eChurch Blog

The belief that the earth is warming as the result of human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, is not accepted by a majority of Americans; but it is not for lack of knowledge about the issue. Though just under half of the public (49%) believes in man-made global warming –11% do not believe there is even solid evidence the earth is warming — 65% of Americans were able to correctly identify carbon dioxide as the gas scientists believe causes temperatures in the atmosphere to rise. In fact, more Americans were able to correctly identify carbon dioxide as the global warming gas than were able to cite Pluto as no longer being considered a planet. Unlike the general public, an overwhelming number of scientists (84%) say global warming is due to human activity; only 4% say there is no evidence the earth is warming. Among the public, the main divide is along partisan lines. While 64% of Democrats say the earth is getting warmer as a result of human activity, 67% of Republicans say the earth is getting warmer from natural changes or that there is no solid evidence of global warming.

Western Immigration and Global Jihad by Bill Muehlenberg

There is always a moral asymmetry between the free West and its enemies. The West is meant to play by the rules, and it usually does. It seeks to conduct it affairs within a moral framework, and certain things are simply off limits. But the enemies of freedom and democracy know no such compunctions. They are quite happy to use any means, including the exploitation of freedoms in the West, for their own purposes.

A classic case of this occurred during the Cold War. The Communists were quite adept at using the benefits and freedoms of the West to undermine it. Marxist morality dictated that the end justifies any means. Thus anything was permissible in the war against the West.

Islamic jihadists likewise seek to use and abuse the Western system for its own ends. They are happy to exploit Western freedoms, tolerance and openness to achieve their aims of a global caliphate and the submission of everyone to sharia law.

One way they seek to do this is by exploiting Western immigration laws and procedures. The West, ever keen to appear to be tolerant, compassionate and inclusive, is quite willing to allow Muslims of all stripes into their lands. Now the majority of these Muslims are usually not too problematic. But a healthy minority are. Radical Islamists are using our openness and porous borders to enter our lands, only with the aim of overthrowing the West from within.

Consider a case making headlines in today’s press. Here is one how news report covers the story: “A follower of a radical Islamic movement that seeks to introduce sharia law and has been linked to terrorist groups is being granted asylum in Australia. The Refugee Review Tribunal has recommended a protection visa for an Egyptian man, who is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group with links to al-Qaida. The Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed in several countries, including Egypt. It seeks to establish a pan-Islamic state ruled by sharia law and is committed to the destruction of Israel.”

A spokesperson for the Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council, expressed these concerns: “The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in many countries for good reason. It’s not just its attitude towards Israel that’s of concern. It has strands that are very sympathetic towards terrorism.” The Federal opposition immigration spokeswoman said she would write to the Government, asking to have the decision overturned.

If this were just an isolated incident, a one-off event, then not much more should be said. But if this is part of a much bigger picture, and just one example of a recurring pattern, then we should all be very concerned indeed. And that in fact seems to be the case. In fact, it is the very point being made in several new books.

For example, Sam Solomon and Elias Al Maqdisi make this case in Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration. Both authors are experts on Islamic thought, but Solomon is especially crucial here, since he used to be a professor of sharia law, but has since converted to Christianity.

The pair examine how a small presence of Muslims in a Western nation eventually builds to a critical mass, with the eventual aim of implementing sharia law, and taking over the host culture. Even seemingly benign measures, such as the building of mosques, can be used for these greater purposes.

Indeed, an earlier volume by the same two authors argued how important the mosque in Western nations is to this overall process. In The Mosque Exposed, they highlight how the Islamists use the mosque to teach, foment and recruit for violent jihad.

In their newer book they document how Western immigration policies are being exploited by these radicals, and how they use such things as taquiya, or deception, to achieve these aims. They seek to hide behind religious devotion and practice as they attempt to wrest control of lands belonging to the kuffar (non-Muslim).

The slow but steady process of Islamisation of Western lands is taking place in many areas, with any attempts to impede this progress met with shouts of discrimination and Islamophobia. And the West is so concerned about not treading on anyone’s toes, that the radicals are making great gains in realising their goals.

Other new books also describe this process. For example, Christopher Caldwell’s new book, Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West, examines how changing demographic patterns in the West, especially Europe, are part and parcel of this greater strategy of Islamic hegemony.

Caldwell documents how Western governments are squeamish about appearing to be intolerant or unwelcoming, so they often become their own worst enemies, by allowing the detractors of the West to freely enter their lands, set up shop, and work out their long-term plans.

He documents how the West tends to encourage the ghetto-isation of Muslim arrivals, instead of aiming for their assimilation and integration. This is a recipe for disaster, and we have seen it played out numerous times, especially in major European cities.

Other recent books might be cited, but the message should be clear. Just as Lenin once quipped about how the West would sell the Communists the rope with which to hang itself, so too modern democracies are sowing the seeds of their own destruction, by being naive or ignorant about global jihad, and how the radicals are using the West and its freedoms to in fact bring it to its knees.

To raise these issues is of course not to accuse all Muslims of treachery, jihad and anti-Western crusades. But a clear minority at least of Muslims are using the privileges and benefits of the West to promote Islamic jihad, and bring about the destruction of the West. Vigilance, as always, is clearly the order of the day here.

British Catholic magazine in hot water over health care editorial

CNA STAFF, Aug 26, 2009 / 05:28 pm (CNA).- The well-known British Catholic editor Damian Thompson is throwing his weight behind Archbishop Charles Chaput’s critique of The Tablet for insisting that the “U.S. bishops must back Obama” on his health care reforms.

Thompson, who is the editor of the British Catholic paper the Catholic Herald, blogged yesterday about Archbishop Chaput’s column that accused The Tablet of “knowingly misrepresenting Catholic teaching on abortion.”

“More seriously – and embarrassingly for English bishops who regard the Tablet as their house journal – Archbishop Chaput also apparently accuses the magazine of intellectual dishonesty in describing abortion as a ‘specifically Catholic issue,’” wrote Thompson.

After writing about The Tablet’s health care editorial on his blog, Thompson said that “Catholics of many shades of opinion express disgust at its stance.”

