The 501c3 Thread

[Kilika]

I think the point is that they are wiser in the ways of the world, simply because they are of the world, and the "children of light" are not of the world and don't think like the world.

Personally, I think there should be some designation that defines a company that is "for profit" versus "not for profit".

The complaint many have is that those "non-profits" operate more or less like a "for profit" business, but don't have the tax burden and end up abusing that tax break. Clarification on the law, maybe more restrictions to how much can be considered a need for the non profit's operations, thus deductible or not taxed at all, but the idea behind charity is there is no gain from the action, so in that sense, should a charity be getting a break, which is a type of profit or benefit for being charitable? There's a case that no, they shouldn't.

Charity says they should incur whatever costs there are for them to be charitable to others, so really, it may be that there should be no "non profits" at all. I understand the whole "cover costs" idea, but that really doesn't play in charity by definition. One is suppose to take on any burden, and not ask to pass on that burden to others to bear.

The world doesn't believe in "...expecting nothing in return...", so they look for compensation for anything they are a part of.

Ultimately, it's the world's problem, let them deal with it.

[Psalm 51:17]

1Corinthians 7:35  And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

1Co 10:33  Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Galatians 5:2  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Gal 5:3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Gal 5:4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Gal 5:5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Gal 5:6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

2Timothy 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

Hebrews 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

[Kilika]

12  Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13  But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14  Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Matthew 15:12-14 (KJB)

[Psalm 51:17]

http://beforeitsnews.com/religion/2014/02/exposed-churches-accepting-bribe-money-from-government-to-deceive-attendees-2-2463790.html
2/1/14
EXPOSED: Churches Accepting Bribe Money from Government To Deceive Attendees

Churches Accepting Bribe Money from Government To Deceive Attendees. Mark Dice Expliansmore, please listen the below video.

According to Peter Kershaw, In Ceasar’s Grip “For a 501c3 church to openly speak out, or organize in opposition to, anything that the government declares ‘legal,’ even if it is immoral (e.g. abortion, homosexuality, same sex marriages, etc.), that church will jeopardize its tax exempt status.  The 501c3 has had a ‘chilling effect’ upon the free speech rights of the church.  LBJ was a shrewd and cunning politician who seemed to well-appreciate how easily many of the clergy would sell out.”



In Bob Jones University v. United States (461 U.S. 574), the U.S. Supreme Court noted the following about the government’s intended purpose for the 501c3: The Court asserts that an exempt organization must “demonstrably serve and be in harmony with the public interest,” must have a purpose that comports with “the common community conscience,” and must not act in a manner “affirmatively at odds with [the] declared position of the whole Government.”

Taken together, these passages suggest that the primary function of a tax-exempt organization is to act on behalf of the Government in carrying out governmentally approved policies. MORE HERE

The Government OWNS and RUNS your Church and its Doctrines! 501c3 Tax-Exempt Organizations MORE HERE

Profits Over Prophets: The church was the last vestige of freedom and liberty as God bestowed people the gift of the freedom to choose and government is usurping this gift. Indeed, government is trying its best to eviscerate that freedom in the same manner as it has dictatorially controlled every other major institution in our country. MORE HERE

Naioth Prophetic Word “Suppression and Censorship of 501(c)(3) Churches: A Satanic Deception And Trap” MORE HERE

Who Is REALLY Lord of Your Church? Perhaps if we had real churches we would have real preachers. A real preacher would preach the Law to the oppressor and Liberty to the people. MORE HERE

[Kilika]

The Court asserts that an exempt organization must “demonstrably serve and be in harmony with the public interest,” must have a purpose that comports with “the common community conscience,” and must not act in a manner “affirmatively at odds with [the] declared position of the whole Government.”

The very basics of Christian doctrine is at odds with the world and the "whole government" already, and the world knows it.

And in order for a "Christian church" to conform to those standards, they must compromise sound Christian doctrine by bowing to the demands of Caesar over their own alleged beliefs.

No question, if a "church" is 501c3, they have sold out to Caesar and turned their backs on God.

[Psalm 51:17]

2/2014
Christianity's Churchianity's giant sleeper - China
http://www.ucobserver.org/features/2014/02/sleeping_giant/

Churches — both legal and illegal — are booming in China. Some view them as a welcome counterpoint to rampant materialism. Others see ghosts of a colonial past.
 
By Alex Jürgen Thumm

It was my last Sunday morning in China, my last chance to experience church in a Communist country where, as far as I could tell, Christianity was basically forbidden. It was 2011, and I had been in Beijing for five weeks to study Mandarin. In that time, I hadn’t seen a single cross, church or Bible. In fact, I read at customs that you couldn’t bring in more than four Bibles from abroad. I had no idea that I was in the third-largest Christian country in the world.

In Liangmaqiao, a Beijing neighbourhood that’s home to the foreign and the wealthy, I arrived at the 21st Century Hotel, where the Beijing International Christian Fellowship (BICF) holds services. The parking lot was full of Rolls-Royces and BMWs bearing Jesus-fish decals. At the building entrance, two parishioners acting as doorkeepers asked me for ID — by government order, only foreigners may attend church. I had forgotten my passport, so the doorkeepers made me sign a slip of paper attesting to my alien status.

Inside, 3,000 people packed into various auditoriums, each offering worship in a different language. I opted for the Mandarin service. Imagine an evangelical megachurch of hundreds of Chinese people with American passports. There was an excited but orderly choir, rock music and long, passionate praying. The Chinese-Californian minister preached about outreach and marriage. I recognized most of the songs from my Canadian Baptist upbringing; they had just been translated into Mandarin.

After I’d spent a couple of hours watching the service on jumbo-sized screens (which provided the clearest view), my first megachurch experience came to an end. Just before I managed to escape, someone wanted to talk. This was to be expected — I was one of three white people in the congregation. She was a teacher, she said, from the Philippines. But once we left the hotel and had walked a few blocks, she confessed she was actually a missionary. It was too risky to say so in the church auditorium, which was likely bugged, she said. She asked me directly whether I could secure a church sponsorship for her in Canada. We exchanged e-mail addresses, but I never heard from her again.

'Misconceptions abound about China, and that’s no less the case when it comes to the country’s Christian population.'

Misconceptions abound about China, and that’s no less the case when it comes to the country’s Christian population. Many assume a Communist country that is officially atheist would allow no religion. (Mao Zedong once said “religion is poison.”) But religious freedom is guaranteed in the 1978 constitution — or at least what the government considers “normal religious activity,” occurring in government-sanctioned places of worship serving one of the five official faiths: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism. Religion is on the rise in China, with one-third of people claiming an affiliation. To all my Chinese friends’ surprise, there are as many as 130 million Christians in China; the only countries with more are the United States and Brazil. Churchgoers in China outnumber those in all of Europe.

Given figures like these, understanding China’s relationship with Christians is essential to predicting the future of Christianity globally. Whether Chinese Christians refuse or accept state-sanctioned religion, or whether the state itself loosens or tightens its restrictions on the faithful will in turn shape the international body of Christ. In other words, what happens in China won’t simply stay in China. David Wang, co-founder of the Hong Kong-based mission agency Asian Outreach, says Chinese people are busy planting churches abroad; Metro Vancouver alone is home to over 100,000 Chinese Christians. “It’s now the era of ministry from China,” he told Christianity Today magazine.

Christianity and missionaries have been present in China — on and off, officially and covertly — since the eighth-century Tang dynasty. A further wave of tolerance for missionary work washed in during the 13th-century Mongolian Yuan dynasty. This was a time when the Chinese referred to Muslims, Jews and Christians all by the same name, hui hui — a stark contrast in a country that now considers Catholicism and Protestantism as two separate religions.

During a walking tour of Shanghai’s French Concession, I learned about the Taiping Rebellion, which took place between 1850 and 1864. It led to 20 million deaths and, interestingly enough, the foundations for Chinese communism. The cause for all the bloodshed? A certain Hong Xiuquan announced he’d had a vision that revealed he was Jesus’ brother. Over time, he gathered tens of thousands of armed followers seeking to establish the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Contemporary Chinese Christianity can probably be traced to 1951, with the founding of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, one of two state-sanctioned Protestant organizations. Its three “selves” are self-governance, self-support (financial independence from foreigners) and self-propagation (homegrown missionary work). The principles were meant to assure the government that the church would be loyal to the People’s Republic of China.

Perhaps ironically, today’s Christianity was also shaped by the decade-long Cultural Revolution that began in 1966, when religion was banned, faith leaders persecuted and places of worship destroyed or converted for secular use. Amid this upheaval, secret house churches sprang up, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement went underground (and was officially restored in 1979) and today’s church elders came of age.

More recently, in 2007, 70 leaders of illegal house churches convened in Wenzhou to develop seven core values. Several of them are distinctly Chinese. For example, intentional non-denominationalism reflects the Chinese value of wholeness and oneness.

The United Church of Canada has a long history with China, beginning in the mid-19th century with three missions led by the Presbyterian Church, one of the United Church’s founding denominations. Missionaries such as Very Rev. James Endicott, the United Church’s second moderator, carried this work into the 20th century. Endicott’s missionary son, Rev. James G. Endicott, later drew controversy for his support of the Chinese Communist Party.

'Perhaps ironically, today’s Christianity was also shaped by the decade-long Cultural Revolution that began in 1966, when religion was banned . . . '

Gary MacDonald told me about his 19 years of Christian life in China, beginning in 1992. As a United Church global mission worker, he lived in three different rural areas educating teachers with the Amity Foundation, one of China’s largest relief and development agencies and a United Church partner. In these partially illiterate rural communities, being known as a Christian was both a title and a standard. Sermons were over an hour long, and church meant giving, singing, praying spontaneously and forgiving neighbours’ Cultural Revolution betrayals, some of which involved torture. “To have an elderly person — blind and physically challenged because of having been tortured for his or her belief — lead in prayer during a church service is something I shall never forget,” he says.

Today, Chinese Christians can choose between two official Protestant church movements and Catholicism. I’m told these services are much the same as evangelical Chinese churches in the West, with one major difference: the church leaders are required to maintain a relationship with the government.

A separate category of legal worship in contemporary China is exclusive to foreign passport-holders: the international churches. “The Chinese government respects the freedom of religious belief of foreigners in China and they may attend religious activities in temples, mosques, churches and other religious places,” claims the tourism website beijingchina.net.cn. As long as foreigners do not try to establish or change Chinese religious organizations and practices, they are free to participate in worship.

