Should Be Back Posting Now

Wow... Things have calmed down a bit--I think. We moved, Sarah was on bed rest, now the baby is here, and in a couple of weeks we'll be moving again into our new house. Whew... It's been busy around here.

So, all in all... This post means I should be back posting again more often. I hope to post at least a couple times a week, if not more. I'm hoping to move my posting to things that deal more with the church and the like, but there will likely be a few personal posts from time to time.

It'll Soon Be Against the Law to be a Christian in the US

Yesterday, even though the national media hasn't paid much attention, the US House of Representatives voted in favor of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913). Now it goes to the Senate (S. 909) for a vote. If it passes, you can pretty much guarantee Obama will put his rubber stamp of approval on it because he's approved of everything else that does away with the sanctity of all that is holy in the past 101 days as our President.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 would give "actual or perceived" "sexual orientation" and"gender identity" the same federal legal protection as race. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not in favor of people committing a hate crime, or any crime for that matter, but what this bill suggests and can potentially infringe on is the main concern.

Here's what I mean--

• Can potentially be interpreted as making it illegal for a pastor to stand up at the pulpit on a Sunday and preach against homosexuality
• Can hold a preacher responsible for inciting a hate crime if they read any condemnation of homosexuality in the Bible and then a parishoner goes and kills a homosexual
• Creates a privileged class of citizens in LGBT people by stating their right to their sexual identity or orientation usurps that of anothers right to believe in the Christian faith (or any faith for that matter)
• Creates "thought" crimes and essentially ends equality in the US
• Provides grant money for so-called "sensitivity-training" to provide pro-homosexual propaganda

Quite simply, it will infringe on our first amendment right to freedom of speech. It will be illegal to be a professing Christian and standing up for what God teaches us in His Word. Supporters of the bill disagree, but a statement from the bill itself reads, "Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal."

Similar legislation was passed a few years ago in Canada and now pastors are being sent to jail for standing on street corners and preaching against homosexuality. But a homosexual can stand on that same street corner and expell pro-homosexual propaganda with no recourse.

There is still time to do something. Contact your states' Senators and request they vote no on the bill in the Senate. S. 909 is the bill number and state that you don't support it and they need to rightfully vote No on this Orwellian legislation. If anyone wants to know where we're headed after this, read the book "1984" or simply open your Bible.

The good news is God wins and those to trust in the Lord will be in paradise with Him!

Boom! Right There! Madden Retires

John Madden is officially retired. I wonder if it had anything to do with Favre’s retirement and realizing that it’ll be further uncouth to compare every other player to Favre?

But, on this day of retirement, let’s remember some of the classic Madden quotes from the past—

“Sometime you just gotta let Brett Favre be Brett Favre. ‘Cause then he does Brett Favre things.”

“See, a turducken is a duck, stuffed inside a chicken, which is then stuffed inside a turkey. It’s really a complete meal.”

“Hey, the offensive linemen are the biggest guys on the field, they're bigger than everybody else, and that's what makes them the biggest guys on the field.”

“When your arm gets hit, the ball is not going to go where you want it to.”

And let’s not forget, "Boom!", "Whap!", "Bang!" and "Doink!”

I wonder how many telestrator screens he wore out by drawing on the backsides of offensive linemen as well as circling clipboards, turducken legs, hats, and anything else a telestrator should NOT be used for in American sports.

As much as he was annoying and retarded in the broadcast booth, he’ll be missed. I wonder who NBC will put in the booth with Al now?

Further Info On Rick Warren's Lies on His Stance on Prop 8

This link below is a great article by Berit Kjos about Rick Warren and his playing both sides of the fence--

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/009/warren-prop8.htm

Keep praying everyone!

Rick Warren Now Recinds His Comments in Support of Prop 8?

http://www.covenantnews.com/blog/archives/054939.html

Hit the link to read the news. These are facts, folks. Can't argue with them. Why would a man support something, and then later say he never supported it? Could it be he doesn't want to suffer the economic consequenses? Could it be he doesn't want his celebrity status to dwindle? False teacher indeed.

This Just In! ND SB 2278 Defeated!

I'm so very pleased to share a section of this article from the Fargo Forum Newspaper's Web site posted this afternoon--

"The North Dakota House has voted down a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The vote this afternoon to defeat Senate Bill 2278 was 54-34."

There have been many prayers going up about this bill for weeks and weeks and it's especially encouraging considering the news that came out of Iowa this morning regarding marriage.

