What’s the Benefit of Good News Without the Knowledge of Bad News?

None of us like bad news, and it's natural to avoid it.  Maybe that’s why so many don’t read the Bible; they feel that it’s all doom and gloom.  The fact is: The Bible is full of bad news and good news.

 

First the bad news: Human beings are sinners.  Our sin separates us from a holy and righteous God, provokes His wrath, and causes us to ultimately suffer death and eternal separation from Him. (Romans 3:23; 1:18; Colossians 3:6)  More bad news: We are without excuse.  As a result of our wickedness, we have suppressed the truth about God made known to us, and are deserving of His righteous wrath. (Romans 1:16-32) That's pretty hard to swallow; but it's not the end of the story.  There is good news.

 

Now the good news: We don't have to pay the high price of our sin ourselves.  Jesus paid it for us.  Although He lived a sinless life, because of God's great love for us (John 3:16), He sacrificed His Son to atone for our sins.  We can be redeemed from our sin by accepting the free gift of eternal life that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.  And if that weren't enough, God even supplies the faith for us.  “For by grace have you been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves— it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

 

It's surprising to see just how many churches and clergy edit the news as reported in the Bible, and rewrite it so that it will be more palatable to its congregants.  Case in point: The Committee on Congregational Song of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently voted to exclude the popular modern hymn “In Christ Alone” from their hymnal.  Why? because it included the line “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.”  Apparently recognizing the popularity of the song, the Committee asked the hymn's authors for permission to change the end of that line to “the love of God was magnified” in order to be included in their hymnal.  The authors refused to make the change.  The Committee, it appears, couldn't bear the idea of God's wrath … so the song was left out of the hymnal.

 

It's disconcerting to see Christians devalue the great love of God in the name of a “loving god.”  There is no question that the good news of the Gospel centers on the love of God; but, to deny God's wrath eliminates the need for the good news.  It also minimizes the culpability of sinners, denies the justice of God's punishment, and trivializes God's love for us. (“But God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8)  In the process, Jesus becomes just a nice man who suffered an unjust punishment.

 

Sadly, the basic concepts of sin and atonement are foreign in our time, even within certain strains of liberal Christianity.  But they are Biblical. The Bible is unequivocal about the nature of man and the consequences of our sin.  God's wrath, however, is not the end of the story.  “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2: 4-7; John 3:16; 1 John 1:9; Romans 5:8)  It's that simple.  But, it's offensive to a lot of folks … even in the pews and pulpits of the church.

 

Sin is not a popular notion in a therapeutic society.  People don't like the idea that they are sinners.  And the idea that we would suffer eternal damnation because we deserve it is even more offensive.  We want to embrace God's love without taking into account His wrath and justice. We want the benefit of the good news without acknowledging the bad news. We are naturally inclined to reject the God of the Bible.  But this shouldn't come as a surprise—we're told as much in the Bible!  We prefer to take from the Bible … like going through the line of a cafeteria … picking what we like and fashioning a god that seems more palatable than the one the Bible presents.  But a god of our creation is no god at all.  He is simply a customized construct designed to make us feel better about ourselves. Such a creature is not worthy of our worship.  The true God of the Bible is!

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

A Contemporary David vs. Goliath … Resulting in Freedom of Religion

Recently, local atheists tried to get a Prayer Caravan in Cullman, Alabama stopped in its tracks.  The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Billy Coleman, the school district superintendent, demanding that he put a stop to the event.

 

Before taking the position of superintendent, Coleman was a pastor; and he did not like being told that no one was allowed to pray on school property … even if it was a purely voluntary community event.  He refused to cancel and the FFRF threatened a legal battle.  This was the third year the Prayer Caravan was held.  The first year only had about a dozen people who met at one of the district’s schools where they prayed for the students and faculty; then they traveled to the next school; prayed and moved on until they had prayed for all of the local schools, the students and faculty.  Last year, several dozen people showed up and again traveled from school to school, praying for students and faculty.

