Democrats who supported a House resolution to honor Ramadan voted against a similar resolution to honor Christmas and Christianity last night.
18 Democrats voted “nay” or “present” on a resolution to “recognize the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.” An eagle-eyed Republican House staffer points out that those same members, with one exception, voted to “recognize the commencement of Ramadan,” a Muslim religious observance in October.
Nine Democrats voted against the Christmas resolution. They are: Rep. Gary Ackerman (N.Y.), Rep. Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Rep. Diane DeGette (Colo.), Rep. Alcee Hastings (Fla.), Rep. Barbara Lee (Calif.), Rep. Jim McDermott (Wash.), Rep. Robert Scott (Va.), Rep. Pete Stark (Calif.) and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).
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Another nine Democrats chose to vote "present." They are: Rep. John Conyers (Mich.), Rep. Barney Frank (Mass.), Rep. Rush Holt (N.J.), Rep. Donald Payne (N.J.), Rep. Allyson Schwartz (Pa.), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), Rep. Peter Welch (Vt.) and Rep. John Yarmuth (Ky.).
Each of them supported the Ramadan resolution except for Rep. Lee, who did not vote.
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The Weekly Walk from James MacDonald
I am Forgiven
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit … I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, “and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Psalm 32:1,5
Can I remind you today of what God’s Word says about His forgiveness? I have prayed that as you read these Scriptures that the hope of God’s mercy will wash over your life. No matter what your relationship with God is like right now, you need His forgiveness. You need relief from the weight of guilt. You need to come to Him for the first or millionth time. Soak in what Scripture says about you and God, and what He would like to do, if you would choose:
The fact of God’s forgiveness.
Exodus 34:6, “The Lord [is] compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. Yet he will by no means clear the guilty.”
Psalm 86:5, “For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all who call upon you.”
Micah 7:18, “Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, who does not retain His anger forever but delights in unchanging love.”
The extent of God’s forgiveness.
Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us.”
Micah 7:19, “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
The blessing of forgiveness.
Ezekiel 36:25, “I’ll give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove your heart of stone. I’ll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you’ll be careful to observe my ordinances.”
Psalm 32:1, “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
When you think of the number of people on the broad road carrying their sin with them, and the few on the narrow road who find the forgiveness of their sins in God. How eternally blessed is the one whose sins are covered, who can say, I’m forgiven by God.
* Is there any sin that I need to confess to the Lord? Stop and take care of this right now.
* What confidence do I have that I will be forgiven?
* Pray any of the Scriptures above back to the Lord, and personalize with your name.
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Web Video of the Week: the Cadbury Gorilla
This 90 second video has taken the United Kingdom by storm. Every day, over half a million viewers have logged on to see this video since it released in November of 2007. Is this really Phil Collins in a gorilla suit? Is it a gifted primate really drumming to "In the Air Tonight"? See the video and decide for yourself... hundreds of blogs have popped up discussing this imaginative advertisement.
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Anyone looking for a drummer?
IS GOD REALLY TO BLAME?
When British rock star Laim Gallagher's father took a hammer and struck his mother, he blamed God. “I stopped believing in God because of what happened to me,” he said, explaining that he and his mother and two brothers were forced to move into an apartment and start another life.
Yes, blame God. I've never quite been able to understand why God becomes the whipping boy for all human failure instead of the refuge to whom we run when people fail us and situations develop which are hostile to us.
If God mechanically dictated the conduct of people who were no more than robots without a will of their own, then the owner-operator of the universe might be held accountable. But to blame God for human failure is logic badly flawed.
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Perfectly Attuned
The music of Christmas is filling the air, and multiplied church programs honor Christ’s birth. I witnessed a most touching presentation involving a deaf choir “singing” with others. “Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices, O night divine, O night when Christ was born….” They could not hear one thing, let alone angel voices, but their faces were radiant and joyous and they had heard the Savior’s voice with that inner ear of the understanding. Later on, of course, their ears will be perfectly attuned to the wondrous sounds of heaven.... READ MORE >
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Celebrating Life this Christmas!
livingInTheActiveWord
Devotional for November 26, 2007 PRINT VERSION
Click here to get your copy!
Know That You Know
"Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" --Matthew 7:22–23 (NKJV)
This is one of the most sobering Scriptures that you will ever read. Jesus is addressing the fact that in the end, there will be multitudes of men and women expecting Him to welcome them into the kingdom, only to discover they are aren't going to get in. The reason is clearly communicated as Christ declares, "I never knew you." Imagine their horrific shock. These are religious people; they talked a lot about God and even did some impressive things under the guise of His name, but they didn't personally know Him, and only those who know Jesus will be joining Him in His heavenly kingdom.
