Right after the devastation of the tornado that hit Oklahoma City, President Barack Obama promised that he would do all that he could to ensure that disaster relief was sent to the storm victims as soon as possible.

“As a nation, our full focus is on the urgent work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead,” and said, “You face a long road ahead, but you will not travel it alone. Your country will travel it with you.”

But Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, is under fire for standing in the way of getting disaster relief to the victims of this terrible storm.   The senator told CQ Roll Call that he would not support disaster relief unless it came with federal spending cuts.

“The tornado damage near Oklahoma City is still being assessed and the death toll is expected to rise, but already Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) says he will insist that any federal disaster aid be paid for with cuts elsewhere.

CQ Roll Call reporter Jennifer Scholtes wrote for CQ.com Monday evening that Coburn said he would ‘absolutely’ demand offsets for any federal aid that Congress provides.

Coburn added, Scholtes wrote, that it is too early to guess at a damage toll but that he knows for certain he will fight to make sure disaster funding that the federal government contributes is paid for. It’s a position he has taken repeatedly during his career when Congress debates emergency funding for disaster aid.”

After being attacked for his remarks, Coburn’s office released a statement criticizing those who are speaking negatively about his decisions.

“It is crass for critics to play disaster aid politics when first responders are pulling victims from the rubble,” he said.

“Dr. Coburn has opposed disaster aid bills in the past because he believes disaster funding should be used to pay for disasters, not a wish list of parochial or backlogged priorities that have nothing to do with helping victims,” his office continued. “If an additional emergency aid package is necessary Dr. Coburn will not change his long-standing position on offsets.”

Coburn has been nicknamed “Dr. No” for blocking bills that he doesn’t support.  He cut funding for the victims of Hurricane Sandy and didn’t support the funding of FEMA without offsetting spending cuts.

But Coburn’s colleague in the state, Senator Jim Inhofe (R), is not standing with him on this one.  He says that the situation in Oklahoma calls for an immediate response with few conditions.

“Everyone was getting in and exploiting the tragedy that took place,” Inhofe said about Hurricane Sandy. “That won’t happen in Oklahoma.”

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Pastor DA Bennett and his wife Robin endured a nightmare during the recent tornado that hit Oklahoma City this week.  The leader at the St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City was one of the shelters people used after the recent storm.   Schools were on lockdown and people were bused to the church after the storm was over.

The pastor says that his son was fine and was actually one of the students being bused to his church.  But he didn’t get good news about his congregation.  A young mother and her five month old baby were among those killed in the storm.  The two died while seeking shelter in a 7-Eleven convenience store.

The mother had gone to get her baby from daycare and went into the store to protect herself.  The pastor is going to preside over the funeral for this young mother and child.

“As people of faith, we do not grieve without hope,” Bennett said. “We’re going to walk together through this. It is not something you can walk through alone.”

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The devastating weather in Oklahoma has traumatized much of the nation.  People watched on television as the deaths of young children were reported, and were forced to see their distraught parents deal with the loss of loved ones.  The massive tornado that hit an area outside Oklahoma City left 51 people dead, including 20 children.

There was one bright moment captured on television.   A woman was being interviewed by CBS and was also searching for her dog at the same time.  During the interview, she found her dog underneath a pile of rubble.  The dog had been buried alive and the woman thanked God for her precious gift.

“Thank you, God,” Barbara Garcia said after finding her dog, which she thought had been killed in the storm.

“Well I thought God just answered one prayer to let me be okay. He answered both of them, because this was my second prayer,” Garcia said as she held her dog, who seemed to be OK.

God is always good.

