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Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
~Matthew 5:16
(NKJV)
Quote of the Week:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."
~Teddy Roosevelt
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Illinois Family Institute
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8/26/2008
Consider homeschooling
While home educating certainly isn’t for everyone -- most parents are well equipped to teach their children at home. No one -- and I mean no one -- knows and loves their children more than the parents (o.k. -- except for God Himself).
Parents know each child’s strengths, weaknesses, and emotional needs. The parents love them like no one else can -- enough to invest the time and effort necessary they need to become what God wants them to become -- His faithful servants. That is all He wants.
Homeschoolers will be criticized by those who do not understand the conviction -- don’t be discouraged. The world is rebuked by those who refuse to follow worldly ways. By homeschooling, you will be protecting your beautiful little children from the physical, mental and spiritual school environments where God is mocked, where destructive peer influence is the norm, where drugs, alcohol, promiscuity and homosexuality are promoted, and where school violence is on the rise (to say nothing about the pedophiles drawn to our school systems).
I see it first hand here at IFI -- schools are increasingly becoming institutions where liberal and even radical social agendas are implemented, designed to undermine the Biblical truths we teach our children at home and at church. Home educating, in my opinion, is the best way Christian parents are able to carry out their God-given responsibility to guide their child's education and moral training.
And the good news is that the stats prove that homeschooling is highly successful. While there are homeschooling failures, by eighth grade, the average homeschooled student performs four grade levels above their public and private school counterparts -- to say nothing about the vast differences in godly character development. (In fact, home educated students' test scores remained between the 80th and 90th percentiles, whether their mothers had a college degree or did not complete high school.)
If you are considering homeschooling -- I want to encourage you to pray hard about this decision, and than follow the Holy Spirit’s conviction.
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8/23/2008
More U.S. women are childless
According to new Census Bureau data, one in five U.S. women in their early 40s are childless. That's double the level from 30 years ago and a new record high. The data also found that among women ages 40-44 who do have children, the number of children is fewer than ever, an average of 1.9.
The Census Bureau researcher who did the report told the New York Times that "It used to be sort of expected that there was a phase of life where you had children, and a lot of women aren't doing that now."
Other researchers cite cultural pressure to complete education and establish a career before marrying as a possible cause of the decline in the number of women with children.
To read more, click HERE.
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8/22/2008
Homosexual Hallmark cards
The Associated Press is reporting that Hallmark is now rolling out homosexual wedding cards, featuring two tuxedos and either overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers.
So now Hallmark, the venerable greeting card company, is doing nationwide what 48 states and the federal government have refused to do, and that is to recognize homosexual marriage.
Hallmark’s largest competitor, American Greetings Corp., currently has no plans to enter the market, meaning the customers will have an alternative to Hallmark if they find its efforts to promote the radical homosexual agenda offensive.
Hallmark will give its stores the right to choose whether or not they want to add these cards to their shelves, which means that the owners of your local Hallmark card stores need to hear from us today.
Let Hallmark know you oppose their decision to create and market gay marriage cards. We encourage you to edit the sample letter by putting in a personal message (I'm a customer, etc.)
Click HERE to send an email message to Hallmark.
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8/21/2008
Parental protections
Conventional wisdom dictates that strong parental involvement and family relationships protect children. Now, several studies confirm that simple notion. Surprisingly, one of the studies found that parents believe they have strong relationships with their children of all ages.
A recent Child Trends study, using data from interviews with over 100,000 households with children, found parents report close bonds with their children, communicate with their children on important matters, and know most of their children’s friends. The Parent-Child Relationship: A Family Strength showed that, despite some decline as children got older, most parents reported strong relationships and positive interactions lasted well into the teen years. Other data with smaller samples -- in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth -- show that children, too, report positive communication and strong relationships with parents.
The Child Trends study found a large majority (87 percent) of parents who reported being “very close” to their children. Predictably, this declined somewhat with age. Ninety-six percent of parents of six-year-olds reported feeling “very close” to their children compared to 76 percent of the parents of 17-year-olds. Communication about significant issues showed a similar decline. While 82 percent of 6 to 11-year-olds’ parents reported the ability to talk about important things “very well,” 70 percent of parents who had children aged 12-17 made the same claim.
