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On January 20, 1953, Dwight Eisenhower, his wife, family, and Cabinet members went to the National Presbyterian Church before his inauguration as 34th president.
After the service, Ike went back to the hotel suite to write a prayer that he would read during the inauguration ceremonies.
He wrote: “Almighty God, give us, we pray thee, power to discern right from wrong, and allow our words and actions to be governed thereby and by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people, regardless of station, race, or calling, so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and thy glory. Amen.”
Students Don’t See Western Culture as Superior
Eighty-four percent of college students today do not believe that Western culture is superior to Arab culture according to a newly released poll funded by Americans for Victory Over Terrorism (a project by Empower.org) and former Secretary of Education William Bennett. The story was reported by George Livadas on the Accuracy in Academia website.
According to the poll, 70 percent of American college students would not serve in the armed forces if sent abroad, while 48 percent openly declared that they would evade a draft. Ironically, 79 percent of college students believe that the U.S. "has the right to overthrow" Hussein. Rather than holding terrorists solely responsible for their actions on September 11, college students partially blamed the U.S. government for the attacks, as 57 percent of college students stated that United States policies are "at least somewhat responsible for the September 11th terrorist attacks".
Livadas observes, "Despite the War on Terror and the events of September 11, college students remain adamant in refusing to judge anyone or anything foreign based upon their actions. The once educational and beneficial idea of multiculturalism has been taken to such extreme levels that college students, who formerly studied different cultures to gain a better perspective of their own values and culture, now embrace and praise all societies but their own."
"The disturbing results of the poll show us that not only are most college students today unwilling to fight for true American values and freedoms, but they are unwilling to even acknowledge the great achievements of American society. This tendency for American academics to blame the U.S. for the world’s problems, while praising oppressive foreign cultures simply because they are not our own, will ultimately result in the weakening of our nation." (to read the complete story go to: http://www.academia.org/news/defend.html)
PreachingNow Newsletter, August 6, 2002.
Girls Today are fixating on their flaws, causing them to belittle themselves and even take destructive action. The onslaught of messages and images they constantly receive sets an unrealistic standard of beauty. More than 4 in 10 girls and young women only see their flaws when they look in the mirror. 93% report feeling anxiety or stress about some aspect of their looks when getting ready in the morning. (CNNMoney.com 10/2/07)
David Wilkerson's founder of Teen Challenge states from his book Sipping Saints:
1. Drinking is the world's most staggering problem. We face the horrible statistics of more than a million young Americans becoming alcoholics. Six million of their parents are already there. We have become a sodden society, unable to cope with life without another drink or two. Drunkenness is spreading in our schools like a wildfire out of control. Kids tell me as 80 percent of their classmates drink; many of them get stone drunk. I've been helping drug addicts and alcoholics for many years, but this drinking rage sweeping our nation frightens me. Young people drink because they think alcohol won't waste them as drugs do! Booze is now preferred "Liquid pot." Everywhere teenagers are getting stoned. They say, "No cops, no parents, no politicians can hassle us now because they are all doing it, too. We finally found a kick that won't put us behind bars!" (page 13).
2. The common theme here in Titus is making sure that the older teach the younger how to live in accordance with sound doctrine- Healthy teachings.
a. Wilkerson notes, "Why do kids drink? Recently one of my students, a converted alcoholic, told me how she became a drunkard. Her Christian parents taught her how to drink moderately. At parties, birthdays, and when company came, everybody took a social drink. It was served at meals. She admired and loved her parents whcih led to drinking in clubs. Finally, when problems began to pile up, she began to lean heavily on alcohol. She ended up in a mental institution-a-hard-core alcoholic¡¨ (15)
b. And it all started with that first drink in her parents home. Truth is no one sets out to be an alcoholic but it starts with the first drink.
3. Historical background on wine in the Bible days:
a. It was used as the common drink because the water supply was no the best. Fermented drink was considered safer to drink.
b. But the natural fermentation process was 14%
i. Kinney notes, "Nature alone cannot produce stronger stuff than 14% alcohol. Fermentation is a combustive action of yeasts on plants: potatoes, fruit, grain, etc. The sugar is exposed to wild yeasts in the air or commercial yeasts, which produce an enzyme, which in turn converts sugar to alcohol. Fermentative yeast cannot survive in solutions stronger than 14% alcohol. When that level is reached, the yeast, which is a living thing , ceases to produce and dies." (4).
ii. In the tenth century Arabian physician, Phazes discovered distilled spirits. He was looking for "The Spirit of the wine¡" so as to release it's power into those who drank it. When his process worked it was called "The True Water of Life," The name alcohol is derived from alghul which means "The Evil Spirit- Ghost."
iii. The distilling process has continued since this time to were today alcohol content in some drinks is at 93%.
iv. Health note on alcohol: It is a liquid drug which causes side affects some have called it "delightful poison," which is accurate it is a poison.
