Toys for Tots rejects Jesus Doll

Here is a little article that I thought funny. In a time where the world needs Jesus and the only person that could make the Marines obsolete, they turn down the gift. I guess I can understand to a degree, but how sad is it when we can not spread the truth, and how strange it is that we can not give away a represenatation of the person who Christmas was all about. What do you think?

LOS ANGELES - A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program. A suburban Los Angeles company offered to donate 4,000 of the foot-tall dolls, which quote Bible verses, for distribution to needy children this holiday season. The battery-powered Jesus is one of several dolls manufactured by one2believe, a division of the Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co., based on Biblical figures.
But the charity balked because of the dolls' religious nature.
Toys are donated to kids based on financial need and "we don't know anything about their background, their religious affiliations," said Bill Grein, vice president of Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, in Quantico, Va.
As a government entity, Marines "don't profess one religion over another," Grein said Tuesday. "We can't take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family."
Michael La Roe, director of business development for both companies, said the charity's decision left him "surprised and disappointed."
"The idea was for them to be three-dimensional teaching tools for kids," La Roe said. "I believe as a churchgoing person, anyone can benefit from hearing the words of the Bible."
According to the company's Web site, the button-activated, bearded Jesus, dressed in hand-sewn cloth outfits and sandals, recites Scripture such as "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." It has a $20 retail value.
Grein also questioned whether children would welcome a gift designed for religious instruction. "Kids want a gift for the holiday season that is fun," he said.

Gay liberals being critical of religion.

I came across this article and it was like a good kick in the head. I got hit twice because I am a war vet from the first Gulf War and now I am a Pastor. With out voicing my OPINION about this I wanted to put this out there for discussion and see what people had to say about this subject.

OK just to start it off I think Elton John has a very one sided gay outlook on this and I am not one for wanting to call someone on the carpet without reason but in this article he say's "there is a general lack of leadership in the worlds religions," I for one think that is a load of cow chips because he is living a very immoral life as a homosexual and if has not listened to religous leaders about his life style, he surely will not listen when it it concerns a world view that is not tolerant to his personal views.

Let me know what you think.

Religion should be outlawed because it lacks compassion and promotes hatred of homosexuals, gay pop star Elton John said in an interview.
The singer was speaking in a special "gay edition" of The Observer newspaper's Music Monthly Magazine, where he shared his views on subjects ranging from being a music icon to Prime Minister Tony Blair's stance on the Iraq war.
At a time when religion is the subject of fierce debate in Britain over the right to wear the Muslim veil and other faith symbols, John complained there was a general lack of leadership from spiritual leaders.
"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. From my point of view, I would ban religion completely," he was quoted as saying.
"Organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate. The world is near escalating to World War Three and where are the leaders of each religion?
"Why aren't they having a conclave? Why aren't they coming together? I said this after 9/11 and people thought I was nuts. Instead of more violence why isn't there a meeting of religious leaders?" he said.
"It's like the peace movement in the Sixties. Musicians got through to people by getting out there and doing peace concerts but we don't seem to do them anymore.
"If John Lennon were alive today, he'd be leading it with a vengeance."
John complained that too many people were protesting online to take to the streets, highlighting the effectiveness of the February 2003 march against military action in Iraq that mobilized millions around the world.
With spiralling violence in Iraq, such opposition to Blair's backing of the United States had "come back to bite him on the ass," he added.
On homosexuality, the 59-year-old -- who sealed a civil partnership with his long-term partner, the Canadian film director David Furnish in December last year -- said he was happy to be viewed as the "acceptable face of gayness."
He also vowed to continue his fight for gay rights and
AIDS' charities: "I can't just sit back; it's not in my nature anymore. I'm nearly 60 years old after all. I can't sit back and blindly ignore it and I won't."

Servanthood vs Dictatorship

3 John 1-14
1 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
3 It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.
6 They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.
7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans.
8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us.
10 So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone, and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink.
14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.

This a story about three very different men but noteworthy enough for God to tell us about them so we can understand the difference between servanthood and dictatorship. In the Christian world we have what is called the Five Fold Ministry- Apostle, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher and it is easy for people to loose sight of them being servants to the flock.

I have always seen the five fold ministry as being fingers and the flock as being the palm of the hand. When in operation the fingers work in unison with the hand to get the work of God done here on this earth. I think it really holds true when you take your fingers and close them back up to the palm, they work together to protect and to serve the hand. We are to serve the bigger part of the body not take precedence over the body.

