The Daily Spurgeon: We must have You, Holy Spirit!

The Daily Spurgeon: We must have You, Holy Spirit!.

Applauding banners warning families of Gay Day at Disney

A person many of you may never have heard of again took a right stand in recent days.  His name is David Caton.  David is the founder and head of Florida Family Association.

For a number of years, David has warned Christian families of “Gay Days at Disney” where the day is specially designated for homosexuals at Disney.

For years David would use his newsletter and interviews with various media outlets to warn people that if they went to Disney on that particular day in early June – Gay Days at Disney –  that they would be exposed to homosexual conduct and influence.

Last year and now this year David hired airplanes to fly banners. “Florida Family Association paid Aerial Messages $12,300 to fly banners warning potential Magic Kingdom guests about Gay Day at Disney scheduled for Saturday, June 2, 2012.   Two planes pulled banners which stated “Warning: Gay Day at Disney 6/2” for 18.5 total hours on Friday, June 1, 2012.  One plane pulled a banner which stated “Warning: Gay Day at Disney 2day” for ten hours on Saturday, June 2, 2012.  A second plane flew two hours on Saturday to make up for stormy weather on Friday.

In a day when so many curl up inside themselves and act like all is well when all is not well, it is important to made aware of those who stand and stand faithfully as David Caton.

Here are some of the results of these positive actions unleashed by David Caton and Florida Family Association:

The results of the airplane banner project are reported as follows:

Overall attendance appeared to be DOWN another 5% more than last year’s 50% drop in attendance. The Magic Kingdom parking lots had approximately 1,210 fewer cars (11 double rows) compared to last year at the same time of day.  There were less than fifty people on average in line to buy tickets throughout the morning and early afternoon.  See photos below.

Gay Day patron attendance was DOWN close to 60% from last year. Their visual presence declined significantly with FAR FEWER red shirts promoting Gay Day.  The most likely reason for this steep decline is because Gay Day patrons felt unwelcome after seeing the airplane banners last year.  Gay Day patrons knew more banners would be at the Magic Kingdom again this year.  This would explain why pro-Gay Day groups hired two planes to pull banners with counter messages.  See photo posted below.

Foreign traveler attendance especially from South America was up significantly and almost made up for the entire loss of Gay Day patrons.  Bloomberg reported that Disney is benefitting from a boost in South American tourists with Brazilian tourism alone up by 33%

 

Pilots reported that the parking lots of all of the other parks were FULL whereas the Magic Kingdom had several parking lots that were completely empty.

 

Heavy rain during mid-Friday prevented the planes from flying during a couple of preferred hours, cancelled the in air 1:00 PM press conference and likely caused some people to patronize the Magic Kingdom on Saturday instead of Friday.  Knowing the rain was on the way planes launched almost two hours early and flew until dark to cover as much daylight as possible.

 

Gay Day at Disney still offended many regular families who left early.

Numerous cars left the parking lot after families were in the park for just a couple of hours.  On average, eighteen (18) cars per row of one hundred ten (110) left the Magic Kingdom early after being in the park for less than three (3) hours.

 

Several families stood in line at the front gate to complain about the event.  The body language of many other families demonstrated their disappointment as they left the park.  One family, with mom, dad and three children, walked toward a tram to leave the park around 12:30.  They avoided getting on the first available tram car which was all but empty except for one gay couple.  The family briskly walked up to the tram car with a dozen families and climbed on the vehicle.”

To read David Caton’s posting click here:

Encourage David by dropping him a personalized email.  Just a short word of thanks goes a long way for those fighting the fight so faithfully – going against the politically correct mentality and the lethargy that is so prevalent today.

Write David at:

davidcaton@floridafamily.org

http://www.americandecency.org/archives/applauding-banners-warning-families-of-gay-day-at-disney/#more-6725

America’s Moral Schizophrenia

schiz·o·phre·ni·a – a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.

By now most people have heard about New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s battle to ban Big Gulps in the Big Apple.  According to the Bloomberg’s Health Commisioner, Thomas Farley:

We have a crisis of obesity.  People often go with the default choice, and if the default choice is something which is very unhealthy and is feeding into that health crisis, it’s appropriate for the government to say, “No, we think the default choice should be healthier.”

In the eco-conscious, health-obsessed culture that characterizes America’s urbane elites, it is widely considered to be a moral imperative for government to do whatever it can to stem the tide of obesity in America.  Tackling childhood obesity is First Lady Obama’s signature cause, and she’s done an admirable job of encouraging families to move their bodies more and make better choices about what they put on their plates.  In the case of Mayor Bloomberg and sugary drinks, his desire is to limit consumer choice because the “default choice should be healthier.”

