BOB&TOM TV: "Obama Man" by Greg Morton

Pastor Steven Furtick - Guest Blog

Pastor Steven Furtick is the Lead Pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Anxiety

Anxiety is sin.  My anxiety infers that:

-God is incompetent.
If I’m anxious, it suggests that there’s an issue in my life that God is potentially incapable of resolving.  If His arm is not short and His ear is not deaf , why am I kicking and screaming trying to save myself?

-God is forgetful.
Do I suspect that my need has slipped God’s mind?  Does the Lord need me to send Him a reminder in the form of my panic and stress…just to make sure He doesn’t miss the appointment?

-God is indifferent.
1 Peter 5:7 teaches that I can cast all my anxiety on Him-because-and only because-He cares for me.
By refusing to cast my cares on Him, I expose my deep down belief that He really doesn’t care-about me…about my particular burden.  Anxiety puts the pressure on me to perform as my own personal Savior, thereby undermining the intentions of God on my behalf.

Anybody other than me need to repent?

Be anxious for nothing.
Anxiety is unbiblical.  It’s counterproductive.  And it’s a direct insult to the proven character of a powerful, faithful, loving God.

THE TERRORISTS' BEST US HOPE

Dick Morris announced this article would be published and discussed it last week on Bill O'Reilly's The Factor on the Fox News Channel.

THE TERRORISTS' BEST US HOPE

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published in the New York Post on May 23, 2009

President Obama is attacking a red herring when he defends his decision to send the worst terrorists at Guantanamo to United States prisons by saying the likelihood of escape from secure federal facilities is very low.

Of course it is. No rope ladder or prison laundry truck is likely to do the trick.

But when it comes to federal judges, we can't be so sure.

The reason we sent the terrorists to Guantanamo in the first place, rather than bring them onto US soil, was never really connected to worries that they might escape. The Bush administration feared, quite correctly, that if the inmates were in federal prisons on US territory, federal judges would take their pleas for constitutional rights more seriously.

That argument is still true, and bringing the terrorists to the United States puts us at risk that they could be freed by court order.

Some detainees will be tried in US courts on US soil. The first will be tried in New York.

This raises two problems: First, if he is acquitted, where will he be released? Likely, he'll just be invited to walk out the door and onto the streets of New York. Second, is there a danger of terrorist retaliation or attempts to interdict the trial with violence?

Trying a terrorist in the Big Apple serves to paint a bull's-eye on the courthouse. The recently foiled plan to attack New York City synagogues demonstrates that terrorists have the city in their sights, as they have since the 1993 World Trade Center attack. Could Obama find a worse place to conduct a trial?

The very concept of trying terrorists under US law is a slippery slope. We specifically allow our military and intelligence operatives to proceed without the procedural safeguards enumerated in the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth amendments. Why? Because we didn't plan for trials in civilian courts, we didn't take care to see that the evidence was obtained so as to be admissible in civilian courts.

If Obama is now to reverse field and try these terrorists, the results might be disastrous. It's unlikely that the prosecutors would be able to use all the evidence against them because it wasn't gathered with an eye to its admissibility in a criminal trial. The best evidence couldn't be used against the 20th hijacker, Zacharias Moussaui, so he did not get a death sentence or even life in prison.

If terrorists are acquitted or released by a federal judge's ruling, the odds are good that they will go right back to fighting against us. In our book, "Fleeced," we describe some of the most egregious examples of freed terrorists' returning to their wicked ways. And former Vice President Dick Cheney in his address Thursday said that one in seven of the detainees freed from Guantanamo has rejoined the terrorists.

Consider the case of Abdullah Mehsud, who was captured in Afghanistan and, after hiding his identity as second-in-command of a Pakistani Taliban group, was freed after two years at Gitmo. Once free, he kidnapped two Chinese engineers who were working on a hydroelectric dam and killed one of them.

Obama's plans will put his kind right in our midst, awaiting either a trial they may win or a federal court ruling that may spring them.

Memorial Day

the GOP

             So I said to him, "Barack, I know Abe Lincoln, and you ain't Abe Lincoln."

