Special Update Newsletter
May 15, 2009
A Note From Ed
http://eddeckersblog.blogspot.com/
www.saintsalive.com
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Dear Friends,
This is a mid-month Newsletter because there are so many things happening that I can’t wait until the end of the month to get it out. In fact, I have as many items left on the shelf as I have in this newsletter.
My good friends and fellow worker, John L. Smith, passed away in April. He was a bold zealot and worked relentlessly in the Harvest fields, bringing Mormons to the truth and salvation of the Real Christ. He will be greatly missed. Please pray for his family and his ministry.
I have a number of letters and emails that have come in from those to whom we minister and I want to send them out to you, but have the problem of overloading the newsletter every month. Therefore I have decided to send it out twice a month from now on.
I will also send out a special report from time to time. I will be doing that within the next few weeks with both the email and letter responses as well as a special report on Islam, something I promised to send out with this newsletter.
We are sending out the Newsletter through a ministry outlet that has asked us to remind you to put our email address in your email address book, so that it isn’t killed off as spam. We have lost a lot of good friends through that back door. Thanks!
I want to thank those of you who have sent in gifts this month. We are just keeping our head above water with the downturn in the economy and every gift is a blessing. Let me repeat what I said last month.
It would be really great if some of you readers would send in a gift this week. We are really hitting rock bottom with the amount of support that has been coming in. Many dear long-time supporters have written in and apologized that they are in a tough spot and can’t give and I fully understand that. Carol and I have had to cut back in some of our giving for the same reasons.
But of just a third of you who receive this newsletter sent in $10 [or $15] a month, we would be in the solid black every month. Simple. But hard to accomplish.
If you would just go to our website www.saintsalive.com and click through on the Give a Donationbar in the left column of the main web page, it would only take you a minute and it is as easy as pie. And we would be beyond grateful. And your gifts are still tax deductible.
Another popular form of moving money through the web is PayPal. We use it for almost all our purchases and we like it because we always have control of our personal data. If that works for you, too, just send your gift to us at our PayPal account address,
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. It takes even less time. You will still receive your gift acknowledgement and tax deduction.
As I close and get on with the rest of the newsletter, please remember that I read all emails and try to answer them all, even though it may take a while, with abut 100 emails a day, and I personally pray for every prayer request.
Keep in touch
Your brother in Christ,
Ed Decker
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IN REMEMBRANCE
March 15, 1920 / April 5, 2009
John L. Smith was called home to be with the Lord Sunday April 5, 2009.
Over 68 Years in Ministry
17 Years in Utah
Over 50 Years Studying Mormonism
15 Years as a Baptist Pastor
John was a veteran Speaker with more than 7,000 Speaking Engagements in 44 States, including Alaska & Hawaii
Some while back, he calculated that since his college days he conducted 50 two to three week revivals. He spent 54 weeks in Home Mission Board “World Missionary Conferences,” back in the days when they had them. He was an Associational Missionary in Oklahoma. They now call them Director’s of Missions. (he was only 22 at the time.)
John pastored about 15 years. Part of that was in Oklahoma and New Mexico. In 1951 he moved with his family to Utah and pastored about six years. Then for about 12 years John traveled up to 322 days of the year, speaking in churches, colleges, and seminaries, from coast to coast.
In 1987, at our annual Capstone conference, in Salt Lake City, Utah, with over 500 fellow workers in the ministry to Mormons present, John was the honored guest and the first to receive the annual plaque for, “Recognition of his lifetime of tireless service in defense of the Faith….”
John was truly a ‘tireless road warrior” who walked the talk. He once joked that he was short in stature but long in preaching. The Word indwelled in him and many were the times, especially at his annual booth at the Utah State Fair, when he would be standing toe to toe to an unhappy Mormon a good foot taller than he was, sharing the Word with the power of a man a foot taller than the Mormon.
John never waivered from the call of God on his life and he shared the good news of the gospel from the beginning to the end. When many a younger man would have gone into a well earned retirement, he kept at it, still sending his newspaper out, often paying the postage out of his own pocket.