The rallying cry from The Tablet in favor of Obama’s reform effort was ridiculed by the archbishop for offering “unhelpful and badly informed opinions” on the American domestic policy debate.

As CNA first reported, the editorial was criticized by Archbishop Chaput for misusing the Catholic theme of finding “common ground” and for sounding “very much like acolytes” of President Obama.

Thompson’s post was followed by one from The Telegraph’s Will Heaven, who pointed out that this is the second time in recent weeks that The Tablet has been corrected by a senior bishop.

Just this week, The Tablet had to print a letter from Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster, who reprimanded the magazine for saying that Archbishop Vincent Nichols was “seeking to nip a potential schism in the bud” and putting the Latin Mass in its “necessarily marginal” place when he held a Latin Mass conference.

These gaffes caused Thompson to comment that “under its current editor and deputy editor, this publication has become an embarrassment to the Catholic Church in England and Wales. That’s a view I hold quite independently of my connection to The Catholic Herald, incidentally: the Bitter Pill’s circulation figures and profits are a matter of indifference to me, but its sniping at papal policies, highly partial news reporting and theological ignorance strike me as unforgivable.”

Have you noticed that in the UK or even in your local area, people’s freedom to practice their Christian faith is being stopped by legislation or employment regulations? Perhaps it has come to your attention that freedom of speech is being threatened by Parliamentary Bills and laws being passed! Do you want to see a nation encouraged to turn back to God and embrace Christian values? Imagine a society that values people above money and compassion above self interest! For too long, the UK has been limited in vision to a 3 party system of government. “It’s always been that way, so that’s the way it has to be!” Well, it doesn’t! Our 3 party system has worked well in the past when backgrounds were mostly loosely based on Christian philosophy. However, today, few of our politicians have much sympathy for the Christian faith and the result is that they are leading us further and further away from Christian values for our nations. That is why I believe as do many others, that it is time for Christian democracy to raise its standard to lead us to scripturally moral decisions that will direct our nations policies.

You can make the difference! Here is how. Pray about how your community and church can express the love of Christ in the political arena. Ask the Lord if there is a contribution that you can make. Here are some ideas:

Start a local group of the Christian Peoples Alliance in your area.

Stand as an Independent in the elections in 2010 (either to be a Local Councillor or an MP )

Stand as a candidate for the Christian Peoples Alliance party, for the Local Council elections or for the General Election

The CPA is a relatively new party and certainly new to most of the UK. Therefore, we need to build up the membership and awareness of it right across the UK, if we are going to be effective.

Please pray about this. There is absolutely no force from anyone to do this. However, it is certainly an Appeal, to which I hope some will feel able to respond. I am attaching a file from the CPA, which has suggestions and advice on starting a local group. To be effective in the next elections, local groups have to be established NOW and immediately research their local area and local needs. I propose that when one identifiable need has been established, that the group can then set about organising a petition to their local council, or some similar activity. This will raise the profile of the CPA in the local area, so that when it comes to the local or national elections (most probably in May 2010), the public will remember our contribution.

You may of course be one of those Christians who goes by the old addage, ‘politics and religion don’t mix’! Well, to those brothers and sisters, may I leave you with this thought to ponder. Has this philosophy been successful in leading our nation and its political parties, towards moral values consistent with the teachings of Christ or are we now witnessing the demise of our country’s moral standards and a diminishing respect for human life…for instance the drift towards euthanasia for the elderly, infirm or unhappy; the lack of conscience towards civilians in invasions, so called ‘collateral damage’?

Please find the uploaded file on advice for starting a local group of the Christian Peoples Alliance.

God bless all ! We can make a difference by the grace of God!

David Booth – Christian Peoples Alliance

Christian Peoples Alliance website

Click these PDF links for more information:-

Getting a Local Group Started PDF

Running as a Candidate in Local Government PDF

“The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.” Psalm 29:4

AIL God’s works praise him whether they be magnificent or minute, they
all discover the wisdom, the power and the benevolence of their Creator.
“All thy works praise thee, O God.” But there are some of his more
majestic works which sing the song of praise louder than others. There are
some of his doings, upon which there seems to be graven in larger letters
than usual the name of God. Such are the lofty mountains, which worship
God with uncovered heads both night and day, such are the rolling seas,
too mighty to be managed by man, but held in cheek by God, and such,
especially, are the thunders and the lightnings. The lightnings are the
glances of the eyes of God, and the thunders are the utterings of his voice.
The thunder has been usually attributed to God more especially, though
philosophers assure us that it is to be accounted for by natural causes. We
believe them, but we prefer ourselves, to fool to the first great cause, and
we are content with that odd and universal belief, that the thunder is the
voice of God. It is marvellous what effect the thunder has had upon all
kinds of men. In reading an ode of Horace the other day, I found him in the
first two verses, singing like a true Ithurean, that he despised God, and
intended to live merrily; but by-and-bye he hears the thunder, and
acknowledging that there is a Jehovah, who lives on high, he trembles
before him. The most wicked of men have been obliged to acknowledge
that there must be a Creator, when they have heard that marvellous voice
of his sounding through the sky. Men of the stoutest nerve and the boldest
blasphemy have become the weakest of all creatures, when God has in
some degree manifested himself in the mighty whirlwind, or in the storm.
“He breaketh the cedars of Lebanon ,” he bringeth down the stout hearts;
he layeth down the mighty, and he obliges those who never acknowledged
him to reverence him when they hear his voice. The Christian will
acknowledge the thunder to be the voice of God, from the fact, that if he
be in the right frame of mind, it always suggests to him holy thoughts. I do
not know how it may be with you, but I scarce ever hear the rolling
thunder but I begin to forget earth and look upwards to my God. I am
unconscious of any feeling of terror or pain; it is rather a feeling of delight
that I experience, for I like to sing that verse —

“The God that rules on high
And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky
And manages the seas.
This awful God is ours
Our Father and our love
He shall send down his heavenly powers
To carry us above.”

