This Week's Radio Broadcast

In The News
            • The Ten Commandments Controversy - (Read)
            • Power Blackout - Terrorism Link? - (Read)
            • Foreign Fighters Behind Terrorism In Iraq? - (Read)
            • The True Source Of Social Health - (Read)

News Headline Links

Special Offer
            • Stretching the Heavens and the Dilation of Time - (Learn More)

Memory Verse of the Week

Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet
The Great Fish, Ninevah, and Jesus Christ

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS CONTROVERSY

A large granite monument of the Ten Commandments, complete with quotes from American founding fathers, has greeted those entering the Alabama Judicial Building since 2001.  On August 5, 2003, Federal Judge Myron Thompson ordered the monument removed within 15 days, but Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has said that he has no intention of removing the monument.  Moore said, "I would consider myself guilty of treason if I failed to take a stand."

Moore's name has been solidly linked with the fight to retain Ten Commandment displays on public property since 1995 when the ACLU tried to force him to take down a wooden plaque of the Ten Commandments from his courtroom wall. He quickly won that fight and went on to campaign and easily win election as chief justice in 2000.

The fight over the Ten Commandments monument started in 2001 when three liberal legal groups filed lawsuits charging that the monument violated the First Amendment.  Last November, Judge Thompson ruled that the monument did violate the establishment clause of the Constitution, and in July a federal appeals court upheld Thompson's ruling.   Thompson ordered the monument be removed by August 20th or the state of Alabama would face fines starting at $5000 per day the monument remained in the Judicial Building's rotunda.

"Today [the freedom to worship God] is being taken from us by federal courts who misuse the First Amendment as a sword to take away our rights, instead of a shield to preserve them for us," said Judge Moore. 

On Saturday, thousands of Americans from across the nation converged on Montgomery, Alabama in support of Judge Moore and his fight to retain the monument.  Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes was among the many political figures who also arrived and spoke at the rally.  Keyes challenged the nation's courts demanding, "What law is he breaking?  I'd like to know! Show it to me!"  He added, "If Congress is expressly prohibited from making laws with regards to religion, then exactly what laws to do these courts claim that he has broken?"

The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."   Obviously, according to its plain meaning, this amendment has not been violated by Judge Moore's Ten Commandment's display.  Congress has made no laws establishing any state religion, nor is the state of Alabama forcing anybody to worship in any particular way. Atheists walking by the monument are free to disregard its injunctions.   At the rally, Keyes implored all Americans to reign in "these unruly courts" which he argued "are imposing a national regime of disbelief on the country.  They are doing exactly what the Constitution forbids."

In fact, it can be argued that these judges are in violation of the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution; "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people."  The Constitution of Alabama itself invokes "the favor and guidance of Almighty God" and the monument in the Judicial Building rotunda supports that invocation.

The liberty to pursue one's religion of choice has long been a basic American freedom. However, the very freedoms Americans enjoy, whether or not atheists or agnostics recognize it, depend on the national acknowledgement of the Ten Commandments.  It is vital that the federal government recognizes the first of those commandments; "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."  If the government rejects the example of America's founding fathers and ceases to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, then the government can position itself in God’s place.  When a government takes the place of God and God's laws, as Communist governments have sought to do, then it becomes a law unto itself and any horror against humanity can then result.  The citizens of America can remain free and safe as long as their government remembers that it too is under a Higher Law.

However, liberal judges have allowed a constant attack on any public recognition of God in recent decades.  While a federal appeals court allowed a display (and an ugly one at that) of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, paid for by taxpayer dollars, to remain in downtown San Jose in August 1996,  that same court demanded the removal of the Mount Davidson cross, which had been a southern landmark for San Francisco since 1934.   From little Psalms plaques at the Grand Canyon to the Pledge of Allegiance, any public acknowledgement of God has become taboo to these judges.

