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Did you know that in January 9 2008, Than President George W. Bush, went to Jerusalem for 8 days, on Air Force One. And as you all can remember in that time of year we where in a economic crisis. Hundersds of Thousands losing there homes, due to their mortgages and foreclosures. The stock market sliding south. The USA dollar sinking like a rock, against foreign currencies. Unemployment rising up as more and more lose their jobs. American workers are laid off as their jobs get sent over seas. While George W. Bush was in Israel, along with Tony Blair, and the Israeli prime Minister Olmert, we were taken down into the earth in a cave, called Zedekiah's cave, for a clandestine ritual and black mass conducted by the Grand Master of Israel's Freemasons. But it even gets better. At a banquet, President George W. Bush was presented with the scroll of Bush that was made out in ancient parchment and signed by the most spiritually prominent Jews on the planet earth: RABBI ADAN STEINZALTZ,HIGH PRIEST OF THE SANHEDRIM,AND RABBI CHAIM REICHMAN, CHIF RABBI OF THE TEMPLE, AND DR.GADI SCHEL,CHIEF REPRESENTATIVE OF THE NEW JEWISH CONGRESS. The scroll of Bush indentifying the U.S. President as the "esteemed Mr. George W.Bush, the chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal Leader of the west. That makes Bush Gog, of the land Magog.(Ezekial 38:1 ) Bush's dad, Bush Sr, lay naked in a coffin, inside the bowels of the tomb order of the Skull of Bones. Then in a town in Connecticut, his fellows performed a hellish death ritual and raised George Herbert Walker Bush from his sarcophagus, and gave him a new name. He was now magog to the brotherhood. You can check this up for yourself to see that this is all true and fact.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Woman's Christian upbringing brings unforeseen blessings
TEMPLE TERRACE --
Bernice Powell Jackson was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where she and her African-American family attended a Congregational Church, a longtime Christian ministry she said was known as a body of progressive believers.
In fact, it was the same church in which the Rev. Antoinette Brown was formally ordained in 1853 as the first woman minister of a major Protestant denomination in America.
As a youngster, Jackson was proud to be associated with a church that sanctioned Brown's milestone achievement, but little did she realize that one day she would be on the receiving end of an award bearing that pioneering woman's name.
"When I was a child, I had no idea I would be so involved in the church as an adult," Jackson said.
And this July, during a Tampa general synod assembly of representatives from the United Church of Christ into which her childhood church merged in 1957, Jackson, 62, will be presented with the 2011 Antoinette Brown Award.
It's an honor recognizing ordained women in the UCC ministry who provide outstanding service to their parishes or in other church-related institutions.
Jackson qualifies on both fronts, first as pastor of First United Church of Tampa-United Church of Christ, and secondly as president of the North American Region of the World Council of Churches, a position she's held since 2004.
The WCC is a fellowship of 350 UCC churches from 110 countries that formed in 1948 to combat violence and serve as advocates for peace and justice throughout the world. The nonprofit organization is headed by a general secretary who oversees its eight regional presidents scattered throughout the globe.
Her elected position has enabled Jackson to travel to more than a dozen countries and worship with like-minded people from many nations.
Prior to entering the seminary, she earned a bachelor's degree at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., and taught sociology for a couple of years before enrolling in Columbia University's School of Journalism in New York City, where she received her master's degree.
Jackson then went to work as a writer for the National Urban League and later became a writer in the office of then-New York Gov. Hugh Carey.
During that time, she also met and married an Episcopal priest who took her along on several of his mission trips to South Africa. It was there she became acquainted with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the Tutu Scholarship Fund to help female South African refugee students.
As a result of the association, Tutu named Jackson director of the program that gives disadvantaged students four-year scholarships to colleges and universities throughout the United States.
Not long after her appointment, Jackson found herself a widow at age 32.
"When you have a shock like that, you do a lot of reflection to figure out where God is in your life," said Jackson, who then decided to enroll in Union Theological Seminary in New York City where she earned her doctorate in theological studies in 1991.
Her 20 years of service to the UCC, headquartered in Cleveland, began while she was still in seminary.
Jackson was the founding executive minister of Justice and Witness Ministries and has served as executive director of the UCC Commission for Racial Justice.
Following her move to Florida and before becoming pastor of the Tampa church at 7308 E. Fowler Ave., Jackson was an interim pastor in New Port Richey and in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She lives in Trinity with her husband, Franklyn Jackson, a retired school administrator.
"This is a justice church," said Jackson, noting that the Tampa congregation's core values are peace with justice and being open and affirming to people regardless of their sexual orientation or their racial or cultural backgrounds. The church also embraces working toward building a sustainable and peaceful global society.