He is our God, and I like to sing that, and think of it: but there is
something so terrible in the time of that voice when God is speaking,
something so terrific to other men, and humbling to the Christian? that he
is obliged to sink very low in his own estimation; then he looks up to God,
and cries, “infinite Jehovah, spare a worm, crush not an unworthy wretch. I
know it is thy voice; I reverence thee with solemn awe; I prostrate myself
before thy throne; thou art my God, and beside thee there is none else.” It
might well have occurred to a Jewish mind to have called the thunder the
voice of God, when he considered the loudness of it, when all other voices
are hushed: even if they be the loudest voices mortals can utter, or the
most mighty sounds; yet are they but indistinct whispers, compared with
the voice of God in the thunder; and, indeed, they are entirely lost when
God speaks from his throne, and makes even the deaf hear, and those who
are unwilling to acknowledge him hear his voice.

But we need not stop to prove, that the thunder is the voice of God, from
any natural feeling of man, we have Scripture to back us up, and therefore
we shall do our best to appeal to that. In the first place, there is a passage
in the book of Exodus where I would refer you; where, in the margin, we
are told that the thunder is the voice of God. In the 9th chapter and the
28th verse, Pharaoh says “Entreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be
no more mighty thunderings and hail.” The original Hebrew has it, and my
margin has it, and the margin of all of you who are wise enough to have
marginal Bibles — “Voices of God.” “Let there be no more voices of God
and hail.” So that it is not a mere illusion, but we are really warranted by
Scripture, in saying, that “the thunder is the voice of God lifted up in the
sky.” Now, for another proof; to what shall we refer you unless we send
you to the book of Job? In his 37th chapter, 3rd verse, he says, “he
directeth, it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the
earth. After it a voice roareth he thundereth with the voice of his
excellency: and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. God
thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we
cannot comprehend.” And so he says in the 40th chapter at the 9th verse,
“Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?”
I am glad, in this age, when men are seeking to forget God, and put him
entirely out of the creation, and trying to put laws in the place of God, as if
laws could govern a universe without some one to execute those laws, and
put power and force into them — I am glad, I say, to be able to bear
testimony to something which men cannot deny to be caused immediately
by God the mighty One himself:

There is one striking proof I would offer to you, that the thunder is the
voice of God, and that is the fact, that when God spake on Sinai, and gave
forth his law, his voice is then described, if not in the first passage, yet in
the reference to it, as being great thunders. “There were thunders and
lightnings, exceedingly loud and long.” God spoke then, and he spoke so
terribly in thunder, that the people requested that they might hear that
voice no more. And I must refer you to one passage in the New Testament,
which will bear me out thoroughly in describing the thunder to be indeed,
the voice of God, and that is in the 11th chapter of the Gospel according to
St. John, where Jesus lifted up his voice to heaven at the tomb of Lazarus,
and asked his Father to answer him; and then a voice came from heaven,
and they that stood by said “that it thundered;” it was the voice of God
which was then heard, and they ascribed it to the thunder. Here is a
remarkable proof that the thunder has usually been ascribed to God as
being his voice, and when God’s voice has been heard on any remarkable
occasion, it has always been accompanied by the sound of thunder, or,
rather, has been the sound of thunder itself.

Well, now, leaving these considerations altogether, we come to make some
remarks, not upon the voice of God in the thunder, but upon the voice of
God as elsewhere heard; for it is not only heard there naturally, but there
are spiritual voices and other voices of the Most High. “The voice of the
Lord is full of majesty.” God has spoken in various ways to man, in order
that man might not think him a God so engrossed with himself that he does
not observe his creatures. It has graciously pleased the Divine Being,
sometimes to look upon man, at other times to stretch out his hand to man,
sometimes to reveal himself in mortal appearance to man, and frequently to
speak to man. At sundry times he has spoken absolutely without the use of
means — by his own voice, as for instance when he spoke from Sinai’s
blazing mountain-top, or when he spoke to Samuel in hi; bed, and said
unto him several times, “Samuel, Samuel,” or when he spoke to Elijah, and
Elijah said, “he heard the whirlwind, and he saw the fire;” and after that
there was “a still small voice.” He has spoken immediately from heaven by
his own lips on one or two occasions in the life of Christ. He spoke to him
at the waters of Jordan when he said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I
am well pleased.” He spoke to him on another occasion, to which we have
already referred. He spoke — it was God that spoke, though it was Jesus
Christ — he spoke to Saul, when on his way to Dramascus, “Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me?” He has spoken several times immediately by his
own voice, without the intervention of means at all; at other seasons, God
has been pleased to speak to men by angels. He has, as it were written the
message, and sent it down by his messenger from on high: he hath told to
man many wonders and secrets by the lips of those glorious beings, who
are flaming spirits of his, that do his pleasure, As frequently, perhaps, God
has spoken to men in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep
falleth upon them. Then, when the natural ear hath been closed, he hath
opened the ear of the spirit, and he hath taught truths which, otherwise,
men could never have known. More frequently still, God hath spoken to
men by men. From the days of Noah even until now God has raised up his
prophets, by whose lips he hath spoken. It was not Jeremiah who uttered
that lament which we read, but it was Jehovah, the God in Jeremiah
speaking through the natural organs of his voice, It was not Isaiah who
foresaw the future, and foretold the doom of millions, it was God in Isaiah
thus speaking. And so with every prophet of the Lord now living, and
every minister whom God hath raised up to speak: when we speak with
prwer and efficacy, and unction it is not we that speak, but it is the Spirit of
our Father who dwelleth in us. God speaks through men, and now also, we
know that God speaks through his own written Word of Inspiration. When
we turn to the page of Scripture, we must not look upon these words as
being in any degree the words of men, but as being the words of God. And
though they be silent, yet do they speak; and though they cause no noise,
yet, verily, “their God hath gone forth throughout all the world and their
noise unto the ends of the earth.” And yet, again, God even now speaks
himself by the use of means, he does not make man speak, he does not
make the Bible speak merely of itself, but he speaks through the Bible, and
through the man, as really as if he had used no books or employed no man
to speak for him. Ay, and there be times when the Spirit of God speaks in
the heart of man without the use of means. I believe there be many secret
impulses, many solemn thoughts, many mysterious directions given to us
without a single word having been uttered, but by the simple motions of
God’s Spirit in the heart. This thing I know, that when I have neither heard
nor read, I have yet felt the voice of God within me, and the Spirit hash,
himself, revealed some dark mystery, opened some secret, guided me into
some truth, given me some direction, led me in some path, or in some other
way hath immediately spoken to me himself; and I believe it is so with
every man at conversion, with every Christian, as he is carried on through
his daily life, and especially as he nears the shores of the grave — that God,
the Everlasting One, speaks himself to his soul, with a voice that he cannot
resist, although he may have resisted the mere voice of man. The voice of
the Lord is still heard, even as it as heard aforetime. Glory be to his name!
And now, my beloved, I come to the doctrine, “The voice of the Lord is
full of majesty.” First of all, essentially, “The voice of the Lord” must be
“full of majesty;” secondly, constantly, “the voice of the Lord is full of
majesty;” thirdly, efficaciously, in all it does, “The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty.”

