The Lion of Judah
(Volume VIII, Issue 11)
May - June 2004
The following is a condensed adaptation of a message brought by Pastor Charles Lawson on Wednesday, April 14, 2004:
There was a day when David, the King of Israel, had his troops fighting the Ammonites. The King of Israel went to the roof of his house and saw a woman bathing. She was a beautiful woman so he had her brought to him. He committed adultery with her. Later word came to him later that she was pregnant. To cover up his sin, he had her husband brought home from the battlefield and through some intrigue, tried to get him to be with his wife. Because the husband was an honorable man, he would not lie with his wife. The next night, the king attempted to get him drunk, and once again tried to get him to be with his wife, and still the husband would not. So the king gave him his death orders and sent him back to the front lines. Joab withdrew his troops and Uriah the Hittite died.
When you read this about David, you think, "How in the world could he do such a thing?" If you're a young Christian and it's the first time you've read the story or have never heard it preached before, it almost shocks you to death. You read of the sweet psalmist of Israel and you think: how in this world could this man commit adultery and then cover it up with murder? Let me show you how.
And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain. [I Samuel 18:20]
What follows next is that Saul says "you can have Michal as your wife, but you're going to have to slay some Philistines." David did. In fact, he slew twice as many as Saul asked him to. He came back with proof of two hundred dead Philistines. So Michal became David's wife.
She loved him.
Here was a woman who loved a man. She loved him greatly. She, the daughter of Saul, loved David. That's the subject of my lesson: Here's A Woman That Loved A Man.
In I Samuel 19:11-17, Saul is still trying to kill David, and his daughter, Michal, becomes aware of it. She protects her husband by letting him down a window. David flees and escapes. Michal then puts an image of a man into bed to fool her father. So, she risks her own life to save the man she loves. She loved David. There should be no doubt in your mind that Michal loved David. She loved David with youthful love.
David now knows that this woman loves him. I suppose he returned her love. I don't know how much he loved her, but I know that in the process of time, David had to flee from Saul. He fled the country and was gone fourteen years. During this time, Saul gives Michal, David's wife, to another man and according to I Samuel 25:44, she became the wife of Phal'ti.
So Saul gave his younger daughter to another man. You don't see too much of this in the Bible, but here are two people who loved each other because Michal loved Phalti and he loved her.
When we read II Samuel 5, we see that David becomes the king of the entire land. He is the undisputed king. First he was the king of the two southern tribes, anointed at Hebron. Now he's the king over all of Israel. He has absolute authority. Unlimited power.
It's time for him to reclaim his property. Since he's been out of the country for fourteen years, he's going to call back this young woman, Michal. She's his wife. And notice what he does, in II Samuel 3:13, And he said, Well; I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my face, except thou first bring Mi'chal Saul's daughter, when thou comest to see my face. And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Mi'chal, … And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phal'ti-el the son of La'ish. Her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahu'rim. Then said Ab'ner unto him, Go, return. And he returned.
Here is one man that loved one woman. And here's a woman that loved a man.
In the book of Genesis, when God made the man, He then made the woman and brought her to the man and the man loved the woman and the woman loved the man. He said thus shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they two shall become one flesh. [Gen. 2:24]. That's the way God intended it from the beginning. He said in the book of Deuteronomy 17:17, do not multiply to yourselves wives. He said [that] especially to the kings because a king sets the example for the whole country. Polygamy in the sight of God was something He tolerated, but never approved.
David is learning some things here. The things you learn work themselves out later on in your life. You learn things by the decisions you make. When anything comes too easily to you, it has no value. Your human fallen nature is such that when it comes easily, it loses its value. You have to work for it. You have to sweat for it. You have to contend for it.
David is at a place now where things come easily to him. He's able to reach out and take a woman back that had been his wife, but now she had a man that loved her. Remember when David called Michal back, Phalti followed behind her, weeping. Weeping because he loved her. He loved her. Notice what happens when Michal returns to David.
In II Samuel 5:13, we read that ...David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David. So now David has taken Michal back from her husband, Phalti. But that didn't mean anything to him. He's taken more wives and concubines.
This woman, Michal, was taken away from a man who loved her. She despised David. She had first loved him. Now she hated him as much as she ever loved him. She despised him.
