Robertson Says God Says Bush Will Win

By Associated Press in the Oakland Tribune

NORFOLK, Va. -- Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Friday he believes God has told him President Bush will be re-elected in a "blowout" in November.

"I think George Bush is going to win in a walk," Robertson said on his "700 Club" program on the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded. "I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. It's shaping up that way."

Robertson told viewers he spent several days in prayer at the end of 2003.

"The Lord has just blessed him," Robertson said of Bush. "I mean, he could make terrible mistakes and comes out of it. It doesn't make any difference what he does, good or bad. God picks him up because he's a man of prayer and God's blessing him."

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, a frequent Robertson critic and executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said he had a prediction of his own: "Pat Robertson in 2004 will continue to use his multimillion broadcasting empire to promote George Bush and other Republican candidates."

In a reference to Bush's political adviser, Lynn said, "Maybe Pat got a message from Karl Rove and thought it was from God."

Day 2 What If I Let God Down

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: I wept as I realized this would be one of the most significant spiritual journeys of my life. A spiritual journey that would yield great physical benefits.

I recently received an email from a woman who wrote, "Lysa, one of my greatest fears in reading "Made to Crave" is not just letting myself down, but even worse, letting God down."

I understand how she feels. When you've tried and failed as many times as I have, you start to feel gun-shy about trying again. I'd lose the weight, feel great for a couple of months, deceive myself into thinking I could return to old habits, and all the weight would creep back on. I'd failed at finding lasting victory with every other attempt, even with programs I thought were the sure thing. So, why would this one be any different?

And why in heavens would I want to add spiritual guilt on top of my physical guilt? Why would I risk the shame of making God look bad too?

Guilt wrapped in shame is a terrible burden to carry. Guilt always came when I knew I was making poor choices and could see the scale numbers climbing. Shame came when my weight gain became apparent to everyone else in the world. Battling something so raw, so deeply personal was hard; knowing my failures were apparent to everyone else added humiliation to my toxic stew of emotions.

Yes, the physical struggle was hard enough. I certainly didn't want to drag down my spiritual life with this struggle as well.

But here's the problem: whether or not I wanted to admit it, my weight issues were already dragging me down spiritually. When I don't have peace physically, I don't have peace spiritually. I can't separate the two. Nor should I. I need spiritual motivation to step in where my physical determination falls short.

So I started reading the Bible from the perspective of someone struggling with food issues. Though I had read the Bible many times and have even taught Bible studies for years, I'd missed how much God cares about and talks about this issue. Tucked within this book written thousands of years ago are some of the most astounding and life-changing truths directly applicable to this modern-day unhealthy eating epidemic that plagues women.

I wept with joy. I wept with relief. I wept as I realized this would be one of the most significant spiritual journeys of my life. A spiritual journey that would yield great physical benefits. And what about my concerns with letting God down?

My pastor, Steven Furtick, put that to rest one day with a simple but very profound truth, "How can you let God down when you weren't ever holding Him up?"

I had to choose to operate in the reassurance of God's love, the remembrance of God's grace, and the reality of God's power. And, according to Isaiah 41:10, God is the one holding me up, not the other way around. To that I say, "Amen!"

"Dear Lord, this is one of the most significant spiritual journeys of my life. Help me to focus on You as I battle this raw, personal issue. I need You today. In Jesus'"

" name. Amen."



Credit: way-of-witch.blogspot.com

Pray Unhinged

Romans 12:12 tells us to be constant in prayer. But if your life is anything like mine, there are days it feels like I can barely fit in breathing.

So how are we supposed to fit in prayer-and constant prayer at that?

I think sometimes we believe that prayer has to be a certain way, (like when we're kneeling, or when we're alone) or a certain time (first thing in the morning) or in a certain place (in a room with the door closed).

And clearly none of those things are wrong. But they can morph into mental restrictions that limit and hinder what was never meant to be limited and hindered. Mental restrictions don't belong in our prayer lives.

Mental restrictions demand that we pray a certain way. And we can think of prayer in many ways, but demanding should not be one of them. So I'd like to challenge you think of prayer as an "ongoing dialogue" between you and God, not a one-time event relegated to a particular time or way. In other words, prayer does not require us to be in a certain place or posture, and it isn't just a once-a-day event.

When we remove the mental restrictions we have, prayer can flow much more organically in our lives.

And we can pray unhinged.

Unhinged prayers, prompted by the Holy Spirit, happen anywhere, anytime. In fact, they can happen all day long. They're as natural as breathing, and powerful and effective because they're completely orchestrated by the Lord.

Praying unhinged is not a super-spiritual practice for super-spiritual women. It's for ordinary women who know they need more of God's power at work in their own lives, their families, and their circumstances. Women who have days when they can barely fit in breathing.

The truth is, just as stress increases our breathing rate, it should increase our prayer rate. Praying unhinged allows that to happen. It allows prayer to flow from us like breath-all the time. Prayer will become second nature for us.

And that, sweet sisters, is how we can pray without ceasing.

