Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Nov 10, 2011, 6:00 pm
Recently I posted a blog entitled, An Open Letter to Messianic Leaders and Congregants, in which I issued a wake up call for messianic Jewish followers of Jesus to take note of the growing anti-Israel movement slithering its way through evangelical Christianity.  The blog was re-posted on various b...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Nov 3, 2011, 8:57 pm
I've never written a letter like this, but I believe this correspondence is a dire necessity. I've been involved in the messianic movement since the early 70s. I've served as a messianic pastor for over twenty five years, founded and headed a messianic organization and written numerous articles and...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 29, 2011, 12:35 pm
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian president says the Arab world erred in rejecting the United Nations' 1947 plan to partition Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state.President Mahmoud Abbas also told Channel 2 TV in a rare interview with the Israeli media on Friday that he and former Israeli Prim...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 26, 2011, 9:27 pm
Recently, according to Stephen Sizer, Vicar of Christ Church in the UK, the 2012 Evangelical Affirmations for the Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 Conference have been agreed upon and published. Sizer, an outspoken critic of Israel and Christian Zionism, according to his own words, is among the authors...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 18, 2011, 2:12 am
It was bound to happen. Put a bunch of lefties together in the streets calling for revolution and soon enough someone is going to blame the Jews for all the ills of society. Ho hum! Tonight on Fox TV News, a video was shown of a black woman, Patricia McAllister who works for the Los Angeles Unified...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 14, 2011, 7:06 pm
SWC Urges Starbucks to Remove Misleading Middle East Posting from its Digital Network October 12, 2011 Various members of the Simon Wiesenthal Center have alerted the SWC to this (see graphic) misleading posting on the history of the Land of Israel which ran on Starbucks Digital Network. The Center ...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 11, 2011, 7:03 pm
As customary I unlatched my Mac Book Pro at my favorite Starbucks, with a Grande Iced Coffee at my side, ready for work. Once I moved past the opening Starbucks Connection page, I was directed to a Splash page sponsored by Starbucks. Featured on the portal page was a five panel Cartographic Regress...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 7, 2011, 6:49 pm
I awoke this morning totally bummed knowing the NY Yankees lost the ALDS to the Tigers.  And I don't want to wait to next year. I'm a Yankee fan.  Next year is always NOW! However, the headlines in this morning's Ventura County Star lifted my spirits: FEDS TARGET CALIFORNIA POT DISPENSARIES FOR CL...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 6, 2011, 8:50 pm
I started using Apple computers in 1984 when they were first made available to the general public. For me computers were never used for play, but for work purposes. Even though I love the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone, Apple laptops and desktop computers - and I used them all - I didn't incorporate t...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 4, 2011, 8:05 pm
If you're thirty years of age or younger, you're in danger of becoming a "texting dummy". I admit I am not a heavy texter. I find it annoying and a potential source for face-paced emotionally packed misunderstandings between two plugged in iDroids. Yet what irks me the most is the grammar and spelli...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 3, 2011, 8:40 pm
From Christianity Today I learned author and pastor Rob Bell is stepping down from the pulpit of the church he founded, Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan.  The best selling author is moving his family to the brighter lights of Los Angeles, CA. Pastor Bell is joining the ranks of othe...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Sep 28, 2011, 8:43 pm
In 1994 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East".  However, let me share a little known fact about the PLO leader that deeply affects our country. On June 5, 1968 Palestinian Christian Sirhan S...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Sep 27, 2011, 6:15 pm
People have asked where they can obtain copies of my sermons, links to articles and updated information on projects I am involved in.  To fulfill these requests, ScriptureSolutions.com is a new website I am launching today. ScriptureSolutions.com contains many of the messages I have given over ...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Aug 15, 2011, 7:23 pm
I love baseball but I despise anything that takes away from the purity of the game.  Steroids. Gambling. Scandals. Strikes. You name it. During this past Sunday's afternoon game between the cellar-hugging Houston Astros and the barely surviving Los Angeles Dodgers, I was excited to witness three ho...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Aug 12, 2011, 3:40 pm
There's a lot wrong with America right now. From the moral failures of politicians, religious leaders, educators to blue collar workers, we are witnessing an unprecedented disintegration of values affecting every aspect of life in the good 'ole USA. The McInerney trial unfolding in a courtroom in Ch...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Aug 5, 2011, 9:21 pm
Chatsworth CourthouseI can't stop reading about the McInerney trial currently being tried in Chatsworth, CA. This case is so important as a commentary on our culture of tolerance. Brandon McInerney, 17 is charged with murder and a hate crime in connection with the death of gay student Larry King.  ...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Aug 4, 2011, 7:35 pm
What about the fate of Christians living under the rule of the Palestinian Authority? At a 2009 Vineyard National Leadership Conference in Galveston, Texas, Palestinian Christian Sami Awad, founder of the Holy Land Trust told his evangelical audience the Christian population in the Palestinian ter...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Aug 3, 2011, 8:26 pm
