HAVE WE TURNED A DARK CORNER TODAY?

This is a sad day for America. First and foremost though, it is a heartbreaking time for the Schindler family of Pinellas Park, Florida. We extend our deepest condolences to this brave and loving family who lost their daughter, Terri Schiavo, at 9:05 AM ET, this morning. They fought long and hard to save Terri from the jaws of a runaway judiciary system, and lost only after many appeals that fell on deaf ears. Although Terri's husband Michael said that he was fulfilling her wishes by ending her life, his motives and his integrity were and still are highly suspect.

Things must now change in the state of Florida, and across the nation regarding right-to-life issues and end of life decisions. I can recommend a few right here. First, everyone should have a living will, and some legislation encouraging (But not reguiring) that could be crafted. Not being a lawyer (thank God!) I don't have the depth of knowledge needed to address this fully, but I know that a change is needed. Second, there must be changes in the law regarding the ability of a guardian to decide when a life should be ended. It should be difficult to impossible for a guardian to remove a feeding tube from a disabled person who did not leave a written and witnessed living will, if such a move is contested. Third, any spousal guardian who abandons his/her marriage vows by moving his affections to another person should be removed from guardianship. I realize that every one of these issues are tangled and involved, but with proper language they can be worked out to the satisfaction of most people. Fourth, no judge, of any court, should have power that trumps the authority of the legislative or executive branches of government. This is an issue that has to be addressed by the US congress, and it must be an airtight law, not subject to any ruling by the Supreme Court. Fifth, any time there is conflict regarding any issue concerned with the possibility of ending an innocent life, we need laws protecting the person from those whose motives may not be in their best interest. We must make laws that mandate any error be made in the direction of life. How do we do that? Perhaps by making a national law preventing the ending of any life by any one judge or court, or by any guardian where there is a contested decision to remove a feeding tube.

Distinctions must also be made between life support on heart/lung, breathing, and other machines, and feeding tubes. In the issue before us as a nation today, a young woman who was not on any type of life support, receiving only nourishment and hydration, was killed by her husband removing the source of nourishment. We must do all that is necessary to protect disabled people who cannot speak for themselves, by enacting whatever laws are needed to keep any one person, be it guardian or judge, from ending that person's life.

All these issues are difficult, involved, and none of them are straightforward, but they must be looked at by people dedicated to the future of our country. If we do nothing, then we have turned a corner today into a dark street that leads to destruction. We have for years been sliding down toward becoming a culture of death, and if we do not interrupt this slide and change direction, we are in grave danger of becoming a nation where life is no longer precious, and the individual has no worth.

ONE MORE SERIOUS PROBLEM OUT THERE - THAT'S ALL WE NEED!

Michelle Malkin, in her daily blog today, has raised a new issue with the peer-2-peer file sharing phenomenon. It seems that there are literally thousands upon thousands of pornographic files being swapped this way.

Go over to her blog, here, and read for yourself.

This is just one more of many seemingly overwhelming problems our society must deal with; it cannot just be allowed to fester. The person with the idea that worksis who we're looking for right now! Is that you?

IMPORTANT COLORADO SUPREME COURT DECISION OUT TODAY

A decison by the Colorado Supreme Court came down today on the 1995 case of Robert Harlan, convicted in 1995 of murdering, raping, and kidnapping in the Denver area. Since the decision came about as a result of jurors using Bibles to come to their decisions, it is imperative that everyone have a look at the decision!

I have posted a complete story on the case HERE. Please go to to the site, which is the new website Blogger News Network (where I am a reporter), a great place to get your most updated news. We're not perfect yet, but we're working on it and we want YOU reading the site!!

So, please slide on over there, and give us your comments so we will know what you think!

Joe Comer

VICTORY OVER DEATH, HELL, AND THE GRAVE

Easter Sunday, 2005. We send out to our friends all over the world, from my friends in Korea, to my friends in the United Kingdom, aux mes amis en la belle France, to my friends in the US military stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and throughout the world, greetings! Most especially to those military folks who must spend this holy season away from home, God's peace be upon you, God's protection over you, and His comfort to your families until you return safely home!

Easter is the day of ultimate victory for Christians. We may celebrate other joyful, happy, and moving holidays; we may enjoy getting together with families and friends on other occasions, but no holy day like Easter exists either in or out of the Christian faith. And even in Christendom, no other day can come even close to equalling the holiness of this tremendous day of joy, that we experience because of just what the day is all about!