 

This year’s event had a huge turnout … thanks (in part) to the protests and demands made by the local atheists.  Some estimated the Prayer Caravan crowd to reach nearly a thousand people.  Considering the total population of Cullman is just under 15,000 residents, a turnout of nearly a thousand people is quite substantial.  Going from several dozen to a thousand people gathering to voluntarily pray for students and faculty is largely attributed to the whining of a few atheists.  All the atheists wanted to do was stop the event from taking place.  Instead, their actions led to a 2800% increase in participation.

 

Isn’t it great how God uses people like atheists and humanists to help His causes along?  It reminds me of Genesis 50:20a which states: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…”

 

Perhaps FFRF should consider changing its name to FFYRF – Freedom From YOUR Religion Foundation.  This would be more truthful!  It is our 1st amendment constitutional right to exercise freedom of (not from) religion.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

OK says NO-GO to Shariah Law – But Judge says NO-GO to OK

This month, Oklahoma’s anti-Shariah legislation was thrown out and ruled unconstitutional.

 

Tulsa World reports: An Oklahoma constitutional amendment that would bar the state’s courts from considering or using Shariah Law was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Oklahoma City.  In finding the law in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ‘establishment clause,’ U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the certification of the results of the state question that put the Shariah Law ban into the state constitution.  “While the public has an interest in the will of the voters being carried out, the Court finds that the public has a more profound and long-term interest in upholding an individual’s constitutional rights,” the judge wrote.

 

How can a state constitutional amendment that prohibits the rule of Islamic law (that governs all of life for radical Muslims) be considered “unconstitutional?”

 

The ‘establishment clause’ is the phrase of the 1st Amendment which reads – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”  So again: How are we establishing or “favoring” one religion over another by trying to keep Shariah Law out of court decisions?  This is not our law any more than Canon Law (law governing the Catholic Church and several others) is our law.

 

This judge has just ruled against something in keeping with the original intent of the U.S. Constitution and claimed it was to protect the rights of citizens.  So, if the judge’s daughter marries a Muslim man and he beats or “disciplines” her … which is perfectly acceptable in Islam, and protected by Shariah Law … then it does not violate her daughter’s rights?  That’s absurd; of course it is.  This is America where women are equal.  

 

Our obsession with ‘political correctness’ in this country is killing us.  We continue to cater toward Islam, and no one seems to be willing to stand up, at the federal level, and say enough is enough.

 

The truth is that none of these ‘religious’ laws should be considered in court decisions.  The law of the land is what it is.  This judge has just left a door open that should have been slammed shut.

 

If we can’t make a law like this stick in Oklahoma, then we’ve really got a problem!  And I’m not sure which the greater problem is: Is it Shariah Law or activist judges ruling from federal benches?  Both are real threats to America’s rule of law.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

An Act of Terror Called By Any Other Name … Is A Cover-Up

After a three-and-a-half-year delay, U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan … who admits to shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is great) and opening fire on unarmed people … was finally placed on trial for murdering 13 and wounding 32 other individuals at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009.  This he did to his comrades-in-arms in an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims.  He told jurists at his court-martial he was on the “wrong side” in America’s war.

 

Before, during and following his assault, Hasan was a self-identified jihadist.  His paper and electronic trail provided mountains of evidence that he committed the massacre to advance the cause of Islamic supremacy.  (He even called himself a “Soldier of Allah” on his business cards.)  Islamic supremacists like Hasan, and his early mentor al-Qaida operations chief Anwar al-Awlaki, view as enemies all people who oppose totalitarian Islam's quest for global domination.  But rather than believe Hasan, and so do justice to his victims, the Obama Administration, with the active collusion of senior U.S. military commanders went to great lengths to cover up Hasan's ideological motivations; and hence the nature of his crime.

 

On the day of the attack, LTG Robert Cone (then Commander of III Corps at Ft. Hood) said preliminary evidence didn't suggest that the shooting was terrorism.  Cone said this even though it was immediately known that before he began shooting Hasan called out "Allahu akhbar." In an interview with CNN three days after the attack, U.S. Army Chief of Staff GEN George Casey said, “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength.  And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse.”

