Don't stigmatize murderers - Santa Barbara slaying

Ann Coulter: 'This is not a good case for liberals'

Published: 2 hours ago

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 Reblogged from http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/dont-stigmatize-murderers/

Mass murder at a sunny college campus in a beach town would normally be considered “newsy,” but Elliot Rodger’s massacre at the University of California-Santa Barbara last Friday is getting surprisingly little press.

This is not a good case for liberals: The killer was an immigrant, a person of color, and the majority of his casualties resulted from attacks with a car or knife. It makes as much sense to rant about the NRA as to blame the Auto Club of America or the National Knife Collectors Association.

Rather, what we have is yet another mass murder committed by a schizophrenic – just like those of Seung-Hui Cho, Jared Loughner, James Holmes and Adam Lanza.
Yes, they all used guns. Also, they were all males. They were all college-aged. They all had hair. Those are not distinctive characteristics.

When the last five mass murderers share something that only 1 percent of the population has, I think we’ve found the relevant common denominator.
Rodger had been seeing therapists since he was 8 years old. Just last year, his psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Sophy, prescribed him Risperidone, an anti-psychotic. But after looking up what Risperidone was for – schizophrenia – Rodger decided “it was the absolute wrong thing for me to take” and never did.

See, that’s the thing about schizophrenics – they don’t think they’re sick. They think the lava lamp that’s talking to them is sick.  To read more

My report from Le Chambon, the French town that rescued thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.

Rebbloged from Joel Rosenberg´s blog: http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/

Meeting with Gabriel, 90, a devout Christian in Le Chambon sur Lignon, who joined the Resistance to fight the Nazis and protect the Jews. He was wounded twice.

Presenting a signed copy of “The Auschwitz Escape” to the staff of Le Chambon’s museum.

In 1998, the State of Israel honored every single resident of a small French town with “Righteous Among the Nations” status. Why? Because during the Holocaust, the Protestant Christian pastors of this town rallied all 3,000 people to develop a system to hid, house, feed, school and protect some 5,000 people escaping from the Nazis. Most of those who were rescued were Jews, and many of them were children.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit this special town — Le Chambon sur Lignon – of which I had written about in The Auschwitz Escape. I went with an Israeli pastor who was born in France and made Aliyah in the early 1980s. He had been there before and had friends in the town. When he heard that I was using my novel to help draw attention to the remarkable story of these remarkable Christians, he offered to take me there. It was a humbling and amazing experience.

Here is a brief report:
We arrived around 8pm on a Friday night and went straight to the evangelical church in town. Waiting for us was a packed room of about 60 Christians from Le Chambon and neighboring towns who had gathered in this mountain hamlet to learn about God’s plan for Israel & the Jewish people.

The Israeli pastor taught the prophet Jeremiah on God’s “everlasting love” for the Jews, on the importance of Jerusalem in the Bible, and why there has been such a long and fierce struggle for control of Jerusalem throughout the centuries.

“You don’t know me, you’ve never heard of me,” I told the assembled group when it was my turn to share briefly. “But I know you. I’ve heard your story. I’ve studied your story and that of fore-bearers. And God told me to tell your story around the world. I’ve come here to Le Chambon to learn more of your remarkable story. To meet you. To understand why you did what you did. But most of all, I’ve come here to thank you, and to thank your parents and grandparents, for risking your lives to save so many lives, to rescue so many Jews, during the Holocaust. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

That night, I had the opportunity to present a signed copy of The Auschwitz Escape to the pastor and his wife. On Saturday, I was able to present a signed copy of the book to the town historian, and another copy to the director of the town museum (via the staff) which is dedicated to teaching the story to future generations.

We also met with several people who had lived through those terrifying years, including Gabriel, 90, a devout Christian whose pastor was Andre Trocme, the hero who organized the people of Le Chambon to develop a system to rescue so many Jews (for details, see below).

In the days ahead, I will share more stories and pictures from our visit. But today I’d like to just lay out some of the facts of the story — facts that I hope you will share with others. When we say, “Never forget,” and “Never again,” it is selfless courage of heroes like the Christians of Le Chambon that we must remember.

