Creation Care

Oops! This Creation Care flyer was littering the edge of the woods today.

NC: Marriage amendment

For North Carolina readers:

In response to a press conference yesterday announcing the introduction of the marriage amendment bill, the Triangle's WRAL.com has posted an online poll asking whether or not you would vote for a marriage amendment.

Please send a strong message to the legislators and media by clicking and say that you will vote for a marriage amendment if it appears on the ballot.

Marriage Amendment Poll

From: Tami L. Fitzgerald, Executive Director
NC4Marriage

ShamWow Prayer Cloth

A New Nullification Crisis?

Our economic woes may be leading to a constitutional crisis as serious as when South Carolina's John C. Calhoun resigned the Vice Presidency to fight the financial overreach of the federal government.

The stimulus bill seems to be an opportunity for the feds to bribe the states to follow a new ideological piper. Some of them are not amused.

And it is not just the Sandlappers. Eleven states are threatening a new crisis of nullification of federal law within their borders on the basis of the Tenth Amendment.

Eleven States Declare Sovereignty Over Obama’s Action

During the first crisis in 1828-1832, the Federal government (headed by another South Carolina native, Andrew Jackson) threatened all manner of enforcement including military invasion, but John C. Calhoun and South Carolina called the Feds' bluff and Washington backed down. (Ironically, the current Vice President is handling the new "stimulus" package.)

After a war of Northern aggression, a century and a half of Lincoln-inspired centralized government, and a current hamstringing recession, the likelihood of a state victory this time may itself be nullified.

Thanks to Lewis Mann for pointing me this direction.

Colossians wordle

NIV

Click for large versions

NKJV

Happy Birthday Wake Forest!

One hundred years ago today, the Town of Wake Forest, NC, was founded. Wake Forest is the home of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Happy Birthday Wake Forest, NC!

A fun birthday together

Luke and Rachel couldn't wait to get started on making the birthday cake this morning.

Luke mixed the batter, and then they decorated it.
They were pretty proud of their creation designed by Luke: white cake with chocolate icing and trimmed in green with sprinkles on top.

We couldn't wait to dig in.

Ava-Grace didn't waste any time.

XXXIX

and holding.

Ava-Grace

Abraham Lincoln on Christianity

"I am not a Christian" (Holland's Life of Lincoln, pp. 236, 237).

When his Christian friends at Petersburg interfered to prevent his proposed duel with Shields and told him that it was contrary to the teachings of the Bible and Christianity he remarked, "The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession" (Letter of W Perkins).

While at Washington in a letter to his old friend, Judge Wakefield written in 1862 in answer to inquiries respecting his belief and the expressed hope that he had become convinced of the truth of Christianity, he replied as follows,

"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the Scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them."

In a discussion touching upon the paternity of Jesus, he said, "There must have been sexual intercourse between man and woman and not between God and his daughter." The above words were uttered in the presence of Mr Green Caruthers and Mr WA Browning of Springfield. Lincoln contended that Jesus was either the son of Joseph and Mary or the illegitimate son of Mary.

The following was a favorite maxim with him: "What is to be will be and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree."(Statement of Mrs Lincoln).

In a speech on Kansas delivered in 1856, he used the following words in regard to Providence: "Friends I agree with you in Providence but I believe in the Providence of the most men, the largest purse, and the longest cannon" (Lincoln's Speeches p 140).

Source: John Eleazer Remsburg, Abraham Lincoln Was He a Christian? (Truth Seeker Co., 1893), 291-309.

Faith activity? No stimulus for you

Economic Stimulus Bill Excludes Places That Allow Faith-based Meetings.
Under the stimulus bill, any public facility that allows worship in its rooms may not receive federal stimulus funds to renovate. Click here for details and call your congressperson to protect college and high-school faith-based groups' rights to use public buildings for religious purposes.

From the article: "If the university itself is a religiously based or faith-based institution, it does not qualify. And if the facility that is being renovated allows religious worship to take place, it also does not qualify." Specifically, the provision reads that stimulus funds may not be used for "modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities -- (i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or (ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission."

Under that provision, according to Jay Sekulow, many schools would bar on-campus worship or even Bible study because it will put federal funding in jeopardy. That, he says, should raise a warning flag in a federal courthouse."

Your duty to die

"Language in the health care sections of the “stimulus bill” stipulates that the Department of H.H.S. will provide “appropriate information to help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care,” and also allows for “penalties” to be assessed to physicians who “spend too much” on individual patients. Essentially, we now have the beginnings of a governmental agency that eventually will, by force of law, determine which persons will be eligible for health care, and what treatment they will receive."

Full article here.

