Update on Jena:

An update to email sent out to you all on 04/03/2008.

Reminds me of the little kid with some loaves of bread and fish...Maybe there is something here in 3000 population Jena for all America and the world...

Four day man planned revival turn 48 day God ordained revival and then some

"A revival meeting began at Midway Baptist Church Feb. 17. What started out as a typically planned four-day event become so much more. Little did the members of that church know that God would call on church leaders to extend that meeting from four days to 48 days, spanning nine weeks. The impact of the Jena Revival has reached far outside the worship center of Midway....What man could not do through politicians, the government and celebrities, God did in just a few short weeks using ordinary men and women who'd decided to surrender it all to Him."

Below are some testimonies from those involved in Jena. This should be making just as much headlines as the bad news did from Jena in September of last year. Where are Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and their media now?

The Beginning of the Jena Revival- "one of Jena 6 become saved"

Transformation Story from Jena May make you cry....

Forgiveness in Jena-Racial Reconciliation. White church reaching out to black church as revival spreads and black pastor reaches out to DA involved in the Jena 6 as reconciliation spreads out from this 4 day human planned revival turn 48 day God planned community revival.

Renewal in Jena-Sweet..

Revival Impact on Jena-Sweet..

Climate in the Jena Wal-Mart-And even sweeter...

Bishop Harry Jackson and CNN commentator and Chicago radio host, Roland Martin-On Washington Watch Weekly Radio discussing Obamas' pastor and racial reconciliation. The whole show was a good one and you can sign up for free podcasts or just go to their web site each week. Even has an audio clip from openly gay Senator McCoy of Iowa accusing a conservative Iowa family organization as anti-gay and equating them to hate crimers. If some are not concerned about hatecrimes legislation/antibullying laws effecting religious speech and other points of view you have to listen to this 3 minute speech from Senator McCoy and scroll down to 3rd play button. There has got to be some other way to handle this problem without incriminating those of differing views. McCoy lost all credibility in my mind. His speech seemed pretty degrading/hateful of religious talk equating it to secular agenda.

Other News of Possible Interest:

Evolution's Critics Shift Tactics With Schools-"Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin of human beings? Man developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms: 13% Man developed over millions of years, but God guided the process: 38% God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years: 45% Source: Gallup Poll of 1,016 U.S. adults, November 2004. Margin of error: +/- 3%...Several states, including South Carolina and Pennsylvania, have passed science standards requiring students to think critically about evolution."-Should they think uncritically!!!! Wall Street Journal

American Psychiatric Association Cancels Forum on Homosexuality and Religion-"Under pressure from a homosexual bishop and his friends, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has canceled a May 5 event in Washington, D.C., that promised "balanced discussion" on the origins and treatment of homosexuality. The pro-homosexual speakers — Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual Episcopalian in New Hampshire, and Dr. David Scasta, past president of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists — had sought "common ground and new perspectives" with two conservatives: Dr. Albert Mohler, president of South Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of the Focus on the Family board of directors; and Dr. Warren Throckmorton, associate professor of psychology at Grove City College.". This would have been great. This is what we need more of in America on these issues!!! Hopefully they reschedule!!!

Focus Hosts Debate on God in the Public Square- "Focus on the Family played host to a debate between noted atheist Michael Newdow and Focus' Dr. Chris Leland on God in the public square."-Wonderful quick 2 minute report. This is what we need more of in America on these issues!!!

Good News: Life Memorial Replaces Abortion Clinic in Alabama-"The former Center for Choice clinic performed abortions for nearly 30 years, during which time an estimated 30,000 preborn babies were killed. Hope's Corner organizers say they want to change the spirit of the building from a culture of death to a culture of life." Their is a link to the web site of the story of Claire Hope Cox who died at 8 weeks that inspired these parents to buy the buildin..."Billy Cox (the Father of Claire Hope) came up with the idea of purchasing the former abortion clinic, the same building he had walked by every day as a youngster on his way to school at St. Pius X Catholic Church. Claire's parents formed an ecumenical committee of Protestants and Catholics along with Christian business leaders to consider how the memorial would look....The building's lease expired the next month. Fittingly, the closing and handing over of the keys to the Cox family took place on Nov. 28, 2007 – exactly one year after Claire's death."-Way to go Claire!!! Read more of this story at www.Claireshope.com.

