Black Robed Regiment rally comes to Tulsa on Nov. 20
A Black Robed Regiment Rally will begin at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Select Tulsa Hotel, 5100 E. Skelly Drive.
The “Black Robed Regiment” was a derogatory term used by the British to describe the preachers in the pulpits of the 13 Colonies prior to the Revolutionary War. This period is known historically as “The Great Awakening” and it led to the Colonies’ throwing off the shackles of King George.
“American preachers and pastors must return to the passionate preaching of Biblical truth on liberty and freedom once again,” said Pastor Bruce DeLay. “Now is the time for another Great Awakening in America.”
The modern Black Robed Regiment is a National group formed by former Constitution Party presidential candidate, Chuck Baldwin.
On July 25, 1993, Charl van Wyk visited St. James Church in South Africa. The serenity of Sunday worship was shattered when a gang of terrorists burst into the church and started firing automatic weapons and tossing grenades.
Eleven people were murdered that day and 53 injured. Quietly seeking cover behind a pew, van Wyk fired back with a .38 caliber revolver causing the attackers to flee in disarray - with the armed pastor in pursuit.
When van Wyk first heeded the call to enter the ministry, he imagined preaching, teaching and saving souls. He never dreamed that one day he’d be called upon to save lives through a very different course of action.
Speakers are the rally will talk about what the Bible teaches about:
• The right and duty of self defense?
• Should a Christian carry a gun?
• How can Christians protect themselves?
• Should Christians arm themselves in church?
Sen. Coburn criticizes overspending
U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D., R-Okla., has criticized the Senate’s refusal to pay for S. 1963, the “Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act,” by eliminating lower-priority programs.
“I support many of the goals of this legislation but we simply cannot continue to spend billions on new programs without paying for them,” Coburn said. “If Senators would pay for this program and make a few common sense changes this bill could pass the Senate today. Unfortunately, bill sponsors are more interesting in holding press conferences and playing political games than doing the hard work of legislating.”
Coburn said the Veterans Appropriations bill that is on the floor doesn’t provide a dime to pay for this program which means politicians are making a hollow promise to veterans.”
“Our nation’s veterans have made tremendous sacrifices in defense of our freedoms,” Coburn said. “The least senators should do is make the easy sacrifice of eliminating a small amount of wasteful spending to improve veterans’ health care. Leadership, after all, is making sacrifices and hard choices. Veterans and every family in America make hard choices every day between competing financial priorities. It’s time for politicians in Washington to do the same.”
Coburn has sent bill sponsors a list of proposed offsets to pay this bill. So far, Senators have not agreed to eliminate a single lower-priority program to serve our nation’s veterans.
“The American people and our veterans understand that our spending problem has become a national security problem,” Coburn said. “We are borrowing massive sums from potential adversaries and are watching the value of the dollar decline because other nation’s doubt our ability and willingness to pay off our $12 trillion debt. If we don’t start making hard choices we may not have a country left to defend.”
Coburn is also concerned that S. 1963 discriminates against Vietnam veterans, Gulf War I veterans and World War II veterans, all of whom are excluded from this program. The bill also duplicates some existing programs which are designed to help veterans who need care in their homes rather than nursing homes or hospitals.
Help for Tulsa’s laid off policemen
The three remaining police officers that Mayor Kathy Taylor laid off recently now have two options for employment.
“In all of my years of experience, this budget has been the most difficult to work through,” said Chief of Police Ron Palmer. “We are making difficult decisions because it is necessary.”
Taylor received notice from Keith Ballard, Superintendent for Tulsa Public Schools, that TPS would agree to employ the three officers for 22 weeks or until the city was in a financial position to rehire them.
In addition, there are two open positions within the city as Airport Officers, immediately available. Probationary employees do not have recall status and therefore accepting these positions would not adversely affect them insofar as rehire is concerned.
Palmer has informed all three officers of these employment options.
The positions at TPS do not include benefits. The City of Tulsa has no control over the officers’ health insurance because the police voluntarily withdrew from the city’s plan two years ago.
The Fraternal Order of Police announced that it has established a fund at the FOP Credit Union to accept donations in order to pay the salaries of Tulsa Officers that remain unemployed.
FOP President Phil Evans said that while talks with the mayor have been less than fruitful, “we are committed to helping the city through these challenging times as elected officials seek out more stable funding sources to provide for essential city services. With that in mind, we have established the ‘FOP Save the City Fund.’ We are going to collect at least $100,000 and provide that to the city so they can hire these officers back.”
Evans is concerned that the crime rate per capita is higher in Tulsa than even in New York City.
“We need these three back,” Evans said. ”We are going to see an exodus of veteran officers like we have never known before by the first of June. Morale is at its lowest point ever. The city-commissioned manpower studies tell us we need a minimum of 60 more officers, and it doesn’t appear anyone has been capable of doing anything about it.
“Citizen support and encouragement has been astounding during these trying weeks. The Save the City Fund is a way folks can contribute and help get these crime fighters back onto the streets so they can help others. Response from our members has been high. Its a positive way to help the city through this crisis and get our fellow officers back to work, a win-win situation.
