Gerry Charlotte Phelps

Gore Renounces Global Warming

                             (Image from judiciaryreport.com)

Huh?  Did this really happen in Australia?  Or is it a hoax?  I haven't been able to find out.  Here's the press release, dated today, from SOLO-Intermational - whoever that is.*   I tend toward thinking it's a fake.  But it makes accurate points about global cooling in the first half.  The second half almost has to be an amusing whimsey - although it plausibly portrays what the Warmie's might recommend for a cooling world, if they followed their usual logic to their usual extremes.  Here it is.

_

Gore's U-Turn Given Qualified Welcome, Friday, 29 February 2008, 12:45 p.m., SOLO-International Press Release

Two cheers for Al Gore on his about-face on man-made Global Warming, says SOLO Principal, Lindsay Perigo.

"Gore's renunciation of a cause whose Number One cheerleader he has been for so long is a triumph of the scienrific spirit.  Confronted by mounting evidences that the sceptics were right and he was wrong, Gore has chosen to go with the evidence, and that is admirable."

Up to a point.  Gore acknowledged Thursday that recent cooling trends are manifest in China's coldest winter in 100 years, Baghdad's first snow ever, North American's greatest snow cover in 50 years, record levels of Antartic sea ice and record cold in a number of countries in both hemispheres, all appear set to continue.

He cited the fact that all major global temperature tracking agencies (Hadley, NASA, GISS, UAH, RSS) have released data showing that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped dramatically, from between 0.65C and 0.75C - enough to wipe out most of the warming recorded over the past 100 years.  All in one year, and the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.  Gore quoted Kenneth Tapping of Canada's National Research Council, who oversees a giant radio telescope focused on the sun and is convinced the earth is destined for a long period of severely cold weather if solar activity does not pick up soon.  "The last time the sun was this inactive, Earth suffered the Little Ice Age that lasted five centuries and ended in 1850."

But here's the rub:  In addition to an end to the Kyoto Treaty, Gore is now calling for a trebling of CO2 emissions by 2015, tax penalties for weak carbon footprints, the mandatory use of coal and the installation of giant heaters above the earth to stop polar bears freezing to death and the oceans turning solid.

"This is the reason for two cheers instead of three," says Perigo.  "From warmist he has morphed into freezist.  He still demands measures that would kill industrial civilization while having zero impact on climate change.  What he needs fully to absorb from his epiphany is that termperature is driven by the sun's activity, not man's....and the free exercises of man's resourcefulness, not hysteria-driven, freedom-destroying laws, should be relied upon to ameliorate any inconvenience caused by warming or cooling.

"This truth is actually convenient, for Gore and all of us.  It means we can get on with enjoyng our lives and our freedom, untroubled by the apocalyptic naggings of warmists-freezist and all other party-pooping hysterics," Perigo concludes.

__________

* From http://groups.google.com/group/alt.global-warming/browse_thread/thread/71ed3200c9997073/fb3bb8b28aad5d19?lnk=rao and http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Widescale+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm

Texas McCainiacs Voting For Hillary in Primary?

            (Image from english.people.com.cn)

So are many Texas Republicans crossing party lines to vote for Hlllary in the Primaries?  Yep.  Do they want Hilliary to be President?  Nope.  Then why are they voting for Hillary?

Texas conservatives don't want either Hillary or Obama.  McCain is their guy.  Maybe not their ideal, but they prefer him to any Democrat.  They simply think Hillary would be easier for McCain to beat than Obama.  They also think McCain will become the GOP candidate without their vote.  So they feel comfortable voting Democrat in this primary.

Are they worried that they might accidentally help elect Hillary?  Nope.  They think she can't be elected - that her negatives are too high.  So to many GOP-ers, this one is a no-brainer.

Mass Evangelism On A Shoe-String

 

                 (Image from www.myspace.com/wegotothem)

(Since a seminary professor just used this in one of his classes, I am reminded that I need to publish it again.  This is about Shad and Sheila Williams.  It was the pastors they raised up in Kenya that I wrote about recently, during the worst of the recent riots there (which I will try to write about here soon.).  This amazing ministry is the kind that many, many of us could do too.  Not to mention supporting this one!  Give it a look.)

Every Christian is responsible for sharing Christ one-on-one.  But even if every single Christian did that (they don't), it still would not be enough to reach all of the six billion people alive today.  So people must also be reached in groups.  That means "mass evangelism."

Is there is a way to take the gospel to large groups at a time?  To people who would not be reached any other way?  There is.  It is "Field Evangelism." 

Field Evangelism can be done by churches and groups who cannot afford to put on large crusades.  For not much money and minimal equipment, a small team can "go to them" for a few days at a time.  They go to another country, to places where people are already gathered - markets, train and bus stations, schools, prisons, etc. 

Does it really work?  Going to them, where they are already gathered, rather than trying to gather them together for a meeting?  Better than almost anything else!

Just consider this.  Shad and Sheila Williams have been "going to them" in other countries for 29 years, some 149 times.  They go 5-6 times a year, for 7-20 days a trip.  They usually take no more than 4-6 volunteers with them - sometimes none.  A native pastor - one of their early converts - arranges their itinerary ahead of time and helps with the logistics.  Their financial supporters total fewer than 100 people. 

What happens when they get off the plane?  The local pastor who has made all the arrangements meets them.  Before long they drive up to a pre-selected gathering place, set up sound equipment and start putting on a musical show.  The crowd gathers around.  Someone preaches a brief evangelistic message - often one of the volunteers.  There is a translator.  People in the crowd raise their hands if they want to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Then they are instructed in how to grow in Christ, and directed to various churches.  Then it's on to the next place, several places, into the night, when the "Jesus" movie is shown somewhere.  After several packed days, it's back on the homeward-bound plane.

How has it worked out?

The results: in 29 years, over 5 million people have accepted Christ!  Five million!  That is around the size of the lifetime total conversions reached by mega-evangelists with huge budgets and staffs.  Why the difference?  The mega-evangelists go more to middle class people and some poor - mostly 1st and 2nd-world countries.  Shad and Sheila go to very poor, 3rd-world countries, or where struggling poor people are.  The cost per convert is around $1.50.  Imagine! 

Is there any better return on investment in the world?

