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Truth in Conviction offers insights related to politics, religion and social happenings in the US and worldwide. The columns' philosophical base is conservative. Regarding
religion, it is evangelical. Concerning social matters, it is grounded in biblical ethics.
Swank has BA and MDiv degrees with graduate work at Harvard Divinity School. Married for 49 years with 3 adult children. Author of several books and thousands of articles in various Protestant and Catholic magazines, journals, web sites, and newspapers. Writer of weekly religion column for PORTLAND PRESS HERALD newspaper, Portland ME. |
Tue Jan 26, 2010
SCOTT BROWN'S FRANKLIN MASS CHURCH
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
The Scott Brown family attends worship at the New England Chapel, 40 Kenwood Circle, Franklin, MA. Chris Mitchell is the Senior Pastor, a graduate of the evangelically renowned Gordon-Conwell Seminary, where Billy Graham once chaired the board.
The local congregation is a part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
This is what that congregation’s members believe per their website at http://app.razorplanet.com/acct/41591-7315/tmpl/index.php?nid=62094&s=hm&preview=true :
We believe that Scripture is the ultimate guide and authority for our faith and life. All of our values and ministries are guided by the Bible.
We believe that prayer is the best way to express our love and gratitude to God as well as our dependence on Him as our Heavenly Father. Our ministries are discovered, developed, and empowered through prayer.
Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God and to love people wholeheartedly. Rather than pretending we have it all together, we strive to live out our love for God and each other honestly, with authenticity.
God’s Great Commission to His church is to bless the world by bringing Jesus to people, no matter where they are on their spiritual journeys. All of our ministries are guided by this purpose.
People cannot embrace something they do not understand. Our ministries aim to communicate God’s love and truth in clear, practical, and creative ways that speak to us in meaningful and understandable ways.
Everyone needs to care and be cared for in order to grow in the love of Christ. Through intentional friendships and small groups, we seek to build relationships of love, honesty, and unconditional support.
Everyone plays an equally important part in the community, and each person is shaped to play a role on the team. We provide support and guidance in discovering and developing the gifts of each person.
The church’s website relates the congregation’s journey:
“About 10 years ago, a core group of people set out to have a different kind of church for people in today’s culture, showing God’s love in ways they could relate to. The group met in homes, then in Franklin school auditoriums, and in 2001 finally moved to 40 Kenwood Circle, our first permanent home. Since that time, we’ve more than doubled in size and just keep growing.
“NEC is a place to feel accepted, even if you have questions and doubts. It is a place to meet people without hidden agendas. It is a place where the music and the messages speak to your real life. It is a place to belong, share, and serve the community. It is a place to find God in your own time, at your own pace—all without pressure and judgment, but with hope and patience.”
Scott Brown, one many refer to as a “Bible Christian,” reaches out to those of other denominational communities, including Roman Catholic. Read about it here: http://truthinconviction.us/weblog.php?id=P3432
For information concerning his local church, phone 508.541.9078.
SCOTT BROWN DEFEATS OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
U. S. Senator Scott Brown would defeat Marxist Muslim Barack Hussein Obama in a presidential bid.
Already, the charismatic, intelligent, handsome Massachusetts Tuesday miracle has moved to the front.
Mr. Forty-first has got the attention of knowledgeable citizens. Appearing on Jay Leno Show Thursday night will no doubt continue the pace.
Read SCOTT BROWN ON JAY LENO at http://truthinconviction.us/weblog.php?id=P3432
“The poll asked likely voters: ‘If the election for president of the United States were held today and the only candidates were Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Scott Brown, for whom would you vote?’
“Based on the 4,163 responses, Obama leads Brown by 46.5 percent to 44.6 percent. That amounts to a statistical tie because the Zogby survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percent” per Newsmax.
When it comes to ticking off his conservative positions, Brown can do it in a flash—and impressively substantively.
When it comes to convictions that line up with middle class moralists, he appears to be one of them. One question involves pro-lifers. He, living in liberal environs, has not got on-board.
Nevertheless, conservatives endorsed Brown against Martha Coakley for she fell off the left margin.
Can Brown move into pro-life venue once he gets out of Massachusetts’ liberalism? Maybe.
Brown voted for the Massachusetts Marriage Amendment in 2007.
Brown is a survivalist. When a child, his parents divorced. He was reared by various relatives. His life was not all that stable, opening various situations for “getting into trouble.”
But then he was a survivalist and ended up with a law degree, commendable status among fellow politicians, and now Massachusetts Republican Senator.
Barack Hussein Obama was swooned into the White House by mob hysteriacs who had no idea that he was a Marxist Muslim. He lied. He said he was for America, was a Protestant. Both lies.
Now the world knows fact. Obama is the chief enemy to the Republic. He has lost his charm, even with many initial enthusiasts.
In other words, leaving the detail to you informed citizens, Obama’s house is crumbling after only one year. Many of his own house dwellers are scared because the master of the manor has not managed well at all.
The vacuum. Who then will come to the fore to fill in the void?
Perhaps Scott Brown.
It could be that Republicans have found their charismatic, intelligent, handsome leader. He’s fresh. He’s fun. He’s committed. He’s proven himself a winner. American voters--young and old--like that.
Remember Obama’s “I won”?
It just might be that that echo will come from Scott Brown in America’s future.
Read “Newsmax/Zogby Poll: Scott Brown Could Defeat Obama in Presidential Race” at http://newsmax.com/Headline/brown-obama-poll-president/2010/01/26/id/348031
OBAMA’S ‘STATE’ = AMERICA ALREADY LAUGHING, AND CRYING
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
“President Obama, after spending hundreds of billions his first year, now is seeking a partial three-year federal spending freeze that would reduce budgets by less than 1 percent.
