Prayer – The Secret Weapon
Isa 54:17 - No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the
servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
The 40 Days for Life Kick-Off is
on Feb 16th at PDL. The Mass starts at 6 PM, followed by a prayer
gathering and potluck social. The 40 Days for Life prayer vigil runs
from Feb 17th – Apr 2nd. Nationwide over 600 babies were saved during
the Fall 40 Days. Join us in prayer, fasting, and public witness during
Lent in front of the Planned Parenthood at 701 San Mateo NE or at PDL’s
Holy Innocents Chapel, 625 San Mateo NE. For more information, go to
this web site: www.40daysforlife.com/albuquerque.
Mat 6:8b - Your Father knoweth
what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.
Why pray since God knows
everything (omniscient)?
Apparently, He desires our communication and interaction. Though He knows everything, we
do not. He has given us opportunity
through prayer to ask and through the Holy Spirit to know. 1Ki 4:29 - And God gave Solomon
wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even
as the sand that is on the sea shore. To varying degrees, American Presidents have been
men of faith. This
leadership has likely brought America great blessings of prosperity and
power.
Praying for Haiti. A Christian Aid ministry leader
was one of those trapped in the rubble for 18 hours. He was in a coma after having
his arm amputated at the shoulder. His wife’s leg was broken and had to be amputated
below the knee.
44 US Presidents
– From George Washington to Barack Obama
President Barack Obama took the
setting of the National
Prayer Breakfast – an annual Washington event that has drawn criticism
from several quarters this year due to its sponsorship by The
Fellowship, aka The Family – to strongly denounce the proposed
"Anti-Homosexuality Bill" currently being considered in
Uganda as ''odious.'' The
Fellowship creates “an environment where persons are free to live their
individual truth without regard to race, ethnicity, social
class, age, gender/gender identity, or affectional orientation -
especially women, same-gender-loving individuals and their allies.”
All the homosexual activists,
Western political leaders, and critical evangelicals seem to be up in
arms over the fact that the Ugandan bill would imprison (perhaps for
life) anyone found guilty of engaging in homosexuality and would
potentially execute someone found guilty of "aggravated
homosexuality," the latter of which would include performing
homosexual acts upon a minor or when the offender was in a position of
authority (e.g., parent, teacher, etc.) or if one knew they were
HIV-positive at the time. The bill also explicitly prohibits promotion
of homosexuality by any individual or organization and further equates
same-sex marriage with the offense of homosexuality.
Generally, according to FRI's
analysis, this is a good bill for those of a traditionalist bent. While
no law can end a particular kind of crime, the proposed law makes clear
what is not acceptable and should discourage some from acting on their
same-sex desires. Interestingly, only acts (not 'desires' or
'orientation') are condemned, and only rape, especially of children, or
recidivism can lead to a death sentence. And those carrying HIV/AIDS
have no business engaging in and no right to engage in activities that
could infect others.
Commentary by Family Research Institute,
Dec 2009
The War Between Science and
Religion: A Modern Myth
Today, anyone who is truly
informed knows that science and religion are at war with each
other. They have always
been at war, are still at war and will forever be at war because they
represent two fundamentally different ways of viewing the world. We are told that religion is
based on subjective faith while science is based on objective
reason. There are
thousands of different beliefs which vary from culture to culture and
from person to person and from time to time but science produces hard
facts that are singular and unchangeable. The inescapable conclusion is that science and
reason lead to objective knowledge, a materialistic understanding of
reality and an enlightened worldview free from the rule of God. Only the ignorant and
superstitious could believe otherwise.
We are taught that following the
fall of Rome it was the oppressive influence of the Church that plunged
Europe into the Dark Ages - 800 years of ignorance, superstition and
misery which ended only when Europe was finally rescued, first by the
Renaissance and then by the Enlightenment. In the early 1600’s it was the Church that tortured
and imprisoned Galileo because of his heliocentric views and today it
is Christianity that is the enemy of science and social progress.
All of this makes a great story
but the problem is that none of it is true. These ideas constitute a mythology constructed during
the past 200 years by bitterly anti-Christian intellectuals and have
been repeated so often that they have become common knowledge.
Recent works however by scholars
such as Rodney Stark, author of the book The
Victory of Reason are beginning to set the record straight
providing a dramatically different account of the relationship between
science and Christianity and the impact Christianity has had on Western
Civilization.
Modern science emerged in
Christian Europe, there and nowhere else. The science we know today has its roots in rational
Christian theology which presupposes a personal knowable God who makes
Himself known through Revelation and is Creator of all things.
