MICHIGAN PREACHER WINS FREE SPEECH CASE - Just A Minute for Monday 7/20/-09

            Hello there… it sure is Monday!

 

            Our family had to do a lot of travel last week because of a death in the family – and will likely have to do more before too long to clear up estate matters. I hope things worked out OK here. My daughter had a workable laptop – but we were in no-man’s-electronic land for a good bit of time and not too much to be done about that. And we were too busy to keep up with much that was happening in the news except for the questioning of the New Supreme Court nominee. I think we got about all the news we could absorb there.

 

            My outlook on current economics – and politics – are so ‘mashed together’ these days swings back and forth. Of course I know the Lord is in charge – and I try to remind myself of that every morning. So – down deep I’m not personally worried or urgently disturbed. But on an immediate level, bombarded by news reports and prices bouncing around – one cannot escape the grind and crunch of everyday happenings.

 

            All the same – to be reminded of the fragility of life by a death in the family, and others on the national stage, such as Walter Cronkite, is to be brought up short as we are *forced* to realize that life is indeed like a vapor that appears for a while and then vanishes away. Still – there are certain things I’m comforted to realize are steady and eternal [one need only to read Romans Chapter 10:9 & 10 – to realize that] and depending I suppose on just how deeply rooted your faith is, it becomes a matter that is either broadly comforting – or sharply concerning.

 

            Yesterday, while recovering from a bout with nausea and physical weakness, I listened to a radio sermon preached by Dr. Warren Wiersby on the book of Esther, and although those ten chapters don’t actually mention God, or the Lord, it is a story in which His hand is steady, not in a hurry, but inexorable in accomplishing His purpose. I thought for some time – even as I’m writing this – of the comfort and certainty the Bible and the study of it brings.

 

            I also read the jeering and sneering at the subject of today’s program, and I think my faith grows stronger as we are subjected to these attacks and contests. My prayer, even for our most irascible enemies of the Faith, is they will come to know the goodness and grace of God. It happened to people like John Newton – and it can happen in their cases too.

 

            See you tomorrow – right here on the radio.

 

            Cordially, IN HIM

 

            Jack

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/audio/jama07-20-09.mp3

 

http://www.jebcovoice.net/scripts/jamt07-20-09.doc

 

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“JUST A MINUTE”

A MICHIGAN PREACHER WINS FREE SPEECH CASE

Just A Minute – A Michigan Minister has just won his free-speech case from a Michigan Appeals court – you may have missed it. It ran in USA Today. He had been released from prison in December when he appealed after having served six months. He had warned Berrien County Judge Alfred Butzbaugh, of possible punishment by God unless he repented. The appeals court unanimously overturned the case of Rev. Edward Pinkney, last Tuesday.

The appeals court said the, black Benton Harbor minister, violated his probation by writing a newspaper article critical of the Judge, calling him a racist and corrupt. The court says the free-speech rights of people serving probation can be restricted, but in this case the ban went too far. 

An earlier probation of Mr. Pinkney's was revoked a year ago when he wrote a newspaper article blasting the Judge and warning of punishment by God.

This was not the preacher’s first run-in with Judge Butzbaugh, in 2007, he was convicted of paying people to vote in an election; Butzbaugh was also the judge in that case.

<> I’m Jack Buttram

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