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As believers in Christ Jesus, daily we are faced with issues that affect our physical lives, our spiritual lives and ministries.
Here are some articles and related links to research that will help us understand the relationship of the spiritual reality and the physical reality here on earth.
[Fox News - April 1, 2015]
Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday urged state lawmakers to change a controversial religious freedom bill sent to his desk a day earlier, in the face of criticism that it could allow businesses and others to discriminate based on sexual...
[National Geographic - January 26, 2015]
A resident digs out a driveway near Buffalo, New York, in November 2014, when the area was buried under several feet of snow. Photograph by Derek Gee, The Buffalo News/AP
[Counsel & Heal - March 25, 2014]
The United States' Navy is reportedly considering placing a ban on tobacco sales on all of its bases and ships. The sources from the Defense Department stated that the Navy might forbid tobacco sales at all the venues, which include exchange-operated
[CBS, December 9, 2011]
(CBS/AP) RALEIGH, N.C. - A North Carolina woman on probation for administering buttocks-enhancing injections that left three women with kidney failure has been newly charged with injecting an exotic dancer's backside with a disfiguring potion, sheriff's deputies said Thursday.
[Associated Press, July 11, 2011]
An Oklahoma pharmacist convicted of murder in the shooting death of a teenager who tried to rob the south Oklahoma City pharmacy where he worked was sentenced to life
[The Christian Post, November 22, 2010] The Montana Supreme Court on Friday ruled 6-1 in favor of a valedictorian who was barred from mentioning God or Christ in her graduation speech.
[ABCNews.com, Jan. 5, 2010]
A Massachusetts mother with nine children who had asked a hospital for post-delivery birth control was sterilized instead without her consent, according to a lawsuit against the Springfield hospital and several doctors and nurses.
Tessa Savicki, 35, claimed that doctors at Baystate Medical Center had agreed to insert an intrauterine device, or IUD, that she brought to the operating room, but instead performed a tubal ligation that effectively ended her chances of having more children.
[Associated Press, Dec. 31, 2009]
HELENA, Mont. – The Montana Supreme Court said Thursday that nothing in state law prevents patients from seeking physician-assisted suicide, making Montana the third state that will allow the procedure.
Patients and doctors had been waiting for the state's high court to step in after a lower court decided a year ago that constitutional rights to privacy and dignity protect the right to die.
The Montana Supreme Court opinion will now give doctors in the state the freedom to prescribe the necessary drugs to mentally competent, terminally ill patients without fear of being prosecuted, advocates said.
Steve Johnson, a 72-year-old Helena cancer patient, welcomed the decision, saying he has talked with his doctor about ending his life.
[WPIX, November 24, 2009]
NEW YORK (WPIX) - Effective Tuesday, a new state law requires children under 8 years old to be placed in a booster seat.
'This new legislation is another step to ensure their safety and lower the number of needless injuries and fatalities in this age group,' said Commissioner David J. Swarts of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.
Previously, children were allowed to use a seatbelt when they reach the age of 7. But experts said seatbelts usually hug a child's neck rather than going across the chest.
[Associated Press, July 21, 2009]
TEXARKANA, Ark. – Evangelist Tony Alamo told a girl who questioned one of his orders that he was 'still in charge' of his Arkansas religious compound even from a Texas jail cell, according to recorded calls played Tuesday in his sex-crimes trial.
[The Christian Post, June 30, 2009]
I need to put all my cards on the table. I am a huge supporter of Governor Mark Sanford. For six and a half years he has tried to hold the line on the growth of government in South Carolina. You have to love a guy who brings pigs into the legislature to make a point about pork. His methods of communication may seem eccentric but his unyielding commitment to fiscal responsibility has won him a broad majority of support in South Carolina.
[The Christian Post, June 9, 2009]
Government displays of the text of the Ten Commandments are not presumptively unconstitutional, affirmed a federal appeals court Monday.
'The Ten Commandments have a secular significance that government may acknowledge,' wrote Circuit Judge Jerome Holmes of the U.S. 10th Circuit of Appeals on behalf of the three-judge panel.
[The Christian Post, June 9, 2009]
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.