Evangelism, sharing religion with minors and worshipping in public space are prohibited. The government fears that a congregation outside state control could grow too large and too influential.

Shan O-Yuan moved to Beijing from his native California a decade ago for a job in the construction industry and has been active with the BICF from the start. Sure, he says, you have to learn “how to work within regulations,” but for him, the Chinese Christian life is a happy and exciting one. As he sees it, people who live abroad have left familiar cultural constraints behind, so they’re more open to asking spiritual questions. Many rediscover their Christian faith while in China.

O-Yuan, who is in his 30s, has warmed up to his status as a religious minority. Being a Christian in China is a distinction. Unlike in the West, where what O-Yuan describes as a “so-called enlightened, post-Christian” view puts people off organized religion, in China they’re curious, “and it creates conversation.”

Despite evangelism being officially off-limits, O-Yuan claims you can evangelize in China in a way that you simply can’t in the United States. For example, because the Beijing expat community is a transitory one, when you “invest” in people who then return home, your actions ultimately have a global impact.

O-Yuan realizes there are difficulties, however, having faced some himself. “They want you to stay in your own little western enclave,” he says, “and keep your religious life to yourself.” It took a BICF project that he was involved with three tries to get a church planted in Beijing’s central business district. The 2008 Olympics, in particular, put the authorities on edge.

But in China, O-Yuan has found a place where he says God’s will is active and present. He’s witnessed successful church projects, including the establishment of orphanages. Gary MacDonald also told me about a church in Gansu province that refused to obey an order a few years ago to move to the edge of town and hand over its land. It stood up for its property rights, something MacDonald says wouldn’t have happened a decade earlier.

One aspect of the international church that excites O-Yuan is the absence of denominations. People find their common ground in Jesus and in being an expat. Though O-Yuan admits worship is strongly influenced by American evangelism, he insists it would be easier for a non-evangelical to find a spiritual home in China than in the United States: “The evangelical church in China is a lot more open.”

The third category of churches in China is illegal house churches, which operate underground and beyond the state’s control. (In order to keep a low profile, they typically split up once they reach about 100 members.) Those who join are keen to be part of a Christian community — for both its social and religious benefits — and are not intimidated by state threats. Though it’s impossible to know how many people attend house churches, some sources estimate between 45 million and 60 million Protestants, and their numbers are growing — a fact that even the government can’t ignore. In 2012, the State Administration for Religious Affairs created a plan to “guide” illegal house churches into becoming state churches.

Last summer, I returned to Beijing for three months to work as an English-teaching au pair for a wealthy, two-child Chinese family. One Sunday afternoon, after attending a small international church service in a business district, I was invited to a “gathering.” We got in a taxi and arrived at an apartment tower. My new acquaintance forgot which floor to go to. We tried cold-knocking a few doors and asked the doorkeeper if he had seen a large group of foreigners around. Finally, we tried one last floor, and it was the one. It was only when we walked in — late — that I realized it was a house church. I found myself in an apartment larger and more sophisticated than I’ve ever stayed in. It was packed with over 50 Chinese citizens, foreigners and Asian Americans, most of them working professionals and students. The service was long, passionate, hopeful and heavily influenced by American evangelism. It was also surprisingly loud, for an illegal gathering. I now know it was a typical Beijing house service. I wanted to return, but I knew the church would relocate before I’d have the chance.

The most famous illegal house church is Beijing’s Shouwang Church. Founded in 1993, it has grown to include over a thousand members, some of whom reportedly hold memberships in the Communist party. In 2011, having been evicted for the 20th-plus time (the landlords were under pressure from the state), Shouwang started to meet outdoors in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing, sometimes referred to as China’s Silicon Valley. A few dozen worshippers are arrested at every outdoor Shouwang service and usually held for a few hours. Despite the notoriety of the church, its name cannot be found on Chinese websites.

Many other Chinese Christians don’t let themselves be intimidated by the government, often drawing courage from Bible stories such as Daniel in the lion’s den. The Texas-based organization China Aid reports that from 2005 to 2006, 1,958 Christians were arrested in China. Wiretapping is not unheard of. China Aid also reports that house church leaders were arrested at a Christian leadership conference in Shandong province in 2007 and subsequently sentenced to multiple years in a labour camp.

These days, there are hints the Communist party may be more favourably disposed toward faith than in previous generations. China is experiencing a 1960s-style sexual revolution and 21st-century materialism all at once. With a frighteningly large share of the population concerned with little but socio-economic success, values such as politeness, honesty, sexual fidelity and community are taking a direct hit — especially in the cities.

Is Christianity a solution? China’s former premier Wen Jiabao regularly invoked the importance of spiritual growth. The Communist party has also expressed interest in American evangelical-style marriage courses to combat the explosive divorce rate.

Before becoming a Christian himself, the well-known Chinese economist Zhao Xiao pointed to Christianity and its positive impact on the historic economic success of the West. In his 2002 article, “Market Economies With Churches and Market Economies Without Churches,” he argued that China needs a moral foundation and therefore needs Christianity. After his field study in the United States, Zhao concluded that a strong economy requires a moral force to transcend the drive for profit and to infuse the business community with respect for people, contracts and the planet.

Is the Chinese state correct in its judgment that Christianity is a foreign-controlled import? Or can Christianity become indigenous to China? And what does Chinese Christianity look like: Bible-reading followers of Jesus who submit to state control? Would they quote Confucius, venerate ancestors and enjoy traditional Chinese festivals, rooted in Buddhism and luck? After all, many Chinese mix faiths, calling themselves Taoist and Buddhist, for example.

At the same time, one also has to wonder whether Christianity ought to be indigenized — would Chinese Christianity ultimately have a positive impact on China and the rest of the world? Would it even be Christianity?

Many more questions remain. In China, there are no guarantees; the uncrossable line is always fluctuating. Trust can be precarious. Are Christians still persecuted? None of the six pastors I contacted would give me an interview, saying it’s just not the right time. What move will the government make next? When will Christian members of the Communist party take a stand, and when will the party’s treatment of religion estrange a critical mass? What role can western Christians ethically play without compromising the Chinese church’s independence?

For now, O-Yuan believes that the best Chinese Christians can do is tell their story.

[Psalm 51:17]

Was reading this chapter in 1 Kings this morning...

1Kings 12:6  And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
1Ki 12:7  And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.
1Ki 12:8  But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
1Ki 12:9  And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?
1Ki 12:10  And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.
1Ki 12:11  And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
1Ki 12:12  So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.
1Ki 12:13  And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him;
1Ki 12:14  And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.


I know this is from the OT - but nonetheless we are in these days now - where the elders are shown the door, and younger, more novice people are given higher prominence. Look at the rotten fruits now.

[Psalm 51:17]

New Film 'Persecuted' Warns of Abuse of Gov't Power, Religious Persecution
2/13/14
http://www.christianpost.com/news/new-film-persecuted-warns-of-abuse-of-govt-power-religious-persecution-114501/

WASHINGTON — "Persecuted," a new film that will be released on May 9, is a thriller with a political message about religious persecution and the abuse of government power.

While Hollywood is better known for making films with a liberal point of view, "Persecuted" was unabashedly made from writer, producer and director Daniel Lusko's conservative viewpoint.

"We as a nation are perilously close to losing freedom of speech and freedom of religion and everyone we've shown the film to has remarked on how easily the plot of 'Persecuted' could actually take place — or perhaps already has and was covered up," Lusko said.

The Christian Post was invited to a pre-screening of the film Monday in Washington, D.C., that was also attended by several members of Congress. There will also be advance screenings at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention later this month and at the Conservative Political Action Conference in March.

If "Persecuted" had been made in the 1960s, the protagonist might have been an anti-war liberal. In 2014, though, the hero is an evangelical preacher, thus reflecting the concerns about the abuse of government power that are currently more commonly found on the right, instead of the left, of the political spectrum.

On the surface, "Persecuted" plays out like many government thrillers. Similar to movies based upon Tom Clancy novels, it has a hero with limited resources faced off against corrupt politicians and government officials. Central to the plot, though, is an effort by the president and his cronies to pass the "Faith and Fairness Act," which would be similar to a "fairness doctrine" for religious groups. If this law were passed, religious broadcasters would be required to present all religious points of view when presenting their own point of view.

**Just like 501c3 on churches in America - they're not allowed to expose other Babylonian religions on the pulpits. Religious persecution? Hardly - it's these churches' faults for embracing the love of money.

The notion that such a law could actually be passed in the United States is not out of the realm of possibility, Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, explained to The Christian Post. The law is similar to a resolution that was passed at the United Nations about the defamation of religion.

**Again, this is 501c3 since the 50's.

"It's backed predominantly by Islamic countries, but in the name of tolerance, so that they can criminalize defamation or defamatory speech so that you effectively become a criminal if you say Jesus is the only way, that becomes criminal. So it's real," Sekulow said.

The ACLJ is helping to promote the film and Sekulow has a small role as a reporter.

"I dedicated my small part, and why we're behind the movie, to Saeed Abedini, an American imprisoned in Iran that we represent," he added.

In addition to the abuse of government power, the film is also about the corruption of religion. Some of the film's "bad guys" are government officials while others are church officials who accept government benefits for financial gain.

**Repeat - this is 501c3!

The lead role is played by award winning actor James Remar, who has been in "X-Men: First Class" and "Django: Unchained." His main rival in the film is Oscar-nominated actor Bruce Davison, who has been in two "X-Men" films and "Lost."

The cast also includes Dean Stockwell ("Battlestar Galactica" and "Quantum Leap"), Brad Stine (dubbed "God's Comic" by The New Yorker), Raoul Trujillo ("Apocolypto" and "Cowboys and Aliens"), and Christian singer Natalie Grant. Fred Thompson, star of "Law and Order," former U.S. senator and 2008 presidential candidate, plays the hero's father in the film.

Fox News' Gretchen Carlson also has a small part in the film as a reporter.

"These are issues I have talked a lot about on Fox News and they're central in my life too. I'm a Christian and oftentimes felt the negativity of speaking openly about that," Carlson told The Christian Post.

**She's a Lutheran, which is RCC-light.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_Carlson

Because she is outspoken about her faith, Carlson added, she experiences both encouragement and derision.

