Another blog from Randy Alcorn

This latest blog is another good one, in my opinion, but some of it may not sit well with everyone. The blog entry I am referring to is from November 19, 2007.
http://randyalcorn.blogspot.com

He explains why he is able to endorse a candidate even though he is the head of a non-profit ministry. That is, he is not endorsing Huckabee as the head of the ministry but as a private citizen. He makes a number of other good points, which would great for all pastors and ministry leaders to read and consider.

He also explains why he can't support the other candidates. He shows why Romney cannot be trusted, he previously explained why Guliani is unacceptable, he reveals that John McCain is for the use of embryonic stem cells, and shows Fred Thompson's shortcomings (this may be where the fur starts to fly).

Whether you agree with all that he says, I believe it is worth the time to read and consider.

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has won the endorsement of the National Right to Life Committee, the largest U.S. antiabortion group,

The announcement is scheduled to be made Tuesday in Washington D.C.
The announcement first was reported by The Politico. Click here to read the blog posting on The Politico.
Thomspon, speaking Monday to reporters in Indianola, Iowa, initially was cool to talking about the endorsement before it was announced, but shortly found a way to talk about the benefits.
"I would not ever make any statement about anybody endorsing me until they've endorsed me...I can't respond to the word on the street," Thompson said.
But answering a follow-up question what a pro-life group's endorsement would mean, Thompson said: "I've had a 100 percent pro-life voting record in the United States Senate ... and I think they know that. And that's the way I'd govern if I was President. ... So it (the endorsement) would be a perefctly natural thing and very helpful to me I would think."
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The endorsement follows a series of heavy-hitting endorsements for Republicans from conservative groups in recent days, and is an important grab for Thompson who has been struggling to make his late-bloomer campaign more competitive.
Last Wednesday, GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani snagged an endorsement from evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson: an announcement that drowned-out what would have been a big nod for Arizona Sen. John McCain on any other day, the backing of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas. Brownback has long been a favorite of conservative Christians, and threw his support behind McCain after dropping his own candidacy last month.
And earlier in the week, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney received an endorsement from another conservative leader, Paul Weyrich, founding president of The Heritage Foundation and cofounder of the Moral Majority.
Thompson's voting record is strongly in favor of abortion opponents, but his response to a 1994 questionnaire that surfaced earlier this year on abortion rights raised some questions over how strongly he stood against abortion.
Responding to Project Vote Smart prior to his 1994 election win, Thompson said he supported legal abortion in the first trimester in all cases — a view not held by abortion opponents.
But Thompson's other responses were more favorable: he said he believed there should be parental notification for mothers under the age of 18 who are seeking abortions; he supported state-imposed waiting periods and opposed federal funding for clinics that provide abortions. He also said abortions should not be covered under federal health care plans, and states, rather than Congress, should control abortion laws.
As a lawyer, Thompson also once represented an abortion-rights group, the the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.
IN an August interview with The Associated Press, Thompson said his work to represent the group was separate from his beliefs.
"It has nothing to do with one's political views," he said. "Lawyering is a profession and it's also a business."
FOX News Carl Cameron and Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.

Huckabee message on marriage

This isn't a 10 min or less YouTube video, but it is well worth taking the time to watch:
http://www.gatewaypeople.com/sermons/2007/20070616_StateOfTheUnion.html

Further insight into Mike Huckabee.

Rebelution

You probably know about Joshua Harris, but he has two brothers who are also making a difference. Check out this excellent site:
http://www.therebelution.com


Here is an explanation from the site about what Rebelution is about:

The official definition of the 'rebelution' is "a teenage rebellion against the low expectations of an ungodly culture." When you look around today, in terms of godly character and practical competence, our culture does not expect much of us young people. We are not only expected to do very little that is wise or good, but we're expected to do the opposite. Our media-saturated youth culture is constantly reinforcing lower and lower standards and expectations.

The word 'rebelution' is a combination of the words "rebellion" and "revolution." So it carries a sense of an uprising against social norms. But in this case, it's not a rebellion against God-established authority, but against the low expectations of our society. It's a refusal to be defined by our ungodly, rebellious culture. Actually, we like to think of it as rebelling against rebellion.

And it's exciting, because the Rebelution has really become a type of counter-cultural youth movement among Christian young people from around the country, and even around the world, who are not only rejecting the lies and the corruption of media-saturated youth culture, but they're returning to biblical and historical levels of character and competence.

In 1 Timothy 4:12, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy, "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." In other words, as young people we are called to be exemplary in all areas of life. Our generation is falling incredibly short of that calling. Instead of serving as the launching pad of life, the teen years are seen as a vacation from responsibility. We call it the "myth of adolescence." And the Rebelution is all about busting that myth.

The battle cry of The Rebelution is just three words, but it's an explosive concept: Do Hard Things. That's it. And "do hard things" is a mentality. It's a mentality that flies right in the face of our culture's low expectations. The world says, "You're young, have fun!" It tells us to "obey your thirst" and "just do it." Or it tells us, "You're great! You don't need to exert yourself." But those kinds of mindsets sabotage biblical character and competence.

"Do Hard Things" is just the opposite. It's how we build character and competence. It won't drop to meet the low expectations, it won't just do what comes easily, and it won't become complacent. It applies no matter who you are or what level you're on, because there's always something harder to do, something that will take you outside your comfort zone and cause you to grow.