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Which side are you on? The alcohol debate among Christians has been going on for decades. Team #It’sOkayToDrink holds to the fact that the Bible not only cites Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding but also instances when Jesus drinks wine. However, team #Don’tDrink has Biblical support, too, and we will be exploring those scriptures today. Almost anyone can quote Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine, but how many people know the supporting scriptures for team #Don’tDrink? Exactly! This brings us to our key text coming out of Proverbs 23:29 —  (KJV). The Word of the Lord reads:

29 Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou thalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 35 They have striken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

In modern terms, the scriptural support for team #Don’tDrink is saying, “Who has issues? People who drink.” This passage is saying, “Sure. Alcohol looks great, sounds great, and it may go down smooth, but if you’re not careful it will make you a hot mess.” To the credit of team #It’sOkayToDrink, it is worth noting that this Bible passage is not saying, “Drinking is banned by God, because it is evil,” but don’t get too excited. What it is warning us of is the fact that too much indulgence in alcohol — “tarrying long at the wine” — will put your life in shambles. Team #Don’tDrink simply and wisely operates on prevention. Their mentality is, “Wow! I don’t want those horrible consequences from alcohol, and I don’t want to risk it, so I think it’s best to just not drink at all.” The reality is that many people do not have the discipline to handle alcohol responsibly. Don’t believe me? Just watch the news. This is why our Heavenly Father gives us this warning in His Word.

Now that you know this passage of scripture, what side are you on now?

Have a blessed day!

~

Click here to submit your prayer request. Ayvaunn Penn is an award-winning writer and the author of Ephemeral Moments, a book of poetry and short stories available on Amazon.com in the fall of 2013. She is also the founder of Your Black Poets. To receive Ayvaunn’s daily Bible devotionals by email, click here. Click to follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

The post The Penn Speaks: Christians Debate. Team #It’sOkayToDrink vs. Team #Don’tDrink appeared first on Christian Blog.

Greg Laurie Tells Gay Activists He “Won’t Back Down’ and Won’t Apologize
Pastor Greg Laurie, Senior Pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, Riverside, California, is being attacked for his views on gays but he says that he will not change his mind-no matter what.

Laurie, during a meeting at the Family Research Council, in Washington, D.C., said “I won’t back down.” He went on to say that he was being attacked by critics because he chooses to believe in the Bible teachings on the question of gays. He added that how could you deal with people who don’t like him to pray and call him ‘homophobic’ but to continue to preach what the Bible teaches.

“If people want to make it all about that I’m not going to back down. In the immortal words of the great theologian Tom Petty, ‘I won’t back down,’ I won’t. I’m not going to apologize,” Laurie said.

Laurie went on to compare the gay activists with the king’s advisors during Daniel’s time in the Old Testament. He said that they made a clever law that got Daniel thrown into the Lions den but still Daniel refused to betray his God.

Laurie’s speech focused mainly on prayer and he told those assembled that God did not care where you prayed as long as you did it with a sincere heart.

Recently the Lesbian, Gay, Bis*xual and Trangender (LGBT) organizations have attacked Laurie for his Biblical views on gays and gay marriage. They even went so far as to demand that government officials do not allow Laurie to lead any National Day of Prayer events in Washington, this week.

Director of the Human Rights Campaign Religion and Faith Program, Dr. Sharon Groves, said that Laurie’s teachings were not in accordance with what most Christians believe in America.

Groves went on to say “In greater numbers than ever before, people of faith are feeling compelled to speak up and organize for equality – because of their faith.”

However, Laurie is not alone in being attacked by gay activists. Previously LGBT activists had Passion City Church, Roswell, Georgia’s, Rev. Louie Giglio, back out of giving the closing prayer at the last inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Laurie also said that what we should learn from this is that the Devil does not like or want us to pray. He went on to say that Satan cowers when he sees people on their knees in prayer.

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The Reverend Thomas Ogletree, who was the officiating minister at his son’s gay wedding, has come under fire from United Methodist ministers who say he went against the United Methodist Church policy that prohibits gay marriages.

Ogletree, who was the dean of Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut and is an ordained United Methodist Minister, performed the ceremony between his son and another man on October 20 last year.

However, some United Methodist Ministers who think that Ogletree went against the teachings of the United Methodist Church, filed a complaint against him to the local bishop, Martin D. McLee.

The Institute on Religion and Democracy’s United Methodist Action director, John Lomperis, said that the excuse offered by Ogletree was immature and showed an unworldly view as to the interpretation of Bible passages.

“The letter and spirit of the Old and New Testaments–as well as the writings of Methodism’s founder, John Wesley–could hardly be clearer about homosexual practice,” Lomperis said.

According to the teachings of the United Methodist Church, marriage between a man and another male are not allowed and Lomperis is hoping that McLee and other members of the New York Conference of the United Methodist Church will uphold the principles of the United Methodist Book of Discipline.