• Le Chambon is located on the Lignon River, on a wide plateau in the mountains of south-central France.
• The population of the town in the early 1940s was about 3,000.
• Remarkably, the townsfolk rescued about 5,000 people, most of whom were Jews, and many of who were children.
• This was an evangelical Protestant town in a country that was — and remains — largely Catholic.
• Other Christians from surrounding towns also played an integral role helping rescue all these people — it wasn’t just the Christians of Le Chambon.
• Also, there were brave Catholics who also helped rescue Jews — it wasn’t just Protestants.
• That said, the senior pastor of the town at the time was Andre Pascal Trocme.
• Trocme was born in 1901.
• His family were Protestant evangelicals, descended from followers of John Calvin.
• They were descendants of the Hugenots, French Protestants who had been terribly persecuted by French kings who forbade them to preach the Gospel, teach the Word of God, publish or distribute Bibles, baptize believers, or gather for prayer and worship. Thus, the Trocmes – like other Christians in the town and on the plateau – understood what it was like to be a persecuted religious minority standing firm against tyrants.
• Trocme and his family not only hid, saved, and rescued Jews fleeing the Holocaust, they all organized the rest of the town to help.
• Trocme was ultimately arrested and sent to a concentration camp for his efforts in rescuing Jews, but later was released.
• He was recognized by Yad Vashem on January 5, 1971 as a “Righteous Among the Nations” for his heroic work to rescue Jews.
• When you read various accounts of his story, you quickly discover that he was a faithful, born again, deeply devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
• Trocme couldn’t bear the thought of people persecuting the Jews, for in his view — according to the Scriptures — Jews are the Chosen People of God, the apple of God’s eye.
• Trocme knew that Jesus was Jewish, and Jesus’ disciples were Jewish, and all of Jesus’ early followers were Jewish. How could a Christian oppose the Jews?
• Trocme also believed that when Jesus commanded His followers to “love your neighbor,” that this required to Christians to love and care for Jews, even Jews who didn’t — and might never — believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.
• Trocme also believed that when the Apostle Paul (also Jewish) wrote in Galatians 6 that Christians should “do good to all men,” that Paul really men “all” men, including Jews.
• Trocme’s wife’s name was Magda.
• Magda was from Italy.
• Magda was recognized by Yad Vashem as a “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1986.
• The Trocmes had four children, all of whom helped in the rescue efforts.
• Pastor Trocme’s nephew, Daniel Trocme, was a science teacher. He was asked by Andre to run a boys school for refugee children, including Jewish refugees, which he readily agreed to do.
• But Daniel was arrested by Gestapo in 1943, along with 19 boys from his school, six of whom were Jews.
• Daniel was offered his freedom by the Gestapo, but refused to be separated from the boys entrusted to his care. 
• The six Jewish boys were sent to Auschwitz and murdered.
• Daniel was sent to the Maidanek concentration camp where died in April 1944 of sickness and exhaustion. He was 34.
• Daniel was recognized by Yad Vashem as a “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1976.
• Another pastor in Le Chambon was Edouard Theis.
• Theis directed the Cevenol high school nearby, where many Jewish refugee children were educated. 
• Theis was also arrested for hiding Jews, but was later released.
• Roger Darcissac was another key leader in the town.
• Darcissac was head of the public Boys’ School, and also hid and protected many Jews.
• He, too, was arrested, but later released.
• To learn more, please read the book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, by Philip Hallie, published in 1994.

The Homosexual Ideology in US schools - Michael Brown

Lessons from the Thief on the Cross

Reblogged from the-end-time.blogspot.com

Posted: 20 May 2014 03:12 PM PDT

Jesus was crucified between two criminals, one to His right and another to His left. (Luke 23:33). They were thieves. (Matthew 27:44).

“One of the criminals who was hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43)

What was the forgiven thief’s name?

[crickets]

We don’t know, do we? When we look at the passage, often what is looked at, rightly, is the Lord’s compassion for man that He would ignore His own pain and minister to the sinners. Also, people use the text as proof that one can be justified without having done works such as baptism or partaken of the Lord’s Supper.

But what I’d like to look at is the man’s anonymity. All we know of him is that he is called The Thief on the Cross.

How would you like to be forever known by your sin? A thief. Forever.

There were others known by their sin, forever nameless in the bible. For example, there was--
--The Adulteress (John 8:3)
--The Serial Co-Habitating Woman at the Well (John 4:18)

What we know is that in the last moments of His incarnation, the last sinner whom Jesus justified was a thief. That's what makes the thief special. He is forever identified with his sin. Not his name, not His socio-economic status (Rich Young Ruler, The Rich Man and Lazarus) not his race (Syrophoenician Woman). He was a thief, a criminal, and unnamed.

