Governor Sarah Palin

Governor Sarah Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president. She has brought Republicans and Democrats together within her Administration and has seen approval ratings of over 80 percent. · She has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources. · She leads a state that matters to every one of us -- Alaska has significant energy resources and she has been a leader in the fight to make America energy independent. · She has actually used her veto and cut budgetary spending. And she put a stop to the bridge to nowhere that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars. · In Alaska, she challenged a corrupt system and passed a landmark ethics reform bill. · As the head of Alaska's National Guard and as the mother of a soldier herself, Governor Palin understands what it takes to lead our nation and she understands the importance of supporting our troops. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington. In choosing Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain put Washington on notice that he is serious about shaking up the status quo. What we're seeing is a maverick who has shaken up Washington picking as his teammate a maverick governor who has shaken up her own state. What it's going to take to change Washington is a team of Mavericks who have a record of accomplishment in shaking up the status quo.

John's Officer Candidate School Graduation and Commissioning ceremony...

Saddleback, California megachurch......to host Forum with McCain/OBama

This should be interesting!! Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama will make their first joint appearance as the presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominee, respectively, at Saddleback Church on August 16 for a leadership and compassion forum. In the two-hour event, each candidate will take the stage separately for about an hour to respond to Pastor Rick Warren’s questions about faith and moral issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate change and human rights. “We’re honored that the candidates chose The Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion for their first joint appearance, an unprecedented opportunity for America to hear both men back-to-back on the same platform,” said Warren, who founded the 22,000-member Lake Forest, Calif., megachurch. “This is a critical time for our nation and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart without interruption in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan ‘gotcha’ questions that typically produce heat instead of light.” Both presidential candidates have recently increased their outreach to the evangelical community, and an appearance at the popular evangelical church could help the candidates’ appeal to this key voting bloc. Warren will be the only one to pose questions to the candidates, as requested by both senators, although the event will be open to the media. “While debates typically focus primarily on the candidates’ positions and only secondarily on how they’d lead and make decisions, this Saddleback Civil Forum will reverse that ratio,” Warren said. “Since the oath of the President is a commitment to protect the Constitution, it’s critical to know how each candidate interprets the nature of its principles. Leadership involves far more than promoting programs and making speeches, and since no one can predict what crises will happen over the next four years, it is vital to know the decision capacity and process of each man.” This forum will be the only joint campaign event prior to each party’s national convention. Pastor Rick Warren, who wrote best-seller The Purpose Driven Life, said he has known both candidates before they ran for national office and had called each man personally to invite him to the event. McCain and Obama, along with other political leaders, have endorsed Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan a 50-year strategy to mobilize millions of local churches around the world to address the five global problems: spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease and illiteracy. Moreover, Obama had spoken at Saddleback Church’s annual HIV/AIDS conference in 2006, and sent a video message last year about his commitment towards polices that would tackle the disease. Similarly, McCain also sent a recorded video message to the audience at the Global Summit on AIDS and The Church in November. In conjunction with the Civil Forum event, Warren will convene an interfaith meeting with about 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to discuss joint projects that can benefit all Americans. Following the civil forum, Warren will deliver on Aug. 17 a special sermon entitled “Making Up Your Mind: Questions to Consider before the Election.” Faith in Public Life, which hosted a Compassion Forum earlier this year, featuring Obama and former Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, will co-sponsor the Saddleback Civil Forum event. There are about 6,500 tickets for the event. The Saddleback Civil Forum was established to promote civil discourse and the common good of all. The first forum, held during Passover week this year, featured five Jewish World War II Holocaust survivors sharing their stories. The next Saddleback Civil Forum in September will feature former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"I MET BARACK OBAMA THIS MORNING"

