a Republican, said science teachers in his district fear retribution for bringing up alternative theories on a wide range of subjects, such as evolution and stem cell research.

Sen. Richard Lerblance, a Democrat, called the measure a subterfuge that would lead to teaching of theories based on religious viewpoints and not science.

UK: Catholic Church slams new code of conduct forcing teachers to promote Islam and gay rights

03/03 The Daily Mail Online | The Roman Catholic Church has severely criticised a proposed new code of conduct for teachers which it says will force Christian schools to actively promote Islam and gay rights. The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has warned the General Teaching Council, by the professional regulatory body, that many teachers will quit the profession because they will not be able to accept the revised code of conduct in good conscience.

Their advisers say the code would also seriously undermine the religious character of church schools by imposing on them a hostile form of secular morality. The legally-binding code would discriminate against Christian teachers in recruitment and in the classroom, they say.

Principle 4 of the code demands that teachers ‘proactively challenge discrimination’ and ‘promote equality and value diversity in all their professional relationships and interactions’ before they can be registered.

It means that campaigners can complain if teachers fail to observe the new demands and that teachers and schools can be punished if a complaint is upheld

UK: British leader wants 2-child limit

02/03 Baptist Press | Families should be restricted to two children, with abortion part of the population control effort to protect the environment, Britain's "green" adviser says.

"I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible," said Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the English government's Sustainable Development Commission, The Times of London reported Feb. 1.

"I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate," Porritt said.

UK: Parents told: avoid morality in sex lessons

01/03 Times Online | PARENTS should avoid trying to convince their teenage children of the difference between right and wrong when talking to them about sex, a new government leaflet is to advise. Instead, any discussion of values should be kept “light” to encourage teenagers to form their own views, according to the brochure, which one critic has called “amoral”.

Talking to Your Teenager About Sex and Relationships will be distributed in pharmacies from next month as part of an initiative led by Beverley Hughes, the children’s minister. The leaflet comes in the wake of the case of Alfie Patten, the 13-year-old boy from East Sussex who fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and sparked a debate about how to cut rates of teenage parenthood.

It advises: “Discussing your values with your teenagers will help them to form their own. Remember, though, that trying to convince them of what’s right and wrong may discourage them from being open.” The leaflet suggests that parents should start the “big talk” with children as young as possible, before they pick up “misinformation” from their peers in adolescence.

... The leaflet provides technical information on different forms of contraception, from condoms to implants, and will reignite the row over the government’s “value-free” approach to sex education.

Simon Calvert, deputy director of the Christian Institute, attacked the leaflet, saying: “The idea that the government is telling families not to pass on their values is outrageous.

AUSTRALIA: Training tomorrow's leaders

There is a great need in this nation to assist those students and recent graduates who demonstrate a high potential to become influential leaders for Christ across strategic areas of our nation including politics, law, media, science, education, arts and philosophy.
The Compass program, an eight-day course in Christian worldview, aims to address this need.

The inaugural program kicks off this Sunday with 40 students at the University of Queensland. For more information and to register interest for 2009, please go to www.compass.org.au .

Lyle Shelton
National Chief of Staff , Australian Christian Lobby