I. First, then, “The voice: OF THE LORD IS FUEL OF MAJESTY.” Ay, and so
it should be. Should not that voice be fall of majesty which comes from
Majesty? Is not God the King of kings, and the Ruler of the whole earth?
Should he, then, speak with a voice below his own dignity? Should not the
king speak with the voice of a king? Should not a mighty monarch speak
with a monarch’s tongue? And surely, if God be God, and if he be the
blaster of all worlds, and the Emperor of the universe, he must, when he
speaks, speak with the monarch’s tongue and with a majestic voice. The
very nature of God requires that all he does should be Godlike. His looks
are looks divine; his thoughts are thoughts divine; and should not his words
be words divine, since they come from him? Verily, from the very essence
of God, we might infer that his voice would be full of majesty.

But what do we mean by a voice having majesty? I take it that no man’s
voice can have majesty in it unless it is true; a lie, if it should he spoken in
the noblest language would never be majestic, a falsehood, if it be uttered
by the most eloquent lips, would be a mean and paltry thing, however it
might be spoken; and an untruth, wherever uttered, and by whomsoever, is
not majestic; it never can be truth, and truth only can ever have majesty
about it; and because God’s words are pure truth, unalloyed with the least
degree of error, therefore does it come to pass that his words are full of
majesty. Whatever I hear my Father say in Scripture, wherever he speaks
to me by the ministry, or by his Spirit, if he speaks it, there is not the
slightest alloy of untruth about it. I may receive it just as it is.

“My faith may on his promise live,
May on his promise die.”

I need not reason about it, it is enough for me to take it and believe it,
because he has said it, I need not try to prove it to the worldling: if I were
to prove it, he would believe it none the better; if the voice of God’s
majesty doth not convince him, sure the voice of my reasoning never can. I
need not stand and cut and divide between this voice of God and the other,
I know it must be true, if he has said it, and therefore I will believe all that I
believe God has said, believing that his voice is full of majesty.
Then, again, when we speak of a majestical voice, we mean by it, that it is
a commundiny voice. A man may speak truth, and yet there may be but
little majesty in what he says, because he speaks it in a tone that never can
command attention and catch the ear of his fellow creatures. In fact, there
are some men, expounders of truth, who had better hold their tongues, for
they do truth an injury. We know full many who affect to preach God’s
truth, who go out to battle, who take the lance in their hands to defend the
honor of Christ, but who wield the lance so ill, and who have so little of
God’s Spirit, that they do but disgrace his holy name and it would have
been better had they remained at home. Oh! beloved, God’s voice when be
speaks, is always a commanding voice. Let the monarch arise in the midst
of his creatures, they may have been conversing with each other before; but
hush! his majesty is about to speak. It is so with the majesty of God; if he
should speak in heaven the angels would hush their hallelujahs, and
suspend the notes of their golden harps, to hear him; and when he speaks
on earth, it is at all times becoming in all his creatures to hush their
rebellious passions, and make the voice of their reason be silent. When God
speaks, either from the pulpit or from his Word, I hold it to be my duty to
keep silence. Even while we sing the glories of our God, our soul stands
trembling; but when he speaks forth his own glories, who is he that dares
to reply? Who is he that shall lift up his voice against the majesty of
heaven? There is something so majestic in the voice of God, that when he
speaks, it commands silence every where, and bids men hear.

But there is something very powerful in the voice of God and that is the
reason why it has majesty in it. When God speaks, he speaks not weakly,
but with a voice full of power. We poor creatures, at times, are clothed by
Go I with that might, and when we speak grace comes pouring from our
lips; but there are oftentimes seasons when we meet with small success; we
talk and talk, and have not our Master’s feet behind us, nor our Master’s
spirit within us, and therefore but little is done. It is not so with God: he
never wasted a word yet; never spoke a solitary word in vain. Whatever he
intended he had but to speak and it was accomplished. Once he said, “Let
there be light,” and instantly light was. So he said in past eternity that
Christ should be his first elect, and Christ was his first elect. He decreed
our salvation; he spake the word, and it was done. He sent his Son to
redeem, and proclaimed to his elect justification in him. And his voice was
a powerful voice, for it did justify us. Any other man’s voice could not
pardon sin, none but the voice of the monarch can speak pardon to the
subject; and God’s is a majestic voice, for he has only to speak, and our
pardon is at once signed, sealed, and ratified. God is not magniloquent in
his words; he does not speak big, sounding words, without meaning. The
simplest word he utters may have little meaning to man, but it has a power
and meaning in it equal to the omnipotence of God. There is a majesty
about the voice of God which might suffice to nerve my soul to fight the
dragon; to say, “Where is thy boasted victory, death? Where is the
monster’s sting?” That one promise hath majesty enough in it to make the
dwarf a giant, and the weakling one of the mighties of the Most High. It
has might enough in it to feed a while host in the wilderness, to guide a
whole company through the mazes of mortal life; majesty enough to divide
the Jordan, to open the gates of heaven, and admit the ransomed in.
Beloved, I cannot tell you how it is that God’s voice is so majestic except
from the fact, that he is so mighty himself, and that his words are like him.
But just one thought more concerning the voice of God being essentially
majestic; and I must trouble you to remember that, if you forget everything
else that I have said. In some sense Jesus Christ may be called the voice of
God, for you know he is called the Word of God frequently in Scripture,
and I am sure this Word of God .. is full of majesty.” The voice and the
word are very much the same thing. God speaks: it is his Son. His Son is
the Word, the Word is his Son, and the voice is his Son. Ah! truly the
voice, the Word of God, “is full of majesty.” Angels! ye can tell what
majesty sublime invested his blest person when he reigned at his Father’s
right hand, ye can tell what were the brightnesses which he laid aside to
become incarnate, ye can tell how sparkling was that crown, how mighty
was that scepter, how glorious were those robes bedecked with stars.
Spirits! ye who saw him when he stripped himself of all his glories, ye can
tell what was his majesty. And oh! ye glorified, ye who saw him ascend up
on high, leading captivity captive — ye beloved songsters who bow before
him, and unceasingly sing his love! ye can tell how full of majesty he is.
High above all principalities and powers ye see him sit, angels are but
servants at his feet, and the mightiest monarchs like creeping worms
beneath his throne. High there, where God alone reigns, beyond the ken of
angels or the gaze of immortal spirits — there he sits, not majestic merely,
but full of majesty. Christian! adore your Savior; adore the Son of God;
reverence him, and remember at all seasons and times, how little so ever
you may be, your Savior, with whom you are allied, the Word of God, is
essentially full of majesty.