Experts have long documented the importance of knowing one’s child’s friends -- both for the sake of safety -- knowing where your children are all the time -- and to be acquainted with a child’s behavior and curb any problems before they start. Nearly all (85 percent) resident parents reported they had met all or most of their children’s friends.
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8/20/2008
Religious liberty quashed by "gay" agenda
Freedom loving Americans who want to preserve religious liberty must understand why it is so important to oppose every advance of the homosexual agenda. The most recent decision from the California Supreme Court clearly demonstrates how homosexual so-called "rights" are being used to quash individual religious liberty and rights of conscience once again.
Earlier this week, the California Supreme Court ordered physicians there to perform in-vitro fertilization for lesbian clients whether or not the procedure violates their most deeply held convictions and whether or not there are many other providers perfectly willing to step in and provide the same service. It is important to understand that in-vitro fertilization is an elective medical procedure -- a procedure done by many other California doctors -- many of whom would be happy to accommodate the lesbian partners in their quest to become pregnant. In fact, the doctors who lost this lawsuit were willing to provide the lesbians referrals -- but that wasn't good enough for these homosexual activists who want to force these doctors (and everyone else) to live by their creed...
In its decision to deny these doctors the right to live by the dictates of their own faith and conscience, the California Supreme Court is on the precipice of forcing an official state religion on churches, synagogues, mosques -- on the people of California.
Think about it; in its unanimous decision the California Supreme Court said that the doctors had neither a free speech right nor a religious exemption from the state law that grants special rights based on sexual behavior. So, when will this new government imposed constraint be imposed on Pastors, Priests, Rabbis and Imams? When will they be forced to perform homosexual weddings and/or face costly legal action and possible fines for discriminating on the basis of sexual behavior? If California will use "non-discrimination" laws doctors of faith -- it isn't a stretch to believe that they will soon force religious organizations and even private citizens to live and act against sincerly held religious beliefs and natural law.
I pray that these doctors appeal the loss of their civil rights to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the U.S. Constitution guarantees nowhere the right to engage in homosexual behavior but does guarantee the right to the free exercise of religion.
But even more than that, I pray that traditional Americans understand just what is happening here, and actively oppose this radical agenda that seeks to force all of us to celebrate an immoral lifestyle. Now is the time to awake, arise, and speak out against this injustice!
The bottom line here is that we can't have both government protections for religious liberty and government protections for homosexual behavior -- which will it be?
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8/19/2008
California Supreme Court puts sexual behavior over freedom of speech and religion
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a person’s “civil rights” based on sexual orientation trump the religious freedom and free speech of a physician. A lesbian, upset by the refusal of two Christian physicians to artificially inseminate her, had sued the doctors, even though they had provided a referral to another practitioner who didn’t share their moral objections.
Siding once again on the side of a civil “right” based on sexual behavior, the California Supreme Court continued its arrogant disregard for religious freedom and speech. While our nation’s founders placed great stock in religious freedom and free speech, these basic freedoms are being silenced in the promotion of sexual rights.
California Family Council Executive Director Ron Prentice commented, “This decision by the court is telling every physician and every mental health counselor and psychologist that their beliefs are getting in the way of government. As the courts and government continue to pander to a powerful homosexual lobby, opposing voices are being silenced and opposing viewpoints are being quashed.”
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8/18/2008
Abortion and depression linked
Research from Norway substantiates previous studies which show a link between abortion and mental health problems such as depression. The results showed, “Young women who reported having had an abortion in their twenties were more likely to score above the cut-off point for depression.”
A New Zealand study revealed that women who have had an abortion were at nearly twice the risk of experiencing major depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse problems. Abortion: fatal for the baby, damaging for the woman. If we love America’s young women, we will support policies that making abortion increasingly rare.
Source: New Study From Norway Substantiates Link Between Abortion and Depression (LifeNews.com)
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8/15/2008
Good News: court rules in favor of after-school Bible clubs
 A federal court ruled Monday that a Christian club can hold after-school Bible studies at Virginia public schools, following a lawsuit by Liberty Counsel.
The court said the Williamsburg-James City County school board engaged in discrimination when it charged Child Evangelism Fellowship a fee to hold its Good News Club on campus, while allowing Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other organizations to meet for free.
"Every public school ought to have a Good News Club," said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel. "The kids love them, parents appreciate them and the First Amendment protects them.