The battle obviously isn't over, as many other states are battling similar issues, including a large bunch of folks that wish to overturn Prop 8 in California. Keep praying all!

Come and Join Because of Rick Warren? Tickled Ears Indeed

Further proof that Rick Warren is out for this himself, not for the glory of God.

http://saddlebackfamily.com/blogs/newsandviews/index.html?contentID=2085

Seems more of a wanton pride for “more members” than a true desire to share the gospel of Christ when some of the top 8 reasons to come and join are because Rick Warren is there and you can meet him.

Forget the Banks! Fargo Needs a Bailout - Grab your Pail! (see last pic in post)

Wow—who needs FEMA when you have people that will work together to fight back the flood waters? God has surely blessed the Fargo area through this with some wise people, and people out to help not looking for any recognition whatsoever.

My wife was interviewed by a reporter from the AP yesterday and it ended up producing the below linked story--

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29962032/

It’s a little eerie around here, but encouraging at the same time. Most of the area is shut down, and the weather is just not cooperating.

I’ve included a few interesting pictures from the past week. Credit goes to The Forum newspaper and the AP.

Obama's Youth Brigade Forbids Church Attendance & Sharing the Gospel of Christ?

How's this for "change?" HR 1388, called the “Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Bill" would require that any student in the brigade is not allowed to participate in “engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization."

Just what does this mean? It's quite simple actually--these youth, which it's reported that Obama hopes will number at least 1 million, will not be allowed to share the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

This is not in the headlines, it's not on TV much, it's barely reported at all... Obama and the rest of the government are taking away our Constitutional rights--this one, freedom of speech.

What is more alarming is that some are comparing this to the Nazi Youth of Hitler's Germany. I don't know about that, but the goal does seem to be similar--to get service out of as many people as you can and limiting their freedoms, by simply offering cash for "education."

Luckily, Christians are required to not obey the law of the land if it's not consistent with God's law. It's going to certainly get worse folks, but the good news is there is hope! God said things like this would happen. He said that knowledge would increase, people will travel to and fro, people will trade the truth for a lie because it satisfies their sinful desires! But in the end, if you read the Bible, God wins! If you're part of God's kingdom you'll be just fine! All we need to do is repent from our sin and accept Christ as Lord and Savior! Grace is all we need, indeed!

Maranatha, Lord Jesus! Maranatha!

Possessions Over Life...

A horrible story of families with expected and wanted pregnancies, terminating them because of their economic standing--

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-24-family-planning_N.htm?csp=34#SignOut

We are simply in a horrible state of affairs when people do things like this because they value money and posessions over life.

Badgers are Done Dancing

The ride is over for the Badgers now too… They played horribly in the second half against Xavier yesterday. But it kind of sums up the season. They just couldn’t finish games very well. It was nice to see them make it to “The Dance” and win their first one to arguably be one of the best 32 teams in the nation.

So, NDSU lost, Wisconsin lost, and Marquette lost, but Duke won. It’s also nice to see the Big Ten with two teams heading to the Sweet 16 and both with a very good chance of making the Final Four if they continue to play good ball.

I’m glad it’s only about 4 months to the start of spring training for the NFL!

The Dance is Over for NDSU... sniff, sniff...

Final score: # 14 seed NDSU Bison 74, # 3 seed Kansas Jayhawks 84. The Bison kept it close pretty much the whole game and if it wasn’t for a couple of bad turnovers the Herd might have pulled it out against the defending National Champions. Ben Woodside scored 37 and really took control for NDSU. Kansas likely won this game with their great defense against Brett Winkleman and really kept him pretty quiet for most of the day, even though he did have a double-double and with the rebounds he pulled down they made him the record holder for most rebounds in a career at NDSU. The KU Jayhawks, led by Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins in this game, were just too much for NDSU to overcome.

It sure has been fun to ride with these guys this season, and even though I’m a bigger Wisconsin Badger fan than I am an NDSU Bison fan, I have learned a new respect for the smaller Divison I schools that usually only get one team in the Big Dance through a conference tournament championship. These guys work just as hard, if not harder than the big basketball schools like Duke, UNC, and Kansas, and earn their spot just as well as the big guys do.

Final record for the Bison is 26-7 with a season of a LOT of firsts! Ben Woodside becomes career scoring leader at NDSU, ties Pistol Pete Maracich’s record for most free throw’s in a game at 30, scores 60 in a game; Ben Winkleman is career rebound leader at NDSU, as well as the number one Academic All-American Player of the Year for all of NCAA basketball; the team qualifies for the NCAA tournament in their first year of eligibility by winning the Summit Conference Tournament, as well as winning the conference outright. I know I’m missing others, but those are the ones that come to mind initially.