Every four years the General Conference uphold the denomination’s prohibitions on gay marriages by such a great margin that last year those who oppose this ruling didn’t even try to change their minds on the issue.

Lomperis went on to say that in the case of Ogletree, emotional issues were obviously involved because Ogletree would want to show compassion and understanding of his son. However, Lomperis continued, that part of being a good parent is not giving your child everything that he wants because some of those things may not be good for him.

Lomperis, concluded by saying that Ogletree chose to become a United Methodist Minister of his own free will and took a vow before God to follow the denominations rules and regulations. Taking that into consideration, he felt what Ogletree did was very wrong.

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The Irish government is thinking about changing its laws to allow doctors to make a decision about abortion in the case where the mother’s life may be at risk.

At the moment, there is a ban on abortion in Ireland but the recent death of Savita Halappanavar, who died from a lethal infection and who was denied an abortion has caused a serious controversy that may make the government think again about the ban.

According to reports the new bill might also give doctors the right to decide to perform an abortion if they think that the mother might commit suicide.

Some are worried that if the bill is passed it could open a way for more abortions in the future and make it easier for abortions to be performed on demand. However, because most of the country’s residents are Catholics, the bill is likely to meet stern opposition.

According to pro-abortion activists, the life of Halappanavar could have been saved if doctors were allowed to perform an abortion.

However, a judge ruled that the death of Halappanavar was due to severe infection and the mismanagement of the hospital after hearing testimony from medical experts.

Halappanavar, who died last October at the age of 31, suffered from a blood infection called sepsis, which apparently caused her death.

Pro-abortion protestors have used the death of Halappanavar to try to change the laws in Ireland regarding abortions. After her death, protesters came out onto the streets to try and get the government to overturn the laws that make abortion illegal.

The husband of Halappanavar, Praveen, agrees with the pro-abortion protesters that his wife might still be alive today had she been allowed to have an abortion. The unborn baby was 17 weeks old and still had a heartbeat therefore doctors refused to abort.

According to Dr. Peter Kelehan, a retired medical consultant, who gave evidence at the inquest, Halappanavar had the most severe case of sepsis he had ever seen and the infection led to multi-organ failure.

Halappanavar received “horrendous” treatment according to Praveen Halappanavar who said that he still had not obtained the full reasons why his wife had died. He said that he was considering further action.

However, a spokeswoman of the Life Institute, an Irish pro-life group, Niamh Ui Bhriain, said that abortion supporters were using the case of Halappanavar to further their own goals.

Bhriain went on to say that “The tragic loss of Savita Halappanavar’s life was not caused by Ireland’s ban on abortion. We need to ensure that mothers and babies are best protected, and abortion is not part of best medical practice. It is medieval medicine.”

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The Boy Scouts National Jamboree, which occurs every four years, is scheduled to be held at the new Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia this year. Boy scouts from all over the country will re-affirm their scout oaths, but there is a crisis going on that might tend to put a blanket over the occasion.

Part of the boy scouts oath is a “duty to God” which includes a duty to remain “morally straight.”

An announcement this last April by the National Boy Scout Association gave a proposal to change the their policy of banning openly gay men from being members in the organization to only banning them from leadership. The new proposal would welcome new members who openly admit they are gay.

The proposed policy by the BSA leadership was made after an online survey with more than 200,000 respondents showed that most of them agreed with banning gay men from leadership but thought that openly gay males should be allowed to join.

There are stern supporters from both sides. John Stemberger, who opposes the new policy, and is the founder of the group OnMyHonor.Net, said the policy was a “cleverly worded resolution that creates a myriad of problems for how to manage and ensure the safety and security of the boys in the program.”

One of Troop 413’s adult leaders in Charlotte, Steve Onxley, said that the new proposal could not work because adult leaders are there to coach the older boys of the organization who then become the real leaders within the troops.

Onxley, who is a Christ Covenant Church elder, where troop 413 get their funding, went on to say that the church asks the leaders of the boy scouts to affirm the Apostle’s Creed, the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer.