The Christian Post, May 30, 2009]
A federal judge this week denied motions to scrap a suit by a group of atheists challenging the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of Wisconsin on Thursday rejected filings by defendants President Barack Obama, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and National Day of Prayer Taskforce chairperson Shirley Dobson to dismiss the federal lawsuit.
[The Christian Post, May 4, 2009]
With the annual National Day of Prayer just days away, signs indicate that the White House will not hold a formal event to mark the day.
According to Dan Gilgoff of U.S. News & World Report, the White House said it will issue a proclamation to observe the National Day of Prayer on May 7, but will stop short of holding an official White House event.
[The Christian Post, March 22, 2009]
A convicted child killer who is staying temporarily at the home of an evangelical pastor in Chichester, N.H., says his conversion to Christianity 16 years ago has made him a different man.
'There's nothing I can do to put back what I've taken,' said the now 60-year-old parolee, who served 35 years in prison for the abduction and murder of a 12-year-old boy in 1973.
[The Christian Post, March 2, 2009]
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a high school football coach who wants to bow his head and kneel during prayers led by his players despite a school district policy prohibiting it.
[Associated Press, March 1, 2009]
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Terminally ill patients with less than six months to live will soon be able to ask their doctors to prescribe them lethal medication in Washington state.
[CBS, February 6, 2009]
(CBS) There are new concerns about Gardasil, the vaccine that prevents a virus that caused cervical cancer. It's approved for girls as young as nine. And five million have received it since it was approved two years ago.
[The Christian Post, January 23, 2009]
President Barack Obama is expected on Friday to lift a ban on federal funding for overseas organizations that promote or perform abortion, a senior White House official said.
[The Associated Press, January 15, 2009]
WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Thursday refused a refused to order the words 'so help me God' taken out of President-elect Barack Obama's oath of office next week or to prevent ministers from praying at the inauguration celebration.
[The Associated Press, January 12, 2009]
CONCORD, N.H. – The first openly gay Episcopal bishop will say a prayer at the Lincoln Memorial for one of President-elect Barack Obama's first inauguration events.
[The Christian Post, December 17, 2008]
A watchdog group that guards against the promotion of Christianity in the U.S. military is crying foul after it came across three episodes of a Christian reality show that were filmed in Afghanistan.
The show, 'Travel the Road,' documents the lives of two young missionaries as they undertake expeditions into the most remote areas of the world to share the gospel.
[The Christian Post, December 9, 2008]
Montana has become the third state to allow physician-assisted suicide.
A state judge ruled last Friday that a mentally competent person who is terminally ill has a right to die by assisted suicide.
[reporternews.com, December 4, 2008]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A federal judge has awarded attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit over a Ten Commandments display at a county courthouse.
U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley awarded the more than $44,000 in attorney fees to the plaintiffs -- Raymond Harper, Ed Meredith and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky -- who won an injunction against displaying the commandments in the county courthouse. They were represented by ACLU attorneys David Friedman and William E. Sharp.
The Christian Post, November 8, 2008]
LOS ANGELES – Energized by a comeback win, conservative activists want to apply the same formula they used to outlaw same-sex marriage in California to prevent other states from recognizing gay unions and President-elect Barack Obama from expanding the rights of gays and lesbians...
[The Christian Post, October 5, 2008]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics is suing President Bush, the governor of Wisconsin and other officials over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation sued Friday in U.S. district court, arguing that the president's mandated proclamations calling on Americans to pray violates a constitutional ban on government officials endorsing religion...
[The Austin American-Statesman, September 12, 2008]
A judge in Travis County has ordered a woman to stop having children as a condition of her probation in her case of injury to a child by omission, an extraordinary measure that legal experts say could be unconstitutional.
The order was for Felicia Salazar, 20, who admitted to failing to provide protection and medical care to her then-19-month-old daughter last year...
[WorldNetDaily.com, August 22, 2008]
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed suit against the City of Elmira, N.Y., after police threatened to arrest three Christians if they did not remove a shirt and stop sharing biblical messages during a 'gay' pride event at a public park.
Capt. James Wandell and Sgt. Sharon Moyer threatened a third Christian, James DeFerio, with arrest for holding a sign on a public sidewalk adjacent to the park. The sign read: 'Thousands of ex-homosexuals have experienced the life-changing love of Jesus Christ' and listed websites for more information about ministry to ex-'gays.'