Intolerable Tolerance: "Christian Horizons is an evangelical ministry in Ontario that has cared for more than 1,400 people with developmental disabilities in 180 group homes. The group requires all employees to sign a contract agreeing to abstain from all sexual immorality, including homosexuality. When Christian Horizons fired a female employee who became involved with another woman, she complained to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, which fined the ministry $23,000 and two years back pay."-Feel free to browse the many links concerning this subject and also the actual decision made by the Canadian Courts.

YouTube Video: Speaks Out Against Spitzer's NY Bill to Make Abortion a Fundamental Right

International News of Possible Interest:

www.michaelyon-online.com Interesting site of a reporter in Iraq reporting alot of what is happening in Iraq from a different perspective that you don't get in mainstream media for example: Heroic Marine Throws Himself on Grenade

Focus on the family NEW!!! media center-Click on "Shows" under the video screen in Sort By: and then click on 04/24/2008 and listen thru to 05/01/2008. You can skip the message titled "Living with Messy Kids"!! But the shows entitled "Lord keep us free part 1 and 2" are the testimony of an ex-nazi and her wonderful patriotic story which are few and far between nowadays and a great sense of humour as she describes her transition from Nazi Germany to Free America and then click on "Why we must remember part 1, 2 and 3" for Ravi Zacharius speech and definitely the "part 3" for some interesting perspective from one who is currently traveling the world over. I think you all may be somewhat impressed/encouraged by Ravi. And for some good clean humour by Art Linkletter click on dates of 04/16/2008 to 04/18/2008 for about an hour and a half of Art Linkletter humour.

Eminent Psychiatrist Says Homosexuality is a Disorder that Can be Cured-"The eminent Spanish psychiatrist Enrique Rojas...Speaking at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair...characterized homosexual orientation as a "disorder" rather than an illness, and stated his opinion that 95% of cases are caused by environmental factors, according to the Spanish news service Terra. The disorder, according to Rojas, is the result of an absent father, overweening mother, or sexual abuse in childhood. Rojas blasted the homosexual movement for promoting the development of homosexual tendencies in young people.."

Famed Theologian Quits Anglican Church of Canada-"J.I. Packer, one of the world's most renowned evangelical theologians, left the Anglican Church of Canada, citing "poisonous liberalism" in the church body....Packer, 81, who was named one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in the world by Time magazine in 2005...Oxford-trained theologian...While the controversy has focused on homosexuality, Stackhouse says the issue is about more than sex. "This is about the fundamental question of how we derive any kind of Christian truth," he said, according to The Canadian Press. Packer, who has outlined a conservative Christian theology in his 1973 bestseller Knowing God, described the Bible as "absolute" authority on divine truth and that it clearly describes homosexuality as a grave sin"

Swiss Grant Rights to Animals, Consider Same for Plants - Liberalize Abortion Laws-"The added protections afforded to plant and animal life stand in sharp contrast to the Swiss government's recent disregard for the life of the nation's unborn. In June 2002, the country decided to allow women to abort their children during the first trimester, provided a doctor determines that she is in an ambiguously defined "state of distress."

India PM calls aborted fetuses shameful-"Experts say up to 500,000 female fetuses are aborted in India every year because of a deep-rooted cultural preference for male children, who will help support their parents in old age and attract wives with substantial dowries. "This is a national shame and we must face this challenge squarely here and now," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a conference on ways to "Save the girl child."

Yanking Back the Balance/Filling in the Gaps/Emphasizing the Missing Headlines

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Senator Obama. "Obama told reporters Tuesday that Wright's comments do not accurately portray the perspective of the black church."-AP

Breaking Good News

Blacks and Whites reconciling in Jena, Louisiana. One of the infamous "Jena 6" becomes saved and family members of Jena 6. Close relative of one of the "Jena 6" reconciling with DA involved in the Jena 6. 7th week of revival this week being currently held at the very site of the protest of the infamous Jena 6 lead by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Keep this in prayer, it is going on this week.

Other Good News throw ins:

Alveda King Video 8 minute video interview. (Dr Martin Luther King Jr's Neice) excellent interview yesterday. Click on link and then click on AFN News Extra. She answers a question of what would Dr Martin Luther King do if he were hear today?? Find out the answer!!!! For a more in depth radio interview click here that goes into more detail of her difficult upbringing/having an abortion and giving/receiving forgiveness in/thru Christ.

EW Jackson interview today. Concerning recent concerns brought up by Jeremiah Wright (Obamas' Pastor). Controversial but informative.

