3/13/10

"Only Mansbridge's Hairdresser Knows For Sure.."


At SDA :

Everyone knows the details already, but the basic facts are essential here: former MP Rahim Jaffer was charged last year with drunk driving and drug possession. Several days ago, under an agreement reached between his lawyer and an Ontario provincial Crown prosecutor, Jaffer pleaded guilty to lesser charges. The provincial prosecutor said there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction on the more serious charges; according to this report, police sources said that "a rookie OPP officer failed to follow proper procedures during a strip search of Jaffer."

Now, keeping in mind that at the time he was charged Jaffer was neither a Conservative MP nor working for the Conservatives in any capacity whatsoever (they had long since elbowed him out of the nomination race in his riding), and that his plea deal was reached with the Crown prosecutor, not the judge, in a provincial jurisdiction that the federal government absolutely has no say in, take a look at a sampling of what various media and opposition members had to say:

David Akin: "Turns out the judge in the case, Doug Maund, is a long-time Tory."

Jane Taber: "Stephen Harper’s tough-on-crime Conservatives were accused of being not-so-tough when it comes to one of their own..."

Akin, again: "Jaffer's former caucus colleagues immediately tried to distance themselves from the (Crown prosecutor's) decision."

Peter Mansbridge, introducing the top story on The National: "As a Conservative
Member of Parliament Rahim Jaffer was known for his tough stand on crime. Now, the opposition says he's a Tory example of another kind: hypocrisy!"

Liberal MP Anita Neville, seen bellowing in the HOC on The National: "The Conservatives are conspicuously silent...when the law is being flouted by one of their own."

Toronto Lawyer Russell Silverstein, on The National: "You know, when the public sees somebody charged with drunk driving and possession of cocaine who's politically connected..."

Unidentified man-on-the-street, on The National: "Ex-Conservative MP, married to the Minister of State for Women's Affairs - I mean obviously they're going to drop the charges, they had no choice." ....

...Someone at the CBC made a decision to broadcast, coast-to-coast, an unidentified individual's statement that a particular provincial Crown prosecutor - someone who has a name, a professional reputation, and a family - rendered a decision based not on the law he's been sworn to uphold but on political interference from someone outside his jurisdiction, and that our sitting government illegally interfered in a court case in a provincial jurisdiction - and all without one single shred of evidence.

Was it urgent, serious, and of public importance for the CBC to nationally broadcast a categorical, unproven allegation of serious wrongdoing made by an unidentified member of the public? Was the unidentified individual's honest statement of opinion in any way based on fact? ...

....Vile, unethical, unprofessional journalism - and it only costs us a billion dollars a year.


One can't help but wonder about those Canadians who still get the bulk of their news from the CBC. (Presumably, there are still some). Can people be so disinterested in what's actually happening, that they are satisfied to have Mansbridge , in his words, tell them 'what's important about the news'? (i.e. do their thinking for them).

I resent having some (not that pretty) face telling me what I know to be untrue (because I can read and reason), and telling me what I should think about it...on the tax-payer's dime.

As much as I have , over the years, appreciated the classical music programs on CBC2 Radio, it's JUST NOT WORTH IT!

Day 25 - 40 Days For Life




Intention:

That God will bless us with His gift of strength as we respond in obedience to His call.

Scripture:

Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'surely we did not know this', does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

-- Proverbs 24:11-12

Reflection:

In this age of technologically advanced communication, ignorance of human rights abuses is no excuse. We know there are persecuted Christians in China, there is genocide in Darfur, and there are babies aborted and women and families devastated right in our own communities.

"But I can't save them all" you say. God isn't asking you to. He has equipped each of us with time, talent, and treasure to do what we can when He provides the opportunity. He has given us His Holy Spirit to empower us as we abide in Him. He is asking us to be on His side in speaking out and protecting those who can't protect themselves.

When we are obedient to His calling to get in on the work He is doing, we will experience intimacy with Him in a whole new way. Our faith will increase as we see God at work! You have responded to His call during this 40 Days for Life campaign.

Let your efforts be for His pleasure and His purposes. Pray without ceasing!