"It's really ironic because when people see me on the street, if they happen to recognize me from Fox News, the thing they say to me is, 'thank you for standing up for the values and ideals that I believe in with my family,' ... and yet, that seems to be what I'm mostly criticized for as well. It's interesting, the dichotomy that goes on in society," she said.

[Psalm 51:17]

FYI, 501c3s are classified as corporations too(and not just private businesses). Pt being that a corporation is defined as just that, an artificial person, b/c it has to register with the state(and subsequently the state becomes the head of it). It's not just the 501c3 "non-profit" entities, but private businesses that register as such as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/corporations-believe-god-015244820--politics.html
Can Corporations Believe in God?
3/21/14

Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that may alter the scope of the First Amendment.  Against the backdrop of Arizona’s defunct “Turn the Gays Away” law and others like it, the Court will decide whether corporations have religious beliefs, and whether those beliefs can affect the rights of other people.

The case—actually the consolidated cases of Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius—is also another referendum on Obamacare.  At issue in the case is the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer-provided insurance plans include coverage for contraception.  The owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, both privately held companies, argue this mandate violates the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion.

If the Court goes Hobby Lobby’s way—and since the case also affords another bite at the Obamacare apple—it will significantly expand the reach of the first amendment.  And not in a good way.

First, the Court will have to decide that corporations are not only people, but people with consciences.  Conservative “religious freedom” activists like to blur the lines between individuals and businesses.  They talk about bakers and photographers, but Hobby Lobby is a corporation with $3 billion in revenues, 22,000 employees, and 550 stores around the country.  Its owners, the conservative billionaire David Green and his family, argue that what happens to Hobby Lobby happens to them personally.

But this contention runs counter to the foundation of corporate law itself, which is that companies are legal entities distinct from their owners.  If someone trips and falls in a Hobby Lobby store, the Green family isn’t liable (unless they acted negligently as directors).  So why are they liable—legally or morally—for the company’s insurance plan?

Second, the view that corporations have consciences is incoherent.  Corporate personhood is a legal fiction, not an ontological or soteriological fact.  Conceivably, corporations can be said to have interests that give rise to freedom of expression—that was the holding of Citizens United.  But corporations don’t sin, don’t go to hell, and don’t get saved by Jesus.

Third—and this is where most attention has focused—if corporations can opt-out of a general law regarding contraception, why not other laws?  This is where Hobby Lobby connects to Arizona’s law.  The whole purpose of “Turn the Gays Away” was to carve out religious exemptions to civil rights laws.  Normally, a restaurant can’t refuse to serve a customer because she’s black, female, Jewish, or gay (or, obviously, white, male, Muslim, or straight).  But if Hobby Lobby can assert a religious objection to contraception coverage, surely a restaurant can assert a religious objection to non-discrimination law.

In other words, a ruling for Hobby Lobby could make “Turn the Gays Away” the law of the land.  As long as a company’s owners can provide a religious reason, they can opt-out of Obamacare, anti-discrimination laws, marriage laws, employment laws—you name it.  Forget ****-shaped wedding cakes (yes, the Right is actually worried about this).  We’re talking about Fortune 500 companies treating legal marriages unequally, hospitals denying gay spouses their rights, and, yes, denying healthcare to millions of women.

Now, it may strike readers as odd that, in 2014, we are debating the merits of contraception in the first place.  Indeed, with nearly 90% of Americans believing birth control to be morally acceptable, most of us no longer are, which is why Hobby Lobby’s lawyers have focused on the “morning after” pill rather than birth control in general.  Yet as Emily Bazelon revealed in Slate, a coterie of right-wing organizations has indeed lined up to oppose contraception itself.

Which gets to the heart of the matter: This case is really about the sexual revolution and the culture war.  Hobby Lobby’s fundamentalist owners don’t like contraception, don’t like non-procreative sex, definitely don’t like extra-marital sex, and, I’m sure, don’t like homosexuality either.  The Green family—net worth, $4.9 billion—is said to have donated over $500 million to Christian schools and universities, which in turn have produced the weird, parallel-universe lawyers who are now pursuing this case.

That, of course, is their right.  But in trying to convince the rest of us that conservative Christian morality should be the foundation of our laws, they have lost at the polls, lost at the Supreme Court, and lost in the court of public opinion.  Having done so, they are trying to redefine what is meant by “religious liberty” from a shield against government intrusion to a sword against the rights of others.

**And this has all been by design - look how the "religious right" crowd have all but STOOD DOWN since Obama came into office.

These same arguments were used in the 1960s and ‘70s, when the Right had lost the legal, constitutional, and moral battles against civil rights.  Racist restaurateurs and racist universities said their religion compelled them to turn away African-Americans, notwithstanding what the Civil Rights Act had to say.  They took their cause all the way to the Supreme Court, where they finally lost, in 1983 (Bob Jones University vs. United States).

In a concurring opinion in the Right’s favorite religious freedom case—that of a photographer found to have violated New Mexico’s antidiscrimination laws by refusing to photograph a same-sex couple—a Republican-appointed judge wrote that he sympathized with the photographers’ grave religious objections.  But, he said, the price of participating in the open market is to play by the same rules as everyone else.

That is why corporations—large ones like Hobby Lobby and small ones like a photography shop—are people.  Not because they have souls or sins, but because they are legally distinct from us as individuals, and bound by laws of general application.  Denying contraceptive coverage while providing other insurance was found, in 2000, to be a violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.  In other words, it discriminates against women.  It is undemocratic.  That, not the gospel, is the law of the land.

[Psalm 51:17]

^^

501c3: The Devil's Church
http://www.creationliberty.com/articles/501c3.php

Ketay goes on to list facts about what a 501c3 church corporation is by lawful state definition: •The creator of a corporation is the State.
•The State is the sole authority and sovereign head over the corporation.
•The corporation is subject to the laws of the State which limits its powers.
•The corporation has no constitutionally protected rights.
•The corporation is an artificial person.
•The corporation submits to a State Charter declaring it is a creature of the State.
•The corporation is created for the benefit of the public.
•The corporation is a State franchise.
•The corporation is a privilege granted by the State.

[Psalm 51:17]

OK, this is NOT a church - but nonetheless it looks like Caesar could be very close to finally calling in his chips with these 501c3 churches...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/21/irs-revokes-conservative-groups-tax-exempt-status-/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS
4/21/14
IRS revokes conservative group’s tax-exempt status over anti-Clinton statements

The Internal Revenue Service has revoked the tax-exempt status of a conservative charity for making statements critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry, according to a USA Today report.

The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty, based in Manassas, Va., “has shown a pattern of deliberate and consistent intervention in political campaigns” and made “repeated statements supporting or opposing various candidates by expressing its opinion of the respective candidate’s character and qualifications,” according to a written determination released Friday by the IRS.

The IRS said the center acted as an “action organization” by publishing alerts on its website for columns written by its president, former FBI agent Gary Aldrich, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The IRS pointed out a column that appeared to be published by Townhall on April 2, 2004, in which Mr. Aldrich wrote, “if John Kerry promises otherwise ill-informed swing-voters lower gas prices at the pump, more than a few greedy, registered ignoramuses will follow him anywhere,” the Free Beacon reported.

Another article cited by the IRS was a 2005 piece titled “Stop Hillary Now!,” which rallied “Clinton haters” to inform voters of Hillary Clinton’s “atrocious conduct,” USA Today reported.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in an interview with The Washington Post last week that the IRS and Treasury Department are likely to rewrite controversial draft guidelines to better define “candidate-related political activities.”

“My bottom line is that it’s in everyone’s interest to have clarification,” he said. “My position since I started more than four months ago is that we ought to have clarity, and that any rule that comes out ought to be fair and easy to administer.”

Conservatives have argued that the proposals are just another way for the Obama administration to target right-leaning groups.

A Fox News poll published last week revealed that 49 percent of American voters believe the IRS intentionally targeted conservative organizations.

[Psalm 51:17]

Remember THIS from pre-election 2008? YT took down the CNN report video over this pastor(Jody Hice) that lead "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" then - nonetheless, this has ALL been a SETUP...first, one "conservative" organization(as said in the above post) gets their tax-exempt status stripped, now could these "churches" that lead "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" be then be next in line?(ultimately, to show an EXAMPLE to the other 501cs)

Caesar is likely calling in his chips now...

http://www.christianindex.org/4831.article

Minister in national dispute over political endorsement

North Georgia pastor cautions others against following his lead

By Joe Westbury, Managing Editor

Published October 9, 2008

BETHLEHEM — Jody Hice has a word of caution to other pastors interested in following his lead of endorsing political candidates from the pulpit: “Don’t try this alone.”

Or, more to the point, “Don’t try this without an army of lawyers at your side.”

Hice is among a group of 33 mostly evangelical pastors nationwide who are challenging an IRS code that prohibits churches from endorsing candidates under penalty of losing their tax-exempt status. But it’s a far more complicated issue than just slapping a bumper sticker on your Sunday sermon.

“I want my fellow pastors to understand this is a well-orchestrated attempt to challenge the legality of an Internal Revenue Service code which prohibits ministers from making endorsement from their pulpits,” Hice said following his late September endorsement of presidential candidate John McCain.

“We have the backing of the Alliance Defense Fund, which has offered to pay all of our legal expenses that may be incurred in our defense. That’s a big difference from an individual pastor speaking on his own,” he stated.

“We are guaranteed the legal support of the ADF. Other pastors without that safety net are on their own,” said the pastor of First Baptist Church here.

His word to fellow Georgia pastors: “Be cautious.”

The heart of the matter is the right of pastors to speak biblical truth from the pulpit without fear of punishment from the Internal Revenue Service, he explained.

Hice, who is well-versed in political matters, said the Sept. 28 Pulpit Freedom Sunday promoted by the ADF is the first time the Johnson Amendment of 1954 has ever been challenged in such an orchestrated manner. The Amendment allowed the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of any church whose pastor endorsed a candidate for political office, charging that the church was acting as a Political Action Committee (PAC).

“Churches were always tax-exempt before 1954 and were never penalized for this kind of behavior. Since this Amendment was passed, the government has effectively crept in and hijacked the pulpits of America. We as pastors should not lose our First Amendment rights just because we minister on a church staff.

**Uhm...NO! 501c3 is VOLUNTARY, and "churches" in America signed up VOLUNTARILY b/c of the LOVE OF MONEY!

“The government has basically come to use and asked us to surrender those rights in exchange for keeping our tax-exempt status. That is what this Pulpit Freedom Sunday is all about,” Hice explained.