[WorldNetDaily.com, August 22, 2008]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released information yesterday about a proposed new rule that would strengthen protection for medical professionals who refuse to perform abortions for moral or religious reasons.
[WorldNetDaily.com, August 16, 2008]
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and 24 other representatives on Capitol Hill have asked the government to reconsider mandating that all Americans use exclusively compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs, in light of growing concerns over the safety and environmental impact of the bulbs.
As WND reported, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was signed into law in December, phasing out the use of traditional, incandescent light bulbs in favor of CFLs beginning in 2012 and culminating in a ban on incandescent bulbs in 2014.
[WorldNetDaily.com, August 10, 2008]It's not '666,' but it's close enough to the New Testament's 'mark of the beast,' says a small religious group in West Virginia that won an exemption from the state's requirement that driver's license photos be stored in a digital database. Phil Hudok, a high school physics teacher in Randolph County, pastor Butch Paugh and 12 others raised the issue in 2006 during meetings with Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Joseph Cicchirillo as the state prepared to bring its driver's license policy in line with the federal Real ID Act, passed a year earlier. Under Real ID, states would be required to share information about licensed drivers, including photos, with agencies in other states.
[The Associated Press, July 21, 2008] The sister of a woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and cutting a baby from her womb led police to the wrong unit when they went to search the suspect's apartment, authorities said Monday. Officials were deciding whether to file charges against Andrea Curry-Demus' sister, whose name could not immediately be verified. Curry-Demus, 38, is charged with homicide, kidnapping and related charges in the death of Kia Johnson and in obtaining the baby. She was being held at the Allegheny County jail, and authorities did not know whether she had an attorney.
[The Associated Press, July 21, 2008] New York's attorney general notified Comcast Corp. on Monday that the state will take legal action if the company — the nation's second-largest Internet service provider — doesn't agree to eliminate access to child pornography.
[The Associated Press, July 21, 2008] New York's attorney general notified Comcast Corp. on Monday that the state will take legal action if the company — the nation's second-largest Internet service provider — doesn't agree to eliminate access to child pornography.
[WorldNetDaily.com, July 19, 2008] Christian psychologist James Dobson, who has been telling parents how to apply biblical principles to lead their families, raise their children and affect society for more than 30 years, is being honored by the National Radio Hall of Fame.
[WorldNetDaily.com, July 3, 2008] The state of New Mexico is being accused of violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of 'free exercise' of religion because of a ruling that a Christian husband-and-wife photography team must pay a $6,600 penalty for refusing to shoot pictures at a same-sex 'commitment' ceremony.
[WorldNetDaily.com, June 27, 2008]Colorado's new state law that critics say criminalizes expressing biblical beliefs regarding homosexuality is scaring residents who fear their overheard statements could be used to put them in jail. WND reported the law, SB200, which was promoted as an 'anti-discrimination' plan favoring alternative sexual lifestyles and gender perceptions, has made it a criminal offense to discriminate against someone based on those lifestyles or perceptions.
[WorldNetDaily.com, June 28, 2008] A brief has been filed in a federal appeals court asking the justices to overturn a judge who ordered a school district specifically to ban the Bible in its policy regarding the distribution of literature to students. Now comes another dispute, this one in Missouri and pursued by Liberty Counsel in its request to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. It wants the court to overturn a district judge's ruling that could be used to allow distribution of the Quran, but specifically censors the Bible under the district's open forum policy that is content-neutral.
[WorldNetDaily.com, Jun 28, 2008] A newspaper columnist has revealed the startling case of an 8-year-old boy who was taken while he was playing outside his Colorado home by police and social workers who then informed his parents what they had done. The report comes from Denver Post columnist Susan Greene who documented the case of Josh Raykin, who eventually was returned to his parents after being held in county custody for a week with no communication with his parents. At the resolution, Greene reported, a judge simply decided there no reason to believe the allegations of abuse.
[WorldNetDaily.com, Jun 20, 2008]
A public school board in Ohio voted unanimously today to proceed with firing an eighth-grade teacher for allegedly teaching his Christian beliefs in science classes and 'branding' students with crosses.
