I received this and thought it might be of interest to all:

This came from http://www.newsmax.com--- what do you all think about this? Deb xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Judge's Attempt at Redacting America Dr. James HirsenMay 24, 2000

One of the significant principles of effective government propaganda is the repackaging of the past to fit the goals and objectives of a prevailing regime. Modification and even outright destruction of recorded truths are time-honored practices that tyrants have utilized to maintain authority and control.

In a similar vein, the nation's judiciary has been delivering its own brand of fact adjustment. Indeed, a new zenith has been reached in a court ruling that involves the state of Kentucky. Federal District Judge Jennifer Coffman recently engaged in the ultimate semantic distortion of the law. Through use of a twisted interpretation of the First Amendment's text, which over the last several decades activist jurists have carefully crafted, Judge Coffman ruled that displays of priceless American treasures must be removed from public view.

We are, amazingly enough, referring to historic documents that set forth the soul and conscience of our laws, our heritage and our very culture.

Why must this legal surgical extraction of the symbols of our legacy take place? According to Judge Coffman, it is because they violate the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. In this age of contortion of speech and constitutional sleight of hand, this ruling stands, rather, as a sweeping dismissal of the fundamental rights that the First Amendment was designed to protect.

With the subject of civics having been stripped from our schools and average citizens lacking in understanding of the source of our rights, this catalogue of banned displays reads like a game plan for the covert establishment of an ignorant nation.

Documents from which the eyes of the public must be sheltered include: the Preamble to the Constitution of Kentucky, which speaks of gratitude to Almighty God for the "civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy"; a portion of the Declaration of Independence, which states that "all men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"; the Mayflower Compact, which speaks of the name of God and explains that one of the reasons for the journey of the early settlers was "for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith"; and lastly, that perennial favorite of the dubious defenders of civil liberties, the Ten Commandments.

Of late, Americans have been forced to witness the diminution of private property rights, the disrespect for life, the disregard for privacy, and the deconstruction of the rule of law. Now Judge Coffman seeks to expunge from the halls of our institutions those vessels of our heritage that have been key to the conveyance of our unique system from one generation to the next. We are being robbed of free access to a vital piece of our inheritance, precious jewels that have traditionally helped to insure proper transference of the beliefs, standards and ideals needed to nourish and sustain an equitable legal system.

In addition to greatly exceeding their sphere of authority, jurists such as Coffman show a profound ignorance of clear, constitutional principles and, most importantly, the fountain from which their power and influence flow. How then should concerned citizens deal with the senseless denial of these tangible manifestations of our heritage?

For starters, Congress must reclaim its originally conceived position within government. Our founding fathers intended for Congress to be the branch of primacy within our system. Instead, fainthearted representatives appear willing to relinquish their exclusive legislative authority to the other branches of government. Additionally, we as a people must insist upon authentic accountability from our judiciary.

Judges must be held responsible for their decisions and ultimately provide restitution to the public in the appropriate manner, even if it means the forfeiting of their position.

To this end, the Constitution grants Congress the power to control the federal judiciary. Constraint may be achieved through regulation of jurisdiction or, if necessary, through impeachment of judges who flout restraints imposed by the Constitution and flagrantly exceed the limits of their authority.

There is an urgency for Congress to step up to its responsibilities in the area of judicial oversight. Our survival as a nation of laws depends upon it. Our present course must be redirected, for if nothing is done to restore integrity to our system, Congress will find its power and authority atrophied beyond repair, and the last remnants of representative government will have been struck from the pages of future archives.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Old school buds here: http://click.egroups.com/1/4057/3/_/310575/_/959292068/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------

To Post a message, send it to: humptydumptyy2k@eGroups.com

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

Answers

TRUTHS - SELF-EVIDENT Devotional by Barbara Sanders

"We hold these truths to be self-evident"..... are words from the Declaration of Independence. Let's examine the truths of the Bible that should also be 'self-evident', but are they truly seen by all those who claim to be Christian?