David had his enemies but no one ever hated him as much as Saul's daughter, Michal. The Bible tells us she did. In II Samuel 6:16, David has returned from the field of battle and he's rejoicing..... And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Mi'chal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. She hated him.
Why did she hate him? She hated him because he had taken her away from her home and added her to his harem. He added her just as one more piece of flesh to all that he had. This is a dark side of David that most people don't like to deal with. But something led to the day that he had a man, Uriah, put to death because he took his wife. That didn't just happen. The roots of that had already been building in the life of David. He had learned that he could reach out and take what he wanted. When he learned that he could take what he wanted without ramifications, something was put in the heart of David that would be his death later on. And here's what happens.
II Samuel 6:16, we read where Michal despised David. Then in verse 20: David returned to bless his household. And Mi'chal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! David had taken off his royal robes and danced before the ark and appeared as a common man. And Michal said "I am a king's daughter, married to a king, and look how you're acting. And you took me by authority and brought me into this place. Now you've abased yourself in the sight of these people." David says to Michal in II Samuel 6:21-23: .....It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be held in honour. Therefore Mi'chal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.
David took her and put her away, and that was it. She was exiled for the rest of her life, locked up in the king's harem.
David was a man after God's own heart. David was a king, a warrior king. David was the sweet psalmist of Israel. David had many, many, many outstanding features and characteristics. So many things are said about David in the Bible where he is a type of Christ. There are so many things about David. Unlike anyone else, God elevated his throne above all. But God Almighty did not condone what David did. To use the word overlook is not the right word to use…. I really don't know what word to use for this. I can say to you that David had a weakness that became weaker. And his flesh yielded to the desires of the flesh. And it became weaker, weaker, weaker and weaker. He had Michal put away. He took her from her husband. He broke up a home. This man had to go home without his wife, and David put her in his harem and closed the door in her face. That's cruel.
When David was on the roof of his house and looked down and saw Bathsheba bathing, all the seeds had already been sown in his heart. David was ready to just reach out and take what he wanted and do whatever was needed to cover up the consequences. He didn't expect things to happen as they did. All he wanted was just flesh, but things became complicated. Everything he did just made it worse, with the man, Uriah, dying in the field. Bathsheba born a child and the child died. David grieved so that he never left his house. His own children turned against each other and were dying in his house. He lost a daughter and he lost a son. And many others throughout the rest of his life.
David suffered greatly. He suffered greatly.
Where did it start? As Phalti was following his wife, Michal, and was weeping, David could have said, "send her back." Had he done that, it was have done something for his character. He would have stopped something that was growing inside him.
We all come to a place where we make decisions about whether to let a thing continue or stop it: Am I going to face it and say wait a minute: this isn't getting any better; it's getting worse. Deal with it. Confront it. That's the way you have to do. You have to learn that if you're going to do anything for God, and have any victories in your life, you're going to discover that you will have to confront sin. You're going to have to confront weaknesses and you're going to have to confront fear. Fear usually comes from Satan. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom [Prov. 1:7]. I know that…but most fears comes from the devil. Because what he is trying to do is destroy your faith and put you in doubt. You must learn to stick to the end and stay in the Bible.
If David had only said: "Wait. I know I have a personal vendetta about the house of Saul. I realize that and I know that I won you, and bought you, Michal. I went out on the battlefield and proved my manliness and Saul, your father, gave you to me." If only David had said, "Wait just a minute." But he couldn't think clearly. He was to the point where he could praise God on one hand, sing glory and dance before an ark on one hand, and he could reach down and take a woman away from her husband on the other hand.
Now, there's a greater principle that's involved and it's this: when we come to the New Testament church, in I Timothy 3, it says the bishop be the husband of one wife. Paul says to the husbands: Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Now he said husbands and wives in the sense as of the plural for all of them. It doesn't mean one husband loves his wives. It meant a husband love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. When you go home, you'll have a husband, wife, children, a nice home that did not exist in ancient Israel like you understand it today. Only in the circumstances like Phalti and Michal: they had a home. One husband and one wife. That's a home.