What makes the thief not-special is that you or I could have been that person on the cross next to Jesus just as easily. Having broken some Jewish Law or a Roman civil law, you or I could be executed for our crimes too. All crimes are sins against God. You could be --

--The Lustful Woman on the Cross
--The Liar on the Cross
--The Greedy Defrauder on the Cross
--The Hypocrite on the Cross
--The Embezzler on the Cross
--The Porn Addicted Man on the Cross

Forever identified not as a person by your sin. Indeed, the other thief is forever identified by his sin at this moment, he died not believing.

However, the thief's notability is that he was the LAST person to be identified by His sin. Why? Colossians 2:13-14 says

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

The thievery is nailed to the cross, but the thief is alive! He is restored! He has a name! We will know him in heaven!

The atoning work of Jesus Christ is full of mercy, grace, and compassion, of which we startlingly see demonstrated by the conversation between the thief and the Messiah. Our sins are forgiven, and we are no longer known as sinners with names such as The Thief, the Adulterer, The Liar. We are known to Jesus as children of God, washed in His blood, made alive via the cross, where our sins are still nailed. The anonymous now have a name, and the dead shall live.

Hallelujah!

Doing Something to "Feel" Saved

Reblogged via raptureready.com 

By Vernon Gray

When someone gets saved, it is quite likely that that person expects to feel something emotionally or physically. If this does not happen, they may not “feel” like they are saved. It is true that one may experience something on an emotional level, but this is not always so, and in any case emotions do not last. 

Because the new believer wants to “know” that what has happened to him or her is real, they look for something tangible that they can relate to; like an emotion. Now, since there may not be some tangible manifestation to make them “feel” saved, they compensate by doing something that will give them a “feeling” that they are saved. Doing something is not a bad thing in itself, except that if it done from the flesh it is a religious thing the Bible calls “Dead Works.”

This “doing something” is sometimes encouraged by many churches; and often enforced as a legal requirement to “prove” that you were well and truly saved. New believers are vulnerable and eager to please God, and so Scriptures about tithing, bearing fruit etc, are used to get them into action; and soon they are on their way to becoming a well-meaning Pharisee. Why?

Because you end up in the place where you depend more on what you do, than on the finished work of the cross. Churchianity teaches that you have to work at being a Christian instead of simply being who you already are in Christ. This can make one feel that one cannot reach a level of “spirituality” and enthusiasm like the rest of their fellowship. This finally results in the believer feeling like a hypocrite.

This feeling of inadequacy causes them to disqualify themselves from the race. They eventually tire of working at the Christian life and failing at it consistently.
Others who feel the same way simply continue to go to church and remain involved, but they know that they are not what they should be. They maintain a sense of hypocrisy, but they would be too ashamed or too afraid to leave, because the church is all they have to cling to. Their connection to God is through the church, and the church is all that they have to lean on. They do not know that their Christian life is not dependant on what they do, or dependant on the church; their Christian life is rooted in Christ only. Nothing else can give them love, peace, joy and a deeper, personal relationship with God the Father than the Christ in them. 

Relying on the Holy Spirit for eternal life is not what the Holy Spirit came to do. He came to reveal the Christ in you, in order that you might express Christ who is the real life within you. Click here to Read More

Prayer of Gratitude

Isaiah 55 Invitation to the Thirsty: 
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David”.

Father God, Thank you that we do not have to wait for a special day, Sabbath or Sunday to rest because our souls can find rest in you alone any time, anywhere. 
Thank you that through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus, we do not have to seek anywhere else or strive for rest in anything or anybody but you. 
Thank you Lord Jesus for having finished the work that the Father gave you so that we may experience the rest, peace and abundant life when we trust you and abide in you.
Thank you that we can have food and drink without money, that your sacrifice on the cross has given us access to the Father who gives us abundant spiritual riches that satisfy. 
Let us say like you: “My food is to do the will of my Father”. 
Open our ears that we may listen carefully and hear clearly your voice, come to you and eat what is good and live by every word that comes out of your mouth. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Psychology and The End-Times Mysticism

Psychology and the End-Times Mysticism ~FBIS News Service
By sandra Lloyd April 30, 2014 Carl Jung Christian "Psychology" Deceit Maslow Mysticism

 

The following is an excerpt from our new The God of End-Times Mysticism, available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.

