Greenwich Church celebrates 25th with special services

Pastor Jackson Senyonga of Kampala, Uganda

Harvest Time Church in Greenwich, CT is hosting a series of special services this week to celebrate its 25th Anniversary. Among the evening speakers are:

October 15: Jackson Senyonga
Founder and pastor of Christian Life Church in Uganda, with 40,000 members. Jackson delivers an unforgettable message and his ministry has planted 600 churches in Africa. He is featured in the Transformations II video.

October 16: Jan Nel
Jan is the founder of TEEM.Net, an apostolic network of ministries in South Africa, Australia, and the U.S. He is a true teaching father and prophetic trainer in the Body of Christ.

October 17: Raymond Mooi
Raymond is the founder of the School of Acts, a ministry training center with branches in Malaysia, the Phillipines, and Indonesia. he travels extensively throughout Southeast Asia conducting mass healing and evangelistic campaigns in closed nations.

Choose life - and vote life!

We're not Catholic but I thought this video from CatholicVote.com was outstanding. Please see also the quotes on abortion below attributed to Mother Teresa.



"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters.

And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

(Mother Theresa -- "Notable and Quotable," Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p. A14)

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion."

"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!"

"What is taking place in America is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."

"Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants."

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

Dr. Dobson weighs in on Connecticut gay marriage

Connecticut has captured what little market there is in the news for anything other than the global economic meltdown. Dr. James Dobson is chiming in:

“Today’s ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court to impose same-sex 'marriage' adds another tragic example of runaway judges trampling on citizens’ right to decide public policy for themselves. In doing so, the court has placed the desires of adults over the needs of children, who, social science research proves, do best when they are raised by their married mom and dad living in the same home.

“We decry this decision by justices unelected and unaccountable to the people, and will do whatever is necessary to oppose it. Not only have these judges knowingly deprived Connecticut children of a mother or a father, but they have usurped the role of the legislators to create law. Short of a federal marriage-protection amendment, marriage can only be truly protected by defining it in state constitutions. I pray the citizens of California, Arizona and Florida will seize the opportunity next month to settle this marriage crisis in their states once and for all.”

Gay Marriage Comes to Connecticut

It has happened. The Supreme Court of Connecticut has issued its long-awaited decision in the Kerrigan case, and has effectively legalized homosexual marriage by judicial decree.

I haven't read the decision yet, but you can download a copy here (large PDF file).

As a recovering lawyer I will give you my analysis at some point FWIW.

There are several dissenting opinions:

• Justices Borden and Vertefeuille (who always did right by me when I appeared in front of her)
  

• Justice Vertefeuille separately
  

• Justice Zarella.

Kudos to Justice Zarella, who bravely stated:

The ancient definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman has its basis in biology, not bigotry. If the state no longer has an interest in the regulation of procreation, then that is a decision for the legislature or the people of the state and not this court. Therefore, I conclude that the equal protection provisions of the state constitution are not triggered. I further conclude that there is no fundamental right to same sex marriage. Accordingly, I dissent.

The Town of 1000 Realtors(R) hits hard times

Not even Greenwich is safe from the economic tsunami. Connecticut's balance sheet gets whacked, too, as we've pointed out previously.

Was Jesus a Palestinian?

Umm, no. But some textbooks seem to think so:

This is one of hundreds of distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies found about Judaism and Jewish history by a comprehensive study of the 28 most widely used Social Studies textbooks in the United States. In a landmark book called “The Trouble with Textbooks,” Dr. Gary A. Tobin and Dennis R. Ybarra show how millions of American schoolchildren are taught anti-Semitic versions of Jewish history and faith, particularly in relation to Christianity and Islam, in passages that often amount to sheer libel.

There is an incredible lack of critical thinking already. This kind of thing certainly won't help.

Columnists starting to sound like preachers...

And, who can blame them?

Ultimately, however, we must address the deeper roots of this financial crisis. There is a moral crisis that infects every aspect of our society. Since the 1960s, American popular culture has waged a relentless war against ethical absolutes and Judeo-Christian morality. This has been replaced with a shallow secular humanism, which champions materialism, consumerism and individual gratification. In short, our culture has done everything to destroy what used to be called "character." What happened to individual restraint, thrift and personal responsibility? These are the virtues that built the most impressive capitalist economy the world has ever created.

We are now facing more than just a financial mess; almost every other major institution is under threat. The political system is adrift; public schools are failing; the borders are porous; the intelligence agencies are dysfunctional; the inner cities are infested with drugs and gangs; the family is broken; and millions are fleeing their churches.

And they say I'm dour sometimes! More here from Jeffery Kuhner at the Washington Times.

The reality of the foreclosure wave: the "trashout"

Watch this absolutely shocking video about what is really happening in California. To what extent is this happening in other places or spreading? It seems that the American middle class is being gutted and filleted like a fish.