Home is the foundation of society. If Satan can enter into your home and turn a husband against his wife, it will create friction. There's no joining, no union, no relationship that you have with anyone like you have with your husband or wife. You must have harmony. That's why God said for the husband to take the lead. Husbands: love your wives. A wife responds to the love of her husband. You see how Michal responded to David. She despised him. She hated him. She had every right to. She was justified in her hatred of him. He proved it true when he took Bathsheba. Justified because he took her away from a man who loved her. If Satan can cause friction in your home, then Satan has you. That's why he assaults the home. That's why these sodomites are getting "married." That's why you have all these laws turning against the home.
God tolerates things. People have to get divorces for various reasons. But if Satan can destroy the home, he will destroy the church. Because the church is not a governmental organization, it's not a kingdom, it's built upon the body of Jesus Christ.
Do you see how God has tolerated for thousands of years? He has tolerated up until now in order to bring us to this point in time. Do you see how long-suffering God is and what He is willing to put up with? Do you see how long-suffering He is with all of us in our lives? But you learn your lessons. You learn them.
You learn the body of Christ is the ideal that never gets any better. It doesn't get any better than that. The Body of Christ. When a man sits in church with his wife, and has his children, he doesn't have a harem: he has his home. God blesses his home. He is the protector and provider for his home. And according to the Scriptures, the priest in the home. You have something substantial. You have a strong foundation. That kind of foundation can build governments. That foundation will build society.
Now God has a home: He has a family. The Bible talks about the whole family of God in Psalms 45. And it talks about you being a member of the first born. You have bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, a spirit that residing in you. You bear the same relationship to Jesus Christ that Eve born to Adam. He'll fight and die for you. He did.
As He said to Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9:14: Why persecutest thou me? He stopped him on the road to Damascus, and said: I'm not going to tolerate this. And Saul became one of His. This is the marriage that He recognizes. It is the marriage of His Son with His Bride. That's who we are. We are married to Him. Amen. We're waiting for the great marriage supper of the Lamb. We belong to Him.
Thank God for your home. You may ask, what makes a home? Vows do not make a home. Houses don't make a home. What makes a home, Preacher? Two hearts joined together. When the two are joined together to become one that makes a home. Has your heart joined with Jesus? Then you are one with Him. Do you know how He feels when you run with the devil a little bit? Because He is always faithful, He's always at the house, with the light burning, waiting for His Bride. He'll always be there, waiting for His Bride. He's faithful.
What is your condition with Him?v
[To order an audio copy of the complete message, David's Wives - The Dark Side of David, please contact our church office and request WN-04/14/04]
Certainly the notion of sin isn't discussed much in society anymore. But now the very terms for sinful activities, much of them involving sexual immorality, are disappearing from common language.
Pornography? That's "adult" entertainment.
Abortion? It's really about "choice."
Adultery? "Affair" sounds more exotic.
Fornication has long been treated as an outdated term in modern language, but for many people the very concept of premarital sex is somewhat vague. If there's a news story on teenagers and sex, usually the qualifying word mentioned is "unprotected."
How do such euphemisms affect Christians? Gary R. Allen, Ministerial Enrichment national coordinator for the Assemblies of God, says wider acceptance is the result when Christians don't define immorality as sinful.
"When cultures and fads change, we mislabel the core of deadly sin," says Allen. "If you take the barbs off barbed wire, eventually it doesn't hurt to go through the fence."
At the same time as biblical notions of sin have been altered, God is being removed from the public square, both legally and metaphorically. Recently, numerous Ten Commandments displays have been dismantled from in front of county courthouses and crèches removed from city parks.
Christmas vacation at public schools is now referred to as winter break. During the Christmas shopping season last year, a growing list of retailers – including Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Home Depot – advised employees to offer customers a happy holiday rather than a merry Christmas.
Charlie Self of Bethel Church of San Jose, California, sees a danger of such amended language causing a society to forget God and to lapse into moral degeneracy as described in Romans 1:18-32. "By the end of the process, people actually are advocating what they know is contrary to the original version of truth," says Self, education pastor at the Assemblies of God church.