Doea it last?  Yes!  Shad and Sheila have raised up many native pastors and many churches have been formed.  A seminary has been established in India and sends out many new pastors and evangelists from village to village.  African pastors get continuing training in Africa by Shad and by some of the more senior African pastors they have raised up there.  On each trip, surrounding churches are flooded by new converts from Shad and Sheila's evangelism.  It lasts!

Would your church like to help convert hundreds and thousands of people in other countries?  Or would a group in your church?  They can!

Would your seminary or Bible School be willing to explore and enable such "field evangelism?"  The faculty?  Students on their own?  Bringing about a lot more of it could be revolutionary.  It could seed an unprecedented surge of Christianity around the world.

For more information, go to www.wegotothem.com, and www.myspace.com/wegotothem.   Shad and Sheila Williams train people all the time.  And since they are not getting any younger, you should hurry! 

There is never as much time as we think.  And most of 6 billion people are still waiting for you to get there.

Texas Prison Chaplains Needed

        (Image from highcountryprisonministry.org)

This came in today by email

If you know clergy who are interested in Prison Ministry, you might let them know that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is currently hiring until the 26 current vacancies are filled.  The last legislature authorized additonal chaplains.  That accounts for the large number currently being hired.:

For more information, consult the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website, www.TDCJ.state.tx.us or call the Chaplaincy Department in Huntsville at (936) 437-4965.

Obama's "Patriot Employer" Act

                                 (Image from smh.com.au)

The Wall Street Journal says here today that Obama's "Patriot Employer Act" would cripple the American economy. Senator Obama says that as President,

"We will end the tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas, and we will give those breaks to companies who create good jobs with decent wages right here in America."

Mr. Obama's proposal would designate certain companies as "patriot employers" and favor them over other, presumably not so patriotic, businesses.

Here is how the proposed legislation defines "patriot" companies as those that

"pay at least 60 percent of each employee's health care premiums"; have a position of "neutrality in employee [union] organizing drives"; "maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in the United States relative to the number of full-time workers outside of the United States"; pay a salary to each employee "not less than an amount equal to the federal poverty level"; and provide a pension plan.

That would only lead to fewer workers getting hired in the first place.  Or to such sweet labor deals that the company goes broke, eliminating jobs rather than saving them.

American companies with subsidiaries abroad would have to pay the U.S. corporate tax on profits earned abroad, rather than the corporate tax of the host country where they are earned. Since the U.S. corporate tax rate is 35%, while most of the world has a lower rate, this amounts to a big tax increase on earnings owned abroad.

That is, U.S. companies would be taxed at higher rates than their Chinese, Japanese and European competitors.  This would

"raise the cost of capital of U.S. multinationals and cause them to lose market share to foreign rivals." Apparently Mr. Obama believes that by making U.S. companies less profitable and less competitive world-wide, they will somehow be able to create more jobs in America.

He got it backwards: U.S. companies' offshore activities increase, not reduce, domestic business. Also, as U.S companies hire more offshore workers, the number of U.S. workers getting hired grows too.

That's in part because often what is produced overseas by subsidiaries are component parts to final, higher-value-added products manufactured here.

Obama proposes raising tax rates on affluent individuals, as well as on capital gains and dividends.

This would also lead to more capital and jobs leaving the U.S. The after-tax return on U.S. investment would fall appreciably if these tax hikes were adopted, and no amount of tax-credit subsidy will keep capital from fleeing to lower tax jurisdictions.

U.S companies would have lsss reason to move overseas, however, if they weren't taxed at the second-highest corporate rate in the world.

Rather than giving politically correct companies a 1% tax credit, it makes more sense to reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate for everyone -- by at least 10 percentage points to the global average.

Economists have long understood that companies don't really pay taxes; they merely collect them. A study by the American Enterprise Institute has shown that U.S. workers bear the cost of the corporate income tax in lower wages and salaries. To borrow Mr. Obama's language, what's really unpatriotic is the 35% U.S. corporate tax rate.

Spengler Says "Obama's Women Reveal His Secret"

                     (Image from clutchmagonline)

See what Spengler wrote yesterday at http://atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JB26Aa01.html.

(Hat Tip to Wretchard at www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com )

Texas GOP Voters For Hillary

                     (Image from media. katu.com)

A new phenomenon is developing among Texas Republicans.  Many McCain supporters plan to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Texas primary elections in early March.  Yet they are opposed to both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  So why would they vote for one of them?

It's simple. They believe Hillary would be easier for McCain to beat than Obama in November.  And they also believe that McCain will win the primary without their vote.

A smart move, or not?  We'll see soon.

The heart of a child

1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Galatians 5:1-2(NIV)

Good day!

When I arrived at the party, I saw my four-year-old granddaughter, sitting on a chair at the Strawberry Shortcake table, dressed in a pink polka-dot dress with white frilly socks and shiny white shoes.  I began singing the song “Happy Birthday.”  When she saw my face, her eyes lit up like little firecrackers exploding in the night.  Immediately, Emily jumped to her feet and shouted, “Nanny, I got four!  I got four!”  I took her in my arms and we danced around the table singing and celebrating together!  There is nothing like seeing the face of an exuberant child on her fourth birthday. 

We celebrate our birthdays, remembering the gift of new life and the hope of all that is to come.  Emily is four years old today. As I look away and blink again, she will be fourteen, going to proms and playing sports, and then twenty-four, walking across the graduation stage in her cap and gown, and maybe down the church aisle in a beautiful white wedding gown.  I wonder if we will dance together on the day she gets married. I wonder what Emily might say to me when she hands me my great-grandchild for the very first time.  I see in her precious face the love of my Lord Jesus Christ.  She is so full of His Spirit.  I am constantly reminded of how blessed our family is, five times over, as we share in the joy of watching our grandchildren grow in the light of His love, mercy and grace.

No one teaches us how to love each other better than a little child does.  We can learn a lot from them, as they experience for themselves a personal relationship Jesus Christ.  May you find yourself celebrating new life in the Spirit today, as you cherish rebirth in Him.  Take hold of that hope that He has planted uniquely inside of you and reach out to someone who needs to experience what real love is today.   

May we daily seek to imitate our Lord, as we learn to love with child-like hearts.