Moore announced last week that he would be "filing with the United States Supreme Court a writ of prohibition and mandamus directing Judge Thompson to stop this wrongful interference with state government."  He is exhorting all Americans to stand up and speak out against this effort to completely remove God from public life.  Please do so, and continue to keep Chief Justice Moore in your prayers.

Related Links:
  •   Nation Rallies For Moore - The Center For Reclaiming America
  •   Judge Moore Stands Firm - World Net Daily
  •   Thousands Rally In Support Of Ten Commandments Monument
  •   That's Not What It Says (scroll down) - Prudent Politics
  •   Officials Erode Psalm Displays at Grand Canyon - Christianity Today
  •   The 10 Commandments Monument History
  •   No Longer Will There Be Freedom but Tyranny

POWER BLACKOUT - TERRORISM LINK?

Investigators say it will be weeks before they know what exactly caused the largest power blackout in US history. The power failure that affected an estimated 50 million people in sections of the US Northeast, Midwest and parts of Canada has demonstrated just how interdependent and perhaps how vulnerable our systems are.

A few days after the blackout, Al Qaida's Abu Hafs Brigades claimed responsibility, calling it "Operation Quick Lightning." In a communiqué put out by the Abu Hafs Brigades, it claimed that "it was acting on the orders of Osama bin Laden to hit the pillars of the US economy as a realization of bin Laden's promise to offer the Iraqi people a present." The group claims that it struck two important electrical supply targets on the East Coast.  While they will not reveal how they did it, they claim it only cost them seven thousand dollars to accomplish. The communiqué ended its message with, "...we tell the Muslims that this is not the awaited strike, but it is called the war of skirmishes [to drain the enemy], and that the American snakes are enormous and need to be consumed and weakened to be destroyed."

Government officials were quick to rule out terrorism as the cause and President Bush told reporters "I can say for certain this is not a terrorist act." There is a significant possibility that Al Qaida is using the power failure to their advantage, lying and claiming responsibility to make a bigger show of strength than they have. 

However, some experts are not so quick to dismiss the Al Qaida claim and note that Al Qaida has previously boasted that power facilities were one of its targets. A number of Al Qaida members are known to have technical backgrounds and detailed plans of power facilities were captured from Al Qaida hideouts in the past. According to former White House cyber security adviser Richard Clarke "The fact that these people are gathering skills in cyber war capability is very troubling, combined with the fact that we know that they're looking on the Web for hacking tools. We know that, because we've seized some of their computers," he said. "It suggests to me that al-Qaida may be trying to grow an indigenous cyber warfare capability. I think it suggests that someday we may see al-Qaida, if it's still alive and operating, use cyberspace as a vehicle for attacking infrastructure - not with bombs, but with bytes."

While the mystery remains as to just what happened, one thing is certain - the cost to the US economy will be quite large.

Related Links:
  •   NYC Economy Loses $1 Billion in Blackout - The Washington Post
  •   Al-Qaida Claims Power Blackout - WorldNetDaily
  •   Sources: Sabotage Cannot Be Ruled Out in Blackout - Fox News
  •   Timeline of the 2003 blackout - MSNBC
  •   Al Qaida Claims Responsibility for Blackout - World Tribune

FOREIGN FIGHTERS BEHIND TERRORISM IN IRAQ?

The truck bomb that blasted through the United Nations' headquarters in Baghdad this week is just the latest in a series of terrorist attacks throughout Iraq aimed at destabilizing the country. While much of the terrorism has been attributed to insurgents loyal to Saddam Hussein, there is growing evidence that much of the terrorism is being supported or carried out by foreigners.

The high degree of sophistication is one indication that there has been some foreign influence on these recent attacks. Assaults on US troops have included advanced tripwire devices and timing devices to set off rocket-propelled grenades - a tactic used by al-Qaida in Afghanistan. It also appears the attackers had observed the UN building ahead of time to coordinate the bombing to be most lethal, the marking of a professional terrorist.

