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Vol. 1 No.12                                                                                                                                   October 21, 2004

          From the Desk of Pastor Rick Scarborough

PHILADELPHIA CONSIDERS THE BIBLE HATE SPEECH

If you need further evidence of what the homosexual movement has in store for people of faith, look no further than the arrests of 11 Christians in Philadelphia, for trying to witness at a gay celebration.

On October 10th, a group called Repent America attempted to pray and preach at the annual OutFest -- a gay “pride” event that receives $22,500 annually from the city.

Police did nothing about homosexual harassment of the Christians by a group calling itself the Pink Angels. Even though members of Repent America followed all directions of the Philadelphia police – including those they considered unlawful – they were arrested without warning on the orders of James Tiano, head of the Civil Affairs Unit, and hauled off to jail, where they remained for 21 hours.

The six men and five woman (one 67 years old) are being charged with criminal conspiracy, reckless endangerment, riot (a felony), disorderly conduct and “ethnic intimidation” (?) among other offenses. If convicted on all counts, they could face 47 years in prison for bearing witness to the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality.

This is truly an outrage! The First Amendment notwithstanding, increasingly, government is becoming an instrument for suppressing dissent from the homosexual agenda.

Members of Repent America are being represented by the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy. For updates on the prosecution/persecution of the Philadelphia 11, or for information on Repent America, go to the group’s website http://www.repentamerica.com. Pray that what was once the City of Brotherly Love repents of its unloving conduct toward Christians.

COUNTY STANDS WITH TEDDY ROOSEVELT

Despite attempted intimidation by the Anti-Defamation League, Riverside County will continue to display a quote by Theodore Roosevelt, in its courthouse.

The ADL has threatened to sue the county if it doesn’t remove a quote by the hero of San Juan Hill, engraved on a wall in the courthouse, along with sayings of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. The Roosevelt quote – “The true Christian is the true citizen” – has been there since 1930.

Nevertheless, the ADL claims the quote “marginalizes” non-Christians who see it. And are Buddhists and Hindus “marginalized” by the representation of Moses and the 10 Commandments tablets in the courtroom of the U.S. Supreme Court?

Ironically, as police commissioner of New York City, Teddy Roosevelt was the first to hire Jewish officers. He was also the first president to appoint a Jew to his cabinet. As president, Roosevelt vigorously protested Czarist anti-Semitism -- all of this from a man who believed that a good Christian is a good citizen. To Christians, it makes perfect sense.

FORMER VATICAN AMBASSADOR TELLS CATHOLICS TO VOTE THEIR FAITH

In a recent speech on Cape Cod, Raymond Flynn – former Boston mayor, former US ambassador to the Vatican – urged Catholics to vote their conscience and their faith.

As for candidates who say they’ll only appoint judges who pledge to support Roe vs. Wade, Flynn called them “anti-Catholic.” The ambassador said it reminded him of employment ads that ran in Boston newspapers at the turn-of-the-century with the tag line “Irish Need Not Apply.”

“That’s a very scary thing and it’s something I’m not prepared to accept, and it’s not something Catholics should be prepared to accept,” Flynn told the Catholic Unity Rally, sponsored by the Cape Cod Pro-Life Alliance.

Increasingly, people of faith are refusing to be intimidated by the secular culture and declaring that the best voter guide is the Bible and the teachings of their church.

The Mayor is chairman of Catholic Citizenship, a group whose efforts among Catholics are very similar to Vision America’s voter education/mobilization work with evangelicals. For more information on its worthy activities, go to www.catholicvote.org.

COURT SAYS EQUAL PROTECTION APPLIES TO CHRISTIANS

Equal protection applies to Christians, too. That was the message of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of a New Jersey school district’s refusal to distribute announcements of meetings of the Child Evangelism Fellowship.

The Appeals Court upheld a state court ruling that the Stafford Township School District couldn’t discriminate against the fellowship. As long as it distributed flyers for other student organizations, it has to do the same for the fellowship, the court held.

The court dismissed the district’s argument that it has a policy against circulating material for groups that “proselytize.” “These rationalizations are either incoherent or euphemisms for view-point based religious discrimination,” the court ruled.

The district may not have heard, but evangelizing is something Christians do. It was trying to penalize Christians for being Christians.

We have become America’s most besieged minority.

The fellowship was represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, http://ww.alliancedefensefund.org. which is to be commended for its fine work.

ACTION TODAY

MAKE YOURS A 100% CHURCH

The American Family Association is asking Christians to encourage their churches to participate in “One Hundred Percent Sunday,” on October 31, just two days before the election.

The goal is to get participating churches to turn out 100 percent of their registered voters in this year’s election. AFA is hoping to mobilize 100,000 churches for 100% participation. What a wonderful goal! If that happens, they’ll be no more talk of the apathetic Christian vote. For more information on this worthy project, including registering your church online, go to http://www.onehundredpercentsunday.com.

AMERICA FOR JESUS

Tomorrow, October 22nd, I’ll be joining Christians from across the United States on the Mall in Washington, D.C., for a day of prayer and fasting. The rally will run from 6am to 6pm, with a worship service extending to 10 that evening.

The principal organizer of this event, Bishop John Gimenez, pastor of Rock Church International in Virginia Beach, has issued a simple but eloquent call: “Our nation is in moral decline. From pornography and homosexuality to abortion and racism, this country is out of control. . . . While we have soldiers fighting in other lands to protect our freedom, Christians must be willing to defend our faith with humble prayer and fasting.”

The rally has been endorsed by over 100 of America’s most influential Christian leaders, including CBN founder Pat Robertson and Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

I’ll be leading the convocation sometime between 2 and 4 pm, and hope to see you there.

For more information on America for Jesus, call Giles Hudson at 469-774-6377 or go to http://apjc.unored.com.

 

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