If You Talk Black You Make Less Money

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/07/study-links-rac.html

I wonder if urban gospel singer Tye Tribbett is reconsidering that “It’s Good In The Hood” song after reading this …

Abortion Is Racist Population Control Against Blacks AND BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES SUPPORT IT!

From Breaking Christian News and The Tedland Daily Exposer. Anonymous phone calls to abortion clinics seem to substantiate the charges of ethnic cleansing of African-Americans by Planned Parenthood.

For years, accusations have been made regarding what can only be described as diabolically chilling racism at the heart of Planned Parenthood. In an October 2005 issue of Life Issues Institute, for example, Susan W. Enouen, P.E., writes: “Since the legalization of abortion in 1973, African Americans have taken a disproportionate blow to their population growth. Although today there are thirty-four million African Americans in the US, fourteen million unborn black American babies have been aborted since 1973, representing over one-fourth of their potential population. Today, blacks account for 12.3% of the American population, but African American women receive 36% of the abortions and are three times more likely than white women to have an abortion. The sad fact is, more African American babies have been killed by abortion since 1973 than the total number of African American deaths from AIDS, violent crimes, accidents, cancer and heart disease combined.”

“One key factor that has contributed to this tragedy,” says Enouen, “is the lasting influence of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Sanger began the ‘Negro Project’ in 1939 to promote birth control as a solution to the poverty and degradation experienced, at that time, by blacks in general. Sanger was a strong proponent of birth control for the ‘unfit’ in society, who she believed should be discouraged from reproducing. Sanger sought to prevent the growth of certain segments of society, including blacks, through legislation or easy availability of sterilization and birth control. She recognized that these efforts might be seen as an attempt at racial genocide, and that the best approach must include recruiting and training African American doctors and ministers to help with the project.”

“Margaret wrote in a letter to Clarence Gamble dated October 19, 1939, ‘The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.’ She convinced black leaders that birth control and sterilization would ‘improve the welfare of the Negro population,’ and she enlisted their help in a mission to reduce maternal and infant mortality through birth control (as opposed to better prenatal and medical care). Thus began an undeniable effort to limit the growth of the African American population, irrespective of the intent.”

Just this month, on April 11, 2008, the Christian Post reported that a pro-life student group at UCLA released a series of shocking videos they claim proves that Planned Parenthood is still carrying out racially targeted abortions.

Today, BCN subscriber Pastor Brian Noble of Sandpoint Assembly of God in Sandpoint, Idaho, passed along an audio clip in which phone calls to Planned Parenthood were taped to authenticate these charges. Pastor Noble felt strongly that the Body of Christ at large needs to be made aware of this horrific practice. We agree wholeheartedly.

*My note: conservative Republican Christians, please remember that the GOP Congress and George W. Bush have had many opportunities to stop the $300 million that goes to Planned Parenthood annually but have refused. You had the GOP control of the Senate from 1980 – 1986, the Republican Congress from 1994 – 2006, and the Bush White House from 2000 until now. So Christians, always know whose side you are on. This issue was the main reason why I left the Republican Party in 2006: I realized that they were pro – abortion too! And as for you Barack HUSSEIN Obama supporters, this fellow supports the genocide of his own people. That the Clintons are aggressively pro – murder goes without saying. John McCain? He told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1999 that he would not seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. If I know this, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, and the rest of the religious right know this, yet they supported Bush and will support McCain anyway … and as far as black liberation theologists James Cone and Jeremiah Wright, apparently liberating the race means murdering it off, as both aggressively support abortion.

What Does The Bible Say About Racism? Try Galatians 3:28!

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

From Pastor Bill Keller. To sign up for his daily devotionals, click on link below.

www.liveprayer.com/signup.cfm

Genesis 1:26,27, Deuteronomy 10:17, Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Galatians
3:28

What does God say about racism? Like in all matters of life, when we need
the Truth, the real answers, we have to go to our final authority in all
matters, the Bible. One of the greatest weapons of satan is division. The
enemy has figured out every way imaginable to divide men. Since virtually
the beginning of the human experience, man has fallen into satan’s trap of
division based on the color of a person’s skin or their ethnic origin.
While racism has always been an issue in this country, the fact is it is an
issue in every country. This divisive mindset is not unique to the United
States. Sadly, in some form it is practiced everywhere on the planet.

Since the racially incendiary remarks by B. Hussein Obama’s pastor of 20
years, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, became such a big part of the Presidential
campaign a few weeks ago, it has sparked a national dialogue on race. A few
weeks ago Senator Obama gave a speech on race that was lauded by many.
Those who made such a big deal over his speech were most likely swayed by
the fact he was dealing so openly with a taboo subject few will talk about.
However, his speech was hollow, self serving, and nothing more than a
political move to do damage control because of his close association with
Dr. Wright.

B. Hussein Obama’s race speech did NOTHING to help people or this nation
deal with this scourge, since the victory over racism isn’t going to come
from the flowery words of a politician whose only motive and goal is to get
elected President. No my friend, if people and this nation are going to
truly get victory over racism, it has got to come from an understanding of
what God says about this issue and by people who are willing to follow what
God says in the Bible.

If Senator Obama had intended to really take a leadership role on the race
issue, educate the nation and provide real answers for how to get victory
over this inhumane way people treat others who are different than they are,
then he would have told people what God says about racism. God says MUCH
about this issue, but Senator Obama didn’t find it worth including even one
verse of Scripture.

*THIS IS WHY I TELL YOU SO OFTEN THAT IT WILL NOT BE A POLITICIAN, BUT A MAN GOD HAS CALLED TO LEAD PEOPLE IN THE WAYS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!

The fact is, there is only one race, the human race! People may have white
skin, black skin, brown skin, yellow skin, red skin, or any other color
skin, they may have different ethnic backgrounds, but they are all part of
the same race, the human race! The Bible says that ALL MEN are created in
the image of God. God created all men equal. I tell you frequently that
satan is the great perverter. It is satan, not God, who seeks to divide men
by their skin color, ethnicity, financial means, and any other way you can
dream up to divide people. God created men equal to live in harmony with
one another. It is satan who introduced division into the human experience.

In God’s plan of redemption, there is no division. John 3:16 says that God
so loved the world, ALL men. It says that WHOSOEVER BELIEVES. That is a
universal call to ALL MEN regardless the color of their skin or where they
live. In 1 John 2:2, it talks about how Jesus laid down his life for
EVERYONE. Everyone means ALL MEN, the entire human race. This satanically
inspired way we have of dividing ourselves through racism, prejudice, and
discrimination all make a mockery of what Christ did on the cross. He
faithfully and obediently went to that cross to die for the sins of ALL
MANKIND.

That is why all of the black pastors I know repudiate the false black
liberation theology Dr. Jeremiah Wright has been teaching for over 3
decades. Wright is actually a student of James Cone who made this perverse
theology popular in the 60s that teaches the Bible is the basis for blacks
to be liberated from social, political, economic, and religious bondage. B.
Hussein Obama is a liar when he states he never heard the types of comments
made by Dr. Wright the media has been playing, since that is the
foundational teaching of the black liberation theology Wright has been
preaching in Chicago for over 30 years.

The fact is the Bible DOES teach liberation theology, LIBERATION FROM SIN!!!
It was not written to people with dark skin, but to all people regardless of
their skin color. We are all part of the human race, which means we are all
born with the sin of Adam, we all sin during our life, and that is why Jesus
went to the cross. He gave His very life on that cross as the payment for
the sins of all mankind, that through faith in Him men might be find freedom
from their sins. There is nothing in the Bible to support this false black
liberation theology Dr. Wright preaches, since the liberation theology of
the Bible is about the freedom from sin for ALL MEN!

You also have the Biblical example of Jesus during His earthly ministry.
Again, racism is not a new phenomena to the United States in our brief 232
year history. Forms of racism have been part of the human expedience since
the very beginning. Jesus commanded us in John 13:34 to love each other as
He loves us. He used people of other ethnic backgrounds often in His
parables. One of the most powerful is the story of the Good Samaritan. If
you remember, the Jewish religious leaders passed by the man who had been
robbed and beaten and laying on the side of the road, leaving him to die.
It was the Samaritan, the non-Jew, who honored God by stopping and
ministering to the needs of the injured man. Don’t forget, it was Jesus who
told his followers to make disciples of EVERY NATION, reaffirming the value
of all men.