II. Now the second point. IT IS CONSTANTLY FULL OF MAJESTY. God’s
voice, like man’s voice, has its various tones and degrees of loudness; but
it is full of majesty constantly so — whatever tone he uses, it is always full
of majesty. Sometimes God speaks to man with a harsh voice, threatening
him for sin; and then there is majesty in that harshness. When man is angry
with his fellows, and he speaks harshly and severely, there is little majesty
in that, but when the just God is angry with sinful mortals, and he says, “I
will by no means spare the guilty ;” “I, the Lord, am a jealous God;” when
he declares himself to be exceedingly wroth, and asks who can stand before
the fury of his countenance — when the rocks are cast down by him —
there is a majesty in that terrific voice of his. Then he adopts another voice.
Sometimes it is a gentle didactic voice, teaching us what he would have us
learn. And then how full of majesty it is! He explains, he expounds, he
declares: he tells us what we are to believe; and what a majesty there is in
His voice then! Men may explain God’s Word, and have no majesty in
what they say; but when God teaches what his people are to hold to be
truth, what majesty there is in It! So much majesty, that if any man take
away from the words that are written in this Book, God shall take away
His name out of the book of life and out of the holy city — so much
majesty, that to seek to mend the Bible is a proof of a blasphemous heart,
that to seek to alter one word of Scripture is a proof of alienation from the
God of Israel. At another time God uses another voice — a sweet
consoling voice. And oh! ye mourners that have ever heard God’s
comforting voice, is not that full of majesty! There is nothing of the mere
trifling, that sometimes we employ to comfort poor sick SOULS. Mothers
will often talk to those who are sick in some gentle strain; but somehow it
appears to be affected, and is, therefore, not full of majesty; but when God
speaks to comfort, he uses his majestic words. “The mountains shall
depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,” saith the Lord
that hath mercy on thee. Oh! is there not majesty in this sweet voice? “Can
a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I never forget thee.”
How sweet, but yet how majestic! We cannot avoid being comforted by it
if God speaks it to our souls. Sometimes God’s voice is a reproving voice;
and then it is full of majesty. “The ox knoweth his owner,” he says, “and
the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not
consider;” and he speaks reprovingly, as if he had a controversy with them,
and calls the mountains and the hills to hear his reproof of them on account
of sin; “I have nourished and brought up children, but they have rebelled
against me.” But God’s reproving voice is always full of majesty. At other
times it is a voice of command to his children, when he appears to them
and says, “Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward,” And how
majestic are God’s commands, how mighty is his voice, when he tells us
what to do! Some of you have a very poor estimation of what God’s voice
is. God tells you to be baptized in honor of your Lord and Master; he
speaks to you, and he tells you to come round his table, and to remember
his dying sufferings; but you do not think much of it seems to be lost upon
you. But let me tell you, that God’s voice of command is as full of majesty,
and ought to be as much regarded by his people as his word of promise or
his word of doctrine. Whenever he speaks there is a majesty about his
voice, whatever tone he may adopt. Ah! beloved, and there are times
coming when God will speak words which will be evidently full of majesty
— when he will speak and say, “Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment.”
There will be majesty in that voice; for Hades shall then be unlocked, and
the gates of the grave sawn in twain; the spirits of the dead shall again be
clothed with flesh, and the dry bones shall be made alive once more. And
he will speak by-and-bye, and summon all men to stand before his bar; and
there will be majesty in his voice then, when he shall say, “Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you;” and oh! dread
thought, there will be tremendous majesty in his voice, when he shall
exclaim, “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels.”

Again. God’s voice is full of majesty in all the different degrees of its
loudness. Even in calling there is a difference in the loudness of God’s
voice; many of you were called gently to Christ, and you did not seem to
hear the thunders of Sinai, like many of God’s people; but whether the
voice be loud or soft, it is always full of majesty.

And in all its mediums it is full of majesty. God has sometimes chosen the
poor to speak his wisdom by. If I go and hear a countryman or an untaught
man preach, who makes many mistakes in grammar, yet if it is God’s word
that he preaches, it “is full of majesty.” And sometimes, when a little child
has repeated a text, we have not noticed the child, by reason of the majesty
of the voice. In fact, the meaner the instrument employed, the greater the
majesty in the voice itself. I have noticed a tendency in many to despise
their poorer brethren, members of smaller churches, where there is a more
humble minister than one they are in the habit of hearing; but this is all
wrong, for God’s voice is full of majesty, and he can as well speak by one
as the other.