You can go to a place in the world, that is said to be the tomb of Buddha. You can go to Confuscius' tomb. There are the pyramids of Egypt, where kings who were supposed to be living gods, were buried. You can go to Mecca, and there you will find Mohammed's tomb. Why, you can go to Paris, and find the tomb of - - - - , who with his book, - - - - -, brought about the "age of reason, and along with Charles Darwin, a failed divinity student turned athiest, caused many thousands to turn their backs on God. But no matter how hard you look, regardless of how many shovels of dirt you turn over, you will not find the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. Why? Because it isn't there. There ain't one. He only borrowed one, for a short-term burial; he only needed it for two days, and he gave it right back! And I am so glad of that, because it means that I won't have to purchase that piece of real estate either!

All of us, no matter who we are, regardless of where we were born or our station in life, were born in sin, out of favor with God, and in desperate need of a saviour.
The Bible, which is God's word and the ultimate source of all information, says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible further states that there is only one name, only one man, under heaven, in whose name we can be saved. Now that certainly simplifies things, doesn't it? Well, one would think so, but enter the devil, satan; and his minions, and confusion reigns loud and clamorously!

If there were ever anything satan is good at, it is confusion, and about the subjects of life, death, sin, heaven and hell, he is the resident - (on earth, anyway) - expert. Or so he says. It was satan, the fallen angel, who first turned man against God, caused Adam and Eve to sin in the garden of paradise, and it is he who has millstones of sin about our necks to this very day. It is satan, my friend, who will cause you to trip up and miss your place in heaven, if you let him do so! Don't let him do that to you!

Throughout the Bible, one thread of truth is woven to perfection. It is the story of mankind's fall and our redemption in Jesus Christ. From the opening chapter in Genesis through the ending recorded in Revelation, God works His will to defeat satan, redeem man, and provide for us a place of love, comfort, peace, and eternal happiness at His side in Heaven. And what a wonderful and captivating story it is! Anyone who has read the Book through, from one cover to the other, has been blessed, and will continue to be blessed, by the presence of God working through His word. If you haven't done so yet, I encourage you to start today, read it completely, with an eye to faith in the Author, seeking His personal message to you, and you will be totally shocked and blessed by His revelations!

The thread of truth in the Word, redemption, is so very simple that a young child can understand it, and yet, it is based on the entirely complex questions of life that many of the "intelligentsia," the so-called highest-educated among us, have missed it! Why? How? What is it about this simple truth that clicks for a six-year-old, and yet is missed by a PhD? I understood the message of salvation at around the age of seven. Didn't get it earlier, because I hadn't been to church before then, had not been exposed to the Gospel. And my eldest grandson professed his faith in Christ, and was saved, around the age of 3 or 4. I had the great pleasure of baptizing my oldest granddaughter when she was six. And I have witnessed men and women in the twilight of life, one of them my own grandfather, receiving Christ with great joy. The great thing about each of these situations is that it did happen! And I will be joyous to see each of them in Glory one day! And now, how will that come about?

Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. Again, JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD ON THE THIRD DAY! That simple fact, the very basis of Easter, the very foundation of Christianity, is why we will spend eternity with God in joy and fellowship! Had Jesus not risen from the dead, the Bible tells us, we woulod yet be in our sins, we would be lost, and there would be no sacrifice for our sins. Had Jesus not lived a sinless life, had He not given His life on calvary for our redemption, had He not lain in that tomb, had He not RISEN ON THAT THIRD DAY, WE WOULD YET BE LOST! You ask me why? Because the penalty for sin is death, and we, my friends, have sinned. We would owe the penalty, and had Jesus not paid it, we would pay it ourselves by being cast into hell. End of story.

But, Thank God, it is NOT the end of the story yet! God has given us this day. His Son, Jesus, arose from the dead as surely as you're reading this, and you can join me in rejoicing because of that! Today, death is conquered by life, sin is conquered by holiness, and Jesus reigns in Heaven! And, friends, the great joy is that we can all reign with Him one day. Remember the Christmas story, where the angel says, "I bring you good tidings of great joy?" Today, let's turn that around, replay the words for Easter, and shout from the housetops, "I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY, FOR JESUS, THE SON OF GOD, IS ALIVE! HE AROSE FROM THE DEAD ON THE THIRD DAY AND HE WAITS TO GIVE YOU ETERNAL LIFE!"

God bless everyone reading this is my sincere prayer. I love you in the name of Jesus, and I just pray for you to have the peace of God in your heart. May you have the most blessed and wonderful Easter ever! If you have prayer requests, please call or contact us, and we will do what we can for you! Leave your comments at the bottom of this post, and come to see us here often!