Watching this video will improve your prayer life.

What happens when same-sex marriage is permitted?

Think it can't affect you or affect many different spheres in society? Think again! Watch this video which is being used to rally people to the pro-family cause in California. You will be alarmed at what happened in Massachusetts when same-sex "marriage" was legalized there. As we await the Connecticut's Supreme Court decision in the Kerrigan case, please keep praying earnestly for our State.

Be sure to use the video menu to email it to others who care about our State and our children.

Courant notices that Dodd received $13M from finance sector contributions

Much of the nation is reviling Senator Dodd, and the Courant has noticed, in an article dated September 29:

"At the end of my tenure on this committee," Dodd said in early 2007, "I want it to be said that the safety and soundness of our financial institutions was not weakened on my watch."

A year and a half later, Dodd acknowledges that the nation's finances are in an "economic maelstrom." And while Washington engages in an urgent search for after-the-fact fixes, there is also plenty of finger-pointing, and there are enduring questions about whether campaign cash — millions and millions in campaign cash — blinded Dodd and other overseers to the excesses of industry.

Financial-sector firms — mortgage firms, insurance companies, accountants, brokerage houses, hedge funds — are among the most generous political donors in America, lavishing more than $1 billion on candidates this decade. And in Congress, few politicians have fared better than Dodd. During the past 20 years, PACs and employees of finance-related firms have contributed more than $13 million to Dodd's election efforts, including nearly $6 million in the past two years. Among members of Congress, only leading presidential candidates — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and John Kerry — have collected more money from the sector.

Read more here.

A Call to Repentance

This is Rosh HaShanah or, more biblically, Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. This is a day commonly celebrated as the Jewish New Year and begins a period of ten days of introspection and repentance known as the Ten Days of Awe. What better time to seek the Lord in repentance?

America is undergoing a shaking not seen since 1929, when the very foundations of our system were shaken. Only the massive spending and industrial production of World War II began to pull us out of the Great Depression.

How much are we going to suffer from our decades of overspending and living beyond our means?

Let us return to the Lord!

Flickr photo believed public domain, courtesy Library of Congress.

This just in: Connecticut property taxes are really high!

I haven't been able to pull down the actual report yet, but WTNH is reporting that we pay twice the national average in property taxes:

Connecticut residents pay an average of $2,042 per year on homes, businesses and vehicles, compared to the national average of $1,123.

Pro-family rally draws large crowd; largely ignored

We know the global financial markets are imploding, but there is a relative news blackout concerning the large rally in Hartford yesterday which, even by the Courant's admission, drew 2,800 people.

In its story, the Courant focused on "progressive" (left-wing) groups who, like the Family Institute of Connecticut, are also seeking a Constitutional Convention.

The only other mention of the rally and the small counter-rally was on the Connecticut News Junkie site, which, to its credit, gave a fairly equal amount of space to both sides - although we would argue that such articles invariably serve as another platform for those promoting the smearing and jettisoning of traditional values.

Anglican leader accepts visions at Lourdes

Flickr photo of Rowan Williams under cc-by-sa-2.0.

I don't shock easily, especially these days, but the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has succeeded in startling me:

He asserted that 18 visions of Our Lady allegedly experienced by Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 were true.

His words shocked millions of Protestants worldwide because they not only signified a break with Protestant teaching on the Virgin Mary but also Dr Williams’s personal acceptance of the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is explicitly linked to the apparitions.

The archbishop made his remarks during a three-day visit to the shrine in the French Pyrenees - the first ever by a leader of the Church of England.

In a homily he preached at an international Mass there, Dr Williams spoke about the apparitions without any qualifications.

‘When Mary came to Bernadette, she came at first as an anonymous figure, a beautiful lady, a mysterious “thing”, not yet identified as the Lord’s spotless mother,” Dr Williams said.

‘And Bernadette – uneducated, uninstructed in doctrine – leapt with joy, recognising that here was life, here was healing,’ he said.

‘Only bit by bit does Bernadette find the words to let the world know; only bit by bit, we might say, does she discover how to listen to the Lady and echo what she has to tell us.’

Read the whole thing here.

Smokescreens

To see a true smokescreen, witness this comparison by Rick Green of:

Connecticut pro-family leaders who don't wish to have same-sex marriage imposed upon us by judicial fiat... with:

Racist Southerners opposed to the Voting Rights Act.

Mr. Green apparently believes that, in both cases, it would be simply be too dangerous to allow the "people" to have any input on the matter. What confusion. Mr. Green is either fabricating completely (in hope that the citizenry has been totally dumbed-down), or else he has himself completely failed to understand his own argument.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (misnamed by Mr. Green) was Federal legislation designed to secure valid, already existing Constitutional rights. We the People obviously had input in the process through our elected representatives. (Republicans in the U. S. Senate voted for it 30-1, by the way.)