Self cites Playboy founder Hugh Hefner as a ringleader in transforming the nation's thought processes. Half a century ago, Hefner found a new name, sexual liberation, for an old sin pattern – lust. While initially denounced as a degenerate rebel, Hefner in many quarters now is revered as a visionary pioneer. In fact, those who hold to the traditional sanctity of marriage are often berated for being intolerant.
The same pattern is evident this year with the homosexual marriage trend. Those standing up for moral absolutes are criticized as repressive, as if a union between a man and woman is somehow outdated.
Perhaps more than any other behavior, the rhetoric of abortion since its legalization 31 years ago has been an agent for changing perceptions.
Some Christians have been convinced that a compassionate position is to say they wouldn't have an abortion personally, but they support the right of others to choose for themselves.
"This generation of Christians is the first to find something good in what God has condemned," says author-lecturer Jean Staker Garton of Benton, Arkansas. "Scripture is clear. Church history is clear. The taking of innocent, unborn life is an abomination to God.
"Intelligent, educated, religious people embrace illogical absurdities that set aside not only God's truth, but also our responsibility for the well-being of others," Garton, said. "When you shine the light of common sense on deceptive language couched in medical, philosophical or intellectual terms, the logic evaporates. Moral choices require that we use language to describe reality."
Garton fell into believing the false messages in 1969, when, pregnant with her fourth child, she decided to obtain an abortion. She accepted such feminist concepts as every child should be a wanted child and every woman should have a right to choose. But back then, before Roe v. Wade, she couldn't find an abortionist. Garton had the baby, but also joined an abortion-rights group. There she learned doublespeak, to never give any humanity to the baby in the womb.
Concerned, Garton – who at the time taught college students the power of political and advertising rhetoric – did a systematic search to see what Scripture says about unborn life. She repeatedly found in the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Paul's epistles that God's personal call happened before birth.
"When words are warped and twisted perversely, they're eventually emptied of their true meaning," Garton says. She asked the Lord's forgiveness, and became an outspoken critic of Roe v. Wade in an era when few Protestant churches paid much attention to the issue.
Garton co-founded Lutherans for Life and in 1979 wrote "Who Broke the Baby?," which describes the deceptive language used in the abortion movement. A 1998 update of the book discussed new catchphrases such as "Abortion is a private matter" or "Abortion is between a woman and her God."
"The euphemisms haven't changed that much," Garton says. "We think we're tolerant by not imposing our morality on others. But by believing it's a woman's choice we're abdicating any personal responsibility."
Euphemisms do affect how Christians react to sin. Long before "wardrobe malfunction" entered the American lexicon at this year's Super Bowl, groups began replacing terms for what the Bible denounces as sexual perversion.
Particularly while trying to legitimize sexual sin, businesses go overboard in obscuring reality. Strippers are now called exotic dancers. The seedy connotation of strip joints has been replaced with the upwardly mobile gentleman's clubs.
Taken to a ludicrous extreme, pedophiles, in an effort to decriminalize their behavior, now substitute the phrase intergenerational intimacy.
Advocacy groups choose acronyms that belie their meaning. For instance, GLAD stands for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders while NORML represents the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"Such euphemisms lead us to a form of intellectual suicide about which the Scriptures speak," Garton says. "Paul admonishes us to guard the truth and hold fast to words which are sound" (2 Timothy 1:13,14).
Watering down language has a tremendous impact on the attitudes of the next generation, according to Allen. "As Christians, do we still flinch at foul language, or has it become familiar and acceptable?"