"Of all places, Good News Clubs should have been welcome in Williamsburg and James City -- the birthplaces of American liberty. Now, they are welcome."
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8/13/2008
Pro-life stem cells
Pro-abortion advocates have argued for several years that embryonic stem cell research, which requires cloning and killing human embryos, is the only way to cure diseases such as ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
With a recent medical breakthrough, pro-life advocates have a new victory. Researchers at Harvard and Columbia published a study explaining how they used adult skin cells to mimic stem cells in order to treat ALS. Researchers were able to "reprogram" the skin cells in a way that made them appear like embryonic stem cells, which will prove to be a great advance in the fight against ALS and other such diseases.
The fact that this work has been done is a victory for pro-life advocates because it proves we can restore human life without harvesting embryos and destroying life.
With the advance of this new medial technique, taxpayers should never again be asked to fund embryonic stem-cell research.
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8/11/2008
Disturbing videos from Planned Parenthood
Just when you think Planned Parenthood couldn't do anything more disgusting than they already do, they find a new level of depravity -- this time with your tax dollars.
A Planned Parenthood affiliate has a web site entitled www.takecaredownthere.org. According to Family Research Council:“The group posts a series of videos so revolting that members of [the] staff were visibly shaken. In one clip, a girl tells her friends that she’s staying home from a party to masturbate. When her pals look shocked, she says, ‘What? I like me. I like spending time with me. Tonight I think I’m going to go all the way with me.’ On another video, a ‘teacher’ interrupts a boy performing oral sex on another boy and asks them where their condoms are. Others include videos called ‘Threesome’ and ‘Let me do me,’ and a song about genitalia that reaches a level of vulgarity that would give even crude networks like MTV pause.” Incredibly, the affiliate in question is a recipient of Title X money -- your federal tax dollars at work!
Some in Washington are working to stop the funneling of federal tax dollars to this pathetic organization, and The Family Foundation has worked for several years to ban state funding of Planned Parenthood. But their powerful lobby is fighting back. Recently Planned Parenthood of America sent an email to its members urging them to contact both presidential candidates and ask for support of so-called “comprehensive sex ed” while at the same time bashing abstinence education programs. Clearly, Planned Parenthood’s idea of comprehensive sex ed includes garbage like takecaredownthere.org.
Parents and grandparents, I urge you to ensure that your sons and daughters are not getting their information about sex from web sites like takecaredownthere.org or Planned Parenthood’s web site for teens, teenwire.org. Both offer Leftist propaganda, not “medically accurate” information -- material so offensive that even the most open-minded parent has to be disturbed.
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8/2/2008
Free to choose life
Although Planned Parenthood argues abortion should be a choice, the organization apparently does not believe performing an abortion should be a choice as well. Recently, the powerhouse abortion mill that brings in approximately one million dollars in revenue each year, some through federal funding, is attacking the Bush administration’s attempt to protect a physician’s right to refuse to perform an abortion. President Bush’s proposed policy would ensure that no pro-life medical practitioner is discriminated against by hospitals, medical facilities or organizations that receive any kind of government funding.
Planned Parenthood and other abortion mills that benefit from taxpayer dollars earmarked to their murderous cause are forced to acknowledge that they cannot impose their agenda on the entire medical profession -- the doctors and nurses who work daily to save lives have the right to choose life when it comes to the issue of abortion.
ACTION: EMAIL comments@whitehouse.gov and express your support for President Bush’s policy that healthcare professionals be free to follow their consciences!
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8/1/2008
California Attorney General distorts marriage amendment
In an audacious abuse of power, the California Attorney General has completely mangled the language of a marriage amendment to appear on California’s November ballot.
Originally, the marriage amendment asked Californians to vote upon the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman-similar to the amendment passed here in Texas in 2004. With reckless political bias, California Attorney General Jerry Brown has just changed the ballot language to “eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry,” although no such “right” has ever existed as a law, piece of legislation or even by a vote of the people.
Furthermore, Brown goes on to write a paragraph terrifying Californians into believing that voting for this amendment will lead to huge revenue loss for the state and taxpayers. Brown has clearly abused his power by rewriting a neutral ballot question into a piece of pro-homosexual marriage propaganda, and by threatening the Californians’ wallets, it is clear the homosexual lobby’s pocketbook is controlling him.