1. Alcohol:
a. Is a stomach irritant that can impede or stop digestion.
b. It over time affects the Kidneys to where it can shut down the pituitary gland below the neck which regulates your urine. Alcohol can cause this to misfire and it can produce large amoun...
How To Grow little companies and ministries into big ones. 1. Focus What are we trying to make happen? How will we measure success? See it clearly. Say it plainly. 2. Evaluate What is the competitive environment? Do we understand the felt needs of our prospective customer? What is holding us back? Name the limiting factors. 3. Prioritize When two of our goals come into conflict, which one bows the knee? Prioritize our objectives. 4. Strategize What would be the shortest route to our primary goal? What levers might we use to dislodge impediments? How might we nullify other limiting factors? Are we willing to modify the business model? This is the moment when the future is won or lost. 5. Implement Are we willing to pull the trigger? Quit talking and DO something. Nothing changes until action is taken. (Monday Morning memo 9/3/07)
June 6, 1944; the day when allied forces invaded the beaches of Normandy. Four days after D-Day a German soldier, Franz Gockel wrote to his family describing it. “We shot at everything that moved. The beach was soon covered with the bodies of American soldiers.” Maybe some of you have seen the opening scene of the movie Saving Private Ryan, Hollywood’s vivid depiction of what it was like on that day to be an American soldier who arrived on an armored passenger transport by sea, but when the big armored door was lowered to instantly have hundreds of shots fired at you, and to see the men in front of you fall to their death. 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing in action. Over 53,000 Allied troops were reported as killed, all on one fateful day.
Peter Senge, a pioneer of applying systems thinking to learning, defines learning as “a process that occurs over time and always integrates thinking and doing.” During a recent conference for Chief Learning Officers, he addressed how knowledge is generated and diffused. It is generated by teams, defined as “people who need each other to produce a result” and the core learning unit of any organization. “An invention can result from individual effort, but innovations are intensely collaborative.” Learning is highly contextual.”It only happens in the context of something meaningful and when the learner is taking action.” Knowledge diffusion cannot be separated from relationships formed through our normal networks. “We must find ways to create environments in which these natural networks will flourish.” (NetFax 11/8/99)
DOING WHAT FEELS RIGHT
Although most Americans claim to be religious, that is they claim to believe in an absolute God of some kind, most live and believe as practical atheists. A recent survey by George Barna discloses some shocking results. Barna wanted to see how American’s opinions had changed after 9/11. He surmised that Americans would finally begin differentiating between right and wrong because the terrorist actions of the preceding months could only be described as evil. Reason no longer works in our culture.
At the start of 2000, almost four out of ten adults (38%) said that there are absolute moral truths that do not change according to the circumstances. When the same question was asked in the just-completed survey, the result was that just two out of ten adults (22%) claimed to believe in the existence of absolute moral truth.
Interestingly, when people were further queried as to the source of the principles or standards on which they base their moral and ethical decisions, the post-attack survey discovered that only o...
National Religious Broadcasters has written to its 1,200 members decrying a recent FCC ruling that allows the federal agency to influence religious programming content. The ruling states, programming “primarily devoted to religious exhortation, proselytizing or statements of personally held religious views and beliefs generally would not qualify as ‘general educational’ programming.” Brandt Gustavson, NRB President claims, “the order contains a disquieting implication that the government may restrict certain strains of religious speech¾disfavoring more passionate and emotional expressions of faith¾while not constraining others that are more ‘intellectual’ and drained of human emotion.” The threat is greatest for holders of non-commercial broadcast licenses , which are required to devote 50% of their regularly scheduled airtime to educational programs. These are typically the stations funded by listener donations and the least able to afford costly legal battles. Daniel Roy, Washington attorney, writes in the Wall Street Journal, “there is an anti-religious bias at work here” and that “the FCC is writing religion out of the culture.” The Christian community should be shocked by this flagrant action. (WSJ 1/14/00, The Gazette 1/11/00)
Donor Decision Making Campell Research has discovered that the top 3 action steps a donor takes in making their decision about giving to a non-profit organization are, (1) Determine their giving budget, (2) determining their specific areas of interest [Am I passionate about the area of ministry of this organization?], (3) What are my personal instincts on this particular giving request or opportunity? (DonorSpeak 7/00)