Self agrees. "The fastest way to clean up the public square is to have people who profess moral and religious values actually live that way," Self says. "We have to again become powerful persuasion evangelists of the truth." [an excerpt from an article written by John W. Kennedy at www.religionjournal.com]
VIETNAMESE WORSHIP DEAD WHALE – Hundreds of Vietnamese came from far and near to worship a dead whale which washed ashore April 2 about 100 miles south of Ho Chi Minh City, according to an AP report. The body of the 82-foot whale started decomposing within a few days, but this made no difference to the worshipers. Those who live in nearby villages plan to erect a temple, using the bones, to honor the whale. The AP report noted that many villagers in the region worship whales – and consider a dead whale washed ashore as a sign of good luck for those who make their living from fishing. [www.pulpithelps.com]
HUMAN EMBRYO CLONES ARE CREATED – Scientists in South Korea reported that they have created the world's first mature, cloned human embryos. The advance could speed the development of new therapies, but it also brings scientists a big step closer to being able to make cloned babies. Each embryo was grown from a single cell taken from a woman, a form of reproduction – or more precisely, replication – never before achieved in humans. There was no contribution from a father. The researchers said they are pursuing medical treatments and have no interest in making cloned babies. But the clones grew vigorously in laboratory dishes up to and even past the stage at which fertility doctors typically put embryos into their patients' wombs. That suggests that, unlike the products of previous efforts, these clones have the potential to become viable offspring. In an equally significant first, the researchers were able to coax from one of their embryos a robust colony of human embryonic stem cells – the highly prized cells that can morph into every kind of tissue and show great promise for the capacity to treat a wide range of diseases when transplanted into patients. "Our approach opens the door for the use of these specially developed cells in transplantation medicine," said the study leader, Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University. [www.midnightcall.com]
Teacher Suspended After Answering Student Question About Jesus – An elementary school teacher was placed on paid leave in May after she answered in the affirmative after a student asked if she believed in Jesus and heaven. Jean Byce, a teaching assistant at La France Elementary in Anderson, S.C., told WYFF- TV following the incident, "In a school in a community like ours, where 99 percent of the people are Christians, children talk about Jesus a lot." She added, "A student sang a song to me and asked me a question about Jesus being in heaven forever and believing in Jesus and going to heaven, and asked if I believed that, and I said, ‘Yes.'" One parent of a child in the classroom reportedly became displeased by the teacher's response, expressing his concern to the school district. TalonNews.com reported that Ms. Byce said she experienced a similar reaction from this parent when she explained in class the Christian fish symbol. "Despite the fact that she honestly answered the child's question, Byce is now facing a strong reprimand for allegedly spreading her religious beliefs," TalonNews.com editorialized. The superintendent of the school district said an investigation had been launched. However, the district had received many calls from local residents who expressed support for the right of the teacher to answer such questions in class. [www.nljonline.com]
The Subtle Danger of the Alpha Course – The Alpha Course is a form of "religious science," with millions of followers in thousands of churches – Catholic, Protestant, and evangelical. It was conceived by Nicky Gumbel of Holy Trinity Brompton Anglican Church in England after Gumbel got the "power" through the "Toronto Blessing," later passed it on to Steve Hill, who started the "revival" at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola. Alpha has been endorsed by church leaders from Robert Schuller and the Archbishop of Canterbury to J. I. Packer and Leighton Ford. Alpha presents the gospel at times, but its "conversion" is more to a Christian lifestyle than to Christ the way, the truth, and the life; and its major aim is impartation of "supernatural power," especially healing and speaking in tongues. Participants look forward above all to the big weekend when they will receive Holy Spirit empowerment. I remember the "testimony" of a man devoted to Eastern Mysticism who "got the Holy Spirit" that weekend – but clearly remained unsaved. [May 2004, The Berean Call]
Research Reveals U.S. Media Leans Left – A new poll of the nation's journalists is providing more evidence that the vast majority of national reporters and editors hold extremely liberal bias and are far less conservative than the general public. The poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center, a secular organization that monitors the media and public policy issues. The survey found that the vast majority of those employed in the national and local media describe themselves as liberals and moderates, with national media leaning far more toward the liberal side of the scale. Only seven percent of the national journalists surveyed described themselves as conservatives, and the numbers were not much better for local journalists. When asked whether homosexuality should be accepted by society, 88% of the national media journalists agreed, along with 74% of those who work in local media, that it should. When asked whether a belief in God was necessary for a person to be moral, 91% of the national media journalists said such belief was not essential for morality, as did 78% of those in local media. [www.religionjournal.com]