At the 2009 National Vineyard Leadership Conference in Galveston, Texas, Rich Nathan, Senior Pastor of  the Vineyard Church of Columbus in Ohio, gave a talk on Learning to Love Your Enemies in the Middle East. Nathan, a Jewish follower of Jesus, has made a dramatic change in his life by rejecting h...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 30, 2011, 7:37 pm
While viewers sat transfixed watching the Casey Anthony trial on their TVs, Smartphones and iPads, a more significant case was brewing in Ventura, California. The McInerney trial currently being tried in Chatsworth due to the pretrial publicity in Ventura, has all the sensationalistic makings of th...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 29, 2011, 9:34 pm
What is Nakba Day?  I myself never heard of it until recently, and yet I discovered this Palestinian "Day of Mourning" holds the key as to why there is no end to the Middle East conflict. Nakba Day occurs on May 15th, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israel's Independence Day. In Isra...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 28, 2011, 8:05 pm
Tell AvivIf Jeremiah the prophet took a drive through the modern state of Israel, what would be his reaction?  Would he be happy with the modern state of Israel?  According to Rev. Dr. Gary Burge, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and New Testament scholar at Wheaton College an...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 27, 2011, 9:02 pm
When it comes to Christians supporting Israel, we have to ask ourselves an important question.  Do I stand for Israel because of my love for the Jewish homeland and its people, or do I support Israel only because Israel's salvation is the key component to hurrying the return of Jesus? Sadly, I thin...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 25, 2011, 8:22 pm
Does it matter whether or not God keeps His promise to give Israel a homeland?  Yes. But why? First, the trustworthiness of the Lord is at stake.  Can God's word be trusted?  Since God went into such detail in the Jewish Scriptures concerning the geography of the land He promised Israel, to disco...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 22, 2011, 5:37 pm
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them," said Jesus in Matthew 5:17.  Despite Jesus' commitment to not abolish the prophetic message, Reformed theologians believe the modern state of Israel has not been divinely given...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 14, 2011, 8:35 pm
On June 20th Bob Dylan performed in Israel amid a lot of pressure by various anti-Israel groups in favor of boycotting the Jewish state. One group Please Don't Play for Apartheid Israel expressed their disappointment when the legendary rocker ignored their pleas and went forward with his concert. H...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jul 11, 2011, 8:44 pm
A standard line by anti-Zionist Christians is that their stand against Israel does not mean they are anti-Semitic. Stephen Sizer, Vicar of Christ Church in Surrey, UK is a noted anti-Zionist who claims to be pro-Israel and not an anti-Semite. I ask you to be the judge of whether Reverend Sizer, who...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 30, 2011, 7:37 pm
When I read the headline "An Israeli Algorithm Sheds Light on the Bible," I  throught I was having deja vu experience. Why? Despite the new software this team of Israeli scholars used to shed light on the scriptures, the conclusions they've reached are outdated and have already been disproven by c...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 29, 2011, 8:03 pm
From the Religion News Service, I reproduce a press release that came out this Monday from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. The press releases is very clear on its concern with the flawed PCUSA Kairos Palestine Document. SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER EXTREMELY CONCERNED BY FLAWED PRESBYTERIAN P...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 28, 2011, 7:44 pm
One of the worst deficiencies in a human being is the inability to show appreciation to another person for their kindness or generosity.  In the current age of entitlement it comes as no shock that many individuals lean towards being thankless moochers without a sense of gratefulness. Ernest Hemin...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 27, 2011, 7:44 pm
In my previous blog I introduced the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Kairos Palestine Document (KPD).  KPD,written by an ecumenical group of Palestinian Christians, was released publicly on December 11, 2009.  This manifesto was released by the PCUSA to let the world know what is taking place in Pale...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 24, 2011, 9:50 pm
Since the Presbyterian Church (USA) ended its General Assembly July 2010, the denomination has made itself clear on its one-sided stance against Israel  regarding the Middle East conflict. In an excellent article "Oslo Syndrome Redux?" summarizing the anti-Zionist element within the PCUSA by Dexter...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 23, 2011, 7:45 pm
Bill Hybels, pastor of mega church Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, has been frequently featured on the media's list of Who's Who.  Not too long ago Pastor Hybels introduced President Clinton as a guest at a Willow Creek church leadership conference. Hybels also offered the president spi...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 20, 2011, 6:08 pm
Thinking Outside the Blog exists to not only make comments on current events - political and religious - but to also provide historical information on the Middle East conflict. It is my conviction that much discussion on the news and in the blogosphere is based on a lack of accurate historical infor...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 17, 2011, 8:05 pm
In this blog I've previously mentioned Palestinian Christian, Sami Awad.   Awad is the executive director of Holy Land Trust. The mission statement of HLT is stated on its website: Through a commitment to the principles of nonviolence, the Holy Land Trust seeks to strengthen and empower the Palesti...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 12, 2011, 12:58 am