In Christ,

Rev. Joe Comer


(Cross-posted on www.sgtstryker.com, and on http://www.legendgames.net/showstory.asp?page=blognews/stories/RE0000021.txt,)

Easter: The Time of Renewal and New Life!

Today is celebrated throughout the world as Good Friday, traditionally commemorating the day that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross of Calvary. There are some 2,000 years of fact, fiction, myth, truth, and tradition, wrapped up in the Easter season. We owe a debt of deep gratitude to a lot of people for spending their entire lives in the saintly work of preservation, lives lived in the shadow of the Cross, under direction of the Holy Spirit, writing, copying, and meticulously checking, then re-checking and cross-checking to see that they had accurately brought forward the greatest story ever told; the story of our redemption by the Blood of Christ Jesus.

On that distant Good Friday, in the murky past 2,000 years ago, there were three crosses - execution devices - raised on the hillside outside the city of Jerusalem, the capital of a restless, unruly Roman province known as Judea. Governing this province was at the time the responsibility of one Pontius Pilate, a no-nonsense governor who was probably tired of the unrest in this dusty little town so far removed from Rome. Pilate, by all accounts, tried to be fair, but the Roman idea of "fair" was quite different from our modern ideas on the subject. This time, the quite unwelcome cry of "sedition" had been raised, and Pilate did not want to get a reputation for allowing such a thing on his watch. Thus it was, that after trial, this Jesus of Nazareth was to hang with two thieves who had already been convicted and sentenced to death.

Jesus, we are told, was raised in the middle, with one thief on each side of him. I don't believe this was just a coincidence, as God was in control of things on that dark day, as He is in control of things on these dark days in which Terri Schiavo's life hangs in the balance in March of 2005. I mention this case that has so transfixed the people of the world at this Easter season, because of some of the inescapeable parallels, some of the things that have caused so many to think perhaps more deeply this year than in previous years, regarding redemption and our own personal condition of sinfulness before God. Jesus was truly the "man in the middle" on that day, between one thief who would ultimately reject him, and another who found sweet forgiveness for his sins and the reward of the faithful when he submitted his life and soul to Jesus, Lord of all.

Today, as then, Jesus is the man in the middle. He is presented to us by the Bible, God's Word, as the remedy for our own personal sinfulness. The Bible tells us, and we each know this in our hearts, that all have sinned, and that thus, we have fallen short of experiencing God's glory. I know that I have sinned. My heart tells me so. My spirit is convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit of God, and it then becomes my responsibility to ask God for forgiveness. And the Word of God tells me that when I ask, God is faithful to forgive those sins, and place my heart in a right relationship with Him. How wonderful to know that position, to know that the Creator of all things, as unknowable and beyond our comprehension as He is, has chosen to let me - and you - approach Him, and that He knows me personally, and loves me to the extent that He gave His son on the cross to pay the debt of my sins.

How much attention has been paid to the man on the one side of Jesus that day, who rejected Him? Maybe not enough. God allowed him to be placed in this story for a reason: to warn us of the consequences of rejecting Christ. If you look at Luke's gospel, chapter 23, you find this story in detail. The rejecting thief had only one thing on his mind that day - he wanted someone to free him and allow him to go about his life as he had done, without any change to the good, and with no thought for others. "So you're the messiah, are you?", the man scoffed, "prove it by saving yourself - and us too, while you're at it." No sign here of regret for his life of crime, no sign of any desire to change. Just the desire to save his own skin! Of course this man did not believe that Jesus was the son of God, he had no desire to know Him or His kingdom, all he wanted was to continue his own existence. In matter of fact, he was figuratively spitting into the face of God as he hung there dying. Not unlike some other evil men of whom I have heard, who in their throes of death, literally cursed God. I know for sure that I would not like to be there on judgement day to hear the sentence of eternal death pronounced for such men.

Jesus that day hung between two mindsets just as surely as he hung between two men. One mindset is that which rejects him as the saviour, and the mantra of that mindset is that "all roads lead to heaven." The other mindset is reflected in the truth that the Bible tells us, that there is no other name given among men by which we may be saved. In this day when the spiritual is relegated to a minor and diminishing part of our national life, we need to think more about where our mindset is. Do we have a saving faith in Christ, or do we just have the laissez-faire attitude that we'll just see what happens when we die?

