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===Pastor Rick Warren
Please PRAY for our Supreme Court. Today they are hearing a landmark #ReligiousLiberty case that will affect every American. Below is my editorial published by the Washington Post yesterday. Please read it, like it, and share it with everyone today. This is a critical day for your freedom.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IS AMERICA’S FIRST FREEDOM
Does our Constitution guarantee the freedom of religion, or does it merely allow a more limited freedom to worship? The difference is profound. Worship is an event. Religion is a way of life.
Specifically, does the First Amendment guarantee believers of all faiths the freedom to practice their ethics, educate their children and operate family businesses based on their religious beliefs, moral convictions and freedom of conscience? Do Americans have the freedom to place our beliefs and ethics at the center of our business practices — or must we ignore them when we form a company?
These questions will be brought before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The outcome of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby will affect every American because any religion allowed to be practiced only inside a house of worship, and not in the day-to-day business of life, is a worthless faith.
Since I wrote “The Purpose Driven Life” 12 years ago, I have received more than 500,000 letters and e-mails from people trying to live in ways they believe honor God. For millions of Americans, faith is something you live by. It colors every decision and action, both at home and at work. It is personal, but it is not private.
David and Barbara Green are one example of a purpose-driven family leading a purpose-driven business. From the time the Greens started Hobby Lobby in their garage, building picture frames with their sons, they committed themselves and their company to one simple purpose: “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating our company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.”
Hobby Lobby has grown into a multibillion-dollar business with more than 550 stores and nearly 16,000 full-time employees. David Green has written, “We had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God’s Word.”
The Greens live their religious values and ethics in every aspect of their business: by providing salaries and benefits far above average industry levels and by their commitment to helping employees maintain a healthy work-life balance, which includes closing on Sundays so workers have more time with their families.
Every year, Hobby Lobby gives a portion of its profits to charities, educational institutions, community ministries and churches around the world. My own congregation was a surprise beneficiary of the Greens’ generosity a few years ago, and that is how I first met this amazing family.
There is massive evidence that everything Hobby Lobby does is predicated on the Greens’ deep belief that they must honor God and obey his commands in their business. Every Christmas and Easter, Hobby Lobby takes out full-page ads to share the Greens’ faith in the communities where they have stores. Hobby Lobby is not a secular, publicly traded company. Rather, it is the personal, purpose-driven mission of one of the most devout families I’ve ever met.
Two years ago, the Greens’ commitment to practicing their religious convictions in their family business required that they object to just a few of the contraceptives the government requires providing to employees under the Affordable Care Act. They believe that a few specific drugs and devices have the potential to terminate life that has been conceived, and they view this as morally wrong based on Psalm 139:13-16, which says that God planned the purpose of every life before we were born. Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, they went to court, and now the case has made it to the Supreme Court.
The administration argues that because Hobby Lobby is a for-profit corporation, the company has no religious rights under the First Amendment. In fact, the government says that exempting Hobby Lobby from paying for drugs and devices to which the Greens object would amount to an imposition of the Greens’ faith on their employees.
The first people who came to America from Europe were devout pilgrims seeking the freedom to practice their faith. That’s why the first phrase of the first sentence of the First Amendment is about freedom of religion — preceding freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Why? Because if you don’t have the freedom to live and practice what you believe, the other freedoms are irrelevant. Religious liberty is America’s First Freedom.
In this case, the administration is insisting that those who form and operate a family business based on religious beliefs must disobey what they believe is God’s standard in order to obey the government’s program. The administration wants everyone to render unto Caesar not only what is Caesar’s but also what is God’s. If it wins, the first purpose on which the United States was founded would be severely damaged.
I used to own the letter that President Thomas Jefferson penned in February 1809 to the Methodist Episcopal Church of New London, Conn. (The Greens now own it because I wanted them to have it.) In that letter, Jefferson thundered, “No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of civil authority.” My prayer is that the Supreme Court will agree with Jefferson.
Rick Warren is pastor of the Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, Calif., and the author of “The Purpose Driven Life.”
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IS AMERICA’S FIRST FREEDOM
Does our Constitution guarantee the freedom of religion, or does it merely allow a more limited freedom to worship? The difference is profound. Worship is an event. Religion is a way of life.
