REMEMBERING

Robert Elwin Bennett
March 15, 1932 – November 9, 2011

Our hearts are grieving the loss of our beloved friend who went to be with his Lord on Wednesday, November 9, 2011. His health had been declining for the past 5 years, but he never stopped researching new treatments for the congestive heart failure he suffered from. He never complained, was always upbeat, and had just a few days before told our daughter he had found the treatment which was going to cure his heart problems.
His Lord, however, saw that he was getting tired and in His great love and mercy took him Home.
Please pray for his family…Daughter, Norma Bennett Weekman; Son, Robert Franklin Bennett … and his many friends as they adjust to life without this amazing man.
I shall always treasure the many happy memories I have of our life together, both before our divorce in 1984 and after God healed the hurts of the separation. I rejoice in knowing he had made peace with His Savior a couple of years ago…and the assurance I’ll see him again one day.

THERE'S A MUSLIM IN THE WHITE HOUSE

By Coach Dave Daubenmire
August 11, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

I think it is time to stop pulling our punches. Because we have been bull-whipped with political correctness, most people are afraid to state what is obvious.
I don’t care how much the media covers for him, or how much his communist cabal yells “racist” every time someone questions one of his policies, or how many years he spent hiding in Jeremiah Wright’s “church,” I will no longer be bullied by fear of ridicule into denying what is plainly obvious to anyone with the courage to look with un-biased eyes.
Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim.
I don’t care what names they call me. I don’t care what evidence they try to present to the contrary, I refuse to deny the evidence before my eyes. If presented with the honest evidence even the Casey Anthony jury would not be fooled by this imposter in the White House.
There is more evidence that Obama is a Muslim than there is evidence that Casey killed little Caylee.
Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim. Why would he deny it?
Consider this:
In the religion of Islam the bloodline is passed through the father. Any child who is fathered by a Muslim is born a Muslim. By his own admission, Barack Obama’s father was a Muslim. It makes no difference what country he was born in. According to Islamic Law, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. passed his Muslim faith on to his son, Barack Hussein Obama Jr.
His mother’s faith or upbringing does not abrogate the birth right of her son. In Islam, if a Muslim man rapes a Christian woman the child is considered Muslim. That is one of the techniques of Jihad. It helps increase the Muslim population. Read your history.
Barack Obama’s mother, by his own admission, later married Muslim Lolo Soetoro. Because his records are sealed we cannot determine if Lolo adopted little Barry, but we do know that Barry was enrolled in school in Indonesia as a Muslim. Here are the records. Barry’s religion is listed as “Islam.”
Remember, a child is born Muslim. Islam does not permit “freedom of religion.”
But President Obama says he became a “Christian” when he felt the call at the “church” of Jeremiah Wright. According to Obama, at some point, he converted to Christianity.
In Islam, it is a death penalty for a Muslim to convert to Christianity. Anyone who leaves the Muslim faith will soon have a fatwah against him. A fatwah is a “legal document” issued by a Muslim leader calling for, among other things, the death of a violator of Islamic Law.
Do you remember Salmon Rushdie and his book The Satanic Verses? A fatwah was ordered against him by Ayatollah Khomeini. Fatwah’s are common in Islam. It is the Islamic way of dealing with those who dishonor Islam.
Leaving Islam is a great dishonor.
Have you heard of any fatwah’s against the President of the United States? Wouldn’t you think that somewhere in the Islamic world some radical Islamisist would order a fatwah against the President for leaving Islam? Could there possibly be a more visible former-Muslim that Barack Obama? Certainly a fatwah against Obama would bring glory to Allah and give some Muslim-celebrant a free pass to paradise.
Yet, no fatwah? Not from any of the 300 million or so “radical” followers of the “religion of peace?” They hate America. Why do they love Obama?
Being a Muslim and president is no crime. But do you think that Obama could have been elected president if he had run on “his Muslim faith?”
In Islam it is legal to lie to advance the cause of Islam. In fact, it is legal to pretend to convert to Christianity as long as you do not “convert in your heart.” In other words, if you have to “convert” to advance the cause of Allah no one will issue a fatwah against you because they understand that you have not “turned in your heart.”
Barack Obama has not “turned in his heart” and the Muslim world knows it. Farrakhan call him “our brother.” So did Gadhafi. Jeremiah Wright and Farrakhan are good buddies. They share a common hatred of the American way of life…especially white America. They share the religion of “black liberation theology.” Birds of a feather flock together.
Obama bows to Saudi Kings. Do you think he doesn’t know what he was doing?
Open your eyes.
Obama has flooded his administration with appointees who are Muslims. Can you name even one appointment that the President has made that would be considered an evangelical Christian? Even one? Where are his appointees from the Moral Majority?
Obama loves the Muslim Brotherhood. We are too stupid to understand that the Muslim Brotherhood are nothing more than Jihadists that wear suit and ties rather than head coverings. They are the Chamber of Commerce of radical Islam.

