You Won't Believe What You Don't Know

You won't believe what you don't know. It is important for you to look at as many different possiblibies and see which line up with God's Word.

Trutv News Report

Colo. mom, baby revived after Christmas Eve birth

DENVER -- Mike Hermanstorfer was clutching his pregnant wife's hand in a Colorado hospital on Christmas Eve when she stopped breathing, her life apparently slipping away. Then he cradled his newborn son's limp body seconds after a medical team delivered the baby by Cesarean section.

Christmas 'Miracle'

Tracy Hermanstorfer and her son Coltyn appeared to lose life before an amazing turnaround.

» Video: Mom, Baby Return to Life

Minutes later he saw his son show signs of life in his arms under the feverish attention of doctors, and soon he learned his wife had inexplicably started breathing again.

"My legs went out from underneath me," Hermanstorfer said Tuesday. "I had everything in the world taken from me, and in an hour and a half I had everything given to me."

Hermanstorfer's wife, Tracy, went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing during labor on Thursday, said Dr. Stephanie Martin, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, where the Hermanstorfers had gone for the birth of their son.

"She had no signs of life. No heartbeat, no blood pressure, she wasn't breathing," said Martin, who had rushed to Hermanstorfer's room to help. "The baby was, it was basically limp, with a very slow heart rate."

After their miraculous recovery, both mother and the baby, named Coltyn, appear healthy with no signs of problems, Martin said.
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Dear President Obama

President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington D.C.
U.S.A.

December 11, 2009

Dear President Obama,

As an American citizen I am writing to you from Israel. Please hear my heart. At the Holocaust Museum I read this quote: “A country is not just what it does; it is also what it tolerates.” Kurt Tucholsky.

How am I to know what or what not to tolerate? I cannot rely on my conscience as it, being formed by my culture, is faulty. I cannot rely on my reasoning as it, being formed by my knowledge combined with my experience, is limited. To know what I shall tolerate about Israel I must look to the Word of God where He expressed His all-knowing mind, His pure conscience and His perfect reasoning.

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” Genesis 12:1-3.

“And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him. ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.’” Genesis 13:14-16.

In 1917 England drafted the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations ratified it. The Declaration granted a homeland to the Jews designating a portion of the Ottoman Empire which resembled the land given to Abraham and his heirs in Genesis. This appointed territory contained 75,000 Jews and 400,000 Arabs and encompassed 46,000 square miles.

In 1922 Britain divided this land mass into two sections intending one to be for the Arabs and one to be for the Jews. The boundary followed the Jordan River giving the Arabs 78% of the land and reducing the Jewish homeland to 8,019 square miles. Between 1917 and 1946 the Arabs became sovereign over 2,309,000 square miles, awarded to them mainly by Britain.

Refusing entry to thousands of Holocaust victims to their proffered homeland, plus giving Jewish land away, subjected Britain to the curse. According to the curse mentioned in the previously quoted Genesis 12:3, Great Britain suffered set-back after set-back and lost her control over one-third of the world and it’s resources. In fact, it is no longer Great Britain. It is individual nations who have remained connected as a Commonwealth.

On March 22, 1946, Britain released the Arab section, or the Transjordan, into the hands of the Arabs. They formed the nation Jordan, closed their borders and revoked the work permits of the Jews living there, forcing them to immigrate to Israel. Contrary to expectation the Jews did not expel the Arabs, nor did they close their borders.

On May 15, 1948 when Britain released the land of Israel, the Jews asked the Arabs living in the country to stay and help build the new nation. The neighboring countries told the Arabs to flee temporarily so they could wipe out the Jews. But God performed a miracle. He won the war for the puny Jewish army. The Arabs who stayed became citizens of Israel. The Arabs who fled where not allowed back into Israel. The neighboring nations who encouraged the flight refused to welcome the refugees they created: hence the existence of the Palestinian encampments.

“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ So I answered, ‘O Lord God, You know.’

“Again He said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.’

“So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, “Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

“Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!” Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:1-14

.


All the pictures of the Holocaust show mounds and mounds of dry bones. God has been
breathing into the dry bones since the Holocaust and creating an exceedingly great army. We can read in Jeremiah 49 and Psalm 83 that soon a coalition of neighboring nations will attack Israel with great force. However, God will win the war for the Jews, not for their sake but for the sake of His name.

I refer you to two references: Isralestine by Bill Salus, ISBN 978-0-9814957-7-4 and “The Forsaken Promise”, dvd by CFI Communications, PO Box 2687, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN22 7LZ, United Kingdom.