Please pray for a deep change of heart from OBama toward the unborn…I hope the following story TRULY does reflect the work of the Holy Spirit...toward softening his heart. OBama has changed positions on a lot of other issues….maybe he could on this one too, but I won’t hold my breath…he has a pretty radical pro-death voting record! CND copied from ProLife Action Ministries email "I MET BARACK OBAMA THIS MORNING" P.O. Box 75368 Saint Paul, Minnesota 55175-0368 Phone: 651-771-1500 Fax: 651-771-6967 Dear Sue, As I was en route to our St. Paul office after my regular sidewalk counseling time at Planned Parenthood this morning, I came across a parked motorcade at the Copper Dome Restaurant. I surmised, with all the police and Secret Service types in the area, that it was Mr. Obama's motorcade. I parked quickly across the street and then proceeded to see if I could get close enough for him to hear me call out a plea fro the unborn. To my surprise, there were very few people there (with a small crowd starting to gather as word spread) and that I could easily walk right into the restaurant and see the Presidential candidate. I quickly began to pray for the right words and the right boldness to be a good witness for the babies that Mr. Obama has forsaken in his political career. Once in the restaurant, I learned that I could not get in far enough to see him and that I would have to go outside as he departed the building. A Divine appointment took over and I found myself at the very front of the crowd where Mr. Obama was going to shake hands and interact. As he came out, many in the small crowd reacted as if Mr. Obama were Hollywood celebrity. He walked directly toward me and reached out to shake the hand of the woman next to me. At this point I was praying diligently for the right approach and the right words. I think these came to me. Mr. Obama reached for my hand and came in close enough that I could speak directly to him in his ear. I told him that he needed to change his beliefs and political response to the unborn. That they, like us, are human beings. He reacted with both a willingness to listen and a bit of a shock that he was being challenged. I continued, with Mr. Obama responding that he knew it was a difficult subject and so forth. But we continued to hold the handshake I spoke again and we conversed for several minutes, many times longer than he spoke to anyone on the sidewalk this morning. Our conversation ended with me letting him know that I had just come from Planned Parenthood trying to save lives and that abortion is killing a much higher percentage of black children than any other race. The encounter was polite, not the way I have had encounters with politicians who are pro-abortion in the past. This, I believe, was the work of the Holy Spirit. I don't even think any of those around us had a clue as to what our conversation was. But, for this unusual moment, my audience was not those within hearing or the media, but a Presidential candidate. And I know he heard the truth, which he acknowledged. He thanked me for my approach and I pressed him to honestly pray and change his position. Whatever we think of Mr. Obama, we all can pray for a deep change of heart toward the unborn. If you remain indifferent in time of adversity, your strength will depart from you. Rescue those who are being dragged to death, and from those tottering to execution withdraw not If you say, "I know not this man!" does not he who tests hearts perceive it? He who guards your life knows it, and he will repay each one according to his deeds. Proverbs 24:10-12 Brian Gibson Executive Director Pro-Life Action Ministries http://www.plam.org

Oswald, King of Northumbria, 5 August 642

Beginning in the year 449, the pagan Germanic peoples known as the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes invaded Britain and drove the native Britons, a Christian Celtic people, north and west into Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Cornwall. They established seven principal kingdoms (the Heptarchy) in England: The Saxon kingdoms of Essex, Wessex and Sussex (East Saxons, West Saxons, and South Saxons), the Angle kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria, and the Jute kingdom of Kent (in southeast England, the London area). To this day, there are seven principal dialects of English spoken in England, and the seven areas in which they are spoken are substantially the same as the areas of the seven ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In 597, Augustine, a missionary from Rome, established a mission in Kent, where he was favorably received, and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury (51:17 N 1:05 E). (He is remembered on 26 May.) However, his influence was initially confined to the southeast of England. In Northumbria (the region north of the Humber River), in the north of England, in 616, Edwin seized the throne (replacing his sister's husband, Aethelfrith the Ravager), and Oswald, son of Aethelfrith, fled into Scotland, to the monastic settlement founded by Columba in the late 500's on the island of Iona (off the west coast of southern Scotland, 56:19 N 6:25 E). Here Oswald encountered the Christian faith and was converted and baptised. Edwin married Ethelburgha, a princess of Kent, who brought with her the missionary Paulinus, who became first Archbishop of York. Edwin and many of his court accepted baptism in 627. In 632, King Cadwallon of Wales and the pagan king Penda of Mercia invaded Northumbria and killed Edwin in battle. The queen and the archbishop fled south, and Christianity was temporarily suppressed in the North. The following year, Oswald returned from exile to claim the throne. He met Cadwallon (or Cadwalla) in battle near Hexham (54:58 N 2:06 W). The night before the battle, vastly outnumbered, with a small army of whom not more than a dozen were Christians, he set up a wooden cross, and asked his soldiers to join him in prayer. They did so, and promised to be baptised if they won the battle. The battle was accordingly joined, and Oswald won a victory "as complete as it was unlikely," defeating and slaying Cadwallon (the victor, as the Welsh bards tell us--in the poem "Englynion Cadwallon" -- of forty battles and sixty single combats). The battle site was thereafter known as Heavensfield. Northumbria, now united, became the most powerful of the Seven Kingdoms, and Oswald was recognized as paramount king of the Heptarchy. His concern was for the conversion of his people to Christianity, and he sent messengers to Iona, where he had himself received the Gospel, asking for a Christian preacher. The first man sent (a monk named Coorman) was tactless and a failure, but his replacement, Aidan, was an outstanding success. Since he did not at first speak the Anglo-Saxon language, Oswald, who was fully bilingual, stood beside him as he preached and interpreted the sermon. Aidan was soon joined by other missionaries, and the Church flourished in Northumbria. Oswald went to Wessex (the second most powerful of the Seven Kingdoms, and later to be the most powerful, and the nucleus of a united England) in order to seek a bride. Wessex was at that time largely pagan, but his bride, Kineburga (Cyneburh), agreed to become a Christian, and so did her father Cynegils, the King of Wessex. Thus a door was opened for the Gospel in southwestern England. However, Penda, the pagan king of Mercia, yet lived, and in 640 war between Mercia and Northumbria was renewed, with the former followers of Cadwallon allied once more with Mercia. In 642 Penda killed Oswald in a great battle near Maserfeld (Salop), on the border between their kingdoms. As he fell dying, Oswald prayed aloud for the souls of his bodyguards, who died with him, and for the salvation of the people of Northumbria, and for his pagan enemies. Penda ordered the corpse of Oswald to be dismembered and its parts set up on stakes as a sacrifice to Odin. The head was reclaimed by Christians and sent to Lindisfarne, and is now thought to rest in a tomb in Durham Cathedral (but it should be noted that because of invasions and tumults it has been moved several times, making its present location uncertain). Prayer Lord God almighty, who so kindled the faith of your servant Oswald with your Spirit that he set up the sign of the passion in his kingdom and turned his people to your light: grant that we, being fired with the same Spirit, may ever be found faithful servants of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. [St Oswald's Church] written by James Kiefer