Psychology has been permeated with mysticism since its inception in the 19th century.

Carl Jung
Carl Jung (1875-1961), the founder of analytical psychology, has been called “the psychologist of the 21st century” (Merill Berger, The Wisdom of the Dreams, front cover.” Jung (pronounced Young) has been influential, not only in society at large, but also in the New Age movement and within almost all aspects of Christianity. Jung has influenced both modernists and evangelicals. His writings are influential within the contemplative movement. He has been promoted by Paul Tillich, Morton Kelsey, John Sanford, Thomas Moore, Joseph Campbell, John Spong, Richard Foster, Agnes Sanford, and Gary Thomas, to name a few. Jung’s psychological typing provides the underpinning for the Personality Profiling part of Rick Warren’s SHAPE program, which is used by countless churches and institutions.

Jeffrey Satinover says:
“Jung’s direct and indirect impact on mainstream Christianity–and thus on Western culture–has been incalculable. It is no exaggeration to say that the theological positions of most mainstream denominations in their approach to pastoral care, as well as in their doctrines and liturgy–have become more or less identical with Jung’s psychological/symbolic theology” (Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, p. 240, quoted from Ed Hird, “Carl Jung, Neo-Gnosticism,” March 18, 1998).

To read the whole article click on this link: Psychology and The End-Times Mysticism
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes from The Light Seed author:

Further resources: Here is an excellent site I highly recommend: PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministry whose sites contents are posted below. Reading their full size books was really helpful when trying to make sense of what happened to me for 16 years spent in the Occult, Eastern Mysticism and New Age Movement.

My second year in college, at 23 years old, I was turned on to Jung by my English teacher of World Literature.
Then, my diet consisted of many books by authors cited in the articles, plus a number of novelists mainly the ones like Hermann Hesse´s and the existential philosophers from the required reading list in Philosophy and French Existentialist literature of the 20th. Cent. I also took a graduate course for extra credit at the U of Kentucky on the French Symbolist poets. All these authors greatly influenced me at a time of vulnerability and fed my curiosity for the wisdom promised by Satan to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
Read my study on The New Age Movement

With such an introduction to the "Dark side of Evil" I was just a step away from full blown involvement in the Occult that lasted 14 more years. During that time, from 1970 to 1985, I lived in Washington, DC, France and Southern California.
Now my steady diet was picked from a smorgesbord of Theosophy, Hinduism, Transcendental Meditation, Taoism, Tai Chi, Astrology, Hatha Yoga, Kriya Yoga with Self-Realization Fellowship Hindu Guru Paramahansa Yogananda, Channeling sessions and Spiritual Healing.

The Lord Jesus graciously rescued me from the grips of deceptive and destructive New Age teachings. It took a long period of reprogramming my mind to understand the depth and extent of the poisonous demonic teachings that deceived and blinded me and resulted in  my family and me paying dearlly the consequences of my straying away from the Truth of the Word of God. Sadly, the more churches I attended and the more Christians friends I made especially in Faith/Word, Pentecostal/Charismatic and even Evangelical, the more my suspicions grew that the Christian church and so called Christian psychology and counseling had been invaded by Gnosticism, Eastern Mysticism thought and practices. 

My 30 years of experience in different denominations and movements within the Christian church confirm what the author of the above research and accurate analysis article  describe in details. The alarm had been sounded more than 60 or 70 years ago when nobody but a few were paying attention. Now the rising evil tide only confirms the Word of God through the prophecies for these end-times.

¹³ But all things become visible when they are ^[a]exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. ¹⁴ For this reason ^[b]it says,

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Therefore ^[c]be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise. Ephesians 5:13-15.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
  

 

Exposing psychoheresy and its increasing stranglehold on the Church
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Good Morning, Lord. A Commentary On Psalm 19

Reblogged from Grace Thru Faith

• Forgiveness
• Grace
• Israel
• Past Featured
• Prayer

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Psalm 19 is one of the best daily prayers I’ve ever found. Commit it to memory and use it in your prayers each morning. Just like your daily bath or shower makes you physically clean, praying Psalm 19 makes you spiritually clean.  It’s a great way to fulfill 1 John 1:9,  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Let’s go through Psalm 19 and I’ll show you why I believe it’s such a good one to know by heart.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)


These verses refer to the Hebrew Mazzaroth, later corrupted into Babylonian Astrology. Hebrew tradition holds that Adam, Seth, and Enoch picked 12 constellations of stars, each with a major star and 3 minor ones (called decans) and named them in such a way as to tell the gospel story.  Being a nomadic people who slept in the open with their flocks, generations of fathers could point out these constellations to their sons at night and use them to teach the redemption story. This was to give hope to the sons, who had heard stories of the fall of Man and his expulsion from the Garden. It taught them that one day God would send His Son to redeem them. Their faith in God’s promise, written in the stars, is what saved them from their sins.