I love you and care about you so much. If B. Hussein Obama had wanted to
give a real speech on racism to move hearts and lead people in this issue,
THIS is the message he should have delivered. It would have been a message
from God’s Word that laid the Biblical foundation all men are created equal
and those who seek to divide men by the color of their skin are not of God,
but of satan! It would not have been the self serving, politically crafted
words to try and help him weasel out of his 20 year association with a
pastor and church that preaches and teaches division based on the color of a
person’s skin. Dividing men by skin color, ethnicity, are the works of the
devil.

Those who truly seek to serve and follow the Lord are not looking to divide
men but unite them. A true follower of Christ understands that God created
all men equal, that we are all part of the human race. Racism, prejudice,
and discrimination are NOT of God, since we are hurting someone God created
and loves and Jesus died for! Sadly, 11 am on Sunday morning is the most
segregated hour of the week in this nation. That is truly a shame since the
one sanctuary from racism should be the church. Yet sadly, most churches
don’t lead the culture, they allow the culture to lead them. So rather than
modeling what God says about this issue, in far too many churches, they
perpetuate this ungodly attitude men have for other men who look different
than them.

They better wake up since when we die, and stand at the gates of Heaven,
there won’t be a line for whites, or a line for blacks, or a line for
Asians, or a line for Hispanics, or a line for those from the Middle East,
just like there won’t be a line for Catholics, or Baptists, or Methodists,
or Pentecostals. No my friend, when you take your last breath there will
only be two lines. One for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ
and one for those who have rejected Christ. The Bible proclaims those who
reject Christ will be cast into the flames of hell for all eternity, and
those who know Jesus will be welcomed into their eternal home with God their
Creator in Heaven. At that moment, Galatians 3:38 will be realized, “There
is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus!”

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to: http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now available via AUDIO each day. Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/Audio.cfm Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by phone by calling, 1-727-342-5673

(C) Copyright 2008, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved.

Had The Barbie Bandits Been Black Males Would They Have Gotten Probation For Stealing $11,000?!?!

See link to story. Granted, it was their first offense and did not involve a weapon. But regarding the cases of Heather Lyn Johnston and Ashley Nicole Miller, two strippers turned bank robbers from suburban Atlanta, Georgia getting such light sentences (one received probation because she turned state’s evidence, the other tried to beat the charge and only received 2 years) would their sentences have been so lenient had they been inner city black males as opposed to suburban blonde white females? I would like to hear from some of the conservative law and order tough on crime types that claim “there is no such thing as institutional racism” answer this!

Even better: the “pastor” of the criminal that received no jail time, Danny Rager of Woodland Hills Assembly of God Church in Lawrenceville, testified on her behalf. Suburban charismatic theologians help me out here: where does the Bible say that a person ought to be able to steal $11,000 and get off with no jail time, especially when you know full well that had it been a black male member of one of your inner city Church of God In Christ brethren, he would have gotten five years?

We have to blame the prosecution and the judge in this instance. The prosecutors, including Bonnie Derrer, only asked that they receive three years. As for the judge Mary Staley, wow. And even the originator of the plot Benny Allen III only received five years despite having a prior drug conviction! People, things like this puts cases like the black fellow in California that received a life sentence for stealing a slice of pizza because “it was his third strike” into context. And please realize that suburban Atlanta is supposed to be a much more conservative “tough on crime” area than is California. More and more, it looks like “tough on crime” is actually “tough on certain criminals.”

Yes, I am aware of the statistics that state that black males commit a heavily disproportionate percentage of crimes, especially as compared to white females. But judges are still supposed to judge FAIRLY, not only because the Bible says to do so, but so that the population at large will be able to support and trust law enforcement and criminal justice. The population must respect law enforcement and criminal justice in order for us to have the orderly, civil society that God commands. We have seen what has happened to large portions of our nation – again including the core urban areas and many of our public schools – where people have lost respect for the civil authorities. The result: crimes go unpunished, criminals become emboldened, and the innocent suffer, especially women and children. Cases like these are precisely the ones that the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons can point to in their “No justice no peace!” rallies designed to get people to stop cooperating with the police. They are not the only ones: popular music, movies, and radical university professors do the same. Well Bonnie Derrer and Mary Staley, you just provided more fodder for the next person that wants to get out on the streets with their “unequal justice!” protest signs.

So when you have people before you with absolutely no economic need whatsoever making a planned premeditated attempt to steal such a large amount of money, you have to get the same sentence as would one that “based on statistics fits the profile of a menace to society.”

Now I could be way off base. Maybe inner city black males that make off with $11,000 DO routinely get probation in conservative law and order jurisdictions. If I am wrong, someone let me know. But somehow, I doubt it.

Videos Of James Cone Creator Of Jeremiah Wright’s Black Liberation Theology

For Second Video Click Here!  Strange Fruit: The Cross and the Lynching Tree (October 2006)

On Barack HUSSEIN Obama’s Apostate Pastor Jeremiah Wright

*By Pastor Bill Keller of Live Prayer. By the way, it was Keller that tipped me off to the fact that Oprah Winfrey had been a member of this “church” months ago, although the Los Angeles Times now claims that she stopped going. Interesting that people are just now coming around to this “story” AFTER Barack HUSSEIN Obama has all but wrapped up the Democratic nomination, as I dealt with this over a year ago: Lots Of Good Stuff On Barack HUSSEIN Obama’s September 11th – Justifying Church. Ah well. As Howard University graduate Jeremiah Wright is a liberation theology preacher, please read my entry The True Liberation Theology. As far as those of you that wish to claim that I have political motives for posting this devotional or attacking Barack HUSSEIN Obama in general, allow me to say that I personally see no substantive difference between Obama, Clinton, or McCain, and my position is that a Christian should not vote for any of them. I ran across the other day where Martin Luther stated that it was better to be governed by a wise Turk (Muslim) than a foolish Christian. That seems to fit the writings of Paul in Romans 13, especially when you consider the context: Rome was hardly a Christian or godly empire in any sense, yet Paul wrote to submit to proper authorities because all authority comes from God. But Obama, Clinton, and McCain do not meet the standards of “wise Turk” (or wise anything for that matter, let alone decent, moral, honest, truthful, etc.) in my humble estimation. Maybe the Constitution or Libertarian. I cannot consider the Green Party nominee Ralph Nader for regrettably he is pro – abortion.

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(Acts 17:26,27, Rom. 10:11-13)

What kind of pastor condones the sin of homosexuality, killing babies, and preaches a gospel of racial division? The pastor for 20 years and spiritual mentor of Democratic Presidential candidate B. Hussein Obama! I found it amusing the past few days that all of the news media is focusing on the racially divisive and anti-American rhetoric of Dr. Jeremiah Wright, who for over 3 decades was the Senior Pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois.For those who have been reading the Daily Devotional and/or watching the Liveprayer television program, I have told you about Dr. Wright for many years now, since he pastors the church Oprah called home and Senator Obama has been part of for the past 2 decades.Dr. Wright not only married Senator Obama and his wife and christened their 2 children, but he has also been the spiritual mentor to the Senator and helped shape his theological beliefs. He has been prominent in the news the past few days because the public has been horrified after being exposed to his racist and anti-American views that he has espoused for over 30 years in his church.

In trying to do damage control Friday, Senator Obama ended any affiliation Dr. Wright had with his Presidential campaign and the Senator went on numerous news programs stating that he was not aware Dr. Wright held these views. B. Hussein Obama is a liar!

As many of you know, I started my ministry in the city of Chicago in 1992.
Two of the members of my Board of Directors who have been with me since day one, are both black pastors of churches on the south side of Chicago. I
have had the joy and privilege to preach in several dozen black churches in
the Chicagoland area in the early days of my ministry. Anyone who has had
ANY dealing with the churches in Chicago know who Dr. Jeremiah Wright is and that he preaches a gospel of black separatism with anti-American views.

In theological circles it is known as “black liberation theology,” a perverse theology originally taught by James Cone that seeks to contribute to the liberation of black people from the perceived racism in the country and in Christianity.

Please hear me very clear. Black liberation theology is a perverse view of the Scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a radical view held by a very small minority of black pastors. This is NOT representative of the black church or the overwhelming majority of black pastors who preach and teach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ without looking at it through the lens of color. Every black pastor I know condemns Dr. Wright and this perverse racist theology.