Specifically, does the First Amendment guarantee believers of all faiths the freedom to practice their ethics, educate their children and operate family businesses based on their religious beliefs, moral convictions and freedom of conscience? Do Americans have the freedom to place our beliefs and ethics at the center of our business practices — or must we ignore them when we form a company?
These questions will be brought before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The outcome of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby will affect every American because any religion allowed to be practiced only inside a house of worship, and not in the day-to-day business of life, is a worthless faith.
Since I wrote “The Purpose Driven Life” 12 years ago, I have received more than 500,000 letters and e-mails from people trying to live in ways they believe honor God. For millions of Americans, faith is something you live by. It colors every decision and action, both at home and at work. It is personal, but it is not private.
David and Barbara Green are one example of a purpose-driven family leading a purpose-driven business. From the time the Greens started Hobby Lobby in their garage, building picture frames with their sons, they committed themselves and their company to one simple purpose: “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating our company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.”
Hobby Lobby has grown into a multibillion-dollar business with more than 550 stores and nearly 16,000 full-time employees. David Green has written, “We had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God’s Word.”
The Greens live their religious values and ethics in every aspect of their business: by providing salaries and benefits far above average industry levels and by their commitment to helping employees maintain a healthy work-life balance, which includes closing on Sundays so workers have more time with their families.
Every year, Hobby Lobby gives a portion of its profits to charities, educational institutions, community ministries and churches around the world. My own congregation was a surprise beneficiary of the Greens’ generosity a few years ago, and that is how I first met this amazing family.
There is massive evidence that everything Hobby Lobby does is predicated on the Greens’ deep belief that they must honor God and obey his commands in their business. Every Christmas and Easter, Hobby Lobby takes out full-page ads to share the Greens’ faith in the communities where they have stores. Hobby Lobby is not a secular, publicly traded company. Rather, it is the personal, purpose-driven mission of one of the most devout families I’ve ever met.
Two years ago, the Greens’ commitment to practicing their religious convictions in their family business required that they object to just a few of the contraceptives the government requires providing to employees under the Affordable Care Act. They believe that a few specific drugs and devices have the potential to terminate life that has been conceived, and they view this as morally wrong based on Psalm 139:13-16, which says that God planned the purpose of every life before we were born. Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, they went to court, and now the case has made it to the Supreme Court.
The administration argues that because Hobby Lobby is a for-profit corporation, the company has no religious rights under the First Amendment. In fact, the government says that exempting Hobby Lobby from paying for drugs and devices to which the Greens object would amount to an imposition of the Greens’ faith on their employees.
The first people who came to America from Europe were devout pilgrims seeking the freedom to practice their faith. That’s why the first phrase of the first sentence of the First Amendment is about freedom of religion — preceding freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Why? Because if you don’t have the freedom to live and practice what you believe, the other freedoms are irrelevant. Religious liberty is America’s First Freedom.
In this case, the administration is insisting that those who form and operate a family business based on religious beliefs must disobey what they believe is God’s standard in order to obey the government’s program. The administration wants everyone to render unto Caesar not only what is Caesar’s but also what is God’s. If it wins, the first purpose on which the United States was founded would be severely damaged.
I used to own the letter that President Thomas Jefferson penned in February 1809 to the Methodist Episcopal Church of New London, Conn. (The Greens now own it because I wanted them to have it.) In that letter, Jefferson thundered, “No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of civil authority.” My prayer is that the Supreme Court will agree with Jefferson.
Rick Warren is pastor of the Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, Calif., and the author of “The Purpose Driven Life.”
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In school, teachers give a test after you learn a lesson. In life, GOD gives you a test that teaches you the lesson!
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12 years and 90 million readers later, The Purpose Driven Life is still transforming lives and selling tens of thousands of copies a month around the world. I just saw this Twitter post of just ONE bookstore that sold 13,000 copies in 3 months of the new, expanded version. Have you shared the new edition with anyone? It could change their life, like it has millions of others. God bless you. Live on Purpose!http://amzn.to/OQwjQj
===MADU Odiokwu Pastorvin
Abandonment,Rejection And Hatred!