 

The intensity of the Obama Administration's participation in this cover-up became clear in May 2012.  At that time, Congress had placed a clause inside the Defense Appropriations Act requiring the Pentagon to award Purple Hearts to Ft. Hood's victims.  Rather than accept this eminently reasonable demand … which simply required the Administration to acknowledge reality … Obama's emissaries announced he would veto the appropriations bill and so leave the Pentagon without a budget unless the clause was removed.  Rather than define Hasan's attack as an enemy attack or a terrorist act, the Administration has defined it as a case of “workplace violence.”  Following this determination, those wounded in the attack, as well as the families of the murdered, are denied the support conferred on armed forces personnel killed or wounded by enemy fire.  The purpose of this cover-up can be nothing other than to deny the American people the truth about the nature of the jihadist (foreign and domestic) threat in America.

 

Victims of the shooting rampage filed a lawsuit last year over the Administration’s decision to treat the incident as “workplace violence.”  They say that designation has robbed them of benefits and made them ineligible to receive the Purple Heart medal … awarded to service members wounded in battle.

 

Why can’t the Administration call this an “act of terror” without charging Hasan as a terrorist?  According to a widely quoted Pentagon position paper opposing Purple Hearts for the victims that would allow the defense to argue that Hasan “cannot receive a fair trial because a branch of government has indirectly declared that Major Hasan is a terrorist — that he is criminally culpable.”

 

Reed Rubinstein, one of the attorneys representing a number of the shooting victims and their families, calls that argument “disingenuous.” The National Counterterrorism Center and State Department both counted the incident among terror attacks that year, he notes.  The White House and Department of Defense have balked, he argues, because too many people didn’t heed warning signs that Hasan was becoming increasingly radical leading up to his deployment to Afghanistan.  “The truth of the matter is, it comes down to politics,” the Washington attorney says.  “It comes down to covering up the political correctness that was the proximate cause of this attack in the first instance,” Rubinstein said. Rubinstein is not calling for a terrorism charge, but argues the government could administratively rule this was an “act of terror” so his clients can qualify for more benefits and the Purple Heart, which comes with its own set of recognitions and privileges.

 

Rubinstein terms the government’s refusal to call the shooting incident a terrorist attack for purposes of awarding benefits “a kick in the teeth to the victims.”  “They have to hear about workplace violence,” he says. “They’re told that what happened to them was no big deal.  Pay no attention to the fact that he was a jihadist.  Never mind that we knew and the FBI knew.  But his career, because of his ethnicity and his religion, was more important to us than your lives.  Forget all that.”  Government attorneys have asked a federal judge to postpone the civil case, which seeks to reclassify the incident so as to make combat-related pay and other benefits available to the victims, until after the court-martial and post-trial processing are completed.  That could take a long time.

 

Victim Shawn Manning estimates he has lost $2,000 a month in pay and benefits because of the decision to classify the injuries as resulting from “workplace violence” rather than combat or terrorist-related.  Had his injuries been classified that way, the military would have paid the difference between his civilian and reserve salary, offered him better medical benefits and granted him greater disability payments.  “And Hasan is still collecting his major pay,” growls Manning, who now works as a civilian mental health specialist at Fort Lewis, Washington state. “That’s not correct,” agrees former SSG Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot seven times and still carries one slug in his back.  He and Manning spoke to the Associated Press … before a military judge’s order not to discuss the case.

 

On this day that may render a verdict at Hasan’s trial, where is the public outcry over the government's decision to cover up the nature of Hasan's actions?  The public's passivity in the face of the government's mendacious, unjust behavior must largely be credited to the mainstream media for having not castigated the Administration for its decision to hide the fact that Hasan was not a ‘garden variety disgruntled employee’ – but a traitor who acted in the service of declared enemies of the U.S.  In the absence of a media-induced public outcry, the Administration has no reason to change; no impetus to acknowledge the truth and act accordingly.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Congress Needs to Go Beyond Investigating – to Cease Funding

Responding to a request from more than 70-members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has announced that it is launching a formal investigation of Planned Parenthood and others that promote abortion.  The lawmakers want to know exactly how these organizations are using our tax dollars.