Sadly, to the non-churched masses and to white Americans who have little or no exposure to the black church, seeing and hearing Dr. Wright’s radical views of the world and the Scriptures, will cause them to assume this is the position held by all black churches. (My note: some black people in their zeal to defend Obama are stating precisely that.) Again, Dr. Wright is in a very small minority of pastors who hold to these perverted views and this is NOT representative of the black church or Christians who happen to be black.

Having said that, let me reiterate that B. Hussein Obama is a liar when he says he was not aware of these beliefs held by his pastor. That is impossible since everyone in Chicago knows about Dr. Wright and his radical and racially divisive theology. His teachings attracted many young, upwardly mobile, successful blacks who agree with his views on race and social issues. They joined his church not only for the spiritual experience,
but for the networking opportunities it provided. (My note: sadly, making them no different from most Christians regardless of race or theology.)

It was the perfect church home for Senator Obama, who had no Christian background or Biblical upbringing, and was a rising star in the Daley political machine in Chicago, It was the perfect church home and message for Senator Obama who was dealing with the social and economic challenges of blacks on the south side of Chicago early in his political career.

The United Church of Christ is a predominantly white and very liberal denomination that supports and condones sins like homosexuality and women killing their babies. Like many liberal denominations, it focuses on the
“social gospel,” dealing with the economically poor rather than the spiritually poor. (My note: although the Bible tells us to deal with the economically poor as well, it is both not either or, do not turn aside from God’s commandments to the right or to the left!) These types of churches focus on the financially down and out and needy, using the parts of the Bible that speak to helping those who are less fortunate, while brushing over the passages that speak to living a life holy and acceptable to God in accordance with His Word. This is where Senator Obama comes up with the laughable notion that the Sermon on the Mount teaches homosexuality is an acceptable choice as he recently stated in the news. In his bid for the White House, B. Hussein Obama has received great support from those in the gay and lesbian community since he will champion their desire to make gay marriage legal in all 50 states and to break down all barriers to gay adoption, as well as other issues favorable to giving those who choose to commit the sin of homosexuality special rights.Senator Obama also supports the legalizes slaughter of babies. He has been 100% consistent in his political career both in the Illinois Senate and the United States Senate, to support the legalized practice of infanticide. I wonder how he can go home at night, look at his two precious little girls, yet vote to support the legalized murder of babies. Again, this is all in line with the liberal theology and social gospel teachings of his pastor and church for the past 20 years.

I say that any “pastor” and any “church” that supports slaughtering babies should never be referred to with those names. How can you call yourself a pastor, how can a church call itself a church, how can a person honestly call themselves a follower of Jesus Christ, and support a woman making the decision to kill her baby? That is inconsistent with the teachings of Christ and the Bible, and even most hard hearted heathens who deny the existence of God understands that it is murder!

I love you and care about you so much. My guess is that Senator Obama will soon leave Trinity UCC to appease his political detractors. The fact is, he is 20 years too late. He, like ALL who are part of that church and most who are not part of Trinity, knew of the perverse theology and racist, anti-American views of Dr. Jeremiah Wright. This is not revelation to anyone in Chicago. I have told you about Dr. Wright and that church for
many years now.

Senator Obama has to make the same decision we all have to make. It was Jesus who said you can’t serve two masters. Is our master Jesus or do we serve another master? If Jesus is his master, Senator Obama needs to denounce the sin of homosexuality and take a stand for life. If politics is his master, he will continue to support these sins.

At some point, each person has to decide if you love Jesus or if you love this world. We make that decision many times throughout the day when we choose to obey God or disobey Him. If we say we love the Lord, we will obey Him. If we say we love the Lord and disobey Him, we obviously don’t love Him enough since it was Jesus who said, “If you love Me, you will obey Me.” I pray today that Senator Obama will love Jesus enough to obey Him, and I pray that you and I will love Him enough to obey Him.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or
be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator.
To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to: http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now
available via AUDIO each day. Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/Audio.cfm
Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by phone by calling 1-727-342-5673

(C) Copyright 2008, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved.

Roman Catholic Leaders Complicit In Rwanda Massacre? Why Weren’t We Told This Before?

Genocide term for Rwanda priest – Africa – msnbc.com

ARUSHA, Tanzania – A Rwandan priest has been jailed for life after a U.N. tribunal extended his sentence for ordering militiamen to burn and bulldoze a church with 1,500 people inside. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda’s ruling came after Roman
Catholic priest Athanase Seromba appealed his 2006 conviction, a statement posted on the body’s Web site late Wednesday said. He was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The tribunal is trying the alleged masterminds of the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which more than 500,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists over a 100-day period. The tribunal said it convicted Seromba for “his role in the destruction of the church in Nyange Parish, and the consequent death of approximately 1,500 Tutsi refugees sheltering inside.”

Seromba was convicted of leading a militia that attacked the people and poured fuel through the roof of the church, while police threw grenades inside. After failing to kill everybody inside the church, Seromba ordered it to be demolished, the tribunal found.

Thousands of Rwandans have turned away from Catholicism, angered and saddened by the complicity of church officials in the genocide. Priests, nuns and followers were implicated in the killings and some churches were sites of notorious massacres.

The Rwanda war crimes tribunal has delivered 32 judgments, including five acquittals, since the U.N. Security Council established it in November 1994. There are 27 trials under way.

More Prosecutorial Misconduct Discovered But Since The Wrongly Convicted Are Black And Poor And Not Duke Lacrosse Players No One Cares!

Where is Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the National Review, the Weekly Standard, the outraged bloggers, etc. over THIS CASE? (Update: See ABC News link here.)Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, Cal Thomas, where are you? Woe to the people that prefer the rich and powerful over the poor and powerless …

When Levon Brooks goes to court later this month, it will bring an end to a treacherous chapter in his life fueled by a rush to judgment, shoddy investigative work and the state of Mississippi’s over-reliance on a shaky “expert” witness. Convicted in 1992 of raping and murdering a 3-year-old girl, Brooks, was sentenced to life in prison, mainly on the strength of testimony by Dr. Michael West, a dental expert who swore that bite marks all over the girl’s body were caused by caused by the defendant. Three years later, West testified that another Black man, Kennedy Brewer, was responsible for inflicting the same bizarre wounds on another slain 3-year-old Mississippi girl, sending Brewer to prison for life. Ten years later, both men have been released from prison after a third man confessed to both killings; DNA evidence connected the confessor to the crimes. Turns out that West isn’t much of an expert after all, and literally hundreds of his analyses used to convict defendants are being called into question. Forensic experts now say that the wounds on the victim in the Brewer case “were not human bites at all but were likely were caused by crawfish and insects nibbling on the corpse, decomposition, and rough handling when the body was pulled from the pond where it was found,” The Associated Press reports. West also muffed up the Brooks case, identifying scrapes as bites, Brooks’ lawyers say.

Some are even saying that West’s missteps were no accident. “You have people who engaged in misconduct and manufactured evidence and we’ve proved it,” Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, told the AP. His project has led to the exoneration of more than 200 inmates nationwide and assembled the expert panel that examined the Brewer case. “These two cases are going to be an eye-opener for the people of Mississippi about some of the problems they have in criminal justice and how easy it will be to make it right,” Neufeld added. Brewer, 36, was released on bail last year, a few years after DNA tests excluded him as the rapist; he was exonerated by a judge on Feb. 15, AP reported.

Prosecutors are expected to drop the case against Brooks, 48, today. He now lives with his 83-year-old mother. West, a 55-year-old in private practice, did not return numerous calls from AP’s reporters to his Hattiesburg office. “I ain’t worried about the past. I’m thinking about the future,” Brewer said. But he offered some advice to prosecutors: “They need to get the truth before they lock up the wrong somebody. It doesn’t feel good to be called a rapist and murderer.” In recent weeks, Justin Albert Johnson, 51, was arrested and charged in one of the murders. He later confessed to both killings after detectives told him that his semen tied him to the Brewer case.

