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Pastor Al's Comments...

Mary, Joseph, & Baby Jesus Appear On Pastor's Wall? Posted: March 17, 2005       Well, we have hid it long enough. I guess it is time to come clean. My wife did not want me to advertise it but we owe it to the world…Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus are on our wall. I am not sure where they go during the day but they appear there every night.       When my wife and I first noticed the mysterious apparition we were not sure what to make of it. But, night after night it lingered up there on the wall, above the bookshelf. And, night after night we looked up at it and wondered. Is it real? Is it our imagination? Just what is it?!       Now naturally we would question why such a miraculous image would appear on our wall. After all, such incredible images do not typically appear on the walls, tree trunks, grain silos, and cheese sandwiches of independent fundamental Baptists. Nevertheless, it is there. And, since it is there, we had to decide what to do about it.       If we belonged to a different denomination we would have gone public with the image some time ago. However, knowing that most of our crowd look askance at such things, we kept it to ourselves for a number of years. Of course, it is hard to live with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus appearing on the wall every night and not say anything to anyone. Still, we managed to bear the burden alone for the most part, only showing the shadowy nativity to three or four others.       Through the years we have resisted the temptation to profit from the image. We could have easily opened our doors and let the world in to gaze upon our wall. I'm sure the faithful viewers would have freely given a few dollars to the cause of missions if we had.       Another tempting possibility was to license the miraculous image and put it on thimbles, key fobs, shirts, spoons, and coffee cups. We could have even turned our kitchen into a gift shop with souvenirs, postcards, and gift books for the faithful to take home with them—for a small donation, of course—just like others have done.       In the end, we decided not to open up our house for pilgrimages. I don't think our landlord would have appreciated all the people milling about and tracking mud all over the carpets. Besides, it would have upset the neighbors and disturbed the cat. It might have even caused our rent to go up. Click here to read the full article...

One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest Posted: February 14, 2005      Personally, I believe that the ACLU realizes that Intelligent Design has the potential of dislodging the entrenched humanistic concept of Darwinian evolution and opening minds to the reality of God. Consequently it is a very real threat to their goal of eliminating all vestiges and influences of Christianity from the public arena and effectively establishing secular humanism as the state religion.      The ACLU is currently fighting efforts in Pennsylvania and elsewhere to require teaching Intelligent Design, along with evolution, in public schools. It is, they say, a thinly veiled attempt to promote religion in the classroom. An attempt which, the ACLU claims, represents an unconstitutional establishment of Christianity.      Intelligent Design is a concept that has arisen largely out of the study of biochemistry. Briefly, it holds that the complexity of certain biological systems is unable to be accounted for by time, chance, and natural selection. In order to exist they must have been designed to meet a certain function initially... Click here to read the full article...

Making Sense of Nonsense Posted: January 14, 2005      "Everyone's religious beliefs are equally valid," the radio talk show host piously intoned, "Nobody is wrong. And no one has any right to tell someone else that what they believe is wrong."      A few minutes later a caller with strong religious beliefs of his own challenged the host's statement. "If I really believe that I am right and others are wrong, shouldn't I want to change their beliefs?"      "No!" answered the host emphatically, "You have no right to say that what anyone else believes is wrong!" After dismissing the caller as dogmatic and close-minded he went on to denigrate the caller's beliefs as ignorant, offensive, and unacceptable. No one, he strongly implied, should hold such intolerant beliefs."... Click here to read the full article...

How the ACLU Stole Christmas! (With Apologies to Dr. Suess!) Posted: December 14, 2004 Every Christian in America liked Jesus a lot But the ACLU, who lived on the left coast, Did NOT! The ACLU hated Jesus! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all May be that his heart had no light in it at all. But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoe, He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating that Savior born of a Jew. Staring down from his cave with sour, litigatious frown At the warm lighted nativities below in their towns. For he knew every Christian down in America's churches Was busy now singing from choir loft perches. "And their reading their Bibles!" he snarled with a sneer. "Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!"... Click here to read the full article... Click here to Contact Pastor Al!