 

Last month, a Planned Parenthood affiliate agreed to pay a $4.3 million fine in order to settle allegations of Medicaid fraud in Texas.  As the Alliance Defending Freedom have documented, the Texas case likely represents a pattern of abuse rather than an isolated incident.

 

Defunding America's largest abortion provider, also guilty of scamming a program for the poor, seems like a no-brainer when we are cutting defense spending and other important programs.  As you may recall, House Republicans tried to defund Planned Parenthood in 2011; but President Obama was willing to shut down the government in order to guarantee that your tax dollars continued subsidizing Planned Parenthood.  Thanks to Obama's generosity, Planned Parenthood received more than $540 million of your hard-earned money last year.

 

Responding to news of the GAO investigation, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) said, “Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortions clearly benefit from Uncle Sam, but there's no accounting to prove how they actually use that money.  This GAO report would shine a light on how our tax dollars are being spent.”

 

Beyond financial accountability – Doesn’t it bother you that 1.2 million babies are aborted every year in the U.S. alone?  That’s one every 26 seconds; 137 every hour; 3,304 every day; 100,516 every month.  If you’re an U.S. taxpaying citizen, you are guilty of shedding innocent blood.  When you appear before the Almighty Judge to give an account for all you said and did, don’t think for a minute that you’re going to hide behind – “But, Lord, I was just following your teaching to render to Caesar [the government] what is Caesar’s [taxes].”  I’m here to tell you – “That won’t fly!” … any more than the defense of Nazi war criminals claiming their innocents by saying – “I was just following orders.”  Funding abortion is rendering to Caesar’s agenda what is antagonistic to God’s higher command. 

 

Whether by commission or omission, we are part of the American holocaust.    

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Battle Cry for Christian Pastors/Priests to Encourage Participation in Public Policy

The Center for the Study of American Culture and Faith recently conducted a poll of identified “theologically conservative pastors.”  If you want to understand why America is in the condition it is, look no further than these results.

 

According to the findings, just 44% of “theologically conservative pastors” would “definitely provide strong encouragement” to their congregations to vote and to get involved in next year's elections.  Another 20% said they “probably” would.  Thirty percent said they were not sure and 6% said they would not encourage their congregants to be active politically.

 

It goes without saying, that I’m among the 44% of theologically conservative pastors who believe it is important for Christians to be active participants in the public policy process.  But given the redefinition of marriage, the assault on religious liberty and the persecution of Christians overseas, it is disturbing that more than one-third, and perhaps as many as one-half, of theologically conservative pastors could be lukewarm about public policy.

 

Unfortunately, many pastors … even those who generally share the Biblical worldview about the importance of civic responsibility … often say – “It’s my job is to preach the Gospel.”  By this they mean – not to speak from the pulpit of public policy.  Yet, if you ask them about the silence of many churches in slave states during the 1850s, they will shake their heads in disgust.

 

President Lincoln worried about pastors who told him that slavery was a political issue, and not a moral issue.  And when he discussed slavery in the public square, Lincoln was often told to keep his religion to himself.

 

Too many churches were silent in Germany during the 1930s.  And when some brave souls like Dietrich Bonheoffer and Martin Niemoeller dared to speak up, Hitler told them to take care of their churches and leave Germany to him.

 

America was founded by people seeking religious liberty; it has a tremendous religious heritage.  Religious liberty was so important to our Founding Fathers that they listed it in the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

 

But when so many pastors are sitting silently in the trenches of the culture war, we risk losing those first freedoms … while America is fundamentally transformed into something our Founders would not recognize.

 

Where is your pastor or priest?  Is he/she engaging and equipping the congregation in the cultural war for the soul of America?  Encourage your spiritual leader to get out of the trench and on to the battlefield … for the culture war cannot be won unless God-fearing, God-honoring Christians reclaim America for Christ and His Kingdom on earth as it already is in heaven.  