Prayer:

God Almighty, we pray for continued guidance and strength as we intercede on behalf of the young women and their babies who are stumbling to the slaughter. Open the eyes of the mother's heart to see her child as you do - a precious gift to be treasured. Let her feel Your loving arms around her and may she be assured that you have a plan and a future for her and her child. Give her reason not to enter the abortion clinic. Give her wisdom and discernment to find life options through a local pregnancy care center and may she boldly choose life. Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayer. Because of Your Son's sacrifice we pray, amen.

Carmen Pate
Co-host, "Point of View" Talk Show

40 Days For Life

3/12/10

' Youth Led' Pro-Life Media



A great new 'youth led',pro-life media website, can be found at LiveAction. This is a sample of the new posters they released this week. Check out their site for resources, blog, videos and more.

Day 24 - 40 Days For Life


Intention:

That we may realize the generational impact of abortion.

Scripture:

Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said," If it is thus, why do I live?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger."

-- Genesis 25:21-23

Reflection:

Human beings -- God's tapestries.

What an answer to prayer!

Who dares to say that the unborn are not human, with distinct personality and character right from the moment of conception? This account emphasizes the vitality and uniqueness of the twins who, because of Isaac's prayer for his wife, were conceived in Rebekah's womb.

When Rebekah was told by the Lord that the older would serve the younger twin, God already knew that Jacob and Esau would lead turbulent and conflicted lives. God knows us and knows all about us, including our personality and disposition long before we are actually born, indeed, from the moment we are conceived in our mother's womb.

What a tragedy of gargantuan proportions that babies, planned and endowed by the Creator, with distinct and unique personalities and with, perhaps, a future and destiny intended for greatness, have their lives snuffed out by cruel abortionists before they ever see the light of day! May our prayers that the dreadful scourge of abortion in our land may vanish be as fervent as Isaac's were for Rebekah.

Prayer:

O, God, you formed us in our mother's womb and planned a unique and special life and purpose for each of us, and we do thank you. Grant that we may pray and work for an end to abortion, especially in these 40 Days, so that no unborn baby you have made may fail to achieve your divine intention for him or her because of intentional abortion. We pray this for the sake of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Rev. Ben Sheldon
President Emeritus, Presbyterians Pro-life and National Pro-life Religious Council

40 Days For Life

3/11/10

"Gendercide"


The Economist writes:
...It is no exaggeration to call this gendercide. Women are missing in their millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death...


From Times Online(2007) :
50m: number of girls that Unicef estimates are ‘missing’ from Indian society

1.05: males to every female in India, reversing the world average

600: rupees now, save 50,000 rupees later” is the advertising slogan of diagnostic teams with ultrasound machines that predict the sex of the unborn child


Neptunes Lex :
Between the two of them, China and India are raising a cohort of some hundred million men who will never know the civilizing, rooting influence of marriage...



Cheryl Cline comments:
Religion sociologist Rodney Stark has studied the link between female infanticide and the rise of the Christian church. Unfortunately gendercide is hardly a new phenomenon, as the history of pagan Rome shows. Stark believes that Christianity, which prohibits femicide, led to the collapse of pagan Rome through sheer force of numbers:

"Abortion was a huge killer of women in this period, but Christian women were spared that. And infanticide—pagans killed little girls left and right. We’ve unearthed sewers clogged with the bones of newborn girls. But Christians prohibited this. Consequently, the sex ratio changed and Christians didn’t have the enormous shortage of women that plagued the rest of the empire."
( A Double Take on Early Christianity: An Interview with Rodney Stark)

Of course, The Economist recommends implicitly state-driven solutions: “female education, anti-discrimination suits and equal-rights rulings.” South Korea has actually been educating women for decades, so that seems a moot point, and I have a surprisingly difficult time understanding how dead female fetuses and infants launch anti-discrimination and equal-rights suits. The day a magazine like The Economist calls for widespread institution of Christianity to save baby girls, or otherwise recommend that we examine politically incorrect religious trends, please let me know.



I'd like to know why its news. Really. How were people expecting the 'one-child policy' to turn out, for example? (Didn't care, as long as there were fewer Chinese?!)

Christianity alone respects women in a meaningful way, as it respects all human life. Created by God and made in His image, made sacred by the Incarnation, human life - male and female - is valuable. Because God made it so.

