Please take time to enjoy your holiday weekend as we celebrate our independence. Liberty does not come free. It was paid for at the price of death, and continues to be paid for by those who choose to live free. As Christians, Christ paid the ultimate price and then we must deny ourselves daily. Happy Fourth of July.

Homosexual Couple Sues State of Louisiana

In New Orleans, two men are suing officials from the State of Louisiana for denying to issue them a marriage certificate claiming they have right to marry under the United States Constitution and international law. Louisiana’s state constitution bans homosexual marriage. The complaint, filed in federal court, claims that the right to marriage “derives from the following sources”: First Amendment, Eighth Amendment, Ninth Amendment, Ten Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Articles I, X, and VI of the U.S. Constitution, and various international laws.

On the web: http://www.alliancealert.org/2009/20090630.pdf

Abortion Ban to Hit Montana Ballots in 2010

On Wednesday, the Montana Pro Life Coalition submitted constitutional initiatives to protect the life of fetuses and embryos. If passed, the law would be changed to make abortion illegal.

Holder’s Testimony on Proposed Hate Crimes Legislation

Take time to read the WorldNewDaily article, Holder: ‘Gays’ protected, ministers not. No matter what is said, there is no profound need or logical basis of the proposed legistlation and Holder proves it himself.

Americans United Back-stepping

According to Liberty Counsel, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) has scrambled to cover their tracks after Liberty Counsel filed a complaint with the IRS against the organization. AU has a history of trying to silence conservative churches and pastors by filing complaints against them with the IRS.

According to Liberty Counsel, AU tends to file complaints against churches and pastors that lean toward Republican candidates. Shortly after the complaint was filed, AU filed a complaint against a Richmond, Virginia church for endorsing a democratic candidate.

On the web: http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=826

Remember Our Fellow Americans

As the economy is not showing signs of strengthening any time soon, many Americans employed by state governments across the nation are losing days of work and pay due to shortfalls in budgets and unapproved budgets. Some, instead of losing days of work, have lost their jobs completely.

Workers for various agencies in Mississippi were told yesterday to gas up the state vehicles before six because the state-issued gas cards would be cut off. We need to remember our country in prayer. At the rate we are going, we have not even begun to experience the financial crunches to come.

TEA Parties Scheduled Across the Nation

This Saturday, July 4, 2009, there are over 1300 scheduled TEA parties scheduled across the nation. For a party near you, check out http://www.teapartyday.com.

White House Celebrates with Homosexual Activists

President Obama hosted hundreds of homosexual activists yesterday at the White House to celebrate its LGBT Pride Month. This served on the wake of the 40^th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Obama stated:

And though we’ve made progress, there are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes; who fail to see your families like their families; and who would deny you the rights that most Americans take for granted.

The time for churches get out and impact society is greater than ever in the beloved country. Days like this would sadden our forefathers as we embark on Independence Day.

On the web: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Celebrating-LGBT-Pride-Month/

Freedom Federation

Today, the Freedom Federation was official launched where several Christian and pro-life groups have come together to help organize and unify Christian Americans to commit to preserving the Judeo-Christian values that our great nation was founded upon. The groups come together from many different denominations, races, and backgrounds to form an association of like-minded Americans who still believe in our rich heritage and our dependence upon God as a nation.

Lesbian Couple Speaks at Mississippi Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church

Earlier this month, Don Wildmon, of the American Family Association (AFA) sent out emails to Mississippi Methodists after a lesbian couple was invited to speak at the annual conference.  According to AFA, the two spoke at a June 12 worship service in Jackson, Mississippi.

Having watched the interviews, it was apparent that their church allows them to serve in leadership roles. The overall appeal was to have the denomination accept homosexuals. Of course, this would blatantly call for the church to deny the Bible and allow people to serve while living in un-repented sin. Remember our Methodist brothers and sisters as they attempt to work through this.

We need to reach out, but reaching out does not mean embracing the sin.

On the web: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Blog/Default.aspx?id=569084

Obama Meet the Pope

According to the White House Press Office, President Obama is set to meet with the Pope next month. Though it may be too soon to speculate, the trip is bound to be a PR event for both parties.

Join in the PepsiCo Boycott

From sponsoring ads in homosexual magazines, such as Out, to gay day parades, executives at PepsiCo have made their agenda clear. It seems that executives might deny their involvement but media says otherwise.

I want to urge you to help in sending PepsiCo executives a message by stopping your use of you’re the PepsiCo family of products (Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Gatorade, Quaker, Tropicana, Frito Lay, True North) and signing an online petition.

Alliance Defense Fund Sets up Hotline for Washington Referendum 71 Supports

On June 12, 2009, the update questioned where major media was while pro-lifers and pro-family backers are being harassed by organizations for standing up for Biblical values such as Proposition 8. Residents in the state of Washington are experiencing retaliation as well.