Now the prosecutor who went after the Duke lacrosse players found himself charged with crimes, and lots of folks demanded that the guy spend years in jail. But is anyone demanding that these prosecutors go to jail? That Dr. Michael West go to jail? Or that there even be an investigation? Or that reforms and procedural changes be put in place? Nope! The outrage over the Duke lacrosse players was 100% because they were rich, and also because it gave every racist crank a chance to spew their venom. None of these people could care less about the injustice that goes on in our criminal injustice system routinely. Why? Because only born – again believers in Jesus Christ actually care about ALL injustice NO MATTER WHO IT HAPPENS TO!
The Three Step Salvation Plan

Strong Tower Bible Church Pastor Condemns Noose And Racist Graffiti Incident At Franklin Tennessee Middle School

Noose, graffiti prompt concern at Franklin school | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean

A noose and graffiti have school administrators in Franklin worried about students, and parents worried about the school’s urgency in reporting the incident. Students at Poplar Grove Middle School will receive a lesson on hate crimes Monday after school administrators found a noose and graffiti in a school bathroom earlier this month.

The assembly, scheduled to be held by Franklin police at 9:30 this morning, comes nearly too late for Rev. Chris Williamson, whose son Dante attends the school. “It’s an injustice,” said Williamson, pastor of Strong Tower Bible Church in Franklin. “What needs to happen so this doesn’t happen again?” (My answer: preaching the gospel to sinners, including racists.)

School officials discovered the noose, made from a small piece of string, and graffiti containing a racial epithet in a seventh- and eighth-grade boys’ bathroom on Feb. 1. Poplar Grove Middle principal Vanessa Garcia didn’t immediately report the incident to police because there was no pressing danger to students, said David Snowden, director of the Franklin Special School District. The noose and graffiti were removed from the bathroom.

“The only thing we could have done differently would have been to send a letter home, but you can’t have parents up there investigating it,” Snowden said. Snowden said a police report was later filed, but he did not recall when. A permission slip for the assembly was sent home with seventh- and eighth-graders on Friday, and the district sent out a phone message to parents Sunday.

The 400-student middle school teaches fifth through eighth grades and accepts students through an application process. Preference is given to siblings of current students and minority applicants, Snowden said. Snowden feared minority enrollment at the school, which is 13 percent black, could suffer as a result of the incident. “I hope that doesn’t happen, because we want a positive experience for all students in all schools,” Snowden said.

Williamson, who is black, plans to hold a meeting of his own on Tuesday evening at his church, with a prayer vigil to follow. “It’s very unfortunate in so many ways,” Williamson said. “We’re saddened and grieved that it happened.” (Grieved enough to preach the gospel? Did you have that same grief before? Seriously, we have to hold all Christians accountable.)

Although the incident will be considered a zero tolerance offense, the school district does not have a specific policy in addressing racially motivated crimes. District and school administrators will develop a specific procedure in the near future for reporting such crimes, Snowden said. Snowden said that if any students were identified as culprits in the Poplar Grove incident, they would be expelled. (Seems like they have a policy then. It would be interesting to know if the same policy is in effect for, say, assaulting a school official or another student, being caught with drugs, or continually disrupting class with your behavior. Do they hold assemblies in this instance? Do the media and clergy get involved in those cases too? Do not get me wrong, I am happy that this pastor is taking a strong stand against the sin of racism affecting this public school. I just want to know if he takes similar stands against other sins.)

REV. OPRAH WINFREY IS A SPIRITUAL CRACK DEALER!

liveprayer.com/signup.cfm

(Deuteronomy 13:5; Isaiah 9:15)

***SEE BILL KELLER’S APPEARANCE ON NEIL CAVUTO’S FOX NEWS CHANNEL PROGRAM FROM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29TH: liveprayer.com/fox022908.cfm

***MOST PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE SHELTER OF THE FOUR WALLS OF THEIR CHURCHES HAVE NO CLUE HOW BAD IT IS IN THE MARKETPLACE.  SADLY, I HAVE FOUND TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE SO WRAPPED UP IN THEIR OWN LIVES THEY DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE MASSES GOING TO HELL EACH DAY.  EVEN WORSE ARE MEN AND WOMEN OF GOD WHO SHOULD CARE, BUT OBVIOUSLY DON’T SINCE THEY SPEND THEIR TIME PREACHING TO THE CHOIR SO THEY CAN SELL THEIR BOOKS, FILL UP THEIR EVENTS, AND GENERATE
MORE MONEY.  WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE WILL BE YOUR HEART.  I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW MUCH HEAT I HAVE TAKEN OVER THE YEARS FOR GOING IN THE NATIONAL MEDIA TO EXPOSE OPRAH FOR WHAT SHE IS ,  A GREEDY WOMAN MAKING MILLIONS SELLING PEOPLE THE “SPIRITUAL CRACK” OF THE DAY.  READ A TYPICAL EMAIL I HAVE BEEN RECEIVING AND MAYBE YOU WILL UNDERSTAND MY PASSION!

“Dear Mr.  Keller, I am responding to your recent comments on the Fox News Network
regarding your opinion that Oprah is the “most dangerous woman in the
world.”  I am a “Course in Miracles” student for some time now, a student of
the “We are All One” philosophy.  I was born and raised a Christian, but
have in the past several years found much strength and faith in the belief
that we are all from the same God.  I am puzzled regarding your comments,
since I am of the belief that one need not be a Christian to get to heaven.
It appears that your strong public opinions create more divisiveness on this
troubled planet at a time when we need to become more united…that is all
humanity, everywhere, united in LOVE with the same God.  I have found in my
exploration of spirituality that I have gained much more peace than I ever
found in my Christian based religion.”

Oprah is selling “spiritual crack” and leading millions of souls to hell!
After finding great success pushing the New Age agenda over the years on her
TV program, New Age witch Oprah Winfrey is now clearly committing her vast
resources to lead millions of unsuspecting souls to hell selling them the
“spiritual crack” of the day, New Age teachings.  Just like crack, these
false teachings make people feel good for a moment but lead them on a path
of destruction.

Earlier this year, Oprah began teaching a year-long course on her XM
Satellite radio channel, “A Course in Miracles.”  A Course in Miracles is
allegedly “new revelation” from “Jesus” to help humanity work through these troubled times. This “Jesus”-who bears no doctrinal resemblance to the Bible’s Jesus Christ-began delivering his channeled teachings in 1965 to a Columbia University Professor of Medical Psychology by the name of Helen Schucman. (My note: this is eerily similar to Frank Peretti’s character Juleen Langstrat of “This Present Darkness.)

Her latest venture in New Age teachings will be a 10 week seminar over the
Internet beginning tonight when Oprah and best selling New Age author
Eckhart Tolle will be teaching from his new book, “A New Earth, Awakening
Your Life’s Purpose.”  Over 1 million people have already signed up for this
10 week web cast that will lead them away from Biblical Truth and faith in
Jesus Christ through Tolle’s perverted spiritual teachings.  I have told you
for years this is the most dangerous woman on earth, and she is clearly now
being used as a tool of satan to lead millions of souls to hell with these
false teachings she is promoting, while making millions of dollars doing it!

For the nearly 9 years Liveprayer has been around, I have continually
exposed this New Age false-hope merchant and warned people of how dangerous
she is. If Oprah Winfrey was simply another Hollywood entertainer I could
care less about her. What makes her so dangerous is that while her program
normally deals with the same subject matter the raunchy Jerry Springer
program does, Oprah also deals with the very real day-to-day issues of life
and uses her nationally-syndicated television program to tell people how to
live. The authority she speaks from? Herself, OPRAH WINFREY!

We are living in a time where the better percentage of two full generations
don’t go to church. People still hit those difficult places in life and at
those moments they are looking for help and for hope. Sadly, the Christian
leaders of our day have abandoned the marketplace and secular television for
the safety and prosperity of the “Christian trough.” In so doing, they have
left the lost and hurting masses looking for a savior, someone to come along
and help them through the difficult moments of life, tell them how to live,
and give them hope. To fill this void in people’s spiritual lives, along
comes Oprah!

People defend her by saying she is not a theologian or a preacher, she is a
talk-show host and entertainer. I agree. However, that is not how she
portrays herself or positions herself. She has eagerly cashed in to the tune
of over $1 BILLION DOLLARS on being the spiritual guru to over 49 million
people a week! The authority she speaks from is what she has determined
truth to be, her views on right and wrong, her values and morals, as opposed
to the only Truth and authority there is…God’s Word!

Lest you think I have overstated my case and have been wrong all these
years, please take a moment to read some quotes from a recent article in the
USA Today on “the Divine Miss Winfrey.”

“Over the past year, Winfrey, 52, has emerged as a spiritual leader for the
new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation.”

