Rev. David Wilkerson Killed in TX Car Crash

Rev. David Wilkerson, founding pastor of Times Square Church in New York City and author of the well-known book The Cross and the Switchblade, was killed Wednesday in a head-on collision in Texas. He was 79.

"It is with deepest of sadness that we have to inform you of the sudden passing of Reverend David Wilkerson, our founding pastor," Times Square Church Senior Pastor Carter Conlon said in a statement on the church website.

Conlon added that details of the family's wishes and a memorial service would be provided as information became available.

Wilkerson was driving east on U.S. 175 in Texas Wednesday afternoon, and moved into the opposite lane where a tractor trailer was driving westbound. The truck driver saw the car and tried to move out of the way, but still collided with the pastor's car head on, according to Public Safety Trooper Eric Long.

It's unclear what caused Wilkerson to veer into the other lane. His wife Gwen was also involved in the crash and rushed to the hospital, along with the truck driver.

Wilkerson was pronounced dead on the scene.

More: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/April/Rev-David-Wilkerson-Killed-in-TX-Car-Crash/

Many Born-Again Christians Hold Universalist Views, Barna Finds

One in four born-again Christians hold universalist thoughts when it comes to salvation, according to a new Barna analysis of trend data.

Twenty-five percent of born-again Christians said all people are eventually saved or accepted by God. A similar proportion, 26 percent, said a person’s religion does not matter because all faiths teach the same lessons.

And an even higher proportion, 40 percent, of born-again Christians said they believe Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

Barna defined universalism as the belief that all human beings will eventually be saved after death. The California-based research and polling firm defines born-again Christians as people who have made “a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today, and who believe they will go to heaven after death because they confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

According to the Barna analysis, 43 percent of Americans in general agreed with the statement “It doesn’t matter what religious faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons,” while 54 percent disagreed.

More: http://www.christianpost.com/news/many-born-again-christians-hold-universalist-views-barna-finds-49883/

Report: Obama's Diplomatic Plan - PA State, No 'Return'

United States President Barack Obama has created his own diplomatic plan for talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to rival that of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to the New York Times.



Obama's plan is reportedly based on principles including: the creation of a PA state in Judea and Samaria, with borders based on the 1948 armistice line, the split of Jerusalem, Israel's capital city, the negation of the PA “right of return” for descendants of Arabs who fled Israel in 1948, and a focus on Israel's security needs.

The details have yet to be determined, according to the Times report.

Netanyahu is expected to present his plan in a speech to the U.S. Congress, but may present it first in Knesset. He hopes to head off the PA's attempts to create a state unilaterally, with backing from the United Nations, instead of through negotiations.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143672

GM BAILOUT COSTS AMERICAN TAXPAYERS $84 BILLION

Here's another lie coming from the Obama Administration... Barack Obama has some 'splaining to do about taxpayers' profitable "investment" in General Motors. It turns out the president is imagining things. Though Democrats tout the auto bailout as a success, recent reports illustrate the taxpayer cost of the GM auto bailout was substantially larger than the Obama administration and a Congressional Oversight report has owned up to. "American taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in GM,” President Obama said, according to a piece in USA Today last November. Steven Rattner, former head of the Treasury's auto task force agreed, telling CNN in November: “Recent progress at GM gives reason for optimism that it may be possible for taxpayers to get every penny back.” In fact, Investor's Business Daily reported that even the White House’s Director of the National Economic Council remarked that the Treasury Department Department had a good chance in "recovering most, if not all, of its investment in" GM. However, a March 16 Congressional Oversight report, tells a different story. It estimates taxpayers will be out of $25 billion. Additionally, the report points out that “full repayment will not be possible unless the government is able to sell its remaining shares at a far higher price.” That's only the beginning. Both the White House and the Congressional Oversight report omit the fact that during its bankruptcy, GM got a $45 billion tax break, courtesy of the American people. GM is driving “away from its U.S.-government-financed restructuring with a final gift in its trunk: a tax break that could be worth as much as $45 billion,” reported The Wall Street Journal last November. Over one year after the promises President Obama and his administration made about the auto bailout, a February piece on AutoBlog also confirms that GM will also get a $14 billion dollar domestic tax break:

More: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/mar/31/barack-obama-losing-84-billion-big-success/

LIBERAL LOVE

A marketing coup: Get a small book on eternal destiny to the top of best-seller lists by sending out heretical-sounding promotional materials that garner condemnation. The winners: Rob Bell, the famously hip 40-year-old founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, and his publisher, the Rupert Murdoch-owned HarperCollins, that dubs Bell "the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation." Bell's book, Love Wins, argues that a good and loving God could not condemn people permanently to hell—and that, because of the orthodox conception of hell, many see the Christian message as "an endless list of absurdities and inconsistencies." The truly good news, he says, is that "love wins." This message, coming from a pastor dubbed by Time "a singular rock star in the church world," provoked critiques from Christian leaders including John Piper. One prominent blogger, Justin Taylor, argued that Bell "is moving farther and farther away from anything resembling biblical Christianity."

More:

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17843

AMERICAN SERVICEWOMEN ENCOURAGED TO WEAR HEADSCARVES IN AFGHANISTAN

In an effort to get closer to the local population, American female soldiers stationed in Afghanistan are being encouraged to wear a Muslim headscarf when interacting with civilians. But some question whether the practice constitutes cultural sensitivity or a form of appeasement that is degrading to U.S. soldiers. Major Kyndra Rotunda, executive director of the Military Law and Policy Institute and AMVETS Legal Clinic, told The Daily Caller that while the women are not being ordered to wear the head scarf, encouragement is tantamount to a demand. “They say they are encouraging women to wear the headscarf when they are out and about and on patrol. But the problem is — and I think anyone who has been in the military understands that being encouraged to do something is about the same thing as being ordered — it really puts them in an uncomfortable position when their commander says, ‘We really want you to do this, technically you don’t have to, but we really want you to do this,’” she said. Lt. Col. Michael Lawhorn, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, stressed to TheDC that while commanders are encouraging American women to wear headscarves while engaging with civilians, they are not having them wear the headscarf in lieu of their kevlar helmets. READ MORE: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/31/dont-forget-your-hijab-soldier-american-servicewomen-encouraged-to-wear-headscarves-in-afghanistan/