The first man was a servant named Gauis who was a treasured friend of the Apostle John. John had said that he had heard about his love through the service of the Brothers through the people he had served and was proud that he was walking in the Truth. John had commended him for his faithfulness to hospitality toward the Brothers when came through his area doing the work of the Lord. They would come to his house and he would serve them with the Love of God through hospitality. Most of the people he did not know, but he worked not for fame nor fortune but through the spirit of servanthood. He knew the commandment that he was to love his neighbor, and he also knew that he was doing something more important than serving himself. Gaius was not a man to complain about serving these men of God no matter how late they showed up or how long they stayed, or how much they ate and drank he counted it all Joy. I am sure that he put out a lot of his own money and time serving them without much compensation other than the joy of being a servant of God.

The second man was Diothrephes who John stated always wanted to be first(not a good sign). He had given in to pride, jealousy, and slander. He had taken over the church and would not listen to the eldership of the faith, he had begun to slander them, and would not receive any of the brothers. He had started trying to stop others from serving and receiving the Brothers in Christ and would go as far as even throwing people out of church for being servants to the needs of the Brothers. Can you imagine that? It was so bad that John himself stated that he wanted to come and have a talk with Diothrephes, talk about being humbled I sure would hate to have to be in that room when that went down. The bottom line was that his pride had disqualified him as a leader and needed to be confronted with the Truth.

The third man was probably a Pastor or teacher named Demetrius. In verse 12 Demetrius was being introduced as man that is well spoken of by the people and even the Truth itself. My study bible says that if Truth could speak it would speak on Demetrius's behalf. He was probably the man that carried the letter from John to Gaius which would also serve as an approval of him to preach and teach the Truth. Certainly Gauis opened his home to receive him as a respected man of the faith. I think that is a pretty high praise from John himself.

John had showed us three different types of people one a True Servant, one a thug/dictator, and one a Minister of the Gospel. It also shows that when good character is revealed, it is noticed and when bad character is shown, it is also dealt with. I think the relationship between John, Gauis, and Demetrius is exactly the same relationship we need in the church today.

May we always have Fathers of the faith that commend us, watch over us, correct us, and approve of us.
May we always have servants that serve and may we always have leaders that are proven trust worthy through time.

Sir, Please shut up!

For a man who tried to build himself as a war hero in the last presidential race, "U shore aint got know cents!" I am a War Vet myself and what you think is a lack of education I call Patriotism, what you call stupidity I call Honor , what you call ignorance I call Loyalty.

Let me tell you one thing sir, and I use that term loosely, I have never been so embarrassed by a member of my Gov't as what you did this week. I do realize that you are not a man of Honor, nor are you a man of Integrity. The comment you made, or should I say tried to make, shows that yes even after the clinton/lewinski ordeal we went through there is still a new low that I did not think possible to sink to, and fear not you found it.

You are a man who should be living a distinguished life as an Elder Statesman. You should have more intelligence or at least decency to understand that our Men and Women in the Armed service are doing something that is good, decent, and honorable. They are trying to bring stability and order in a part of the world that needs it badly. Please remind me who was it that came in and started working on making sure that schools were built, power was available , and water was running, well it sure was not you. Who is laying down their lives to defend a people from pure evil, I will give you one guess and yes you guessed it right, it is not you. Who is standing Guard tonight in a cold check point defending his brothers in arms while you and your wealthy wife live in the lap of luxury in a nice warm house that most of us true Americans will never be able to afford.

That sir, which is a term you do not deserve, takes true nerve to criticize the American Service men and women for doing what they thought they should be doing which is defending our moral responsibility of defending the world from terrorist.

I also would like to know how you would be able to look at a wife, a mother, or a child who has lost a loved one in the service of our Country and tell them, "Well Bless your heart, your loved one died because he was too stupid to go to college and get good grades."

Sir, which I use sarcastically, I understand your wife is French if I am not mistaken, I am sure that France would open up their arms to receive you as a citizen so please leave and don't even worry about getting your passport stamped because quess what even the custom agents are defending our Country or on second thought go ahead they may need the practice of doing a body/cavity search. Sir, which you are underserving of being called. Have made a complete fool of yourself and everything America stands for, good day and good bye.