John will be missed here on earth, but surely welcomed into the kingdom where he now sits among the great saints of the ages.
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BREAKING NEWS: Pentagon Burns Soldiers Bibles -
Military Chaplains Attacked
The Pentagon has just acknowledged seizing and burning the privately owned Bibles of American soldiers serving in Afghanistan. The Bibles had been printed in the local Pashto and Dari languages, and sent by private donors to American Christian soldiers and chaplains, for distribution to American troops on overseas military bases during optionally-attended Christian worship services. Had the Bibles not been seized and destroyed, they could have legally been given as gifts during off-duty time to Afghani citizens who welcome our troops in their homes, as an expression of American gratitude for Afghani hospitality, promoting the democratic ideals of freedom of religion and freedom of the press.
But the Muslim controlled Al Jazeera television network obtained video footage of the Bibles, held by American soldiers while listening to a chaplain on the Bagram Air Base (inside the base chapel) whose sermon encouraged outreach and personal evangelism. The American values of freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of Christian speech offended some extremist Muslim groups, and angered a small group of American atheists, who demanded the chaplain be punished for "proselytizing" because he simply repeated Jesus' words to "Go and make disciples of all nations" in church.. A special message from Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt,
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Muslim appointed BBC Head of Religion
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- The reaction of many to the appointment of Muslim, Aaqil Ahmed to the post of Head of Religion and Ethics at the BBC must be—“How is this possible”? Andrea Minichiello Williams, a barrister with the UK based Christian Concern for our Nation (www.ccfon.org), said, “Until now, our public national broadcaster has been charged with reflecting our country’s Christian heritage and ethos. Aaqil Ahmed’s appointment is controversial because his background and previous work at Channel 4 has revealed a noticeable bias towards Islam and multiculturalism.”
According to The Daily Telegraph, senior bishops wrote to the BBC’s Director General Mark Thompson when it was envisaged that Mr. Ahmed might be appointed, to question the BBC’s commitment to Britain's Christian audience. The Archbishop of Canterbury had also raised concerns with Mr. Thompson that the “Christian voice is being sidelined” after Mr. Ahmed was first connected to the role.
Ms. Williams went on to say, “The appointment could be seen as the inevitable result of our multicultural society, in which all religions are viewed as of equal value. This is the secularist point of view—that religion should be confined to the home and the church and excluded from the public square and the workplace. A cursory survey of the Christian Legal Centre’s website (www.christianlegalcentre.com) will reveal the increasing intolerance of this ideology as far as Christians are concerned.
“It could also be seen as another sign that our country is in danger of becoming Islamised, alongside, for example, the fact that under pressure from Muslims, the Qur’an is now placed on a higher shelf than the Bible in courtrooms, or the fact that Shari’ah Law is used to judge disputes in Muslim Arbitration Tribunals (now officially part of the English Legal System). Our Government appears to make concessions to the Muslim community, in contrast to its marginalization of Christianity and the rights of Christians in recent years.”
Please see the web article entitled: Controversial Muslim programme-maker appointed head of BBC religious broadcasting at: www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=736 Dan Wooding can be reached through Missionaries News Service (www.missionariesnews.tv)
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Mormons posthumously
baptize Obama's mother
By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune 05/05/2009
For full story, see: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12299851
Many Thanks to Helen Radkey for exposing this LDS Foolishness and arrogance
President Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who died in 1995, was baptized posthumously into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last year during her son's campaign, according to Salt Lake City-based researcher Helen Radkey.
The ritual, known as "baptism for the dead," was done June 4, 2008, in the Provo Utah temple, and another LDS temple rite, known as the "endowment," was performed in the same temple on June 11, said Radkey, who found the record while doing research in the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
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Proxy LDS baptisms: Founding Fathers, too
Religion » Church calls baptism of Obama's mother a 'serious matter'
By Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune 05/07/2009
President Barack Obama's mom isn't alone.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, in fact all of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and even Christopher Columbus -- all have been baptized posthumously into the LDS Church.