Face Recognition passports expected by December – The first U.S. passport to feature facial-recognition technology should be produced by December, but the technology won't be widely distributed until late 2005, a State Department official recently told Congress. Maura Harty, assistant secretary for consular affairs, said the State Department plans to test the high-tech passports by issuing them first to U. S. officials and diplomats. Harty and Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchison testified at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that it will take two years to perfect the technology. Members of Congress questioned the use of facial recognition technology in the passports, saying fingerprints would be a better identifier. "Every policeman in America can access the fugitive, anybody, and put their fingerprints in the system and on a short notice determine whether or not a warrant is out for their arrest. You can't do that with a face," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Al.). Hutchison said the United States believes that fingerprints "should be a significant part" of the system, but "we don't have a consensus in the international community to do that at this time." The computer chip embedded in the new passports will have the capacity to include fingerprint information, he said. Hutchison acknowledged the shortcomings of the facial recognition technology. He said it is "sufficient" at making one-on-one matches but cannot adequately match a face on a card to large databases of faces. "We're hopeful that the technology improves as time goes on," he said. [www.cnn.com]
Florida Senate President Apologizes for Prayer "in Jesus' Name" – Tallahassee, Fla -- Florida Senate President James E "Jim" King apologized to members of the legislative body April 28 after Florida Baptist pastor Clayton Cloer invoked the name of Jesus in his prayer in the senate chamber as guest chaplain of the day. The apology by King, a Jacksonville Republican, resulted in media coverage of the incident across the state, while the pastor of First Baptist Church of Central Florida in Orlando insisted that his prayer was consistent with guidelines given to guest chaplains. In the 526-word prayer, Cloer mentioned Jesus twice – in the context of thanking God for the religious freedom "to believe in Jesus Christ" and concluding the supplication "...in the name of Jesus. Amen." [www.swordofthelord.com]
China's Crackdown on Churches – Red China's public security bureau has launched a new crackdown on unregistered churches, arresting several top leaders following the release of a new video and a book that document huge growth among Christians outside the officially permitted church (4/4 Chr. Today). China's constitution guarantees freedom of religious belief, but requires all religious organizations to register with the government. It brands those groups that do not register as illegal or cults. In addition, China has the world's largest bloc of people with no religious affiliation: 625 million individuals. [Calvary Contender]
Hamtramck, Mich – The City Council of this Detroit suburb voted unanimously April 20 to allow a mosque to broadcast a call to prayer to Muslims on a loudspeaker. The announcement will take place five times a day, but mosque leaders have agreed not to air the calls before 6 a.m. or after 10 p.m. Followers of Islam are expected to pray five times a day facing Mecca. The call to prayer is a signal for members of a mosque to call on Allah. The call to prayer is recited in Arabic. According to Ergun and Emir Caner, authors of Unveiling Islam, the call is as follows: "God is great. God is great. God is great. God is great. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except God. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except God. I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God. I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God. Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to success! Come to success! God is great! God is great! There is none worthy of worship except God."
If a Christian church wants to begin broadcasting a statement of faith five times a day, will the Hamtramck city council approve? What if a Baptist church wants to air a verse of Scripture like John 17:3, which states, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent?" Will it be accommodated? It is my understanding that there are other communities with significant Muslim populations that also allow the call to prayer to be broadcast.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State seem to be missing in action on "the call to prayer" issue. Usually when there is a situation that even hints at a state accommodation of Christianity, the two groups are Johnny-on-the-spot to insist the public display or practice be stopped. If the public display of the Ten Commandments, the mentioning of Jesus' name in a student-initiated prayer, and the recitation of "under God" in the pledge are viewed by "civil liberties" groups as an establishment of religion, then why is a Muslim call to prayer broadcast 5 times a day, 365 days a year, over a loudspeaker not viewed in the same light?
Can you say "hypocrisy"? Say it louder. Say it 5 times a day. Say it over a loudspeaker at 6:30 in the morning; the ACLU and the AUSCS don't seem to be able to hear.
–Kelly Boggs [www.swordofthelord.com]
Tested by the FBI, a technique called "brain fingerprinting" is being used as evidence to overturn a Oklahoman death-row murder conviction. But what exactly is "brain fingerprinting?"
According to a BBC news-wire, brain fingerprinting is a "method of reading the brain's involuntary electrical activity in response to a subject being shown certain images." In other words, it detects brain function variations when given specific data, such as a picture of a murder scene. Unlike a polygraph test, this test apparently cannot be fooled or tricked by producing false emotional responses. The BBC reports, "unlike the polygraph or lie detector to which it is often compared, the accuracy of this technology lies in its ability to pick up the electrical signal, known as a p300 wave, before the suspect has time to affect the output."