No-one else has as good a reason to value human life!

Day 23 - 40 Days For Life


Intention:

For the medical community, that the truth they know about the human body may become awe and wonder at the God who made it.

Scripture:

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

--Psalm 139:16

Reflection:

Human beings -- God's tapestries.

Psalm 139 is a psalm that reveals the enormity and otherness of God. His divine attributes are on display: omniscience (2-4), omnipresence (7-12), loving-kindness (17-18), justice (19-20), righteousness (23-24), and omnipotence. Yet, when it came to express this last attribute, what example did the psalmist use - God's creation of mountains, seas, or far-flung galaxies? No, he used none of these. To express the wonder of God's unparalleled creative power the writer mentions the fashioning of the human in the womb (14-16).

The Hebrew word used to express God's forming of us in the womb, raqam, is the same term for needlework or embroidery. In other words, we are a tapestry that displays God's artistic mastery. And, like the artist who knows his creation down to the last detail, God intimately knows us. This reality provokes the writer to awe and wonder. He proclaims, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

What is true for this psalmist is true for each human being. Each is fashioned by God and known by him and we can proclaim on behalf of each, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Prayer:

Gracious God, help us to appreciate the wonder and beauty of Your creation. Help us proclaim on behalf of every one of our fellow human beings, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." May the knowledge that we are intimately known by You shape our lives and actions. Amen.

Rev. J. Kirk van der Swaagh
Pastor, Conservative Congregational Christian Conference

40 Days For Life

3/10/10

Day 22 - 40 Days For Life




Intention:

Pray for fathers who participated in the decision to abort their child, and for those who did not have a voice, that they would find freedom and healing in Christ.

Scripture:

If indeed you have heard Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

-- Ephesians 4: 21-23

Reflection:

According to the Guttmacher Institute, one-third of American women will have had an abortion by age 45. Seldom reported however is the fact that an equally significant number of men have played a role in terminating a pregnancy. Some have participated through persuasion, or by providing the financial means for the abortion. Still others were against an abortion, but had no sway in the decision to terminate their child.

Only in recent years have we realized that men suffer from their loss, as more and more seek healing. Warren Williams, founder of Fathers and Brothers Ministries says he believes men are coming forward for help because God instilled in men a desire to be a protector of their lineage, a provider for their families, to be a husband and father.

Men are suffering and grieving the loss of their children, and though their grief may be expressed differently than that of a woman, it is grief nonetheless and they too need tender care and biblical counseling to experience forgiveness and healing.

Intervention at the appropriate time in the decision-making process may spare both the young man and woman from the lifelong pain and trauma of abortion. Biblical counseling for post-abortive men and women is essential for them to heal and begin their life anew in Christ.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, We pray for young men who participated in the termination of their child and are broken as You are over their loss. Forgive their sin, Lord, and bring opportunity for healing and renewal of their minds in Christ Jesus. For those suffering from an abortion they did not choose, restore their joy as they learn to forgive others and trust You with their future. In the name of Christ, who heals the brokenhearted, amen.

Carmen Pate
Co-host, "Point of View" Talk Show

40 Days For Life

One,Holy,Catholic ...

Catholic Culture:
In a lengthy address delivered in Canada on March 6, Cardinal William Levada, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated that the reception of communities of Anglicans into the Catholic Church is consistent with Anglican-Catholic ecumenical dialogue because “union with the Catholic Church is the goal of ecumenism.”


100 Traditionalist Anglican parishes...

TAC Archbishop Hepworth, on 'life' issues ...

3/9/10

Home Town Fun

Naturally, this was brought to my attention by Jimmy Akin, who probably doesn't even know where Waverley is... part-two of a slap-down of United Airlines was filmed in my home town! I actually drove past the fire station at the time,last summer, wondering what was up. If you look in the top left at 2:09, you can see the house we were married in (much improved).

All I can say is- Nova Scotians know how to make lemonade (lots of practice).

Day 21 - 40 Days For Life


Intention:

We pray for the conversion of all those who refuse to acknowledge that human life belongs only to God.

Scripture:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

-- Jeremiah 1:4-5

Reflection:

To be or not to be? There is no question!