“With her television pulpit and the sheer power of her persona, she has
encouraged and steered audiences (mostly women) in all matters, from
genocide in Rwanda to suburban spouse swapping to finding the absolute best
T-shirt and oatmeal cookie.”

” ‘She’s a really hip and materialistic Mother Teresa,’ says Kathryn Lofton,
a professor at Reed College in Portland, Ore., who has written two papers
analyzing the religious aspects of Winfrey. ‘Oprah has emerged as a symbolic
figurehead of spirituality.’ ”

” ‘She’s a moral monitor, using herself as the template against which she
measures the decency of a nation,’ Lofton says.”

“With 49 million viewers each week in the USA and more in the 122 other
countries to which the show is distributed, Winfrey reaches more people in a
TV day than most preachers can hope to reach in a lifetime of sermons.”

“In a November poll conducted at Beliefnet.com, a site that looks at how
religions and spirituality intersect with popular culture, 33% of 6,600
respondents said Winfrey has had “a more profound impact” on their spiritual
lives than their clergypersons.”

“Winfrey called her talk show her ‘ministry.’ ”

“Marcia Nelson says that it’s not going too far to call her a spiritual
leader. ‘I’ve said to a number of people – she’s today’s Billy Graham.’ ”

” ‘Our culture is changing,’ he says, ‘as churches are in decline and the
bulk of a new generation is growing up outside of religion.’ Instead,
they’re turning to the Church of Oprah.” (Note: an episode of the TV Show Futurama predicted that Oprahism would replace Christianity.)

” ‘People who have no religion relate to her,’ Nelson says.”

It is clearly established that Oprah Wiinfrey views herself as some sort of
spiritual leader, and based on the 49 million viewers of her TV program, you
can laugh at that notion but can’t ignore the fact she has an incredible
amount of influence over tens of millions of lives. Let me be clear. The
danger of Oprah Winfrey is that like any cult leader, her version of the
truth and her final authority are not from God but from herself! It has been
clearly documented from transcripts that Oprah Winfrey may use the name of
“God,” and very rarely “Jesus,” and use many “Christian” expressions, but so
does the Mormon cult! While she was raised in the Baptist church, she has
been a long-time member (though rarely attends) of a very liberal church in
Chicago that mixes Christian faith with New Age spirituality, that also
happens to be the church of B. Hussein Obama.

Because she has never been married, choosing instead of live for decades
outside the bonds of God’s Holy Institution with a man who is not her
husband, Oprah has a jaundiced view on this most sacred bond between a man
and woman. (In truth, Oprah Winfrey is a radical feminist that views marriage as oppressive to women, and hints at such from time to time on her show, especially during a particularly grotesque episode where she distorted the words of her mother by claiming that she wanted her daughter to get married and go through a lifestyle of sexual submissiveness to her husband, which incidentally was not what the woman was actually saying it and Oprah knew it; Oprah just chose to humiliate this woman on national TV merely because the woman wanted her promiscuous daughter to get married and restrict her sexual behavior to marriage. So Winfrey is actually worse than Keller is depicting here. I still remember the episode where Winfrey attempted to similarly humiliate Kirk Franklin and his wife – who never should have went on her show in the first place – but Franklin was smart enough not to give her an opening.) Oprah embraces the New Age philosophy that there are “many roads that lead to God,” a lie from the pits of hell itself. On her program she promotes and endorses cults like Scientology, Kaballah, those who speak to the dead, psychics, and people of ANY “spirituality.” There is only ONE GOD, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to promote the false gods of this world makes Oprah an enemy of God!

As for the social issues, Oprah condones and supports those who choose to
engage in the sin of homosexuality. Oprah is on the record supporting a
“woman’s right to choose,” code for slaughtering innocent babies. While she
gives lip service to being pro-family, Oprah’s definition of the family is
whatever men want it to be, not what God says it is! Again, the truth Oprah
espouses comes from her own imagination, not from the only authority and
source of Truth there is, the Bible. By going against God’s Word on the key
social issues of our day makes Oprah an enemy of God.

I could go on, but there is no reason to. Simply denying the Bible as the
only Truth there is, God as the one and only God there is, and faith in
Jesus Chris as the one and ONLY WAY to be saved, makes this woman dangerous
and a false prophet in every sense of the word. What makes a person a false
prophet is that they lead you AWAY from God, Biblical Truth and Jesus
Christ. Sadly, those who follow this false prophet, this merchant of false
hope, put their eternal souls in peril. That is why I have warned people for
years about her and will continue to.

I love you and care about you so much. I know all the Oprah disciples who
spend hundreds of dollars to go hear her preach the “gospel of Oprah” at her
seminars, buy her books and magazine, watch her faithfully every day, hang
on her every word, will run to her defense by pointing out all the good she
does. I don’t doubt for a second that Oprah uses some of her billions to
help others. That is not the issue. The Mormon cult feeds the hungry,
clothes the naked, and visits the prisoners, yet they are still lost and
going to hell for rejecting Jesus Christ. The Mafia gives millions to
worthwhile causes that help those in need, but that doesn’t make them good
people. God’s Word teaches you can’t buy your way into heaven!

So what is the answer to Rev. Oprah? She is locked in. One of the most
powerful women in the entertainment business. She is not going away and now
that she is at least being honest about her “spiritual guru” status, will
become even bolder in trying to position herself as the spiritual leader of
the nation. By the way, this is EXACTLY how the anti-Christ will rise to
power and the one-world religion will come to be. A charismatic figure who
can control the masses and fill their spiritual needs by feeding them a
perverse theology that makes them feel good for the moment.

The answer is to take on Oprah just like Elijah took on the prophets of
Baal, head-on! In the end, the TRUTH will always win out over the lie. False
hope will always give way to true hope. The false prophet will always be
exposed when confronted by a true prophet of God. I have told you many times
that what we are dealing with is a battle for the souls of men. This is why
I am so passionate about the Liveprayer television program being on
worldwide. It will be a beacon of light in the darkness of this world for
Biblical Truth and lead people to the only answer there is..Jesus Christ!

The reality is, for nearly 5 years now, night after night I have done on the
Liveprayer television program what Oprah does on her program. Deal with the
pressing issues of the day, reach out to people who are hurting, and give
them answers for their life. The difference? I let them know that I can’t
help them and I am not their answer, Jesus is! I deal with the issues of the
day not from a worldly perspective but a Biblical one! The answers for the
hurting I share are not from my imagination but from God’s Word! The truth I
share is not my truth, it is God’s Truth! The hope I give people is not a
false hope, but the ONLY hope there is…JESUS CHRIST!

(Sadly, many high profile Christians will go on Oprah’s program and rather
than confront her and challenge the false theology she espouses, say nothing
so they can sell whatever book they are pushing. David had no fear in taking
on Goliath on his own turf. David was a shepherd, not a great man of war
like Goliath. I have no fear in taking on Oprah on her own turf. I am an
evangelist, not a great television and entertainment celebrity like Oprah.
David didn’t need the fancy armor of Saul, only a few pebbles. I don’t need
fancy buildings and studios, only a few pebbles and that is why I am asking
you at this time to help me. Supply me with the pebbles I need and our God
will do the rest!)

The world has always had false prophets, merchants of false hope. Oprah, her
creation “Dr. Phil,” Montel, and B. HUssein Obama, are simply some of the
more notable ones of our day. I expose them for who they are, talk about
them, because they are leading people AWAY from the only Truth there is and
AWAY from the only hope there is. Pray for Oprah today. The fact is, Oprah
could become a powerful woman of God if she would humble herself before the
Almighty, get on her knees and confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and stop
preaching the gospel of Oprah but the Gospel of Jesus Christ, stop selling
people “spiritual crack,” but give them the Truth of God’s Word!!!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY?  The fact is you will
die one day.  At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or
be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator.
To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now
available via AUDIO each day.  Simply go to www.liveprayer.com/Audio.cfm
Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by phone by calling 1-727-342-5673

(C) Copyright 2008, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved.

Church Leaders: DNA Database Discriminating Against Black People

DNA database discriminating against black people – church leaders

Church leaders and the human rights group Black Mental Health UK have expressed their support for a debate on the discriminatory impact of the national DNA database on black and ethnic minority people that will come before Parliament on Friday.

