Judge Of The Bomber

Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?

Did you know his trial is over?
Did you know he was sentenced?
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio? Didn't think so. Very few people do know!!!

Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.

Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say. His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his 'allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah,' defiantly stating, 'I think I will not apologize for my actions,' and told the court 'I am at war with your country.'

Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:

January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young: 'Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's 80 years.)

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that's an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment. The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further..

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier, you are not ----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: 'You're no big deal.'

You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led
you here to this courtroom today?

I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom, so that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to Preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to
mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag Stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young. Pass this around.. Everyone should and needs to hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike home.

By Pastor Perry Noble

How To Get Buy In From Your Staff – Part One of Two January 27, 2010

If the staff doesn’t trust the leader…then the leader will eventually have no one to lead!

Leaders CANNOT underestimate how necessary staff buy in is. AND…the funny thing about staff buy in is that it does not truly come about through intimidation, manipulation OR even the promise of more money. Here are five steps that I believe will really help a staff member buy into a leader.

#1 – Clarify The Win

Scripture says in I Corinthians 14:8 that if the trumpet does not sound a clear call then the people will not be ready for battle…and I know from personal experience that at times when certain staff members had a problem with me that it wasn’t because they didn’t believe in the direction we were going…but rather because they simply did not understand what in the heck I was saying…AND/OR what their particular part was.

One of the things I have finally came to realize is that staff members cannot be held accountable for unspoken/unrealistic expectations. All too often leaders will get angry at their staff because they were not able to read the leaders mind…which is insane. If a leader REALLY is a leader then he/she will take an extra five or ten minutes, answer questions and do whatever it takes to fully explain themselves so that everyone is on the same page.

#2 – Keep It Simple

One of the dumbest things I’ve done as a leader over the past 10 years is allow my drive and passion to overshadow the reality of the world that we live in. Let me explain…

I would be in a leadership meeting with a group of people and would be casting vision as to what I really felt the Lord had placed on my heart…and the excitement in the room would hit an all time high! People would be sharing ideas, embracing responsibility, establishing deadlines and getting pumped up about the role they would play in this particular project. The meeting would end and we would all go on our way…

THEN…the next week I would walk into the room and not even bring up the idea that we had been so excited about the previous week…instead I would share a new insight/project I felt like we should take on…and would get frustrated because the energy level of the previous week wasn’t there. In fact, no one would seem excited about it. Ideas as to how it could happen were not shared…to be honest…as soon as I would begin to do this it would not energize the room but rather suck the energy right out of the place.

For a while I thought MAYBE it was a spiritual immaturity issue on THEIR part; after all, if they loved Jesus as much as I did then they would be excited, right? WRONG!

It was an issue of spiritual maturity…but on my part and not theirs!

If a leader wants to obtain buy in from his/her staff they have to understand the following things from the above scenerio…

A. The initial idea the first week brought clarity…the secondary the next week brought confusion because everyone in the room was thinking, “What should we be focused on? The idea that came up last week…or the one he seems to be excited about this week?”

B. The initial idea was being worked on/developed…and so in my mind it was complete and I was ready to move on, not understanding that the people I lead with had just really gotten started working on the initial idea…and so a new idea didn’t bring excitement but rather a feeling of being overwhelmed because their initial thoughts were, “I want to do this AND also what we talked about last week…but how do I do both of them well without working 80 hour a week? What am I supposed to focus on, the thing we are talking about today or the thing we talked about last week?”

C. Staff members are real people who have real lives and they want their time to be valued by their leader. This does not mean that there aren’t times that “the extra mile” attitude doesn’t kick in…BUT…for a leader to think that the only thing a staff member is on this planet for is to serve his agenda/needs is arrogant and will eventually lead to everyone “abandoning ship” around him. It’s not that staff do not get fired up by great ideas/vision…they usually LOVE it; however, when “the vision” means they have to give up being a great spouse and become a stranger to their kids then it is time to do some serious evaluation as to whether “the vision” is actually vision or an ego trip!

D. When a project is assigned the people working on the project should have THE MOST input into when the deadline is going to be; after all, they are the ones who will be doing the work.

BY Pastor Perry Noble

How To Get Buy In From Your Staff – Part Two of Two January 28, 2010

Continuing my thoughts from yesterday…

#3 – LISTEN TO THEM!

One of the greatest mistakes I’ve ever made as a leader is to make a decision that impacts a group of staff members without allowing anyone from the group that was being impacted any sort of input on the decision. We do this as leaders because it is easier and faster…but what is easy is hardly ever what is right! (AND…if you are always obsessed with the quickest and easiest way to get something done…the “end” is a lot closer than you think!)

Today there is hardly EVER an instance where a decision is made around here that someone from that area isn’t allowed the opportunity to dialogue with our leadership team through the decision.