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Politician’s Principle of Plunder

Leave it to an U.S. Congressman from my resident state of Minnesota, Democratic Representative Keith Ellison, to so well articulate the absurd economic thinking of our governmental officials when he said: “The bottom line is we’re not broke, there’s plenty of money; it’s just the government doesn’t have it.”

 

Tell me that isn’t a clear portrayal of the principle of plunder:  “We” [the government] are not broke because all the government needs to do is to take the money from ‘we’ [the people].

 

Rep. Ellison was advocating for his Inclusive Prosperity Act (HR 6411) – a ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial trading.  He explained, “The government has a right; the government and the people of the United States have a right to run the programs of the United States – health, welfare, housing – all these things.”

 

The looting mechanism proposed in the Inclusive Prosperity Act is a 0.5% tax on the trading of stocks (50 cents on every $100 of trades), and lesser rates on trading in bonds, derivatives and currencies.  It marks the return of a sales tax on financial transactions in place from 1914 to 1966; and targets the high-risk, high-speed trading of the markets.  Ellison claims his new tax would rake in $300 billion a year.  [He’s assuming that there would be no reduction in sales/purchases of stocks, bonds, or derivatives.]  So let’s imagine that he is right and we get $300 billion a year coming into the government.  What does he want to do with it?  He says it will stabilize “the deficit and allowing us to invest in the things that matter—education, roads and bridges, and health care for our seniors and veterans.”  Sounds worthy of support wouldn’t you say?  But don’t miss the point: Ellison is questing for more government spending.  The best you can say about him is that he doesn’t admit that he wants to increase the national deficit.

 

Speaking of the deficit – What was that deficit?  For 2012 the national deficit was over a Trillion dollars for the fourth year in a row.  So the man who is telling us that “there’s plenty of money” … even if we assume he really can get all the revenue he claims he can get from this Act year-after-year … is pure folly.  $300 billion wouldn’t even cover a third of the national deficit if we didn’t spend it on anything else.

 

Do the math, people!  With governmental officials such as Ellison making such wildly optimistic claims, we are still just a larger version of Detroit heading toward inevitable collapse and bankruptcy.  Ellison would loot more people to simply make our financial situation even less safe.

 

As the U.S.A. continues to spiral into debt, it is better to reverse it by cutting taxes and governmental expenditures.  Money retained by private citizens to use in the free market economy is always better in terms of economic growth and in terms of increasing individual liberty.  Your money in the hands of the government is demonstratively wasteful and is used to increase government-control over everyone’s life.  Look to and expect your elected officials to stimulate economic development without    suppressing free enterprise!

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The All-time Oxymoron – Atheist Chaplains

After 25-years of commissioned service as an U.S. Army Chaplain now in retired bliss, I witness the Department of Defense considering a greater oxymoron than ‘military intelligence’ – it is the ‘atheist chaplain.’

 

My well-respected friend, Ron Crews (Executive Director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty and retired U.S. Army Chaplain) calls it a contradiction in terms.  Here is his take on atheist chaplains as posted at townhall.com –

 

“Amid all the changes that have been heaped upon the U.S. military since the repeal of the so-called ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, a push by a small number of people to have the military’s chaplaincy broadened to include atheist chaplains has now entered the battlefield.  This push is wrong for our military on three fronts.

 

First, it is wrong foundationally because an atheist cannot fulfill the role of a chaplain.  From the time George Washington founded the chaplain corps on July 29, 1775, until now, the ministry of the chaplaincy has been ‘bringing God to soldiers and soldiers to God.’  It is both a duty and a ministry, and if you take away the ministry aspect to let atheists play at fulfilling a chaplain’s duty, you necessarily undercut a key reason for the chaplaincy’s existence.  How would the Army chaplain’s motto, ‘For God and Country,’ need to be changed to accommodate atheist chaplains in the ranks?  Would ‘For [nothing beyond this world] and Country’ work? Or would the motto simply become, ‘For Country’?  Clearly, the elimination of God renders the motto meaningless.