The spirit of abandonment,hatred and rejection are real. It doesn't feel good when your on the receiving end of it. Abandonment,hatred and Rejection are widely spread all over the world today, and many don't even know they have fallen victim to these. While many others know exactly what this means and have lived with it, yet some really don't know how to get out of it.Let me start with the reason I teach on these three together. I put Abandonment,hatred and Rejection together because I realized that they both work hand-in-hand.
Lets take them one by one.Abandonment: From the word Abandon which means: To forsake entirely; as to abandon a hopeless enterprise. To renounce and forsake; to leave with a view never to return; to desert as lost or desperate. (Synonyms: desert, forsake,leave, quit, forego, give up, take leave of. Evacuate) Abandonment then means: A total desertion; the state of being forsaken.
Hatred (or hate) is a deep and emotional extreme dislike that can be directed against individuals, entities, objects, or ideas. Hatred is often associated with feelings of anger and a disposition towards hostility.
Rejection: From the word Reject which means: To throw away as anything uselessness or vile; to cast off, to refuse to grant, to refuse to accept.
From these definitions, can you identify which one you have? Which one seems to be stronger in your life? Here are some high tell signs that you have the "spirit of abandonment" in your life:Being ignored by someone you love.Left alone, no one to help, especially by those whom should love you.Having to take care of yourself.Not able to trust anyone, including God.Thoughts of having been left alone by God.Having been left by a parent or guardian.Having been adopted.Having been made fun of by peers, children, family members.Having been left to fin for yourself by friends, co-workers, and those of authority.Having been a scape-goat.
Feeling that you don't belong.Feelings of unworthiness and no value
Feelings of uselessness.Feelings of not being loved and accepted
Feeling that you aren't important, nor your needs.Feeling that no matter what you do, it's not good enough.Fear of man.
This is not a complete list, because I'm sure you can add to the list based on your own experiences, but these are the areas many had problems with. . And let me tell you that as long as these are inside a person, the very opposite of what we desire will happen.Jesus is the answer to all these.,i will complete it later,is a long message,many asked about these problems,Jesus is the answer,Amen.
The spirit of abandonment,hatred and rejection are real. It doesn't feel good when your on the receiving end of it. Abandonment,hatred and Rejection are widely spread all over the world today, and many don't even know they have fallen victim to these. While many others know exactly what this means and have lived with it, yet some really don't know how to get out of it.Let me start with the reason I teach on these three together. I put Abandonment,hatred and Rejection together because I realized that they both work hand-in-hand.
Lets take them one by one.Abandonment: From the word Abandon which means: To forsake entirely; as to abandon a hopeless enterprise. To renounce and forsake; to leave with a view never to return; to desert as lost or desperate. (Synonyms: desert, forsake,leave, quit, forego, give up, take leave of. Evacuate) Abandonment then means: A total desertion; the state of being forsaken.
Hatred (or hate) is a deep and emotional extreme dislike that can be directed against individuals, entities, objects, or ideas. Hatred is often associated with feelings of anger and a disposition towards hostility.
Rejection: From the word Reject which means: To throw away as anything uselessness or vile; to cast off, to refuse to grant, to refuse to accept.
From these definitions, can you identify which one you have? Which one seems to be stronger in your life? Here are some high tell signs that you have the "spirit of abandonment" in your life:Being ignored by someone you love.Left alone, no one to help, especially by those whom should love you.Having to take care of yourself.Not able to trust anyone, including God.Thoughts of having been left alone by God.Having been left by a parent or guardian.Having been adopted.Having been made fun of by peers, children, family members.Having been left to fin for yourself by friends, co-workers, and those of authority.Having been a scape-goat.
Feeling that you don't belong.Feelings of unworthiness and no value
Feelings of uselessness.Feelings of not being loved and accepted
Feeling that you aren't important, nor your needs.Feeling that no matter what you do, it's not good enough.Fear of man.
This is not a complete list, because I'm sure you can add to the list based on your own experiences, but these are the areas many had problems with. . And let me tell you that as long as these are inside a person, the very opposite of what we desire will happen.Jesus is the answer to all these.,i will complete it later,is a long message,many asked about these problems,Jesus is the answer,Amen.