Then there was the man on the other side. This man acknowledged his sins, by saying that Jesus was there by no accord of his own, but that he and his accomplice were there justly, dying for their own deeds. Without ceremony, the man called out to Jesus, for salvation. "Remember me when you come into your kingdom," he cried. Jesus' response to him was immediate and complete, "Today you will be with me in paradise," He said, forgiving the man of his sins and imparting to him eternal life in the presence of God. What a great example for us today! We should fall at Jesus' feet, acknowledge our sinfulness before God, and ask for this great and wonderful salvation! From the example here in the Bible, we can see that God forgives immediately, that He welcomes us into His presence, which in itself is paradise. We don't have to beg, plead, cut ourselves, do penance, or in any way provide for our salvation. Just trust in Him, and the deal is done. Jesus is all we need, just having faith in Him is the answer to our need for salvation.

What happened on the first day of the following week, Easter Sunday as we celebrate it, is the subject of my next post. Easter is the most marvelous day of celebration the world has ever known: it is a day commemorating the resurrection of our Lord. Jesus got up, left the tomb empty, and took up His life, just as He laid it down. That is in itself the seal of approval on His sacrifice for our sins. God, in His way, showed His approval of Jesus' sinless life, remarkable death, and His power of salvation, by his resurrection. We will explore that on Sunday

Happy Easter!

Note: This post is cross-posted to Blogger News network, BNN. We invite you to go to www.bloggernews.net, and read the best blogs in the blogosphere!

Urgent Need For All Bloggers!

A threat to the freedom of bloggers everywhere has emerged, something which was warned about during the 2004 election. By going to http://www.onlinecoalition.com, one can review and sign, if you agree, a letter of petition to the Federal Election Commission, requesting that no regulation be placed on bloggers regarding elections.

During the last election, a lot of information was available to voters, Democrat, Republican, and Independents, through online blogs. This has become the public marketplace of ideas, and from what this writer has seen, it appears that the future of much of the exchange of information lies in the online blog, or weblog. Everyone, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant, can participate in this medium, as witnessed by the entry here of one man, disabled, living from payday to payday, otherwise unknown in the world, but able here to express ideas that may be read and even debated by people far beyond his local circle of friends and family!

We must all, regardless of our political/social/economic status or leaning, come together for the purpose of defending our first amendment rights of free speech as well as the right in American history of a free press. I invite everyone who reads this to go to the website above and sign the letter. I have done it, it only takes a few seconds, and it coulod be very important to your future ability to express your opinion. I might note, I looked over the list of those who have signed, and saw names of both friends and those with whom I have had deep disagreements. I was glad to see them all, as we are all moved by the same desires, just with different ideas of how to get there.

Thank you for reading, please now go to the online coalition and sign up!

Joe Comer
Vidalia, GA

Here We Fly Again!

Last Tuesday, March 15, I had a doctor's appointment in Columbus, GA, about 140 miles from home. That distance indicated a good trip to fly instead of driving. The weather was good, and it had been a month or so since I had flown, so I reserved the plane, and showed up at the appointed time, preflighted, and off we went. OK, I said "we," but I was by myself. Nurse Jenny didn't want to take the PM off, and a friend I called had to work, so I had no one to share my joy with. The 1.2 hour flight was uneventful, getting on with Atlanta Approach, flight following, and then transferring to Columbus Approach, then CSG tower, and a perfect right-pattern approach to rwy 6. I just love it when I come in with a circling turn and a steep nose-down right to the numbers! Wifey doesn't like those too much, starting with the turn, when she starts saying, "Oh, Jesus, help me Lord," and trying to get out. I don't know where she'd sit. I have taken her up so many times and talked her through approaches and landings, but it still gets her every time!

Anyway, good flight over, and the FBO gave me a ride over to the clinic, with another guy who flew in from Greenville, SC at the same time. Talk about timing! I don't know how his appointment went, but mine could have been better. I have been having a lot of trouble with a foot that I broke a year-and-a-half ago. It still hurts. With this trip, I found out why. It never healed. They did a CT scan, and there it was, big as life, a fracture right in the left ankle! I have an appointment with my attorney, and you can be sure that an orthopedic surgeon who told me it wasn't broken, is going to get his tail sued, right quick. That's another story. Anyway, they're gonna do surgery on 4/8, get it fixed right, and that's gonna take care of the flying for a couple of months.

Since I had such a nice day, and night was coming on fast, I decided to fly on over to Birmingham, Alabama, and spend the night with my son, who pastors Calvary Temple Assembly of God there. I made the necessary phone calls to him and to Nurse Jenny, then fired up the ole Cherokee, and off into the (dark) blue for a short 35-minute flight to EET, the Shelby County Airport, for the RON (remain overnight). We had a nice supper, spent some time with the two upcoming pilots, otherwise known as grandsons #1 and #2. Sorry I couldn't take them flying, but they had school the next morning, and I wanted to get an early start, to get the plane back early. Oh, boy, did I ever have a rude awakening in store!