In other words, neither Mrs. Obama nor Mayor Bloomberg has any qualms about taking a firm “moral” stand on the issue of nutrition.  Their logic:  Drinking a 64-ounce cola is bad for everyone, and government is morally-justified in using its power to remove that choice from the public realm.  Big fat people shouldn’t have the right to choose something that will make them bigger and fatter, more unhealthy, and more of a drain on public resources.  Unrestrained “choice” isn’t always good.

Ironically however, both Bloomberg and the First Lady are fervent advocates of a woman’s “right to choose” abortion, and view any efforts by government to restrict such choice as inappropriate and overly intrusive.  Which brings us to another story making headlines in recent days:  Congress’ refusal to outlaw the abhorrent practice of gender-based abortion.  Most Democrats are so terrified of appearing even slightly judgmental about the morality of terminating a pregnancy that they can’t even bring themselves to vote on the subject!

So we find ourselves living in a society where our elected officials see nothing strange about using the power of government to impose a morality of nutrition while shying away from using that power to protect the lives of innocent unborn children.  How can this be?  What kind of mindset can embrace such moral schizophrenia?  I would humbly suggest that when you jettison the moral truths that inhere in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the world turns topsy turvy.  Our elected representatives, the Muppets of Sesame Street, and Oprah devote hours of time, effort, and money in order to educate the masses about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup while ignoring the crises of crumbling families and a culture that increasingly celebrates hedonism and death.  Our government won’t allow you to enjoy a Big Gulp, but it will stand aside and let you choose to kill your unborn daughter simply because you’ve already painted the nursery blue.  Heaven help us!

At the end of the day, it’s really not about what’s truly right and wrong according to any kind of transcendent moral and ethical standards, but merely what government decides to allow based upon prevailing cultural and political trends.  And a government big enough and intrusive enough to prevent you from drinking a Big Gulp is big enough to control every aspect of your life.  It can compel you to eat your broccoli, do your pushups, and take an afternoon nap if it deems those things to be healthy for you.  It can compel you to buy birth control and abortifacient drugs for your employees if it deems that a woman’s right to consequence-free sex trumps your right of religious conscience.  It doesn’t matter what you think, it doesn’t matter what the Constitution says, it’s about what those in power decide.

We should be very wary of a government unconstrained by traditional notions of right and wrong.   When men in power take it upon themselves to decide what is just, what is true, and what is good; when they look inward to their own sinful hearts and outward towards a crumbling culture for guidance instead of upward to the Creator, they will inevitably choose the wrong path, and civilized society will suffer.

Congress had an opportunity to send a signal to the American people and to the rest of the world that we are a nation that cherishes our founding principles, honors the sanctity of life, and values equally the worth of baby boys and girls.  Instead, they chose the coward’s way and cast a shadow of shame over what is supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave.

Ken Connor

Ken Connor is Chairman of the Center for a Just Society in Washington, DC.

http://townhall.com/columnists/kenconnor/2012/06/06/americas_moral_schizophrenia/page/full/

Abort a Baby, Pro-Choice; Drink a Slurpee, No Choice

In defending his controversial proposal to ban the sale of all sugary drinks over 16 ounces, New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg boasted that, on average, New Yorkers outlive other Americans by three years. But that is only if they make it out of the womb. At present, 41% of all New York City babies are killed before birth.

To be sure, obesity is a massive problem in America (no pun intended), with very serious health complications for individuals and very real economic implications for the nation. In no way do I minimize the problem of obesity. But Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal is wrongheaded and, worse still, tragically hypocritical.

On the Today show, Matt Lauer needled the mayor about supporting Donut Day while calling for a ban on large sugary drinks, to which Bloomberg responded, “One donut’s not going to hurt you. In moderation, most things are OK.”

But what if people eat more than one donut? Or what if the one donut they choose to eat is of especially high caloric content, not to mention extra sugary?

Or what if a skinny person wants to eat three donuts, along with a 44 ounce Big Gulp? Should that be allowed? Or what if a severely obese person wants to eat just one donut, along with a 16 ounce Coke? Is that OK? Maybe people should be weighed before placing their order?

Perhaps a limit should be put on how many slices of pizza a person can eat in one sitting (in proportion, of course, to their BMI, body mass index)? Or maybe there should be a ceiling on how many pieces of apple pie someone can consume after a meal, or on how many bites of a deli sandwich he or she is allowed to ingest before having to put the rest in a to-go box? (If you’ve ever eaten at a famous NY deli, like the Carnegie Deli, you know that the size of drink you order is the least of your caloric concerns.)

