USE YOUR VOICE! - Praise Report and Update

(Added comment, posted 8/9) "This legislation, already passed in
Congress is still being discussed in the Senate and will be coming
back to the floor after their break in August. It is still an active piece
of legislation If this passess in the Senate - there could be a
Presidential veto. Please continue to pray, continue to contact your
Senators to vote no on the amendment - the White House, to
encourage a veto and keep updated through citizen link and
other sites - refer to it as the Hate Crimes Act! It is not over!)

I wanted to thank everyone for their great response to my installment of "Use Your Voice!" I also think that it is important to let you know that the bill that was being presented was thrown out and I wanted you to read the full update as written on the website - centerformoralclarity.net. Here are the excerpts...

" Debate on the Defense Authorization Act came to an abrupt halt Wednesday afternoon when a frustrated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, pulled the authorization bill from the Senate floor. On the surface, the Defense Authorization Act may not seem like a proposal that would ignite controversy and the ire of Christians; but far more is at stake than funding 2008 military initiatives.

In addition to providing troops with the equipment they need to fight terrorists and Islamic fanatics, current wording of the military spending bill also would allow U.S. law enforcement officers to become "thought police." As a result, Christians would be punished for preaching biblical principles.

The full text of the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was covertly inserted as an amendment to the military spending bill last week. In a nutshell, the measure would legalize preferential treatment for homosexuals - at the expense of Christians who publicly express their religious beliefs. Providing greater protections to one group of citizens over another would undermine the U.S. Constitution. If the Senate passes the authorization bill as it is, the hate-crimes provision could become law without any further discussion.

Praise God, activist Christians aren't asleep at the wheel, so that's not going to happen. Americans treasure their rights to free speech and religious expression far too much to give them up. Where the First Amendment is concerned, there are no exceptions; no exclusions.

For months, Christians have been speaking out against the expansion of federal hate-crimes laws. President Bush has even put Congress on notice that he will veto any bill that attempts to elevate gender orientation to a protected category; and that's precisely what the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would do.

Senators Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., tried this same stunt three years ago. It didn't work then; and it won't work now. Although the authorization bill has been temporarily set aside, it will return. When it does the Kennedy-Smith Act must come out. Click here to urge your senator to remove the Kennedy-Smith amendment from the 2008 Defense Authorization Act. "

As you read this, know that it is indeed a testimony of the Church using her voice! As we enter an election year, and I write this the day after a Democratic Debate, be awake and involved. Put your country, your leaders and the destiny of this nation in your daily prayers.

AND BY ALL MEANS, INVESTIGATE, SEEK OUT AND VOTE FOR A GODLY PRESIDENT THAT WILL STAND AGAINST THE TIDE OF SECULARISM AND FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE WORD OF GOD AND RIGHTEOUS PRINCIPALS!

Do as 1 Peter 1:13 says in the NIV, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action!"


For email updates go to citizenlink.com

Click here to Register to Vote

USE YOUR VOICE!

"all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"

(Edmund Burke)

I suppose my sole purpose when I initiated this site was as a communication to women - to be able to supply an updated, weekly (as much as possible), Word-infused, equipping teaching. This particular installment will not deviate from that goal, while it will be more personal and provoking. In this blog, I want to issue a challenge to every American citizen woman who reads this site today. I want to put forth several challenges and I want to provoke you to act and respond to these challenges. I want to speak the words that Mordecai spoke to Esther when he said,

"if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise... from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

As a leader, I have deep in my spirit the urgency to provoke women today to use their voice. It is true that as Americans we live in such liberty and blessing. This liberty was bought by the blood and sacrifice of those who didn't know us, but who saw freedom's value, not only for themselves in the present, but for others and for generations to come. Through time, men and women have given of themselves to ensure and maintain those liberties each time they were threatened. They didn't live in just the present and for themselves. That is where we fail today.


We live in the now and for ourselves for the most part. We have lost our connection with the big picture, and therefore we have begun a spiral of losing our voice in maintaining the liberties that someone else bought for us. Many threats to our current freedoms and liberties are presently, even as I write this, putting a knife to the throat of basic freedoms. Much of the Church is hiding in the palace, aloof, and uninformed. Ignorance is a silent killer.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

Hos 4:6

So today, I will simply challenge you with knowledge.

There is a bill being presenting on the floor of the congress and many people, groups and even corporate funders are lobbying politicians to pass. The hope is that this bill will sneak through, attached with an initiative, without the general population of Americans being informed of what the true ramifications would be should it pass.

The bill is S.1105.

It is Matthew Shepherd Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act, for the prevention and punishment of hate crimes. Which sounds plausible enough: less hate, less rage, less crime, less violence. But again, ignorance and lack of knowledge is a silent killer.

This bill in it's intent to curb hate crimes based on personal bias, also puts a muzzle on freedom of speech - a basic liberty. Furthermore, it absolutely will limit and legislate what can be freely spoken in a public setting, whether it is a park, a conference hall or a church. It also gives states freedom to choose the punishment for the violation of limited speech. It also broadens the interpretation of what a hate crime speech would be, leaving the interpretation up to the listener.

If this bill should pass, READING THE WORD OF GOD in public, that would specifically address a person's sexual orientation in a negative light would become a federal offense thus resulting in arrest and punishment.

This to me seems like something seen in a movie or something played out during a communist or Nazi regime, but sadly it is in our nation and could be happening all across our nation within a short time IF WE DO NOT USE OUR VOICE. The thought of limiting what a person can say has limitless possibilities and to me it penetrates the core of freedom. Maybe because my living is speaking and communicating, but I can not imagine restraint upon that freedom.

The answer is simple. We must use our present freedoms to attack this legislation.
Use your voice - take 30 minutes of your day today!

1. Call your senator today: 202-224-3121 (ask for the senator of your state, tell them you do
not support S.1105 - give them your ZIP CODE) or click here for your Elected Officials
2. Sign the petitions against S.1105 ( To sign a petition you may go to these sights;
focuspetitions.com or centerformoralclarity.net or HILC.net)
3. Register to Vote your local library, or post office.
4. Participate in each election, especially the upcoming Presidential election.
5. Make sure your family and friends are registered to vote, informed and vote!
6. PRAY DAILY FOR YOUR NATION - LEADERS - UPCOMING ELECTION

I know that this is not a message that will help you overcome your issue, or catapult you to your destiny. But the "Word" that you so love to hear and the freedom that you enjoy when you receive it on this blog, from the pulpit or on the airwaves, may not be there for you if leaders don't raise their voice. So I have chosen to blow a trumpet today, and I hope you will respond. Rise up and SPEAK UP!