"The nationalizing of healthcare in Europe has led to worsening government deficits, and increased healthcare costs, and efforts to contain those costs have resulted in the denial of treatment to those persons not expected to live much longer - - that is, the elderly and the seriously ill.

This “need” to deny people health care has frequently, in Europe, been cast in terms of one’s “duty to die.” The idea is that, once you have lived “long enough;” after you have consumed your “fair share” of the earth’s resources; and when your combined age and health conditions make it “obvious” that further efforts to prolong your life just simply “aren’t worth it;” you will then have a responsibility to accept these consequences, and to accept that you’ll just have to get along without life-sustaining healthcare.

In other words, once a government employee has determined that spending healthcare resources on you will not produce much of a “return on the investment,” you will then have a “duty to die.”

Give Reformation by Calvin

Black NC Confederate soldiers honored

Black Confederate soldier Sandy Oliver's tombstone

This past Sunday our family attended a memorial service for two Confederate soldiers who were African-American.

Yes, that's right. Black Confederate soldiers.

The North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 794, “The Columbus County Volunteers,” honored two of Columbus County, NC’s black Confederate soldiers with a grave marker dedication ceremony as a part of Black History Month.

The two men, Sandy Oliver and Joshua Nichols, were honored with about thirty white and black Confederate reenactors, about a hundred white and black attendees, and the firing of cannons in salute to their service to the Confederacy.

Horace Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Boardman, NC

 
The service was at Horace Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Boardman, NC, just off US74 east of Lumberton, NC. 

The church was packed with both white and black participants, many dressed in period Confederate or old-fashioned dress to honor the occasion.

Reenactors practicing before the service

Several spoke including the church's pastor, Rev. James E. Dockery, Jr., and Sharon Frazer, a descendant of both Oliver and Nichols and a member of Horace Grove church. 

Frazer came up with the idea and asked the local SCV camp to help her organize this memorial service.

20th NC Troops color guard

Another descendant Kendra Tyler then read the known biographies of both veterans to the standing room only crowd. 

She told us that the two honored soldiers were stationed at Fort Fisher, NC, during the war, the last of the great Confederate Atlantic coastal fortifications to fall to the federals in spring 1865.

Jolly addressing the service. Pastor Dockery on the platform.

Another speaker was Thomas J. Jolly, commander of SCV Camp #794 in Whiteville, NC.

Jolly made remarks of racial reconciliation and the history of the involvement of African-Americans in Confederate service.

Jolly said that larger numbers than most now know, perhaps in the tens of thousands of Americans of African origin served in the Confederate armed forces during the Uncivil War. 

Jolly read a long war-era quotation of at least one Confederate officer speaking of the large numbers of black soldiers serving in their ranks.

If that number is correct, then Jolly is claiming that as many as 1 in 10 Confederate soldiers were black. 

Certainly a neglected area of history, but an important research topic nearly 150 years after the war.

Marvin Nickolson in Confederate dress for the occasion

Also speaking was Marvin Nickolson, a black reenactor dressed in Confederate gray. 

He usually reenacts a black US solder of Battery B, 2nd Regiment, US Colored Light Artillery of Gallivant's Ferry, SC.

Nickolson gave a host of statistics showing the low percentages of the free population in the South -- white, black, and Native American -- which owned slaves. 

He also gave reasons why a black Southerner would have fought for the Confederate cause.

Sandy Oliver's gravesite. Apparently Joshua Nichols is buried elsewhere.

Nickolson also discussed the hurtful meanings the Confederate battle flag has unfortunately gained for many in the last generation of the civil rights movement.

A full congregation waiting for service to begin

He explained that while a Southern St. Andrews Cross on the grave of a black soldier may create a conflict of feeling, the flag meant no such thing to the men, white and black, who fought under that banner and carried it into battle.

Carlos Sutton, an historian and reenactor from Whiteville, NC, made remarks about blacks and whites during the war, both having homes and families in danger from invasion by an unprincipled foe. 

And on that very Sunday, said Sutton, blacks and whites were gathered, with their homes and families in danger today in a different way, and they had gathered in unity in a church in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the worship of His Name. He got a lot of Amens on that.

20th NC color guard marching into position

A number of observers were present from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the local NAACP chapter.
An outdoor memorial service then followed with a musket and artillery salute, prayers, and the presentation of a Confederate flag to the 82 year old grandson of Joshua Nichols. 

The man had known his grandfather, who died at the age of 110 in 1924. It was his grandfather who told him he had served as a Confederate soldier. 

20th NC troops bow their heads in view of these veterans' sacrifice

The weather was perfect for an afternoon outdoor memorial service. Afterward, the Horace Grove congregation served a soul food supper to the gathered group.
 