Never stop praying. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) (NLT)

Credit: animals-and-shamanism.blogspot.com

Staffing Changes At The University Of San Francisco

While Fr. Donal Godfrey, S.J. is no longer executive director of USF's University Ministry, his replacement does not appear to be much of an improvement. On October 20, 2007, Ms. Julia Dowd, joined by members of USF's LGBTQ Caucus, attended the "OutThere" conference at De Paul University. The conference's program makes clear that its purpose was to create more effective advocacy for positions opposed to the Church's teachings on Catholic universities...................Ms. Dowd continues to serve as an associate director of USF's Lane Centers for Catholic Studies and Social thought. Over the past few years, the Lane Center has hosted such speakers as Fr. James Keenan, SJ, who, on April 28, 2003 spoke before the Massachusetts legislature "as a Catholic moral theologian opposing Massachusetts Bill H. 3190, which would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman; Professor and ex-priest Paul Lakeland, who is best known for his support of Connecticut's recent attempt to have lay persons take over the governance of the Catholic Church; renegade Australian Bishop Gfrey Robinson (despite Archbishop George Niederauer's orders that he was not to speak at any Catholic institutions in the archdiocese); professor and abortion advocate Sylvia Marcos, who believes in working to make abortion legal in countries where it is now illegal; the Rev. Ignacio Castuera, president of the Clergy Network of Planned Parenthood; and the Rev. Lisa Sargeant, chaplain of the now defunct Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. LINK (HERE) TO AT THE CALIFORNIA CATHOLIC DAILY

The Origin Of The Holy Ghost

"NOTUS (Greek, N'otos) was the Greek god of the south wind. He was associated with the desiccating hot wind of the rise of Sirius after midsummer, was thought to bring the storms of late summer and autumn, and was feared as a destroyer of crops. "

I recently wrote that the idea of angels comes from a time when people worshiped planets as gods. Read my post to see why I claim the angels were planets. People were uneducated, but observant. Planets could be observed, but their motion was mysterious.

Starting with the assumption that current world religious beliefs and customs evolved from earlier beliefs and sparked by a lingering curiosity from childhood, I made a new discovery tonight, one I've not heard before.

Like the planets wandering in the sky, people experienced the winds, and these were mysterious.

Historical documents show that people once thought the wind was caused by the movement of spirits or gods such as the Anemoi.

In addition to being the light of the world, the bringer of light, and the Father of life on earth, God (also known as the Sun) creates the wind we feel.

The winds, like the sun, were important. They could help one in battle, for example. Or they could turn against you, destroy crops, bring pests, sand storms, etc.

World English Bible

Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

Young's Literal Translation

And Moses stretcheth out his rod against the land of Egypt, and Jehovah hath led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning hath been, and the east wind hath lifted up the locust.

http://bible.cc/exodus/10-13.htm

People did not understand that the sun caused the wind due to atmospheric pressure changes, but they were correct about the wind's connection with the sun.

What wrapped this up for me was a discovery I made in when reading about the Holy Spirit in John 3:8.

World English Bible

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Young's Literal Translation

the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.'

http://bible.cc/john/3-8.htm

Bingo! Notice the older actual translation of the bible shows that the spirit IS the wind!

This is the equivalent of a religious transitional fossil. Yes, you may say, of course, the word "spirit" meant "wind" back then, but today, we have no such connection, so general awareness of this fact. This is how ideas take on a life of their own. This is where one "species" becomes another. What was once the wind spirit, becomes something entirely new in translation.

Young's Literal Translation is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862.... The Literal Translation is unusual in that, as the name implies, it is a strictly literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. - wiki

Amazing. The father (the sun) and the holy spirit (wind) were all mysterious earthly experiences.

Reading what the Holy Ghost does and how that compares to the supposed actions of the wind gods, the Holy Spirit seems to be a unification of various wind gods, a nod to people absorbed by Christianity who believed in gods like Zephyrus. But this still doesn't feel quite right, it doesn't explain it well enough.

"Zephyrus prophesy, son of man, and say to it, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' "

Ah ha! Now I get the connection. Breath is life! This is another reason for early people to believe the godlike powers of the winds. When a person dies, his final breath was seen to leave. This observation is a reasonable origin for the idea that people have immortal immaterial essences, souls which can become ghosts that roaming the earth for a time.

World English Bible

I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

Young's Literal Translation

and I have given on you sinews, and cause flesh to come up upon you, and covered you over with skin, and given in you a spirit, and ye have lived, and ye have known that I am Jehovah.'

http://bible.cc/ezekiel/37-6.htm

Realizing that "spirit" is just another word for "breath" makes a lot of other things click into place.

World English Bible

Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.

Young's Literal Translation

And He saith unto me: 'Prophesy unto the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and thou hast said unto the Spirit: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: From the four winds come in, O Spirit, and breathe on these slain, and they do live.'

http://bible.cc/ezekiel/37-9.htm

Finally, I understand the origin of the Holy Spirit being in someone. The wind from your breath was associated with life, and since life is mysterious, this spirit wind of life was a gift from god. With childlike simplicity the primal awe of existence and the fear of mortality in this wind-spirit connection rings true. Who would not believe in spirits when they feel the wind every day?

World English Bible

Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,

Young's Literal Translation

Have ye not known that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own,

http://bible.cc/1 corinthians/6-19.htm

Believe it or discard and ridicule this explanation as you must, but now I finally know, to my own satisfaction,... which way the wind blows.