Even though it’s over—GO BISON!

Bison Men Going To The BIG DANCE!!!!!

Most everyone who knows me knows that I love watching college basketball and that it’s pretty closely tied with my enjoyment of football season.’

Well, aside from being a die-hard Wisconsin Badger fan, I’ve become quite the die-hard North Dakota State Bison fan since marrying an alumnus and living in Fargo over the past almost 7 years. Last night, the Bison made history—the first school to get an automatic bid to the NCAA Basketball Tournament in their first year of eligibility since 1970. The men’s team won the Summit Conference Tournament Championship behind their four star seniors last night, and the shooting of a sophomore. After being down most of the game, guard Ben Woodside hit a long, off-balanced jump shot from the top of the key to give them the lead by 2 points with 2 seconds left. Oakland U in-bounded the ball and missed the long three-pointer to win and pandemonium broke out. The students rushed the floor and it ended up being the highlight of the night last night on ESPN news.

It’s been the talk of the town today, on local radio, front page of the paper, and I even talked to my parents last night and their news from Madison even mentioned it since Bison head coach Saul Phillips used to be a player for Badger head coach Bo Ryan when Ryan coached at UW-Platteville. It’s quite the accomplishment since NDSU decided to make the move to Division 1 for sports 5 years ago.

Now, the question is, who do the Bison get to play and when? ESPN.com has them tentatively as a 13-seed, which is pretty good. It might put them in position to be a Cinderella of sorts. But one thing is for sure. I’m going to Scheels after work today to buy my championship t-shirt and I’ll be ready to root for them starting next week when they play their first round game!

Handy-capped

Well, we didn’t win the annual alumni basketball tourney this year… But had fun, even though I broke the 4th metacarpal bone in my right hand… I have surgery on next week Wednesday to put a screw or two in there for it to properly heal.

Funny thing is I didn’t realize how much not being able to use your right hand was a massive inconvenience. And I’m left-handed! Tried folding laundry last night—took twice as long; showering and getting dressed---takes twice as long; cleaning up from a meal---takes twice as long; and the big one—typing—takes almost three times as long!

Shame For Supporting Truth?

“I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone. And there are, and there are, these last two things. I’m very, very proud to live in a country that is willing to elect an elegant man president and a country who, for all its toughness, creates courageous artists.”

That was Sean Penn’s ‘best actor’ acceptance speech at the Oscars this past Sunday night… Wow… Shame for supporting the truth of the Bible that homosexuality is a sin? Isn’t it odd the propaganda that Satan uses to twist things? I don't doubt there were probably some unholy words on the signs Mr Penn refers to just before my posted quote, but it doesn't mean that supporting marriage as between 1 man and 1 woman as Proposition 8 states, is a shameful thing to do. Truth is certainly hate to those who hate the truth.

Great Role Model

'Bristol Palin acknowledges that abstinence is "not realistic at all."'

Thats a quote from the daughter of the woman that was running for Vice President of the United States in a 2-part interview shown on Fox News Monday and Tuesday--http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,495244,00.html.

What part isn't realistic? It's thinking like this that has turned our culture into one that accepts not only pre-marital sex as a norm, but homosexuality as well.

How much worse will it get before humanity wakes up and see's it's being forcably blinded by evil?

A Legend Retires... Again

Brett Favre announced today that he's retiring from the NFL. The New York Jets organization has also confirmed it and ESPN at least has something more to report on than givine A-Rod all that face time--though I highly doubt they'll have as much os a retirement spectacle for him as they did last year when Favre retired for the first time.

Love him or hate him, he was a fun guy to watch. I just hope we don't have to hear his southern quips from the announcers booth. Please--NBC, CBS, ESPN, NFL Network, don't hire this man as an announcer. Maybe a guest commentator for certain situations, but not a regular--PLEASE!

Best of luck in retirement, Brett! I had a fun time growing up watching you, and had a fun time watching you in New York last year. Enjoy watching the next season from your man-throne in Kiln, MS, on your big screen, in HD, and enjoying your millions while you watch your replacements get hit--hard. All mind changing you did aside, I'm proud to call myself a Packers Fan and a Brett Favre Fan in the same sentence.

Our Tax Dollars At Work...

