Well, it has been quite sometime since I have written on my blog. I have missed every one of my friends here! Thank you so much for all your concern, emails and prayers. Wow, you have truly lifted my spirits. Let me tell you, my spirits have really needed a lift!

The past two weeks have been crazy. I felt like the title of my blog, Nowhere 2 Run and Nowhere 2 hide! It felt like everything was coming down upon me at once! In truth it was, but God saw me through.

My two youngest boys got the flu at the same time. Then about two days later my daughter got it and then my husband. So, here I am taking care of four sick people all at the same time. I was so exhausted! I kept praying, God, please keep me healthy so I can take care of the others. This was my prayer daily along with a quick recovery for all of them.

My girl gets better and last week she says she has a pain in her chest which really hurt. She never misses school, in fact she hates missing school and when she told me she needed to go to the doctor I knew something was wrong. The doctor said to just give her some tums and she will be okay. Well , the next day she wasn't okay and off to the emergency room we go. Oh my gosh I am starting to lose it now because my girl is in pain! I am praying and praying to the Lord and crying at the same time. Well, it turns out that she has acid reflux and as soon as they gave her a dose of mylanta, she was much better. I thanked God it was nothing serious. Thank you Lord!

Last Friday, my oldest son had to get his wisdom teeth (all four) cut out. He came through the surgery fine and was still very numb when we got home. But, boy when the numbness wore off, well I am sure you know how much pain he was in. I cried and I prayed again. Today, he is feeling much better and I thank God for his quick recovery. I thanked Him that his pain had lessened and he is even smiling now.

Oh yes, I forgot my second oldest brother had surgery last Thursday and so that was on my plate as well. Boy, now you see why I am one tired mama! But, I am grateful to God that although there were days I did not think I would make it, His grace was sufficient to see me through. When I was weak, He gave me the strength to carry on. When my soul was down, He uplifted it. God is a good God and I am so thankful that I had Him to lean on through it all.

 
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"Religion News Blog" - 3 new articles

1. NY case spotlights Dead Sea Scrolls, fake e-mails
2. I know the dark side of Scientology…I almost lost my friend when she became obsessed with it
3. Church of Scientology told to drop Churchill images
4. More Recent Articles
5. Search Religion News Blog

NY case spotlights Dead Sea Scrolls, fake e-mails

Students and university officials started getting e-mails last year in which a prominent Judaic studies scholar seemed to make a startling confession: He had committed plagiarism.

The messages, it turned out, were a hoax. Prosecutors filed criminal charges, saying a lawyer sent the messages to tarnish the professor, his father's rival.

The court case has drawn attention to issues both ancient (the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls) and decidedly modern (phony online identities).

I know the dark side of Scientology…I almost lost my friend when she became obsessed with it

I knew Scientology was in trouble when the media moved on from the usual silly gossip about its celebrity members to much darker, disturbing issues at the heart of the movement – issues, as I have come personally to understand, that actually matter, Jonny Jacobsen writes in Herald Scotland.

After a Paris court last month convicted several Scientologists and two organisations associated with the movement in France of organised fraud, and amid other investigations in France looking at a suicide and an alleged abduction, Oscar-winning film-maker Paul Haggis, a long-time member, quit Scientology.

Haggis, who wrote and directed Crash, denounced the practice of "disconnection", which sees members forced to cut off contact with anyone – even their loved ones – if they are deemed an enemy of Scientology.

In Edinburgh in the early 1990s, I found out just what the practice of disconnection could do to ordinary people when a close friend became involved in Scientology. It was an experience which marked me so profoundly that I have been tracking the movement ever since...

Church of Scientology told to drop Churchill images

The family of Winston Churchill has asked the Church of Scientology to stop using images of the former prime minister in its recruitment literature, The Times reports.

The controversial religious organisation has been circulating promotional material to recruit staff in the UK which includes photographs of Churchill along with quotes from some of his most famous speeches.

It has also used Churchill's image to promote speaking engagements by its members and campaigns to raise money to create new Scientology facilities in Britain.

The church defended its use of Churchill in its materials and accused detractors of "trying to stir up mischief".

The cult apparently sees aligning itself with respected causes (e.g. human rights), celebrities or respected personalties (e.g Einstein as an effective recruitment tactic.

Another favorite ploy is the use of the impressive sounding -- but basically useless -- Oxford Capacity Analysis test.

More Recent Articles

• Prosecutor not malicious in Satanic sex abuse case, Canada's Supreme Court says
• Supreme Court upholds cult AUM Shinrikyo members' death sentences
• Jury takes 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed pot pastor
• Fort Hood shooting: imam says Nalid Malik Husan 'didn't seem like an extremist'
• Polygamist Sect Leader Convicted of Sexual Assault

 
Here are the latest updates for blogworldreligion@gmail.com

"Religion News Blog" - 5 new articles

1. Prosecutor not malicious in Satanic sex abuse case, Canada's Supreme Court says
2. Supreme Court upholds cult AUM Shinrikyo members' death sentences
3. Jury takes 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed pot pastor
4. Fort Hood shooting: imam says Nalid Malik Husan 'didn't seem like an extremist'
5. Polygamist Sect Leader Convicted of Sexual Assault
6. More Recent Articles
7. Search Religion News Blog

Prosecutor not malicious in Satanic sex abuse case, Canada's Supreme Court says

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that a Crown prosecutor was not acting maliciously when he prosecuted 12 members of a Saskatchewan family in the early 1990s after three foster children accused them of sexual abuse and bizarre satanic ritual abuse.

In 1993, criminal charges against all but one member of the Klassen family were stayed and the children later admitted they had made up the story.

Supreme Court upholds cult AUM Shinrikyo members' death sentences

Two former members of the cult AUM Shinrikyo, Toru Toyoda (41) and Kenichi Hirose (45), had their death sentences upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday for their involvement in the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 12 people and hospitalized thousands.

Jury takes 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed pot pastor

Steven Swallick says he runs a ministry about marijuana. He says he mixed the marijuana with other ingredients to create anointing oil, a recipe he says he got out of the Bible.

But the jury didn't have to address the religious issue, just whether he grew it, possessed it and stole electricity to do it.

Fort Hood shooting: imam says Nalid Malik Husan 'didn't seem like an extremist'

An American imam who once led the mosque attended by Nalid Malik Hasan, the man suspected of shooting 13 people dead at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, has said the army major did not seem to be an extremist.

But a former aremy colleague quoted Hasan as saying Muslims should "rise up" and attack Americans in retaliation for the US war in Iraq.

Polygamist Sect Leader Convicted of Sexual Assault

Raymond M. Jessop, one of the leaders of a polygamist sect was convicted Thursday night of sexually assaulting an under-age girl whom the church elders had assigned to him as one of his nine wives.

The state used birth records, a marriage certificate and FLDS church records to show Jessop, already married, took the girl as a spiritual wife in 2004 when she was 16. [video]

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