With the revelation that Obama's late mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was baptized by proxy last year in the faith's Provo temple, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it is "counter to church policy for a church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related."
See full story at: http://www.sltrib.com:80/faith/ci_12310500
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Hawaii votes for Islam Day
LAHORE: Hawaii’s state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill on Wednesday to celebrate Islam Day – over objections of some lawmakers who said they did not want to honor a religion “connected to September 11, 2001”. “I recall radical Islamists around the world cheering the horrors of 9/11.
That is the day all civilized people of all religions should remember,” said Fred Hemmings. The resolution to proclaim September 24, 2009, as Islam Day passed the Senate on a 22-3 vote. The bill seeks to recognize “the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions” that Islam and the Islamic world have made. daily times monitor.
Ed: I wonder if they will vote in a Christianity Day any time soon?
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Should a Christian be a Mason?
A very Plain and Simple look at the doctrine of the lodge..
Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com Posted: 05/13/09
Dr. Reagan’s web site is : Website: www.lamblion.com
By Dr. David R. Reagan
In the mid-1980's I was holding a meeting at a large church in Lexington, Kentucky, when I received a phone call at my motel from one of the church members. The caller identified himself as one of our radio listeners. He said he had heard a broadcast of mine about Masonry, and he wanted to talk with me about it. He asked if he could come to my room for a visit, and I agreed.
When he arrived, he shared with me an incident that had happened at his church. One of the assistant pastors had been teaching a course on the cults. One Sunday morning as he concluded his lesson, he announced, "Next week we will conclude our study of the cults by taking a look at the Masons."
My visitor said he was dumbfounded by this announcement. "I immediately protested," he said. "I told him I was a Mason, and I did not consider the organization to be cultic in nature."
"Well," the teacher responded, "I really don't know that much about it. I'm just presenting the material in my teacher's manual."
After discussing the matter back and forth for a few minutes, the teacher made an offer: "I'll tell you what," he said, "next week I'll present my material and then I will give you half the class time to present your rebuttal."
My visitor said he accepted the offer and went to work immediately studying Masonry.
I asked what he meant by "studying Masonry."
He replied that although he had been a Mason many years, he knew almost nothing about the fundamental beliefs of the organization.
When I asked how that could be, he explained that he had simply bought each of his Masonic degrees without doing any study.
"What happened next?" I asked.
He said he started his research by reading the Kentucky Masonic handbook. "When I got to page 95, I put the book down, repented before God for ever becoming a Mason, took a hammer and beat my Masonic ring to a pulp, and then sent a letter of resignation to my lodge."
"Wow!" I replied. "What in the world was on page 95?"
At that point, he handed me the handbook and told me I could keep it. I immediately turned to page 95 and found the following paragraph:1
"Masonry makes no profession of Christianity... but looks forward to the time when the labor of our ancient brethren shall be symbolized by the erection of a spiritual temple... in which there shall be but one altar and one worship; one common altar of Masonry on which the Veda [Hinduism], Shastras [Buddhism], Sade [Astrology], Zend-Avesta [Zoroastrianism], Koran [Islam], and Holy Bible shall lie untouched by sacrilegious hands, and at whose shrine the Hindoo (sic), the Persian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean, the Egyptian, the Chinese, the Mohammedan, the Jew, and the Christian may kneel and with one united voice celebrate the praises of the Supreme Architect of the Universe."
Notice how this paragraph equates the Bible with the pagan scriptures and then asserts it is possible to obtain salvation through any religion. In short, this paragraph refutes the Gospel which maintains that "there is salvation in no other name under heaven except the name of Jesus" (Acts 4:12).
How could any Christian give his allegiance to an organization whose beliefs make a mockery of the Gospel? And yet, thousands of professing Christians, even many pastors and elders, have done so by becoming Masons.
Endnotes
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1. Henry Pirtle, Kentucky Monitor (Louisville, KY: The Standard Printing Co., 1921), page 95.