III. In the last place, I must briefly refer to the majesty of God’s voice
WHEN IT IS REVEALED IN ITS EFFECT — when it is spoken home to the
heart of man. Just look at the Psalm, and let me briefly refer to the facts
here mentioned. I shall not understand them naturally, though, doubtless,
they were so intended by David, but I shall understand them spiritually. As
Dr. Hawker remarks, “Doubtless they were intended to set out gracious
operations, as well as natural ones.”

First, the voice of the Lord is a breaking voice. “The voice of the Lord
breaketh the cedars.” The proudest and most stubborn sinner is broken
before him when he speaks. I believe that even the spirit of Voltaire,
stubborn as that spirit was, and bard as a millstone, would have been
broken in a single instant, if God had but spoken to him; the hardest heart I
have here needs only one syllable from God to break it in a moment. I
might hammer away to all eternity, but I could not do it; but “the voice of
the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.”

In the next place it is a moving voice, an overcoming voice. “He maketh
them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.”
Who would ever think of a mountain moving? It stands so fast and firm.
But God’s voice, like his voice in Zerubbabel, speaks to the mountain, and
says. “Who art thou, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain.” There is not a mountain standing in this world that God
cannot move away by his voice, whether it be the mountains of Rome, or
the mountains of the false prophet, or the mountains of colossal systems of
heresy, or infidelity, or idolatry. God has only to speak the word, and the
idols shall fall from their thrones, and the firm mountains of prostrated shall
skip like a calf.

In the next place, the voice of God is a > voice. “The voice of the Lord
divides the flames of fire;” or, as it should be, “The voice of the Lord
putteth out with flames of fire.” You saw the lightning on Friday, and you
remarked then, when God’s voice was heard, that the flash seemed to part
the cloud and divide the sky. Just so with God’s word. Where God’s word
is faithfully preached, and his voice is spiritually heard, it is always a
dividing voice. You bring all kinds of different characters into a chapel, and
God’s word splits them all in twain. It is in this place God divides you. The
son of God holds his throne, and sits in judgment here. It divides men from
men; it divides sinners from their sins; it divides sinners from their
righteousness; it splits through clouds and darkness; it divides our troubles,
breaks a way for us to heaven. In fact, there is nothing that the voice of
God cannot divide. It is a dividing voice.

And then, again, the voice of the Lord is such a loud voice, that it is said to
shake the wilderness. “The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.” Stand
in the middle of a wilderness or a desert, and conceive if you would make
anything hear; but when God speaks, his voice ringeth through the
wilderness, and startleth the desert itself. Minister of God! you have only
to speak God’s voice, and you will be heard; if you have only half-a-dozen
to hear you, you will be heard further than you know of. None of us can
preach a gospel sermon, but it is heard and talked of more than we
imagine. Yea, there is not a pious conversation with a poor woman but
may be carried all over the world, and produce the most wonderful effects.
Nobody can tell how loud is God’s voice, and how far it may be heard.
“Lift up thy voice; lift it up; be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God.” And your voice may be ever so weak, and your ability
ever so little: only lift it up, and God Almighty, by his grace, may make the
very wilderness to shake, yea, he may make the very wilderness of Kadesh
to tremble.

And then in the 9th verse there is another idea, which I must not pass over,
although I might have preferred to do so, possibly. “The voice of the Lord
maketh the hinds to calve.” By this I understand what the ancients believed
— that so affrighted were the hinds by the noise of the thunder, that the
period of calving was often hastened on, and frequently prematurely. It is
just so with God’s voice. If a man has in him a desire towards Christ, the
voice of God makes him bring forth that desire, to the joy and rejoicing of
his soul. And very frequently, when a man has a bad design towards God,
God has only to speak, and his design becomes abortive. It is brought
forth, as it were, before its time, and falls like an untimely fruit to the
ground. Whatever man has within him, God can make it come out of him in
a single moment: if he has a desire towards God, God can bring forth that
desire, and he can bring forth the soul, and make it live; and if it be a desire
against God, God can frustrate that desire, kill it, overwhelm it, and
overthrow it; for the voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve.”
And in the next place, the voice of God is a discovering voice. It
“discovereth the forests.” The trees were your former hiding-place; but in
the forest, however thick it may be, there doth the lightning gleam; and
under the mighty trees, however thick their covering, the voice of the Lord
is heard. God’s voice is a discovering voice. You hypocrites! you get
hiding yourselves under the trees of the forest; but God’s voice thundereth
after you when it speaks. Some of you get hiding under ceremonies, good
lives, resolutions, and hopes; but God’s voice will discover the forests; and
recollect, there will be a day with some of you, when you will hide
yourselves, or seek to do it, under rocks and mountains, or in the deepest
parts of the forests, but when he sits upon his throne, the voice of the Lord
will discover the forests. Ye may stand under the old oak, or creep within
its trunk, and feel that there you are hidden; but his eyes like balls of fire,
shall see you through and through, and his voice, like a voice of thunder,
shall say, “Come forth, culprit; come forth, man; I can see thee;

‘Mine eye can pierce the shades, and find thy soul as soon
In midnight’s darkness as in blazing noon.’

Come forth, come forth!” And vain then will be thy disguises, vain thy
subterfuges. “The voice of the Lord discovereth the forests.” Oh! I would
to God that he would speak to some of you this morning, and discover
your souls! I wish he would discover to you your lost and hopeless
condition, that you are damned without Christ every one of you! Oh that
he would discover to you how horrible is your position considered apart
from the Savior; discover to you the fallacy of all your legal hope, and of
all your experiences, if they are not experiences allied to Christ! I pray that
he would discover to you that all your good works will come tumbling on
your head at last, if you build them for a house, and that you must stand
surrounded by no covering, but unveiled before the God who discovers the
forests.