In our current context, Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut was absolutely correct when he said:

Our opponents don’t want the people to be heard on this because in some 40 or so states where the people were allowed to vote on it, the pro same-sex “marriage” side lost (and they usually lost by a lot).

No, our opponents would rather have the CT Supreme Court impose same-sex “marriage” by undemocratic fiat–something that may happen any day now–because it’s the only way they can win.

Church added to Connecticut Church Map

We've added a new church to the Connecticut Church Map. Not really a "new" church, but one that's been in the news for a number of years for standing for the truth of orthodox Christian belief:
Bishop Seabury Church, in Groton.

We thank God for this church and its leadership under Rev. Ron Gauss. He is a remarkable individual and I would encourage you to read this profile at Virtue Online.

Connecticut budget woes coming

Says Mrs. Rell:

Rell's budget office estimated Monday that state's budget deficit for the current fiscal year will be about $300 million, more than double previous estimates. Rell said much of that projected red ink is due to falling state revenues, especially from the income and sales taxes and the state's share of the slot machine take at Connecticut's tribal casinos.

The estimate does not account for any fallout from the recent large fluctuations on Wall Street, she said.

Of course, those "fluctuations" will likely hurt us, given how much of our State's income depends on a relatively few people having big capital gains, mostly in Greenwich, as the Courant recently pointed out:

As the good times rolled in recent years, the state budget became increasingly dependent on Greenwich. Despite having only about 60,000 people, the town contributed nearly $600 million in state income taxes in 2006 — more than three times the income taxes paid by the combined populations of Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven and Waterbury. With only 1.8 percent of tax filers, Greenwich provides nearly 13 percent of all state income tax, helping to pay for schools in West Hartford and road repairs in Rockville, not to mention every other cost related to running the state.

Critical rally for marriage this Sunday, September 28th

This Sunday, September 28th at 2:30 p.m. the Family Institute of Connecticut will hold a Rally for Marriage on the steps of the state Capitol in Hartford. FIC says:

This will be Connecticut's most important marriage protection event yet—but it may not succeed unless thousands of people like you turn out to make their voice heard!

Bishop Jeremiah Torres of the House of Restoration Church, Pastor Brian Simmons of Gateway Christian Fellowship, "CT 6" Pastor Christopher Leighton, Rabbi Joshua Hecht of Beth Israel Synagogue, Fr. Greg Markey of St. Mary's Church in Norwalk and other major clergy and politicians will join FIC executive director Peter Wolfgang to speak in defense of marriage and the right to Let the People Decide at the Rally. Parking will be available at The Legislative Office Building Parking Garage, Elm St, Market St and the Bushnell Parking Lot....

News of a "counter-rally" has raised the stakes for the Rally for Marriage. In order for our Rally to be a success, we must turn out substantially more people than our opposition. Please ask your pastor, priest or rabbi to rally fellow believers to attend the September 28th Rally for Marriage. Please arrange to have a bus leave from your church following Sunday services. The success of the rally depends on turnout, and turning out thousands for marriage protection will not happen unless Connecticut's churches are willing to take a stand. Your willingness to organize your church to attend the rally could make the difference between failure and success. The stakes are that high! For more information, contact FIC at 860-548-0066 and ask for Larry....

"See You At The Pole" across the USA tomorrow!

“CONNECT: Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10) is the theme for See You at the Pole this year, with the event scheduled for Wednesday, September 24 at schools throughout the United States and in many other countries.

In 2007, more than 2 million teenagers met for See You at the Pole in all 50 states. Reports also came in from countries around the world. Other countries have launched SYATP movements with their own promotional efforts, including Australia (where it was observed this year on May 22; see stories at www.syatpaustralia.com) and Canada (on the same date as U.S.; www.syatpcanada.com).

See You at the Pole is a student-initiated and student-led movement that started in the Ft. Worth suburb of Burleson, Texas, in 1990. SYATP brings students to their school flagpoles to intercede for their leaders, schools, and families, asking God to bring moral and spiritual awakening to their campuses and countries.

The San Diego-based National Network of Youth Ministries coordinates SYATP promotion. Paul Fleischmann, president of the Network, observed: “Every year, we have seen this day serve as a springboard for unity among teenagers on their campuses. See You at the Pole unites students in prayer at the beginning of the semester. Young people have taken unprecedented leadership through this to have a positive impact at their schools.”

For more information about See You at the Pole and local event leaders, visit the See You at the Pole web site, www.syatp.com.

Move of the Holy Spirit in Salem, Massachusetts

I've just become aware of a move in Salem, Mass. with claimed healings. Meetings are being held at Wesley United Methodist Church, 8 North Street in Salem. Services are also being webcast at: http://www.praytv.org/

We pray that God's revival fire will sweep across New England this year!