The cosmos exhibits a rational
order because it is a Created Order. Man has the capacity to reason because he was
created in God’s image. The
rationality of man and the rationality of the natural world are the
same rationality because they have the same Author. Thus, the natural world is
comprehensible to the mind of man and science is possible. The natural philosophers of the
16th and 17th centuries such as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton
all believed these things and for them, when they were doing science,
they were doing God’s work.
Christian Faith and Reason led
to an understanding of the true nature of reality and from that understanding
- and only from that understanding - science emerged.
As for the so-called “Dark
Ages”, after the barbarian invasions and the fall of Rome in the 5th
century, Europe, far from descending into centuries of misery,
experienced a renewal that brought creativity, industry, innovations
and technological advances that could never have been imagined under
Roman rule. Optimism
returned to Europe and the lot of the average man was greatly improved.
How can we account for such a
transformation? In a word
– taxes - or rather, lack of taxes. When Rome fell the crushing taxes imposed to support
its hedonist excesses and maintain its power around the Mediterranean
Basin fell with it. And as
for the influence of Christianity, the re-Christianization of Europe in
the centuries that followed led to the establishment of centers for
learning, the development of towns, trades, industry and commerce. Christian Europe rapidly
established a 200 year technology lead over the rest of the world. As the mythology goes, Galileo
was tried, tortured and thrown into prison by the Church because he
held to the Copernican view.
In reality, the Church was quite open to the Copernican view but
insisted that because of its implications for scriptural interpretation
it be treated hypothetically until such time that sufficient evidence
was available to establish its proof. Galileo agreed and was granted permission to publish
his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems which
contrasted the Copernican heliocentric view with that of the accepted
Aristotelian geocentric view.
However not only did Galileo
present the Copernican view as absolute fact, on the last page of his
book he ridiculed his old friend Pope Urban VIII who had personally
encouraged and authorized Galileo to write his book. Consequently, Galileo was
brought before the Inquisition.
He was tried and found guilty but allowed to return to Florence
where he lived out the last ten years of his life under house arrest in
comfortable quarters where he was allowed to pursue his studies and
entertain guests. It was
also during this time that he published his most important works on
mechanics. No torture. No prison.
As for Christianity being the
enemy of science and social progress, it is the Christian concepts of
personal liberty and Natural Law that provide the moral foundation of
our culture and it is that foundation that accounts for the spectacular
success of the U.S. as an economic, military and technological
superpower.
During the past 100 years Europe
has abandoned its Christian heritage for socialism and humanism which
always lead to economic and moral bankruptcy. If we look to our Christian roots for guidance, we
will do well. If we look
to modern Europe, we will follow them to economic and moral ruin.
There is no war between science
and religion but there is a war, a war that is raging between Good and
Evil, Right and Wrong, Truth and Lie. The mythology that there is a war between science
and religion is a Lie told in the service of Evil.
Joe Renick
Intelligent Design
Network
New
Mexico Division
2010 NM Legislation Update
Sign up for action alerts at www.tvacnm.com.
· SB183 Homosexual Marriage – stalled in Senate Finance
(as of press time)
· HB121 Traditional Marriage – stalled in House Rules
· HJR8 Traditional Marriage Constitutional Amend – stalled
in House Public Affairs
· SB146 Change Marriage Forms (Homosexual) – stalled in
Senate Committees
· SJR1 Traditional Marriage Constitutional Amend – stalled
in Senate Rules
· HJM33 Study Homosexual Marriage – House Health &
Govt Affairs
· HB123 Same Day Voter Registration (no photo ID required)
– House Voters & Elections
· SB161 Same Day Voter Registration (no photo ID required)
– Senate Judiciary
· HB166 Biomedical [Embryonic Stem Cell] Research – House
Calendar (Floor Vote)
· HB44 Comprehensive Sex Ed – Senate Education
· Reimpose
Food Tax
For a short session, there was significant
activity on moral issues in spite of the “budget crisis,” “ethics
crisis,” and “investment crisis” quoted by Senator McSorley prior to
the session. Thanks to Nora Espinoza and
Bill Sharer for courageously introducing Traditional Marriage legislation
and for all who opposed the homosexual marriage legislation. The Governor specifically
called for homosexual marriage legislation (by letter) while ignoring
traditional marriage legislation that was declared “not germane” to the
economic session. A
representative from the Alliance
Defense Fund testified on the Senate Floor against SB183. Read Jill
Norton’s testimony regarding the extensive agenda of homosexual
activists in NM. Miki
Vasquez challenged the financial impact of homosexual marriage in
NM. SB183 had been
estimated to cost $50K (one time) whereas Vasquez detailed why
homosexual marriage in NM would actually run $6-8M (recurring). With a “budget crisis” looming
over NM, taxpayers cannot afford the financial impact of homosexual
marriage, to say nothing of the social impact of discarding our
foundational values.