News & Views...

Posted: 18 Mar 05 BEWARE: New Teen Smut Bible from Zondervan!     World Net Daily recently posted an article entitled, TESTING THE FAITH Teen girls' Bible talks of oral sex, lesbianism Critic says publication smears 'filthy graffiti across the Word of God'     This new "Bible" is geared for young girls age 13-16. Extensive market research went into determining what this age group wants (i.e. what sells?). According to Cameron Conant, Zondervan's public relations manager for Bibles, they want to know about...SEX! So, they put together the True Images Bible (i.e. sex sells!)     We should not be surprised by this tripe. After all, Zondervan is just a subsidiary of a secular publishing house. They are more interested in what sells than providing real Bibles. What young girls – and boys -- need is a good King James Bible (not the New King James!) and a Christian Mom and Dad who will raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord in a church that believes, preaches and teaches God’s Word!         Posted: 26 Feb 05 Surprising new study on Shroud of Turin     I’ve always said that the Shroud of Turin is not the authentic burial clothes of Jesus Christ. Now, a new study reported on by World Net Daily reveals how it could have easily been created by a medieval forger. N.D. Wilson, a fellow of literature at New St. Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, created a series of three-dimensional photonegatives using oil paint on glass, linen cloth, and exposure to sunlight. His website provides comparisons between his shroud and the Shroud of Turin.     While this does not disprove the Shroud’s authenticity in and of itself, I believe John 20:6-7 does: "Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself."     The burial clothes of Jesus Christ, unlike the Shroud of Turin, consisted of cloth wound about His body and a separate, smaller napkin covered His head. The Shroud consists of one cloth that covered head and body.         Posted: 25 Feb 05 An Analysis of Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life Matt Costella provides an in depth BIBLE-BASED look at Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life phenomena.         Posted: 25 Feb 05 Rare but Real: People Who Feel, Taste and Hear Color Ker Than writes about a unique phenomena which, though Than probably does not agree, points to the fascinating complexity that God has wired into our senses.         Posted: 25 Feb 05 Stanford Researcher Wants to Create Human-Mouse Hybrid Steven Ertelt writes at Life News about plans at Stanford to make a mouse-human hybrid (a Chimera). Researchers want to graft human brain cells into a mouse embryo and see what develops. Please note, chimeras are not new creatures created by scientists. They are produced by mixing the ingredients of already existing species. Only God has the ability to create from scratch. Still, these are dangerous ethical waters. On the one hand, God has obviously created life in such a fashion that scientists are able to manipulate its very building blocks. However, that does not relieve man of the consequences that may result from such actions. Researchers say they will dispose of the mice if they start to act "human." No word on what the mice will do if the scientists begin to act mousey...         Posted: 24 Feb 05 The Bush Doctrine vs Evolution. Enviroguy lays out two reasons why the Bush doctrine is grudgingly being accepted by some of his critics (other than the fact that it works!).     First, there is evil in the world. ...the reason the world falls apart ecologically is because of human sin. A world created perfectly by God now suffers from the fallout of the Fall...     The Bush Doctrine is willing to call evil out by name, whether that be a movement (Al Quaida), a tool (terrorism) or a nation (Syria, N. Korea, Iraq). Liberals refuse to believe that evil exists, becuase it would stand the whole notion of man as basically good and ultimately the captain of his future on its head... It would also lead to the second inescapable conclusion. That established societies, just like established planets and cosmos and wildlife and the human race, require active, rational, devoted, self-giving, sacrificial, and loving intent to make them come about.      I guess it's just a case of survival of the fittest!         Posted: 24 Feb 05 The New Peculiar Institution: Abortion, Embroyos, and Property Rights The Evangelical Outpost looks at the convoluted reasoning that has come up with another way for abortion advocates to classify unborn babies: human property.