The UK has the largest national DNA database in the world, with 4.5 million profiles expected to be held by the Government by 2010. Government figures suggest that 77 per cent of young black men will soon have their details held on the database.

The debate on the DNA database was called for by Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East Sarah Teather, who said, “The over-representation of black people on the Labour Government’s database should horrify anyone who cares about justice and fair play.”

Black Mental Health said there was a real danger that the DNA database “just reinforces the myth that black people are more likely to commit crime, and that is a very dangerous untruth”.

Ms Teather said: “The truth is, if you are black, you are no more likely to commit crime and more likely to be a victim of crime.”

Matilda MacAttram, director of Black Mental Health, said that black people tended to enter into mental health care through the police or criminal justice system.

“This means that countless people with healthcare needs are being criminalised in the process of seeking help. It is disturbing to know that those needing health care are on a criminal database,“ she said. “Wherever this is the case it is imperative that their details are removed as quickly as possible. This begs the question, what kind of a society criminalises those who need help?”

There are currently 500,000 people on the database with no current conviction, caution, formal warning or reprimand. Rev Paul Grey of the New Testament Church of God remains concerned over security issues after the Government admitted last November that the information of 25 million child benefit claimants and their parents had gone missing in the post.

The “injustices of bad science” could lead to the DNA information of being abused in the future, he said.

”The public have no way of knowing how secure this information is that they are taking. If someone steals your DNA what the implications?” he said. ”Loosing child benefit details is one thing, but a person‘s DNA is part of who they are. This is another hostile move against the freedom and civil liberty that should be protected.”

Pastor Desmond Hall, chair of Christians Together in Brent, added, ”The database most unwelcome and is bringing division rather than healing within our communities, as it is our young people being stopped by the police, often for no justifiable reason.

”We have no confidence in the Government controlling this, in light of the recent data losses we have seen, and this information in the wrong hands could be catastrophic.”

Black Students At Mormon Brigham Young University Complain Of Racism … Nicely

Original link here.

PROVO — While attending Black History Month events at Brigham Young University this month, many black students have spoken out about their feelings on being a minority at the university — and issues that arise from being black and Mormon. Of the 30,426 students enrolled at BYU, 158 are black, according to BYU statistics.

Black students speaking to the Deseret Morning News at a recent Black History Month presentation emphasized they have been treated very well at BYU — by faculty and students alike. But being a minority anywhere is difficult, they said. Niiboi Amertev, 25, a junior from Ghana, said sometimes he feels white people in Utah don’t feel comfortable around him, and he can tell by their body language. “Actions speak louder than words,” Amertev said.

Barima Kwarteng, 20, a sophomore from Ghana, said most people at BYU simply don’t have a lot of exposure to blacks, and they don’t really understand black people. “I get the impression they think I’m here to play sports,” said Kwarteng, who is majoring in computer engineering. Catherine Spruill, 27, of Steilacoom, Wash., a senior, said, “People make ignorant remarks. They’re not worth remembering. We’ve been commanded to forgive. The easiest way to forgive something is to forget about it.”

Some black students said they wish the school would recruit more blacks so they wouldn’t be such a minority. “There should be more outreach,” said Noah Morris, 29, BYU’s Black Student Union president and a junior born in Nigeria. BYU does have a national multicultural student recruitment program called SOAR. It starts in eighth grade and steers students toward college preparation. It includes a weeklong summer session on campus, with classes including preparation for the SAT exam, said BYU spokeswoman Carri P. Jenkins.

During the past few weeks, BYU’s Black Student Union hosted myriad events for Black History Month.

Ahmad Corbitt, a black member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who serves as director of the church’s New York Office of Public and International Affairs, spoke to about 100 students on the struggle some members have with the priesthood limitation once practiced by the church. His talk referred to the church’s decision in 1978 that black male members could hold the priesthood. A dozen students and a few guests stayed almost an hour after the presentation to pepper Corbitt with questions and concerns regarding race and their religion.

The students didn’t mention any specific problems at BYU but did say they don’t appreciate the folklore that they said is sometimes spread by seminary teachers or church leaders regarding blacks in the church. One example, the students said, is when people say blacks “sat on the fence,” or weren’t fully committed to Christ in the pre-mortal life, and therefore are punished by the color of their skin on earth. “Speculation about inferiority in the pre-earth life” is not part of the church’s doctrine nor part of the curriculum, Corbitt said. He advised the students, when they hear people repeating these stories, to take the matter to a bishop and/or a stake president and make them aware of what is being said. Such folklore is definitely not supposed to be taught in the seminary program, said Thomas R. Valletta, director of the Church Education System curriculum. “That (folklore) is certainly not true, and it’s not in the curriculum,” Valletta said.

Several students at Corbitt’s presentation said they wished church leaders would speak directly to racial problems during a general conference session. Entire talks have been devoted to issues such as pornography, the students pointed out. Corbitt said racial issues have been addressed during general conference talks.

LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke on racial intolerance in a priesthood session during the April 2006 general conference: “Racial strife still raises its ugly head, even among church members. There are reports of racial slurs and denigrating remarks among us. This is unacceptable. I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ.” During the discussion with Corbitt, one black woman said she believes, just from her own personal experience, that 30 percent of the people she encounters in Utah make racially offensive remarks.

Black BYU student Hunter Stott, 28, a junior from Salt Lake City, said he believes the group that intends to be offensive is much smaller than those who just make offhand remarks. “A lot of them are just ignorant,” Stott said. “Most people don’t try to be hurtful.”Corbitt says some people have said to him, “You’re a nice colored fellow.” “All I say to that is ‘Thank you very much. And I think you’re nice too.’ Period.”

Some students argued with Corbitt and said they feel it’s their responsibility to correct and educate those who make racially ignorant remarks. Corbitt said correcting the person would sometimes lead to offense. He may, however, give a person advice on word choices if they are going to be dealing with more black people in future occasions and to help the person “deal more effectively in society.”He advised them not to “worry so much about people who are committing a faux pas just because they live in an area where there is 1 percent blacks.”

Corbitt said he rarely gets offended because being offended is a choice. “I refuse to allow it to hurt me,” he said. “That is my choice.” In another Black History Month event, students watched snippets of a film called “Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons,” by Margaret Young and Darius Gray. The film is scheduled to be shown in the Foursite Film Festival, March 8 at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden. When asked if there are racial issues at BYU, Gray said, “It doesn’t matter where you are. There are racial issues. Race is a reality.”

The comments are really telling:

cheeseman | 1:02 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

I really respect black students at BYU and in the Church in general. It would be very difficult for me as a Caucasian to join a church that had previously limited my ability to advance or lead due to my race. I sincerely believe that the whole Priesthood issue was a mistake by man that somehow was perpetuated until 1978. President David O McKay, not known as the most staunch supporter of civil rights, always referred to it as a policy rather than doctrine. It will definitely be one of the first questions I ask in the next life.

deronda | 2:00 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Nevertheless, I was taught in seminary in the 1960’s that indeed blacks were neutral in the war in heaven. And I remember the daughter of the stake president say a girl would lose her salvation if she married a black man. I even remember the seminary teacher repeat the legend that Dinah Shore had a black baby.

Anonymous | 6:49 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

I am glad the Des. News published this article. Here’s what I hope Church leaders would address at some point:
1. Why the Church refused to endorse the civil rights movement in the ’60s. ET Benson likened the movement to communism (but Hugh B. Brown steadfastly opposed him!).
2. Church leader after church leader, from Brigham Young to at least George Albert Smith (maybe later), said blacks were of the “seed of cain.” The 2nd Manifesto doesn’t repudiate that doctrine. Would a leader have the courage to step up and say that Young and the others were absolutely wrong? Please!
3. Joseph Smith ordained blacks to the priesthood, but his successors changed the policy. I would like to see church leaders, in conference, grapple with this history. Not just say “let’s be tolertant” (which we should), but explain to the church body how Smith’s policy had been changed over time. And yes, explain to the church that it was a policy.
4. Brigham Young explained that slavery was inspired by God and John Taylor said that blacks were only fit to be servants to white people. I’d like to see church leaders explain this. In short, educated us!