Grace and peace,

Deb Spaulding

Faith UMC - St. Charles, MO

www.songofdeborah.com

 

Thirst quencher

37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” John 7:37(NIV)

Good day!

Have you ever been really thirsty? My husband makes a “thirst-quenching” stop every morning at the Convenience filling station near our home. He is on a first-name basis with every manager there. On Sunday mornings when our United Methodist Men have breakfast, Jeff delivers an extra meal or two to the people working at the station. They keep him well-stocked in his favorite diet soft drink. I believe they have taken the challenge to quench the insatiable thirst of this circuit riding Methodist minister quite seriously.

Every time I go inside Convenient, I have to laugh out loud. You can’t help but notice the silly grin of the sales clerks as they watch my husband fill a 64-ounce cup to the brim. Quite often, he grabs two additional 24-ounce bottles to go. It makes their day. Quenching an insatiable thirst is big business around here. Fast food stops and filling stations line every corner of the community where we live. I have found that suburbanites do get thirsty often and are constantly looking for a place to purchase some much-needed refreshment.

On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and announced that if anyone is thirsty, they should come to Him and drink. Jesus is offering living water to all who seek Him. It is the kind of drink that cannot be purchased. It is God’s free gift to all who will seek Him out. That thirst-quenching drink that Christ offers to all provides soul nourishment, and is the sustaining force that catapults us through this life and into the everlasting. Jesus is closer to you than the Convenient shop just down the road. You do not have to drive to Him – He will meet you right where you are. Christ can quench the thirst of your soul, if you will stop and ask Him to give you a taste of His living water. It is His free gift, given for you and me.

Are you thirsty?  Come to Jesus and be refreshed.

Grace and peace,

Deb Spaulding

Faith UMC -

St. Charles

,

MO

www.songofdeborah.com

 

 

Marching Orders

This is from Deb, who is on the road for her denomination:

33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the One who sent me.  34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”  :  John 7:33-34(NIV)

Good day!

When I was a little girl, I wanted to go to work with my daddy.  He got up at 6am each morning.  I can remember listening to the sounds of KMOX® Radio crooning on the air waves every day.  The first song I would hear was the Lord’s Prayer, followed by a John Philip Susa patriotic march.  In the first five minutes of the 6am hour, we received our marching orders for the day.  We learned that the first order of business was to pray, and the second, to march right out of bed and get ready to go to school and work.

One dark and chilly morning, I got up before KMOX came on the air, grabbing my coat and boots and putting them on over my pajamas.  I remember how my parents laughed at me when they emerged from their bedroom and saw me on the floor, ready to go.  I really wanted to go with my father, but it was obviously not the right time.

The disciples yearned to go where Jesus was going.  Jesus reminded them that He would only be with them a short while in the flesh before returning to the One who had sent Him.  Jesus said that one day, they would look for Him but would not find Him, because where He is, they could not yet come. 

We search for Him, crying out to the One who gives us new life.  We often forget that He finds us first, and it is His love that draws us closer to Him each day.  If you are seeking Christ this morning, I have good news for you!  You wouldn’t be looking for Him if He had not already sought you out.  That means that He is right here, right now!  Jesus Christ finds us first.  He gives us the deep desire to seek His face, following wherever He leads.  It’s time to take up our morning marching orders. 

Rise and shine, baby!  This is the perfect day to follow Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace,

Deb Spaulding

Faith UMC -

St. Charles

,

MO

www.songofdeborah.com

Debate: View From the Front Row

                        (Image from i.1.cnn.net)

My adoptive granddaughter, LyAnna Johnson, is a lovely, very savvy young woman.  She has run political campaigns, works for a Texas legislator, makes trips to Mexico to build houses for poor people, and is also a graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Policy at UT at Austin.  There, she got lucky in a drawing among graduate students for choice seats at the Clinton-Obama debate at UT last night.  She had "the best seat in the house," front row, aisle seat, right in front of Chelsea Clinton's seat and right in front of Hillary Clinton's seat on the stage.

Listen to this Republican's reaction to her seat at the debate last night, from her email right after the debate:

I'm still too excited to sleep!

So, I seriously had the best seat in the house.  I was directly in front of Chelsea Clinton.  Front row.  Aisle seat.  It was amazing.  McCain is my man, but it was still incredible.

(On the seating chart) They had Chelsea listed twice, but trust me, there was only one of her!

If you watched the debate, you see me getting their autographs at the end, and what might appear as a conversation with Obama.  We were talking about my magic marker.  He was using it to sign other programs, and was constantly reminding me that he knew it was mine and it would be returned.  Rather comical, really.

Even if they are Ds, it was amazong.:)

LMJ

You can see this lovely and excited McCain supporter on her front-row seat at the debate here.  Scroll to photo #11.

Vital Statistic

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but He who sent me is true. You do not know Him, 29 but I know Him because I am from Him and He sent me.” John 7:28-29 (NIV)

Good day!

Which high school did you graduate from? This seems to be a vital statistic for people living in the “Show-Me” state. It is a common thread, linking Midwesterners, particularly Missourians. I am often asked about where I went to high school. My answer will reveal the area in which I grew up, and the social status of my family. I want you to know that I am a proud graduate of McCluer Senior High, class of 1977. What does this say to you about who I am?

The people thought they knew who Jesus was. Many watched this man grow up in Nazareth. He was the son of Joseph and Mary. They questioned his religious training. He had not studied with the religious teachers of the law. Jesus suggested while they knew where He grew up and who raised Him, they did not know the One who had sent Him. This was a confusing testimony to understand. They asked amongst themselves, “By whose authority had Jesus been sent?”

Remember how Jesus was rejected by His own community? We tend to hold preconceived notions about what people will become, based upon their upbringing and culture. While moral and spiritual values (for better or worse) are instilled during our childhood years, the God we serve has all power to transform every heart to a heart that radiates His love. When we know the ultimate transformer, we are not so surprised when the transformation occurs. Jesus said, “I am not here on my own, but He who sent me is true. You do not know Him yet, but I do, because I am from Him and He sent me to you.”

Maybe we should learn to not place so much emphasis where we were raised and educated. Maybe the better question should be, “In whom do you place your faith and hope?” Do you know who Jesus Christ really is? Have you met the One who sent Him here?