Responding to an investigation, the Mount Vernon School District board voted 5-0 to consider termination of John Freshwater's contract at its next meeting, July 7.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
It’s in your blood brother , The Word. God will turn this around to be an advancement to a higher level for you.
- Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. - John 15:20(NKJV).
[WorldNetDaily.com, Jun 19, 2008]
A federal court has declared a Florida law banning representatives of the Gideons from handing out Bibles within 500 feet of any school in the state unconstitutional because it is vague and actually 'encourages arbitrary enforcement.'
Bliss & Fire opinion:
Where is this world ending to? I got my first Gideons - Bible when I was in Elementary School and this change my life.
[The Associated Press, Jun 19, 2008] - A group that advocates separation of church and state filed a federal lawsuit Thursday to prevent South Carolina from becoming the first state to create 'I Believe' license plates.
The group contends that South Carolina's government is endorsing Christianity by allowing the plates, which would include a cross superimposed on a stained glass window.
Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the lawsuit on behalf of two Christian pastors, a humanist pastor and a rabbi in South Carolina, along with the Hindu American Foundation.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
Can you believe that ministers of the gospel and Christians are the first set of people to endorse suit over [ I Believe ] plates in SC. A lot of Christians have been sell out due to the choice of their Christian/faith leaders. I tell you all. The wrath of God will start from the Church because God Himself will cleanse HIS house.
[WorldNetDaily.com, June 16, 2008] A man arrested for preaching on a public sidewalk too close to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia has been declared guilty of violating federal law. He was fined over $400, put on probation and told not to go in Independence National Historical Park – or on its surrounding sidewalks – for a year.
[ABCNews, June 6, 2008]
If nuclear war doesn't begin next Thursday, June 12, as he has predicted, self-proclaimed Texas prophet Yisrayl -Buffalo Bill- Hawkins will be left to face a widening investigation of his activities, including several felony counts of bigamy.
[When you're violating the law, then you can't hide behind that religious shield and you're gonna be held accountable,] said Shane Deel, the district attorney in Callahan County, Texas, who has filed the criminal counts against Hawkins.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
Been prophetic means saying what God says not what you feel.
The bible says: [And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?] - Matthew 19:4-5 (KJV)
[WorldNetDaily.com, May 30, 2008] The Planning and Zoning Commission of Yuma, Ariz., denied a use permit to a church because, in part, it worried that the church would cost the city liquor license money. City staff informed the commission in a report that the church would not be "beneficial to overall economic health" of the area, a condition necessary for granting a conditional use permit (CUP). Why not? The staff report cited worries about parking and about lessoned tax revenue, but also warned that an Arizona statute forbidding liquor licenses within 300 feet of a church might prevent certain businesses from moving near the church's proposed new location.
[WorldNetDaily.com, May 28, 2008] In the preamble to their state Constitution of 1849, the people of California acknowledged that they were "grateful to Almighty God for [their] freedom." But with the recent decision of the California Supreme Court legalizing same-sex "marriage" in that state, activist judges have destroyed the definition of marriage in California, a freedom that neither the law of God nor the law of man ever gave to that court.
[WorldNetDaily.com, May 28, 2008] On Sunday, Sept. 28, the Alliance Defense Fund, or ADF, is planning a nationwide pastors' revolt to challenge an IRS tax code that has muzzled churches and pastors from expressing opinions on political candidates for over 50 years.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - President Bush paid tribute Monday to America's fighting men and women who died in battle, saying national leaders must have [the courage and character to follow their lead] in preserving peace and freedom.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
We stand in appreciative of all these who have lay down their lives for the cause of freedom and peace in this nation.
Oh ye great American heroes God bless you all.
[WorldNetDaily.com, May 16, 2008]
A street preacher who earlier claimed he was harassed by police for speaking about the Gospel on public streets has announced his candidacy to be mayor, so he can work on some of the problems he's seen.
[I would require that the city police go through a mandatory course on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and a course training them on what their actual legal authority is and training them on when it is proper to use force to apprehend a suspect] -Daniel Guyeski
Bliss & Fire opinion:
God is about to command a CHANGE OF HAND and put the right people in the right place.
[WorldNetDaily.com, May 16, 2008]
Authorities in New York have launched a case against a police officer who once led a department gay organization, alleging he preyed on a relative's adopted son and forced the boy to have sex with him.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
God help us...