Kimberly | 7:31 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

I wasn’t the girl that only hung out with black people in school; I had mostly white friends, and growing up I didn’t really know the difference… but boy did it hit me hard. Black people didn’t accept me, because I was too “white”, but if I went to a church activity, people gave me the weirdest looks… and I swear if there were 151 boys and 150 girls at a dance, I would *guaranteed* be the girl that was never asked to dance. We still hear garbage about blacks in the preexistence, Harold B. Lee quotes from back in the day, and what Church publication has *young* black couples on it, or even interracial ones? Not many… People, at least here, always seem to make the assumption that I’m a convert, or that I’m so different that I wouldn’t want to be around the “typical” Mormon.

It’s kind of hard to feel like you’re too white for the world, and too black for the Church. As a result, I hated being black growing up, because it seemed like my race was the only thing preventing me from who I wanted to be.

Kimberly | 7:32 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

In Utah, there aren’t many black people, and it’s cool that maybe people are interested in getting to know me, but I kind of don’t want to be the token black girl. I don’t want people touching my hair, expecting me to do the Harlem Shake at a church dance, blasting hip-hop when I walk by (all of which have happened, in a church setting!). I think that is what the article means by ignorance, the ignorance that comes from just not understanding… and that sort is pretty forgivable, just kind of annoying after a while.

I think that black students go to BYU for the same reasons that white students, Asian students, whatever kind of students do–they want to learn, they want to increase their testimonies, and maybe about 80% want to get married at 17. 🙂 I don’t think that they should leave just because of people’s lack of understanding, but I think that talking about it does help, because then people can understand their perspective on things. It isn’t meant to make people mad, or make people think we’re repinning slavery on folks–it’s just to clear the air on some things!

Stan Zielinski | 7:34 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Until the leaders of the Mormon church stand up in General Conference and clearly debunk the bogus racist myths perpetuated by their predecessors and clearly repudiate the extremely racist past statements issued by people who were supposed to be representing Jesus Christ, (which that still stand, BTW) and seek forgiveness and healing, the myths will continue to be perpetuated by indoctrinating generation after generation with the same racist myths behind closed doors. As a former Mormon teacher, I know that these offensive racist myths are still privately believed, even by the next generation of Mormons. They know how offensive, and politically incorrect it is to repeat these myths in public so they keep them private, but they are still a part of the MOrmon world view and will be so until the MOrmon leadership takes real measures to debunk those persistently perpetuated myths.

As long as Mormon scriptures still contain extremely racist passages, there is no exorcising the systemic racism that has been institutionalized over the entire history of Mormonism and Mormonism will still remain officially, a racist institution, which is the main reason my conscience would not allow me to remain a member, even though I’m not black.

Kimberly | 7:40 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

One of my biggest worries in the Church is that I won’t get married until later in life, just because black women really aren’t on the radar for most folks in the Church. I know that this doesn’t exactly matter once you find the right one, but it kind of does mean you miss out on dating… Perhaps it’s different in Utah because everyone dates for sport, I don’t know.

If people didn’t get mad when concerns that may be a little bit difficult to talk about were raised, we could really come closer to being united as a church. I know that most people in the Church love one another, but I also think there could be a bit more understanding.

The bottom line is, I don’t want anyone to treat me differently (in a overtly good or bad way) because of my race, but for now I *must* be different so that people can see what is wrong. Some of the generalizations some of you have made in your comments are extremely dangerous, like how *all* blacks distance themselves in language/behavior…totally untrue! it’s assumptions like this that build walls where they have no place.

Trent | 8:13 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Oh, this is classic. LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley speaking on racial intolerance in a priesthood session during the April 2006 general conference:

“Racial strife still raises its ugly head, even among church members. There are reports of racial slurs and DENIGRATING remarks among us. This is unacceptable. I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ.” Denigrate comes from the Latin, pp. of denigrare “to blacken” [de- “completely” + nigr- “black”. In other words, “to make completely black”]. The racism is built into our language! That is what is offensive.

And the racism is built into the fabric of the LDS Church because of DOCTRINAL TEACHINGS throughout its history, as well as its OFFICIAL DOCTRINAL POSITION prior to 1978 that forbade the priesthood to “descendants of Cane.” There is no “whitewashing” this problem in the LDS Church, no matter how many people of color the Church tries to hire as spokespersons, or how much “apologetics” the Church leaders and scholars attempt. The facts speak for themselves: The Church was officially racist for over a century. You don’t just ignore that and smile.

Light | 9:21 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Mormons are taught in there own scriptures that blacks are a condemned race. This my friends is fact. Members of the LDS faith can sugarcoat it any way they want, however the scriptures don’t lie. Until the General authorities come out and say Joseph Smith is 100% wrong for writing these things, there is nothing else to talk about. Here are two of the scriptures in Moses that Joseph Smith claims to have re-written for all of our benefit.

8 For behold, the Lord shall acurse the land with much heat, and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever; and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people. (moses 7:8)
22 And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam; and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain were black, and had not place among them. (moses 7:22)

When these teachings are still acknowledged then change will never completely happen. “God has no religion” Ghandi

Blair G. | 9:34 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Get over racism. As brothers and sisters and children of god, I did not create our color combinations either, black, brown, white, or purple, and neither did you. Give the Creator credit for creating us with an unique identity, which includes our skin. The Lord does not apologize for what he does in or outside the LDS Church and neither do members of this church have anything to apologize about. The church is still the Kingdom of God on Earth with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone. I do not believe that we have the right to second guess his purposes for any of us. Feeling weird in a predominently different culture with your skin standing out is not a issue of racism, but simply an issue of insecurity. Get over the racism issues.

Craig | 9:48 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

The LDS Church got its racist views from the Bible. The Old testament is full of passages where the Lord has commanded his people to not intermarry with other specific races. Even Jesus hesitated to help a woman but then showed compassion because of her great faith See Mark Chapter 7
26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. It was God that barred the Priesthood from the Cannanite Race. Not Man.

RockOn | 10:06 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

To DudeMan:
People got these “sitting on the fence” ideas in trying to justify the “practice” by trying to reach for doctrines. There was an awful book called something like “The Negro and the Priesthood” that had a whole litany of silly reasons including Egyptus, Ham stories, and on and on. I really am not condemning these people. They were products of their times just as Paul was when he justified making slaves obey their masters. Modern revelation is essential but will rarely, if ever, outpace the abilities of the free agency of the people at the time. The Israelites were only given a partial dose of the truth and they had a hard time with that and the Lord had to let them stew for another 40 years before taking them the next step.

Linus | 10:47 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

God is a god of order. The blessings and privileges of the gospel will go to all men, but in the order God chooses. The order He chooses is not a reflection of God’s favoritism or of ethnic superiority. Read your Bible and your Book of Mormon. You will learn that Anglo-Saxons weren’t first in line. “The first (of Israel) shall be last, and the last shall be first.” There are verses that explain that Israel are the only ones who will lay eyes on The Christ; whereas Gentiles must be satisfied with only the visitation of the Spirit.  As an Anglo, I do not feel inferior to Israel or rejection, knowing that my folks and I had to wait our turn, or are denied visitation of The Son. I will be thankful for the visitation of the Holy Ghost, and wait for the hereafter to behold the face of the Savior. If you think the Church represents racism, you should attend a ward in Aba Nigeria (as I have) and feel first-hand the love of God and the brotherhood of man. “by this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.”

Gary | 10:57 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Below are just a handful of comments from past church leaders regarding African Americans, and I can assure you that these statements are NOT “Folklore” but sadly are true: “Had I anything to do with the negro, I would confine them by strict law to their own species…”
(Joseph Smith, Jr., January 2nd, 1845, History of the Church, volume 5, pages 21-218)

“Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so. The nations of the earth have transgressed every law that God has given, they have changed the ordinances and broken every covenant made with the fathers, and they are like a hungry man that dreameth that he eateth, and he awaketh and behold he is empty.”
(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, volume 10, page 110)

re: light | 11:08 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Those teachings are acknowledge, that’s why they are in the scriptures. You haven’t revealed anything. In addition you personal interpretation of blacks being a condemned race is hate speech against mormons. Never, never has the church taught they are condemned. Salvation has always been offered to members of that race in this dispensation (big word meaning specific time period). You can’t find one instance since 1830 where a sincere African American desiring baptism has been denied, no where. Your accusations are evil at best.

this better get posted! | 11:09 a.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Racist doctrine is why i left the church. read the quote below. if god is unchanging why was he racist in 1954 and is not now? Or was an apostle wrong? either way it severly discredits the church. Mark E. Peterson A MORMON APOSTLE said this in 1954

“Think of the Negro, cursed as to the priesthood…. This Negro, who, in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified the Lord in sending him to the earth in their lineage of Cain with a black skin, and possibly being born in darkest Africa–if that Negro is willing when he hears the gospel to accept it, he may have many of the blessings of the gospel. In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory. “

Brian | 1:07 p.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Just because the seed of Cain was given a darker skin color does not mean LDS people are racist. God can do what he wants as he works his plan and our job is to be kind to each other. I don’t have an explanation for everything God has done, and it isn’t my job to explain it all. My job is to love my neighbor as myself. That is regardless of skin color, gender, gender attraction, race, nationality, or whatever. I have no idea why God created so many different versions of people after his image, but I’m not wasting time trying to figure it all out. I’m spending time trying to figure out how to help people and get appropriate help from people. But, to think that the Brethren thought they had all the answers is to misrepresent the Brethren. People have interpreted what they said as meaning one thing or another and that isn’t fair.  This is further proof that the Mormon church did until very recently hold racism as official doctrine, and that the church lies about it. Most Mormons either go along with the lies or (if they are younger or are recent converts) sincerely do not know about them. Now the racist passages on this issue are still in their holy books, but I would surmise that Mormons are about as familiar with those as most Christians actually are with the Bible.