The real issue involving the pastors from a variety of denominations is not their endorsement of a presidential candidate on either side of the spectrum but the freedom to address moral issues, which have increasingly become political issues, he maintained. It comes down to who is going to regulate what can and cannot be said from America’s pulpits – individuals or the government.

“I want to be clear that we are not about turning churches into PACs, though that is what much of the media is reporting,” he said. “That’s not the real story here.”

In his sermon Hice urged those in the sanctuary, which was filled to its 400-seat capacity, not to vote for Barack Obama. He then stated he was going to cast his vote for John McCain.

“To be honest I wish we had other presidential options for this election year but these are our only options. The reality is one of these individuals will be our next president; the question is which one comes closest to favoring a biblical worldview.

“I am clearly not waving McCain’s banner and would not call him the embodiment of Christian morality; but on the two issues most important to believers in this election – abortion and the definition of marriage – I believe he is closer than Obama.

Yes - McCain IS pro-choice, VERY close to Obama's views!

“Both of those issues are clearly moral issues that I, as a pastor, feel I have a responsibility to address. I could have endorsed anyone; I felt this was the best decision and based that decision on information each candidate provided on their website, not on second-hand accounts. This was a very objective response to their stands on these issues.”

Hice said he understands there are other pressing issues in the presidential race but felt those two issues “strike at the heart of America’s morality and are where we, as a nation, receive our blessings from God.”

As part of the challenge and in a desire to be as open and transparent as possible, he has sent a copy of his sermon to the IRS with an explanation of why he felt he did nothing wrong. He is also sending a copy to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has already filed six formal protests with the IRS against the endorsements. See related story on this page.

Hice has been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, CNN, FOX News, the ABC Morning Show, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“The other 32 pastors and I have broken no law in this matter. Perhaps we have stepped over the line in regard to an IRS code, but no law has been broken,” he stated.

No one knows how the tense situation will be played out in the coming months. For now, it’s just “wait and see,” he explained.

Hice is no stranger to politics and serves as president of Ten Commandments – Georgia. He emerged as a leading spokesman in Barrow County’s battle with the American Civil Liberties Union over the right for the Ten Commandments to be posted in the county courthouse. During that dispute, which gained national attention, he founded Ten Commandments – Georgia, Inc., a 501C-3 organization which funded the legal expenses of the Barrow County fight.

He also has a daily radio show, the Jody Hice Show, which deals with moral, constitutional, and religious liberties issues. The show can be heard Monday through Friday at 3 p.m. on WRAF, 90.0 FM in Toccoa. It is also broadcast statewide in Virginia on WFIC-AM in Martinsville.

Individuals desiring to contact Hice can reach him through his website, jodyhice.com.

The ADF is a conservative Christian law firm based in Arizona. For more information on the ADF and Pulpit Freedom Sunday visit www.telladf.org.

[Psalm 51:17]

^^ This "pastor" RESIGNED in 2010! Hhhhmmm...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jody_Hice

Dr. Jody Hice is an American syndicated radio show host, speaker, and Southern Baptist pastor. Hice, a native of Atlanta, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Luther Rice Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.[1]

Jody first served as senior pastor of Bethlehem First Baptist Church, until April 2010.[2] in Bethlehem, Georgia. In addition, he served as first vice president of the Georgia Baptist Convention (2004–05) and Professor of Preaching at Luther Rice Seminary. Dr. Hice has served as senior pastor at The Summit Church, a Southern Baptist church, in Loganville, Georgia since 2011.

[Mark]

Virginia proposal would limit size of gatherings at private homes

A plan to ban "frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes" is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.

Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia's most populous county.

"I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a Constitution challenge by interfering with peoples' right to assemble," Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement.

The proposed zoning ordinance limits "group assembly" at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings "shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period."

County officials say they have received complaints about group meetings at homes. But Herrity said "they haven't even reached 1 percent of the thousands of complaints our Department of Code Compliance investigates a year."

"This is yet another instance where we appear to be punishing the many for the actions of the few," said Herrity, who reported a total of six complaints were received last year.

Church groups, scouting organizations or even sports fans drawn to a home's big-screen TV during playoffs could be potential targets of the proposed county law. Realtors worry that even open houses would invite civil penalties.

John Whitehead, an attorney and president of the civil-libertarian Rutherford Institute, calls the Fairfax plan "nefarious."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/05/virginia-proposal-would-limit-size-gatherings-at-private-homes/

a push against house churches

[Mark]

Arizona County Shutting Church Down for Money Arizona Says It Doesn't Owe

La Paz County is forcing a small Quartzsite church that helps the homeless to close its doors by June 15 unless it pays $68,000 in back-taxes and penalties that both state law and the Arizona Department of Revenue say the church doesn't owe.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Church of the Isaiah 58 Project of Arizona in a lawsuit over the taxes, but because state courts have been unwilling to defer payment of the back-taxes until litigation has completed, the congregation is now facing foreclosure because it operates on a shoestring budget of only $50,000 per year.

Supporters of the church have contributed money to help it pay the illegal tax bill so that it can stay open and continue its lawsuit, but it still needs about $30,000 to avoid foreclosure due to a tax lein on its property.

"Churches shouldn't live in fear of being punished by the government when they've not done anything wrong, but that's precisely what is happening to this church. If La Paz County officials have their way, this church will lose everything," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley.

"The county assessor illegally levied these taxes against the church even though the Arizona Department of Revenue provided a letter stating that the church should owe no taxes. We join community leaders and the homeless whom the church serve in hoping that the church will obtain the amount it needs to continue operating and to continue its legal fight against this injustice."

Under state law, the church qualified for an exemption from property taxes and filed the appropriate paperwork with the La Paz County property assessor. The assessor sat on the church's paperwork for three years before granting a tax exemption and then only granted it for the years 2009 and later, leaving the church with back-taxes for 2007-2008 that it should not owe.

A September 2013 decision from the Arizona Court of Appeals in Church of the Isaiah 58 Project of Arizona v. La Paz County upheld an earlier Tax Court ruling that said the church should have paid the tax bill before challenging it as illegal. ADF attorneys have argued, however, that state law does not require the church to do so when it is challenging an illegally assessed tax so high that the congregation can't pay the bill and ask for a refund later.

The Arizona Supreme Court recently declined to hear an appeal, leaving the church with no choice but to raise enough money to pay the illegal tax bill so it can stay open, continue its lawsuit, and then seek a refund of the bill if it prevails.

Foreclosure will end the church's outreach to the needy, a program which the Quartzsite mayor and police chief have praised. Anyone interested in helping the church reach its goal of raising enough money to pay the illegal tax bill so it can continue to serve the homeless can donate through the church's website.

http://www.charismanews.com/us/44074-arizona-county-shutting-church-down-for-money-arizona-says-it-doesn-t-owe

[Psalm 51:17]

James 3:2  For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Jas 3:3  Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
Jas 3:4  Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Jas 3:5  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 3:6  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Jas 3:7  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
Jas 3:8  But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

Romans 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

[Psalm 51:17]

Just scroll down to the blue highlighted(my comments), and read the paragraph above it...

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/06/breaking-enough-invalidated-votes-to-overturn-cochran-victory/
BREAKING! There May Be Enough Invalidated Votes to Overturn Cochran Victory …Update: 800 Hinds County Voters Crossed Over Illegally
Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, June 26, 2014, 3:03 PM



(Left column: Democrat primary vote; Right column: GOP runoff vote)

The Chris McDaniel campaign has identified multiple Mississippi counties in which enough improper ballots have been cast that a legal challenge to the outcome of the election is warranted.

This after Thad Cochran reportedly relied on 25,000-35,000 Democrat votes to pull him to victory in the June 24 runoff.

UPDATE: The Cochran campaign is reportedly asking county clerks not to certify the voting rolls until the last day possible so that the McDaniel people will not be able to look at the rolls and challenge them.

BIG UPDATE—— CHILD ABUSE and THREATS

I just spoke with Lori Medina who is working with Real Conservative National Committee PAC in Mississippi this week. The McDaniel Campaign is targeting 10 counties where they think they can overturn the election results.

Lorie described one precinct where a “little sixteen year-old blonde female” McDaniel supporter was holding a sign and older men would drive by and threaten her. Several other volunteers were also harassed by Cochran supporters.

There was no information online on where to go vote. One county would only give the name of the buildings where they were voting but not the address to the McDaniel supporters. Many churches lined up in support of Cochran and told McDaniel supporters they could not hold signs on the property because they didn’t want to look biased. One church said McDaniel voters would have to leave because they were holding a funeral.

***Hhhhmmm...were these 501c3 churches doing so(supporting Cochran) b/c they were TOLD so by the IRS?

Lorie added, “I have never witnesses such overt out in the open fraud along with extreme ignorance. For the first time in my life I was speechless.”

** The McDaniel campaign is asking for donations and resources to scrutinize the voter rolls.

UPDATE: From Kim Wade:



Kim posted this on Facebook:

    I have been at the Hinds County Court house this morning.
    Here’s a page from Hinds County voter roll book.

    The column on the left is where the voter voted in Democrat primary on June 3rd 2014.
    The column on the right is where that same voter voted in the Republican run off on June 24th 2014.

    This is patently illegal!

    The problem is the Hinds County Republican Party in my opinion is dragging its feet in allowing access to “all” the voter information in a timely fashion to complete the audit.

    It appears they are trying to run the clock out and certify the election results on Monday of next week preventing Chris McDaniel from completing an audit of the vote.

    Please call the GOP at 6019485191 fax 6013540972 email info@msgop.org ask that they have an impartial member of the Hinds County Republican Committee oversee the audit, certification instead of the present county chairman.

    Hinds County chair Pete Perry is wearing too many hats and can’t be impartial or fair.

UPDATE: The Mississippi Tea Party President says at least 800 Hinds County Voters crossed over illegally.
MS News Now reported:

    The Mississippi Tea Party President says they’ve found evidence that nearly 800 voters crossed over in Tuesday’s runoff election that should not have been allowed to vote Republican.

    However, Hinds County GOP Chairman Pete Perry says there are some precincts where he knows workers marked the wrong column and that could account for at least 200 of those being cited by the Tea Party.

    Members of McDaniel’s campaign staff and some supporters began sorting through voter books on Thursday morning at the Hinds County courthouse.

    They were looking for any “irregularities”.