• Why would I make any sort of decision about youth or children’s ministry without actually talking to our youth or children’s ministry team?
• Why would I make any sort of decision about programming without actually talking to the people who serve on our programming staff?
• Why would I make any sort of decision about our volunteering process without talking to people who serve with volunteers?

I could go on…but you get the point. When a staff member feels like they had an opportunity to be involved in the conversation and ask the questions that were on their mind they are WAY more likely to buy into the decision that was made, even if they don’t agree with it.

(By the way…some people call people who want to be listened to “disloyal!” I call those who want to be listened to “leaders!” You can have leaders or followers around you…and only a secure leader is willing to answer questions from his staff that will clarify the vision!)

#4 – Say “THANK YOU!”

One of the things I have realized is that MOST staff members aren’t looking for a ton of recognition and/or huge monatary rewards…they just want to be told, “thanks!”

Reality is this…if we are not careful as leaders we can CRUSH the enthusiasm of a staff member…because…we all have people on our staff that ONLY get recognized if they screw something up. (Sort of like an offensive lineman in football!) BUT…if they show up, get their job done and do it well, then for some reason a leader thinks he can just allow that to go unnoticed…and this is an incredible de-motivator to a staff team.

Leaders…trust me, we CANNOT underestimate the power of saying “thank you.” I’ve heard leaders say, “well, I’m not going to thank them for something they are supposed to be doing.” That statement is both foolish and irresponsible. A leader who is QUICK to recognized “the bad” in a staff member but never stops to recognize “the good” is irresponsible. (Or maybe he/she is unaware! Trust me…”thank you” is HUGE!!!)

#5 – Lead With Integrity

If you want your staff to buy into your leadership then integrity HAS to be valued, pursued and encouraged. Because once a person sells out their character it undermines the platform that God gave them to stand on.

AND…leaders…if we do not make integrity an issue…then one day it WILL BE AN ISSUE!

Staff member cannot buy into a liar. At the end of the day they’ve GOT to know that you say what you mean and you mean what you say.

• This means when we screw up…we admit it.
• This means that when we don’t do our part…we admit it.
• This means that when we are struggling with something…we admit it.
• This means that when we declare direction…we are the first to step in that direction.

Leaders…at the end of the day all we really have is our integrity. Either people believe what we say or they think we are full of crap…the latter will always result in shattered dreams while the former will always result in a team of people who are on FIRE and CONSUMED about the reality of what could be and should be, and will never stop short of the vision that has been declared.

Church Burglary Caught on Tape

By LaKecia Shockley -
Posted by Ellen Krafve -

LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV) - Just a week after three East Texas churches were set on fire another church was targeted by criminals. Longview police say Monday night, burglars broke into the First Baptist Church on South Street. But, these criminals were caught on tape.

"That's the real disappointing thing that someone would have a lack of respect for a house of worship," said Dr. Tim Watson, senior pastor at FBC.

Police say three people burglarized the church building.

"You can see, in the video, them rearing an arm back to throw a rock through the window and you can also see the subjects running away from the scene," said Officer Kevin Brownlee, with the Longview PD.

When the alarm sounded, Longview police went into action.

"Officers went there as quickly as possible, brought several units with them and when they found forced entry the first thing they could all think of, of course, is that it's possibly somebody breaking into the church and setting it on fire since that's what has occurred in other areas," said Brownlee.

Luckily, it wasn't a fire, but the six church arsons this month have pastors on alert.

"If anything, it makes you feel vulnerable that when it happens to others it could happen to us," said Watson. "We feel like the suspects in this...the perpetrators were really trying to just steal items more so than to cause a fire."

To keep their church building safe, First Baptist has a high tech 16-camera security system with motion sensors and that is not all.

"There is a guard that is guarding our property from 6 pm in the evening to 6am in the morning and so we've just tried to be proactive," said Watson.

They are proactive measures for First Baptist that left burglars leaving empty-handed.

Right now, police say they don't believe the crime is connected to the church arsons. They remind everyone to report any suspicious activity they see around churches.

Woman Kidnaps 1-Year Old From Church

Woman pleads guilty to kidnapping 1-year-old from the Kentwood Community Church

By The Grand Rapids Press staff

January 25, 2010, 6:41PM

Tabitha ReidTabitha Reid, the 20-year-old former church nursery volunteer, pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping a 1-year-old from the Kentwood Community Church on June 21.

Police say Reid took baby, Savannah Raby, from the Kentwood Community Church nursery on June 21. Reid was a longtime volunteer at the nursery.

Police said she took the child to a friend's home, where the little girl was found unharmed a short time later.

Reid remains in the Kent County Jail and will be sentenced March 3. The Kent County Prosecutor's Office will drop a 15-year felony charge of unlawful imprisonment, but kidnapping has a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Police say on the day she took the child, Reid visited two other churches with daycare areas, raising suspicions.

Weeks before the child was taken from the 60th Street SE church, