MICHAEL JACKSON REINCARNATION OF EGYPTIAN PRINCESS ?

LOS ANGELES: A new story adding to the legend of 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson has emerged claiming that the pop icon was the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess.
The 'Thriller' hitmaker who died on June 25 after a suspected cardiac arrest has been at the centre of many weird stories, but this one takes the prize for being the craziest.
According to reports, some of the singer's fans have started believing that their idol was a reborn princess after spotting an ancient Egyptian statue at a Chicago museum that bears an uncanny resemblance to Michael Jackson, reported E!Online.
"I have no idea whether Jackson ever visited the museum. But the similarity between the limestone statue of a woman, which is about 3,000 years old and Jackson is astounding," said a representative of the museum.
The statue which is a spitting image of Jackson, has started attracting the many fans of the pop star who are making a beeline to catch a glimpse of their idol's past life.

DEAD BABY COMES ALIVE IN PARAGUAY !!!!!

In a bizarre incident, a Paraguayan man got his dead son back. He opened his baby's coffin and discovered that the infant was still alive hours after doctors pronounced him dead.
Jose Alvarenga was told by doctors at a state hospital in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital, that his son passed shortly after birth.
Hospital orderlies delivered the premature baby's body, which had been placed in a temporary coffin, to Mr Alvarenga's home fours hours later.
Shortly afterwards, the grieving father opened the coffin to bid an emotional farewell to the infant. To his utter joy when he opened it, he iscovered that the infant was still alive.
Well, this is nothing short of a miracle!

PRINCIPAL AND ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR PRAYER AT LUNCHEON

SANTA ROSA COUNTY -- Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman are both facing criminal contempt charges for a prayer offered at a Field House Luncheon.
The luncheon included former booster club members and other adults who helped the field house project. Liberty Counsel represents Principal Lay and Director Freeman in this case.
Last year the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Santa Rosa County School District, claiming that some of the teachers and administration "endorsed" religion. Rather than fight, the School District consented to the entry of an order that prohibited, among other things, all prayer at school-sponsored events.
The School District then consented to a much broader order fashioned by the ACLU, which essentially bans all employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities, whether before, during, or after school hours. Without any legal argument, the federal district court in Pensacola, Florida, entered the Consent Order. The order unconstitutionally infringes on the rights of teachers, administrators, and students. Liberty Counsel filed a motion to intervene, on behalf of Christian Educators Association International, to challenge the overreaching order.
In the meantime, the ACLU began to go against individual employees. The ACLU complained to the court that Mr. Freeman and Mr. Lay offered a prayer to bless the meal served to consenting adults at the appreciation luncheon. Based on the ACLU's allegations, U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers has now initiated criminal contempt proceedings and has referred Messrs. Lay and Freeman to the United States Attorney's office for prosecution. The U.S.A. has accepted the assignment and is prosecuting Mr. Lay and Mr. Freeman criminally for the mealtime prayer. Trial is scheduled for September 17. If convicted, Mr. Lay and Mr. Freeman are subject to fines and imprisonment, yet neither willfully violated any orders of the court.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "It is a sad day in America when school officials are criminally prosecuted for a prayer over a meal. The Founders believed that religion and morality are the twin pillars of the Republic. Judeo-Christianity was taught in public schools, because such teaching was the foundation of liberty. George Washington said that whoever undermines the twin pillars of religion and morality cannot be called a 'Patriot.' It is outrageous and an offense to the First Amendment to punish a school official for a simple prayer."

MODERNIZATION OF THE STORY AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS

The basis of Christianity are the teachings of Jesus Christ. This is an undisputed fact. While they have been passed through time in many forms and incarnations, the settings and text have remained unchanged. The Man and a Boy (published by iUniverse) by Dr. James McBride employs techniques of academic literary discourse to update the ideals and teachings of Jesus to a modern setting.
The Man and a Boy is a portrayal of Jesus as a teacher, friend and spiritual father of the little boy. The story covers approximately twelve years of the boy's life. As The Man and a Boy progresses, the boy grows from a child into a young adult. The boy gains knowledge of the words, ideas, thoughts and language of the heroes and idols that have permeated the modern world and attempts to reconcile them with the teachings of Christianity. We learn from their original works. This book is the accumulation of their ideas. I can only say that I trust and believe in the truth of their words and language.
"Steven Hawking is a theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is known for his contributions to the fields of theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes.
"His scientific works included theorems regarding singularities in general relativity, and the theoretical discovery that black holes emit radiation, which is known as Hawking radiation. He's written some popular best-selling science books about time and other science ideas."
"At first, I didn't understand his words from math and physics. After thinking about them, I got the general idea about theorems, general relativity, black holes, and radiation. Physics makes you think."
The boy paused before continuing. "He's a brilliant man confined to a wheelchair. His handicap has not slowed his thinking. He's disabled by ALS, known as Lou Gehrig's disease."
The Man interjected, "That gives us a good idea about Steven Hawking. Here are some more of his words. Please read them!" The Man handed the boy some papers.
Before he read the words from Steven Hawking, the boy had to brag: "I think I understand how a scientist can be a prophet of God."
Dr James McBride was born and raised in St. Louis. Dr McBride has devoted his life to learning and personal understanding so that he may extend that understanding to others.

' ROCK THE RIVER ' DRAWS OVER 13,000 BEFORE FINAL STOP

Nearly 14,000 youth and young adults came out Saturday for the third stop of the four-city “Rock the River” tour led by evangelist Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Though not as large as the crowd the week before in St. Louis, the 13,800 people who attended the “Rock the River” event at Centennial Park in Davenport, Iowa, pushed the tour’s attendance figure closer to 100,000 and included 805 decisions for Christ.
"We thank God for what he’s done,” says Graham, who leads the BGEA as president and CEO. “ We’ve come up the Mississippi River, fishing for the souls of America’s youth: kids that have never even been to church or known that people love them. This is what it is all about: taking God’s love – His son, Jesus Christ – to another generation."
In total, more than 90,000 people have so far taken part in the inaugural “Rock the River” tour, which aims to attract unchurched young people living amid the currents of secularism, postmodernism, and God-less culture.
"The country we’re living in today is different than when I grew up," says Graham. "Kids today don’t have role models. They don’t even know that God is there and cares for them. These kids need help. They are searching for someone who will love them and tell them the truth. We have the answer."
Inspired by the vision that Graham shared last September, “Rock the River” brings together the sounds of some of the nation’s top Christian rock, hip-hop, and rap artists, in addition to messages delivered by Graham.
The BGEA’s new, high-energy youth outreach has so far gained notable success - not surprising given that more than two-thirds of those who made decisions for Christ in the last few years during the ministry’s large, evangelistic crusades have been youth.
Despite statistics leaning in their favor, Graham and the BGEA have been urging the faith community to continually pray for their latest effort, noting that "it is a spiritual battle we are facing here.”
“The devil wants these kids. He wants their souls. He wants these kids in hell with him for eternity,” Graham says.
"In every battle, blood is shed. My prayer is that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will cover those who come to the event, that many will experience forgiveness of sin. The blood for this battle was spilled 2,000 years ago when Jesus Christ shed His blood on Calvary’s cross."
With Saturday’s event all wrapped up, the BGEA is now headed to the final stop of “Rock the River” – Minneapolis-St. Paul, which will gather thousands more youth and young adults on Aug. 16.
"Pray for us," urges Graham. "This is a battlefield. We are going in the name of Jesus. Pray for these kids that are lost.”

CHRISTIAN BAND ' MERCY ME ' INVOLVED IN FATAL CAR ACCIDENT

Popular Christian rock band MercyMe was involved in an automobile accident Saturday that resulted in the deaths of two people and the hospitalization of a third.
Car just hit our tour bus,” tweeted MercyMe frontman Bart Millard from his iPhone around an hour after the early morning accident. “We are ok, but 2 of the 3 in the car did not make it. The one that did is pregnant. Please start praying.”
According to The Associated Press, police in Fort Wayne, Ind., were told by witnesses that the tour bus was going through a green light about 1:15 a.m. Saturday when the car made a left turn in front of it.
Fort Wayne police officer Liza Thomas told AP that two passengers in the car died and the driver was in critical condition after losing her baby.
In a second tweet made roughly four hours after the accident, Millard had reported that the woman and the 35-week-old fetus were in stable condition.
“Can't sleep. Officers left to notify families of their loss. My heart aches. Girl driving is 35 wks pregnant. Both are stable,” he wrote around 5 a.m.
MercyMe was on their way to a show at the Six Flags theme park in St. Louis, which has been rescheduled for Sept. 5.
No injuries had been reported on the tour bus.

