What is Good News all about? It is about Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Savior from sin and our Lord. Our morning newspaper comes early. We don’t pick it up. We read the “Good News” first, the Word of God. We start our day with God “in His Word” and prayer. How wonderful!

How blessed we are when Good News, Etc. comes. We read it through, sometimes at one sitting. How wonderful, how refreshing it is to read about what is happening in the churches of San Diego County. How exciting it is to hear about the amazing things happening in our area. This is our home. This is where we live. We rejoice at what God is doing in our midst. We can hardly wait to get the “Good News” each month. We only wish it came more often, at least once a week!

Do we take all this for granted? Let’s pause and give thanks to God for Rick and Colleen Monroe and their staff and their dedication to this great work of God. It’s hard work getting the gospel out. Let’s do more than thank God for these faithful workers. Let’s pray for them. I for one repent for my prayerlessness for them. I commit to pray for them on a regular basis. Will you join me in prayer now for these untiring workers?

Rick, we pray for you and your balanced “Good News” of the work of Jesus Christ and the spreading of the gospel in our area, San Diego County. We pray that God will bless you indeed and multiply your work a hundred fold.

         Ray Bringham
San Marcos

The best Congressman/woman in Washington is Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. He is also a medical doctor.

He has a superb toll-free phone number, 1-888-322-1414, where you can listen to a 3-minute message, changed weekly, about the current status of various issues important to the American people.

I’ve just listened to the current message regarding the World Trade Organization (WTO), which unfortunately is usurping America’s sovereignty! If you missed hearing it, you can read it at www.house.gov/paul at Texas Straight Talk.

All 435 elected members of Congress should have such a toll-free phone message and/or web site to keep their constituents well informed. They owe it to their constituents for the salaries they receive! Encourage your representative to establish both a phone line and a web site as soon as possible!

America’s government is one of the people, by the people, and for the people. Let your voice be heard and please listen to Congressman Paul’s message until your own representative has a toll-free line or web site with a new weekly message 52 times a year.

A vote is due soon in Congress on the WTO! Urge your representative to vote to get the U.S. out of the WTO.

         Betty Gault Cordoba, Treasurer

         The Center for Teaching

                     the Constitution

         San Marcos

We receive your newspaper here at the church, and I am so blessed by your care for the community. I am grateful that your paper keeps the homeless before the church and community as a group of people who can be helped. Many times we feel hopeless, but the truth is, we aren’t. It is nice to know there are those who care.

Thank you for the response from pastors in your “Pastors Heart” section of the April edition of Good News, Etc. The question should be posed not just to Pastor Williams and Pastor Hall, but to the body of Christ in general. That question, “In what way can the church be effective in helping the homeless in their community?” is a question we continually ask ourselves here at South Bay Community Church where I am a member.

Our Pastor, David Jones, continually shares with his congregation the message of Gods love for those whom; as Pastor Hall so accurately stated: “life and the situations of life, have taken and robbed and beaten and left for dead...”

Our ministry and outreach to the homeless includes a Wednesday night Bible study in downtown San Diego at the Salvation Army, a street outreach on Saturday nights, Sunday morning bus pick up downtown to bring people to church, and once here, we serve a nice breakfast. After the service we take everyone back downtown with a sack lunch in hand. We also have God’s Closet for those in need of clothing, and a benevolence ministry for people who need food. Our ministry includes recovery classes, an anger-management class, and a discipleship class that asks of us a two- year commitment. Through these classes, we learn about living life in a practical Godly manner, precisely what Pastor Hall was talking about when he said “They need someone who is willing to spend time with them to help them get a grasp on the overwhelming situations of life.”

I have been in the shelters, the crisis house, county mental health, and the streets and beaches of both San Diego and Honolulu, and I can tell you, that both for myself, and for others I know, the healing and restoration in our lives are a result of someone taking the time, and caring enough about us to be the love of Christ to us. We in turn are learning to reach out to others, pray with them, disciple them and love them into a place of growth and maturity in Christ. We have so far to go, but we have all come a long way also. As we come to know and understand the Love of God, we can share that love more effectively with others. This would not be possible if there weren’t those who were willing to sacrifice and walk in His love toward us.