    In Hinds County, poll workers used the Democratic primary books for the GOP runoff in an attempt to prevent crossover voters.

    However, the group from McDaniel’s camp is still searching those records to try to find anyone who voted as a Democrat on June 3rd and with the GOP on the 24th (the runoff.)

    Much more this story in our newscasts tonight.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Homeland-Security-Bus-Immigrants-Diocese-Rialto-Fontana-Church-266624171.html

SoCal Churches Provide Temporary Shelter, "Spiritual Food" for Immigrants
Buses of immigrants arrived Thursday morning at two churches, part of a plan that has Homeland Security working with the Diocese of San Bernardino

7/10/14

An estimated 50 immigrants carrying temporary visas arrived Thursday aboard Homeland Security buses at two churches in San Bernardino County that are working with federal agencies to help the families through the immigration process.

Officials with the Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino told NBC4 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials reached out to them in an effort to address the border crisis stemming from a wave of undocumented immigrants from Central America who have recently crossed into the United States at the Texas-Mexico border. President Barack Obama has described the situation as a "humanitarian crisis."

"As a church, we want to let them know that there are people here in the United States who love and support them, they're praying with them and for them," said John Andrews, of the Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino County. "Maybe that can give them some of that spiritual food for the next leg of their journey."

A white bus marked "Homeland Security" arrived at a Fontana church early Thursday as volunteers unloaded food and other supplies from other vehicles. Volunteers are expected to transport some of the passengers to Rialto, about five miles east of Fontana.

All of the arrivals are mothers with young children, who are carrying paperwork from ICE that will allow them to remain in the United States as they wait for immigration hearings, Diocese officials said. The families will likely remain at the churches, equipped with air mattresses, for about 24 hours, according to the Diocese.

"The Catholic Church welcomed us," said 16-year-old Dianca, a passenger. "We are here. We are ok."

A volunteer left the church parking lot Thursday morning with Dianca and family members in a car. They were bound for a bus stop and the next part of their journey north.

Nearly all of the passengers are expected to be transported to the Midwest, authorities said.

The arrival follows more than week of tension in the Riverside County community of Murrieta, where buses of immigrant families were turned away as they arrived outside a Border Patrol station that was to serve as a processing center. Fontana police were on standby for Thursday's arrival in the community about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, but no disturbances were reported.

The plan for the undocumented immigrants, who crossed into the United States at the Texas-Mexico border, is to process them at local facilities before reuniting them with family members and social service organizations.

The border crisis led President Barack Obama to request $3.7 billion in emergency funds Tuesday to handle the influx. The request, initially estimated at $2 billion, came a day after another another plane of undocumented women and children arrived at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field, bringing more than 100 immigrants from Central America for processing at local U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities.

The money President Obama is seeking would be for immigration judges, detention facilities, legal aid and other items that could address the situation on the border.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://time.com/3066459/unaccompanied-minor-immigration-border/
This Baptist Charity Is Being Paid Hundreds of Millions to Shelter Child Migrants
8/4/14

Contractors have taken on the huge task of sheltering thousands of unaccompanied child migrants

In the late afternoon of July 9, Air Force One touched down at Love Field in Dallas. President Barack Obama ducked into a private room at the airport for a discussion about the crisis of undocumented children crossing the southwest border. Assembled around a wooden table were top Texas officials, including Governor Rick Perry and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, as well as the leaders of several faith-based charities. One of them was a man so anonymous, the White House pool report misspelled his name.

Kevin Dinnin is the CEO of a faith-based, nonprofit organization called BCFS, formerly known as Baptist Child and Family Services. This obscure charity has emerged as one of the biggest players in the federal government’s response to the influx of more than 57,000 unaccompanied children who have trudged across the southern border so far this year. It runs two of the largest facilities for temporarily housing immigrant children, as well as six permanent shelters in California and Texas. Since December, BCFS has received more than $280 million in federal grants to operate these shelters, according to government records. On July 7, two days before Dinnin met Obama in Dallas, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded BCFS $190,707,505 in a single grant.

BCFS is just one part of a sprawling system of shelters for unaccompanied children across the country. As the numbers of children entering the country balloon, so do the dollars required to care for them. To shield vulnerable kids from angry opponents of immigration and the media spotlight, the government declines to disclose the locations and activities of many of the facilities operated by BCFS and similar organizations. That protectiveness comes at a political cost. Governors in states across the U.S. have assailed the federal government for sending kids to their states without notifying local officials, and congressional critics say that massive amounts of taxpayer money are being spent without proper oversight.

Senator Charles Grassley, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on July 17, requesting information about BCFS contracts to ensure that taxpayer money wasn’t being misused. “Despite being almost completely dependent on the public, BCFS has faced heavy criticism for attempting to avoid public scrutiny,” the Iowa Republican wrote. “This aversion to basic transparency is extremely disturbing.”

BCFS began in 1944 as a home for orphaned children. In recent years, a sleepy San Antonio–based charity grew into a global nonprofit with regional offices around the U.S., as well as in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. On contract for the federal government, it has provided temporary shelter and emergency services in the wake of natural disasters ranging from Texas hurricanes to Haitian earthquakes. When the state needed to relocate the members of a Texas polygamous sect in 2008, it turned to BCFS, which provided emergency housing. The current crisis is the largest and longest response BCFS has ever faced. It has deployed some 1,400 personnel to manage the temporary shelters this year.

For BCFS executives, the work can be lucrative. According to federal tax records, Dinnin received nearly $450,000 in compensation in 2012. At least four other top officials earned more than $200,000. The median salary for the CEOs of nonprofit organizations like BCFS was about $285,000 in 2011, according to a 2013 survey by Charity Navigator.

The salaries, BCFS spokeswoman Krista Piferrer says, are determined by factors in the group’s contract with HHS. When disaster situations strike, a crisis pay scale replaces a regular one to account for extended 12-hour shifts in two-to-three-week stints. In 2012, an influx of children at the border required an emergency response, according to Piferrer. “It is similar to making an appointment to see a primary-care physician vs. going to the emergency room,” she says. “The emergency room is more expensive.”

The federal grant money for sheltering unaccompanied children, provided by HHS’s Administration for Children and Families, has so far totaled $671 million during the 2014 fiscal year. BCFS has received 40% of those funds, making it the largest recipient of money disbursed to contractors to temporarily house unaccompanied children until they can be reunited with family members or placed in foster care. Dozens of other organizations are involved in the effort, including Southwest Key Programs, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

BCFS is responsible for running two of the three temporary facilities recently set up to house large numbers of undocumented children apprehended by federal agents. One is at the Department of Defense’s Joint Base Lackland, in BCFS’s home city of San Antonio. Lackland is currently housing more than 700 children and has processed more than 3,600 overall since opening in May, says Kenneth Wolfe, an HHS spokesman. Another is Oklahoma’s Fort Sill, which is currently holding about 400 children and has discharged nearly 1,500 to date. Children stay at these facilities for an average of less than 35 days while the government works to find a family member with whom to place them. Because they are temporary shelters, some journalists, faith leaders, members of Congress and foreign dignitaries have been allowed into the facilities at Lackland and Fort Sill. Both facilities are expected to close by the end of August.

These facilities make up just a fraction of the extensive network in place to house child migrants. The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Alien Children program (UAC) has been given custody of more than 53,000 children over the past several months. The majority have been cycled through this network of about 100 smaller, permanent facilities, scattered across 14 U.S. states.

Unlike the temporary shelters, the permanent facilities are largely inaccessible to media and the taxpayers that fund them. Their locations are not officially disclosed, and they are “generally unnamed or unmarked,” according to Wolfe. Contractors are prohibited from speaking with the media without permission, BCFS says. As a result, it’s hard to gauge the conditions under which thousands of children are being held, or to assess whether taxpayer money is being well spent.

Wolfe, the HHS spokesman, says the secrecy stems from federal policy designed to protect the children’s privacy and ensure their safety. “We don’t identify the permanent facilities for the security of the children and the staff and the program,” he says. “Like any grant, we have federal staff assigned to oversight.”

A spokesperson for Southwest Key Programs, a Texas nonprofit that has been awarded more than $122 million in federal grants since December to shelter unaccompanied children, making it the second largest recipient after BCFS, said the organization was required to refer press inquiries to HHS. On a recent July afternoon, after multiple emails went unanswered, a TIME reporter drove to a Southwest Key facility in Phoenix. It was a colorful building ringed by tall metal bars and “No Trespassing” signs, situated off a freeway in a part of town where most signs are in Spanish. There was no guard out front to greet visitors, and entry required punching in a code at the locked gate.

The level of secrecy surrounding the facilities is unusual, says Neil Gordon, an investigator for the Washington-based Project on Government Oversight. But observers say it may be warranted. From Arizona to Michigan, clusters of citizens have held armed protests to oppose the relocation of undocumented children to facilities in their communities. “This situation is pretty unique in that they don’t want the mobs to come out and cause problems,” Gordon says. “That might be the reason they’re being so tight-lipped.”

A string of scams have also highlighted the importance of shielding the residents’ privacy. Grifters have been preying on the relatives of unaccompanied children, promising to help reunite them with their family members for fees ranging from $300 to $6,000, according to the Associated Press. The FBI is investigating the scams, which have targeted the families of children staying at BCFS facilities like Lackland, the AP reports.

Critics in Congress say the federal government is skirting transparency obligations. On July 1, Oklahoma Representative Jim Bridenstine, a Republican, was denied access to the BCFS facility at Fort Sill. “There is no excuse for denying a federal representative from Oklahoma access to a federal facility in Oklahoma where unaccompanied children are being held,” he said. “What are they trying to hide?” Soon after, the conservative media erupted over reports that BCFS planned to purchase a Texas hotel and turn it into a 600-bed facility for housing unaccompanied minors. (BCFS scuttled the idea, citing a backlash fed by inaccurate reporting.)

The UAC grant applications provide a glimpse of the extensive requirements to which organizations like BCFS must adhere. In addition to meeting all state and federal statutes, shelters must provide two hours per weekday of outdoor activity, offer classroom instruction on subjects like reading and science, supply counseling and personalized medical care, and grant phone calls to family members and access to visitors. The documents dictate that providers “utilize a positive, strength-based behavior-management approach, and shall never subject [residents] to corporal punishment, humiliation, mental abuse or punitive interference with the daily functions of living, such as eating or sleeping.”

