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Sovereign
Grace Missionary Baptist Church 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 Elder Randy Johnson, Pastor Bro.
Ronnie Henderson, Song Director "Where
The Truths Of God’s Word Are Still Taught" |
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You Were Asked To Pray For: All
of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle
East, Zee Mink Fuller and Family, Her son’s Bryan Armstrong and Hunter
Hackie, Daughter Shannon, and Brother Philip & Sondra Thornsberry,
Virgil & Alice Hoskins and his daughters Liz Janis and Debbie Gray, Frank
& Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Helen Maggard, Renee Jackson, LarryMollette,
Larry Mollette II & Family, Linda Mollette, Kirby Mollette, Kerry
Pennington, Kim Butler, Danny & Nita Mollette,
Verna Mae Allen, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd,
Ronnie Henderson Jr, Donnie Henderson, Kevin
Henderson, Ricky Henderson, Rosalie Graves, Terry Hanson, Jim Stagner, Bro. & Mrs. Hammond, Don Hammond, Archie
& Barbara Griffin & son Daniel, Larry Platt, Bro. & Sister Bob
Keller, Wanda Fowler, Kathy Rosinbaum, Brenda Galusha and Jewel, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay
Johnson, Bobby Walker, Luann Reynolds, Bro. & Sis. Curtis Pugh, Timothy
and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jim & Linda Meier, Brother David &
Sister Anne Shortt, Brother Manuel Seymour &
Family, Doris Hammock, Letha Langford, Leacho Tittle, Brother & Sister Kelley Hinson and Wesley,
Brother & Sister Frank James, Billy and Jo Hobbs, Jerry Hughes, Nita Bookout’s Niece, Pastor G. L. Burr, Alicia Lightsey, Melody Carr, Betty, Tommy Walker, Gina, and
Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia. |
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News For The Week: Court orders Christian child into
government education 10-year-old's 'vigorous' defense of her
faith condemned by judge A
10-year-old homeschool girl described as "well
liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and
intellectually at or superior to grade level" has been told by a New
Hampshire court official to attend a government school because she was too
"vigorous" in defense of her Christian faith. The
decision from Marital Master Michael Garner reasoned that the girl's
"vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests
strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other
point of view." The
recommendation was approved by Judge Lucinda V. Sadler, but it is being
challenged by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, who said it was
"a step too far" for any court. The
ADF confirmed today it has filed motions with the court seeking
reconsideration of the order and a stay of the decision sending the
10-year-old student in government-run schools in Meredith, N.H. The
dispute arose as part of a modification of a parenting plan for the girl. The
parents divorced in 1999 when she was a newborn, and the mother has
homeschooled her daughter since first grade with texts that meet all state
standards. In
addition to homeschooling, the girl attends supplemental public school
classes and has also been involved in a variety of extra-curricular sports
activities, the ADF reported. But
during the process of negotiating the terms of the plan, a guardian ad litem appointed to participate concluded the girl
"appeared to reflect her mother's rigidity on questions of faith"
and that the girl's interests "would be best served by exposure to a
public school setting" and "different points of view at a time when
she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief ... in order
to select, as a young adult, which of those systems will best suit her own
needs." According
to court documents, the guardian ad litem earlier
had told the mother, "If I want her in public school, she'll be in
public school." The
marital master hearing the case proposed the Christian girl be ordered into
public school after considering "the impact of [her religious] beliefs
on her interaction with others." "Parents
have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children. In
this case specifically, the court is illegitimately altering a method of
education that the court itself admits is working," said ADF-allied
attorney John Anthony Simmons of Hampton. "The
court is essentially saying that the evidence shows that, socially and
academically, this girl is doing great, but her religious beliefs are a bit
too sincerely held and must be sifted, tested by, and mixed among other
worldviews. This is a step too far for any court to take." "The
New Hampshire Supreme Court itself has specifically declared, 'Home education
is an enduring American tradition and right,'" said ADF Senior Legal
Counsel Mike Johnson. "There is clearly and without question no
legitimate legal basis for the court's decision, and we trust it will
reconsider its conclusions." The
case, handled in the Family Division of the Judicial Court for Belknap County
in Laconia, involves Martin Kurowski and Brenda Kurowski (Voydatch), and their
daughter. The
ADF also argued that the issue already was raised in 2006 and rejected by the
court. "Most
urgent … is the issue of Amanda's schooling as the school year has begun and
Amanda is being impacted by the court's decision daily," the court
filing requesting a stay said. "Serious state statutory and federal
constitutional concerns are implicated by the court's ruling and which need
to be remedied without delay. "It
is not the proper role of the court to insist that Amanda be 'exposed to
different points of view' if the primary residential parent has determined
that it is in Amanda's best interest not to be exposed to secular influences
that would undermine Amanda's faith, schooling, social development, etc. The
court is not permitted to demonstrate hostility toward religion, and particularly
the faith of Amanda and Mother, by removing Amanda from the home and
thrusting her into an environment that the custodial parent deems detrimental
to Amanda." "The
order assumes that because Amanda has sincerely held Christian beliefs, there
must be a problem that needs solving. It is a parent's constitutionally
protected right to train up their children in the religious beliefs that they
hold. It is not up to the court to suggest that a 10-year-old should be
'exposed' to other religious views contrary to the faith traditions of her
parents. Could it not be that this sharp 10-year-old 'vigorously' believes
what she does because she knows it to be true? The court's narrative suggests
that 10-year-olds are too young to form opinions and that they are not yet
allowed to have sincerely held Christian beliefs," the ADF said. "Absent
any other clear and convincing evidence justifying the court's decision, it
would appear that the court has indeed taken sides with regard to the issue
of religion and has preferred one religious view over another (or the absence
of religion). This is impermissible," the documents said. The
guardian ad litem had an anti-Christian bias, the
documents said, telling the mother at one point she wouldn't even look at homeschool curriculum. "I
don't want to hear it. It's all Christian based," she said. By By Bob
Unruh from the World Net Daily |
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A Thought From C. H. Spurgeon: Plentiful Refreshment Oh, to have one's soul under heavenly
cultivation; no longer a wilderness, but a garden of the Lord! Enclosed from
the waste, walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love,
weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine power, one's favored
soul is prepared to yield fruit unto the Lord. O Lord, water me this day, and cause me to yield thee a full
reward, for Jesus' sake. Amen. |