Thankfully, supporters of natural marriage (California's Proposition 8) filed a lawsuit this week to block Brown's change.
Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Protect Marriage coalition, called the new language “inherently argumentative” and said it could “prejudice voters against the initiative,” according to the LA Times. “This is a complete about-face from the ballot title that was assigned” when the measure was being circulated for signatures, Kerns continued.
The paper reports that the move has raised suspicion in some circles that Brown, a possible candidate for governor in 2010, was influenced by politics. “He is delivering something... that is very important to the gay community, and that is a title and summary that is more likely to lead you to vote ‘No,’” said political analyst Tony Quinn, who added that changes this substantive are “highly unusual.”
In addition to the blatantly biased title change, the summary also has includes a prediction -- the loss to state and local governments of tens of millions of dollars in sales tax revenues over the next few years if the measure passes. The Times article then quotes the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office saying that in the long run there would “likely be little fiscal impact.”
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7/31/2008
Expelled -- back by popular demand!
The controversial documentary film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is going to be re-released to theaters after a very successful Spring run that was cut short by a lawsuit after its debut into the Top 10 at the box office. The film was released in Canada on Friday.
Expelled’s strong run should have compelled it onto thousands of movie screens across America, but just when it seemed that might happen, the film’s producers pulled it after Yoko Ono (widow of Beatles singer songwriter John Lennon) sued to block distribution of the film for its brief and credited use of Lennon’s “Imagine” song. The film’s producers feel that the lawsuit harmed the distribution of the film, which takes a thoughtful look at Darwinism, Evolution, Atheism and theories of life.
A Manhattan, NY court ruled against Yoko Ono and in favor of the film’s creators who argued the fair use allowance of a small part of the song which is noted in the film’s credits. If you missed this amazing movie this Spring, keep an eye out for it, Expelled may be coming back to a theater near you!
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7/30/2008
Original Plaintiffs Respond to PA Hate Crimes Decision
Last week’s decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to uphold the November 2007 ruling by the Commonwealth Court to declare the hate crimes law unconstitutional is being applauded by the original plaintiffs in the constitutional challenge.
The case involved six of the people known as the “Philadelphia 11” who were arrested for passing out gospel literature on a public sidewalk during a “gay pride” festival. Those individuals, including an African-American grandmother in her 70’s had faced up to 50 years in prison. Michael Marcavage, a petitioner in the case said of the court’s ruling, "Having been arrested, jailed and charged with a 'hate crime' for preaching the Gospel, I am elated that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling in striking down Pennsylvania's expanded 'hate crimes' law." He said the methods used in the legislature to implement the gay rights law were "extremely devious."
In June 2003, Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, and Frances Bevan, president of the Pennsylvania Eagle Forum, as individuals, were named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the way in which H.B. 1493 was passed. In July 2005 the court ruled Bevan and Gramley did not have ‘standing’ to sue. Shortly after that, the lawsuit advanced with the names of seven members of the Philadelphia Eleven who were arrested in October 2004.
“The PA Supreme Court made the right decision in upholding the Commonwealth Court’s decision. The seven petitioners were all arrested in October 2004 and charged with a ‘hate crime’ for singing choruses and reading scripture at a homosexual event in Philadelphia. No crime was committed and their First Amendment rights were infringed,” commented Gramley.
H.B. 1493 was gutted of all language dealing with its original intent which was to make a law against agricultural vandalism. All language dealing with eggs, fruit trees and livestock was stripped from the bill and “actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity’ was inserted.
In November 2002 warnings about the potential for loss of religious liberties were ignored and the bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Mark Schweiker on December 3rd. In less than two years eleven Christians were arrested and charged with a hate crime; each faced 47 years in prison and up to $90,000 in fines. The unheeded warnings had become fact.
“What part of unconstitutional don’t they understand? You take a bill and completely gut it of its original language and it’s unconstitutional!” remarked Bevan.
There is no need for hate crimes laws . . . there are already laws on the books against murder, assault, property damage, etc. This Pennsylvania ruling is another confirmation that “hate crimes” legislation is more about political correctness and silencing those who express concerns about homosexual behavior than about preventing real criminal conduct often depicted as a "hate crime."
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