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Paul on 1st amendment
(No, this is not an endorsement.)
The First amendment (or any other constitutional provision) must be strictly construed to reflect the intent of the Founding Fathers. The language is clear- Congress simply is prohibited from passing laws establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion. There certainly is no mention of any “separation of church and state”, although Supreme Court jurisprudence over the decades constantly asserts this mystical doctrine. Sadly, the application of this faulty doctrine by judges and lawmakers consistently results in violations of the free exercise clause. Rulings and laws separating citizens from their religious beliefs in all public settings simply restrict religious practices. Our Founders clearly never intended an America where citizens nonsensically are forced to disregard their deeply held beliefs in public life. The religious freedom required by the Constitution should not end the moment one enters a school, courtroom, or city hall.
More of Ron Paul’s writings. (You have to admit…they are interesting.)
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great blog!
Here is a great blog by AIMAir pilot, Mike Delorenzo. He is a good writer and has been doing a great job of describing the situation in and around Kenya from a missionary point-of-view. As I prepare to fly with AIMAir this site is extremely informative to me as Mike details not just the type of flying and situations I will be getting into, but he also does a good job of capturing the emotion of doing the type of work we will be doing.
On a related note, I am working to put together a list of the blogs that I frequent relating to our work. Many of our co-workers on the field do a great job of blogging, and their stories and pictures are absolutely fascinating. I will try and get the blog roll up this week! (Update: its on the left sidebar.)
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our team
Here is a recent picture of our SIMSudan team that we will be joining. I have had the chance to meet some of these people, but we won’t meet most of them until we get to Africa. As you can see it is a very diverse crowd, with diverse roles and talents. We can’t wait to get over there an join them!
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“Called…to Love”
(by Harry Kraus, missionary surgeon, Kijabe, Kenya)
“I’m tired. That’s a bad thing. But a common thing for missionaries serving on foreign fields. In Africa, tiredness is almost a badge. I’m working hard for Jesus, you know. Others should notice and break into some sort of spontaneous expression of praise, if not directly to God, at least stop and pat me on the back. But this isn’t an article about being exhausted for Christ, and in fact, most of what I have to say will show you how futile and empty most of our precious work has become. Because we’ve stayed away from the main thing.
Yes, I’m tired. I am. But not like you might think. I’m tired of Christianity being misunderstood. Tired of Christianity being judged on the basis of western culture. Tired of letting Hollywood define us, tired of materialism being the first love of the Christian and tired of watching church growth being made up of disenchanted souls hopping from congregation to congregation instead of the lost swelling our ranks. I’m tired of seeing Islam make advances, when I know the truth is on our side. Tired of seeing people embrace a religion that hides behind a cloak of lies while truth sits idle on the curb, ignored and forgotten.
Because we’ve strayed from the essence that defines us we’ve left the main thing long behind, while we strive forward. Busy. Fruitless. And don’t forget that admirable missionary trait, tired. read more
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