Early, rooster-early, Wednesday morning. I got up, looked out the back door of Joe's house, and my heart sank. OHHH, NOOO! Fog, low ceilings, and it was pouring rain! No flying this day! The weatherguesser, otherwise known as the flight service station (FSS) forecaster, whom we pilots have to listen to - closely - before attempting any cross-country flight, had nothing but bad news. Ceilings below 700 feet, IFR conditions all over the south, nothing forecast all day for Wednesday. After a few checks during the morning, I gave up, went with Joe, my son, to his office, and helped him with his workload as much as I could during the day. Then back to the house, another nice night with the grandsons, and up early on Thursday morning. OHH NOOO, another IFR day! I looked out the door and thought I was caught in the movie "Groundhog Day," where the same day kept on opening day after day......Clouds, rain, low ceilings, and no forecast improvement! Back to the church with Joe, another day helping out. That evening, Thursday, the TV weatherman was giving out some better news. Clear skies forecast for the next day, and this news gave me such joy......I might get to go home yet! Calls to my wife let me know that I was missed - this made me feel good - and I sure missed her and the dog and the cat.....I missed home!

Waking up early, my body still on Eastern time, I got up and sneaked a peek out the back door, about 5 AM. Stars!! Hallelujah! The sky was completely clear! Great, this was just what I had been waiting for. First I checked the radar. Look at this site here:http://www.aeroplanner.com - it's something you might like to use for future reference..... and a check with the FSS, gave me good news. Well, mostly, anyway. It was clear, but over in Georgia there was a bit of low ceilings and clouds. But there were holes, at least they said so, so off we went to the airport. I opened the cargo door and took out my towel to wipe the moisture off the windows and...wait...what is this?? ICE!! What? It's not moisture, it's ice! I can't fly with ice! The whole airplane is covered with ice, from nose to tail!!! AAUUUGGHH!!

OK, I told Joe to go on with his work, he had an appointment later in the morning, so I told him to leave me at the airport, I'd wait for the sun to come up and melt the ice. An hour later, the FBO guy turned the plane around to finish the melting process, and I took my towel and wiped off all the moisture - the ice was gone now, thank God! I got on with my preflight, I had asked for 5 gallons of gas in the left wing tank when I left the plane here 3 days ago, it was there. I had about 15 gallons in the left wing and 10 in the right wing. Plenty to get home with the proper reserve. So far so good, then down to the end of the runway for runup. All OK, engine good, gauges in the green, but what's this? The DG (Directional Gyro) COMPASS WON'T SLAVE! What next? ARRGGHH, OK. We can fly without the DG. Don't want to, but got no choice here. I ain't gonna get Bobby's plane fixed away from home, especially when I have the GPS and the whiskey compass for references, we're gonna go.

Taking the active, off I went, climbing out nicely, turning east and off for home. It was pretty, nice and clear, but now I had the sun in my face. All through the climbout to 5500 feet, that sun was right in my eyes. No sun visor, I had to hold my arm up and block the sun with my hand for the first hour, until it climbed up over the windscreen. Finally, I could see, Atlanta Approach was providing flight following, and things, except for the DG, were going well. Under me, the occasional "broken" layer at about 2500 began to close up, and 40 miles out, I had to start down, with a layer forming up above me. Now it was necessary to keep my eyes open, to make sure there were holes down there that I could get through, to get under the lowest layer. There. Off to my right, was a nice big hole, and it was about the right distance from VDI, Vidalia, for me to get down. Off I went, the GPS reading about 15 miles at 78 deg, and here I went, breaking out under the layer at about 2300 feet. Then in about 5 minutes I had a visual on the field, and the holes, now above me, closed in for good. I was down now to about 1500, just above pattern altitude, and runway 6 was coming into view. Good, I would make a straight-in to 6, using the rwy 24 ILS back-course for a backup approach. The needles centered, I called my intentions, dumped in first 10 degrees of flaps, then 20, then 25, and in minutes there was this very faint "eek" as the mains touched down. Great! I had done it, a flight that had all the elements, good bad, and ugly. I have to say, when it was over, I was tired, drained, and glad to have gotten on the ground without having had to divert to an alternate. If you want to go flying, I hope your flights all have the same happy endings. Be safe, is my first and loudest admonition. Be safe, and above all, have fun. If it isn't fun, stay out of airplanes, because flying should first of all be fun, and the joy of looking down on God's beautiful green earth is the reward.

God bless, thank you for reading!

Joe Comer