For Immediate Release: Monday, March 15, 2010

ON BEHALF OF

MAYOR JOHN LEWIS
VICE MAYOR LINDA ABBOTT
COUNCILMAN DAVE CROZIER
COUNCILWOMAN JENN DANIELS
COUNCILMAN LES PRESMYK
COUNCILMAN JOHN SENTZ
COUNCILMAN STEVE URIE

Gilbert, Arizona, March 15, 2010. Approximately six weeks ago, members of the Gilbert Town Council learned that a Town zoning code intended to help neighborhoods with traffic, parking and safety concerns had been interpreted by Town staff to mean that small church groups could not meet in their own homes. The Council immediately asked Town staff to make changes to the code and not enforce the code while changes were being considered.

Unfortunately, without the Town Council’s knowledge, one church group had already been told to stop holding meetings in their home. Last week the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed an appeal for the Oasis of Truth Church located in Gilbert. While Town staff had anticipated presenting to the Town Council proposed zoning changes at the next Town Council meeting (scheduled for March 23), ADF’s appeal reached the media on Friday, March 12, causing concern that Town of Gilbert restricted religious freedom guaranteed in the Constitution.

Gilbert’s Mayor John Lewis said, “It is unfortunate that the Council did not know about information given to the Oasis of Truth Church. Gilbert is known as a family-oriented community and our faith groups are a vital part of our Town. We want to keep it that way.” Lewis continued, “Gilbert has the largest celebration of the Constitution in the United States. During the third week of September, we have an entire week of community activities available to remind us of the important principles of the Constitution.” Vice-Mayor Linda Abbott commented, “This is a community with patriotic citizens who study and defend the Constitution. We understand the importance of maintaining religious freedom.”

Upon learning of the appeal, the Town Council expressed their overwhelming support to expedite changes in the code. Yesterday, Mayor Lewis and Acting Town Manager Collin DeWitt attended the Sunday worship services of the Oasis of Truth Church. DeWitt said, “We had a wonderful experience as we met with the three leaders of the church and their families. We are glad that they selected Gilbert as their home.” Mayor Lewis told church leaders that he will ask Town attorneys to include ADF and the Oasis of Truth Church in the review process this week of the proposed changes that will be presented to the Town Council on March 23. Lewis said, “We welcome their input and suggestions to ensure that church groups are able to meet and enjoy their Constitutional rights. Potentially, we may have a solution to this issue this week.”

The Town of Gilbert has been one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. In spite of the economic downturn, 1,278 single family permits were issued by the Town in 2009. Currently, 221,000 citizens of Gilbert enjoy the clean, safe, and vibrant environment. In 2009, Gilbert was named as the 24th safest city in the United States and safest city in Arizona. Mayor Lewis said, “Our vibrancy is enhanced with our strong faith-based groups. Our partnership with our local ministers and pastors is excellent. Gilbert is considered a religious friendly area. Religious activities occur all over Town and most especially in our homes. The Town Council and our citizens will keep it that way.”

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This dramatically caught my eye especially since my church, Central Christian Church, strongly encourages its members to conduct small group meetings. Say this isn’t so and that the Town of Gilbert will quickly abandon this policy if it is so. Thank GOD, literally, that we have the Alliance Defense Fund based right here in Arizona!

The city of Gilbert, Ariz., has ordered a group of seven adults to stop gathering for Bible studies in a private home because such meetings are forbidden by the city’s zoning codes.

The issue was brought to a head when city officials wrote a letter to a pastor and his wife informing them they had 10 days to quit having the meetings in their private home.

Pastor Joe Sutherland had been told in a letter from code compliance officer Steve Wallace that the people were not allowed to meet in a home for church activities under the city’s Land Development Code.

(Read the full article at World Net Daily)

The media, patiently waiting for a Beck slip up, got their big break on March 2. Here are some highlights…

“I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.”

“Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! If I am going to Jeremiah Wright’s church. If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop.”

So, if you’re the media the goal is to push “social justice” as helping people. It is also important to go find some liberal religious leaders that share your world view to reinforce the interpretation. Better still, find someone from Beck’s own weird Mormon faith. ( I am Mormon, so relax )

The Times also interviewed Kent P. Jackson, associate dean of religion at BYU. “My own experience as a believing Latter-day Saint over the course of 60 years is that I have seen social justice in practice in every LDS congregation I’ve been in,” Jackson said. “People endeavor with all of our frailties and shortcomings to love one another and to lift up other people. So if that’s Beck’s definition of social justice, he and I are definitely not on the same team.

