Quote of the week

"I expect to die in bed. My successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square."--Francis Cardinal George, former president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, on the increasing persecution of American Christians, particularly the Catholic Church, by the Obama administration (from the New Oxford Review, May 2012 issue).

Game, set, match ... to President Romney

After seeing this Newsweek cover, all I could think was ...congratulations Mitt Romney, on being elected the 45th President of the United States in January 2013.

Honesty quote of the week

“We’re not really set up to cover the extreme Left.”--A Southern Poverty Law Center spokesman, on why a plot to blow up a Cleveland bridge by five people affiliated with Occupy Wall Street movement didn't warrant tracking of the movement. You can read the hilarious interview by Charles Cooke of The National Review here. Keep in mind, this is the same organization that labels Christian ministries such as Focus on the Family as "hate groups." I guess left wing groups aren't capable of hate? The quote is a gem for another reason: does this not accurately reflect the mentality of the mainstream media? (hat tip to Drudge Report)

Obamaball?

This just in from White House Dossier's Keith Koffler (via Drudge Report): "As part of its Easter Egg Roll festivities, the White House is conducting a basketball clinic for kids featuring pro players. Have a look the ball being used, as Tweeted by ABC White House Correspondent Jake Tapper."

Koffler adds: "Apparently, the basketball lesson doesn’t include instruction in humility."

Such self-puffery is a little, er, short of Christian modesty, wouldn't you say, Jim Wallis?

Here’s hope: Rush, Sandra Fluke and the conscience of America’s parents

What happened to the great “Hush Rush” boycott?

There was a hue and cry from feminists and Obama bankroller George-Soros’ puppet media watchdog Media Matters for America, when Rush Limbaugh commented on his radio show about college student Sandra Fluke, who testified before Congress about how her promiscuous campus lifestyle costs her too much money for contraceptives—so she and other such women needed the federal government to pay for her “protection.”

Rush called her a “slut” and “prostitute,” which sparked the feigned outrage against him in the mainstream media. Rush later apologized for his choice of language—but not for his central point about the absurdity of Fluke’s demand. And herein lies the hope that America is NOT past the point of redemption or revival.

Think about the “result” of the great boycott: 1) Rush’s audience actually INCREASED—in some areas, it went up 65%; 2) The few advertisers who dropped Rush’s show were quickly replaced; 3) One advertiser who stopped advertising to Rush’s 20 million listeners, loudly protesting against him to the applause of the Left, saw its stock prices drop through the floor.

But how does this indicate America’s soul is not totally seared with a hot iron? Think of all those parents out there, trying their best to raise their children right. These multitude of parents—regardless of their situation, whether they lead two-parent or single-parent homes—who have at least an inkling of a conscience and to are raising their children to make right choices, simply asked themselves one or two questions. Questions which sank the “Hush Rush” crusade:

Would you want your own daughter saying those kinds of things in front of millions of people?

Would you want your son dating that kind of girl?

Those honest, concerned questions that crossed the minds of those parents sank the Soros-funded boycott like that iceberg sank the Titanic.

I have expressed concern about our culture, and how it has infected the church, especially the youth. And yet, this episode shows that there is a conscience left in this country—and that we should never lose heart in fervently praying for revival to sweep our land.

And Sandra, if you are so concerned about saving your college money, try this: ask Jesus into your heart as you Lord and Savior, receive forgiveness for all your sins through His blood that He shed for you on Good Friday, and as He said, "Go and sin no more." (John 8:11)

The Evangelical Industrial Complex? Palm Sunday and celebrity pastors

Palm Sunday shows the starkest contrast in the ministry of Jesus on this earth: the same crowd who shouted “Hosanna in the highest” that day was screaming “crucify Him” five days later on Good Friday. This wasn’t the first time Jesus lost popularity: in John 6, for example, thousands of His disciples left Him when they couldn’t handle His challenging message.

Jesus’ disregard for human popularity seems to starkly contrast with trends in the American Evangelical church world, especially among the great evangelical superstar pastors who have a massive following (among and outside their megachurch congregations), a sure-fire audience for the Christian bookselling industry.

The article here at ChurchLeaders.com about the Evangelical Industrial Complex (a play on President Eisenhower’s famed “Military Industrial Complex” speech of 1961, before he left office) is chilling. Has the American church sold out to a fandom mentality regarding its celebrity pastors, showing a fawning allegiance to them that would make a rock star blush? Give this article a good read and let me know what you think.

Ironic Picture of Year ... so far ...

What a contrast ... President Obama, whose administration is doing a bangup job of crushing religious freedom in America on an unprecedented scale, holding up an image of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and martyr who is an iconic figure of religious resistance to tyranny. The president received a copy of the book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy from author Eric Metaxas, the keynote speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast. Now, we can certainly pray that Obama will read this book and learn a thing or two about freedom of religion (as opposed to mere "freedom of worship" he and his co-religionist mouthpieces spout, where religious beliefs, practice and expression stay safely confined in the home or church building while we're forced to worship the "almighty" state).

And here's a Bonhoeffer quote our president can look up, from a radio speech Bonhoeffer gave two days after Hitler came to power in Germany: "Should the leader allow himself to succumb to the wishes of those he leads, who will always seek to turn him into an idol, then the image of the leader will gradually become the image of the misleader. This is the leader who makes an idol of himself and who thus mocks God."