Onxley continues to say that it is wrong to have gay relationships for both boys and men and that any kind of s*xual activity among the boy scouts is wrong. He also said that the proposal seems to say that both homos**uality and heteros**uality are classed as morally being the same, and that’s just plain wrong.

The controversy over gays in the boy scouts began in 1990 when, James Dale, an Assistant Scoutmaster, openly admitted he was gay. He was thrown out of the scouts by the administration and he fired back with a lawsuit.

The lawsuit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and in 2000. The court decided in favor of the boy scouts organization, although it cost the organization millions in legal fees.

The new proposal will be voted on by representatives from about 300 local scout groups when they have their meeting in May this year in Irving, Texas.

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According to reports, a Catholic School in Columbus, Ohio is going to be sued, by a lesbian Physical Education teacher, Carla Hale, for firing her because she “violated moral law.”

The 59 year old had apparently worked at the school for 19 years until she was fired. She was let go, recently, after the school authorities received a letter from an anonymous parent complaining that Hale was allowed to remain on the staff of the school.

Hale was fired from Bishop Watterson High School on the grounds that she had violated the policies of the diocesan by having a gay relationship. The school asserted that, by being in a gay relationship, she had not kept the school policy which requires employees to be good examples of moral behavior.

The complaint from the anonymous parent arose from the obituary of Hale’s mother, which showed Hale’s name along with her partner, Julie.

According to Hale’s attorney, a complaint is about to be filed for unfair dismissal on the grounds of s*xual orientation. A grievance complaint is already in the hands of a union that represents teachers in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus.

Hale’s attorney furnished a copy of the letter of complaint to the school by the “concerned parent,” which said “My daughter came home and told me that one of the gym teacher’s mother had died,” the letter said. “She asked me to pray for her. When we looked at the obituaries, I was shocked by what I saw. It had her teacher’s name and that of her ‘spouse’ listed. It was two females!”

An online petition in support of Hale has been started by current and former students of the school and has collected about 100,000 supporters.

During a news conference, Hale stated that she found it confusing that someone would use an obituary against her in such a “mean-spirited manner.”

A statement from the diocese of the school said that all Catholic school employees must sign a declaration that states they will follow the rules, regulations and policies of the school and those include keeping moral values that were taught by Christ.

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The post Gay Teacher To Sue Catholic School For Discrimination; Fired For “violat[ing] moral law” appeared first on Christian Blog.

In a statement issued by the Department of Defense on Thursday, it was announced that soldiers are allowed to share their faith providing that they don’t force it on others.

Some Christian organizations were worried that the soldiers could face court martial if they talked about Jesus Christ because the Pentagon had issued a ban on anyone trying to induce another to convert to their faith.

A Defense Department spokesman, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, said that as long as it is not upsetting in any way service members could share their faith or evangelize others, however, he continued, proselytization of any form is prohibited.

Christensen went on to say that “If a service member harasses another member on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age or disability, then the commander takes action based on the gravity of the occurrence. Likewise, when religious harassment complaints are reported, commanders take action based on the gravity of the occurrence on a case-by-case basis.”

Christensen added that the Department of Defense allows people of all religions certain freedoms and that they would never single out a specific group for punishment or persecution.

According to Jon Wilke, a seven year serviceman, the Constitution allows members of the military to voice their opinions regarding their faith. He wrote in an email, that just because people join the military they don’t have to give up their rights as an American citizen.

Wilke went on to say that during his seven years he was never approached forcefully to convert to any religion and none of his fellow soldiers were ever asked to convert. He added that the only time religion came up was when he asked about the Christian faith from another soldier.

However, not everyone agrees with the Department of Defense statement. One who doesn’t is Reverend Steve Estep of Grace Church of the Nazarene in Clarksville. According to him the military is showing less understanding of the Christian faith. He added that most of his parishioners are ex-military.

Estep went on to say that he believes religious freedom in the military is being affected by activists who don’t want Christians to share their faith at all. “There is a difference between freedom of religion and freedom from religion,” he said.

Apparently leaders of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation met with the Pentagon last week and complained about evangelical Christians, who they thought, were pushing their faith a little too hard on fellow soldiers.

New rules regarding the sharing of faith were introduced by the Air Force last year and they gave a warning to leaders that they should not use their position to force anyone to listen to their religious beliefs.

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