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Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com another great Christian information website
Dr. Reagan’s web site is : Website: www.lamblion.com
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The New Boy Scouts of America
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
May 14, 2009
Once upon a time the Boy Scouts were about camping, backpacking, and canoeing. Boy Scouts were into high adventure and sporting activities. Scouts were about preventing forest fires and “Do a Good Turn Daily.” Scouts worked with the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. They cherished ideals such as the Cub Scout Promise and the Law of the Pack.
Now the Boy Scouts have a new mission — fighting terrorism, rounding up illegal aliens, search and destroying marijuana fields, and embracing the SWAT mentality.
“The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters,” reports the New York Times.
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LDS Apologist: Book of Mormon a literary device: not true historical account
This one slipped by me.. but it opens a door to see the impracticality of the LDS reason for its very existence; The Gold Plates and the Book of Mormon.
Van Hale is a Mormon apologist, and kind of an all around nice guy. I’ve known him for about 30 years and he is someone who thinks things through, usually coming to a totally different conclusion than I would, but then, he is a Mormon apologist, not a biblical one.
Mormon Miscellaneous is Van Hale’s weekly call-in radio talk show every Sunday evening from 5:00-7:00 pm MST. It airs locally in Salt Lake City on KTKK 630 AM on the radio dial, and simultaneously on the internet at http://www.k-talk.com
Van Hale, on his weekly SLC radio program in September 2005, discussed the Book of Mormon with a caller. Van explained how he had come to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon is more of a literary device to draw people to the divine restoration rather than an account of literal ancient history. The following is an excerpt from that dialogue.
Van Hale, Mormon Miscellaneous, September 2005
Caller: OK. Well, as far as, as far as everything that happened in the Book of Mormon actually being a true account, like the Lamanites and Nephites and Captain Moroni and the Savior coming to the Americas, you don't exactly believe that those events took place?
Van Hale: I'm not persuaded that the Book of Mormon is a translation of an ancient history.
Caller: And as far as the Savior appearing to the people in America, you just don't believe that actually happened. It was just a written story I guess.
Van Hale: Well, it's... Yes. Uh, the, the situation that I see in the Book of Mormon, if you want to talk in a broad way, yes. The Book of Mormon is a history. There were ancient people, there were people living on the Americas. They came from somewhere. They had religious beliefs. They had wars. They had, they built buildings. They, some of them were quite advanced, surprisingly advanced, as we discover from some of their architecture and so forth and so in a broad sense you could say yes. The Book of Mormon is a history. But when you start talking about detail, I am not persuaded that the detail in the Book of Mormon is detail pertaining to people that anciently lived on the Americas.
I must be getting Old
and kind of slowed down lately but I do remember when the Missionaries gave me a BOM and asked me to follow the admonition in BOM: Moroni 10:4 and pray to know that the BOM was true.. and I would know that it was and that it meant the church was true. They didn't tell me that it was a divinely inspired book of fiction that contained a call for my righteousness and membership in the church.. I would have preferred reading Pilgrim's Progress.
This divinely inspired book of fiction concept totally kills the whole Christ in the Americas scenario of Mormonism, the LFDS proclaimed origin of the American Indian nations and validates the DNA proof that the BOM is a book of fiction..
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Jan Markell, Director of Olive Tree Ministries, hit the nail on the head when she reported this week:
Ministries like this one could compromise as many churches have. We could switch and present "feel good" articles and "happy talk" radio. We could stop sharing the inconvenient truth. Well, we will not.
"Some of us are being tested even now, being refined so that we will be more effective and loyal to Christ in the days ahead. I can tell you personally that the last few months have been among the most challenging of my life. Satan has come against our efforts from seemingly every angle to stop this message from getting out. He has not succeeded, but we have paid the price for what we are doing. It has not been easy.
http://www.olivetreeviews.org/wordpress/category/jans-articles/
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A special Thanks..
For those of you who helped Ed in getting a new Laptop to replace the one he had to reboot every hour or so, thank you. It has been paid for; it has arrived and is in the process of being set up for his use.
Ed Decker
Saints Alive In Jesus
P.O. Box 1347 Issaquah, WA98027
www.saintsalive.com
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