I would have preached to you this morning, but I cannot. Yet, perhaps,
amidst the multitude of my words there may be some still small voice of
God, which shall reach your heart. And if the rest of you should despise it,
what of that? The voice of God will be as full of majesty in the reprobate as
in the elect; and if ye be cast away into hell, God shall get as much glory
from the voice which ye heard and which ye despised, as he does from his
voice which the elect heard, and at which they trembled and fled to God.
Do not think that your damnation will rob God of any of his honor. Why,
sirs, he can be as much glorified in your destruction as in your salvation.
You are but little creatures in the account of his glory. He can magnify
himself anyhow. Oh! humble yourselves, therefore, before God; bow down
yourselves before his love and his mercy, and hear now what the plan of
salvation is, whereby God brings out his elect. It is this: “He that
believeth,” in that voice, that Word, that Son of his, “He that believeth,” —
not he that heareth; “He that believeth,” — not he that talketh “He that
believeth,” — not merely he that hopeth. “He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be dawned.” Ah! hearers, if I
could leap out of my body, and could lay aside the infirmities of my spirit,
methinks that then I might preach to you; but I know right well that even
then it must be God that speaks; and therefore I leave the words. My God!
My God! Save these my people; for Jesus’ precious name’s sake. Amen
and Amen.

DISGUSTING!!!

By Hilary White

NEW YORK, August 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A UN agency has issued a report calling for all children in all countries to be taught about sex, “reproductive” and “gender” issues.  United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has issued a report, titled “International Guidelines on Sexual Education,” that claims that international law requires States to “provide sexuality education in primary and secondary schools.” The report says children should be given explicit information on sex from the age of five as an “entitlement”.

“Sexuality education,” the report says, “is part of the duty…of education and health authorities and institutions.”

The report complains that children’s knowledge of sex is hampered “by embarrassment, silence, and disapproval of open discussion of sexual matters by adults”.

In what may be a swipe at Uganda’s highly successful AIDS prevention programme focusing on abstinence and fidelity in marrige, the UNESCO report notes the “experience in Uganda” that “reveals that young people living with HIV are often discriminated against by sexual and reproductive health services and are actively discouraged from becoming sexually active.”

As with most “progressive” demands for explicit sexual information for children, the rationale is to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy. This despite increasing evidence on the ground that such “education” increases these and other social ills.

“Few young people receive adequate preparation for their sexual lives. This leaves them potentially vulnerable to coercion, abuse and exploitation, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV,” the report says.

“It is therefore essential to recognise the need and entitlement of all young people to sexuality education.”

The report was released in June in conjunction with the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization which works for universal access to “reproductive health care.” UNESCO has long been a major supporter of the United Nations’ population control projects, including coercive abortion, in its overseas work. Also consulting in the report were “recognised experts” with UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, both organisations heavily invested in abortion and contraceptives as part of the international population control project.

Included in what the report calls its “rights-based approach”, are issues like “sexual and reproductive rights,” the role of women within families, the “right and access to safe abortion.”

Despite insisting that parents should be included in consultations on age-appropriateness of the sex education programmes, the report repeatedly asserts that teachers and government-approved programmes are most responsible for children’s well being.

“In a context where ignorance and misinformation can be life-threatening, sexuality education is part of the duty of care of education and health authorities and institutions.

“Teachers in the classroom have a responsibility to act in the place of parents, contributing towards ensuring the protection and well-being of children and young people.”

Pastor Richard Mahan, St. Timothy Lutheran Church, “I feel sick to my stomach.”

Those comments at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s assembly in Minnesota last week garnered local Pastor Richard Mahan national attention.

Then Sunday, Mahan made his position on the denomination’s decision to allow gay marriage very obvious by blacking out “Lutheran” on St. Timothy signs, and then giving a scathing 25 minute sermon.

Richard Mahan, “We welcome the sinner but we do not welcome the sin.”

The Lutheran Church now allows homosexual clergy members and recognizes gay marriage, but that decision does not sit well with Mahan, who says the fall-out could be huge with many Lutherans leaving the church or churches leaving the Lutheran doctrine.

Richard Mahan, “This changes what the church has taught for 2000 years.”

Richard Mahan, “I can not believe nor do I understand how the church I’ve loved and served for 40 years can condone what God condemns.”

Charlie Rouse is a part of Rainbow Pride in Charleston,

He says the black-out is hurtful.

Charlie Rouse, Rainbow Pride, “There are a lot of gay and lesbians in healthy committed relationships who want recognition not only in the legal community but in the religious community as well.”

But Mahan says for him it boils down to the word of God.

Oh this is just classic and a fantastic example of where Harriet Harman and her Equality and Human Rights Commission is taking us. Perhaps I should start a request for those folks that love Marmite, to be an officially recognised minority group.

Please see my previous posts on “Equality”

The British National Party (BNP) is to be taken to court by the Government’s equalities watchdog (The Equality and Human Rights Commission) for refusing to change rules that bar membership to blacks, Asians and Jews.

Equalities minister Harriet Harman has defended the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, (EHRC) Trevor Phillips.

Bloated The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) quango accused of wasting money

The spate of resignations at the UK’s “equalities” watchdog (EHRC – Equality and Human Rights Commission) is not the fault of under-fire chairman Trevor Phillips, his deputy has told the BBC

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales as well as the Scottish Bishops’ Conference have submitted a joint response to an EU proposal for an Equal Treatment Directive. The bishops voiced “serious concerns” that the proposal—which covers religion, belief, disability, age and sexual orientation—could be used by “pressure groups” to limit the freedom of Catholics.

More Nuttiness from Looney England: Government Protecting Nudists from Discrimination

By Hilary White

LONDON, August 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Nudists in the UK are petitioning the government’s Equalities Office to be included as an officially recognised minority group to be protected from “discrimination” in law. Called “naturists” in Britain, they have received a positive hearing from Harriet Harman, the Labour government’s Equalities minister.

The lobby group British Naturism has sent a brief to the Government Equalities Office in which they claimed that nudists are unfairly discriminated against in British society. The group, whose stated purpose is to “make social nudity more acceptable across the UK,” told Harriet Harmon that a school headmaster had been suspended from her job when school board members discovered she liked to go nude in public. They complain that naturists are obliged to keep their interests “in the closet” and that naturist teachers and those in health service risk being “bullied” or laughed at if their proclivities are discovered.

Naturists, they said, “meet with significant discrimination due to prejudice against their lifestyle and beliefs.”