Just what truths are in the Bible? I've been in a discussion for a couple weeks on this very subject, one 'truth' in particular. "Was Jesus Christ really the atonement for our sins?" For those of us that believe that God's word is truth, you can see what this question means to us. If you take out the blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross to cover our sins, then you are destroying one truth that holds the pages of the Holy Word together. Who then covers our sins; who pays the price?

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. If we hold that the Bible is true, then we can't pick and choose what we want to believe. We have to take the whole Bible, rightly dividing the truth. Jesus says "I am" the way, the truth, and the life, so I take it at face value: HE IS the way, the truth and the life, no other way to interpret that scripture. That is, there is no other way, unless you are not a believer in the atonement.

What do you do with the scripture that says we aren't to add to or take away from scripture? Is that just in there to 'read', not to obey?

Revelation 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book. There are false teachings going around that say the Bible was written by mere man, not to be interpreted in any other light than mere literature to enjoy. How has it stood the test of time down through the years, if this be the truth? Some say that Jesus was born a man, just as any other person on the earth, that he had no affect on our obtaining salvation. A truth or a myth?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. It's a mystery that one can pick and choose what 'truth' to believe in the Bible, if any. If one thing is held to be an 'untruth', written by a mere man, not inspired by God, then why would we want to believe any part of the Word of God?

John 17:17 says it all...."thy word is truth". If we can hold to these words, then all the TRUTHS in the Bible are 'self-evident'.

When we go about our daily lives, trying to prove that the truths of God in the Bible are just mere writings, not to be taken literally, that Jesus did not die 'for us' on the cross but was merely killed because he was disliked by some, then we walk on dangerous ground. GOD sent his only begotten Son to earth, to die for our sins, to be resurrected and become our propitiation and advocate with the Father. He is part of the Deity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If we pick and choose and remove Jesus Christ as the atonement for our sins, then we have removed him from the belief in the Trinity.

I hold 'these truths to be self-evident'.....that God sent his Word in the flesh as Jesus. He was crucified on the cross, not because GOD is unloving, but because he cared so much for the people, that they might be spared having to make a sacrifice for all their sins, and that his SON might bear them on the cross for each of us. We have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of our sins, when we accept him as our personal Saviour through the free gift of Grace through faith in Him. He reigns at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for his people, the church, the born-again believers, until he returns to earth to take his BRIDE, the spotless and without wrinkle 'church', home to be with Him.

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.

Heavenly Father, I praise and magnify your name, that you saw me before I was, that you cared so much to send your SON as ransom for my soul. May others that have doubts come to know you as I have, a loving GOD, that we mean so much to you, that in place of our human sacrifice, you sent your Son, Christ Jesus, to bear all our sins upon that tree at Calvary. We will forever honor, praise and worship you in spirit and in truth. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

What the Bible says about the atonement

The Atonement - Watercolor by Alexis Wilson

Email Barbara

Return to Barbara's Entourage The Master's Table - Devotionals

|HOME| |Guestbook| |Email |Faith| |Family| |Friends| |Awards| | Kitchen | |Homecookin'| |Poetry| |Playroom| | Flowers-Cards| |Music| |Photos| |Specials| |Senior Saints| |Testimonies| |Banners| |Prayer| |Master's Table| |Love| |Smorgasbord|

Last updated September 20, 1997 Copyright @1997 Barbara Sanders

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

National Archives and Records Administration ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

The Declaration of Independence A Transcription

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

[Column 1] Georgia: Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton

[Column 2] North Carolina: William Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Lynch, Jr. Arthur Middleton

[Column 3] Massachusetts: John Hancock Maryland: Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton

[Column 4] Pennsylvania: Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean

[Column 5] New York: William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark

[Column 6] New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett William Whipple Massachusetts: Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton

[ Declaration Page| Exhibit Hall]

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

National Archives and Records Administration URL: http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/declaration.html webmaster@nara.gov Last updated: September 26, 1997

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

Quoting the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I ask:

Are our unalienable rights limited to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursiut of Happiness", or in saying "among them" does it imply that our inalienable rights include more?

Also, what does "Inalienable" mean? If it means it cannot be taken away at all, (as say the right to drive is taken from a drunk), then does not the death penalty rob one of an inalienable right? (As does also abortion).

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2001