Update from prior email (Darfur, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia and Namibia: Americas' Approval Ratings Soaring in Africa):

Renewal of PEPFAR- Renewal report from AP google here. "The House voted Wednesday...expanding a program credited with saving more than 1 million lives in Africa alone in the largest U.S. investment ever against a single disease....To advance the legislation, conservatives had to give up a provision in the 2003 act requiring that one-third of all HIV prevention funds be spent on abstinence programs. Instead it directs the administration to promote "balanced funding for prevention activities" in target countries. Liberals, in turn, had to accept some restrictions on family planning groups participating in AIDS programs. Conservatives, concerned that money might be diverted to abortion promotion, pushed for a provision that allows the use of funds for HIV/AIDS testing and counseling services in those family planning programs supported by the U.S. government. A measure in the 2003 act requiring groups receiving funds to have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking, opposed by some health groups as impeding efforts among sex workers, was also left intact...It expands the program, originally focused on 15 mainly sub-Saharan African countries, to include Caribbean nations as well as Malawi, Swaziland and Lesotho in Africa."

"This will be remembered as the single most significant achievement of President Bush's two terms in office," said Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa.

Now it's off to the Senate!!!

Yanking back the balance and filling in the gaps

Here is TV schedule for PBS in NM for this documentary-http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules/tvschedulessearch_results.html?station=KNME&keywordPBS=BETTER+HOUR&channel=-1

In other states it may be actually earlier.

Here is web site of documentary http://www.thebetterhour.com/ -"In 1858, ABRAHAM LINCOLN acknowledged that "every school boy" in America knew the great character of William Wilberforce. Yet today the man and his legacy is virtually unknown today in the United States. The emancipation leader FREDERICK DOUGLASS saluted the energy of Wilberforce "that finally thawed the British heart into sympathy for the slave, and moved the strong arm of government in mercy to put an end to this bondage. Let no American, especially no colored American, withhold generous recognition of this stupendous achievement -- a triumph of right over wrong, of good over evil, and a victory for the whole human race.""

"It was important for us to film the original documents which ended the slave trade. Pictured here, in the House of Parliament Archives Division, WE FILMED THE ORIGINAL British 1807 Act of Abolition of the Slave Trade. Instead of printing, the text was handwritten on parchment using the skins of eight sheep sewn together. The curled sections of parchment are amendments that were stitched on top of the original."

"We also filmed the ORIGINAL MANCHESTER PETITION, which was THE FIRST EXAMPLE of a MASS PETITION to the House of Parliament. It contains some 2,500 names; and of particular interest is that it was THE FIRST TIME THAT THE SIGNATURES OF WOMEN appear on a petition."

"The documentary explores the 20-year effort of William Wilberforce to lead the abolition of the British slave trade -- a business that was key to the country's economic strength. Wilberforce and his Clapham colleagues brilliantly executed this enormous task. They MANAGED TO SHAPE OPINION WITHOUT the help of mass communication technology."

This should be interesting!!!!

February is Black History Month from what I understand and I found all these interesting articles that may or may not be interesting.

"Malcolm Kelly" "top NFL draftee went teary-eyed Tuesday" "the first professional athlete to endorse Mercy Ships." "Being good at football, people think the only words that come out of my mouth is 'touchdown, touchdown!'" Kelly noted. But he hopes that when people hear him instead speak about Africa they will be curious, start researching, and then help."