Have you ever heard Obama speak with reverence in regards to the Bible? When he does makes reference to the Bible it is in the form of ridicule. Yet over and over he speaks of the “Holy Koran.”
Do you know of any true Christian who would call the Koran “holy?”
Don’t call me names. It won’t impact the Truth. What are you going to believe? Your own eyes, or what the media, the president, and his henchmen tell you?
Shake your head, your eyes are stuck.
The last two weeks I have spent some time with Egyptian Christian Usama Dakdok. He travels the nation trying to awaken America to the Islamic threat. Take the time to watch this free video on his website. It is long but informative.
Did you know that 87% of the world’s Muslims are cannot even read the Koran? It is written in Arabic and most Muslims cannot read Arabic. Many in the 57 Muslim countries are illiterate. They rely on the “Clerics” to tell them what the Koran teaches.
Most English translations of the Koran have been done by these Clerics. They have white-washed what the Koran actually teaches. Can you read Arabic? Can you prove that the Koran actually says what the Clerics have told us it does? Should we trust them?
Usama Dakdok has spent 4 years translating the Koran into English. Arabic is his native language. His word-for-word translation of the Koran shows us what it really says. It reveals what is being taught behind closed doors in the Mosques. You can order it here. Have you ever read the Koran? How do you know what it teaches?
The Muslim world knows Obama is a Muslim. We are too politically correct to even question it.
Obama is not stupid. I wish he were. He is doing exactly what he has planned to do. He wants to weaken America so that we will no longer be the world’s super power.
Islam means “submission.” Submit or die.
There is plenty of evidence that Obama is friendly toward Islam and Islamic nations. Do you see any evidence of his Christianity?
America may not be at war with Islam…but Islam is at war with America. Denying the obvious will not make it go away. Our silence is deadly. Would you feel comfortable if Obama confessed his Islamic faith to the nation?
Open your eyes. Quit worrying what people think. Watch the video and educate yourself. Your grandkids are counting on you.
There is a Muslim in the White House. It is not a crime…just the truth. Christians put him there.
It is time to start saying so. There is a Muslim in the White House.

What are the greatest challenges for the church?

The challenges of today's church are many and it is difficult to define which are the most ominous. But from my years of working with the church, I would say that its greatest malady usually boils down to two chronic impediments, with which pastors and church leaders continually strive to overcome.

(1) Compromise with the standards of the world. Unfortunately, the modern American church seems to have been more influenced by society, rather than society being affected by the church. Recent Gallup polls show a majority of Americans profess to be Christians, but the general spiritual condition of our nation has never been worse. The fact is, although many churches have concentrated on techniques of getting people in the doors, they have not always been as successful in improving their spiritual condition. The Apostle Paul said, "...beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

There is a widespread deficiency in the basic elements of Christian character, ethics and morality. In contrast to past generations, recent counseling statistics show that the ratio of moral dysfunctions among professing Christians closely parallel that of secular society. Domestic violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, sexual immorality and promiscuity are commonly found within the churchgoing populace. In the 1980's, the Christian divorce rate reached the same deplorable level as that of secular marriages — today more than 50% of all marriages, including those of professing Christians, result in dissolution.

Today's pulpits are virtually silent on the issue of "sin." The church has become more and more like the world. It has sought to be popular and acceptable to society, and in doing so, it has compromised its standards of morality and holiness. The scripture warns, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).

(2) Apathy toward its mission in the world. By and large, the modern church world has become mostly occupied with what God can do for them, rather than remembering their mission to reach the lost for Christ. We live in a very self-centered society, and rarely do we see churches and believers laying aside their selfish interests to serve the Lord's interests. "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:1,4).


The scriptures make it very clear that it is the duty of every Christian to take on the task of helping to bring people to the saving message of Christ (2 Cor. 5:17-18). But unfortunately, the statistics show that only a tiny percentage of Christians ever attempt to share their faith with others. This apathy is inexcusable and has contributed to the woes of our society, which can only be remedied by the new birth of Christ in the hearts of sinful men and women. "...if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing" (2 Cor. 4:3).
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This article is copyrighted © by Dale A. Robbins, 1995, and is a publication of Victorious Publications, Grass Valley, CA 95949. Unless otherwise stated, all scripture references were taken from The New King James Bible, © Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.You may download for personal use as long as you retain credit to the author.

HOW GREAT IS THAT DARKNESS

"Okay Lord, I’ll write it. But I really don’t understand why you give me these dirty jobs. Why haven’t you anointed me to write about the evil Democrats, or say, those God-haters who want to take Manger Scenes off of the courthouse steps? Why can’t I be like Ann Coulter and just expose liberals? Why do I always have to write things about folks who are supposed to be on my side?

The liberals hate me enough…why do I have to keep poking “conservatives” in the eye?
It won’t be long before I won’t be welcome anywhere in Christian circles. But I promised you years ago that I would be faithful to write and speak what you put in my spirit. As President John Adams famously said, “Duty is ours. The results belong to God.”

So, I’ll lay it out there and trust you have a reason for putting the words in my heart.