 

Secondly, adding atheists to the chaplaincy is pragmatically wrong because atheists constitute such a small number of service personnel to begin with.  In 2011, only 9,400 of the 1.4 million service members identified themselves as atheist.  That means atheists constituted less than 1 percent of our fighting forces at that time (about .67 percent). Why should a chaplain corps founded in 1775 and continued to this day be turned upon its head (and ultimately destroyed) to please less than 1 percent of our fighting forces who already have easy access to counseling options through a number of channels?  And though this may come as a surprise to some, one of those options is the chaplaincy in its existing form.

 

Chaplains today provide resources to any who ask for help.  No chaplain will try to force an atheist to believe.  Chaplains will serve with grace all that come to them for help.  If a chaplain cannot personally meet a need, they are taught to work with a person to find the resources that will meet the need.  Chaplains have been doing this from the beginning.

 

Earlier this year, Rep. Andrew Roberts (D-N.J.) proposed an amendment to the 2014 defense bill that would add atheists, humanists and ‘ethical culturalists’ to the corps of chaplains.  Fortunately, this proposal was defeated by a vote of 43-18, but those who supported it are not giving up. With all the talk of ‘change,’ ‘equality,’ and ‘inclusivity’ marking political conversation in the 21st century, I fear we tend to see change just for the sake of change as being a good thing.  Moreover, I am afraid we are losing our ability to recognize the genuine differences that exist between certain things—like a belief in God and a rejection of God’s existence—and instead we are made to feel dirty or outdated for declining to agree that all convictions are equal.

 

The chaplain corps exists for a purpose that is outside of politics; it exists for the souls of those who constitute our fighting forces.  And for those souls, our purpose remains singular: We bring God to soldiers and soldiers to God.”

 

Amen, Ron!  Amen!

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Hypocrisy 101: The Intolerance of the So-Called Tolerant

I can accept that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) began as a decent organization fighting bigotry and racism.  Unfortunately, it has since become one of the most venomous, anti-Christian organizations on the left.  In recent years, it has labeled pro-family organizations such as the American Family Association and the Family Research Council as ‘hate groups’ equivalent to the K-K-K.

 

You may recall that a homosexual rights activist attempted to carry out a mass shooting at the Family Research Council last year.  Floyd Lee Corkins entered the lobby of the FRC building and shot a security guard, Leo Johnson, in the arm.  But Johnson's heroic actions prevented what could have been far worse.  After his arrest, Corkins told FBI agents that he selected FRC as his target based on the list of hate groups on the SPLC's website.

 

Just the other week, CNSNews.com confronted SPLC co-founder, Morris Dees, about its hate map and equating traditional values with hate.  Dees reportedly demonstrated no remorse for what happened at FRC; in fact, Dees doubled-down.  He attacked the Roman Catholic Church, saying, “The Catholic Church is against people who are gay,” and said that FRC was on the hate list because “of the demonstrably false things they say about people that are just total lies that demean gay people.”

 

Unfortunately, the SPLC has managed to present itself as a credible organization.  Its material have been used in the U.S. military and seen in various public schools throughout this nation.  Unless people really understand the SPLC's anti-religious, left-wing agenda, it is easy to fall for its deceptive messaging.  But understand this: SPLC displays its own bigotry.  It’s what my great-grandmother use to say – “That’s the pot call’in the kettle black.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

U.N. & U.S. Defend Muslims, But Defile Christians

For decades, even centuries, Christians and Muslims have warred against each other in the region now known as Serbia and Croatia. Muslims have long held that Christians are ‘infidels’ that need to either convert to Islam or be exterminated.  In 1990, area Christians began a process of ethnic cleansing to rid the region of Muslims.  The United Nations was horrified and intervened by sending in U.N. forces which included U.S. troops and air strikes.  The Christian effort was eventually thwarted and the U.N. and U.S. successfully protected Muslims … and essentially waged war on Christians.