The Committee on Accuracy on Middle East Reporting's blog exposes a glaring inaccuracy in the 2010 documentary "With God On Our Side." The film produced by Rooftop Production LLC is an evangelical response to Christian Zionism. The film's Facebook page describes the production: With God On Our Side...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 11, 2011, 1:39 pm
Who are the enemies of the Christian that Jesus commands us to love and pray for?  According to Sami Awad, Executive Director of the Holy Land Trust, the enemies Jesus tells him to love and pray for are Israeli soldiers.  So when he is instructed as a Christian in Matthew 5:44 to "love your enemie...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 8, 2011, 8:15 pm
Forty four years ago I arrived in South Vietnam, landing at the Bien Hoa Air Base on May 18, 1967.  The troop carrier plane on which I was a passenger hit the runway amidst Viet Cong mortar fire. It was my first good look at the Vietnam war. After a few days, I was given assignment papers that de...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 7, 2011, 10:02 pm
If you care about Israel, you'll become familiar with the name Stephen Sizer.  Sizer, the Anglican pastor of Christ Church in Surrey, UK, is well known in an evangelical circles. Sizer is also well known in pro-Hamas and antisemitic circles. Vicar Stephen SizerStephen has accumulated an impressiv...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Jun 2, 2011, 2:23 pm
Rich Stearns, president of Christian relief organization World Vision recently spent a memorable meal with Palestinian Christians and 30 American pastors and church leaders in a cave west of Bethlehem.  After the half mile hike to reach his destination at the top of a hillside, he was greeted by a...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - May 20, 2011, 9:29 pm
Izhar Khan,  iman of a Margate, Florida's mosque was arrested recently on charges of funneling money to Pakistan's Taliban.  Southern Florida's Sun Sentinel  reported before the spiritual leader could begin his Friday 6 a.m. worship service, he was arrested by federal agents and city police. Off...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - May 4, 2011, 8:35 pm
Shouts of "USA! USA! USA!" rang out in the streets of midtown Manhattan and in front of the White House at the news Sunday night of the demise of top Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden. The celebrations of the killing of the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack on the U.S.A. were patriotic and victorio...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - May 2, 2011, 8:04 pm
We can no longer remain silent about the abuse of women by Islamic men in the Middle East.  Under Islamic law right now women are oppressed, denied human rights, treated as property, false accused of crimes and sexually abused. After a period of silence female journal Lara Logan shared her horror s...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Apr 29, 2011, 4:06 pm
As a guest on Fox's Bill O'Reilly show last night, Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham was asked about Pastor Robert Bell's denial of hell in his book, Love Wins. Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, wasted no words in describing Bell as a "false teacher and a heretic" because "the Bible is v...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Apr 28, 2011, 7:36 pm
In 1975 John Lennon wrote the song Imagine in which he visualized a world where hell does not exist: Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you tryNo hell below usAbove us only sky Now Pastor Robert Bell of Michgan's Mars Hill Bible Church has sketched out the theology to accompany Lennon's class...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Apr 2, 2011, 9:41 pm
This week newspapers trumpeted the significance of the discovery of 70 lead codices (manuscript volume) that could impact our knowledge of early Christian history.  Some scholars are of the opinion this find may be more important than the Dead Sea Scrolls.  According to the BBC News this could ...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Mar 21, 2011, 8:14 pm
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" Louis Farrakhan shouted at President Obama over WVON-AM 1690 radio in Chicago on Saturday's broadcast. Farrakhan's Controversy Over Libya Minister Farrakhan, long-time Nation of Islam leader aimed his tirade at the U.S. President over his decision to call Libya...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Dec 28, 2010, 5:41 pm
During the current debate over the Obama-GOP tax-cut compromise, the comments aimed towards the rich have been far from flattering.   Sure, I'm the first one to admit I am not the number one fan of the super-wealthy.  From my own observations, wealthy people can be elitist, greedy, over-indulgen...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 26, 2010, 6:04 pm
According After reading Proposition 19 several times, I've boiled down my objections to the legalization of marijuana via this measure to five major objections.  This doesn't mean I couldn't come up with another six or seven, but these five stand out to me the most. First,  the possession, cultiv...
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Louis L. posted an article on Thinking Outside the Blog - Oct 10, 2010, 8:09 pm
I've thought through the Proposition 19 issue and read a lot of pros and cons on the issue. After my head cleared, I felt unimpaired enough to write an article explaining why I will vote "no" on Proposition 19. First, proponents of Proposition 19 refuse to see that legalizing pot will increase mari...
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Louis L. posted an article on The John Tesh Blog - Sep 24, 2010, 3:00 am
Cleaning. Well. No doubt about it- there is real, and true satisfaction at what you've accomplished when it's all said and done.Truth: do any of us really like to spend precious free time with it? Not so much, but it helps if it can be as simple as we can make it, though! Real Simple is doin...
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