The Rebelution is made up of three fundamental parts. We've talked about two of them: character and competence. The third one is collaboration. It's not enough for us to be individual exceptions. It's not enough for us to try to ignore the culture. We have to create a counter-culture. The way we do that is by networking, exhorting, and encouraging one another in the fight. By God's grace, that's what The Rebelution has become. And when you have a community of young people mutually committed to doing hard things in their teen years for the glory of God, that's an incredibly powerful thing.

Huck can win in Iowa!-According to Dick Morris

A STEADFAST CONSERVATIVE, HUCKABEE CAN WIN IN IOWABy DICK MORRISPublished on TheHill.com on November 7, 2007.Printer-Friendly VersionMike Huckabee is on a roll. Nationally, I just won my bet with Bill O’Reilly when he broke 10 percent in the latest CNN poll. And in Iowa, he is now running second. Mitt Romney is in the lead at 27 percent, according to the latest American Research survey, with Huckabee nipping at his heels at 19 percent. Rudy Giuliani is in third at 16. John McCain still has a residue of 14 percent support left, and Fred Thompson, fading fast, is down to 8 percent.So Huckabee is within striking distance. When Perrier had to cope with the scandal about the alleged adulteration of its product, it was evident that all the beverage had going for it was its purity. It had no taste. Compromise its purity and it was sunk. Romney is in much the same situation. His candidacy is based on his being an alternative to Giuliani, conservative on social issues. But if his purity is compromised, he could be in trouble.

But Romney was once pro-life. Then he ran in Massachusetts and became pro-choice. Then he decided to run in the Republican primary for president and he became pro-life again. His flip-flop-flip may get him in big trouble in Iowa.Rudy is, of course, pro-choice. McCain, rightly or wrongly, was criticized for hurting the social conservative movement by limiting its ability to spend money on its pet causes in the McCain-Feingold legislation. And Fred Thompson lobbied for a pro-choice abortion-rights group in the early 1990s and has been squishy on the issue ever since.That leaves Mike Huckabee as the only pure pro-life candidate, a social conservative who has never moved to the left.Huckabee could be vulnerable on his tax record in Arkansas, but his support for the Fair Tax likely wipes away that issue.
But Huckabee has no money. Yet, despite a total absence of advertising, he has risen steadily in Iowa from single digits to double digits to second place. Indeed, his lack of funding may be creating a reverse chic, attracting voters who are turned off by the massive hard sell of the other campaigns.So what happens if Huckabee keeps rising and wins in Iowa? It likely sets up a three-way contest in New Hampshire, with Huckabee, Romney and Giuliani facing off against one another. Romney has the money. Rudy has the stardom. And Huckabee would have the momentum.This all may be a pipe dream, but in a caucus state, where turnout is low and enthusiasm is at a premium, Huckabee’s demonstrated ability to generate passion among his followers would stand him in good stead.Remember what happened in Ames, Iowa, where Romney won the straw poll based largely on his ability to write $35 checks to enroll his voters in the paid admission-only event. Huckabee finished a strong second with 18 percent of the vote even though his voters had to pay their own way. Huckabee said, “I can’t afford to buy you. I can’t even afford to rent you.”And at the Values Convention, Romney once again papered the house with paid-for absentee voters who enrolled for $1 each and voted for Mitt. Huckabee, with no money, addressed the gathering and stirred such passion that he swept the votes of most who were there and finished second, again.Right now Iowa looks like a Romney rout. But Huckabee could surprise everybody before the votes are counted.

Mike Huckabee now at 14% nationally

Today's Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll shows Mike Huckabee with 14% support nationally. This is up from 6% on 10/1 and puts him in third place behind Guliani and Thompson and ahead of McCain and Romney. He has really come on strong lately.

While Huckabee is still a long shot he is gaining momentum and I believe that if people can believe that he really is electable there is a base of support that can swell up to lead him to the Republican nomination.

I wouldn't support just any religious leader to be President, but Mike has 10+ years experience as Governor of Arkansas and is a man of conviction and compassion.

If you are interested in helping with Huckabee's campaign, next to the official Huckabee site, I recommend Huck's Army Forum - http://forum.hucksarmy.com

Also today, Randy Alcorn posted an endorsement of Huckabee on his blog:
http://www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com/

IChThUS IMPRIMIS

“In the ongoing effort to take God out of everything, the Department of Veterans Affairs has stepped forward to do their fair share. Prayers at school? Forget about it. Saying ‘Under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance? The courts keep trying to remove the words. Now, the federal government wants to remove God from your burial ceremony. Cradle to grave with no faith references? That is not the foundation that built our country. At issue is the flag-folding ceremony at military funerals. When the flag that has draped the departed’s casket is folded, there is a traditional recitation which accompanies each of the thirteen folds. The Veterans Affairs bureaucracy decided last month to ban the recitations after a complaint was filed following a service at Riverside National Cemetery in California... This seems like one more attempt to take our Judeo-Christian heritage out of a government that was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. When the attempt created an uproar, the government folks decided to ‘clarify’ the matter. In other words, they got caught and now are backtracking. Just like with other attempts to remove God and Christian references from public life, we as citizens must always be on guard. Only through our actions and voices can we stop such activities. As soon as we’ll let one pass, many more will follow.” —Bobby Eberle

Taken from The Patriot Post ( www.Patriotpost.us)