Evidence shows that the Sphinx in Egypt is a monument to the Mazzaroth with the head of a woman (Virgo) and the body of a lion (Leo) combining the 1st and 12th signs and completing the circle of redemption. Some experts contend that the particular kind of erosion the sphinx has experienced could only have occurred if it had spent a period of time under water. If so, it’s a pre-flood memorial to the Gospel in the Stars.

In ancient Babylon, the 12 constellations were given different names, most of which bore no resemblance to the original Hebrew, and the 12 signs of the Zodiac were born taking God completely out of the picture. The Babylonian names survive to this day and are the basis for the false religion we call astrology.  This was one of the enemy’s early attempts to deprive mankind of the Gospel story.  There is speculation among archeologists and astrologers alike that the Tower of Babel may have been dedicated to the study of astrology.  Signs of the Zodiac have been found in the ruins of similar ancient towers.  In Israel the study of Astrology was a sin punishable by death (Deut. 18:9-12 KJV).
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. (Psalm 19:5-6)


The rising and setting of the Sun each day also give evidence of God’s creative powers in providing the light and warmth necessary to sustain our lives day in and day out. How could this happen by chance?
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11)

God’s Laws, while impossible to keep in their entirety, are the standard for behavior that He requires of us.  Neither arbitrary nor oppressive, they are perfect as He is perfect, and making them part of your life is the sure path to prosperity and success (Joshua 1:8).  Even people who don’t believe in the Creator who ordained them are blessed by incorporating His laws into their lifestyle.
Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:12-13)

But even the best of us falls pitifully short of achieving the standards God’s law sets forth.  Our behavior is so contaminated by our sin nature we don’t even realize the extent to which we violate them.  So David’s prayer was not just for God’s help in preventing him from consciously sinning, but also for forgiveness for the sins he wasn’t even aware of committing.

In Old Testament times, the evening and morning burnt offerings temporarily set aside the unintentional sins of the nation. From the time of the Exodus to the coming of the Messiah these offerings were part of their daily lives.  The evening offering was kept burning all night to atone for the sins they committed during the night and the morning offering covered them all through the day.  Two lambs gave their life every day to show the people the extent to which sin had permeated their lives, literally causing them to violate God’s laws day and night.

As the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29) Jesus replaced these twice daily burnt offerings with His once-for-all-time sacrifice (Hebrews 10:11-14). And it covered conscious as well as unconscious sin.  Since He has already paid the penalty due us, we need only confess to be forgiven.  Some dispute this, arguing that our original confession should be sufficient for life.  However John the Apostle reminded us that if we think we’re without sin we’re liars, fooling ourselves. But if we confess our sins, as David did, including even those that are so much a part of our behavior that we’re not even aware of them, God Who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-10)  Our original confession saved us forever, but maintaining an intimate relationship with God in the here and now requires confession whenever we sin.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

God, Who judges the motives of our heart knows the difference between the sincere confession of a humble and contrite sinner and the mindless mouthing of words we’ve learned to say without feeling. David closed his prayer with the hope that God would count him sincere as he offered his confession, and judge his motives favorably. Good advice for us too.

Today, when there’s so much emphasis on self, it’s easy to forget that we’re created beings who’ve been given incredible talent and ability to use as we see fit, and a guide to living that will assure success beyond our wildest imagination.  Beginning each day by declaring the glory of our Creator, acknowledging and confessing our sins, and protecting our relationship with the One who is the author of all our victories is a great antidote for the self-centeredness that can so easily overtake us.

In the days ahead our way of life will be challenged in ways we would never have imagined just a few years ago.  It’s more important now than ever before that we stay close to our Lord and Savior, to avail ourselves of His blessing and His protection.  Knowing and praying Psalm 19 will help us do that. Selah 10-30-10