What about ice cream parlors? How many scoops should they be allowed to serve per customer? And should chocolate-dipped sugar cones be banned altogether? And what about the ubiquitous street-corner vendors? Should they be permitted to sell regular-size candy bars but not king-sized? And how many of those candy-bars should they be allowed to sell per customer? Going back to the mayor’s proposal, who would actually enforce these regulations?

On a more serious note, what about the consumption of alcohol in city bars? Since there is a definite correlation between drinking and cirrhosis of the liver, should there be a limit on the kind of alcoholic drinks people are allowed to order or the amount of drinks they are allowed to consume?

And what about sexual health risks? Bloomberg is a champion of “gay rights,” apparently ignoring the numerous health risks for men who have sex with men (MSM). And when he boasts about the healthiness of New Yorkers, has he forgotten about a 2006 CDC study that reported that, “Over the past several years, increases in syphilis among MSM have been reported in various cities and areas, including Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Southern California, Miami, and New York City.” Yes, that very same New York.

All this, however, is trivial when compared to the staggering abortion rates in New York City, which have been as high as 46% in 1998 (meaning, virtually half of all babies conceived) and most recently were reported at 41%, including the following breakdown: “Specifically non-Hispanic Blacks have a 59.8% abortion rate. Hispanics have a 41.3% abortion rate. Asians have a 22.7% abortion rate. And non-Hispanic Whites have a 20.4% abortion rate.”

As New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan remarked, “If 41% of New York babies are aborted, with the percentage even higher in the Bronx and among our African-American babies in the world, it is downright chilling.”

Also downright chilling is the fact that earlier this year, Planned Parenthood honored Bloomberg with a lifetime achievement award, coinciding with his $250,000 donation to their organization after “it initially lost funding from the Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity.” This is the same Bloomberg who “was sued in 1997 by a sales executive who claimed that after she became pregnant, Mr. Bloomberg urged her to have an abortion, telling her, ‘Kill it!’ and saying sarcastically, ‘Great! Number 16,’ apparently referring to the number of pregnant women at the company. Mr. Bloomberg adamantly denied any wrongdoing and settled the case out of court for an undisclosed amount.”

The suit was actually brought against Bloomberg L.P. by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which charged that female employees at the company “were demoted and had their pay cut after they disclosed that they were pregnant.” Whether the charges were true, Bloomberg’s enthusiastic support of abortion is not in question.

I wonder what the average lifespan of New Yorkers would be if the multiplied tens of thousands of babies snuffed out in the womb were factored in as living to “zero” years? And this zealously pro-abortion mayor wants to ban Slurpees and Big Gulps?

To paraphrase the thoughts of one of my radio show callers, in Mayor Bloomberg’s world, the feminists who say, “Keep your hands off our ovaries” are commendable while the New Yorkers who say, “Keep your hands off our diets” are contemptible. Put another way, Bloomberg is “pro-choice” when it comes to a mother aborting a tiny baby in her womb and “no-choice” when it comes to her putting a big Slurpee in her stomach.

God help the mayor.

Michael Brown

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire, and his latest book is The Real Kosher Jesus.

http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2012/06/05/abort_a_baby_prochoice_drink_a_slurpee_no_choice/page/full/

David Limbaugh’s Devastating Book

It’s clear David Limbaugh isn’t writing books with the goal of being honored in the salons of the liberal media. He doesn’t mince words with the media. His devastating new book on Barack Obama is titled “The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama’s War on the Republic.”

 

It’s a bracing antidote to the intoxicated oozing of the “mainstream” press. There is so much withering artillery fire against Obama’s damaging presidency in this book, you hardly know where to begin.

I probably enjoyed most the chapter on “The War on the Dignity of His Office.” As I write, Obama’s preparing yet another gathering of New York and Hollywood celebrities lining up to donate to America’s ultimate celebrity. Ronald Reagan used to praise the worker in the checkout line. For this president, everyone is a resident of Beverly Hills. Limbaugh piles on the proof that Obama has an enormous ego he needs stroked daily.

The “news” media comments that explicitly compared Obama before he took office to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln clearly have gone to Obama’s head. Journalists didn’t blink last December when Obama told Steve Kroft on “60 Minutes” that he’s America’s fourth greatest president. “I would put our legislative and foreign policy achievements in our first two years against any president – with the possible exceptions of Johnson, FDR, and Lincoln – just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history.”

Note he said these were “possible” exceptions. He could be the greatest ever.