So, thank you to all the pastors who share the full extent of Christ’s love with their congregations, and teach their people to share that love with us. Thank you to my pastor, his family, and to my church family for being there for us, and for being an example of Christ’s love.

         Delores Criswell

         National City

Common sense will tell you that abortion is between a woman and her doctor. This does not mean I am in favor of abortion on demand. If a fetus threatens the mental and physical health of a mother then the decision has to be made between the woman and her doctor. This has traditionally worked in our country in deciding such difficult situations.

To bring abortion into the political arena and make it a political football is not going to bring about a productive solution to this problem. This issue has been a football for the last 20 or so years and nothing much has changed. I think what has changed is our value system. Mothers are choosing abortion in such numbers as a result of the inhumane treatment of unwed and poverty-stricken mothers. In times past, the extended family handled this problem.

My grandmother was deserted during the depression. She had six children and they were often low on food and utilities. Grandma supported her family on wages she earned: she babysat for the neighborhood children and received a little help from her family, who all lived close by. These days are over and the modern mother cannot rely on such support. Abortion is a social illness as well as a moral one. 

         Donna Gordon

         La Mesa

Regarding Bill Maher’s comments about Christians: Let’s, first, remove the beam from our own eye.

Is the Bible just a book of fairytales? The fact that the Bible contains metaphor, allegory, parable and simile, does not stand in the way of it being an excellent history. And that is just one reason why it outsells Mother Goose.

Is religion a “crutch for the weak?” Perhaps. But don’t confuse Christianity with religion. Christianity is something quite personal; religion is a collective thing. Terrorism is about religion. (You got that right.) The Crusades and the Inquisitions were about religion. The Salem witch trials were about religion. Albert Schweitzer and Mother Theresa were about Christianity.

Christianity offers a lifestyle for strong individuals. Government is a crutch for the weak. Federal health, education and welfare programs are crutches for the weak. Social Security is a crutch for the weak. HUD is a crutch for the weak. Trade barriers are a crutch for the weak. Prohibition is a crutch for the weak. It is a weak society, not a Christian one, that turns individual responsibility over to government. Today, however, most “Christians” join secular society in having more faith in government than ancient pagans had in idols.

It is easy to get Christianity all wrong; and it seems to be getting more un-recognizable every day. The Christian faith of our founding fathers has become a thing of the past. We now live in a society that has come to regard government as omnipotent and omniscient. The Christians of our nation have done exactly as the Jews were warned not to do, over 3000 years ago: they have chosen a “king” to fight their battles for them.

Political science scholar, R. J. Rummel, a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, calculates that governments in the 20th Century murdered approximately 177 million of their own subjects; a figure that doesn’t even count international wars.

Considering the abject failure of government planning over the last 100 years “Christians” may appear crazy to worship it, but certainly no more crazy than their secular brothers and sisters. Would that include you, Mr. Maher?

         Grant Kuhns

         Carlsbad

No doubt I am a dissenting voice in the public arena, but one of the benefits derived from American history is that dissenting voices have been allowed.

As I watch all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the passing of the soul of Pope John II from this present life into eternity, and the displaying of his gaudily-clothed body on a bier for the adoration of the masses, I wonder how much of the scene reflects the life of Jesus and His Apostles, or, for that matter, the early church which was hounded into the catacombs by pagan Rome.

The Apostle Peter, who is considered by Roman Catholicism to be the first Pope, upon being approached by a beggar for alms, said to him, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give thee . . .” Acts 3:6

Surely, this is vastly different from what we are seeing through the media today, as we watch the rich and powerful Roman-Catholic church-state involved in honoring the Pope.

It was against such behavior, and the theology from which it springs, the Reformers lifted up their voices.

This is why Martin Luther wanted the Bible translated into German, so that the people could read it for themselves and see through the hocus-pocus of a humanly-invented religion which is used as an opiate for the people.

Many of our Founding Fathers had to flee for their lives from Europe because of the tyrannical state-religion. They wanted to worship in a Biblical way.

Surely, all professing Christians, who claim to have been born-again and Biblically oriented, should be saddened and horrified in seeing such an orgy of idolatry. May God, indeed, shed His Grace on us, so that truth, as it is in Scripture, may flourish from sea to shining sea.

         Wallace A. Bell

         Oceanside