Interestingly, the 816 page bill, SB183, included “40A-2-1. [NEW
MATERIAL] MUTUAL OBLIGATIONS OF DOMESTIC PARTNERS.--Domestic partners
contract toward each other obligations of mutual respect, fidelity
and support."
This sounds like a religious, marital commitment, not
enforceable law.
Expect a special session later
this year as departing Gov Richardson gives a final shot at homosexual
marriage during his term.
This is a battle of worldviews. God designed marriage for one man and one woman for
a lifetime. This is the
inviolate, immutable, unalienable, sanctity of marriage. Reports of billboards around
town indicate a heightened attack on the foundations of Christianity –
"Beware of Dogma.”
Another sign, “In case of rapture, we'll have the world to
ourselves" indicates more of a defiance, rather than disbelief. As John Adams, Second
President, put it, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people.”
Then the fourth angel poured out
his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with
fire. And men were
scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has
power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.
(Rev 16:8-9)
Christian
Association of Parent Educators - New Mexico is sponsoring the annual
state Christian Home School Convention and Curriculum Fair April 22, 23, and
24
at Calvary of Albuquerque, 4001 Osuna Road NE. The convention is the largest
gathering of home schoolers in the state. Keynote speakers are Bill Jack of Worldview
Academy, Mary Schofield, author of The High School Handbook, Steve
Demme, author and founder of Math-U-See, and Mark Hamby of
Cornerstone Family Ministries and Lamplighter Publishing. A children’s conference will be
held concurrently with the convention. Free activities on Thursday include a “getting
started” workshop and an evening celebration featuring the New Mexico
Home School Showcase.
Song! Dance! Musical solos!
Celebrate the talents of New Mexico’s home educated students at
Christian Association of Parent Educators - New Mexico’s Home School
Showcase Thur, Apr 22,
6:30p at Calvary of Albuquerque, 4001 Osuna Road NE. Inspirational speaker Mark Hamby
of Cornerstone Family Ministries and Lamplighter Publishing will follow
the Showcase. The Home
School Showcase kicks off CAPE’s annual state home school convention
and curriculum fair. This
free evening is designed for the entire family.
For more information, call
505-898-8548 or visit www.cape-nm.org.
APS Bond Election Results
Eight percent voted on Feb
2. The vote was split
70-30, giving APS $616M for capital improvements. That means about 5% of the
electorate decided that property taxes would not go down and taxpayers
would finance the interest on $225M. In spite of a constitutional amendment passed in Nov
08 allowing combined elections, APS benefits from dedicated elections
with small turnout and continues to hold separate elections. The Albuquerque Journal
reported “a coalition of builders and architects partnered to campaign
for the bond. (Feb 3, 2010)”
For the first time in such an election, the package also
included $40M for charter schools.
Millie Pogna, State School
Board Member running for reelection, wrote “I am going to run for
reelection to the Public
Education Commission, even though our great Governor stripped the constitutionally
elected members of all powers and duties for education and turned us
into a nebulous ‘advisory’ entity. We were given authority to authorize the charter
schools by the legislature two years ago under the Charter School Act of
2007. It is a tremendous
amount of work with thousands of pages of applications to study,
holding public hearings, then studying the recommendations for
approval/denial from the Dept of Education’s Charter School
department. But I do
consider it important work.
People no longer care to go to the work and expense of becoming
a candidate for election to the PEC, so unfortunately the positions are
left vacant and the Governor appoints his people to the vacancies and
there are a number of his appointees. (Dec 1, 2009)”
Split district. Another issue complicating this
election cycle has been the possibility that the West Side may split
into its own school district.
Earlier this year a group of residents, including several state
legislators, petitioned Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia to
create a new district. And
although split proponents have been supportive of the bond campaign,
the issue has raised questions about how tax money and bond debt would
be divided in the event of a split. Superintendent Winston Brooks said he would likely
hold off construction of a West Side sports complex until the split
question is resolved. The
Albuquerque Journal reported “Gary Johnson vetoed a bill aimed at breaking
up APS after the APS Board agreed to consider hiring private companies
to manage failing schools.
Johnson threatened to sign the bill, but said APS Board
President Leonard DeLayo had pledged the board's support for getting
proposals from private companies to manage some APS schools. (Mar 6,
2002)” We have yet to see
any privatization in APS, so splitting the district sounds like a GREAT
idea!
CINews – 5000 in 2010
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helping CINews exceed 5000 subscribers in 2010!
Articles, comments, and event
notices are welcome.
Deadlines are the 15th of each month.
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