Grace and peace,

Deb Spaulding
Faith UMC - St. Charles, MO
www.songofdeborah.com

NY to LA On 3 Fill-Ups

                                         (Image from msnbc.com)

The article, here, reads: 

Loremo: The 'Low Resistance Mobile'

At 150-miles-per-gallon, the Loremo wante to show how far a diesel can go.

The idea is deceptively simple. Forget about fancy batteries, regenerative braking, and alternative fuels. Instead, make a car that's elegant in its minimalism and efficiency. The Loremo's German designers revisited the basics — engine efficiency, low weight, and minimal drag — to create a car that offers fuel-efficiency in the neighborhood of 130 to 150 miles per gallon. The Loremo is likely to dazzle drivers not with its acceleration, but with its ability to drive from New York to L.A. with only three stops at the pump. Read Full Article

A Harmonica In Carnegie Hall??

You won't believe this.  Bach, "William Tell Overture" and more - all impossibly good.  Incredible!  4 minutes.

(Hat Tip to Fred and Gene Hannah)

Saying Goodbye---

                           (Image from gerrycharlottephelps.com)

The "Greatest Generation" - those young men in the old photos - will soon be gone.  Now they are leaving us at the rate of 2000 a day.  We forget - they saved us and everything we hold dear.  We could be German-speaking Nazis now, without their heroic sacrifice!

So before they say goodbye, why not thank them in person?  Really soon?  At every opportunity?  They won't be around to hear "Thanks" much longer.  See this great, great video about them here

Here is the story that gave birth to the video:

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach , Fla. eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.

He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."

Then the old soldier began to cry.

"That really got to me," Bierstock says.

Cut to today.

Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song that was inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank our nation's young warriors and our veterans before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, wives, sons, daughters and grandchildren.

"It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss "the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."

Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free on the Web.! They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it. We hope so too

(Hat Tip to Robert Martin)

The Britney Spears in Your Life

                    (Image from newsday.com)

This from Guest Blogger Rubel Shelly at "Fax of LIfe."

This isn't a piling-on piece about Britney Spears out-of-control life.  She has enough people alternately diagnosing and dismissing her.  Even as the TV newscasters tell about the latest bout in court, the most recent episode of partying, or intruduce the latest censored photo, they tend to roll their eyes.  She generates a lot of tongue-clucking these days.  She just seems hopeless.

Ah, but that's the point.  Or, at any rate, it is the beginning of a point somebody needs to make about the latest young celebrity on a path to self-destruction.  Is there nobody who cares about her?  Will nobody risk telling her the truth?  Doesn't anybody love her enough to throw her a lifeline?

Practically everybody has a Britney Spears in her life.  There is a friend or family member, a colleague at work or a member of her church whose life is clearly spinning sideways on a sheet of ice and about to crash.

It's a younger brother who has been experimenting with drugs - while racking up a couple of DUIs along the way.

It's a brother-in-law who has left his wife and their two children to live with someone half his age.

It's a friend who has four or five credit cards maxed out from shopping binges and whose idea of solving the problem is to get another card.

It's the deacon who was arrested a few weeks ago for stealing a computer from his company - and whose absence from church has not been mentioned.

It's the person in your office who used to be cheerful and dependable but who has missed a lot of work lately - and whose presence complicates life for everyone.

See what I mean now?  My point is not to moralize about or to pass another sanctimonious judgement on Ms. Spears.  It is to look in from the perspective you and I share to wish somebody would reach out to her.  Maybe there are people who really care about her.  Maybe they have tried.  And maybe she has rebuffed them all.  That happens sometimes!  More often than not, though, people crash and burn because the people around them look away.

Alcoholics, philanderers, religious bigots, incorrigible gamblers, clinically depressed people, tax cheats - the list just goes on and on.  People have life issues that have them by the throats.  It will likely take a professional to help them dig out.  But somebody who is close to and credible with them has to take the first step to intervene.  Get in his face.  Let her know how serious things are.

You don't know Britney Spears?  Don't think you can help her?  Okay.  But what abou the person you do know who is on a similar path?  You may be that soul's best hope of recovery from a nose-dive into oblivion.

Even if you make the effort, there are no guarantees - except that major problems don't solve themselves.  If the shoe were on the other foot, wouldn't you want someone to reach a hand to you?

(Rubel Shelly's devotionals are available at www.rubelshelly.com )

Microsoft: No More Keyboards

(Image from limilight-189.static.daily motion.com)

Not only that - no more mouses either!  See video at No more keyboards...;   Video is just 2 minutes.  It'll be a whole new world! 

(Hat Tip to Fred and Gene Hannah)
 

Clinton's Methodist Church Affirms Gay Marriages

     Foundry United Methodist Church, Wash. D.C.

                       (Image from casavant.ca)

The Clinton's former church, the prominent Foundry United Methodist Church of Washington D.C., has announced that homosexual couples can have their associations recognized and honored at the church.

Mark Tooley, Executive Director of UMAction, responds, "It is absurd to claim that a United Methodist Church can 'recognize' a same-sex union without celebrating it."

UMC church law prohibits any ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions which involve UM pastors or church buildings.  The UMC, however, officially "affirms God's love and civil rights for all people, while also affirming marriage as the lifelong union of man and woman."

Tooley commented:

The United Methodist Discipline clearly prohibits celebrating homosexual unions.  By providing worship leadership and a church building, Foundry United Methodist Church is doing everything short of an exchange of vows.  This is clearly a violation of the spirit of the Discipline.

It is absurd to claim that a United Methodist church can "recognize" a same-sex union without celebrating it.  Are we to believe that the United Methodist pastor will roboticaly acknowledge such unions without any encorsement of them, all the while surrounded by the trappings of a traditional wedding service?

UMAction calls upon Baltimore-Washington Conference Bishop John Schol to uphold both the letter and spirit of the United Methodist Discipline by preventing these same-sex rites.

From www.TheIRD.org

The Man Who Says He's JFK's Son

      (Image from Globe and Mail)

_

                Enlarge Image

This story, broken in the Drudge Report, is all over the Canadian press tonight, while largely missing from the U.S. media.  Among papers carrying the story is the Globe and Mail, here

They report that Vanity Fair in the U.S. has been working quietly on the story for 18 months.  Jack "Worthington" - not his actual name - has come forward.   He seems to have signed papers saying that he does not want money from the Kennedys.  But he is asking for DNA from the Kennedys in order to prove that he is JFK's son.

