wnd.com
Joe Kovacs
'A slap in the face to the Holy Family and Christians around the world'
The Bible's account of the night Jesus was born is noted for some well-known characters at the Bethlehem manger, including the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and some shepherds following the instructions of an angel.
The famous wise men were not present, as they showed up later when Jesus was a young child in a house.
And as far as the New Testament indicates, there weren't any lesbians there either.
Now a Christian church in America's heartland is helping redefine the story, as its most-recent living Nativity scene in December featured two women instead of a man and a women starring as Joseph and Mary.
"It's not very groundbreaking at all to use the youngest baby in the congregation to play the role of Jesus. The parents just happened to be two women," said Rev. Linda Butler, pastor of St. Timothy's United Methodist Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa. "They were playing the role of the Holy Family, not necessarily Mary and Joseph. We never referred to the moms as Mary and Joseph. We referred to them as the Holy Family."
Make no mistake about what the Bible really says about the birth of Jesus, as well as sexual matters and your incredible, underpublicized destiny in the No. 1 best-seller, "Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told" -- autographed!
Butler told WND the living Nativity was part of her church's intergenerational Christmas program featuring readings from the gospels mixed with music and live players to recount the event.
"And when the Holy Family arrived, it was two women with their baby," she said. "What we emphasized was that this was two parents, and this is our baby and this our story. They're two moms, but it doesn't stand out."
Butler added, "It does fit so well biblically," noting that Jesus had a human mother, but Joseph was not the Savior's actual father.
"If He was born of a virgin, then Joseph is not the father," Butler said. "He's not part of the conception."
St. Timothy's says its 400-member congregation welcomes all sexual orientations and gender identities, but the switch from opposite-sex to same-sex parents for Jesus is not thrilling some other Christians in the area.
"Having a lesbian couple represent Mary and Joseph is a slap in the face to the Holy Family and Christians around the world," said Dan Skogan, a Lutheran from Marion, Iowa, who has a website looking to expose problems in his own church.
"It is a very sad day when Christian denominations encourage GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) individuals, people whom God dearly loves, to live in and embrace a lifestyle that God calls them to leave," he added. "Personally, I am not surprised by this because many mainline denominations in the United States are continually undermining the truth and authority of the Bible with their own agenda."
Read More HERE
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Rawesome Foods Raid Huge Public Outrage at Government Terrorism
Mike Adams
Natural News
Rawesome Foods raid victims stripped of First Amendment rights with court gag order.
Victoria Bloch was released from jail in LA County last night, but only under the condition that she completely give up her First Amendment rights and refrain from talking to anyone about the case. NaturalNews has confirmed this gag order was placed on Victoria and is also going to be placed on James Stewart and Sharon Palmer as a condition of their release (they are reportedly making bail today and may be home by this evening).
This gag order is, of course, an effort by the California court system to try to quell the rising tidal wave of public outrage against the armed government raids against a raw dairy farm and private buyer's club -- a raid that many people who witnessed it described, in their own words, as "government terrorism" against the People.
First, the government attempts to take away their right to engage in commerce and enter private contracts. Then, the government vandalizes this buying club, steals their cash, destroys their entire product inventory and steals the computers from the store. The owners (and conspiring farmers) are arrested at gunpoint and taken to jail without even being read their rights. And finally, to top it off, they are slapped with a gag order which prohibits them having their First Amendment rights so that they might tell their side of the story.
This is a total assault on freedom by the government.
NaturalNews has learned that under this gag order, these raw milk advocates are prevented from:
• Speaking to any member of the press.
• Tweeting or blogging about the raid.
• Posting anything on Facebook or websites.
• Sending emails about the case.
• Communicating in any way, verbally or non-verbally about the government raids conducted against them.
Join the online revolt against government-sponsored terrorism of American farmers.
View Full Article HERE
Natural News
Rawesome Foods raid victims stripped of First Amendment rights with court gag order.
Victoria Bloch was released from jail in LA County last night, but only under the condition that she completely give up her First Amendment rights and refrain from talking to anyone about the case. NaturalNews has confirmed this gag order was placed on Victoria and is also going to be placed on James Stewart and Sharon Palmer as a condition of their release (they are reportedly making bail today and may be home by this evening).
This gag order is, of course, an effort by the California court system to try to quell the rising tidal wave of public outrage against the armed government raids against a raw dairy farm and private buyer's club -- a raid that many people who witnessed it described, in their own words, as "government terrorism" against the People.