I couldn't help having a similar feeling of jovial unity, an understanding of the complexity of the American South, and a thankful heritage that I had the afternoon of November 16, 1996, when Operation Restoration ended in Durham, NC, at the Bennett Place Surrender site. 

Operation Restoration was a 47-day, 788-mile reconciliation prayer walk along Sherman's path through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

20th NC Troops reenactor gives a Confederate flag to Joshua Nichols' grandson

As I stood talking with folks after the benediction, one younger African American lady said to me, "There is more to the Confederate flag and our history than we have been told."
It was Jesus Christ, the only true Reconciler, and the common worship of Him who drew this diverse group together to honor true veterans who defended hearth and home against an outside oppressor.

Joshua Nichols' grandson holding the Confederate flag

The service also served to expose the truth of our history in an age when popular politics fogs the reality of our past and political correctness forbids and hides rather than liberates and illumines the history we all share.
 

I kept wondering how this service came about. After the last prayer that day, Pastor Dockery told me that Frazer asked him at a family reunion last July if it would be all right to honor her ancestors' military service if they had served for the Confederacy. Dockery asked her, "Why not? They were fighting for what they thought was right."

Frazer responded to a 2008 local newspaper article by the SCV looking for information on eight black men from Columbus County, NC, who had indicated that they were veterans of Confederate service on the 1910 US Census. Frazer asked the local SCV camp for help with getting more information on her ancestors.

The SCV has so far not been able to find either Nichols' or Oiver's names on any official Confederate roster because it was illegal for them to serve as soldiers. They have found that Sandy Oliver was at one time owned by a white man named Shep Oliver, but his status during the war is unknown. Joshua Nichols was a free Negro at the time of the war and lived to the age of 110. Nichols' 82 year old grandson knows from him personally that that he was a Confederate soldier at Fort Fisher.

Sandy Oliver's decorated grave after ceremonies had ended

The SCV has verified that both men in fact did mark the 1910 US Census as Confederate veterans. While many black North Carolina Confederates received North Carolina pensions for Confederate service, Governor Aycock was opposed to the practice and found bureaucratic procedures to stop it.

Also participating in the day's events were Company D, 20th Regiment NC Troops, Butler Branch Men's Choir, Adams Battery, the Confederate Marine Corps, and the Fort Fisher Color Guard.

Another black Confederate story in Monroe, NC

Black Confederates in the NC State Archives

Barbie Dream Church

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Today is my sweet Amanda's birthday! Happy Birthday, darling.

This morning when Luke got up I asked him did he know why this was a special day. He didn't, so I called him close promising to tell him the secret.

Then I whispered, "Today is Mommy's birthday. Tell her "Happy Birthday, Mommy."

Amanda was standing in the hall ironing something. Luke leaned into the hallway and said, "Happy Birthday, Mommy!"

"Thank you," Mommy smiled.

Luke turned around to me with glee, "She smiled at me, Daddy!"

"Wow, she did?" I said.

"Yeah, I saw her teeeeeth!"

Likud or Israel Beiteinu

If I were an Israeli citizen getting ready to vote in Feb 10 legislative elections, the party most closely aligned with my views is Likud according to an online questionnaire. Likud, headed by Benyamin Netanyahu, is ahead in the polls but losing ground to Kadima headed into the election.

You can find your place in Israeli politics by taking the Israel Electoral Compass. It will analyze your position as Socioeconomic left and right, hawk / dove, religious / secular.

Likud

You are 8% more economic left
You are 2% more progressive

You have a substantive agreement of 78%
Security: 88%
Socioeconomic: 68%
Religion: 90%

But a close second was

Israel Beiteinu

You are 28% more economic left
You are 3% more progressive

You have a substantive agreement of 76%
Security: 85%
Socioeconomic: 68%
Religion: 80%

Feb 28: Liberia Conference

2009 Brookwood Mission Partners
LIBERIA MINISTRY CONFERENCE
If you serve as part of a ministry team in Liberia or have a desire to do so, join us as we come together to discuss each of our ministries. There will be time for your ministries to present what you do in Liberia, connect with other ministries, and organize our combined efforts.

Friday February 27, 5-6 pm
Meet and greet with dutch treat dinner to follow.

Saturday February 28, 9am-5pm
Conference and ministry presentations.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Jose Alfaro by Friday, February 20. If you would like to present your ministry to the group, please contact Jose Alfaro by Friday February 13.

Jose Alfaro
864-688-8231
jose.alfaro@brookwoodchurch.org

Two cutie-pies

Rachel helping her mommy cook supper tonight.

Ava-Grace at the park yesterday.