The question of "being" is something philosophers have long pondered. What is the meaning of being and what is the source? In the passage before us, we have our answer. We have being because we are known by God.

For God to declare that he knows and sets apart the prophet Jeremiah even before he is conceived indicates that our being rests in God's own being. Because He is and because He wills we, therefore, are and do. The Apostle Paul says as much when he declares before the philosophers of his day, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

One of the tragedies of the abortion culture is that life in the womb has been so heartbreakingly devalued. To embrace the arguments of the "pro-choice" crowd one must conclude that the child in the womb doesn't exist, isn't there, has no being. But nothing could be further from the truth. That child is known by God and, as such, has being.

Prayer:

Lord God, we confess that in You we live and move and have our being. Because You are, we are. May we find grace from You to affirm the being of every human and may we labor to make this truth known to the world around us. Amen.

Rev. J. Kirk van der Swaagh
Pastor, Conservative Congregational Christian Conference

40 Days For Life

3/8/10

St.John of God


Today is an optional memorial for St. John of God. He is a great example of someone who revered life, and made the care of the mentally ill his particular mission.

Day 20 - 40 Days For Life


Intention:

We pray for humility in our work for God's Kingdom.

Scripture:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

-- Philippians 2:5-8

Reflection:

There is no limit to what we can accomplish when we don't care who gets the credit.

Jesus Christ's life on earth exemplifies a total submission to the will of the Father. His humility, compassion, gentleness and thoughtfulness are reflected over and over again in the New Testament. He was God incarnate, yet He chose to be born to a humble, working class home.

How absurd it must have seemed to the rich and powerful that the Son of God, the Messiah, the one foretold by the prophets, the 'King of the Jews' was born and raised as a simple peasant.

During His thirty-three years on earth, He sought no riches, claimed no secular power and gathered no possessions. Yet, His short time on earth changed more lives, softened more hearts, and gave hope to more people, than all the rich and powerful human 'kings' combined. And, at the end of His life on earth, by dying on the cross, He opened the door to eternal life for those who heed his words and follow in his footsteps.

Prayer:

O Lord, help us follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Let us humbly and diligently work to restore legal protection for the unborn, the disabled, the medically dependent and all innocent children of God whose lives are threatened. Let us remember the old adage that "He can never lead who has not first learned to obey." And, Lord, grant us a peaceful heart as we labor in your name. Amen.

Ernest Ohlhoff
Outreach Director, National Right to Life

40 Days For Life

3/7/10

Day 19 - 40 Days For Life


Intention:

Pray that when those representing Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups see volunteers for 40 Days for Life, they see ambassadors of Christ, and may each volunteer be consciously aware at all times of Whom we represent.

Scripture:

I...beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness, and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.

-- Ephesians 4:1b-2

Reflection:

When Carol Everett, a former abortionist and post-abortive woman, was asked what turned her heart from death to life in Christ, she said, "It was unconditional love," shown by a man who prayed daily for her in front of the abortion clinic where she worked.

He told Carol that "God had sent him" because there was someone in there that God wanted out. She left 27 days later and now serves as Christ's ambassador to help others. We too have been sent by Christ as an ambassador to love unconditionally those God seeks to "get out" of their bondage and sin. What a high calling it is -- much higher than any presidential appointment to another country.

In his book, Fishers of Men, Dr. Sumner Wemp describes what it means to be an ambassador of Christ, the King of Kings:

* God has chosen us (John 15:16)
* We are sent into a world that is not our home (1 Peter 2:11)
* Our walk must match our talk (1 Timothy 3:7)
* We must abide in Him for daily instruction (John 15:5)
* Know our purpose -- to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10)
* We are to reconcile others to God with His authority (Matthew 28:19-20)
* Do not let kindness and truth leave you (Proverbs 3:3-4)
* Our service is to be grounded and rooted in love (Ephesians 3:17)

Pray that we each will walk worthy of the calling with which we were called!

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we are humbled that you have called us and appointed us to be ambassadors of Christ in a world that is not our home. We pray that your Holy Spirit will empower us to walk worthy of the calling. We pray that Your unconditional love will flow through us onto those who desperately need Your saving grace. In the name of Christ who is worthy, amen.

Carmen Pate Co-host, "Point of View" Talk Show

40 Days For Life