Old, but still useful, information

[Biblereader]

Ministers recruited for Census sermons
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=17833

YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE ...
Ministers recruited for census sermons
Pastor balks at Bureau's push to preach government gospel
Posted: March 18, 2000
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Julie Foster


A pastor who received an urgent package in the mail from the U.S. Census Bureau containing pamphlets and mini-sermons for his congregation is outraged at what he perceives to be government intrusion into church affairs.

Last week, Federal Express delivered an overnight letter to Pastor Albert Hitchcock of Wiser Lake Chapel in Lynden, Wash. The return address was "Bureau of the Census" in Jeffersonville, Ind., and inside were two high-gloss report folders titled, "Census 2000 information for congregations" -- one in English and the other in Spanish.

 

[lovely]

I think the church needs to serve, and shine a light for Christ, and I see no need to be upset about a request to make an announcement. It was not a mandate. Churches were often used to make community announcements.

Just to touch on the separation of church and state, I would say it's best for believers to not give any credibility to the modern interpretation when in court, or even in conversation. ESTABLISH means ESTABLISH, and this concerns Congress not every government employee, and it certainly doesn't restrict any church from speaking about political issues. Acknowledging God is not Establishing a religion. This refers to Congress mandating a state religion...nothing more or less. I see the government restricting the speech of ministers by threatening their tax exempt status. Money should not keep a minister from saying what the Spirit leads Him to say, even if it seems unfair treatment. Perhaps the church should just pay taxes and exempt itself from state restrictions in order to obey God. Either way, a request for an announcement is not a problem, and I believe it's up to us to be gracious as long as we are able to obey our Father in the doing of it.

The church may need to just need to concern itself with being led by the Holy Spirit in all things no matter what's happening in poltics.

The Lord bless you.

 

[Vic C.]

... Just to touch on the separation of church and state, I would say it's best for believers to not give any credibility to the modern interpretation when in court, or even in conversation. ESTABLISH means ESTABLISH, and this concerns Congress not every government employee, and it certainly doesn't restrict any church from speaking about political issues. Acknowledging God is not Establishing a religion. This refers to Congress mandating a state religion...nothing more or less....

Good stuff there Lovely. It's so important to "establish" that this is an "Establishment clause", not a "separation clause".

The church may need to just need to concern itself with being led by the Holy Spirit in all things no matter what's happening in politics.

The Lord bless you.

I trust Jefferson would agree with this. 8-)

 

[Biblereader]

luvlee, don't you feel a bit uneasy seeing the gov sent mini sermons to the pastor?

Remember when Catholicism was the religion of England, and the priests could not say
anything the ruling king or queen disapproved of?
Do you see that this MIGHT, just MIGHT be a little nibble at the freedoms of religion?

Have you noticed how our rights are being taken away, bit by bit?
Not even rights, CHOICES!

smoking in restaurants, or in buildings
owning guns
all being restricted
your library books you check out are monitored, your phone calls might be, at any time,
the cops can search your car, if they stop you, without a search warrant,
your spending habits are tracked, your internet habits are monitored, anything suspicious
WILL be reported to tptb.
This little nibble at the pulpit bugs me.

 

[tim-from-pa]

luvlee, don't you feel a bit uneasy seeing the gov sent mini sermons to the pastor?

Remember when Catholicism was the religion of England, and the priests could not say
anything the ruling king or queen disapproved of?
Do you see that this MIGHT, just MIGHT be a little nibble at the freedoms of religion?

Have you noticed how our rights are being taken away, bit by bit?
Not even rights, CHOICES!

smoking in restaurants, or in buildings
owning guns
all being restricted
your library books you check out are monitored, your phone calls might be, at any time,
the cops can search your car, if they stop you, without a search warrant,
your spending habits are tracked, your internet habits are monitored, anything suspicious
WILL be reported to tptb.
This little nibble at the pulpit bugs me.

I agree. There have been other threads, on this forum as well as others regarding pastors becoming the middlemen so-to-speak to carry out the government's bidding. One such mention was the use of pastors to calm the people in the event of martial law. The pastors might be told to convince the people to turn in their guns, for instance. I'm sure they will quote Romans 13 so that we all obey the "government". But that is apostasy. On the contrary, we should never give in to such wussy pastors.

Remember, as the saying goes, one can boil a live lobster by just gradually turning up the heat---- and so it goes for chipping away at our God-given constitutional rights.

 

[antitox]

You can refuse a car search. When I was at the PD, I spoke with the cops about that and the only reason they are able to do a search is the people let them do it. I think this is because people don't know that they can refuse it.
If you watch cops on TV, they always ask the driver if they mind if they do a search.

 

[tim-from-pa]

You can refuse a car search. When I was at the PD, I spoke with the cops about that and the only reason they are able to do a search is the people let them do it. I think this is because people don't know that they can refuse it.
If you watch cops on TV, they always ask the driver if they mind if they do a search.

That's true. Many people don't know that this is considered an unreasonable search violating privacy. If they suspect there's adequate evidence of anything, they have to get a search warrant.

My boss is a cool guy, but a real rebel at heart. One time the police stopped him and wanted to search his car. He said no. They said, well, it'll take time to get a warrant. He said to them that he was in no hurry; He didn't care and he'd wait. Guess what? They left him go.