While it may appear to be a victory for gay rights advocates, it demonstrates that our nation has taken one more step away from God. Matt Barber of the pro-family Concerned Women for America believes the ruling by the California Supreme Court was the “worst kind of judicial activism today” and represented a rejection of the court’s supposed role “as an objective interpreter of the law.”

“So-called ’same-sex’ marriage is counterfeit marriage. Marriage is, and has always been, between a man and a woman,” he said in a statement shortly after the court’s decision.

This is not shocking news to me as more and more Americans abandon absolute truth and rather rely on their heart of which the Bible says it “is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

What is really sad is that most Christian-based groups that work to defend traditional marriage as being between a man and woman cannot even use The Bible in their defense due to the fact that the majority of Americans rejects it as being an absolute source of truth. Instead I have seen these organizations forced to use the defense that when traditional family values begin to erode, it is only a matter of time before the nation falls. It happened to the Romans - why should it not happen to us?

Until the majority gets back to the idea that God has provided us a standard by which we should live by - His holy Word, I fear we will continue to see the eroding away of traditional values that we as Christians hold dear.

Check out the video report as posted on YouTube.

WMC-TV has the entire story.

Christian television is enormous in the US, and GodTube has been able to capitalize on people’s desire for religious programming by taking the proven concept of video sharing, a brand name clearly inspired (although some would say stolen) by a market leader, and industry best practices to become a big business.

As Mashable noted in August, the site actually got its start running on a $300 script. It simply exploded from there, entering the top 1000 web sites in September and never looking back.

Yesterday I found myself listening to my favorite talk radio station (give it up for my talk radio peeps) and I heard the most heart-felt blunder my ears have received in quite some time. The commercial goes something like this:

Soothing music begins playing in the background as the voice of an experienced woman narrator begins highlighting the problem of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other memory loss issues. After 30 seconds of this concerned plea to get help for those who have memory problems at a particular institute, the commercial closes with this line:

“When you experience memory loss, remember us.”

Are they serious? This gave me such a good laugh, I am still chuckling over it! Seriously, if you can’t remember your spouse’s name or what country you live in, how are you supposed to remember some institution? I hope you have as much fun laughing with this one as I did. Coming to think of it, I can’t even remember the name of the institution. Hmm…

Ryan Cook
Music & Media Pastor
Desert Breeze Community Church

The Apostle Paul had one of the best perspectives on life and death as a fully-devoted follower of Jesus when he wrote in Philippians 1:20-26:

“20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.” (NIV)

What a perspective! If we, as believers, could grasp the concept that to take advantage of the countless opportunities to be the light in a dark world is only to further the work for Christ, yet the worst thing that could ever happen is we would die and be with our Lord, how much more would we look at life in a whole new light?

Our guys Bible study that I am a part of has been going through the book of Acts for a couple of months now. It’s amazing to see courage and determination of the early church members to reach out to their communities and those around them, through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Spirit that guided Cyndee to have the incredible impact she did on those around her. She had the eternal perspective that life is too short to waste so do everything possible to love those around her.

St. Francis of Assisi once wrote:

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel and when necessary, use words.”

This isn’t a cop-out to standing up for one’s faith, but certainly it means that we can be a witness and a testimony to those around us simply by the way we live.

So how do we deal with the reality of an immortal soul in a mortal world? Keep our focus on Jesus…the author and perfecter of our faith; and look for opportunities to be the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” to those around us. After all, we never know if will be us who worships in the church auditorium one Sunday and worships in God’s holy sanctuary the next.

“Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.” – Psalm 96:9 (NIV)

Ryan Cook
Music & Media Pastor
Desert Breeze Community Church

Lot’s Wife
The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, “My Mommy looked back once while she was driving and she turned into a telephone pole!”

The Good Samaritan
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan.  She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?” A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I’d throw up.”

Did Noah Fish?
A Sunday school teacher asked, “Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?”‘No,’ replied Johnny. “How could he, with just two worms.”

Higher Power
A Sunday school teacher said to her children, “We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times.  But, there is a Higher Power.  Can anybody tell me what it is?”One child blurted out, “Aces!”

Moses and the Red Sea
Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School.

“Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely.  Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements.  They sent bombers to blo w up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.”

“Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?” his mother asked.

“Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!”