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
.....Abraham Lincoln

Iran nuclear threat

* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *

NEW POLL EXAMINES AMERICANS' FEARS OF IRAN NUCLEAR THREAT TO U.S. AND ISRAEL

By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., May 22, 2009) -- A fascinating new poll by McLaughlin & Associates finds Americans are deeply and overwhelming concerned about the rising Iranian nuclear threat both to the U.S. and to Israel, and deeply concerned about the potential for Radical Islamic terrorists to acquire nuclear weapons from Iran. The poll also suggests the Obama administration's apparent strategy of backing away from a full-fledged alliance with Israel - and strategy to pressure Israel to make unwise territorial concessions and potentially not defend herself from the Iran threat - could backfire politically, both for the White House and for Members of Congress who sign on to the President's approach. Excerpts:
* Nine in ten voters (91%) say that Iran supplying a nuclear umbrella for terrorists is a serious threat to the United States
* Seven in ten voters (71%) say the United States will not be safe with a nuclear Iran
* Eight in ten voters (80%) say it is likely that Iran will launch a missile attack on Israel
* Three in four voters (77%) say it is likely that Iran will use the threat of nuclear attack to provide a shield for Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists to attack Israel
* The majority of voters approves of taking several specific actions to discourage the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Iran

Don't pressure Israel

On Monday, Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu met with President Obama at the White House.  The meeting was largely cordial, and both men spoke about their desire to pursue peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

While each leader has expressed an interest in peace talks, however, it is not clear that they share the same vision when it comes to the details of peace making.  Will President Obama continue working with Prime Minister Netanyahu as a partner?  Or will he pressure the Prime Minister into making concessions that the Israelis believe to be unwise?  We do not currently know the answer to these questions. 

It is therefore important that we urge the President now, at the outset, to pursue peace in close coordination with Israel's democratically elected leaders.  Please click here to send a message to President Obama not to pressure Israel.

As a candidate and again after his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday, President Obama pledged to protect Israel's security.  Let us encourage him to keep this pledge, and to recognize that when it comes to taking risks for peace the Israelis must ultimately be the ones to decide.

May God Bless You and Those that You Love,

Pastor John Hagee
National Chairman
Christians United for Israel

Health update 5.13.2009

I got the Aredia IV for strengthening my bones. It takes about 2 hours. The blood tests all look pretty good. Although I haven't achieved remission I have hit a plateau so our new strategy is to maintain the plateau. I will continue on the Revlimid as long as I can tolerate it or until it quits working to reduce the cancer/maintaining the plateau.

I do get to quit the steroid and the coumadin immediately. Yea! The steroid messes up my blood sugar for a couple of days. All & all it was a good report.

Obama's war on Israel

For the past several weeks I have been listening to Obama administration personnel criticizing Israel's posture to defend themselves and insisting that Israel must accept a two-state solution. Well, personally, I think there is already a two-state solution... Israel and Gaza/West Bank.

I feel that this is another issue that Obama has lied to the American public about. During the campaign he stated he supported Israel and their protection was critical. Now, I feel he has stabbed Israel and those of us who support Israel in the back.

Once again, Obama is proving he cannot and should not be trusted.

The following is an article from One Jerusalem regarding this very subject:

[05.08.2009]

OBAMA'S ESCALATING WAR ON ISRAEL

Based on the growing body of evidence in the public domain one could make the case that Israel has gone from American ally to American problem in the eyes of the Obama Administration.

High level members of the Obama Administration, including Secretary of State Clinton, Vice President Biden, and Chief of Staff Emanuel, have taken to the airwaves to threaten, badger, and cajole the Jewish State. This endless barrage of criticism comes before the first meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Instead of trying to pave the way for a smooth working relationship, the Obama team seems determined to be seen as turning over a new page in the historically friendly relations between Israel and the United States. One could make the case that the Obama Administration is showing the Muslim world that Israel no longer has a special relationship with the United States.

Israel is not the only ally being used to placate the Muslim world. Not too long ago, President Obama interjected himself into the European debate over Turkey's desire for membership in the European Union. Without any prompting, the President came out four square on Muslim Turkey's side, placing the United States in opposition to France and Germany. France's President Sarkozy openly questioned why Obama entered this controversy and why he sided against his European allies.

It turns out that this episode appears to be the opening chapter in a strategy by Obama to win over the Muslim world. While the Turkey-EU debate is contentious, the controversies with Israel can have dire consequences.