I might not be a Beck convert but as someone who takes my own faith seriously, I want to have a little chat with Mr. Jackson about being disingenuous. If the ambiguity is not complete hit those bible thumping zealots with another quote.

The Rev. Jim Wallis, who leads the Christian social justice group “Sojourners” in Washington, D.C., took strong offense to Beck’s comments.

Wallis has begun a “Tell Glenn Beck: I’m a Social Justice Christian” campaign on his Web site, www.sojo.net.

“Glenn Beck recently told his listeners to leave any church that teaches social justice, and to report its pastor to church authorities,” Wallis wrote. “Since Sojourners’ mission is ‘to articulate the biblical call to social justice,’ we thought we’d better turn ourselves in. But before reporting to any church hierarchy, we’re going to report ourselves to Glenn Beck.”

Perfect, the ambiguity is complete. It is pretty clear to anyone, who is not an agenda driving idiot (strong language, maybe), that what Beck was referring to was the term “social justice” is often a euphemism for Marxism, socialism and collectivism. Although your friendly neighborhood leftist Christian would love for you to think the term simply means, helping people help people help themselves by helping others or whatever leftist wiener crap their selling. Let me give you an example…

A Rabbi visited our law school recently an argued it was effectively a sin to oppose Obamacare. His rationale was simple. God loves people. God commands others to help people. It flows it is a commandment/duty we owe to have healthy people. Simple right? If you don’t agree your in sin…..and your a racist bigot ( just wanted to throw that in there )

Beck was referring to the temptation to equate religious charity with statist compulsion. The former is godliness the latter is tyranny. We all have our favorite religious leaders, here’s mine.

“Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat falsehoods in socialism, rationalism, etc.”  Ezra Taft Benson

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” – C.S. Lewis

So, what do you think Beck was trying to say? If you go to a church that tells you it is a sin not to support legislation that is aimed at helping children, puppies, the poor, or albino squirrels ( I actually saw one the other day ) or whatever then you should leave. Why? It is wrong. If you disagree stay at your church but if you believe the founding principles of this nation are primarily appendages to liberty and personal responsibility then you should look elsewhere.

The term “social justice” does not mean simply helping people. How insulting is that? Everyone wants to help people, even us bitter gun clinging conservatives. Beck was talking primarily to conservatives who might be deceived by a religious leader using his position to guilt their members into adopting a political ideology.

Are you an atheist reading this post? Great, some our our greatest thinkers did not believe in a supreme being. The difference is they also respected our beliefs and saw the positives. The extreme left has always thought of religion as a tool, waiting for the day where they no longer need religious rubes to win elections.

This post was brought to you by Hugo Chavez.

“Jesus was the first socialist”

Idiot.

For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 11, 2010

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Wrong: Conservative U.S. Senate Candidate J.D. Hayworth’s

“Faith” Radio Spot Biographical, Not Competitive

PHOENIX, AZ. March 11, 2010. “I’ve never heard somebody (seek) votes by saying he’s better at his religion than the other guy,” said Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball last night in regard to conservative U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth’s radio ad “Faith”.

The minute-long ad which started running statewide in Arizona on Tuesday is biographical, not hardball against Arizona Senator John McCain, whose service and own faith Hayworth respects.

A copy of the Hayworth ad in its entirety is below.

Hayworth has been endorsed by Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, Tax Day Tea Party, Arizona conservative leader Len Munsil, the Gun Owners of America, and the National Border Patrol Council, among many others. To the left of more conservative Hayworth on taxes, the Second Amendment, pro-life and pro-family issues and illegal immigration, McCain has engaged in transparent election year flip-flopping.

McCain also voted for the $850 billion bailout of the big banks which included $150 billion in pork, proposed a $300 billion bailout for mortgage lenders and, according to the Heritage Foundation, sponsored an amnesty bill that would have cost taxpayers $2.6 trillion over the long-term. And despite 28 years in Washington McCain now claims he was ‘misled’ on the bank bailout vote despite expressing no such concerns at the time.

For more information or to contribute to the campaign, please go to www.JDforSenate.com.