Most Christians are not.....Not really disciples of Jesus that is. As I go about my work, I have become more and more convinced of that truth. The American Experience is in trouble because those who claim to be followers of Jesus really don’t follow Him. Oh, don’t get me wrong, they “go to church,” and most “believe in God,” but they are not followers of Jesus. They don’t even know what that means...to follow Jesus…even though they are “Christians.” In fact, I doubt whether the Apostle Paul, or any of the first-century believers, would even recognize the “religion” that we call “Christianity” today. Just wondering….was Jesus a “Christian?”
Jesus hated religion. It was the “religious” folks that He tried to free us from. “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." Read Mathew 23 to understand better what He had to say to “religious” leaders. He stated it better than I can.

Look. Christianity is not a religion, it is not “going to church”, it is not a set of rules and regulations after which you pattern your life, it is not a crutch for the weak, it is not an answer on the US Census, and it is not a home business designed to increase one’s earthly possessions. Christianity is the life of Jesus living through you. It is an exchange of your life for His, a living out of His nature instead of yours, a “putting on” of the life of Jesus, not a process where you “accept” Him, or “receive” Him, or “come” to Him. It is a death process…a dying of you and your old nature…a transformation really…out of an old life to a new one. “Christ IN you, the hope of Glory.”

Most folks who identify themselves as Christians claim to know Jesus as Savior. Very few know Him as Lord. That’s why Christianity is so shallow in America. We love the “Savior” part of Jesus, but aren’t quite ready to bow to that “Lord” thingee. Most are interested in having “their Savior” bless their endeavors, but few are willing to “lay down their lives” for Him. Everyone wants to “follow Jesus” until they find out where He is going…He is heading to a Cross…and He asks you to take up yours and follow Him. This flies in the face of popular Christianity and its “felt needs”…

The hearts of Americans are hard to pierce. Stephen called folks like us “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” How did the religious folks receive Stephen and his honest rebuke? “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him…”

Here is what I am getting at. Most “Christians” are not open to the true Gospel because they already think they have it. They have learned to compartmentalize it, to compromise it, to hang it on the coat rack. But they have heard a different Gospel. They have been taught to follow Christianity, not Jesus.
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” -Jude

Do yourself a favor. Take the time to read the book of Acts. It is a record of the “Gospel” being lived out by those who were most familiar with the Savior. You will look long and hard, far and wide, to find anything even remotely resembling the modern-day humanistic, self-serving, Jesus-wants-me-to-be-happy-and-rich-Gospel belching out of the pulpits today. Would they invite Paul, the greatest evangelist the world has ever known, to appear on TBN? Would Rick Warren and Joel Osteen allow him to stand in their pulpits? Can you picture him “dancing with the stars?”
Americans are following a “different” Gospel, which is "no Gospel at all."
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”

Permit me to state it more succinctly so that there can be no miss-understanding of the point I am trying to make. Most church-goers are not followers of Jesus. They are merely members of a social club called “Christianity”. “Membership has its advantages….”

How do you heal someone who doesn’t know he is sick? How do you save someone who doesn’t think he is lost?

“If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness…”
Americanized Christianity has everything backwards. Somewhere along the line the life-denying-Gospel has morphed into a life-enhancement Gospel. Instead of us giving ourselves for the advancement of the Kingdom we have been fooled into believing that Jesus gave Himself so we could be masters of our own kingdom. The idea of sacrifice and suffering is anathema to modern, Americanized Christianity. How else can you possibly explain the calloused attitude that most “Christians” have towards the “increase of His government and peace.”

Read Matthew 13. It is here that we read of the wheat and the tares which GROW UP TOGETHER. That’s right. When you go to “church” on Sunday it would behoove you to look around. Many of those sitting beside you are destined for the bon-fire. They look like Christians, they sing like Christians, and they speak the Christian language”, but they are not children of the Lord. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” -Matthew 7

Could it be that many are getting the wrong answer because they are being asked the wrong question? It is not “do you know Jesus”, but rather, “does Jesus know You?”
In recent polls eight-five per cent of all Americans self-identify as Christians, yet this nation has become a moral wasteland. “Christians” complain about others “shoving Christianity down our throats.” “Christians” declare that “religion” is a “private matter” while atheistic teachings swamp their children in “public schools.” “Christians” have abortions and vote for “pro-abortion” candidates. “Christians” embrace homosexuality. “Christians” fail to keep their marriage vows. “Christians” ignore the precepts that Jesus taught.

How do you rescue someone who doesn’t think he needs to be rescued? How do you bring sight to one who thinks he sees? How do you bring knowledge to one who thinks he knows? How do you bring truth to one who doesn’t know he is deceived? How do you bring light to one who doesn’t know it is dark?

America is the most “Gospelized” nation in the world, but my dealings with Americanized “Christians” have convinced me that the greatest mission field in the world is inside the four walls of most American churches.

The darkness thinks it is light. “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Most “Christians” don’t know enough about Jesus to tremble.

How great is that darkness…

This article was written by Coach Dave Daubenmire, founder and President of Pass The Salt Ministries (www.ptsalt.com) and Minutemen United (www.minutemenunited.org) and host of the high octane Pass The Salt radio show heard in Columbus, Ohio. In 1999 Coach Daubenmire was sued by the ACLU for praying with his teams while coaching high school in Ohio. He now spends his energy fighting for Christian principles in the public domain.