The Lord Is My Shepherd
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible - Psalm 23.  She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter.  Little Rick was excited about the task - but he just couldn’t remember the Psalm.  After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.

On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, “The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all I need to know.”

Being Thankful
A Rabbi said to a precocious six-year-old boy, “So your mother says your prayers for you each night?  That’s very commendable.  What does she say?” The little boy replied, ‘Thank God he’s in bed!”

Untimely Answered Prayer
During the minister’s prayer one Sunday, there was a loud whistle from one of the back pews.  Tommy’s mother was horrified.  She pinched him into silence and, after church, asked, “Tommy, whatever made you do such a thing?” Tommy answered, soberly, “I asked God to teach me to whistle, and He did!”

Time To Pray
A pastor asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night. “Yes, sir,” the boy replied. “And, do you always say them in the morning, too?” the pastor asked. “No sir,” the boy replied. “I ain’t scared in the daytime.”

All Men/ All Girls
When my daughter, Kelli, said her bedtime prayers, she would bless every family member, every friend, and every animal (current and past). For several weeks, after we had finished the nightly prayer, Kelli would say, “And all girls.” This soon became part of her nightly routine, to include this closing.  My curiosity got the best of me and I asked her, “Kelli, why do you always add the part about all girls?” Her response, “Because everybody always finish their prayers by saying ‘All Men.’”

Say a Prayer
Little Johnny and his family were having Sunday dinner at his Grandmother’s house.  Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served.  When Little Johnny received his plate, he started eating right away.

“Johnny! Please wait until we say our prayer.” said his mother. “I don’t need to,” the boy replied.

“Of course, you do,” his mother insisted. “We always say a prayer before eating at our house.”

“That’s at our house,” Johnny ex plained. “But this is Grandma’s house and she knows how to cook!”

“Those tools included large screens used for showing video imagery; showing movie clips and other video segments during church events; sending email blasts to all or portions of the congregation; operating a church website; offering a blog site or pages for interaction with church leaders; maintaining a page on behalf of the church on one or more social networking sites; providing podcasts for people to listen to; and receiving programming and training via a satellite dish,” said a Barna Group news release.

In my opinion, the church often seems to be behind the secular world when it comes to technology when in all reality they should be ahead of the game. GodTube which is a Christian YouTube of sorts and MyChurch which is likened to MySpace are just a couple of examples. Still all the same, churches should work hard to at least keep pace.

That means that churches should at the very least try to incorporate multi-media and video within church services, have a web site that is frequently updated, utilize blogging software to publish church related content, and get involved with social media. Of course this is not always possible with very small churches that have limited talent and resources.

More on the actual statistics of how churches are using these evolving technologies at Crosswalk.com.

Christian broadcasters would be required to seek advice from non-Christians and even those opposed to the Christian message. Some radio stations fear organized groups of atheists, for instance, could demand representation on the new FCC-mandated advisory boards that would factor into licensing decisions.

World Net Daily has more details including how you can submit your comments and concerns on this final day that they are accepting them.

What is it about?  The Post describes it as a feature-length documentary film about researchers, professors, and academics who claim to have been marginalized, silenced, or threatened with academic expulsion because of their challenges to some or all parts of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Makers of the documentary said the movie doesn’t seek to champion intelligent design as the sole truth but calls for more academic freedom, where challenges to any scientific theory including Darwinism would be fairly considered.

I for one am glad to see a film like this gain prominence and challenge what was only a theory and not factual truth. In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing itself and supporting it with my pocketbook.

Jo Ann Magistro, the school superintendent who pursued the case, was among those who were reportedly “pleased” with the ruling. “The district pursued this case to protect children who could not protest pressure to participate in religious activities at school events,” she said, according to The Home News Tribune. She went on to say, “Today’s ruling accomplished that goal. Every student is a valued member of our community and their religious beliefs, or lack there of, can never be used to separate them from their peers and teammates.”

Conservative groups, however, described the ruling as a violation of constitutional rights. “No school is justified in policing its employees’ thoughts and penalizing them based on what they think is going on in their heads. What next? Will they bar coaches from silently moving their lips if others think it is a prayer?” the Family Research Council (FRC), a conservative organization that lobbies for the defense of Christians, said in an e-mail statement.

Borden’s attorney plans to appeal the ruling.