He claims to have been born at about the time JFK was assassinated, which if true, would mean he was conceived about a month after JFK was sworn in as President.  His mother is alleged to be from a family that was close to LBJ, and that it was LBJ who introduced her to JFK.  Her family is supposed to have been closely allied to LBJ politically in Texas.

At present, the American businessman is living anonymously in Canada close to Vancouver.  He has been in talks with some Canadian papers, and this is the latest development.  While it is not shocking, considering the wide publicity given to the womanizing of the Kennedy brothers and of Joe Kennedy, their father, it is still news that is bound to fascinate Americans.

Look for it to hit the U.S. press tomorrow.

A Small Light in Great Darkness

                              (Image from sxc.hu)

From Rubel Shelly's "Fax of Life":for 2-11-08:

Whei I was a boy of about ten, my mother and father took me to Carlsbad Caverns.  I still remember the gigantic stalagmites and stalactites.  I can almost feel the cold of being deep inside the earth on a hot summer day.  But my most vivid memory is of the moment our guide had all of us find a place to sit down and - after warning of what was about to happen - turned off all the electric lights that had been put inside the dark belly of the earth.

I felt like I was tumbling head over heels.  My heart raced.  With one hand I grasped the rock ledge on which I was sitting and with the other reached for my father.  Fortunately, the tour guide didn't allow it to last long.  He turned on his flashlight.  And it looked as bright as a million candle-power searchlight!

An ordinary flashlight that costs $3.00, complete with batteries, can push back the encompassing, frighteninig darkness of Carlsbad Caverns.  A beam that would be hardly noticeable at ground level on a sunny day looks like a laser in deep darkness.  As soon as it appeared, my stomach gave up its tumbling sensation.  My lunch became stable again.

I could see my parents' faces in outline again and knew I wasn't alone.  I sensed that the single light in our guide's hand heralded the return of the lights which had guided us perviously and whose presence we had taken for granted.

When God created Planet Earth for our habitation, he came onto a scene that was formless and dark.  He pushed back the darkness with light, then set about to bring order to chaos.  It takes light for life to survive and thive.

When Jesus was re-creating the human race and restoring hope to despairing people, he came onto a scene made formless and dark again.  This darkness had come by human rebellion against his Father and humanity's inhumanity to its own.  In his birth, teaching, lifestyle and personal victory over death in the resurrection, he pushesd back the darkness with the light of heaven's bright glory.  To use John's language, Jesus was the light shining into our darkness; the darkness could not conquer the light he brought.

If you ever feel the head-over-heels sensation that comes of being in the deep darkness, look in his direction.  Jesus is still the Light of the World.  And it is only in the presence of light that yu can live, grow and flourish.

"I am the world's light," Jesus said.  "No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness.  I provide plenty of light to live in."  (John 8:12 MSG)

("FAX of Life" is a free email that can be ordered at gbciii@aol.com, or viewed at www.rubelshelly.com.)

Che Guevara Picture on Obama Office Wall

                     (Image from Fox News video)

This video was made when staffers first opened Obama's Houston office.  (It appears in the video right away, in the first few seconds of the video.)  The Cuban thug's mug was apparently the first thing this Obama staffer put up on the wall to decorate her office.  Fox has the video.

Reformation UCC Interview - Part 5

     Jesus Washing Disciple's Feet

(After the World magazine article about me appeared on 2-6-08, here, Rev. Chuck Huckaby asked me to do an interview for the Reformation UCC online newsletter, here .This is Part 5 of the interview, here )

Gerry Charlotte Phelps: From Radical Activist To Radical Christian - 5

February 7th, 2008 · No Comments

Editor’s Note: This is another installment in an interview with Gerry Charlotte Phelps (click her name to see the other articles in this series).

ReformationUCC: You’ve recently retired. What message do you want to convey to Bible Believing Christians in the mainline churches? To others?

This is my message: Don’t quit. Don’t leave. Don’t give up. Stay in your denomination and fight. The tide is beginning to turn!

In the United Methodist Church, it has been a long, hard slog. Like you, we Bible-believing Methodist pastors have been passed over, ignored, sometimes hounded and occasionally fired. We’ve been invisible most of the time, voiceless almost, without power in most ways. Like you, we gathered ourselves into groups. The number of those groups kept increasing. We had a newsletter, then a magazine. We learned the politics that our opposition knew so well. Then we began to prevail on a few more issues, then a few more.

Meanwhile, the new seminarians coming into the clergy were more and more conservative theologically. That has been going on since the 70s, when the professors at my liberal seminary were alarmed about it. It is happening more every year. And the great bulk of United Methodists still believes the Bible and wants their pastors to as well.

Finally, we are seeing that we are likely to win control of the denomination in just a few more years. What if we had given up earlier?

Maybe that is why God has simply refused to let so many of us leave and go where we would be more at home, but has kept us within our denominations. I, for one, yearned to leave through the years, but God never gave me the freedom to go.

As for us Methodists – I suspect John Wesley has been addressing God about us without let-up ever since he got there. No doubt your founders are doing the same. Along with all those who have gone on before us. And God does seem to be on the way to answering their prayers. I don’t think it will be much longer now. God is good!

Reformation UCC Interview - Part 4

    Jesus Washing Disciple's Feet

(After the World magazine article about me appeared on 2-6-08, here, Rev. Chuck Huckaby asked me to do an interview for the Reformation UCC online newsletter, here .This is Part 4 of the interview, here )

Gerry Charlotte Phelps: From Radical Activist To Radical Christian - 4

February 6th, 2008 ·

Editor’s Note: This is another installment in an interview with Gerry Charlotte Phelps (click her name to see the other articles in this series).

ReformationUCC: What myths about the poor did you once hold that your Christian faith (and perhaps the school of hard knocks) has changed? How have these beliefs changed?

My myths about the poor actually came from our culture, not from my Christianity. Christianity is very solid on how to help the poor. It also lists and condemns the causes of poverty. What my Christianity supplies is the powerful motive to help the poor. It is a scriptural commandment.

Our major myths about the poor are about how to help the poor, and about what the causes of poverty are.