Months later, Obama invoked other historical figures as similar forces for change: “Around the world, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, what they did was hard. It takes time. It takes more than a single term.” I’m surprised any man’s neck could sustain a head as big as Obama’s.

Limbaugh even quotes liberal New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. “Despite what his rivals say, the president and the first lady do believe in American exceptionalism – their own, and they feel overassaulted and underappreciated.” Dowd cited her Times colleague Jodi Kantor, who wrote in her book on the Obamas that the first couple isolated themselves in a “bubble within the bubble,” with just “their small circle of Chicago friends, who reinforced the idea that ‘the American public just did not appreciate their exceptional leader.’” But Bush is the one who is in the bubble on the cover of Newsweek. Barack gets a rainbow halo over his head.

The pro-Obama media don’t take exception to Obama’s overweening egotism. They have made him the emperor with no clothes, and they continue to compliment his invisible finery.

Limbaugh unloads the armory on Obama’s “frequent, extravagant vacations and golf outings,” which the press blindly accepts as well-deserved. Helluva 99 percenter this man is. The extreme clash this represents with the Occupy Wall Street movement is rarely highlighted by the Obama-loving media elite. There have been no “disastrous optics” for Obama in golfing after the tsunami in Japan or skipping his commitment to attend the Polish president‘s funeral for another round on the links. There have been no Occupiers protesting Obama’s lavish vacations in Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard or Michelle Obama’s trips to Aspen, Colo., or sunny Spain.

And President Obama, he writes, “still can’t resist placing himself in the cultural limelight, appearing on pop-culture television programs ranging from ‘The Daily Show’ to ‘Mythbusters.’” Obama loves appearing on shows like “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” where he can make viral videos of Fallon’s latest edition of Extreme Fawn-Over. When Obama came through the curtain, the crowd unleashed a screaming standing ovation reminiscent of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Then they “slow-jammed the news,” which was really just Obama making a campaign speech to bedroom-eyes soul music in the background.

Fallon followed up Obama’s rhetoric for low-interest federal student loans with embarrassing lines such as “Awww yeah. You should listen to the president. Or as I like to call him, the preezy of the United Steezy.” Move over, Bill Clinton. Obama is now the coolest person in the room.

After Obama attacked Republicans, Fallon added: “Mmm, mmm, mmm. The Barack Ness monster ain’t buying it. … And the president knows his stuff, y’all. That’s why they call him the POTUS, which means person on top — what is it?” Obama replied, “Jimmy, POTUS stands for President of the United States.” Singer Tariq Trotter then sang in tribute: “He’s the POTUS with the mostest!” Deep.

Fallon ended this spectacle later by saying, “We don’t take sides politically on this show.” This bald-faced campaign ad by the Obama donors at Comcast/NBC is exactly what David Limbaugh is trying to fight — a unanimous media that sees Obama just as he sees himself, as a historic figure, an icon and someone who isn’t ruining America.

Brent Bozell

Founder and President of the Media Research Center, Brent Bozell runs the largest media watchdog organization in America.

http://townhall.com/columnists/brentbozell/2012/06/06/david_limbaughs_devastating_book/page/full/

Living Water

Living Water.

The Hero of Heaven

The Hero of Heaven.

No One Compares to Him

No One Compares to Him.

God’s One Goal

God’s One Goal.

Whitewater Experiences

Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. —1 Chronicles 28:20

I was enjoying the start of my first whitewater rafting  experience—until I heard the roar of the rapids up ahead. My emotions  were flooded with feelings of uncertainty, fear, and insecurity at the  same time. Riding through the whitewater was a first-rate, white-knuckle  experience! And then, suddenly, it was over. The guide in the back of  the raft had navigated us through. I was safe—at least until the next  set of rapids.

Transitions in our lives are like whitewater. The inevitable leaps  from one season of life to the next—college to career, singleness to  marriage, career to retirement, marriage to widowhood—are all marked by  uncertainty and insecurity.

In one of the most significant transitions recorded in Old Testament  history, Solomon assumed the throne from his father David. I’m sure he  was filled with “white-knuckle” uncertainty about the future. His  father’s advice? “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; . . . for  the LORD God—my God—will be with you” (1  Chronicles 28:20).

You’ll have your fair share of tough transitions in life. But with  God in your raft you’re not alone. Keep your eyes on the One who is  navigating the rapids. He’s taken lots of others through before. Smooth  waters are just ahead.

I am safe when danger threatens, For I’m trusting Christ the Lord; Since He promised He’ll be with  me, Though I fear, my faith’s restored. —Hess

God will guide you through the rapids  of change.

http://getmorestrength.org/daily/whitewater-experiences/