Raymond Takashi Swenson | 3:46 p.m. Feb. 27, 2008

The priesthood bar was never applied to other minority races, from American Indians to Hispanics to Polynesians to Asians. The Church was sending missionaries to those “minority groups”, to Indians since 1830, to Polynesia since 1844, to Japan in 1901. Plenty of Polynesians have darker skins than American blacks. How are Mormons racist when many of them were not white, and the whites actively recruit non-whites in Africa and Latin-America? Mormons were largely not slave-owning Southerners, but Northerners. Converts came from anti-slavery Britain and Scandinavia. Mormons never had racially segregated congregations. There were blacks in my ward in Salt Lake in the 1950s. Contrast Southern Baptists, whose church was created to defend slavery, and who still have some segregated congregations. Plenty of white Mormons are donating 2 years as missionaries in African nations. How can you call them racist? In my little Idaho ward, we have families with mixed race marriages and adopted black children and an elder from Kenya. They were all accepted as ward members. Some people may be concerned about how you, as a minority person, look at THEM. American society says all blacks have anger and all whites are guilty. They just need reassurance.

 Just a myth? | 4:23 p.m. Feb. 27, 2008

August 17, 1949
The position of the Church regarding the Negro may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of spirits in the premortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality and that while the details of this principle have not been made known, the mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintain their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes.

The First Presidency ref. (Neither White nor Black:Signature Books; Midvale, Utah
© 1984 by Signature Books.)

wYo8 | 7:14 p.m. Feb. 27, 2008

This is neither here nor there just a simple what if. If proir to 1964 (Civil rights) and 1978 (Revelation on the Priesthood). If the Lord called a black brother to be a bishop or stake president how would the south handled it both within and out of the Church. I don’t think it would of went over very well. A Black Bishop calling a white person to be his counselor or whatever calling. When they couldn’t even drink out of the same fountain or use the same bathroom, etc. The Mormons were hated anyway and it could of been another stone thrown at them. Personally I think the Lord had to wait for the slave mentality to be overcome and to let the civil rights movement get going before President Kimball’s revelation in 1978. It was 14 years from 1964 to 1978. Not a very long time to have a country and a way of thinking to change. We are still talking about this today. The First Vision was 44 years after the revolution war. The United States was still in its Infancy. The Lord is and always will be in charge of his work.

LDS in Oregon | 7:54 p.m. Feb. 27, 2008

Serving as an LDS missionary in Detriot (mid-1990s) I served in a branch led by three Black brethern(High Priests serving in Branch Presidency) who were amazing individuals, all recent converts. Alma Chapter 13 states that High Priests are foreordained to be high priests because of their exceeding faith and good works in the premortal life–this includes our Black brethern. There is no doctrinal foundation for any inferiority doctrine and the recorded statements and actions of Joseph Smith should put any such theory to rest. Any statement by this or that General Autority that implies or states otherwise is not doctrine but speculation. Remeber–Aaron, Moses’ brother and the namesake of the Aaronic Priesthood fashioned a golden calf for the Israelites–but he is still an honored servant is he not? Some Black members of the branch were LDS prior to the 1978 Revelation and had the faith to wait for the long promised day when our Black brothers would hold the Priesthood. That long promised day, foreseen by Brigham Young and later Presidents of the Church occured as predicted in 1978. The Lord directs the LDS Church and most of you reading this post know it to be true.

All the more reason why Christians, whether right or left, should leave this “political/cultural/social ecumenism” behind and start to earnestly pray for the salvation of Mormons.

The Three Step Salvation Plan

U.S. Defends Itself From Charges Of Racism By United Nations

Now I bash America as much as the next guy, but the truth is that America by far has less racism, tribalism, and classism than any country on the planet. (As far as sexism goes, I have not investigated the matter, but any country that claims to be less sexist than America I say prove it.) A lot of the people that leave America on account of its alleged racism and go to places like Britain, France, and Africa … well those people are high income leftist elites, usually artists and intellectuals. Most of them will NEVER admit that rank and file blacks have much less opportunity in those countries than in America. They pretend otherwise because those countries are controlled by the left politically (and in America they would be the far left, the Green Party, the conservative parties in most countries would be Hillary Clinton Democrats in this one). The only reason why the U.N. keeps charging the U.S. with internal racism is because it serves the interests of international socialism. It has nothing to do with the actual plight of black people, because if they really cared about black people they would talk about how if you are black in France, Germany, England, etc. you mostly just sit on welfare because you can’t get a job. These folks are basically just using racism as an excuse to attack America for not being a secular socialist nation.

U.S. defends race record before U.N. watchdog – Worthy News

By Stephanie Nebehay Reuters GENEVA

The United States, in the dock at a U.N. forum accused of racial discrimination, said on Thursday it was combating hate crimes such as displays of hangman’s nooses as well as police brutality against minorities. A U.S. delegation defended Washington’s record at the start of a two-day debate at the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The committee’s 18 independent experts grilled U.S. officials on issues including racial profiling in the wake of the September 11 attacks, police brutality against minorities, and the high proportion of African-Americans on death row. “We note that sadly, racial discrimination exists all over the world, including the United States,” Grace Chung Becker, acting assistant attorney-general at the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division, told the meeting.

“The United States is committed to continuing its hard work to combat racial discrimination,” she declared. Substantial progress had been made over the years in addressing disparities in housing, education, employment and health care, according to a U.S. report submitted to the body. Last year, the United States launched a “racial threats initiative” to facilitate investigations of nooses and other racially-motivated threats around the country, Becker said.

It was prosecuting a case involving nooses hung from the back of a truck which circled around a group of peaceful civil rights demonstrators waiting at a bus stop, she added. U.S. President George W. Bush last week condemned as “deeply offensive” a spate of incidents involving hangman’s nooses, a potent symbol of racist lynchings and hatred of blacks.

Some 47 states have laws against hate crimes, which they actively enforce, according to the U.S. delegation on Thursday. U.S. officials had investigated more than 800 racially-motivated incidents against people perceived to be Arab, Muslim, Sikh or South Asian since the September 11 attacks.

Despite a drop in the number and seriousness of such crimes, identifying and prosecuting them remained a priority. The Bush administration had been “the first to issue racial profiling guidelines for federal law enforcement officers and remains committed to the elimination of unlawful racial profiling by law enforcement agencies,” Becker said.

Linos-Alexander Sicilianos, the U.N. committee’s rapporteur on the United States, replied that instead of ending the practice, the government appeared to be giving guidance to police to show them how to carry out racial profiling. He also cited “overwhelming evidence” of police brutality against racial and ethnic minorities, including African- Americans, Latinos, Arabs and Muslims.

Experts also raised questions on the rights of Native Americans, the disproportionate number of people of color in prison, juveniles serving life sentences without parole, and the estimated 5.3 million felons who have lost their voting rights. The American Civil Liberties Union, in its own shadow report issued earlier this week, blasted what it called “the persistent structural racism and inequality” in the country.

The U.N. committee upholds compliance with a 1965 treaty ratified by 173 countries including the United States. It is to issue its findings on seven countries on March 7.

(Editing by Andrew Roche)

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