Myths about how we should help the poor are what I was talking about in my answer to the last question. The first myth is that the ideal way to help the poor is to give them what they want, or what they think they need, not what they actually need. And the second myth is that never embarrassing the poor or making them feel bad is much more important than helping them to stop being poor. The other big myth is about what causes poverty.

There are actually many causes of poverty. But the mix of causes varies from country to country, and from time to time within each country. If our actions to help the poor are to be effective, we must know what the mix of causes of poverty is in that particular country at that time.

It turns out that what we think causes poverty also shapes our politics. When we think the poor are poor because they are oppressed, that moves us left politically. When we think they are poor mostly because of inadequate use of available opportunities, that moves us right politically. (See my article “The Power of the Poor”) Since both oppression and availability of opportunities are at society-wide, they are often addressed politically, rather than with a person-by-person approach.

On the left, the ways to protect people from oppression range from Marxism at the most extreme left, to various degrees of mix between capitalism and Marxism as leftists move toward the center. On the right, fairly pure capitalism and a high degree of freedom are considered the best antidote, not only to oppression, but also to poverty.

I started out on the extreme left, and during the time I worked with the poor, I moved to the right because of two things: first, what I learned from working with the poor, and second, what we all learned when the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, giving us our first clear view of the disastrous results of the 70 year Marxist experiment in the Soviet Union. As a leftist economist, it took me a few years of strenuous re-evaluation to process that. At the end of that process, there was an almost-perfect match between my new economic understanding, and what I had already learned about the poor in the U.S. Oppression simply was not a significant cause of poverty, at least not in the U.S., nor in most of the West.

Why is that? It is not that oppression does not exist in the U.S. Of course it does –oppression is part of the human equation. But what seems to happen most of the time is that there is so much freedom and prosperity in the U.S. that people can usually get away from whatever kind of oppression they may face. Is the boss oppressive? There are other bosses, other jobs, even self-employment. Is there some kind of discrimination? The economy is so large, so rich and so free that there are many roads around discrimination. Is there a lack of education? That can be remedied. Has a job become obsolete? There is training available for other jobs. Is a business being oppressed? It has many legal recourses. Or it can simply get up and move, to another location or town or state or country. Or the owner can pull his capital out of that business and change to another one. Would-be oppressors are much less successful in the U.S. than elsewhere. All of which makes it much easier to stop being poor.

Well then, if oppression is not a major cause of poverty in the U.S., what is? It has long been thought to be lack of education, racial discrimination and an unfair wage structure. Although these each have their own effect, none of them, nor all of them together, are a major cause of U.S. poverty. So what is? In the U.S., some 80% of the poor are unmarried moms and their children. That is, the major cause of poverty in the U.S., at this time in our history, is fatherlessness.

That’s not all, fatherlessness is also the major predictor of violent crime. Surprised? The experts were too. That was information they backed into while looking for other things. They found that 70% of the most violent young offenders in prison were fatherless. Now mapping fatherlessness has become the most reliable way to map violent crime.

The remarkable thing is that fatherlessness on such a large scale is totally new in U.S. history. We have never seen such a thing before. In 1960, the rate of births outside of marriage (fatherless kids) was 5.3%. Today it is 36% - a 700% increase! (See Chapter 6 of “Up and Out,” at www.gerrycharlottephelps.com.) That’s not all: during this socially-disastrous period, violent crime also has risen by 500%, teen suicides by 300%, and divorce by 200%. Our tremendous wealth merely disguises the fact that we are living through a national time of great trouble.

So where does fatherlessness come from? From births outside marriage, of course, which in turn comes from having sex outside marriage. People have always done that, and there have always been fatherless children. But before 1960 it was on a very small scale. Now it is on a huge scale – and considered normal.

So you want to help the poor? Are you sure? Even if it means cutting back on the rate of fatherlessness? Even if that means returning to the customs of celibacy before marriage and faithfulness after marriage? No more co-habitation? Or hooking up? Because until we are willing to do what it takes to push fatherlessness back to pre-1960 levels, we cannot honestly claim to be concerned about the poor. Think about it.

This is what we are facing. The primary cause of most poverty in the U.S. is basically something we do not want to hear about, much less to do anything about. Where does that leave us?

It leaves us with our Biblical mandate to help the poor. When such a great change is needed in society, there is only one way. That is to change the culture through Christ. That is to evangelize like crazy, and to disciple Christians to live according to the scripture like never before. The more people who do that, the fewer fatherless kids there will be. And as that number drops, there should be fewer poor, as well as less crime and a much more benign society..

The hard thing about Christianity is the personal sacrifice. Fortunately, it is the kind of sacrifice that makes all of society better and better, in measurable ways that cannot be denied. Just as Christianity has always done in every place that it has been faithfully practiced by enough of the people.

So our job is clear. Patch up the poor we have, and help them move up. And practice our Christianity strenuously, to the point that society heals and the number of poor among us shrinks more and more. Down deep, haven’t we always known that?

Overwhelming joy

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day.” John 6:40(NIV)

What is God’s will for my life? I find myself asking God that very question in prayer. Longing to be found in the Father’s will is the believer’s utmost desire. When Jesus spoke about the Father’s true bread of heaven, the disciples longed to taste it for themselves.

I played with eight-month old Andrew this morning. He is crawling everywhere, making baby tracks from the family room into the kitchen. He has no trouble keeping up with his older siblings, Joshua and Emily. They get on the floor and crawl right along with him. When we seek a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, He crawls along beside us, even when we slip and slide a bit. Our pursuit may seem a bit awkward at first, but the Lord stays right with us, every inch of the way.

When I arrived today, I walked over to the play pen where Andrew was laying and peeked over the top of his crib. As soon as that child saw me, his face absolutely lit up. The biggest grin appeared on his sweet face. He began to giggle and coo, raising his arms for Granny Deb to pick him up. Andrew gave me wet, slobbery kisses, and that alone, made my entire trip worthwhile. When we believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Only Son, and Lord of all the earth, we cannot hide our childlike love and affection. His overwhelming joy lights up our lives and gives us great hope for tomorrow. We simply cannot mask our love of the Lord.