TEEN COMES WITH PRAYRE APPLICATION FOR iPHONE : LONESOME WITH NONE TO TALK,GETS THE IDEA TO WRITE " A NOTE TO GOD '

SACRAMENTO, Calif. For eons, people have reached out to the Almighty with prayers and supplications. Soon they might be able to use their iPhones.
Teenager Allen Wright of Fair Oaks, Calif., thought up an application for the Apple iPhone called “A Note to God.”
It lets iPhone users send prayers into cyberspace and allows them to read the prayers of others. The messages are stored in a database, and users remain anonymous.
Wright, 17, submitted his proposal to Medl Mobile, a Los Angeles startup that is developing apps for Apple to sell on its Web site. It selected “A Note to God” from 20,000 proposals.
“It's so simple, it's brilliant,” said Andrew Maltin, one of the co-founders of Medl Mobile. “We think it's going to be extremely successful.”
Wright, a junior at Del Campo High School and regular churchgoer, said he came up with the idea while lying in bed and feeling lonesome.
“If you want to send a message, and you don't have anybody to talk to, you could send a little prayer,” he said.
Apps, which iPhone users download from Apple, range from free to $5 or more. Users can play games, find restaurants or transform their iPhones into remote controls. There are hundreds of applications.
Successful apps can generate thousands or even millions of dollars for developers. Any proceeds from “A Note to God” would be shared among Apple, Medl and Wright.
If his app becomes a big seller, Wright said he'd like to use his share of the profits to go to college.
The application is not a joke, but a sincere way for people to reach out to the divine and to each other, Maltin said.
Users can read each others' prayers and be supportive by clicking on a “thumbs up” sign, he said. Otherwise, they can't leave feedback, he said.
Religious scholars welcomed the concept, although one offered a note of caution.
The Rev. James Murphy, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, agreed the iPhone app “could be a high-tech form of prayer and an authentic way to express our desires to God.”
“There is in each one of us the need to communicate with the divine and to reach the transcendent,” he said.
But he cautioned users to question their motivations.
“Prayer is direct to God, and God should be the primary motive,” he said. “If the motive is to be seen by others, be careful. There's a sense in which prayer is private.”
He said whatever the form, prayers are heard. “God will hear it,” he said. “You don't have to have his e-mail address.”
Darleen Pryds, an expert in medieval religious practices at the Franciscan School of Theology – part of the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley – called the app a brilliant use of technology that brings to mind the 13th-century bells summoning people to pray.
“This application sounds to me like a call to prayer,” she said. “It creates a community of prayer, and by seeing other people's prayers, it is a reminder to pray yourself.”

Family struggles
Wright said he prays regularly and attends the New Life Community Church in Fair Oaks.
His favorite iPhone app is one that calls up quotes from Scripture.
In his suburban home on a cul-de-sac, Wright demonstrated “A Note to God.”
He said the need to write a message focuses his prayer. The messages can be as long as you want, he said.
Wright's father, Tod Wright, said he was badly hurt in a bulldozer accident two years ago and has struggled to raise his children as an out-of-work single dad.
He said his family has been through a lot in the past five years. Cancer, divorce and the death of a baby grandchild have taken their toll, he said.

Prayer outlet
The 44-year-old Wright said people need a way to reach out when they are grappling with heartache, trouble and tragedy. His son's app might provide an outlet for their prayers.
“It's going to do something for a lot of people to help them through,” he said. “Having a place you can send a message to your lost and loved ones – people you believe are your guardian angels.
“All of us could use some place to reach out,” he said. “I think Allen's is perfect.”