Brain Laboratory Technologies Incorporated, the company which has developed this technique, has recently opened a new Western US office in Seattle.
Not surprisingly, this new mind reading technology has been funded, in part, by the US Central Intelligence Agency. Tests have been conducted by the FBI and the US Navy.
Counter-terrorism and security related uses are obvious targets for brain fingerprinting technologies. Brain Laboratory Technologies explains, "How do we determine if a person is a terrorist or spy? There is a new technology, that for the first time, allows us to measure scientifically if specific information is stored in a person's brain. Brain Fingerprinting technology determines the presence or absence of specific information, such as terrorist training and associations."
It's not inconceivable that "mind-reading" technologies will be coming to an airport or other public location in the not-so-distant future.
In mid-February, Russia conducted full-scale nuclear exercises, feigning a hostile nuclear strike and conducting nuclear counter-strikes against enemy elements.
Dubbed the largest nuclear-war exercises since the early 1980s, these war-games – according to the February 3rd Moscow Times online edition – were officially "designed to help Russia prepare to counter terrorist threats." But as the Moscow Times pointed out, "no sensible person could believe that the launching of cruise missiles over the Atlantic and satellites into space combined with the test-firing of ballistic missiles would make the military better able to interdict a group of terrorists, even if they [terrorists] had managed to get hold of a nuclear weapon."
So why were these games conducted – games that included Russia's Northern Fleet, ground troops, and air-force assets? Beside the "terrorist" threat excuse, a second suggestion was made that President Vladimir Putin was hoping to bolster voter support for up-coming elections.
But a third reason, and one that may hold more water, is that Russia is sending a message to Washington. First, that Russia's nuclear arsenal is safe and in expert hands – a theory which seems relatively simplistic. And/or, secondly, that Russia is telling the West that it is still a serious player in the military arena – a message which has been alluded to by various political researchers as being the most credible reason. But why would Russia want to send this type of signal?
Unknown to many in the Western world, both the US and Russia have been quietly clashing over who will control the petroleum-rich Caspian Sea region and the vital pipeline routes in this very unstable part of the world. Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Uzbekisan, and Turkmenistan, among other area nations, hold considerable resources and/or act as major pivot points for area-wide changes spurred on by growing Western interest in the region.
This visible advancement of American economic, political, and military clout within former Soviet territory has not boded well, with some viewing it as a disturbing but logical extension of US/NATO aggression beginning against Russia's Serb allies in 1999. Furthermore, in an age of "military transformation" where computerization, "net-centric" information exchanges, and advanced weaponry provide American forces with an unparalleled advantage, military strategists are increasingly recognizing that Russia's only real war-fighting capability lies within its nuclear posture.
Regardless what the actual reasons are for this latest nuclear exercise, one thing is clear; international instability and insecurity are very real forces affecting world change.
On October 26, 2003, the Right Reverend John Bryson Chane, Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C. and Dean of the Washington National Cathedral, gave an address to the Washington Hebrew Congregation as part of the Amram Scholar Series. The title of his speech was, "Christian Fundamentalism and its Impact and the Impact of Fundamentalism in General on the Future of Global Stability." Below is a short excerpt of his speech:
...Christians who live clearly by a simplistic, fundamental interpretation of Holy Scripture are consistently guilty at best of unconsciously buying into racism, sexism and anti-Semitism of the highest order. This fundamental approach to interpreting the Bible continues to plague the American Christian scene. Whether Christians literally claim the Holiness Code of the Old Testament as their guide for moral living, unconsciously accept the role of slavery and servitude taken from the Old and New Testaments to reinforce their own stereotypes of racial superiority, or define the role of women by the writings of the Apostle Paul and Timothy as a way of subtly subjugating women to a secondary order within Christian communities, what in fact is true is that a fundamental reading of Biblical Texts is a recipe for disaster.
Sadly, as the world continues to embrace religious pluralism and interfaithism, we can expect more of this type of rhetoric from religious and political leaders.
–Gary Kah, Hope for the World
P O Box 899
Noblesville IN 46061-0899
http://www.garykah.org/