From The Heart Of God: cHRISTIAN NEWS FROM rAY – TOP FIVE STORIES AT NOON March 26, 2014

CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY

A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries

News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder

TOP FIVE STORIES AT NOON CT

March 26, 2014

1. WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL WILL NOW HIRE GAYS

World Vision President Richard Stearns told Christianity Today that his organization, one of America’s largest Christian charities, will be changing its employment policies with regard to LGBT individuals. The organization previously required its some 1,100 employees at the American branch to abide by a policy that required fidelity within marriage and abstinence outside of marriage, and only recognized heterosexual marriages. However, now World Vision is allowing gay Christians in legal same-sex marriages to be hired as well as gay Christians who follow their policy of abstinence outside of marriage.

World Vision’s senior director for media contacts, Cynthia Colin, shared a letter from Stearns to World Vision employees with The Huffington Post. Stearns explained, “I want to be clear that we have not endorsed same-sex marriage, but we have chosen to defer to the authority of local churches on this issue. We have chosen not to exclude someone from employment at World Vision U.S. on this issue alone.”

Stearns hopes to inspire Christian unity by changing the employment policy to be more inclusive of gay Christians. He told Christianity Today that the decision was “symbolic.”World Vision won a Supreme Court battle not of compromise but of [Christian] unity.” They were before the court which protected its right to hire and fire employees that disagree with its theological tenets in 2010, and while it will still require its staff to abide by its religious policies, it won’t discriminate against employees that are gay. This means that employees are still required to believe in Christ.

“Changing the employee conduct policy to allow someone in a same-sex marriage who is a professed believer in Jesus Christ to work for us makes our policy more consistent with our practice on other divisive issues,” he told CT. “It also allows us to treat all of our employees the same way: abstinence outside of marriage, and fidelity within marriage.”

Stearns made it clear that the decision had been made without external pressure, and that the board was “overwhelmingly in favor” of the new policy. He explained in his letter, “I want to reassure you that we are not sliding down some slippery slope of compromise, nor are we diminishing the authority of Scripture in our work. We have always affirmed traditional marriage as a God-ordained institution. Nothing in our work around the world with children and families will change. We are the same World Vision you have always believed in.

“Response to World Vision’s announcement has been mixed. Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, came out with fighting words to warn against the “deception” of World Vision’s explanation behind its move towards acceptance. “But here’s what’s at stake. This isn’t, as the World Vision statement (incredibly!) puts it, the equivalent of a big tent on baptism, church polity, and so forth. At stake is the gospel of Jesus Christ,”he wrote in a blog on his website vocative.com, “We empower darkness when we refuse to warn of judgment. We empower the darkness when we refuse to offer forgiveness through the blood of the cross.”

The staff of World Vision draws from over 50 Christian denominations, some of which have allowed same-sex marriage within the church, which includes the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church (USA). Stearns cited the multi-denominational nature of World Vision employees as a reason for the switch.

In Stearns’ letter to his employees, he wrote:

Each of us has his or her own views on a wide range of potentially divisive issues, and the board and I are not asking anyone to change their personal views. We are asking, rather, that you not let your differences on this issue or others distract us from our work. We are asking you to unite around our sacred and urgent mission in the world and to treat those who don’t share your exact views with respect. If we cannot love one another, how will we show Christ’s love to the world?

2. PRESIDENT OBAMA ASKS CONGRESS TO REFORM THE NSA

Speaking to reporters Tuesday in a joint news conference marking the end of the Nuclear Security Summit with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at The Hague, Obama said the dramatically scaled-back program would answer the concerns of many critics of the surveillance effort.

“The second thing that people were concerned about is making sure that not only is a judge overseeing the overall program but also that a judge is looking at each individual inquiry that’s made into a database, and this new plan that’s been presented to me does that,” Obama added. “So overall, I’m confident that it allows us to do what is necessary in order to deal with the dangers of a terrorist attack, but does so in a way that addresses some of the concerns that people had raised. And I’m looking forward to working with Congress to make sure we go ahead and pass the enabling legislation quickly, so that we can get on with the business of effective law enforcement.”

Administration officials said they will seek authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to extend the existing surveillance program until Congress acts.

Asked by a Dutch reporter about lingering effects of revelations of American surveillance of European leaders and foreign nationals, Obama said “any one issue can be an irritant in the relationship between the countries, but it doesn’t define those relationships.”

Obama took aim at “sensationalized” reporting about the scope of American surveillance, but acknowledged why people may be concerned.

