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Wednesday, June 24, 2009                                                                                       View Comments

South Carolina Governor Sanford admits extramarital affair


South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford tearfully admitted on Wednesday he had been unfaithful to his wife, likely ending any chance he might be a Republican contender for the U.S. presidency in 2012.

Sanford resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association and was replaced by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, another possible 2012 candidate.

"Any aspirations for 2012, if he had any, are certainly out of the question," said Robert Oldendick, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina.

FULL STORY LINK


The Bible says, “Let your light so shine be fore men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father that’s in heaven.“ Hopefully, by the way in which you act. The way in which you make decisions. They’re going to see that some thing’s there. I would also say the Bible says in Revelation, “Be hot. Be cold. But don’t be lukewarm“ [Rev. 3:15]. And there’s too many political candidates who walk around completely in the middle—completely in neutral. With regard not only to faith, but with regard to policy. And that’s what people are sick of. Everything’s gotten so watered down. So I have people come to me frequently saying, “Look, I voted for you. In fact, I completely disagree with you on these different stands over here. But at least I know where you stand.“ And so I would say it’s a mistake to confine one’s belief to only matters of government. If you have a religious view, it’s incumbent upon you and it’s real to have that. The Bible talks about the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithful ness, self-control. There ought to be certain things that are clearly observable by your actions. I remember when I first gave a Christmas address, a candle lighting event on the state house capitol. And people were freaking because they said, “You can’t say Jesus.“ I said, “Look, I’m not trying to offend anybody. But if that’s my personal faith, I can say what I want to say. I’m going to say what I want to say.“ I’m not going to be rubbing anybody’s face in it. But I say you can’t dance around that which you really believe. And so I’d say we need people who are more bold in taking stands on all kinds of different things. -- Gov Mark Sanford in an interview with the Action Institute.


Saturday, June 20, 2009                                                                                       View Comments

Well known pastor busted in Jamaica for teen sex

Pastor Dr. Paul Lewis of Brooklyn was busted in Jamaica (the island) for having sex with a 15-year-old girl while a 14-year-old girl watched.

The Rev. Paul Lewis, founder of the Messengers for Christ Ministries World Healing Center, was held without bail on charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault, Jamaican police said.

The Bedford-Stuyvesant evangelist was arrested Wednesday after witnesses saw him hanging out with the girls and then taking them to a hotel, police said. Lewis, 45, who was on the island for a crusade at a local church, is accused of offering the girls between $30 and $60 for the romp.

In February, a 19-year-old Brooklyn woman filed a complaint claiming that Lewis, her former pastor, had raped her in a parking lot nearly a year before.

The teen returned to police a few days later to recant the allegation, claiming she and the pastor had a consensual sexual relationship, police sources said. The young woman said she wanted to end the romance and concocted the allegations. The case was closed and no charges were filed, police sources said.

Lewis' Web site claims he can perform healing miracles. "Only once in a lifetime does someone come along with such a gifting yet humble and caring spirit," his bio boasts.

Lewis' lawyer could not be reached for comment.

STORY LINK





Baptist ministers facing sex charges appear in court

LIBERTY, Mo. (ABP) -- Southern Baptist ministers in three states facing molestation charges had recent days in court.

Robert M. Black, 40, pastor of New Home Baptist Church near St. Joseph, Mo., pleaded not guilty June 18 to felony counts of first-degree statutory rape and attempted enticement of a child.

Black was arrested April 8 after allegedly soliciting sex over the Internet with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl. He is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 14.

A grand jury in Waco, Texas, indicted William Frank Brown, 45, June 17 on four counts of sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child.

Brown, who resigned as pastor of First Baptist Church in Bellmead, a 125-member Southern Baptist congregation founded in 1945, just before the investigation became public, stands accused of molesting two children in incidents that began about four years ago in another state.

According to media reports, one of the children, who was 9 or 10 at the time, told a school counselor about the abuse, which is alleged to have occurred hundreds of times with multiple victims.

A former longtime minister of music at First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark., did not enter a plea at a court hearing June 15, where his lawyer asked for more time to review evidence in the case.

David Pierce, 56, minister of music at the prominent Arkansas Baptist church for 29 years before his termination in late April, was arrested twice -- first on a single charge of sexual indecency and later on 53 additional counts involving four male teenagers active in the church's youth choir.

While all of the charges relate to incidents that occurred in the past three years, police believe Pierce may have acted inappropriately with youth as long ago as 15 years.

Baptist church sticking by pastor facing sex charges

Prominent Ark. music minister arrested for indecency with a minor



STORY LINK

Monday, June 08, 2009                                                                                       View Comments

Think Progress » Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’

On Friday, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Oliver North visited Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia to give a three-hour long lecture on “Rediscovering God in America.” The speakers warned the audience about the “continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.” The Virginia-Pilot reported that Gingrich argued that, while Christianity is the foundation of American citizenship, Americans are experiencing a period where they are being “surrounded by paganism”:

GINGRICH: I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator. [...] I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history. We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism.

Huckabee also equated America’s victory against the British in the Revolutionary War with the right-wing’s success in the Proposition 8 fight in California as being miracles “from God’s hand.”"

Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’