What is God’s will for my life? The Father urges me to seek out a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and believe. As I humble my heart and accept the Lord without reservations or conditions, He promises I will receive everlasting life with Him; that I will be raised up on the day of His return. This is the Father’s will for you and for me. I invite you to come and experience overwhelming joy in worship this weekend. Jesus is waiting for you to respond. Will you choose to seek Him out and believe?   

Grace and peace,

Deb Spaulding
www.songofdeborah.com

Reformation UCC Interview - Part 3

    Jesus Washing Disciple's Feet

(After the World magazine article about me appeared on 2-6-08, here, Rev. Chuck Huckaby asked me to do an interview for the Reformation UCC online newsletter, here .This is Part 3 of the interview, here )

Gerry Charlotte Phelps: From Radical Activist To Radical Christian - 3

February 5th, 2008 ·

Editor’s Note: This is another installment in an interview with Gerry Charlotte Phelps (click her name to see the other articles in this series).

ReformationUCC: You have extensive experience starting effective ministries for the poor. What misconceptions about serving poor people do you believe that the average mainline churchgoer has that prevents effectiveness?

GCP: Our misconceptions about serving poor people that prevent our being effective in helping them? Let me start by saying that my book, “Up and Out: A Guide to True Compassion for the Poor” would be the place to begin. It is a condensation of what I learned about how best to help the poor. That came during 18 years of helping some 5000 poor people move up, in 2
very large homeless shelters plus a charity for non-homeless poor, all of which I started and ran, in 3 cities in 2 states, with a consistent 65-75% success rate. I posted the book online to be read for free, at www.gerrycharlottephelps.com (chapters listed in column on left.)

The most common misconceptions about the poor are about: why they are poor, what are the best ways to help them move up, and what would help society produce fewer poor people.

There are two basic ways to serve those who are already poor: The Hand-Out and the Hand-Up.

The hand-out is easier for us, worse for them. Yet it is what the poor prefer, and what they will try to push you to do. It is what we usually prefer too. It is easy, quick, and gets rid of them. It also brings that wonderful feeling we get when we help the poor, for the lowest cost to us. But the hand-out could actually help kill them, by enabling their addictions. (Most of the old homeless are no longer homeless. Those few left are the hard-core, almost all addicts; plus the few women they can pimp to stand on a street corner and beg.)

Then how should we help them? Try my chapter 25, “Guidelines for Giving”

Giving the poor a “hand-up” is so much better! And that can be much, much better done in a good program, which is the best way you and your churches can help them. Chapter 25 introduces that idea too. Most churches are small, but they can often collaborate with other churches to have a unified program to help the poor.

How to get some churches together to do that? See my Chapter 27, “Churches At Work With the Poor“

What should such church programs look like? See my Chapter 24, “What a Good
Program Looks Like,”

It may be a good idea, in order to limit liability exposure for the churches supporting such a unified program, to make it into a free-standing non-profit. How would you go about that? See my Chapter 28, “Good
Faith-Based Charities,” and my Chapter 29, “Starting Up a Charity”.

What are the poor like? See Chapters 3 - 6. How did they get that way? See Chapters 7- 11. What could we do to change that? See Chapters 12-13. What do the poor need most? See Chapters 14-17. What do volunteers need to know most? See Chapters 18-23.

“Up and Out” is the best beginning I can offer, to learn what you need most to know, in order to be truly compassionate toward the poor. And at least for the present, it can be read for free.

Reformation UCC Interview - Part 2

     Jesus Washing Disciple's Feet

(After the World magazine article about me appeared on 2-6-08, here, Rev. Chuck Huckaby asked me to do an interview for the Reformation UCC online newsletter, here .This is Part 2 of the interview, here )

Gerry Charlotte Phelps: From Radical Activist To Radical Christian - 2

February 4th, 2008

Editor’s Note: This is another installment in an interview with Gerry Charlotte Phelps (click her name to see the other articles in this series).

ReformationUCC: You have extensive experience in revitalizing mainline congregations. What can your average smaller mainline church do to “get back in the game” instead of continuing to decline? What “worked” for you?

GCP: What worked for me was learned in four parts.

One: making myself start evangelizing, in prison, simply because it was a scriptural commandment. It was hard at first, but the first time was the hardest. The second time a little easier, and finally I evangelized at every opportunity, everywhere I could. I recorded each convert in my Bible, name and date, which I still have. There were 19 of them in prison. I continued evangelizing “targets of opportunity” after paroling, and in seminary - where I found there were at least some unsaved people.

Second: being trained in a more effective way to evangelize, one-on-one, the Evangelism Explosion way. Using that, I was able to lead as many people to Christ in the next two years as I had in the previous six years.

Third: learning to EVANGELIZE CHURCH MEMBERS. That was the real key. Lillian Jordan taught me that. She was a 72-year-old retired nurse and life-long Methodist who transferred into my first church. As a discipling tool, I insisted all new members go through a short membership course with me before they could join the church. Our source book was an Evangelism
Explosion-type booklet designed as the first discipling tool for brand new Christians.

The class was around the dining table in my parsonage, with Lillian on my right. We simply went around the table, with each one reading a paragraph out loud. When it was Lillian’s turn, it was something about the necessity of accepting Christ as Lord and Savior to become a Christian.

When Lillian finished reading it aloud, I had begun reading the next paragraph when Lillian interrupted, pounding on the table. “Wait a minute, wait a minute!” she insisted loudly. “I’ve been in the Methodist Church my entire life, and nobody ever told me that before!”

“Yeah? Well.” I said, and just continued reading the next paragraph aloud. (I’m not very sensitive.) She interrupted, pounding the table again. “Wait a minute, wait a minute! Shouldn’t we stop right now and let me do that?” So she made her pastor stop droning on and lead her to Christ. We prayed together as she accepted Christ. And then I picked up reading aloud again where I left off. Like I said, I’m not very sensitive.

In a few seconds, I realized Lillian was crying. I said “Lillian, what’s the matter?” “I don’t know,” she said. “I just feel so happy!” So she got her pastor to stop and rejoice with her because she found Christ. That was at age 72, after a lifetime in the Methodist church!

That really made me think. Were there any more like her? How many? Who?

Somehow I knew not just to stand up in church and ask them to identify themselves. They couldn’t anyhow, if they were like Lillian. Like her, they might not even know. Besides, most of them would be mortified to have others in church know.