“The FOP led the other city unions into adopting the mayors over one million dollar 64-hour furlough plan, our officers gave over another million dollars through frozen Satisfactory Performance Increases. Then just into the second quarter of the fiscal year the Department and Officers are cut for another two million dollars. That’s over a million dollars a month so far. We are informed and we do understand the situation. The Save the City Fund is just another way we are continuing to help the city out. Its our city, too.”
Citizens wanting to help out can make donations at the FOP Credit Union, 10110 East 11th St., right in front of the Mingo Valley Police sub-station.
The Credit Union telephone number is 836-9922. Donations are to be used only to hire these officers back.
If this is unable to happen, donations will be returned to the contributor.
Fighting back against ‘hate speech’
State Sen. Steve Russell said the recently signed federal hate crimes legislation oversteps the Constitution. He’s authored a bill that will be introduced in the State Senate in 2010 to protect Oklahomans from encroachments on speech, assembly and religious beliefs.
“Oklahoma currently has tough, good laws that include hate crimes laws. Any murder or brutal assault is hateful. That is the problem with singling out something more with this federal law,” said Russell, R-Oklahoma City. “I believe this legislation far exceeds the powers of government over states as outlined in the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“I am also very concerned that this loosely defined and ill-conceived legislation could be used to target people’s belief, freedom to associate in groups, right to assemble on issues, as well as target people’s right to free speech.”
Under Russell’s proposed legislation, Oklahoma courts would bar the admission of any evidence not directly related to a crime when dealing with issues related to speech, assembly and belief.
“For example, if a minister, rabbi or imam preached to a congregation about immoral issues, and then someone took that message to an extreme and actually committed a crime, neither the minister nor the congregation could be charged themselves,” Russell explained.
“There would have to be something that directly connected a person or group to the planning or execution of the crime.”
A further measure of the legislation would protect Oklahoma’s right to investigate and prosecute as the state sees fit. If Oklahoma law enforcement officers or district attorneys were investigating a crime that they deemed to be a murder and federal authorities later deemed it was a hate crime and took over the investigation as allowed by the new federal statute, Oklahoma law enforcement would be prohibited from cooperating with the federal investigation in any way.
“Basically, if Oklahoma decided a case that the Feds later wanted to overturn, they would be on their own - we would not share evidence or manpower,” Russell said.
Russell said in no way would he discourage the prosecution of any individual who assaults or murders another, nor would his proposed bill interfere in cases that Oklahoma deemed appropriate under existing state hate crimes laws.
“If a crime has been committed, the perpetrator must be held accountable. My concern is that someone may take this new federal hate statute and use it as a way to actually criminalize personal speech, lawful association and religious beliefs,” Russell said. “That would be a direct assault on the freedoms this nation was founded upon, and I hope to protect Oklahomans from that erosion of freedom with my legislation. I would also hope other states would follow our lead in defending personal liberty with similar measures.”
Bible translation in Solomon Isles
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that mobilizes volunteers and resources in support of Bible translation, is raising funds and mobilizing volunteers for the completion of a Bible translation training center in the Solomon Islands, where as many as 120 languages are spoken.
An estimated 600,000 people do not have the Bible in their own language in the Solomon Islands, where the literacy rate is 76.6 percent. Currently, 16 Bible translation projects have been completed, and 17 projects are underway. Additional language projects are planned, once facilities become available to train additional translators.
“The Solomon Island Translation Center will have a huge impact on Bible translation in that country,” says Mick Bandy, Pacific Area assistant director for Wycliffe Associates. “This translation center will provide the venue to be able to ignite many more new language programs in the Solomon Islands.”
Presently, all training is conducted in rented facilities, soon to be unavailable, where local translators have limited access to translation resources. The new training facility will centralize translation resources and make it possible for translators to work on projects at any time. “Current facilities are just inadequate for the current training program, and will be totally inadequate as we plan to expand the translation work. We simply don’t have enough room,” says Greg Conwell, director of the Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group.
According to Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates, “People eager to help with Bible translation in their own languages are literally being turned away, simply for lack of space.”
In a country where 40 percent of the population is under age 15 and where only 14 percent complete secondary school, Wycliffe Associates considers the construction of the translation training center critical to preventing erroneous beliefs regarding foundational truths of the Christian faith. “They can’t make out the meanings of Scriptures for themselves; they’re at the mercy of others,” says Smith. “They urgently need to be able to discern the Truth for themselves.”
Land has been purchased for the new training center, and construction has begun on the training center and dormitory. Wycliffe Associates volunteers also have erected a security fence around the property and have built a small house to provide accommodations for non-local translators during training workshops.
In addition to raising funds for the completion of the training center, Wycliffe Associates is also seeking volunteers to assist with the construction, especially those with skills in the building trades.
The Solomon Islands are an archipelago, consisting of 992 islands across 280,000 square miles. The country is considered a melting pot of ethnic groups, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian peoples.
During 2009, some 4,347 Wycliffe Associates volunteers served as part of the worldwide Bible translation team. Wycliffe Associates has served in over 54 countries through volunteer and financial support. Next year, Wycliffe Associates is planning to mobilize more than 5,600 volunteers to serve in 63 different countries to build and renovate facilities, construct roads and airstrips, teach Vacation Bible School, help with language development and office work, oversee projects, use their computer skills, and much more. For more information, visit www.wycliffeassociates.org or call 1-800-THE WORD (1-800-843-9673).