Not only are our tax dollars being used in support of the murder of the 50 million + children over the past 36 years, but now Obama will sign an executive order that will send our tax dollars overseas to support it.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/23/obama-lift-ban-overseas-abortion-funding/

While our media pummels the front pages of Web sites and newspapers with pics and reports of out new president shaking hands and kissing babies, signing orders to close Gitmo (but no specifics on what will happen to those there), putting regulations in place to avoid lobbying “issues,” and answering softball questions about whether or not he’s found the White House gym or played basketball on the outdoor court or not yet (in case you’re interested, he hasn’t because it’s too cold)—what is being rarely reported is that Obama is advancing the killing fields of abortion.

What I don’t understand is how any logical person can think this is okay? How can any reasonable person believe, even partially, that abortion is an option? It just goes to show you the overtime that Satan has been putting in for centuries to get society to bow down to wickedness and selfishness instead of God.

Pray for all men and women that have been affected by abortion. It doesn't just kill a child, it affects marriages, it affects women's bodies, and it affects the way Satan attacks those involved because he starts to win more often.

God can heal anything--He can heal broken marriages. He can heal broken hearts. He can heal a mother and a father from the hurt it causes. PRAISE GOD for THAT!

Ashamed...

Never in my life have I been so ashamed to be an American. I love my country and have the utmost respect for those who have righteously fought for the rights and freedoms I enjoy today (and continue to support them), but I severely fear my government.

Yesterday we had an unheralded day in our history—a necessary day to say the least for showing equality for all Americans in showing that we can get past skin color and believe that a person of a certain skin color can be just as qualified as those that have gone before him (though the media has played skin color up so much it makes anyone against Obama perceived to be racist).

Many things are appalling, however. For instance—

Last night Sarah and I watched a little bit of the television coverage of the “Neighborhood Ball.” This was a spectacle that only the Oscars and Grammy’s can compare to. I was outright offended at the commercializing of such an event as this was. I began to truly understand what got Obama elected—his ability to fully embrace popular culture while satisfying all opinions and ideas with his nonsensical statements of vague design. I cannot imagine a George W. Bush, a Bill Clinton, a George H.W. Bush, or a Ronald Regan allowing themselves to be serenaded by Beyonce Knowles to the tune of “At Last” as if finally, for some strange reason, as if for no other time in history, things will finally be a perfect utopia of happiness in the US. To add insult to injury, Obama ate it up as his “subjects” chanted his name; unaware of the trance they’re in.

The new Prez in his inaugural address comes across as a preacher to the nation, more than the leader of the free world. Never, with exception to Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech, or Regan’s “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” speech has any President preached to a people more. Even worse, I read through the transcript of his speech today (after listening to it on the radio yesterday) and noticed that the sentence structure and statements provide no actual clear path or direction. It’s an instruction manual for the weak-minded and pop-culture followers at best.

Not soon after Mr. Obama took the oath of office (or perhaps as it was occurring) the White House Web site got updated with his “Civil Rights” platform in support of the LGBT “community.” Some lowlights from the Web site itself-- http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/.

• "While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect." -- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.
• Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
  

Pastor Rick Warren, who provided the invocation at the inauguration prayed, “I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa [which is Islamic], Jesus [the Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come...” This was after a call to, “Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of goodwill today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.” If Warren knew anything about the Bible he preaches from, he’s have mentioned in his prayer that world peace is not possible until the millennial reign of Christ (but that would be divisive and we can’t have that). He’d have also mentioned that Christ is Lord and Savior for all, not just a guy who changed his life—Christ SAVED it (but that would be divisive and we can’t have that).

Do I really need to mention that because Obama was criticized for having Warren there, a pro-life, anti-homosexual preaching pastor, that he also invited gay bishop Gene Robinson to pray at a Sunday service to balance out the issues? Is this the seeking the common good of all that Warren prayed about yesterday.

I’m ashamed to be an American today. Especially as we celebrate a man who is not only pro-homosexual “rights” (as if someone can’t do anything about their sexuality), but as we observe Sanctity of Human Life week. Tomorrow, January 22 will mark the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe V Wade decision. Since then more than 50 million American children have been “legally” murdered—with less than 1% being because of rape, incest, or the health of the mother. Just this last week, the North Dakota clinic (there’s only 1) that performs all abortions for the state estimated that around 1400 abortions were performed in 2008. That means that less than one block away from where I work every Thursday there are on average 27 children murdered.

I’m ashamed… This is not love… This is not compassion… This is not truth...