First, the government attempts to take away their right to engage in commerce and enter private contracts. Then, the government vandalizes this buying club, steals their cash, destroys their entire product inventory and steals the computers from the store. The owners (and conspiring farmers) are arrested at gunpoint and taken to jail without even being read their rights. And finally, to top it off, they are slapped with a gag order which prohibits them having their First Amendment rights so that they might tell their side of the story.
This is a total assault on freedom by the government.
NaturalNews has learned that under this gag order, these raw milk advocates are prevented from:
• Speaking to any member of the press.
• Tweeting or blogging about the raid.
• Posting anything on Facebook or websites.
• Sending emails about the case.
• Communicating in any way, verbally or non-verbally about the government raids conducted against them.
Join the online revolt against government-sponsored terrorism of American farmers.
View Full Article HERE
The Culture of Death Grows Desperate: War Declared on Crisis Pregnancy Centers
AlbertMohler.com
The U.S. Supreme Court’s declaration of war upon the unborn in its infamous 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, caught most conservative Christians unprepared and unaware. This shock to the nation’s conscience required Christians and other pro-life activists to develop arguments, strategies, and organizations in order to confront the Culture of Death and the legalized killing of the unborn.
The Roe v. Wade decision was quickly repackaged by pro-abortion forces into a “pro-choice” argument that was intended to avoid the scandal of being pro-abortion. Nevertheless, the pro-choice mantra never really worked as a public relations strategy for pro-abortion forces for one simple reason: the only “choice” the pro-abortion forces would accept or respect is the choice to abort.
If that sounds extreme, just consider recent developments in cities like Baltimore, New York, and San Francisco. First in Baltimore and then in New York City, municipal governments passed laws intended to shut down or curtail the work of crisis pregnancy centers in their cities. The crisis pregnancy centers have been among the most important platforms for saving unborn human lives and reasserting human dignity. This is especially true in more recent years, as many of these centers have begun using sophisticated ultrasound imaging technologies in order to show pregnant women the unborn babies within them.
Read Full Article HERE
The U.S. Supreme Court’s declaration of war upon the unborn in its infamous 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, caught most conservative Christians unprepared and unaware. This shock to the nation’s conscience required Christians and other pro-life activists to develop arguments, strategies, and organizations in order to confront the Culture of Death and the legalized killing of the unborn.
The Roe v. Wade decision was quickly repackaged by pro-abortion forces into a “pro-choice” argument that was intended to avoid the scandal of being pro-abortion. Nevertheless, the pro-choice mantra never really worked as a public relations strategy for pro-abortion forces for one simple reason: the only “choice” the pro-abortion forces would accept or respect is the choice to abort.
If that sounds extreme, just consider recent developments in cities like Baltimore, New York, and San Francisco. First in Baltimore and then in New York City, municipal governments passed laws intended to shut down or curtail the work of crisis pregnancy centers in their cities. The crisis pregnancy centers have been among the most important platforms for saving unborn human lives and reasserting human dignity. This is especially true in more recent years, as many of these centers have begun using sophisticated ultrasound imaging technologies in order to show pregnant women the unborn babies within them.
Read Full Article HERE
Global Healthcare Rationing Begins?
The Independent
WSWS
Cataracts, hips, knees and tonsils: NHS begins rationing operations.
Hip replacements, cataract surgery and tonsil removal are among operations now being rationed in a bid to save the NHS money.
Two-thirds of health trusts in England are rationing treatments for "non-urgent" conditions as part of the drive to reduce costs in the NHS by £20bn over the next four years. One in three primary-care trusts (PCTs) has expanded the list of procedures it will restrict funding to in the past 12 months.
Examples of the rationing now being used include:
* Hip and knee replacements only being allowed where patients are in severe pain. Overweight patients will be made to lose weight before being considered for an operation.
* Cataract operations being withheld from patients until their sight problems "substantially" affect their ability to work.
* Patients with varicose veins only being operated on if they are suffering "chronic continuous pain", ulceration or bleeding.
* Tonsillectomy (removing tonsils) only to be carried out in children if they have had seven bouts of tonsillitis in the previous year.
* Grommets to improve hearing in children only being inserted in "exceptional circumstances" and after monitoring for six months.
* Funding has also been cut in some areas for IVF treatment on the NHS.
The alarming figures emerged from a survey of 111 PCTs by the health-service magazine GP, using the Freedom of Information Act.
Doctors are known to be concerned about how the new rationing is working – and how it will affect their relationships with patients.
Birmingham is looking at reducing operations in gastroenterology, gynaecology, dermatology and orthopaedics. Parts of east London were among the first to introduce rationing, where some patients are being referred for homeopathic treatments instead of conventional treatment.
Medway had deferred treatment for non-urgent procedures this year while Dorset is "looking at reducing the levels of limited effectiveness procedures".
Read Full Article HERE
Kentucky to privatize management of Medicaid program.
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear is spearheading the privatization of Medicaid in the state, a move that will restrict services for the program's 815,000 enrollees. More than one in five residents in the state depend upon the health care program for the poor.
Private companies will begin managing care for most recipients of Medicaid by October 1. Four private for-profit companies, including Passport, Kentucky's only managed-care company, will control the Medicaid plans.
Beshear, a Democrat, described the move as a “major sea change” in the $6 billion-a-year program. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, it is estimated that the shift will save the state and federal government $1.3 billion over three years.
The move is part of a nationwide campaign to liquidate the joint state- and federally-funded program. In Florida, lawmakers recently instituted a cap on payments to medical providers, allowing HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations) to effectively ration care for thousands of the most vulnerable patients. The Kentucky plan will put in place a similar management system.
At least 32 other states have announced plans to cut Medicaid costs, according to July data from the National Association of Budget Officers. Most states are seeking to reduce their budgets through slashing reimbursement rates to health providers, and by privatizing case management.
Read Full Article HERE
WSWS
Cataracts, hips, knees and tonsils: NHS begins rationing operations.
Hip replacements, cataract surgery and tonsil removal are among operations now being rationed in a bid to save the NHS money.
Two-thirds of health trusts in England are rationing treatments for "non-urgent" conditions as part of the drive to reduce costs in the NHS by £20bn over the next four years. One in three primary-care trusts (PCTs) has expanded the list of procedures it will restrict funding to in the past 12 months.
Examples of the rationing now being used include:
* Hip and knee replacements only being allowed where patients are in severe pain. Overweight patients will be made to lose weight before being considered for an operation.
* Cataract operations being withheld from patients until their sight problems "substantially" affect their ability to work.
* Patients with varicose veins only being operated on if they are suffering "chronic continuous pain", ulceration or bleeding.
* Tonsillectomy (removing tonsils) only to be carried out in children if they have had seven bouts of tonsillitis in the previous year.
* Grommets to improve hearing in children only being inserted in "exceptional circumstances" and after monitoring for six months.
* Funding has also been cut in some areas for IVF treatment on the NHS.
The alarming figures emerged from a survey of 111 PCTs by the health-service magazine GP, using the Freedom of Information Act.
Doctors are known to be concerned about how the new rationing is working – and how it will affect their relationships with patients.
Birmingham is looking at reducing operations in gastroenterology, gynaecology, dermatology and orthopaedics. Parts of east London were among the first to introduce rationing, where some patients are being referred for homeopathic treatments instead of conventional treatment.
Medway had deferred treatment for non-urgent procedures this year while Dorset is "looking at reducing the levels of limited effectiveness procedures".
Read Full Article HERE
Kentucky to privatize management of Medicaid program.
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear is spearheading the privatization of Medicaid in the state, a move that will restrict services for the program's 815,000 enrollees. More than one in five residents in the state depend upon the health care program for the poor.
Private companies will begin managing care for most recipients of Medicaid by October 1. Four private for-profit companies, including Passport, Kentucky's only managed-care company, will control the Medicaid plans.
Beshear, a Democrat, described the move as a “major sea change” in the $6 billion-a-year program. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, it is estimated that the shift will save the state and federal government $1.3 billion over three years.
The move is part of a nationwide campaign to liquidate the joint state- and federally-funded program. In Florida, lawmakers recently instituted a cap on payments to medical providers, allowing HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations) to effectively ration care for thousands of the most vulnerable patients. The Kentucky plan will put in place a similar management system.
At least 32 other states have announced plans to cut Medicaid costs, according to July data from the National Association of Budget Officers. Most states are seeking to reduce their budgets through slashing reimbursement rates to health providers, and by privatizing case management.
Read Full Article HERE
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