[The Associated Press, May 8, 2008]WASHINGTON - Nearly two-dozen conservative Christian leaders have signed a letter to the Senate Finance Committee questioning an investigation into six large ministries that preach a gospel of prosperity.
The letter argues that the 6-month-old inquiry sets a dangerous precedent. It also suggests that the ministries were targeted for sharing the same branch of evangelicalism and promoting socially conservative public policy positions such as support for the traditional definition of marriage.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. - Matthew 16:18
[WorldNetDaily.com Inc., may 2, 2008]
With virtually no fanfare, President Bush signed into law a plan ordering the government to take no more than six months to set up a national contingency plan to screen newborns' DNA in case of a public health emergency.
The new law requires that the results of the program – including information … research, and data on newborn screening – shall be assembled by a -central clearinghouse - and made available on the Internet.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
Each day that goes by the nations of the world are taken decisions that will assist the [Antichrist] without them knowing.
[ Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the last time.-1 John 2:18 KJV]
[WorldNetDaily.com, April 28, 2008]WASHINGTON – Today is the last day for public comments on a proposed Federal Communications Commission rule change some say would threaten the licenses of Christian radio stations from coast to coast. At issue is a proposal that would require every radio station to take programming advice from community advisory boards representative of the area's population.
[WorldNetDaily.com Inc., April 11, 2008]The state of New Mexico has ordered a family owned photography company to pay more than $6,600 for declining a demand to take pictures at a same-sex ceremony, and a lawyer who is working on an appeal says it is an example of how non-discrimination or hate laws can be weapons in the hands of homosexual activists.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
May God help us believers in this nation. This is the time we need to pray more and fight a spiritual battle the bible says:
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. - Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
[Reuters, March 31, 2008] WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether a religious group must be allowed to put its monument in a city park near a similar Ten Commandments display. The justices agreed to hear an appeal by the city, Pleasant Grove in Utah, arguing that a lower-court ruling for the religious group could affect whether cities around the nation must display privately donated monuments on public property. The Summun religious group, founded in Salt Lake City in 1975, sought to erect a monument to the tenets of its faith, called the "Seven Aphorisms," in a park where there are other monuments, including one dedicated to the Ten Commandments.
[MSNBC.com, March 24, 2008]
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday marked the deaths of 4,000 U.S. forces in Iraq, saying their sacrifices have - laid the foundation for peace for generations to come.
The president made his comments at the State Department after a two-hour briefing on Iraq and U.S. diplomatic efforts around the world.
Speaking of the 4,000 deaths, Bush said that - I hope their families know that citizens pray for their comfort.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
We will not cease nor relent in prayer for all American troops, our young ones and their families. We cry to God our Father for the save return of all Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. We declare and prophesied a stop to the loss of lives of our troops.
[WorldNetDaily.com, March 21, 2008] The anti-America rhetoric of Barack Obama's Chicago pastor is mild in comparison to pronouncements made by Francis Schaffer in the 1970s and 1980s, charges the late evangelical thinker's son. Frank Schaeffer, who has written a book distancing himself from his evangelical roots, asserts in a newspaper column that Obama has been unfairly "smeared" by his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., the Illinois senator's self-described spiritual mentor and moral compass.
[New York Daily News, March 18, 2008] The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.
In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.
Bliss & Fire opinion:
When are we going to trust in the lord and be faithful to HIM as He is faithful to us. Beloved, repent adultery is a sin!
[Associated Press , Feb 15, 2008]WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Friday that "our country is in more danger of an attack" because of Congress' failure to extend a law granting the government authority to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States.
[Boston Globe, January 20, 2008] WHENEVER THE subject of a national ID card arises, many Americans flash back to scenes from 1940s movies about Nazi-occupied Europe - the kind in which Gestapo agents demand, "Your papers, please."
[The New York Times, January 12, 2008] It would be an interesting feature of an employee’s first day: sign a contract, fill out a W-2 and roll up your sleeve for your microchip injection. Sounds like sci-fi, but it’s happened, and now a handful of states are making sure their citizens will never be forced to have a microchip implanted under their skin. If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signs a bill passed Sept. 4, California would join Wisconsin and North Dakota in banning human implanting of these tags without consent.