“I think the fears about our privacy in this age of the Internet and big data are justified,” Obama said. “I think the actual facts—people would have an assurance that if you are just the ordinary citizen in any of these countries, that your privacy, in fact, is not being invaded on. But I recognize that because of these revelations, that there’s a process that’s taking place where we have to win back the trust, not just of governments but more importantly of ordinary citizens. And that’s not going to happen overnight because I think that there’s a tendency to be skeptical of government and to be skeptical in particular of U.S. intelligence services.

“The step we took that was announced today I think is an example of us slowly, systematically putting in more checks, balances, legal processes,” Obama added. “The good news is that I’m very confident that it can be achieved. AndI’m also confident that the core values that America has always believed in—in terms of privacy, rule of law, individual rights—that that has guided, you know, the United States for many years and it will continue to guide us into the future.”

3. HEAPS OF DEAD BODIES AND DEBRIS WILL REQUIRE MANY WEEKS OF GRIM AND RUGGED WORK IN WASHINGTON STATE

Residents of the small town devastated by a massive mudslide that left at very least 24 dead knew that there was a “high risk” of this kind of disaster in the area, according to a Washington state official. “This entire year we have pushed message after message that there’s a high risk of landslides,” John Pennington, director of Snohomish County Emergency Management said. “The dangers and the risks were known.”

That marks a change of stance from Monday when Pennington stated, “This was a completely unforeseen slide. This came out of nowhere.” The Seattle Times reported late Monday that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report had warned as long ago as 1999 of the “potential for a large catastrophic failure” on the hill that collapsed this past weekend.

Approximately 176 people are still reported missing after the devastating mudslide, which took place over the weekend after a long period of heavy rain. A smaller mudslide hit the area in 2006, although Pennington said that adjustments had since been made.

Rescue workers are still scouring through the wreckage, 55 miles northeast ofSeattle, to find survivors. Firefighters have reported difficulties with the terrain, that are slowing the process. “It’s like quicksand out there,” local fire chief Travis Hots said. “Some of my guys could only go 50 feet in five minutes.”

Pennington says that he believes in miracles and is reserving hope.

HAMAS THREATENS ALL JOURNALISTS IN ISRAEL

ISRAEL THREATENS IRAN

The FPA condemned the messages as “unacceptable” and called on the Hamas government in Gaza to ensure it doesn’t happen again. The text messages followed an Israel counter-terrorism raid in the West Bank city of Jenin over the weekend, in which a wanted Hamas member and two other Palestinians were killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the terrorist had organized attacks in the past and was currently planning attacks on civilians.

At the same time, Israel is gearing up for a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities this year, according to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly ordered the Israel Defense Forces to spend nearly $3 billion for a possible military strike in the coming months.

The report follows a statement earlier this week by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who said he supported a unilateral strike on Iran because he believes the Obama administration won’t strike its nuclear facilities. Ya’alon said Israel has “nobody to look out for us but ourselves.”

In the meantime, the U.S. and five other world powers met this week for a second round of talks in Vienna with Iran over its nuclear program.

Israeli leaders compared those talks to a Persian bazaar in which Iran delays for time while continuing its nuclear program.

5. OBAMACARE GETS IT’S UMPTEENTH SUMPTEENTH CHANGE

The Obama administration will grant extra time to Americans who say they are unable to enroll in health care plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the deadline set for the end of March, Fox News confirmed Tuesday. All consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension, federal officials told the Washington Post.

The Washington Post reported that users will have a chance to check a box on the website indicating they tried to enroll before the deadline, though the government will not try to determine whether the person actually made an effort to sign up.

“This is probably the first of many (extensions),” Chris Stirewalt told Megyn Kelly Tuesday on “The Kelly File.” “This is the first nod to a dire political situation,” Stirewalt added.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus pounced on the extension, calling it another delay for a “failed health care law.”

“Another day, another ObamaCare delay from the same Obama administration that won’t work with Republicans to help Americans suffering from the unintended consequences of the Democrats’ failed health care law,” Priebus said in a statement. “Democrats in leadership may say they are doubling down on ObamaCare but you have to wonder how many more unilateral delays their candidates running in 2014 can withstand.”

Many states and the federal government experienced technical problems with the enrollment websites, but implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act has been a relative disaster in Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Vermont. Rather than focusing on meeting enrollment targets, officials in those states find themselves consumed with replacing top officials, canceling contracts with software companies, dealing with state or federal investigations, and spending tens of millions of dollars on fixes and new contractors.

The core of the problem has been the difficulty in building an online health insurance marketplace that syncs up with myriad state and federal databases. Early projections for those five states were to sign up a combined 800,000 Americans for private health insurance coverage by March 31, 11 percent of the Obama administration’s original target for national enrollment. Yet with just days to go before the six-month enrollment period ends, achieving 25 percent of that target would be considered a success.