SC Sen Graham fires back

If this is the change we all can believe in — America’s best days are behind her.”

Prayer Promotional video

Pastor Barry Lawrence, a fellow SEBTS student friend in Sanford, NC, just told me about a promotional video for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Prayer Conference in which I was interviewed last spring. The producers did a great job with it.

The page link is here.

Other formats:
Download FLV (29 Mb)
Download MP4 (29 Mb)
Download WMV (36 Mb)

American South the most religious

Surprise!

Mississippi most religious, Vermont least, survey says
Full article By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

WASHINGTON ­ Want to be almost certain you'll have religious neighbors? Move to Mississippi. Prefer to be in the least religious state? Venture to Vermont.

A new Gallup Poll, based on more than 350,000 interviews, finds that the Magnolia State is the one where the most people ­ 85% ­ say yes when asked "Is religion an important part of your daily life?"

Less than half of Vermonters, meanwhile ­ 42% ­ answered that same question in the affirmative.

RELIGIOUS STATES

Following is Gallup's entire list of states, in order of what percentage of respondents said religion is "an important part" of their daily lives:

• Mississippi: 85%
• Alabama: 82%
• South Carolina: 80%
• Tennessee: 79%
• Louisiana: 78%
• Arkansas: 78%
• Georgia: 76%
• North Carolina: 76%
• Oklahoma: 75%
• Kentucky: 74%
• Texas: 74%
• West Virginia: 71%
• Kansas: 70%
• Utah: 69%
• Missouri: 68%
• Virginia: 68%
• South Dakota: 68%
• North Dakota: 68%
• Indiana: 68%
• Nebraska: 67%
• New Mexico: 66%
• Pennsylvania: 65%
• Florida: 65%
• Maryland: 65%
• Ohio: 65%
• Iowa: 64%
• Minnesota: 64%
• Illinois: 64%
• Michigan: 64%
• Delaware: 61%
• Wisconsin: 61%
• District of Columbia: 61%
• Idaho: 61%
• Arizona: 61%
• New Jersey: 60%
• Wyoming: 58%
• Colorado: 57%
• Hawaii: 57%
• California: 57%
• Montana: 56%
• New York: 56%
• Connecticut: 55%
• Nevada: 54%
• Rhode Island: 53%
• Oregon: 53%
• Washington: 52%
• Alaska: 51%
• Massachusetts: 48%
• Maine: 48%
• New Hampshire: 46%
• Vermont: 42%

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Ava-Grace pulled up

Ava-Grace pulled herself up tonight for the first time on Luke's train table.
Amanda got this picture on her phone just seconds after she did it.
She was nine months old last Friday.

Luke's Super Bowl

We had our own super bowl tonight. Luke bowled and I set up the pins.

Black History Month in Whiteville, NC

In celebration of Black History Month, let me encourage you to attend a public memorial service for two African American men who fought in defense of their state in the War Between the States.

Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 2:30pm

Horace Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Boardman, NC

Address: 11001 Old Highway 74, Evergreen, NC 28438; (910) 671-9197‎

For immediate release:

In honor of Black History Month the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 794, “"The Columbus County Volunteers",” will honor two of Columbus County’'s black Confederate soldiers with a grave marker dedication ceremony.

The two men, Sandy Oliver and Joshua Nichols, will be honored by Confederate reenactors including a group of black Confederate reenactors, and the firing of Civil War era cannons in salute to their service to the Confederacy.

The keynote speaker will be retired New Jersey black educator, Marvin Nicholson, an expert in African-American involvement in the War Between the States and American history. Nicholson holds degrees from the University of Southern California and Seaton Hall. (Pictured: Battery B US Colored Troops. Sgt. Major Marvin Nicholson is second from left.)

“When I retired from New Jersey schools 13 years ago, I didn’t know that blacks had fought in the Civil War. It blew my mind,” Nicholson exclaimed.

Nicholson, who began reenacting in 1996 following his retirement, recommends Free Negroes in North Carolina, 1790-1860, by Duke University history professor emeritus John Hope Franklin, “A History of the United States,” by Howard Zinn, an historian and social activist, as good sources of information on Black Confederate soldiers. He suggests the WPA-era “Slave Narratives”, (U.S. Archives), calling them “must” reading for black Americans.

The service will be held on Sunday, February 8th, beginning at 2:30 PM at the Horace Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Boardman, NC.

The gravemarker dedication service is open to the public and you are urged to attend and bring along your family.

Contact: Bill Ghent Lt. Commander
Camp 794, “The Columbus County Volunteers”
North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans
grayghost1861@gmail.com ncscv.camp.794@gmail.com bill.ghent.scv@gmail.com