A mere 5,591 square miles remains for Israel today. What do the Arabs want with this miniscule bit of land? Nothing at all. It’s an ancient jealousy passed along in the DNA of a father’s blessing. Abraham loved Ishmael but conferred the blessing to Isaac. Isaac preferred Esau but conferred the blessing to Jacob whom God renamed Israel. Esau and Ishmael became confederates against Israel and so it remains today.

I can stand in the 21st century and shout, “Hey! That’s not fair! Why should God prefer one child over another?” But He does the same today. Didn’t He choose you to be where you are and me to be where I am, both of us filling the roles designed for us? Even though I am happy to be who I am, where I am and doing what I do, I could cry: “How come he got the White House and not me?!”

The point is: are we to reject God’s election? The international community has no mind or heart to give the Jews their ancient homeland or even to save Jewish flesh. However, because of my great love for my country I beg you: Please do not act according to the mind and heart of man. Please consider our own history. Every time we have sided with those who wish to wrest land from Jewish hands, the U.S. has been lashed by tragedy. Please act according to the mind and heart of God. He will bless or curse us according to where you lead us. In these critical times my hope for the United States is that we will stand on the side of God.



At your service,



Marty Delmon

An Urgent Message from David Wilkerson

Click title to read urgent message and David Wilkerson's March 23 newsletter: Living in the Perfect Will of God.

More excellent articles and sermons from David Wilkerson

Go to: www.worldchallenge.org

Sin By Silence

Silent No More: Taking Lincoln’s Advice

Battered women are in prison for killing their abusers even though they acted in a form of self-defense for themselves and their children after experiencing years of violence.

They have often been repeatedly raped, beaten, and threatened to be killed. If they tried to leave, their abuser said he would find them and kill them. If they called the police or told anyone what was going on, he told them he would kill them. They were trapped and out of options.

In March of 1991 a battered women’s support group for women incarcerated in the California Institution for Women for killing their abusers was formed. The group - called Convicted Women Against Abuse - began writing letters to the governor seeking clemency and several have been released from prison as a result.

Women in the Film Sin by Silence - Photo: sinbysilence.org
A new movie entitled “Sin by Silence” about the Convicted Women Against Abuse support group will be premiered March 22, 2009 at the Cleveland International Film Festival. The Internet Movie Database has this synopsis of the movie :

From behind prison walls, SIN BY SILENCE reveals the lives of extraordinary women who advocate for a future free from domestic violence. Inside the California Institution for Women, the first inmate-initiated and led group in the U.S. prison system, shatters the misconceptions of domestic violence. Against the system and against the odds, the women of Convicted Women Against Abuse have risen to expose the stigma of the cycle of domestic violence. Through their stories of terror and hope, the viewer can begin to understand the cycle of violence, the signs of an abuser, and how each and every one of us is responsible for changing the tragedy of domestic violence. Written by Olivia Klaus

The facts, according to the SinbySilence.org website, about domestic violence:

1 of every 3 women experience abuse.
Every 7 seconds a woman is battered.
Up to 4 million women are battered in their homes each year.
Battering is the #1 cause of injury to women in the U.S.
There are 3 times as many shelters for animals as there for battered women.
Every day 4 women die from domestic abuse.
Up to 50% of homeless women and children on the streets are fleeing domestic violence.
Domestic violence happens to women of all classes, cultures, races, etc. This has really hit home with the recent battering of mega singing star Rihanna by her equally mega singing star boyfriend Chris Brown. Even she isn’t immune from abuse.

According to the Sin by Silence website:

While most of the women in SIN BY SILENCE may remain in prison for the remainder of their lives, these women are committed to helping others understand the reality of domestic violence.

You can watch a trailer of the movie here. The website lists resources such as the Domestic Violence Hotline and Free Battered Women if you want more information or want to get involved.

The least we can do is to help these women raise awareness about domestic violence, learn the signs of when a woman is being battered, and help a battered woman out when possible…by extending a hand or by making a donation to a women’s shelter. We can advocate that laws be eased to decriminalize actions taken in self-defense by battered women.

Abraham Lincoln said, “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” These women are courageously standing up and speaking out. Let’s join them.

FGM - Female Genital Mutilation

Kidnapped by women, stripped naked, and paraded through the streets. This was the plight of four women journalists on February 7 in the city of Kenema in the African country of Sierra Leone. The reason? To punish them for reporting on female genital mutilation (FGM). The United Nations reports that 94% of women and girls in Sierra Leone ages 15 - 49 have experienced FGM, which is done to control their sexual urges, make them ready for marriage, and to make them an acceptable female member of society. Women cannot even hold office in Sierra Leone unless they have been cut.

Last year the Sierra Leone government said it would ban FGM, but it has done nothing about it. Patricia Kabbah, the late wife of previous President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, sponsored (paid for) the circumcisions of 15,000 girls in order to get votes for her husband. A decade ago, the woman who later became the Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Women’s Affairs in Sierra Leone threatened to “sew up the mouths” of those who preach against FGM.