Immigrant advocates say unaccompanied children are particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. In January, the National Immigrant Justice Center issued a policy brief based on interviews with hundreds of unaccompanied children in the Chicago area. The minors reported grim conditions in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, before transfer to shelters run by contractors. According to the policy paper, 56% said they had been placed in three-point shackles, which restrain individuals at the wrists, waist and ankles. More than 70% reported being placed in unheated cells during the winter. Some said they were barely fed.

The lack of public or congressional oversight of the facilities sheltering unaccompanied children should not be construed as concealing anything untoward, say groups that have visited them and worked with BCFS. The care at BCFS sites is extensive, Piferrer says, with the chief of the respiratory-disease branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention embedded at the site to track every illness the children faced, from broken ankles to fevers to GI-tract infections. “You don’t find another organization like this,” Gary Ledbetter of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention says of BCFS. “It’s basically a turnkey operation.”

“There’s not one bit of care that those kids were receiving that wasn’t first class,” says Chris Liebrum of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, a Baptist network with which BCFS is affiliated. “The federal government has come to Kevin. When the government says, ‘We need thousands of kids taken care of, can you do it?’ He’s done it.”

[Mark]

Is the IRS Going to Censor Sermons at Your Church?



An atheist group wants to censor what priests, pastors, rabbis and other clergy say in their sermons by threatening an IRS challenge of their tax-exempt status.

Generally, the leaders of houses of worship in America have the constitutional right to preach and promote anything short of an outright endorsement of a political candidate. But now, that freedom is being challenged.

In 2012, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit atheist organization that advocates strict separation of church and state, sued the Internal Revenue Service seeking to force the agency to question the tax-exempt status of churches and other houses of worship if they preach on moral issues in a way that has “political implications.”

On July 17, the Freedom from Religion Foundation formally agreed to dismiss the lawsuit voluntarily, with assurances from the IRS that the agency “no longer has a policy of non-enforcement against churches.” The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, was dismissed without prejudice—meaning the atheist group could revive it at any time if the IRS reverts to its previous “inaction.”

Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, agreed to answer questions about the case from The Daily Signal and explain the threat posed to Americans’ religious freedom.

The Daily Signal: Who and what is the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and what is this campaign they’ve launched against houses of worship?

Blomberg: The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a militant atheist group that seeks to marginalize religion in public life and demonize it generally. The lawsuit just dismissed was a step worse than usual. It was a failed attempt to use everyone’s favorite government agency— the IRS—to censor private religious speech: what pastors say to their congregations during religious services.

Q: What authority does the IRS have to monitor or censor sermons?

A: The Internal Revenue Service has seized on an old law, the “Johnson Amendment,” which was pushed through by an at-risk politician to censor what some non-profits were saying about him; [the IRS] expanded it through regulation to ban pastors from using “code words” such as “pro-life” in their religious instructions in church services.

Q: What is the Johnson Amendment?

A: It’s a tax law that restricts the speech of certain tax-exempt groups, including churches. The IRS has implicitly recognized that it can’t punish houses of worship for a minister’s sermon to the congregation, but it constantly threatens enforcement without ever following through. And that’s why the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued—it wanted more than threats, it wanted censorship.

Q: Why should Americans of all religious faiths and beliefs be alarmed?

A: Because while reasonable people can disagree about how much religious leaders should preach about politics, they all should agree that the IRS doesn’t have any role censoring what a pastor says in the pulpit during a religious service. And they should further agree that militant atheists shouldn’t be able to use the IRS as their attack dog.

Throughout history, religious leaders have preached openly about moral issues with public policy impact such as slavery, racial equality, child labor reform, and prison policies. And throughout history, politicians have tried to silence religious leaders who spoke against them—including religious leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Using government coercion to ban pastors, rabbis, imams, and priests from talking to their own congregations in the context of a religious service regarding religious beliefs just because those beliefs threaten politicians is about as unconstitutional as a regulation could be.

Q: What is The Becket Fund’s role?

A: The Becket Fund represented Holy Cross Anglican Church in fending off the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s lawsuit. And we remain actively engaged in protecting houses of worship from IRS censorship.

Q: Is the IRS embracing the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s position?

A: Once Holy Cross Anglican Church intervened in the lawsuit to protect churches from censorship, the IRS and the Freedom From Religion Foundation worked together to dismiss the lawsuit and protect the Johnson Amendment from a direct challenge.

Because the IRS never enforces the amendment, churches never get a chance to fight back. But the lawsuit gave houses of worship a chance to stand up, and once the Freedom From Religion Foundation realized that, they and the IRS couldn’t run away fast enough.

Q: Has any house of worship faced punishment or censorship already as a result of this lawsuit?

A: No. The lawsuit had no impact at all. In fact, the Freedom From Religion Foundation admitted to the court in support of its joint request with the IRS to dismiss the lawsuit that the IRS isn’t enforcing the Johnson Amendment at all right now – not against churches, not against anyone. Although the IRS is still threatening houses of worship with censorship, and apparently has 99 churches on its list of targets for the future, FFRF’s lawsuit has nothing to do with that.

Q: What happens next?

A: The ball remains in the IRS’s court. It can stop threatening ministers about the religious teaching they provide to their congregations.


http://dailysignal.com/2014/08/09/is-the-irs-going-to-censor-sermons-at-your-church/

[Psalm 51:17]

They've been doing that for a long time(and it's been getting worse) - if anything, this is yet another smokescreen to further hide everyone in the dark over what 501c3 REALLY is.

For example - while the average pew is aware that their churches can't engage in politics(ie-endorse political candidates on the pulpit) - at the same time they do NOT know that the violation of IRS rules(and withdrawing from 501c3) will end up with MAJOR consequences(ie-not just disallowing write-offs of donations on their taxes, but taking away all of their assets and buildings).

Having been in these church services recently - yes, I can attest to the fact that it's NOT what these pastors are saying, but it's what they're NOT saying(ie-they will just butter you up saying how everything's going to get gooder and gooder if you do this and that).

1John 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.infowars.com/state-run-churches-caught-red-handed/

State-Run Churches Caught Red-Handed
Many 501(c)(3) pastors promote government viewpoints rather than liberty

8/11/14

George Barna is the foremost researcher of modern Christianity in the country.

He recently spoke about a two-year research project studying why modern-day pastors and churches are so silent regarding political issues. The result of his research only confirms what I have been trying to tell people for years. But there was one thing his research uncovered that did somewhat surprise me. OneNewsNow.com covered the story:

“On Thursday, George Barna–research expert and founder of The Barna Group–shared with American Family Radio’s ‘Today’s Issues’ about new information he’s compiling at American Culture and Faith Institute over the last two years, gauging where theologically conservative pastors are at politically.

“‘What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?–and the numbers drop…to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.’

“When researchers ask those pastors what else they are willing to do to get their people active in the political process, Barna said ‘it’s almost nothing.’

“‘So the thing that struck me has been that when we talk about the separation of church and state, it’s that churches have separated themselves from the activities of the state–and that’s to the detriment of the state and its people,’ stated the researcher.”

That 90% of America’s pastors are not addressing any of the salient issues affecting Christian people’s political or societal lives should surprise no one–especially the readers of this column. It has been decades since even a sizeable minority of pastors have bothered to educate and inform their congregations as to the Biblical principles relating to America’s political, cultural, and societal lives. But the part of the research that did somewhat surprise me was this statement by Barna: “What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?–and the numbers drop…to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.”

Did you get that? Ninety-percent of America’s pastors say they KNOW that the Bible speaks to all of these issues, but they are deliberately determined to NOT teach these Biblical principles. That is an amazing admission!

It would have been one thing if the pastors had said that these political issues were not relevant to scripture, and, therefore, they didn’t feel called to address them. But the pastors are admitting that, yes, they KNOW that the scriptures DO relate to our current political issues, but they are deliberately choosing to NOT teach those scriptural principles. Holy heads-in-the-sand, Batman!

I confess: this statistic caught me off-guard. So, we can forever dismiss ignorance as justification for pastors remaining silent.

Now, all of the church members out there who have been forgiving of their ministers for not speaking out on the issues by saying things like, “He really doesn’t understand what’s going on,” need to reevaluate their leniency–if they are intellectually honest, that is–and if they truly care about the future of their country.

Church member, admit it: that pastor of yours who refuses to speak out on the issues KNOWS the Bible speaks to these issues, and he is DELIBERATELY refusing to teach those Biblical principles to you and your family.

So, we are not dealing with IGNORANT pastors; we are dealing with DELIBERATELY DISOBEDIENT pastors. They are PURPOSELY CHOOSING to remain silent. Will that make any difference to the Christians in the pews who say they want their pastor to take a stand but are willing to overlook his “ignorance?” Probably not. But, at least, we now know what the real issue is, don’t we?

The report goes on: “Why the disconnect? According to Barna, the answer is simple. He suggests asking pastors how someone would know if their church is ‘successful’–which he did.”

“‘There are five factors that the vast majority of pastors turn to [when asked that question],’ he explained. ‘Attendance, giving, number of programs, number of staff, and square footage.’”

There you have it: pastors are more concerned about being “successful” than they are being truthful. They believe if they tell their congregations the truth, their churches will not be “successful.” And it is so refreshing to see Barna directly ask pastors what “success” means to them. So, now we know (as if we didn’t know before; but, at least now there is definitive research to back it up). The vast majority of pastors believe church success lies in:

*Attendance

*Giving (money)

*Number of programs

*Number of staff

*Square footage (of facilities)

Shazam! Where did pastors come up with this definition of “success?” You know where: from men such as Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, et al.

The megachurch phenomenon of the last several decades transformed how pastors think and behave. Pastors read the “successful church” books and publications; they attend the “successful church” conferences; they watch the “successful church” videos, etc. They, then, try to mimic the tactics and strategies they have been taught. And if there is one constant theme promulgated by the likes of Osteen, Warren, and Hybels, it is pastors must avoid controversy like the plague. Again, one must realize that the goal is NOT being faithful to Biblical principles; the goal is building a “successful” church as noted above.

It is time for Christians to acknowledge that these ministers are not pastors; they are CEOs. They are not Bible teachers; they are performers. They are not shepherds; they are hirelings. It is also time for Christians to be honest with themselves: do they want a pastor who desires to be faithful to the scriptures, or do they want a pastor who is simply trying to be “successful?” BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF, CHRISTIAN FRIEND.