“The drop-in-the-bucket nature of the president’s proposal was underscored Tuesday by a Congressional Budget Office estimate projecting the 2010 federal deficit to hit $1.35 trillion—Obama’s spending freeze would be expected to save up to $15 billion the first year.”
U. S. Chief Enemy Barack Hussein Obama still does not get it. America is not made up of mannequins. We are mortals with brains and free will. We think. We vote. And we elect Scott Brown over Martha Coakley.
Yet Obama lives in his dictatorial cocoon with his puppet shadow government bowing and scraping. With this, Obama scans across the nation to see like puppets heralded by Oprah bowing and scraping as they did on his inauguration day.
But reality is that America is already, prior to hearing his State of the Union Speech, laughing so loudly citizens have spun onto their living room floors. Yet at the same time, sincere individuals are crying out to God to deliver us from this despot.
Laughing and crying.
In response to media data regarding Obama’s money freeze, read this: “’Given Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you’re going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest,’ said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner.”
Read “Obama Seeks Partial Three-Year Spending Freeze” at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/25/obama-seek-freeze-budget/
SCOTT BROWN ON JAY LENO
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
It’s Thursday night that US Senator Scott Brown appears on NBC’s soon-to-be-zipped Jay Leno Show.
Good. The charismatic, intelligent, handsome new Republican find then will be shown throughout the world via follow-up You-Tube showings.
Republicans salivated for a commendable leader who counts. Brown, Mr. Forty-first, could be it.
Among his magnetic qualities is his charm. What makes Brown charm significantly different from the Obama fraud is that Brown is genuine.
When I lived in Walpole, MA, I had surgery at a nearby hospital. In the same room was a monk who worked on a contemplative silence convent farm in Wrentham. We—I a Protestant and he obviously a Catholic—enjoyed a most friendly rapport.
From that meeting, my wife and I visited the farm—Cistercian Catholic nuns’ Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey, Wrentham. We met some of the nuns in their bread lazy-Susan store.
We rang the bell. We then heard a nun’s voice asking what we would like to purchase. We told her what breads. The lazy-Susan apparatus spun around where we placed the cash and then with another turn received the bread. The Abbey accents its nun-made candies; however, bread is also available.
Now years have passed and we have moved to another state. Yet the Abbey and Wrentham hold a special place in our hearts.
Today I read that Scott Brown befriended the nuns when they were in a tight financial squeeze. As a Protestant, Brown raised funds for the nuns. In return, they vowed to pray for Brown three times each day.
Read “Scott Brown, a Protestant, Holds Special Relationship With Local Cistercian Nuns” at http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/01/scott-brown-a-protestant-holds-special-relationship-with-local-cistercian-nuns/
“It has turned into a beautiful friendship,” said Sister Katie McNamara, the monastery’s nurse.
“When you have nuns praying for you three times a day and you’re not Catholic, anything that anybody can do or say about me, it’s Teflon,” Brown said. “It bounces right off.”
I believe that when Brown takes America from coast to coast, that sincere charm plus intelligence will grab hold for the rescue of our Republic.
Read SCOTT BROWN = PRESIDENT? at http://grantswank.blogtownhall.com/2010/01/23/scott_brown_=_president.thtml
TRUST A LYING PRES’ STATE OF THE UNION?
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Can honest people ever trust an addictive lying President, particularly with a State of the Union U-turn address?
No.
Barack Hussein Obama is given to lying as a bottom line to his creed. It is part of his spiritual commitment as a Muslim. The Koran’s Allah informs devotees that lying is a virtue when it furthers Islam.
Obama has been a most devout Muslim while masking as a Protestant. That in itself is his religious affiliation lie.
Honest news reports have listed ad infinitum Obama’s lies, starting with his birth certificate whereabouts. Informed citizens can enumerate the long list themselves.
Obama has surrounded himself with a lying shadow government replete with czars. The whole White House is given to lying by keeping in step with the ‘anointed one.’
Therefore, who is gullible enough to believe Obama’s promises set forth in his State of the Union address? It cannot be done. His personality is wedded to lying. His speech writers are given to lying.
When listening to his SOTU speech, honest citizens will be side-listening. To the lie side they will hear what Obama is stating. To the honest side they will hear what their truthful heads are saying he’s saying.
Any honest listener will not absorb Obama’s sentences as believable for nothing he has stated since inauguration day has been believable.
We have been conned for a year-plus. Why should we be stupid enough to conclude that we are not going to be conned for three more years?
Further, Christians are taught in the Bible to pray for the gift of discernment. Therefore, when biblical believers listen to Obama, they will be praying to the Holy Spirit for discernment.
The gift of discernment is provided Christians for them to decipher between truth and fraud. This gift yields a leading of the Holy Spirit regarding any life situation—verbal and non-verbal. The Holy Spirit, in other words, puts up
the truth mirror to reveal to the Christian what is genuine and what is fake.
Consequently, when Christians hear the SOTU speech, they will constantly be beseeching the Holy Spirit’s interpretation. If those believers are honest disciples, they will receive the Holy Spirit’s message alongside Muslim Obama’s lies.
Wednesday evening’s address should prove quite revealing as a liar steps to the podium to con America one more time.
Moreover, it will be one thing to hear him say whatever he has to say and another thing to watch him in the months ahead as he slices through his promises, cancels out his positions, and proceeds with his dictatorial policies to behead the nation.
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