 

Since that time, both the U.N. and U.S. have continued to protect Muslims; but not Christians.  Christians in the Sudan were being slaughtered by Muslims and no one came to their aid.  Muslims periodically went on mass attacks of Christian in Indonesia, and again the U.N. and U.S. remained silent.

 

More recently, Christians by the thousands are being brutally attacked, beaten, raped, tortured, homes and churches burned and killed by Muslims in Nigeria; but again the U.N. and U.S. remain silent.  While President Obama continued aiding and abetting the Egyptian government and Muslim Brotherhood, they were openly attacking the nation’s Coptic Christians by the hundreds.  There was no secret that Egyptian Christians were being beaten, raped, tortured and murdered by Egyptian police … all of which were Muslim … but the Obama Administration and the U.N. remained silent.

 

Christians are being persecuted by Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Sudan, Nigeria, Turkmenistan, South Africa, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Kashmir and Mali.  Has the U.N. or U.S. taken action to protect Christians in these nations or even condemn their persecution?  NO!  Yet, when a few American servicemen wrongly urinated on the bodies of some dead Muslims, Obama is outraged, apologizes to the world and demands justice.  Muslim prisoners deface copies of the Koran and Bibles, so U.S. troops burned the defaced holy books.  The world went into an uproar over the burned Korans, and Obama again apologized and demanded reprimands be handed down; but no one mentioned that it was the Muslims that first defaced the Korans … nor did anyone complain or protest the burning of Bibles.

 

Worse yet, we are seeing more persecution of Christians and the protection of Muslims happening here in the U.S. Some judges here in the U.S. are ruling based upon sharia law instead of state or federal law. Muslims have taken over entire communities like Dearborn, Michigan resulting in Christians having their rights violated and being arrested for exercising their right of free speech and religion on a public street. Dearborn high schools held a girls only prom for Muslim students and the prom was Islamic through and through; and yet Christians are not allowed to hold Baccalaureate or Christmas concerts because of the so-called ‘separation of church and state.’

 

Whenever the Jews turned away from God and embraced some pagan religion, God always withdrew His protective hand from them and allowed them to be conquered and captured by their enemies.  When they would once again turn back to God, He would raise them up from captivity and restore them.

 

Our Founding Fathers knew for certain that God had intervened on their behalf and helped them gain independence because they relied on Him. They built the nations laws and culture on biblical principles.  God blessed them and has been protecting us ever since.  But our nation has turned from God and it is obvious that He has withdrawn His hand from us.  I see our nation on the verge of collapsing and falling into the hands of our enemies … just like the Jews of the Old Testament.

 

There is only one way to prevent it and that is for the nation and the nation’s leaders to turn to God and embrace Him and His teachings. Anything short of that spells our downfall and His judgment.  Are you prepared for this?

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The U.N. Declares ‘War’ on Biblical Ethics

Recently, Fox News reported: “Amid a surge of anti-gay violence and repression in several countries, the United Nations’ human rights office launched its first global outreach campaign to promote tolerance and greater equality for lesbians, gays, transgender people and bisexuals. Called Free & Equal, it’s an unprecedented effort by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to change public attitudes around the world on issues that have bitterly divided the U.N.’s own member states.”

 

Mark Horne of lastresistance.com says, “The U.N. is openly circumventing the will of its constituents and doing the will of a rich minority to brainwash the poor majority.”  Charles Radcliffe, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said, “Funding for Free & Equal is being provided by outside contributors, and is not reliant on U.N. funds, thus skirting any possible opposition from U.N. members who oppose gay-rights activism.”

 

The civil powers of Kenyans and Senagalese and South Africans has held to their ethical and religious beliefs … resulting in prosecuting (or persecuting) homosexuals.  But this U.N. campaign will insist that they change their moralities.  They must regard sexual preference as an “orientation” and, therefore, regard its practice as a kind of “civil right.” The U.N. is going to push for hate crimes laws, re-education, and the entire gamut of social engineering.  And what will be the result? – The U.N. is going to intensify animosity and violence against homosexuals.  