African American Lives. Vena and I were watching a most interesting documentary on PBS. I normally don't like PBS cause of alot of its other documentaries that are more opposing to most of my views but this one was great. Got to give credit where its due. Highlights that may draw interest: Don Cheadle - Actor who starred as leading role in "Hotel Rwanda" (Great movie by the way) lineage is traced back to slaves of a sovereign native american nation within the US the Chickasaw Nation. Tina Turner - Most all know who she is I am sure. Great, great grandfather becomes a minister of the gospel after the abolition of slavery marrying over 50 African American couples. Chris Rock - brought to tears after finding out about his genealogical roots. Morgan Freeman - finds out that somebody in his line was possibly in love with a white man and finds tombstones with the one in his line and the white man next to each other and a very interesting story there. I also found it interesting that these individuals have also a great black christian history in there genealogies which is sad that christian white men were treating there brothers in christ this way. Now I understand not all were for there were many whites that were against this and that it is a completely different context of time but I am glad that the one side has prevailed by God's providence and I hope we can continually reconcile our racial divides thru Christ not only amongst blacks and whites but all cultures. "thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation"-Revelation 5:9 compare to "Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen"-Jesus and speaking of the church those who agree with these teachings of Christ above, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."-Galatians 3:28,29. And for how long??????!!!!!!!!!!! "Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."-Ephesians 3:21. So those who agree with Christs' teachings should be of many different types of people for a very long time!!!! Though not perfect as in the days of the New Testament you had issues between Jews and Gentiles and thruout history there have been other issues and in the American church Blacks and Whites so I guess we will be having to continually work at what we should be just as in our own personal lives. But one thing seems to be for sure. God is at work thru His church (though not perfect) in all areas of life as Christ was in the New Testament days and predicted He would be from then on out thus giving great evidence to Christ as being who He claims to be though there is a lot of work to do, none the less there is evidence of work that has been done to build upon starting from the Rock (Peter, Matthew 16:18) in which He said He would build his church till now 2 thousand years later. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." and "And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it."-Jesus. One thing I noticed Christ never said is that men will not be perfect neither His church. Perfection seems to be only promised to us that otherside of heaven if we trust Jesus so we can't expect perfection here on earth of ourselves or others but we are to be encouraged to follow the good examples and learn from the bad and move on in His truth, love and forgiveness and spread it around to others by standing for His truth and lovingly doing so and in forgiveness toward one another. So God's work in history past, present and future should be encouraging/evidential in that what He said would become of His church has become and is continually and also we can learn from the schisms in history past as recorded in the New Testament and thruout the churchs history of our mistakes as a church to humble us and to not repeat (even though we stupidly do) and of our strengths to be encouraged realizing that any goodness we have is of Him and anything bad is of our sinful hearts. Sorry to soap boax for so long. I will shut up now. :)

Black History Month - I have yet to check this out fully but should be good.

Very interesting story line. First Article titled "Pastor from Nigeria Who Built Megachurch in Ukraine Expanding Reach into U.S.". "megachurch founded 13 years ago by an African immigrant in the predominantly Orthodox Christian country where racism is pervasive"....now a "30,000 member church" in the UKRAINE!!! " "Its pastor, believes God's Embassy can be a model worldwide." and then says "His next stop in his bid for global reach is the United States. He says "America is fast becoming a mission ground again."!!!! Watch how this church began founded by a Nigerian in the UKRAINE of all places and how this church played a key role in the political revolution in the Ukraine.

You may find Rufus Morris Jr.s' (an ex rapper under the name of "Skratch" during the Run DMC and Fat Boys era turn christian and now raps under the name "Godchild") testimony to be encouraging. And check out his upcoming projects from Kingdom Entertainment and The School of heARTS he has founded for middle and high schoolers performing arts and multimedia scool in Syracuse.

I listened to a story on Ken Hutcherson and found this man to be a man I really like not only because he was the first black Dallas Cowboy linebacker but much more. Here is a quick testimony. And here are some very recent articles of his activity elsewhere entitled "Washington state pastor calls upon Christians to take on Microsoft" and "Teachers boo pro-family pastor at MLK Day school assembly"

Oh my goodness this was the longest email I have sent yet. I hope to never send this much you alls way again. So sorry about the last 2 lengthy emails and for the bad grammar!!!

Since it is the week of the day of remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King celebration. I thought this was applicable.

Click here http://www.answersingenesis.org/video/ondemand/ and then scroll down to "Racism: Is there an answer?" and click on part 1, then part 2 and then part 3

Final Solution-Movie. Great movie concerning this subject based on a true story contextualized in South Africa I believe rather then America. You can find the dramatized movie and autobiography documentary trailers.

An interesting article by Dr Charles Ware concerning equating gay and lesbian rights to that of the civic rights movement in question. http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n1/trading-truth-for-tolerance

The 1950 Jackie Robinson Story. The true story of the 1st African American (I hope that is not the offensive way to say it. Let me know Jason!!!!) baseball player to play professionally. I just saw this a couple of nights ago and really enjoyed it. Thought I would pass it on to you all. And of course there are other great movies along this lines like Remember the Titans and the one about the El Paso basketball team but I can't remember the name of it. But you all probabily have already scene those so I picked out some movies that aren't so known. Oh and by the way Jackie Robinson plays himself in this movie which is pretty cool that he took timeout from his baseball career to tell this story in a theatrical and public context.

End of the Spear- Movie. Great movie about a true story of love and forgiveness between two different people groups/cultures and much more. I suggest also watching the special features and the bonding between two opposite people groups from different cultures. This true story was also featured as a 10 page story in Life magazine when these events first played out but this story has so much more then the events that made the story famous.