Knowing Jesus is one of the necessary qualifications for being part of His Church. As much as it breaks my heart to say this, there are many people today who are in the church who aren't of it because they don't personally know Jesus. No amount of religious routine or sacrificial service can make someone a member of Christ's body. In fact, a person can even pastor a church that he isn't truly a part of because he doesn't know Christ.
So how can we know that we know Him? For one thing, knowing God means that from time to time you cry with Him. In times of crisis, we turn to those that we know best, and those who turn to Jesus in times of hardship and heartache truly know Him. Another indication is that you sing to Him. Praise is so precious because it connects us to Christ on a level that's uniquely intimate. Finally, knowing God means that we talk to Him on a regular basis. Something is off when a profession for Christ isn't followed by a prayer life. Each of these indicates whether someone is merely in church . . . or truly of it.
DIG - What is the main objective in the Christian life? (Hint: read Philippians 3:10.)
DISCOVER - How well do you know Jesus? Back up your answer with examples.
DISPLAY - How can you know Him better?
View Past Devotionals
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The Mind's Retreat In this place, I have put up a collection
of interesting poems or passages as and when I chance upon them.
I find it relaxing to read some of these witty, reflective or
inspiring passages. That's why I called them The Mind's
Retreat. It is a good relief for hectic city living.
If you have some to contribute, please send them to me. |
This link is jamb packed with inspirational material!!
The Red-capped Manakin (Pipra mentalis) is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
The bird is probably best known for the male's unusual courting method whereby it shuffles rapidly backwards across a branch, akin to a speedy Moonwalk.
More of God's amazing creation!
The Horsehead Nebula B33
Description: Located just off Alnitak, in the belt of Orion, this dark nebula has the appearance of a horsehead. Captured at Urban Observatory using a TMB130SS APO refractor and an SBIG ST-10XEI CCD imager. About an hour of luminance frames were combined with half an hour each of red, green, and blue data.
Date Taken: 11/3/2007
Views: 62
State: ohio
Country: United States
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Can we put some sanity back into traditions we grew up with and stop all this paranoia?!
City May Ban Red and Green Christmas Lights
Proposed policy allows only white lights and 'secular' symbols.
The city's Holiday Display Task Force soon will make recommendations to the City Council on a policy that allows only white lights and "secular" symbols such as icicles, snowflakes and unadorned greenery.
Mayor Doug Hutchinson said he liked the group's suggestion for a display that would include a "balance of religious and secular items.”
Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for the Liberty Legal Institute, isn't buying it.
“To engage in this war on Christmas is ridiculous," he told Family News in Focus, "and I think it goes against what 90 percent of Americans believe in.”
Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund said Americans are fed up.
"We cannot allow what we do as a society to be determined or dictated by a few atheists with eggshell sensibilities," he said.
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Psalm 107 (New King James Version)
New King James Version (NKJV)
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
[NKJV at Thomas Nelson] [Thomas Nelson, Inc.]
Psalm 107
Thanksgiving to the LORD for His Great Works of Deliverance
1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
This is amazing even though it is an artist's rendition of what we can see through the Hubble space telescope!
A growing black hole, called a quasar, can be seen at the center of a faraway galaxy in this artist's concept. Using NASA's Spitzer and Chandra Space Telescopes, astronomers discovered swarms of similar quasars hiding in dusty galaxies in the distant universe.
The new-found quasars belong to a long-lost population that had been theorized to be buried inside dusty, distant galaxies, but were never actually seen. While some quasars are easy to detect because they are oriented in such a way that their X-rays point toward Earth, others are oriented with their surrounding doughnut-clouds blocking the X-rays from our point of view. In addition, dust and gas in the galaxy itself can block the X-rays.
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On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in
East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia:
Here lies
Ezekial Aikle
Age 102
The Good
Die Young.
In a London, England cemetery:
Ann Mann
Here lies Ann Mann,
Who lived an old maid
But died an old Mann.
Dec. 8, 1767
In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery:
Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread
And the Lord sent them manna,
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.
Playing with names in a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery:
Here lies
Johnny Yeast
Pardon me
For not rising.
In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:
Here lays Butch,
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger,
But slow on the draw.
A widow wrote this epitaph in a Vermont cemetery:
Sacred to the memory of
my husband John Barnes
who died January 3, 1803
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
many qualifications of a good wife, and
yearns to be comforted.
(ed: guess they did not have personal ads then)
A lawyer's epitaph in England:
Sir John Strange
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.
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clipped from www.townhall.com
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