So here’s what I did. I went quietly to each church family, in their homes, and presented the gospel to them, preferably the whole family at once. The beauty of the EE method of evangelism is that it is so diagnostic, making it relatively simple to tell if they ever converted or not, and making that clear to them, a step at a time. It was rare that they did not want to accept Christ right then. It was really beautiful seeing how many of them changed after that, growing in their Christian walk and character.

I never told anyone, at any church, that I was evangelizing church members. Some might have considered it a breach of their privacy. And I didn’t want the others on their guard and expecting me!

Fortunately, if approached considerately and in private, unconverted church members are the easiest converts ever. Like Cornelius in the book of Acts, they already love God. Like him, they just need someone to show them “what they must do to be saved.” And then to disciple them.

After going through as many of the church members as possible, I learned that only 12% were converted before I got there. (It was 12% in my next church, also in California, and 17% in my third church, in Texas.) It was about 56% when I left. Later I read that George Barna, the Christian pollster, found that even in the most evangelistic churches, not more than 50% of the people in the pews were actually converted. In the mainline churches I pastored, it was much, much less than that.

So I learned not to make assumptions about church members. We assume they are saved, and that they are well-taught. Most are not saved, and most - even after a lifetime of Methodist Sunday School classes, workshops and conferences - are not well taught. They are like college students in advanced classes who never had the basic courses first.

Fourth: I learned to disciple them! But by going back to basics, basics, basics. We started with a good, simple survey course on the Bible, before focusing in on parts of it, using Henrietta C. Mears “What the Bible is All About.” We did the whole Bible in a year, at breakneck speed. I would teach the same lesson three times a week, so that they could find time to attend at least on of those times. I planned sermon topics a year in advance, on just the basics. I hounded them into reading their Bibles through once a year. We learned to pray regularly alone, and also together in small groups.

What happened? After about my fourth month at each church, each moved from hand-to-mouth finances to running a financial surplus, which grew steadily throughout my time there. That was even though I never asked them to give. (I did preach on tithing twice a year, but just so they would receive the blessings of tithing. I even told them once we really didn’t need the money, that I just wanted them to be blessed.)

They also got compulsive about asking people to church; I did not have to ask them. The next thing that happened was that many people started noticeably changing. And the next thing was that the church began to grow.

In each of my three churches, they grew at a pretty steady 12% a year. Not spectacular, true, but it just kept adding up. And that was without changing the music, the parking lot, the signage, or adopting most of the excellent church-growth techniques available. If we had done that too, who knows?

At my last church, I began holding workshops, seminars and teaching at Pastor’s School at the request of some District Superintendents, to teach these methods to other pastors, including some in other states. I also consult on these methods.

Putting Country Ahead of Lesser Concerns

              Mitt Romney

"I cannot allow a candidate to win who would retreat in the face of the Islamic threat." said MItt Romney, as he withdrew from the race to be President.  In a time of war, he said, he had to put his country ahead of his campaign. 

It makes you think, doesn't it?

He sacrificed more than the sacrifice asked of conservatives.  He gave up his hope to be President.  They would only give up opposing a particular candidate.. Both sacrifices seem small compared to the need of the country not to be have a President who would retreat in time of war.

He didn't go into other needs - protecting the unborn, what kinds of judges would be placed on the courts permanently, losing the prosperity that makes our military strength possible, severe cuts to our armed forces and navy again, making government spending explode even more, raising taxes - that will turn out badly if the Republicans lose.

Will conservatives "teach them a lesson" by sitting out this election, letting the liberals win?  That's a high-risk unknown.  Last time, in 1992, we were not in a war.  Now we are.  That alone makes this time different.

And say - could we just please take back Congress this time?  Maybe, if we support the entire national ticket.  Just maybe..

Reformation UCC Interview - Part 1

     Jesus Washing Disciple's Feet

(After the World magazine article about me appeared on 2-6-08, here, Rev. Chuck Huckaby asked me to do an interview for the Reformation UCC online newsletter, here .This is Part 1 of the interview, here )

Gerry Charlotte Phelps: From Radical Activist To Radical Christian - 1

February 3rd, 2008 ·

Editor’s Note: This is another installment in an interview with Gerry Charlotte Phelps (click her name to see the other articles in this series).

What follows in separate articles are some questions and answers directed to Rev. Gerry Phelps, a radical activist turned radical Christian by the grace of God. This is important because many in the mainline share at least the first half of her story. They are passionately committed to leftist causes and methodology. They simply don’t have the courage or perhaps the naivete to act upon their convictions as she did by attempting an armed robbery to fund her activism. Or perhaps they have seen the church as a ready source of funding for left wing politics without the risk associated with an armed robbery? Whatever the case, her story needs to be heard by mainliners of every stripe because Rev. Phelps left her radical activism behind in becoming a radical Christian instead.

A self-described “Ex-agnostic, ex-far-left radical, ex-university economics teacher, and ex-con” she writes and ministers from a wealth of experience.

Why would a former Black Panther recruiter become a “recruiter” for Jesus?

How could a person devoted to questioning the “establishment” in toto eventually come to see one of the institutions she’d questioned, the church, become her home and the center of her ministry?

What transpired to make her faith in Marxist economics implode?

Many mainline leaders still indulge the myths and false solutions she came to reject.

What made the difference?

“Out of the Iron Furnace” tells her story in depth.

Ultimately though it was a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in Holy Scripture.

Her passion for the poor never changed.

But the solution she came to offer became Jesus Christ Himself, not the mythical Marxist utopia of her Christless dream world.

ReformationUCC: What turned you from being a radical leftist into a bible believing Christian?

GCP: What turned you from a radical leftist into a bible believing Christian?

Actually, I did not stop being a radical leftist when I became a Bible-believing Christian. I combined the two. In fact, I remember asking a good Christian, early on, “How can you be a Christian and be a Republican? The change from radical leftist to conservative took many years. (You can read about that in my book, “Out of the Iron Furnace,’ at www.outoftheironfurnace.blogspot.com, in Chapter 33.)

How I went from agnostic to Christian is another matter. It happened in two stages.

Stage one was when I suddenly encountered God, in a way that would convince a scientifically-trained skeptic. One day in jail, shortly before transferring to prison, God jus