Barna’s research blows the “ignorance” excuse out of the water. Again, it is not ignorance; it is deliberate disobedience.

Barna goes on to say, “Now all of those things [the five points of success listed above] are good measures, except for one tiny fact: Jesus didn’t die for any of them.” Wow! You nailed it, George!

See the report here:

Barna: Many Pastors Wary Of Raising ‘Controversy’

Where do you find anything in the New Testament that measures a pastor’s success by the number of people attending his church? Or by how large his offerings are? Or by how many programs his church has? Or by how many staff members he has? Or by how large his facilities are? In fact, the early New Testament church didn’t even own property or buildings.

When the Apostle Paul listed his ministerial pedigree, here is what it looked like (II Cor. 11):

*Stripes above measure

*In prisons frequently

*In deaths often

*Beaten with rods

*Stoned

*Perils

*Weariness

*Painfulness

*Hunger and thirst

*Cold and nakedness

I don’t see attendance, offerings, programs, staff, or square footage in that list at all, do you?

When Paul wrote his own epitaph, it read, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7). He didn’t say, “I had a large congregation, we had big offerings, we had a lot of programs, I had a large staff, and we had large facilities.”

In the world of Osteen, Warren, and Hybels (and 90% of America’s pastors), the Apostle Paul’s ministry must have been a dismal failure. And how many church pulpit committees would even consider the pastoral résumé such as the Apostle Paul wrote above?

Please understand this: America’s malaise is directly due to the deliberate disobedience of America’s pastors–and the willingness of the Christians in the pews to tolerate the disobedience of their pastor. Nothing more! Nothing less!

Oh, and get this: according to the survey conducted by Barna, guess what the number one reason is why pastors choose to be “successful” and not “controversial?” You guessed it: fear of the IRS 501c3 tax-exempt status. Who would have thought it? (Yes, that question is deliberately facetious.)

The release of this research by George Barna could not have come at a more opportune time. I announced just last week that we have officially launched the Liberty Church Project, whereby we will be helping people around the country to establish non-501c3 churches. I invite folks (pastors or laymen) who are serious about starting new non-501c3 churches–or helping to resurrect patriot pulpits within existing churches–to fill out our online application. We already have several groups that we intend to help and are looking for others. If you are someone who is serious about such an endeavor, and seeks our assistance, please fill out the online application here:

Liberty Church Project

And, in case you missed it, here is my column announcing the launch of the Liberty Church Project:

We Are Launching!

I want to commend George Barna for his research. I suspect that the vast majority of pastors and churches will ignore it, but, at least now we know the painful truth of the matter: by in large, pastors are deliberately choosing to not teach Biblical truth to their congregations for the selfish goal of being “successful.” But as we come to grips with this reality, we must also acknowledge that pastors are simply (and shamelessly) putting their fingers to the wind and finding that the people in the pews are more interested in their churches being “successful” than faithful to the teaching of Holy Scripture. As Barna noted, it is the churches, themselves, that have chosen to separate from the political affairs of their country.

In the end, it always comes down to We the People, doesn’t it? If you want a church where the pastor is willing to teach the Biblical principles that relate to our everyday lives–including our political lives–you might have to vote with your feet and go find one. That is, if that kind of thing is truly important to you.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.abpnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/29171-churches-facing-a-rethink-in-how-they-engage-aging-boomers
9/5/14
Churches facing a rethink in how they engage aging Boomers

Many churches rely on retirees as volunteers to keep some programs and activities vital and growing. Some congregations turn to mature adults for the basics — answering phones,stuffing envelopes and other office or maintenance duties — to help hold down administrative costs.

But as the Baby Boomer generation retires, church leaders who hope to continue to tap into retiree time and resources may need to rethink the ministries they ask mature adults to take on.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2013 “Volunteering in the U.S.” report indicates volunteerism among 45- to 64-year-olds declined in the previous two years. What forces may be driving that trend, and what can congregations do to attract volunteers?

The generation preceding the Boomers — the Builders — tended to commit to an organization or group, such as church or a civic club, noted Amy Hanson, an expert on aging and Boomers.

“Boomers and subsequent generations tend to want to volunteer for a certain project or a cause that is near and dear to their heart,” noted Hanson, author of Baby Boomers and Beyond: Tapping the Ministry Talents and Passions of Adults Over 50.

Many Boomers move away from volunteering once their children leave home or as a result of downsizing their lifestyle, said Frank Fain, director of educational services for the Baptist Home in Missouri. Some give up volunteering for school events and church functions geared for children and youth because they gave their time when their own children participated in those activities.

Some give up volunteering so that they have time to travel or pursue other interests they did not have time to do before, Fain added.

Financial need also drives availability, he said. Some mature adults who lost their jobs in the market downturn in 2008 were unemployed for a year or longer. Those who volunteered during that time returned to the workforce once they found positions. Many now work two jobs, just to achieve the same income of their former employment, Fain said.

Much of the volunteer work Boomers do is not counted in most surveys. Family caregiving is a notable category, and the hours spent caring for parents and children aren’t registered” volunteer hours.

Church leaders sometimes do not recognize all the work volunteers do. “In our own congregational settings, involvement in ‘everyday’ ministries ... [such as] Sunday school, deacons [and] children’s ministry often gets overlooked,” noted Dennis Myers, a gerontology expert for the Baylor University School of Social Work.

He believes church members already committed to volunteering for long-time congregational programs, such as Bible study, will remain with them. However, churches might lose some volunteer hours to other activities.

“I do see some loss in ministries that depend on the discretionary time of retirees — extended mission involvements and ‘beyond-the-walls’ ministries in the community,” Myers said.

The key to enticing Baby Boomers to volunteer is to tap into their passions, Hanson and Myers agreed. And congregations must recognize and respect that Boomers prefer short-term commitments, rather than signing up for a multi-year stint.

“While the Builder generation was willing to sign on and teach the Sunday school class for 20 years, the Boomers want to know that they can be gone to see their grandkids play soccer or take a spontaneous trip with their spouse,” Hanson pointed out.

Focus on “small bites” and “passion” is Myers’ advice. “Linking the volunteer experience to a sense of call and a powerful opportunity to give back and do the things they always wanted to do but did not for a lot of reasons is compelling,” he explained.

“Boomers have an entrepreneurial spirit and an attitude that they can change the world,” Hanson added.

She calls on congregations to think beyond stapling papers and answering phones to unleashing the generation to lead ministries that use their skills and meet community needs. “This is a group that can make a significant difference for Christ, and we need to empower them to do it,” Hanson said.

Senior adult ministry? Not so much

Churches looking to the Boomer generation to bolster or revitalize senior adult ministry may be disappointed, Fain explained. While most congregations think Boomers will move right into the ministry, they likely will not, because they view it as something for their parents and grandparents.

Boomers do not want a connection to anything labeled “senior,” these experts agreed. “Volunteer recruitment in this cohort needs to be highly individualized, clearly focused and absent any link with ‘senior adult’ ministry,” Myers explained.

Just as volunteerism needs to be focused, so does giving. Myers sees Baby Boomers as “basically generous,” but appeals to the generation’s need to strike the same chords — passion and specific projects or social concerns.

Boomers — just like all believers — must be reminded of the biblical mandate to give, Hanson noted.

“Giving is a discipleship issue. It’s about continuing to grow as a follower of Christ,” she said.

“Our world sends the message that you should work hard and build up a nest egg in order to retire and enjoy life, but the Bible has a counter-culture message.”

Church leaders need to remember not all Boomers are relatively affluent and able to give, Myers pointed out.

“Boomers are also in poverty and struggle to meet basic needs on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

Others suffer health issues, and many struggle with early dementia, he added.

Congregations also must be aware that not all Boomers are believers, he noted. Meeting social needs with them may open opportunities to minister to them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now it's making even more sense why the Apostate Church is largely targeting young people to help "grow" their churches now.

[Psalm 51:17]

[Psalm 51:17]

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.dailyindependent.com/news/article_9d735878-4359-11e4-b361-f7e7ad2b4df3.html
Kentucky churches being turned into mosques
9/23/14

LOUISVILLE The growing trend of former church buildings being turned into mosques and Islamic centers has reached Kentucky’s largest city where even some once-thriving Southern Baptist facilities are now occupied by Muslims.

“On a trip to England a few years ago, I recall seeing dozens of churches that had become mosques and wondering how it could happen there; now it’s happening here,” said Paul Chitwood, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

Todd Robertson, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Louisville, said the religious makeup of the Bible Belt is rapidly changing with declining membership in many Christian congregations and growing participation in Islam and other religions.

“We have at least three former Baptist churches in Louisville that are no longer Baptist churches—two are mosques and one is a Sikh temple, and that’s a reality that’s troubling for many of us,” he said.

Robertson is urging Kentucky Baptists to “think strategically” to find ways to revitalize shrinking congregations and to protect the assets of those that end up closing. He is among those leaders calling for churches that have weakened to the point of closing to donate their buildings and property for church plants rather than putting them up for sale.

**Not quite - these 501c3 churches are GOVERNMENT RUNNED properties! IOW, once they shut down operations, it's in the hands of the federal government!

In Kentucky and throughout the Southern Baptist Convention, the number of Christian converts has been in steady decline in recent years, while other religions have been experiencing rapid growth. Louisville, for example, now has more than 20 mosques.

“This should be a call to action for Kentucky Baptists to get serious about telling others about Jesus,” Chitwood said.

Since becoming head of the KBC three years ago, Chitwood has preached the need for church revitalization. He has put together a troop of regional consultants to work with local churches on growth strategies, while also embarking on an ambitious push to plant hundreds of new churches across the state.

The needs are obvious: The number of new believers being baptized fell from 14,984 in 2012 to 13,970 in 2013, a decline of roughly 1,000.

“We are on the brink of a massive transfer of kingdom assets,” Robertson said. “I’m talking about property—buildings and things like that—of churches that, in their heyday of the ’50s and ’60s, were exploding with growth.”

Robertson said many of those churches are now on the brink of closing. Some, he said, will end up throwing their building on the market “and having it bought by who knows who for who knows what.”

**Please stop lying - you know very well that your Babel buildings are government-runned properties via the 501c3 status. Once you shut down operations, the federal government has control over who to sell/give it to.

Former church buildings typically need only minor renovations to be used as mosques and Islamic centers and are generally less expensive than constructing new ones from the ground up.