"Our congregation is kind of a good mixture of how God made us," she said.
Jackson said she's blessed to be able to serve in two different areas of ministry, one at the local church level and one that encompasses national issues.
"It's not what I thought I was going to do when I was 15 or 20 years old," she said, "but it is what God wanted me to do."
Bernice Powell Jackson was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where she and her African-American family attended a Congregational Church, a longtime Christian ministry she said was known as a body of progressive believers.
In fact, it was the same church in which the Rev. Antoinette Brown was formally ordained in 1853 as the first woman minister of a major Protestant denomination in America.
As a youngster, Jackson was proud to be associated with a church that sanctioned Brown's milestone achievement, but little did she realize that one day she would be on the receiving end of an award bearing that pioneering woman's name.
"When I was a child, I had no idea I would be so involved in the church as an adult," Jackson said.
And this July, during a Tampa general synod assembly of representatives from the United Church of Christ into which her childhood church merged in 1957, Jackson, 62, will be presented with the 2011 Antoinette Brown Award.
It's an honor recognizing ordained women in the UCC ministry who provide outstanding service to their parishes or in other church-related institutions.
Jackson qualifies on both fronts, first as pastor of First United Church of Tampa-United Church of Christ, and secondly as president of the North American Region of the World Council of Churches, a position she's held since 2004.
The WCC is a fellowship of 350 UCC churches from 110 countries that formed in 1948 to combat violence and serve as advocates for peace and justice throughout the world. The nonprofit organization is headed by a general secretary who oversees its eight regional presidents scattered throughout the globe.
Her elected position has enabled Jackson to travel to more than a dozen countries and worship with like-minded people from many nations.
Prior to entering the seminary, she earned a bachelor's degree at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., and taught sociology for a couple of years before enrolling in Columbia University's School of Journalism in New York City, where she received her master's degree.
Jackson then went to work as a writer for the National Urban League and later became a writer in the office of then-New York Gov. Hugh Carey.
During that time, she also met and married an Episcopal priest who took her along on several of his mission trips to South Africa. It was there she became acquainted with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the Tutu Scholarship Fund to help female South African refugee students.
As a result of the association, Tutu named Jackson director of the program that gives disadvantaged students four-year scholarships to colleges and universities throughout the United States.
Not long after her appointment, Jackson found herself a widow at age 32.
"When you have a shock like that, you do a lot of reflection to figure out where God is in your life," said Jackson, who then decided to enroll in Union Theological Seminary in New York City where she earned her doctorate in theological studies in 1991.
Her 20 years of service to the UCC, headquartered in Cleveland, began while she was still in seminary.
Jackson was the founding executive minister of Justice and Witness Ministries and has served as executive director of the UCC Commission for Racial Justice.
Following her move to Florida and before becoming pastor of the Tampa church at 7308 E. Fowler Ave., Jackson was an interim pastor in New Port Richey and in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She lives in Trinity with her husband, Franklyn Jackson, a retired school administrator.
"This is a justice church," said Jackson, noting that the Tampa congregation's core values are peace with justice and being open and affirming to people regardless of their sexual orientation or their racial or cultural backgrounds. The church also embraces working toward building a sustainable and peaceful global society.
"Our congregation is kind of a good mixture of how God made us," she said.
Jackson said she's blessed to be able to serve in two different areas of ministry, one at the local church level and one that encompasses national issues.
"It's not what I thought I was going to do when I was 15 or 20 years old," she said, "but it is what God wanted me to do."
Living free of condemnation
Today’s Gospel reading makes very clear a truth that many of us don't fully believe: Jesus did not come here to condemn anyone. Yet we feel condemned whenever we feel guilty about a sin. Why is that?
It's because we are harder on ourselves than we are on others. On the surface, it seems that we're supposed to do that. To be easy on ourselves (e.g.: "I'm okay, I'm not really sinning.") would be self-indulgent, which is rooted in the sin of pride, right? Yes, but usually the reason why people rationalize that their sins as really not sins is because they're afraid of feeling condemned, which translates to feeling unloved, which translates as proof that they are unlovable.
Have you been unable to forgive yourself? Are you trying to find your happiness in how others treat you because you don't feel happy about yourself? Do you feel like you don't get enough affirmation, but when you do get it, you feel embarrassed and unworthy?
These are typical results from failing to grasp the full meaning of this scripture. They are the normal consequences of believing that we're not good enough no matter what we do.
When we sin, guilt confirms that we deserve to be condemned. When we innocently make a mistake, this too seems to confirm that we deserve to be condemned, and so we condemn ourselves for making the mistake instead of seeing it as just another learning tool. And every unjust, unfair, unkind situation that happens to us also triggers this feeling of being condemned.