The Alliance Defense Fund has set up a hotline (1.800.655.6592) and website, www.telladf.org/r7, for residents of Washington state that have “credible reports of retaliation against them because of their support of Referendum 71.” This referendum would give voters the right to decide whether or not that registered domestic partnership should be recognized with similarly the same status as marriage.

On the web: http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4993

Liberty Counsel Asks Navy to Reconsider Ban of Religious Speech on Navy Moms Website

Monday, June 22, 2009, Liberty Counsel asked Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, to stop discriminating again religious freedom and to all users to use their free speech on the a website (www.navyformoms.com) set up by the US Navy for mothers and other loved ones to communicate. A forum called “Christian Chat” was formed in September of last year but the group was told that they could no long use the name. Eventually the guidelines were changed to prohibit all religious discussions except for prayers posted for the sailors.

On the web: http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=820

Rick Warren to Speak to the Islamic Society of North America Convention

The Indianapolis Star has reported that Rick Warren is scheduled to speak at the upcoming Islamic Society convention on the theme of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”, our hope would be that he lets all know that this can only be found in Jesus Christ.

There was no comment available from Warren on his appearance so what exactly he hopes to accomplish is unknown. In 2005, he met with Jewish leaders in attempts to help them grow their synagogues.

On the web:

Christians Taking a Stand

One of pending issues since 2007 in the Southern Baptist Convention was whether or not to cut the relationship with Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas over their support of homosexuals. The whole stiff came over a church directory and question of whether or not to include a homosexual couple. Broadway decided to cut the family pictures in hopes of avoiding the problems that having a homosexual couple in a church family directory would have caused.

However, at issue with the executive committee was the fact that the church allows homosexuals to unrepentantly serve in the church, some of which were leading others. The convention voted to sever their relationship with Broadway, which comes as a praise for the exectutive committee and messengers to stand firm on biblical principles. We are to minister to sinners (as we are sinners ourselves) but never should we embrace sin.

Washington Post Interview with Jim Daly of Focus on the Family

Jim Daly is now president and CEO of Focus on the Family, which is known mostly by others as the organization started by James Dobson. A few things of interest came from the article but one thing bothers me.

Daly  was asked by the Washington Post reporter, Jacqueline L. Salmon what he meant by saying, “What we want to see is more families like Barack Obama’s” in February during a press conference Daly answered, “I meant simply a man and women committed to their marriage and raising their kids. That’s kind of core to Focus on the Family’s message.” For me, coming from a mixed up family, one which my mother has married three times and all the drama in between, I have been careful to counsel others in that they should be careful when comparing their life to the life of the Jone’s down the street or at church when we nothing about them. Truthfully, we know very little about the Obama family. Scary things happen in the home that many of us never know. A pastor friend of mine and his wife has been clear on one thing. Though you would think that they had it together raising their children, they realized that there were some serious issues with how and what they did while raising their children. Our families should strive to live biblically and somehow describing a family we nothing about except that faith in Christ is definitely center of their lives does not seem to be congruent with what the mission of Focus on the Family is.

According to the Focus on the Family website, “…Focus on the Family’s primary reason for existence is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a practical outreach to homes, we have firm beliefs about both the Christian faith and the importance of the family.”

To read the full article, click here.

Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting

Tomorrow, the Southern Baptist Convention is hosting its annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Please pray for those in attendance as the meeting continues through Wednesday. Currently, many pressing issues are occurring in the convention, one of which will address (but probably will be floored) an emerging church type movement happening in the convention. Though the ideas may be good to an extent, there has been a lot of liberalism fostered in the convention and sadly much has been driven by our younger pastors.

PBS Strikes a Compromise

The board at PBS has decided that stations that air religious broadcasting, such as devotionals or service may continue with such programming but that they may not add any new programming that would put one religion over another.

Discernment in the Church

Pulpits and seminaries are flooded with questionable teachers who take sex and talks about sex to a secular and perverted level. Baptist Press reported again on a controversial pastor, Mark Driscoll. Today more than ever, it is important that we stick true to the Word of God and measure what a man says about the Bible, by the Bible not his title, the size of his congregation, or degree(s) attained.

To view the Baptist Press article, click here. Please know that it contains explicit language as used by Mark Driscoll. No matter how much good someone has to say, the good never outweighs sin.

Obama Extends Federal Benefits to “Domestic Partners”

In President Obama’s latest attempt to mock marriage, he has stated that he will sign a memorandum extending federal benefits to “domestic partners” today.  The most that this accomplishes is that it further degrades what was once viewed as “holy” matrimony.

Washington D.C. Silences Residents – Update

Yesterday, I reported on the Washington D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics tried to hijack the voice of Washington voters, but the battle was not over. Today, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) announced that it filed a lawsuit on Wednesday on behalf of Bishop Harry Jackson and other Washington D.C. voters against the Board of Elections and Ethics. According to ADF, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled almost 15 years ago that marriage recognized as being between one man and a woman does not violate the human rights act.

On the web: http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4984