“We have to face the reality of it,” Robertson said. “We’ve got to look ahead and think how we are going to strategically address this issue so that we continue to leverage the assets that God has blessed us with for the sake of the kingdom so that the gospel will continue to be proclaimed.”

Robertson warned that unless Kentucky Baptists think strategically about how to change the tide of shrinking congregations, they’re going to see increasing numbers of church buildings turned into places of worship for other religions.

“Now, I know they’re just buildings, and that’s not the church, but yet I see them in the grander scheme as kingdom assets,” he said. “I think we should have a very different mindset about what happens to those assets.”

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/10/06/report-which-states-give-the-most-to-charity-the-ones-with-church-goers/
10/6/14
Report: Which states give the most to charity? The ones with church-goers.

Poor and middle-income Americans are reaching deeper into their pockets when donating to charity, while the nation’s wealthiest are giving less, according to a report by Chronicle of Philanthropy that analyzed taxpayers’ IRS data.

On average, Americans give about 3 percent of their income to charity each year, according to the report released Monday. But the giving gap between the rich and poor is significant, especially in view of the widening income gap. The report shows those who earned $200,000 or more donated 4.6 percent less of their income between 2006 and 2012; those who earned less than $100,000 gave 4.5 percent more.

Why? Chronicle editor Stacy Palmer noted one factor: church attendance.

Utah residents proved to be the most generous, with a giving rate of 6.6 percent — for every $1,000 they brought in, they handed out $65.60. Utah is also known for its large population of Mormons, whose church asks them to give at least 10 percent of their income to charity. New Hampshire residents were the least giving, with a rate of 1.7 percent. Maine and Vermont weren’t so charitable either, also ranking among the lowest.

Palmer suggested the meager handouts in northern New England are partly because of low rates of church attendance, but the low rankings also stem from residents’ “independent streak” and a tradition of self-reliance.

However, America’s wealthy are more inclined to support the arts and higher education than poorer donors, the report said.

The report analyzed tax returns filed by tax-payers who itemize their deductions, including charitable gifts.

Here are the top 10 most generous states:

    1. Utah: 6.6 percent giving rate
    2. Mississippi: 5.0 percent
    3. Alabama: 4.8 percent
    4. Tennessee: 4.5 percent
    5. Georgia: 4.2 percent
    6. South Carolina: 4.1 percent
    7. Idaho: 4.0 percent
    8. Oklahoma: 3.9 percent
    9. Arkansas: 3.9 percent
    10. North Carolina: 3.6 percent

Of the 50 largest cities, Las Vegas saw the biggest jump in generosity. Residents gave nearly 15 percent more of their incomes to nonprofits between 2006 and 2012. And Nevada was the state with the fastest-growing donation rate.

Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., was the city that took the deepest dive — 10.6 percent. And North Dakota was the state that saw the biggest decline in donations, despite its sudden riches from the boom in fracking.

Here are the top 10 most generous cities:

    1. Salt Lake City: 5.4 percent in 2012, up 2.7 percent from 2006
    2. Memphis: 5.1 percent, up 6.7 percent
    3. Birmingham, Ala.: 4.8 percent, up 1.7 percent
    4. Atlanta: 4.0 percent, up 6.5 percent
    5. Nashville: 3.9 percent, up 4.8 percent
    6. Jacksonville, Fla.: 3.8 percent, up 8.7 percent
    7. Oklahoma City: 3.7 percent, down 1.6 percent
    8. Dallas-Fort Worth: 3.6 percent, up 4.6 percent
    9. Charlotte, N.C.: 3.4 percent, down 5.5 percent
    10. Virginia Beach: 3.3 percent, down 6.1 percent

[Psalm 51:17]

Why? Chronicle editor Stacy Palmer noted one factor: church attendance.

So contrary to what some of these rebrobates like those in the SBC want to make you to believe - attendance in these Babel buildings are actually UP...

Looks like the stage is really being set for the AC to make his appearance(on those flat screen tvs behind those pulpits to boot!).

[Mark]

IRS agrees to monitor sermons in settlement with atheists

The IRS has agreed to pay closer attention to what is said in houses of worship after reaching a settlement with a secularist group in federal court last week.

On Friday, the IRS settled a lawsuit filed in 2012 by the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). The Wisconsin group brought the lawsuit because it said the IRS was ignoring complaints about churches violating their tax-exempt statuses. Specifically, FFRF said many churches promote political issues, legislation, and/or candidates from the pulpit in violation of the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which requires that non-profits not endorse candidates.

According to FFRF, the IRS has not followed a 2009 ruling requiring it to hire someone to keep an eye on church politicking. The IRS says it hasn't ignored the ruling, but merely failed to follow it.

The government has put a moratorium on the IRS’ investigations of tax-exempt organizations after the scandal that broke in 2013 over its targeting of pro-life, pro-family, and Tea Party groups. FFRF says that even though the IRS will not enforce the agreement because of the moratorium, they can still bring the lawsuit again if needed after the moratorium is lifted.

FFRF said in a press release that it filed the lawsuit because of Pulpit Freedom Sunday, which in 2012 involved approximately 1,500 church leaders delivering sermons on the intersection between politics and Scripture.

The effort, launched by Alliance Defending Freedom in 2008, aims to generate test cases to overturn the Johnson Amendment.

According to FFRF, "Pulpit Freedom Sunday ... has become an annual occasion for churches to violate the law with impunity. The IRS, meanwhile, admittedly was not enforcing the restrictions against churches."

Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom and head of the Pulpit Initiative, told LifeSiteNews that "the IRS has no business censoring what a pastor preaches from the pulpit."

According to Stanley, his organization is "attempting to bring the era of IRS censorship and intimidation to an end by challenging the Johnson Amendment, which imposes unconstitutional restrictions on clergy speech."

The tax-exempt status of churches is not an even trade-off to give up free speech, he said. “No one would suggest a pastor give up his church’s tax-exempt status if he wants to keep his constitutional protection against illegal search and seizure or cruel and unusual punishment,” he said.

Stanley insists that not only is the trade-off unequal, but "churches are automatically tax exempt out of recognition that the surest way to destroy the free exercise of religion is to begin taxing it."

"Churches are constitutionally entitled to a tax exemption and that exemption cannot be conditioned on the surrender of constitutional rights."

Stanley also advised the IRS to "adopt fair procedures for auditing churches” and said the agency “should publish those procedures for everyone to see.  Right now, the IRS is being very secretive about these procedures and that secrecy breeds mistrust."

Stanley says that trust is an issue "especially given the recent IRS scandal. Churches should be allowed to decide for themselves what they want to talk about. The IRS should not be the one making the decision by threatening to revoke a church’s tax-exempt status." He noted that the targeting scandal showed that the IRS was "used as a political tool of censorship to silence opponents."

"A pastor’s speech from the pulpit should not be subject to the whims of a government official," concluded Stanley.

Election years often bring out criticisms of churches from political opponents. Pastors who speak against abortion or same-sex relationships are often accused of being political, but Stanley says that's because "society has been taking issues that are biblical, slapping a political label on them, and telling churches that they are now off-limits. The church has not been invading the realm of politics.  Rather, politics has been invading the realm of the church."

The Alliance Defending Freedom's opposition to the Johnson Amendment has faced criticisms from liberal pundits and clergy, including the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rev. Barry Lynn. In 2008, Lynn and Stanley engaged in an online debate, where Lynn said that ADF "is making a big mistake in urging pastors to violate federal tax law in their sermons."

Likewise, The Week contributor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux wrote last month that the Johnson Amendment is "a contract of sorts with the government, where [religious non-profits] receive a sizeable financial benefit — tax exemption — in exchange for certain forms of oversight. And this isn't about targeting GOP-friendly religious...or stifling Christian freedom of expression. The prohibition on electioneering should apply equally to all houses of worship — be they Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, or any other faith."

Thomson-DeVeaux said the IRS should crack down on pastors who violate the Johnson Amendment, especially in light of Pulpit Freedom Sunday.

According to Stanley, his group launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday “to restore a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit without fearing government control or intimidation.  It is the pastor’s job to decide what is said from the pulpit, not the IRS."

"Simply put," says Stanley, "we need to get the IRS out of the pulpits of America."

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/irs-agrees-to-monitor-sermons-in-settlement-with-atheists

[Psalm 51:17]

Former Connecticut church sold for benefit of local Muslim community
10/23/14
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/10/23/former-connecticut-church-sold-for-benefit-of-local-muslim-community/

[Episcopal Church in Connecticut] The Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT) has sold its property at 35 Harris Road, Avon, former home to Christ Episcopal Church, to the Farmington Valley American Muslim Center, Inc. (FVAMC).

The sale, for $1.1 million, was completed on Oct. 21.

The building was vacated after the congregation voted in 2012 to dissolve as a parish and close by the end of that year.

The following spring, Bishop Ian T. Douglas and other ECCT staff hosted a meeting of community leaders and interested residents to discern how the property could best be used “as an asset to God’s mission of restoration and reconciliation” in greater Avon and beyond.

At the meeting they learned that the local Muslim community needed a place to gather for prayers, teaching, youth programs and interfaith work. In September 2013, the ECCT entered into an interfaith partnership with FVAMC that included leasing the Avon building.

Since then the FVAMC has reached out to its neighbors with open houses and other interfaith efforts, expanded its worship and service work, and grown its programs, particularly for youth.

The several committees of the ECCT needed to approve the sale gave it their solid endorsement and support.

Both ECCT and the FVAMC share the understanding that the sale isn’t the end of their relationship but the beginning of a new phase in this interfaith collaboration.

Douglas said of the growing relationship between the Episcopal Church in Connecticut and the Farmington Valley American Muslim Center: “I thank God that through the stewardship of our property in Avon we have come into relationship with our Muslim neighbors in the Farmington valley. Together we are learning about what it means to be people of faith working together for peace and understanding. It is a blessing to cooperate with the FVAMC in the development of their new home.”

“We are grateful to our brothers and sisters in the Diocese for their partnership,” said Khamis Abu-Hasaballah, president of the Board of Trustees of the FVAMC. “This house of worship will serve as a foundation for our efforts to continue building bridges with our neighbors, the local community, and other faith traditions. Our relationship with the ECCT serves as a shining example in our region, and as a beacon of hope for inter-religious understanding and cooperation the world over.

The net income from the sale will be returned to the Missionary Society of ECCT, which provides funding for missional work, among other uses.