J.D. Hayworth’s “Faith” Advertisement:

ANNOUNCER: “Daniel Webster once said, ‘What makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.’ Meet a good Christian and a good neighbor, J.D. Hayworth. Unlike some leaders who shy away from their faith, J.D. Hayworth embraces it. J.D. Hayworth accepted Christ as a young boy and later met his wife, Mary, at church. After nearly losing a daughter early in pregnancy, and a son in childbirth, J.D. and Mary were sustained by prayer and came to value God’s gift of life even more. God gave us the covenant of marriage and the blessing of children. That’s why J.D. Hayworth supports traditional marriage and defends the right to life of the unborn. And J.D. Hayworth will always defend our right to honor God in the public square, public schools and public life. Faithful, conservative leadership. J.D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate.”

HAYWORTH: “I’m J.D. Hayworth and I approved this message. Paid for by J.D. Hayworth 2010.”

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Conservative JD Hayworth Launches First Radio Ad: “Faith”
Ad Highlights Personal, Worshipful Side of Hayworth Many Don’t Know

PHOENIX, AZ. March 9, 2010. JD Hayworth, who is mounting a conservative challenge to Senator John McCain, is known for being a lot of things. Fiscally-conscious Congressman. A man who never forgets a name. A broadcaster.

What many people don’t know is that JD also has a rock-solid belief in God, and the power of prayer.

(Listen to “Faith.”)

A new radio ad debuting today across Arizona aims to change that by relaying the story of how Hayworth met his wife, Mary, in church, almost lost a child at birth and has counted on prayer to get him through the tough – and the joyful – times in life.

“After almost losing a daughter early in pregnancy and a son in childbirth, JD and Mary were sustained by prayer,” the commercial says.

The ad also points out that Hayworth’s faith compels him to support traditional marriage and the right to life of the unborn.

The commercial also tells listeners that, “…JD will always defend our right to honor God in the public square, public schools and public life.”

To hear the commercial or to donate to the Hayworth campaign, please visit www.JDforSenate.com.

The latest leftist assault is the condemnation of Tim and Pam Tebow for their audacity to be part of a pro-life commercial scheduled to air during the Super Bowl.  Sports pundits, political talking-heads, and news reporters are all over this story.   Liberal “women’ s groups” have asked CBS to deny Focus on the Family the right to buy air time to broadcast the ad and sports analysts are denouncing the Tebow  effort as damaging to his career.  One writer likened Tim Tebow to a full-time evangelist moonlighting as a football player.  Did he think that was insulting?

I could go on and on about what sort of false religion and destructive values are being exploited every day in pro-sports…. But I digress.

Apparently that writer has no idea the call on the life of the Tebow family and has no understanding of service to something greater than you.  Tim Tebow could no more turn his back on the opportunity to tell the world the miraculous truth of his healthy birth than a sports writer could turn away the scoop of a lifetime.   It is what he was put here to do.  And he knows it. On Florida game days, the most frequent Google search is for whatever scripture Tebow has on his eye black.

With that said, all the hyperbole about this being a sporting event and not a religious venue is a distortion of the truth.  The faulty premise is in the concept that the sanctity of life should be viewed only as a religious cause; it should be a humanitarian cause.  Protecting the life of the unborn, giving hope to women and families who are facing odds they see as insurmountable, and telling the truth where a lie has been accepted is not religious. If there were a call for aid to the people of The Sudan, or any region were genocide is practiced, would it be religious or humanitarian? It may be the love of Christ that empowers them but since when is love a religious act not to be confused with the real world?

An unborn child is a life, a real person with a real soul.  Life does not spontaneously occur and that which is not alive cannot become alive; it is formed and developed just as the unborn child is within the womb of the mother.  We all grow, change and have different stages of our being.  Such is the reality of life…and it starts at conception.

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Contact: President Brad Dacus (916) 857-6900

Atheists Tell Federal Appeals Court: Public Prayer Makes Us Sick

Washington, D.C. – Briefing is nearing a close in a high-profile case challenging prayer at Presidential inaugurations, currently before the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The lawsuit, filed by hundreds of atheists and atheist groups, led by frequent litigant Michael Newdow, was thrown out by the lower federal court. The two ministers who offered prayers at President Obama’s inauguration, Dr. Rick Warren and Dr. Joseph Lowery, are named defendants in the lawsuit and are being represented by Pacific Justice Institute.

In its Opposition Brief filed last week, Pacific Justice Institute countered the legal arguments of atheists who said public prayer traumatized them to the point of illness. Among the more dire claims, one plaintiff declared, “[W]hen Chief Justice Roberts asked the President to say, ‘So help me God,’ I felt threatened and sick to my stomach.” Another plaintiff stated in court documents, “As I watched this inauguration, I cringed with disgust as I witnessed this special secular event again being poisoned with sectarian religious nonsense.”