In Massachusetts, where health care reform implemented under then-governor. Mitt Romney was used as a model for President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, officials announced earlier this month that they were cutting ties with CGI Group Inc. The Montreal-based firm also was the lead contractor on the troubled federal health care website that operates in 36 states.

CGI was hired last year under a $68 million contract to develop a website transitioning Massachusetts’ previous health insurance program to reflect requirements under the federal law. But technical problems quickly led to a backlog of 50,000 paper applications, a pile that has since been whittled to about 21,000.

The state hired Optum, another health care technology firm, to come up with short- and long-term solutions for the website, for which it was to be paid at least $16.4 million through the end of March. “The picture we are painting is that we have a long way to go,” said Sarah Iselin, a health care executive hired by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to oversee fixing the website. “We are not going to sugarcoat anything.”

Last month Nevada officials cut their target enrollment from 118,000 to 50,000 and conceded that meeting even the lower goal would be a challenge. That drew the ire of board members, who lashed out about the thousands of people who will remain uninsured after Monday’s deadline.

“These are not numbers. These are people throughout the state who don’t have health insurance,” said Lynn Etkins, an attorney and vice chairwoman of the board overseeing the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange. A week later, Nevada exchange executive director Jon Hager announced his resignation to pursue “new opportunities.”

It is a similar story in Oregon, where the exchange’s executive director and two officials who oversaw the early technology development resigned.

As of last week, 47,000 Oregonians had signed up for private insurance, less than a quarter of initial projections for the full enrollment period. The exchange’s website was so badly bungled that applications at the beginning had to be processed manually, a process that remains partially in use. Cover Oregon has withheld $26 million of the $160 million billed by Oracle, which designed the website.

The federal Government Accountability Office has announced an investigation, and a state-funded audit released last week found a failure by the exchange’s managers to heed reports of problems, poor communication and what it described as “unrealistic optimism.” In announcing results of the audit, Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber said he was angry and disappointed in a process that had caused so much confusion and uncertainty among consumers. Maryland’s exchange crashed at the start of open enrollment on October 1 and has been rocky ever since. The exchange’s initial executive director, Rebecca Pearce, quit two months into open enrollment, and last month Maryland fired the state’s prime information technology contractor, Noridian Healthcare Solutions, after paying it $65 million.

U.S. Representative Andy Harris, the only Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, called for a review by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services into how $250 million in federal money was used in the botched exchange. The department’s inspector general informed Harris that it will conduct the review. “I mean, this is an immense amount of money on a project that I think in the end, if I were betting right now, I would bet that they will abandon the Maryland exchange and either import another state exchange like Connecticut’s that works or go to the federal exchange,” Harris said.

Enrollment began on October 1 and has been rocky ever since. The exchange’s initial executive director, Rebecca Pearce, quit two months into open enrollment, and last month Maryland fired the state’s prime information technology contractor, Noridian Healthcare Solutions, after paying it $65 million. U.S.

With its politics dominated by Democrats, Vermont was an early supporter of the Affordable Care Act. While the state has had some success with enrollments, its state-run exchange also continues to be plagued with problems. The latest official numbers released by the Obama administration show that 24,300 people had signed up for individual plans through the exchange by March 1. That compares to the administration’s original projection of 45,600 by that point in time.

As recently as Tuesday, the online marketplace still could not handle enrollees reporting a change of marital status, job or other circumstance. Participants must contact the exchange’s customer service line to report those changes. Governor Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, has repeatedly said he has been disappointed with the rollout of the exchange website, which drew widespread criticism after it went live last fall for being slow and not allowing users to correct mistakes. The portal could not process premium payments online until earlier this month.

Vermont Republican leaders have asked for an investigation by federal prosecutors and are hoping to capitalize on the exchange’s problems by targeting Democrats, who control both houses of the state Legislature, in this year’s elections. “People are just disgusted with it,” said Representative Brian Savage, the assistant House minority leader. The governor’s spokesman, Scott Coriell, said the exchange has been making steady improvements and that enrollments have been picking up rapidly as the deadline approaches.

Some states, including Nevada, are giving consumers extra time to get through the process if technical problems prevented them from completing their enrollment by Monday. As of last week, only 22,000 successfully purchased private coverage in Nevada.

In all five states, officials are trying to limp through the end of this year’s signup period while focusing on fixing problems so the exchanges run more smoothly when the next open enrollment period begins in November.

Nevada officials said they will push Xerox for improvements and await the assessment from Deloitte, but officials concede there will be a lot on the line.”We can’t go through this again,” Republican governor Brian Sandoval said. “We’re not going to wake up every morning seeing stories of Nevadans who can’t navigate through the system; that aren’t getting insurance cards; the gentleman who had a heart attack who is still sitting in limbo not knowing what his status is This has cascaded to absolute worst-case scenario.”