“We have encountered serious difficulties in dealing with both councils and swimming pool management companies. It is near impossible to persuade them to run naturist swimming sessions.” They also complain of increased fees for their events, censorship in attempts to advertise naturist events, and the refusal of services, such as FedEx deliveries, to naturist centres.

In their brief to the government, British Naturism wrote that they want the law clarified in order to guarantee uniform enforcement. Currently they say that the legality of naturism is “largely determined by the whim of individual police officers”.

The Equalities Office appears to be taking the complaints seriously and ranking it equivalent to the claims of homosexualist activists. The British Naturism brief was displayed on the website together with that of Stonewall, the homosexualist lobby group, Age Concern and the Runnymede Trust, an anti-racism campaign group.

British Naturism has 16,000 members but claims there could be as many as 1.2 million “naturists” in the country.

In related news, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has demanded that the national census includes questions on “sexual orientation.” The EHRC, that describes Stonwall as a “key partner” in its development, said in a new business plan that it would continue to “lobby for a question on sexual orientation to be included in the 2011 census,” despite opposition from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS said in March 2006: “The ONS view remains that such questions are not suitable for the 2011 Census.

“ONS has significant concerns surrounding the issues of privacy, acceptability, accuracy, conceptual definitions and the effect that such a question could have on the overall response to the Census.”

The last census found that 0.2 per cent of households are headed by a same-sex partners. One per cent of the UK population described themselves as homosexual. Homosexual lobbyists, however, insist the number is closer to 6 per cent.

In 1987 the British Social Attitudes Survey found that three quarters of people in Britain thought that homosexuality was always, or mostly, wrong. By 2008, that figure had fallen to 32 per cent. A poll commissioned by Stonewall in 2007 found that almost nine out of ten Britons supported laws to protect homosexuals from “workplace discrimination.” 73 per cent said they would not mind if a child’s teacher was homosexual and 88 per cent would not mind if a member of the royal family were homosexual.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide

EU ambassadors meet Belarusian Christian leader over imminent Church destruction

European Ambassadors to Belarus met with the leader of New Life Church in Minsk this week to discuss recent threats by the government to confiscate and destroy one of the largest protestant churches in the country.

According to New Life Church representatives, EU officials from 15 member states and from the European Commission Delegation met with Pastor Slava Goncharenko in the French Embassy, who informed them that the community continues to resist government efforts to force them to sell their church building, despite an official notice ordering them to turn it over to the city government by last weekend.

The church has been in a long-running struggle with the government to keep its doors open. Church leaders have repeatedly attempted to register in compliance with Belarusian law, but have been refused on each occasion.

The pastor and the church lawyer, Sergey Lukanin, were invited to the French embassy in Belarus on August 25. A few days earlier they had received official documentation from Belarusian authorities outlining details of the forced sale and confiscation of New Life Church.  Pastor Goncharenko noted that the Church signature section on the sale and transfer of property documents completed by the Minsk City Executive Committee had been crossed out, and that funds have been transferred to the church, despite the fact that no agreement has been made.

New Life Church in Minsk has over one thousand members and has been the target of repeated government fines and shut down attempts since it’s foundation in 2001.

Rev Stuart Windsor, CSW’s National Director said: “This sad case represents the sorry state of religious freedom in Belarus. We urgently call on the European Union, having launched its Eastern Partnership initiative, to intervene on behalf of New Life Church Community and compel the Belarusian authorities to retract their decision, and to respect the religious liberty of all Belarusians throughout the country”.

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the leading forces of liberalism in the Senate for over a quarter-century, died Tuesday night at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

Kennedy had been battling brain cancer since it was diagnosed in May 2008.  He was chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee at the time of his death.

Known as “the lion of the Senate,” Kennedy was one of the most formidable opponents to American conservatism ever to claim a seat in the Senate.  NARAL awarded a 100% pro-abortion voting record to the Massachusetts senator, who also championed embryonic stem cell research and same-sex “marriage.”  He was one of only fourteen senators who voted against the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.  Kennedy was also a driving force behind the expansion of “hate crimes” legislation to include special protection for homosexuals.

One of the most infamous moments in Kennedy’s career was his nearly single-handed defeat in 1987 of President Reagan’s pro-life nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Robert Bork, whom Kennedy lambasted as envisioning America as “a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions.”  The speech ushered in a new era of senatorial contention over presidential nominations to the Supreme Court.

The last great impact the pro-abortion Massachusetts senator had on Capitol Hill was the introduction of the health care legislation currently fighting its way through Congress: Kennedy called the project of universal health care, for which he had advocated for decades, “the cause of my life.”

Kennedy’s absence from the Senate floor during his illness was seen as a detriment to smoothing over acceptance of the measure.  With his death, the Obama administration permanently lost a famed negotiator and key ally in passing the bills, which have met with mounting opposition from conservatives and pro-life advocates decrying the expansion of abortion embedded in the legislation.

The new vacancy also renders the Senate vulnerable to a filibuster by Republicans: before, Senate Democrats had 60 votes, just enough to block possible GOP efforts to kill legislation with delay tactics.  Aware that passage of his health care bill would be imperiled by his death, Sen. Kennedy had asked Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick only last week to change state law to allow the Democrat governor to appoint an interim senator.  It is unclear whether the state government will grant Kennedy’s wish, as the state legislature is on recess until early September.

As a prominent Catholic, Kennedy’s aggressive pro-abortion politics was a constant source of scandal to the Catholic community.  But it was not always so: in the years before the abortion industry took hold of the Democrat party, Kennedy, like many of his fellow abortion-promoting Democrats, was pro-life.

“Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old,” wrote Kennedy in a letter to Catholic League member Tom Dennelly in 1971.

“When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.”

Though the pro-life movement considered Kennedy one of the great enemies to the pro-life cause after his change of heart, pro-life leaders nonetheless offered Kennedy their prayers after learning of the cancer diagnosis.

“We’re all praying for him,” Joe Scheidler, head of the Pro-Life Action League, told LifeSiteNews.com after Kennedy’s diagnosis last year.  “We hope his ailment will bring conversion.  We can’t wish anyone eternal punishment.”