It is hard to imagine that women such as the journalists’ kidnappers, the ex-president’s wife, and a minster of women’s affairs would all advocate the barbaric practice of cutting off the clitoris (and sometimes also the labia) of girls. The practice is often done with a crude knife, razor blade, or even a piece of broken glass and can cause severe bleeding and infection, injure girls for life, make them incontinent, make them infertile, cause complications during pregnancy and childbirth, and can even cause death.


Rugiatu Turay Fights FGM - Credit: The Independent
One brave woman in Sierra Leone who is working to stop this practice is 26-year-old Rugiatu Turay. Ms. Turay is a victim of FGM herself. The Independent online reports this about what happened to Ms. Turay when she was 12 years old:



Ms Turay was mutilated at her aunt’s house where she was staying with her three sisters and her cousin. “We didn’t even know that we were going to be initiated,” she says. “They called me to get water and then outside they just grabbed me.”

She was blindfolded, stripped, and laid on the ground. Heavy women sat on her arms, her chest, her legs. Her mouth was stuffed with a rag. Her clitoris was cut off with a crude knife. Despite profuse bleeding she was forced to walk, was beaten and had hot pepper water poured into her eyes.

“My mother had always told me never to let anyone touch me there. I was scared and I tried to fight them off. Nobody talked to me but there was all this clapping, singing, shouting,” recalls Ms Turay. “When I tried to walk on the seventh day I could not walk. All they could say is ‘Today you have become a woman’.”

For the past six years, Ms. Turay has waged a war with the 20 people on her staff against FGM through her organization Amazonian Initiative Movement. She became an activist after a cousin bled to death from FGM. She works to persuade the soweis, the women who do the cutting, to lay down their knives and stop practicing FGM. So far she has convinced 700 to over 1200 soweis (the numbers vary according to different reports) in 111 villages to stop the cutting and participating in the traditional bondo ceremony. Ms. Turay has received numerous death threats, been attacked, and has had magic used against her. Because she is still alive, the local people think she has special powers and they now leave her alone.

Katrina Manson, the journalist who wrote The Independent article, asked President Koroma of Sierra Leone, elected in 2007, his thoughts on FGM and he said “Let people in civil society deal with this issue.” That means that brave people such as Ms. Turay must fight against the 3 million new African girls being mutilated each year, adding to the 92 million already circumcized.

It is shocking that girls as young as FIVE years old are trained to be circumsisers. 35-year-old Marion Kanu, interviewed by Ms. Manson, gave her reasons for practicing it: “I didn’t like it when it happened to me and I worry about the pain of the girl, but I do it because they pay me, and because we met our ancestors doing it.” The woman’s two children also are circumcisers. In this poor country it is a way to make a living. The village elders have an incentive to keep the practice going also; they receive the equivalent of $25 for every circumcision rite.

Sierra Leone ranked last in the UN’s Human Development Index in 2007 and 2008. Life expectancy there is the lowest of any country in the world: 42 years old. Only 25% of women are literate; 37% of the entire population is literate. The country has the highest rate in the world of mothers dying during childbirth: 1,800 women for every 100,000 live births “…largely due to lack of human resources and corruption in the healthcare sector” according to the UN. 25% of children die before the age of five. Annual income is about $240.

This is a country where people are uneducated, live in extreme poverty, and are steeped in traditions and in corruption …all making it extremely difficult to stamp out female genital mutilation. According to the World Health Organization, the best way to begin to do this is literacy, education, and alternative forms of income for the soweis.

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation is sponsored by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) each February 6. If you want to help, you might consider going to Unicef.org and making a donation.

Additional information can be found at the Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project.

Guard Troops Sent to Moorhead, Minn

Fargo begins another day preparing for flood
Published - Mar 28 2009 09:20AM EST

By PATRICK CONDON and DAN SEWELL - Associated Press Writers

Floating ice and water is seen from the overflow of the Red River in Moorhead, Minn. The river had risen to 40.32 feet early Friday, more than 22 feet above flood stage and inches more than the previous high water mark of 40.1 feet set April 7, 1897.
Officials in Fargo are adding National Guard troops and intensifying their response to the rising flood on the Red River.

Officials say they are increasing the level of guard troops from 1,700 troops to 1,850 and asking residents to keep an eye on dikes for possible breaches.

They are also bringing in 300 large bags that hold a ton of sand and could be dropped into breaks in the levees.

No major levee breaches or other issues were reported during the night.

The National Weather Service predicted the crest at near 42 feet sometime Sunday, but said it was still possible the river could rise to 43 feet. That's as high as the levees go and is nearly 3 feet higher than the record of 40.1 feet set in 1897.