In the weeks leading up to the coming meeting between Obama and Netanyahu the Obama Administration has ratcheted up the stakes by linking what it wants Israel to do with the Palestinians with policy toward Iran. The most forceful statement of this policy was made by Vice President Biden at the AIPAC convention. He emphatically stated that Israel must pursue the failed two state policy with the Palestinians if it wants the United States to cooperate with Israel on Iran policy.

This linkage of the Palestinian and Iranian issues is outrageous. The Obama Administration is in fact saying that the nuclear and terrorist threat from Iran is exclusively an Israeli problem, which the Obama Administration will help on if Israel behaves itself. The logical extension of this thought process is that Iran is not an American problem.

What is going on here? A European friend who has conversed with members of the Obama Administration has concluded that the Administration sees Israel as an obstacle that needs to be kicked down the road. It sure seems that way.

But the consequences of this policy can have catastrophic consequences if it is not checked - for Israel and the United States.

Obama's plan of pursuing open ended talks with Iran has given Iran even more time to develop its nuclear program. France's Sarkozy told a friend that the kid gloves approach of Obama has made it impossible to maintain let alone strengthen the economic sanctions against Iran. European countries are interpreting Obama's policies as a sign that sanctions will be lifted and they are not interested in continuing a policy that hurts their economies when the United States is letting Iran off the hook on the issue of its nuclear program.

Another informed source has told One Jerusalem that the Obama Administration has concluded that it can live and contain a nuclear Iran. They also believe that they can convince the Arab States that are threatened by Iran not to develop nuclear weapons. This why high Obama officials, first Dennis Ross and now Secretary of Defense Gates have been dispatched to the Gulf to try and calm the understandably agitated Arab States: After all Iran is a sworn enemy of these American allies.

Obama and his administration are making a monumental miscalculation based on false assumptions. They premise their conclusion that they can contain a nuclear Iran on the successful containment of the nuclear Soviet Union. This analogy is wrong on several fronts. The Soviet Union was not a messianic, radical Islamic regime bent on reestablishing the Persian Empire and killing all its adversaries.

Obama is also mistaken in thinking that neutralizing Israel will bring peace to the Middle East. The reality is that Israel is the only reliable ally the United States has in the region. The triumph of Iran or the Palestinians would be a setback for the United States.

I'm not ashamed

I have often blogged about Pastor Steven Furtick and Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. The following is from his blog www.StevenFurtick.com. When I read it I felt it was a wonderful testimony but it also illustrates many of our doubts. I hope you enjoy it!

Pastor Steven Furtick is the Lead Pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina

I’m not ashamed

Holly [Pastor's wife] and I were having a pretty deep conversation about spiritual things the other day.  When we started the conversation, nobody else was around.  Since it was a private conversation, we were speaking really plainly about Jesus, the Bible, and what God was doing in our lives.

Then some other people walked up beside us (it was a public place), and I found myself toning down my conversation.  I felt kind of like it was rude for me to keep talking about God with strangers listening.  Eventually, I became so uncomfortable that I changed the subject altogether.
Looking back, I’m really ashamed of myself.  I’m ashamed that I was ashamed to continue having an overtly Christian conversation with my wife for fear of what two people who I had never seen before and would likely never see again would think about it.  Especially since they probably weren’t even paying attention to us to begin with.

My willingness to talk openly about Jesus has gone through many different stages.  At times, I’ve been excessive and obnoxious, forcing Jesus into conversations with poor drive-thru workers who were just trying to do their job, hoping that my memorized/regurgitated witnessing lines would bring them to a salvific understanding of the Gospel by the time my value meal transaction was complete.
My intentions were good, the results were disappointing.  I probably did more harm than good.

On the other extreme, what the crap would make me so self-conscious that I would stop talking to my wife about the God who means everything because somebody might think I’m one of those weird Christians?
Shame on me.  I’m a preacher, for crying out loud!

I don’t want to be annoying about my faith.  But it’s even worse to be ashamed.
I’m determined to find the sweet spot of appropriate confidence and inspired boldness that enables me to speak life-
being ever sensitive, but never ashamed.

{Published with Permission}

this is what i've been blogging about!

Health update 5.6.2009

Just went for blood test and they all looked pretty good. Most are going in the right direction. Next week I actually see the oncologist and get his opinion as to how it looks.

Muslim Demographics

Islam will overwhelm Christendom unless Christians recognize the demographic realities, begin reproducing again, and share the gospel with Muslims.