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Jesus Has The Power To Provoke a Change In Your Life!
Listen you have to understand that
WHEN HE DIED-It wasn’t a normal situation, He died like no other man
The strongest of all of them, yet he died first.The custom was to break the legs of the ones on the cross, so they wouldn’t resist death but submit to it.
Jesus died quickly they never had to break his legs to fulfill prophecy.
WHEN HE DIED- there was an eclipse, that’s the way scientist would describe it but the Bible says the sun refused to shine.
WHEN HE DIED- there was an earthquake that’s how the geologist would describe it but the Bible says the earth began to tremble.
WHEN HE DIED- there was a religious ripping away for the veil was ripped from the top to the bottom.
WHEN HE DIED- graves opened all over Jerusalem and Luke says dead men were seen walking the streets of Jerusalem.
WHEN HE DIED- even the guards fell back and said surely this is the Son of God.
WHEN HE DIED- He died with such grace and power that conversions happened all around the cross
WHEN HE DIED-With that precious blood that flowed from his gapping wounds on his hands and on his feet that efficacious eternal everlasting blood has never lost its power neither decontaminated in its capacity.That same blood still has enough power to provoke a change in your life,Has the power to deliver and to set you free from any situation you find yourself.Abide in Him,let Him Abide in you,without Him,you can do nothing.You are blessed.
Listen you have to understand that
WHEN HE DIED-It wasn’t a normal situation, He died like no other man
The strongest of all of them, yet he died first.The custom was to break the legs of the ones on the cross, so they wouldn’t resist death but submit to it.
Jesus died quickly they never had to break his legs to fulfill prophecy.
WHEN HE DIED- there was an eclipse, that’s the way scientist would describe it but the Bible says the sun refused to shine.
WHEN HE DIED- there was an earthquake that’s how the geologist would describe it but the Bible says the earth began to tremble.
WHEN HE DIED- there was a religious ripping away for the veil was ripped from the top to the bottom.
WHEN HE DIED- graves opened all over Jerusalem and Luke says dead men were seen walking the streets of Jerusalem.
WHEN HE DIED- even the guards fell back and said surely this is the Son of God.
WHEN HE DIED- He died with such grace and power that conversions happened all around the cross
WHEN HE DIED-With that precious blood that flowed from his gapping wounds on his hands and on his feet that efficacious eternal everlasting blood has never lost its power neither decontaminated in its capacity.That same blood still has enough power to provoke a change in your life,Has the power to deliver and to set you free from any situation you find yourself.Abide in Him,let Him Abide in you,without Him,you can do nothing.You are blessed.
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PRAY!
Father,I thank You for the strength I need to overcome in every area of my life. I know that You hold the days of my life in the palm of Your hand. I believe that You have equipped me with everything I need for spirit, soul and body in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father,I thank You for the strength I need to overcome in every area of my life. I know that You hold the days of my life in the palm of Your hand. I believe that You have equipped me with everything I need for spirit, soul and body in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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The Good Thing Is That Your Story Ends In Victory!
The Scripture says,“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”(Psalm 139:16)
In difficult times, you have to remind yourself that nothing is a surprise to Almighty God. He’s not up in the heavens scratching His head, saying, “Oh, man, he got laid off. That messed up everything.” “Oh, she was diagnosed with cancer.” “Joseph was thrown into a pit.” “Mark lost his father. Now what am I going to do?” No, God knows the end from the beginning. He has already written every day of your life in His book. The good news is that if you will stay in faith, your book ends in victory.
It’s no surprise to God. He already has the answer, the provision, the healing you need.Your heat desires. Keep standing, keep praying, keep hoping and keep believing that your story isn’t over until your story ends in Victory.Your week is fruitful.You are blessed.
The Scripture says,“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”(Psalm 139:16)
In difficult times, you have to remind yourself that nothing is a surprise to Almighty God. He’s not up in the heavens scratching His head, saying, “Oh, man, he got laid off. That messed up everything.” “Oh, she was diagnosed with cancer.” “Joseph was thrown into a pit.” “Mark lost his father. Now what am I going to do?” No, God knows the end from the beginning. He has already written every day of your life in His book. The good news is that if you will stay in faith, your book ends in victory.