The plaintiffs in this case include numerous individuals, and groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, The American Humanist Association, Atheists United, Atheists for Human Rights, and Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers.

PJI Chief Counsel Kevin Snider, who authored the opposition brief submitted last week on behalf of Drs. Warren and Lowery, commented, “Prayers designed to solemnize public events have a long and venerable history in our nation.

Are you familiar with this symbol?

The Constitution simply does not demand that our public institutions be amoral or atheistic.”

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, stated, “The First Amendment cannot be divorced from common sense. While atheists, humanists and freethinkers are a tiny minority in America, they are free to express and practice their lack of faith as they please. That does not mean, however, that the vast majority of God-fearing citizens and public officials must be silenced in order to appease them.”

Actually, it was Jesus who delivered this warning.

And now a message from our Department of Eschatology, Biblical Studies and Prophecy:

From the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24:

4: And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

5: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

6: And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8: All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9: Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

10: And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

11: And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

12: And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The virus: It’s considered a strain of swine flu but also combines genetic material from birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before.  (Minn. StarTribune 4/24/09 2119 h)

TORONTO – Further evidence emerged Friday that there is person-to-person spread of a new flu virus to which many people may have little or no immunity – key ingredients for the development of a flu pandemic.  (Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS, 4/24/09 2105h)

As of this evening (Friday) Mexican President Felipe Calderon held an emergency meeting with high level members of his government and Mexico’s top health officials.

Infected persons are contagious for up to seven days from onset or longer if symptoms persist.   The virus is believed to be transmitted through coughing or sneezing.  The US Center for Disease Control is highly concerned over the outbreak in Mexico where as many as 70 people may have already died from the virus.  The CDC however has so far held back on sending advisers or medical observation professionals to the stricken country.

There are reports of the illness coming from Southern California but as of tonight those cases have not been confirmed as the unusual strain of H1N1.  Meanwhile the World Health Organization is monitoring events carefully due to the apparent lack of resistance people have to this unusual strain of the flu virus and its ability to kill.

Meanwhile …

The Army Times first reported it on October 1, 2008 that the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team who’d spent the previous 36 to 60 months deployed in Iraq would be coming home.  But this homecoming would be different; now they would be detailed out as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

But back at Homeland Security …

Senator John McCain is repeating the claim recently made by Janet Napolitano that the 911 terrorists entered the United States through Canada.  Napolitano however is staying on top of things today apologized to the leadership of the American Legion for the recent report issued by her Department suggesting that Vet’s returning home from Iraq may pose a domestic terrorist threat.

And in the House of Representatives …

H.R. 1913 was approved with Arizona members Mitchell being one of the bill’s Co-Sponsors with Grijalva and Giffords both voting in favor.  In the Senate, John (yes I served in Viet Nam) Kerry vowed to personally insure that H.R. 1913 is approved into law.  But what is H.R. 1913 you ask? It is the  Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, aka the hate crimes law. Written into the law is $5 million dollars annually for grants to local law enforcement agencies to assist them in fighting the crime of hate.  The law however does not protect Christian pastors who teach from the Bible.

Maybe since they’re prohibited from teaching from the Bible, this passage will be forgotten too?

I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague…” Revelation 6:8

Anyway…

For those of you who may be wondering what they can do about this “unusual strain” of virus that humans appear to have very little defense against,  your government has a plan!  Seriously, this is their plan.

Now don’t you feel safer already?  And besides, if you do decide to get upset about these events – the Army is ready to restore your sanity – or at least clean up the bodies.

P.S. this blog is also being classified under the category of ‘Terrorism’ since the virus strain combines Avian, Swine and Human genetic traits that do not appear to have natural origins.  Some of the intel received during the Bush Administration has suggested that some folks overseas (we can’t call them terrorists anymore), have been working on genetic mutation of the flu virus.  What better place from which to release such a virus to reach the US than Mexico City?  Only time will tell if this is an appropriate category to use for these thoughts.

In the meantime, clean up your thinking – its a hate crime you know…

but consider who’s running the country.  Then there’s Chris Simcox to consider.

Update:

The CDC has called a conference call for 2PM ET April 28, 2009  The subject is: Federal Public Health Emergency Law – Implications for State and Local Preparedness and Response. 

This COCA conference call sponsored by the CDC Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency
Response, will offer a comprehensive overview of the principal federal
laws that frame responses to all-hazards public health emergencies.
These laws are directly relevant to federal, state, tribal, local, and
territorial agencies’ emergency preparedness and response efforts.