Bearing the Image of God

We had a wonderful service of worship and renewal at church today. Our pastoral intern and Deacon, Jeremy Sexton, gave the sermon. The topic was "What does it mean to be human?" Here are some of my notes:

The Scripture teaches that man is the highest creature God made and he has been crowned with God's image....It is NOT our ability to reason or any inate ability to tell right from wrong that makes us in "the image of God." Bearing the image of God is born out fully only in communal activity. Just as God lives in "community" (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), so we are made to live in community and in so doing we reflect the image of God. We have to live in community with others, specifically with God's bride---His church---He gave the example of God making Eve for Adam because it was not good for man to be alone. Adam without Eve was not fully relfecting the image of God. The church is the bride of Christ. God wants us to bear his image in service to the world. He empowers us in worship as we eat and drink with HIM. The plural God (3 persons) created us for community and the NT is full of "one anotherings." Our image bearing activity is about serving the world by laying down our lives for our neighbors...are we praying, talking good about them, seeking opportunities to help the widows and orphans? The LORD Jesus does these things perfectly---he gives us grace and strength to do them and in community He has given us the power and ability to serve the world and in this way He will build HIS kingdom which will one day fill the whole earth.... Lord's Day worship is the fountain-head of our calling and in worship we are in battle against sin....praise the LORD for His renewal, grace and strength. May we go out, serve and bear His image!

The Executive Summary

I know that some of you don't like to read long drawn out missives... so here's the executive summary......... Congress: John McCain-26 Years, Barack Obama-143 Days Military: John McCain-23 Years, Barack Obama-0 Summary Concluded!

Shauna Phillip's Dad's book...Fifty Ways to Leave Left Behind

Here's a review of Pastor Roger Snow's book...Pastor Snow is Shauna Phillip's father...Pastor Lusk posted this review on Amazon.Com.....

By Rich Lusk Roger Snow is a fine pastor and Bible teacher. His book "50 Ways" is a fascinating study of the intersection between Exodus and Revelation. In the process of showing that Revelation contains numerous allusions to Exodus, Snow also points out the problems with much of contemporary evangelical eschatology and hermeneutics. Readers familiar with the likes of James Jordan and David Chilton will find a lot here that feels familiar. But everyone who is interested in studying the Bible on its own terms, looking at typology, symbols, parallels, etc., will benefit from reading this book.

The Deliverance of the Apostle Peter 1 August 42 / Loaf Mass Day

We read the story of Peter's deliverance in Acts 12:1-17. King Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great, who tried to kill the infant Jesus (Matthew 2), nephew of Herod Antipas, who killed John the Baptist (Mark 6) and examined Jesus on Good Friday (Luke 23), and father of Herod Agrippa II, who heard the defense of Paul before Festus (Acts 25)), acting probably in 42 AD, put the Apostle James bar-Zebedee to death, and imprisoned Peter with the intent of killing him also. But as Peter slept, chained to guards, an angel jabbed him in the ribs and said, "Get up, get dressed, and follow me." He led Peter out of the prison and a few blocks away, and there left him. Peter went to a house where many Christians had gathered to pray for him, got an interesting reception, gave them a message for James, kinsman of Jesus and head of the Jerusalem community, and left Jerusalem for a while. Soon after (in 44 AD, at the age of 34), Herod died suddenly. These events took place around Passover time, but to commemorate them then would be a distraction from the theme of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Our Lord. They are accordingly celebrated on 1 August, the anniversary of the dedication of a church which was said to possess a length of the chain with which Peter had been bound. In English-speaking countries 1 August is also Lammas Day, or loaf-mass day, the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year, on which day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August. The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in both the Eastern and Western Churches on the First, or alternately the Sixth, of August. The Sacramentary of Pope Gregory (d. 604) specifies the Sixth. The custom of giving thanks for the harvest is undoubtedly older than Christianity, and probably loaves were offered in worship in Britain around 1 August before Christians took over the practice. Hence it is neither surprising nor particularly significant that the Wiccans have a harvest feast on 1 August. (Some critics say that this proves that Christianity is nothing but a collection of recycled pagan superstitions. I say that it is evidence that the climate of Britain, and therefore the usual time of harvests, was not altered by the coming of Christianity.) Prayer Gracious Father, by whose hand your servant Simon Peter was most wonderfully delivered out of prison and from impending death: Grant us, in all the changes and chances of this mortal life, to dread nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care upon you, who care for us. When disasters lie ahead, help us to avoid them if we may, and to endure them if we must, knowing that we walk with him who endured all for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. written by James Kiefer