It’s no surprise to God. He already has the answer, the provision, the healing you need.Your heat desires. Keep standing, keep praying, keep hoping and keep believing that your story isn’t over until your story ends in Victory.Your week is fruitful.You are blessed.
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Thanksgiving service!
The opening song was Here I Am (I Will Always Love Your Name)
Please pray with me: Eternal God in Christ, out of darkness you bring light, out of sickness, health, and out of death, life. So I ask that you take these inadequate words of mine and make them your word for us in this time and place, for I pray it in the name of your very Word,Jesus Christ. Amen
Psalm 136 says,Give thanks to the LORD , for he is good. His love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods.His love endures forever. I ask you this question,What would the universe be like if God was not who He claims to be? that is,if man were God.If God was not forgiving, the verdict would never be anything but “Guilty” and we would have exactly no hope for today or for eternity.It is a long sermon but i leave you with these words,“Thank God no matter what happens.”No matter what you are passing through “In everything give thanks.” “Be thankful in all circumstances.” “Rejoice always.” Your miracle is on the way,Amen.
===The opening song was Here I Am (I Will Always Love Your Name)
Please pray with me: Eternal God in Christ, out of darkness you bring light, out of sickness, health, and out of death, life. So I ask that you take these inadequate words of mine and make them your word for us in this time and place, for I pray it in the name of your very Word,Jesus Christ. Amen
Psalm 136 says,Give thanks to the LORD , for he is good. His love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods.His love endures forever. I ask you this question,What would the universe be like if God was not who He claims to be? that is,if man were God.If God was not forgiving, the verdict would never be anything but “Guilty” and we would have exactly no hope for today or for eternity.It is a long sermon but i leave you with these words,“Thank God no matter what happens.”No matter what you are passing through “In everything give thanks.” “Be thankful in all circumstances.” “Rejoice always.” Your miracle is on the way,Amen.
Events
- 421 – Venice is founded at twelve o'clock noon, according to legend.
- 717 – Theodosios III resigns the throne to the Byzantine Empire to enter the clergy.
- 1199 – Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France, leading to his death on April 6.
- 1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland.
- 1584 – Sir Walter Raleigh is granted a patent to colonize Virginia.
- 1655 – Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
- 1802 – The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and the United Kingdom.
- 1807 – The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
- 1807 – The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world.
- 1811 – Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.
- 1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C.
- 1911 – In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.
- 1931 – The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
- 1949 – The extensive deportation campaign known as March deportation is conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to force collectivisation by way of terror. The Soviet authorities deport more than 92,000 people from the Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
- 1957 – United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on the grounds of obscenity.
- 1965 – Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1969 – During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
- 1988 – The Candle demonstration in Bratislava is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
- 1993 – Warrington Bomb victim Tim Parry dies five days after the IRA bomb detonated in Warrington, Cheshire on 20 March 1993 in the second of the Warrington bomb attacks.
- 2006 – Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, 2006, clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.
Births
- 1252 – Conradin, German son of Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1268)
- 1259 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1332)
- 1539 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1612)
- 1541 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)
- 1593 – Jean de Brébeuf, French-Canadian missionary and saint (d. 1649)
- 1699 – Johann Adolph Hasse, German singer-songwriter (d. 1783)
- 1867 – Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor, designed Mount Rushmore (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (d. 1957)
- 1881 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian pianist and composer (d. 1945)
- 1881 – Mary Webb, English author (d. 1927)
- 1910 – Benzion Netanyahu, Polish-Israeli historian and educator (d. 2012)
- 1911 – Jack Ruby, American murderer (d. 1967)
- 1918 – Howard Cosell, American journalist (d. 1995)
- 1920 – Patrick Troughton, English actor (d. 1987)
- 1928 – Jim Lovell, American captain and astronaut
- 1939 – D. C. Fontana, American television script writer and story editor
- 1942 – Aretha Franklin, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1947 – Elton John, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor
- 1993 – Sam Johnstone, English footballer
Deaths
- 1223 – Afonso II of Portugal (b. 1185)
- 1458 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, Spanish poet (b. 1398)
- 1918 – Claude Debussy, French composer (b. 1862)
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