The UN bomb explosion also came a day after a tape surfaced in which a purported al Qaida operative encouraged Muslims to attack Americans. US military officials have observed an increase in the flow of al Qaida-aligned insurgents into Iraq from Saudi Arabia and Syria but argue they are powerless to stop it. One military official said, "We've got hundreds and thousands of miles of desert border out there that we can't control and if they're dedicated enough and hardy enough, then of course they can infiltrate the country. But we're not going to defeat them by trying to go out on the border and close the border, that's an impossible task."

US officials won't estimate the number of foreign fighters currently in Iraq, but a senior western counter-terrorism official on Monday said the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq was "extremely worrying."  Security sources in Saudi Arabia have warned that an increasing number of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a holy war. According to some reports, up to 3,000 Saudi men have disappeared in the last two months and many are feared to have crossed over into Iraq. The US civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, also criticized Syria this week saying that it was continuing to allow "foreign terrorists" to sneak across its border into Iraq and warned that the United States expected Syria to offer more cooperation.

Related Links:
  •   Al-Qaida Affiliates Pouring into Iraq - WorldNetDaily
  •   Foreign Elements Add Lethality to Resistance - USA Today
  •   US Says It Is Powerless to Stop Foreign Fighters Entering Iraq
  •   U.N. Base In Baghdad Bombed - CBS News
  •   U.N. Chief Killed in Baghdad Explosion - CNN

THE TRUE SOURCE OF SOCIAL HEALTH

It is easy to look at the moral disintegration of our towns and nations and cry that we need a return to Biblical morality.  It is fairly clear that the health of our societies depends on the righteousness of our people.   As our nations turn away from God and reject His commandments and His righteousness, we see a slow descent into social chaos as the result.  However, without Christ, our good works are worth very little. Thank God that He is  still active today.  In those places around the world where a few obedient people are throwing themselves at His feet, God, through the power of His Spirit, is bringing health and salvation to entire communities.

The Motilones:

The Motilones were a secluded Colombian tribe known for their fierceness and willingness to murder intruders when the Gospel of Jesus Christ was brought to their part of the Amazon.   Living as hunters and gatherers in the forest, the Motilones were subject to disease and the whims of nature, living in fear and anger at the outside world.   When Bruce Olson, a young man from Minnesota, found his way into their Amazon world, they shot him and he nearly died from a combination of infection and dysentery.  After several years, Bruce was able to finally live with the Motilones and eventually share with them the message of the Gospel in their own language.  A significant number of people in the tribe gave their lives to Jesus Christ and a majority follow “the trail of Jesus” today. Christ's life in them has absolutely changed the lives of the Motilones both inside and out. 

Full of simple love and faith the Motilones started reaching out to the other tribes in the Amazon, with whom they were previously in constant battle, to tell them about the relationship they could have with God through Jesus Christ.  They learned agricultural principles and now raise livestock.  They have started schools and medical clinics, agricultural centers and trading posts. Their cooperative trading posts provide the economic base for 18 tribal peoples. And yet, the culture of the Motilone people has remained.  The children who are able to go outside the jungle for further education do not stay away for life in the city, but return to the jungle to bring their new knowledge back for the benefit of the tribe.  Instead of fear and sickness and poverty, the Motilones are a peaceful, happy, prosperous people who are able to offer help to their neighbors in Colombia and Venezuela.

Almolonga, Guatemala:

Thirty years ago, the town of Almolonga in Guatemala was a typical spiritually and economically depressed area.  Idolatry and poverty, alcoholism and violence were rampant.   A local idol named Maximon held control over the community but never provided freedom from the depression and sin that was destroying the people of the town.   When a group of people decided to gather to pray regularly and desperately for Almolonga, the spiritual cleansing of the town began.

Now, after decades of prayer and spiritual renewal, the town is a completely different place.  A majority of the townspeople consider themselves born-again Christians and the town itself has received a new life.  The crime rate has dropped so significantly that the four jails have been shut down.  Bars that had closed from lack of patronage have been converted into churches.  The vicious cycle of alcoholism and poverty has been broken and in its place the town is seeing both social and economic health. As the people turned to God and were healed of all kinds of anger and depression and addictions, their spiritual and emotional health improved. The violence and domestic abuse went out with the alcoholism, as did much of the sloth.  The fertile fields around their town are producing great amounts of vegetables and they boast of three harvests a year, exporting as many as 40 truckloads of produce a day during harvest times.  Almolonga is now a healthy, happy prosperous town.

Other towns around the world have experienced similar "revivals" – from Baffin Island in Canada to Kiambu, Kenya to even Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The power for change is not simply based in a set of rules or Biblical ethics persay, but in the very resurrection power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  The power of God to change human lives is still at work today, setting sinners free. May we keep pressing on and seeking Him and not give up until the reality of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is manifest in our own homes and churches, our towns and communities.

Related Links:
  •   About Bruce Olson and the Motilones
  •   Bruchko - a book by Bruce Olson
  •   Restoring The Fruitfulness Of The Land
  •   Arctic Revival - Christianity.ca

**ADDITIONAL NEWS BRIEFS AND LINKS**

  •   Brave Hearts - August 13, 2003
At dawn on Dec. 31, 1944, while the Battle of The Bulge raged, two B-17 bombers collided over Germany and stuck together, one atop the other, piggyback. Courage and self sacrifice saved the lives of 10 crew members that morning.

  •   Cloning Yields Human-Rabbit Hybrid Embryo - August 14, 2003
Scientists in China have, for the first time, used cloning techniques to create hybrid embryos that contain a mix of DNA from both humans and rabbits, according to a report in a scientific journal that has reignited the smoldering ethics debate over cloning research.

  •   Is Homosexuality Genetic?
This site contains a variety of resources on the health dangers of the homosexual lifestyle and evidence that homosexuality is not innate and unchangeable.

  •   State Supreme Court Approves Adoption by Unmarried Couples - August 07, 2003
In a 6-1 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld the validity of second-parent adoptions by unmarried 'parents.'

  •   Child Sex Abuse Cover Up At Planned Parenthood
Sexual activity with underage girls is illegal in all 50 states — yet Life Dynamics discovered that Planned Parenthood counselors are willing to cover up sexual crimes against underage girls by adult males. Listen to these tapes and make up your own mind.

  •   14 European Hostages Freed in Sahara - August 18, 2003
Islamic extremists freed 14 European tourists Monday after six months of captivity in the Sahara Desert, authorities in the West African nation of Mali said, closing an ordeal that saw one other captive die of heatstroke.

**ENEWS SPECIAL OFFER**

Stretching the Heavens and the Dilation of Time by Chuck Missler Was the universe really created in six days? How do we explain galaxies whose light has traveled toward us for over 100 million years? Is the velocity of light really a constant? What might an entropy profile of the seven days of the Creation Week look like? Chuck Missler explores these cosmological issues in light of the inerrancy of the Word of God. This includes an exclusive interview with Barry Setterfield whose controversial discoveries concerning the slowing down of the speed of light may yet disrupt the previous dictums of modern physics. Only $10.95 (Now with FREE SHIPPING) Order Today! This offer will expire in 7 days.

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:2-5 KJV

We solicit your prayers and support of this ministry. God Bless.

This eNews is a reader supported ministry. If you would like to help support this effort, you can make your contribution here.

If you received this email from a friend, you can get a FREE subscription by signing up at the K-House website.

Web site: http://www.khouse.org/
Online Store: http://store.khouse.org/
Email: update@khouse.org
Email for eNews list: enews@khouse.org

Subscribe online: http://www.khouse.org/subscribe/
Un-subscribe: http://www.khouse.org/subscribe/unsubscribe.html

To change your email address in our database, please unsubscribe your old address and subscribe your new address.

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

Print Friendly Version Available Here