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The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

 

New Life mega-church weathers gay sex scandal

Source: Reuters

 

April 18, 2007 -- Five months after its senior pastor Ted Haggard was felled in a gay sex scandal, the massive New Life church he founded seems to have weathered the storm.

 

At services on Sunday morning, the 3,500-seat church was filled to near capacity with worshipers drawn by its charismatic preaching and vibrant musical stage show.

 

"Weekly attendance has dipped a bit since the dismissal of pastor Haggard but the bottom has not fallen out and we have had a comparatively smaller drop in revenue," said associate pastor Rob Brendle, a view echoed by other church leaders.

 

"We recognized quickly that the church was not about one man or a building," he told Reuters.

 

Comments:  Yes, the church isn’t about one man or a building, but about the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit’s leading in the church services is what’s important.  Ted Haggard is gone for now; he may return in the future.  In the meantime, life goes on for the thousands of congregants (saved and unsaved) in New Life mega‑church.  For the believers, they’ve just undergone national scrutiny and through much prayers and humbling before the Lord, they’ve put the Haggard sex scandal behind them. For the unsaved, what was the big deal anyway?  Men are preferring intimate relationships with other men.  That’s a growing trend that won’t reverse itself anytime soon.  Sure, for a Christian, it may be taboo, but look at the Protestant mainline denominations which have approved gay bishops and ministers.  Hey man, this is 2007, not 1950!

 

What people don’t seem to highlight is that many of the unsaved are drawn to the majority of mega‑churches due to the glitzy entertainment that is being offered.  If it weren’t for the loud music and elaborated stage, they would stay away.  It’s cheap entertainment even if you make a donation to the collection plate on Sunday.  An Eric Clapton concert would easily set you back $100.  For the treasurer in the mega‑churches, it’s about reaping enough revenues to pay for the mortgage and start new programs.  Attendance must not drop significantly.  Church these days is a business and if costs exceed revenues, then you’re going to lose your shirt.

 

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Many parents admit they bribe their children

Source: Associated Press

 

April 18, 2007 -- Call it a reward, or just "bribery." Whichever it is, many parents today readily admit to buying off their children, who get goodies for anything from behaving in a restaurant to sleeping all night in their own beds. Often, the rewards are for behaviors their own parents would have simply expected, just because they said so.

 

The new dynamic—sometimes seen as a backlash to that strictness—has some parenting experts wondering if today's parents have gone too soft.

 

"It's definitely more our generation," Kirsten Whipple, a 35-year-old mom in Northbrook, Ill., says with a quiet laugh. "I'm sure our parents would be appalled if they knew how much we bribe our children."

 

Comments:  2 Timothy 3:[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.

 

Children are getting out of control these days.  Decades of spoiling them through indulgences and sparing them the rod of correction have produced kids who won’t do what they’re told.  They want total freedom.  It used to be that kids were taught to help with household chores, but now a day, they want to get paid to clean up their rooms, mow the grass, and put out the garbage.  They prefer to hang out with their friends, roam with gangs, and find ways to cause disturbances.  If you try to discipline your kids, they’ll tell their guidance counsellors or defy you or throw a temper tantrum.  Parents have to walk on egg shells when around their kids.

 

Kids out of control produce rebels who thumb their noses at authority.  They’ll resort to stealing cars and trucks and wreck carnage on the streets.  They curse and swear in public.  They carry guns and knives and aren’t reticent to using them.  Shootings in schools are on the rise.  Teachers are deathly afraid of students.  Students threaten teachers and principals.  This is an evil generation, a society that has run amok.  Anarchy will be the fruit of lawlessness.  The spirit of antichrist will produce the lawless one, i.e. the Antichrist.

 

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Tony Blair pushes to drop EU constitution

Source: EUOBSERVER

 

April 18, 2007 -- UK prime minister Tony Blair has said that the EU should not be looking to resurrect a new constitution but should rather focus on getting workable rules for the bloc.

 

"It is important we go back to the idea of a conventional treaty where the idea is to make Europe more effective, work more effectively, because we now have a Europe of 27 countries rather than 15," Mr Blair said on Monday (15 April) after a meeting in London with Dutch leader Jan Peter Balkenende.

 

He added that he fully supported the Dutch approach to the issue which he said proposes the "idea of a conventional amending treaty rather than a treaty with the characteristics of a constitution."

 

"There's all the difference in the world between a constitutional treaty that is an attempt to consolidate... to write all the rules of the European Union, to give rise to a whole new set of legal principles - and an amending treaty within the existing European treaties that makes the rules work more effectively."

 

German chancellor and current head of the EU, Angela Merkel, will need superior political skills to bridge the gap between the small and big treaty camps ahead of the summit.

 

But on the other side of the fence, there are the 18 countries that have already largely ratified the rejected document - with some of them wanting the treaty to cover more areas rather than less.

 

"If needed, we could add something about climate change, immigration or energy…We are ready for that. But the clear message from Madrid is that we prefer to improve the text rather than cut from it," said Spain's Europe minister Alberto Navarro following a meeting of the "friends of the constitution" countries in January.

 

Comments:  The Brits have again upset the EU applecart.  Why don’t they ever get with the program?  18 EU nations have ratified the proposed EU constitution so why can’t the UK?  If they did, the EU constitution would be a done deal sooner rather than later.  If everyone rowed in the same direction, there would be noticeable progress instead of the present bickering among member nations.  Follow Spain’s example of embracing the EU constitution even with its drawbacks.  No document is perfect.  Adopt it now and deal with the changes later on through amendments.  It’s imperative to ratify it, sign and seal it and then the EU can elect a full-time president and the emerging EU superstate will become a reality.

 

By the UK’s resistance to anything that the EU proposes, it’s making the majority of countries reach the end of their ropes in terms of their patience.  We know that the Book of Daniel tells us that three of the original horns will be plucked out by the roots.  The UK is perilously close to that point.  Spain and Italy might start a campaign to boot out the Brits.  It doesn’t help the UK that it’s not geographically situated in mainland Europe.  Many Brits don’t even feel like Europeans.  It might be better for the UK to leave the EU voluntarily rather than be booted out.

 

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Group calls for population control to stop global warming

Source: CNSNews.com

April 18, 2007 -- Ahead of Earth Day on Sunday, an advocacy group warned that the United States is ignoring "the most crucial factor in reducing global warming" -- population control.

 

"Human population growth is the paramount environmental issue," Ric Oberlink, a spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, told Cybercast News Service.

 

"Global warming is a very serious problem, but it is a subset of the overpopulation problem," he said.

 

Oberlink argued that an increase in the emission of "greenhouse gases" -- carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for climate change -- is a result of human activity, "like most environmental problems."

 

Although one part of the equation is what people do, he said, the other part is how many there are.

 

"If we had half as many people, we wouldn't have much of a climatic warming problem," argued Oberlink.

 

Comments:  For sure, there are way too many humanoids on Planet Earth.  Earth has limited resources and each person produces a lot of waste and garbage that contribute to pollution.  Especially in the industrialized countries such as the U.S., people don’t really give too much thought about their own efforts to arrest the pollution problem.  A lot of people talk about saving the environment, but how many actually walk the walk?  Americans are the worst polluters around.  With 300 million inhabitants, that’s a lot of mouths to feed, cars being driven by carbon based fuels, and tons upon tons of waste being hauled to land fills.

 

We Christians who believe that global warning is more of God’s doing than man’s decades of burning fossil fuels will scoff at population control.  Many don’t prescribe to abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, the killing of disabled people, etc.  Human life is precious.  However, with the growing cries from this godless world to do something drastic about global warming, some lunatic will come onto the world scene (we’re saying it will be the Antichrist) who’ll declare that Earth has too many inhabitants and start a world war and an extermination campaign (kill all the Christians) to reduce the population numbers to a more manageable level.  The 7-year Tribulation Period will result in the 6 billion inhabitants reduced to 1 billion or less.  Read in the Book of Revelation of the horrendous amount of deaths caused by the Antichrist and natural disasters brought about by God.

 

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Olmert says Israel has no intention of attacking Syria

Source: Jerusalem Post

April 18, 2007 -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that Israel had no intention of attacking Syria, and that he did not believe Syria was preparing to wage war on Israel, but merely intended to protect itself if it was attacked.

 

Olmert addressed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in response to Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal's belligerent remarks on Sunday, that Syria would resort to Mukawama (resistance in Arabic) - a phrase analysts say could mean either a limited terror campaign or full-scale war - if Israel would not cede the Golan Heights peacefully.

 

Comments:  My father-in-law used to say “Never believe the words of a lying politician”.  Mr. Olmert may or may not be lying through his dentures, but he wants Syria to keep guessing Israel’s next move.  His words to the media are meant for publican consumption and for the Syrian leadership to ponder over.  Israel may or may not stage a pre‑emptive attack on Syria based on the current verbal attacks by Syrian officials who are hot and bothered by Israel’s non-action in entering into peace talks to return the Golan Heights.

 

Israel will definitely respond militarily if bushwhacked by Syria or if Syria continues to arm Hezbollah.  Then there’s the Iran question.  Should Israel join the U.S. in taking out Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, Israel might send a warning shot at Damascus to deter the Syrians from assisting the besieged Iranians.  The point I’m trying to make is that Israel is considering a thousand and one possible scenarios that are on her military’s drawing board.  The permutations and computations would make even an experienced mathematician reach for his Advil.  The idea is to keep your enemy guessing.  The beads of sweat will drip from their foreheads and their palms will get clammy for the Syrian generals working on their Russian made mainframes and laptops.  What is Israel’s vaunted military up to?  It’s eerily quiet.

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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