The truth is: You were freed from condemnation when you accepted the idea that Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for YOU.
When we sin, we are guilty of doing something evil, and when we repent, we return to the freedom gained by Christ. But too often guilt becomes shame, which is the false assumption that WE are evil. Shame continues long after we've been forgiven. Jesus doesn't condemn us, but shame does. Shame won't free us from guilt, won't allow us to enjoy the forgiveness of God, won't enable us to forgive ourselves.
Guilt tells us the truth about ourselves and invites us to grow from it; shame lies to us and paralyzes our growth.
The truth is: There is no shame in realizing your sinfulness, because facing it frees you to become who you really are. Who are you really? Thanks to your baptism and the presence of Christ's Holy Spirit within you, you are holy!
The good we do is the earthly ministry of Christ as he serves today's world through us. As repentant Christians, we live in his light and our works are seen as done in God. Therefore, God delights in you. Don't let shame hide this truth.
It's because we are harder on ourselves than we are on others. On the surface, it seems that we're supposed to do that. To be easy on ourselves (e.g.: "I'm okay, I'm not really sinning.") would be self-indulgent, which is rooted in the sin of pride, right? Yes, but usually the reason why people rationalize that their sins as really not sins is because they're afraid of feeling condemned, which translates to feeling unloved, which translates as proof that they are unlovable.
Have you been unable to forgive yourself? Are you trying to find your happiness in how others treat you because you don't feel happy about yourself? Do you feel like you don't get enough affirmation, but when you do get it, you feel embarrassed and unworthy?
These are typical results from failing to grasp the full meaning of this scripture. They are the normal consequences of believing that we're not good enough no matter what we do.
When we sin, guilt confirms that we deserve to be condemned. When we innocently make a mistake, this too seems to confirm that we deserve to be condemned, and so we condemn ourselves for making the mistake instead of seeing it as just another learning tool. And every unjust, unfair, unkind situation that happens to us also triggers this feeling of being condemned.
The truth is: You were freed from condemnation when you accepted the idea that Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for YOU.
When we sin, we are guilty of doing something evil, and when we repent, we return to the freedom gained by Christ. But too often guilt becomes shame, which is the false assumption that WE are evil. Shame continues long after we've been forgiven. Jesus doesn't condemn us, but shame does. Shame won't free us from guilt, won't allow us to enjoy the forgiveness of God, won't enable us to forgive ourselves.
Guilt tells us the truth about ourselves and invites us to grow from it; shame lies to us and paralyzes our growth.
The truth is: There is no shame in realizing your sinfulness, because facing it frees you to become who you really are. Who are you really? Thanks to your baptism and the presence of Christ's Holy Spirit within you, you are holy!
The good we do is the earthly ministry of Christ as he serves today's world through us. As repentant Christians, we live in his light and our works are seen as done in God. Therefore, God delights in you. Don't let shame hide this truth.
Executive Order 12425
Executive Order 12425
No presidential statement or White House press briefing was held on it. In fact, all that can be found about it on the official White House Web site is the Dec. 17 announcement and one-paragraph text of President Obama's Executive Order 12425, with this innocuous headline: "Amending Executive Order 12425 Designating Interpol as a public international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities."In fact, this new directive from Obama may be the most destructive blow ever struck against American constitutional civil liberties. No wonder the White House said as little as possible about it.
Examiner Editorial There are multiple reasons why this Obama decision is so deeply disturbing. First, the Obama order reverses a 1983 Reagan administration decision in order to grant Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, two key privileges. First, Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Second, Obama has exempted Interpol's domestic facilities -- including its office within the U.S. Department of Justice -- from search and seizure by U.S. authorities and from disclosure of archived documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by U.S. citizens. Think very carefully about what you just read: Obama has given an international law enforcement organization that is accountable to no other national authority the ability to operate as it pleases within our own borders, and he has freed it from the most basic measure of official transparency and accountability, the FOIA.
The Examiner
As National Review Online's Andy McCarthy put it, the White House must answer these questions: Why should we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files that will be beyond the scrutiny of Congress, American law enforcement, the media, and the American people?
has asked for but not yet received from the White House press office an explanation of why the president signed this executive order and who among his advisers was involved in the process leading to his doing so. Unless the White House can provide credible reasons to think otherwise, it seems clear that Executive Order 12425's consequences could be far-reaching and disastrous. To cite only the most obvious example, giving Interpol free rein to act within this country could subject U.S. military, diplomatic, and intelligence personnel to the prospect of being taken into custody and hauled before the International Criminal Court as "war criminals."
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