 

One aspect of the moral blindness of the U.N. can be seen in their claims about anti-homosexual violence in South Africa.  South Africa does not criminalize homosexuality and allows same-sex marriage; yet is plagued by extensive anti-gay violence, including frequent rapes of lesbians.  And why are these rapes of lesbians and not of gay men?  Because lesbians are women, and South Africa is notorious for frequent rapes of women. But is there extensive outside funding available for a campaign against rape in general?  No. They just care about the homosexuals.  The U.N. is taking a country rampant with sexual violence of all sorts and focusing only on the part that fits their agenda.

 

Having already acted as a willing tool of the U.S. State Department Eugenics policy, pretending to endorse the freedom of mothers to murder babies or not (i.e. “abortion rights”), while in fact openly bribing and coercing population reduction, this latest move by the U.N. is not that big a deal relatively.  It is just one more monstrosity on top of many other monstrosities.  Still it is worth noting, since it will surely be used for propaganda purposes in the United States.

 

As an U.S. tax-paying Christian, I’m distributed that the real financial power behind the U.N. is the U.S.  And this worldwide declaration of war on Biblical ethics I find atrocious.  This battlefield puts the U.S. on the wrong side.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Battle-Lines Are Being Established: The Affordable Care Act vs. Religious Conscience

In my previous blog, I wrote of the Christian-owned company (Hobby Lobby) who won a federal court victory over the requirement to purchase health insurance (i.e., Obamacare) for their employees that provides abortion-inducing drugs … or face crippling fines. 

 

Now another Christian-owned company – Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation – has received a different ruling.  This Mennonite-owned company sued the federal government over the mandate to provide health insurance coverage for birth control such as the "morning-after" pill.  The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision against the company.

 

Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Matt Bowman tells OneNewsNow.com the ruling is the opposite of those obtained by Hobby Lobby and other companies.  “In fact, of the 32 companies that have sought injunctions to protect them from this Obamacare mandate for abortion pills, 25 of those have gotten injunctions,” he says.  In effect, what the court said is that the owners must leave their faith behind when they walk through the doors of the company.

 

Conestoga operates five manufacturing facilities across the United States – three in Pennsylvania and one each in North Carolina and Washington – according to the company website.  The website states the company was started in 1964; but there is no mention of its Mennonite background.  The business is owned by the Hahn family, which calls it “sinful and immoral” for the company to provide health insurance coverage for Plan B (the morning-after pill).

 

Attorney Bowman says ADF will pursue legal options, including the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.  “If the opinion of this court of appeals stands then, yes, the U.S. Supreme Court has to resolve this issue and we are going to fight to protect the religious freedom of this family,” Bowman says.

 

Yet, again, we have another case of Christians exercising their 1st amendment rights of religious conscience as they seek to distinguish rendering to Caesar [the government] verse rendering to God. 

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

A Godly Victory for Religious Conscience

You no doubt heard about Hobby Lobby and their battle waged against the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a., Obamacare).  On July 22, this Christian-owned company won an enormous victory over its abortion mandate.  A federal court issued an injunction so that Hobby Lobby will not be required to purchase insurance plans that provide abortion-inducing drugs to their employees.  The Obamacare mandate would require them to purchase the coverage or face crippling fines.  The federal court says otherwise.

 

Specifically, the court’s ruling says that the owners’ “rights” are “substantially burdened by the contraceptive-coverage requirement” and that the mandate causes “an irreparable harm” to the company.

 

“The tide has turned against the HHS mandate,” says Kyle Duncan, General Counsel with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and lead attorney for Hobby Lobby.  [You can read more about the news at the website for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.]

 

This is an encouraging development; but this case is likely going to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Only then will we know whether the unconstitutional Obamacare mandate will stand once and for all.  The Obama Administration has already delayed its implementation until 2015. The mandate seems to be on its heels as it is.  Because it’s unlikely that Congress would repeal the law, we’ll only know for sure after the Supreme Court rules.

 

Here, again, we have another case of Christians exercising their 1st amendment rights of religious conscience as they seek to distinguish rendering to Caesar [the government] verse rendering to God. 

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel