19 January 2011

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] The Syncretist Driven Life

[2] Millard Fillmore Becomes U.S. President…

[3] Thirteen Queens, New York, Abortion Clinics Now Making Adoption Referrals to Bethany Christian Services

[4] Dallas, Texas, Public Schools Charging Students with Class “C” Misdemeanors in Lieu of Detention Slips

[5] Somali Mother of Four Slaughtered for her Christian Faith

[6] Pakistani Police Threaten Father and Supporters after Murdering Christian Son

[7] Reformed Presbyterian Pastor Arrested for Protesting State Visit of Chinese Communist President Hu Jintao

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[1] The Syncretist Driven Life

On 15 January 2011, Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren joined with Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman, to kick off a fifty-two week program for a healthier lifestyle called The Daniel Plan. The Daniel Plan, located on the Saddleback Church website, will feature weekly blog posts and articles from the Drs. Oz, Amen, Hyman, and Pastor Warren offering advice, encouragement, guidance, and other resources.

Dr. Oz is Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Columbia University, is a follower of the cult of Swedenborgianism, which denies the atonement, the trinity, and the deity of the Holy Spirit, believes all religions lead to God and that Christianity must go through a rebirth; does not believe in a personal devil; believes that the Bible is not inspired, and believes that when people die, they become an angel or an evil spirit.

Dr. Amen is a teacher of tantric sex, a Hindu mystical approach to sex, and teaches eastern religion meditation and energy-based Reiki, a New Age practice.

Dr. Hyman promotes mystical meditation based on Buddhist principles.

Christian Investigator President Steve McConkey commented:

"It is troubling for a top pastor in the United States to promote false teachers. We are living at an all-time low spiritually in the United States with weak leaders. We need to teach basic Bible principles without legalism."


+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ Christian Investigator, c/o 4 WINDS, Post Office Box 1642, Madison, Wisconsin 53701, 608-469-7956, 4TrackandField@gmail.com

+ Saddleback Church, 1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, California 92630, 949-609-8000, Fax: 949-609-8002, info@saddleback.net


[2] Millard Fillmore Becomes U.S. President…

…in July 1850, after U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies in office.
As the old adage goes: “What does this have to do with the price of eggs?”...or of very old eggs?…or of homeschooling in California for that matter?

The 12 January 2011 Presbyterians Week article “[4] California Appellate Court Rules Home School Teachers Must Have State Government Recognized Teaching Credentials” was summarized from the 6 March 2006 Los Angeles Times, but showed up in search engines two weeks ago as an article with “2011” as the only date on the article’s web page.

As the editor preparing the 12 January 2011 Presbyterians Week was in presto tempo when adagio, or at most allegro, would have been more appropriate, the article’s actual origination date, contained in the URL, was overlooked, and Presbyterians Week readers were treated to an almost five-years-stale news item.

Subsequently, a 9 August 2008 Los Angeles Times article by Seema Mehta titled “Court Reverses Home-School Ruling” announced that the California Appellate Court, on 8 August 2008, reversed their 2006 decision, the overruling decision being praised by then-Governor and currently governorship-terminated and US$200 million poorer Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As for Millard Fillmore, he was denied the presidential nomination of his party in 1852 because of northern party members that Whigged-out over Fillmore’s signing of the Fugitive Slave Act, and in 1856 Fillmore ran for U.S. President as the nominee of the Know Nothing Party, which some in the 21^st century believe remains alive in spirit as the actual political party of virtually every elected and appointed official in Washington DC.


+ Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California 90012, 213-237-5000, Fax: 213-237-7679, Contact Page

+ The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20500, 202-456-1414, Fax: 202-456-2461, Contact Page


[3] Thirteen Queens, New York, Abortion Clinics Now Making Adoption Referrals to Bethany Christian Services

In the summer of 2010, representatives from Bethany Christian Services (BCS) visited the thirteen abortion clinics located within a one and one-half mile stretch of Queens, New York City, New York, known as “abortion row” to educate the clinic workers about adoption and to ask the clinics to refer to BCS women whose pregnancies are too advanced for abortion and women seeking alternatives to abortion.

All thirteen clinics agreed to make referrals to BCS, and BCS has already received several referrals from the clinics.

BCS asks for prayer for the women referred to BCS, that BCS would not only be able to provide a superior alternative to what these women would find on "abortion row," but that they would express the love of Christ as well, and that the young women coming to them would encounter Christ and choose life.


+ Mission Network News, 1159 East Beltline Avenue Northeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, 616-942-1500, Fax: 616-942-7328

+ Bethany Christian Services, 901 Eastern Avenue Northeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501, 800-238-4269, Fax: 616-224-7611, Contact Page


[4] Dallas, Texas, Public Schools Charging Students with Class “C” Misdemeanors in Lieu of Detention Slips

A 12 January 2011 article on the CBS-Dallas/Fort Worth web site titled “Schools Giving Tickets, Not Detention Slips, Report Says” reports that the Texas Appleseed social/economic group has collected data from the Dallas (Texas) Independent School District (DISD) showing that over five years, 1200 elementary school students were issued tickets for class C misdemeanors for transgressions such as class disruption, leaving school early, and schoolyard fights not involving weapons. Each ticket can cost the student’s family up to US$500.

A DISD statement says: “The district’s number one priority is safety and the learning environment should never be compromised. The vast majority of our students are not disruptive. Those who do receive tickets are hopefully learning that their actions have consequences.”


+ CBS-Dallas/Fort Worth, 5233 Bridge Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76103, 817-451-1111, cbs11@ktvt.com


[5] Somali Mother of Four Slaughtered for her Christian Faith

A 17 January 2011 Compass Direct News Service article titled “Somali Mother of Four Slaughtered for her Faith” reports that Muslim al Shabaab militia members tapped the telephone of Somali mother of four Asha Mberwa, where they confirmed that Mrs. Mberwa had become a Christian. al Shabaab militia members subsequently arrested Mrs. Mberwa, then murdered her by cutting her throat in front of villagers called out of their homes to witness the killing.

Mrs. Mberwa is survived by her husband, who was out of town when she was arrested and killed, and four children ages 12, 8, 6 and 4.


+ Compass Direct News Service, Post Office Box 27250, Santa Ana, California 92799, 949-862-0304, Fax: 949-752-6536, info@compassdirect.org


[6] Pakistani Police Threaten Father and Supporters after Murdering Christian Son

An 18 January 2011 Compass Direct News Service article titled “Pakistani Police Allegedly Make Threats after Murdering Christian” reports that on 6 January 2011, policemen in Karachi, Pakistan, arrested without warrant or charges, kidnapped, sodomized, tortured, murdered, and threw into a sewer the body of eighteen-year-old Waqas Gill who was a Christian.

Two Muslim police officers have been arrested for Gill’s murder, and two others are still at large, their freedom being abetted by police inaction. Police have threatened to kill or charge with false crimes the murdered man’s father and his supporters if they do not withdraw the charges against the officers.

Six other Christian youths have been similarly murdered.


+ Compass Direct News Service, Post Office Box 27250, Santa Ana, California 92799, 949-862-0304, Fax: 949-752-6536, info@compassdirect.org


[7] Reformed Presbyterian Pastor Arrested for Protesting State Visit of Chinese Communist President Hu Jintao

Reformed Presbyterian pastor and director of the Christian Defense Coalition the Rev. Patrick Mahoney was arrested 18 January 2011 for staging a protest in front of the White House in Washington DC against the state visit of Communist China President Hu Jintao.

Before his arrest, Pastor Mahoney drew attention to a Christian Chinese woman beaten by the Chinese government and Nobel Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo who could not attend the Nobel Prize award ceremony because the Chinese government had imprisoned him for speaking out for freedom and democratic reforms in China.


Pastor Mahoney stated:

"We are calling upon President Obama to publicly, passionately and boldly speak out against the human and religious rights abuses by the Chinese government against their own people when President Hu Jintao visits the White House this week.

"Sadly, the Obama Administration has remained painfully silent when it comes to the China's utter disregard for human rights and religious freedom. He has refused to speak out against their policy of forced abortion and gendercide against Chinese women.

"I am brining this single empty chair to serve as a prophetic reminder and witness to President Obama that it is more important to honor and remember those who cannot attend this State Dinner rather than those who will be in attendance. While the guests are dining on expensive and extravagant food there will be scores who will be oppressed and behind bars by the Chinese government because of their faith and political beliefs; people like Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo who is in prison, Christians who are in prison, Falun Gong members and Buddhist Monks who are in prison and women who are fleeing forced abortion and gendercide.

"We simply ask President Obama to embrace justice and human rights and live out the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King when he said, 'He who accepts evil without protesting against it, is really cooperating with it.'"


+ Christian Defense Coalition, Post Office Box 77168, Washington DC 20013, 202-547-1735, ChristianDefense@gmail.com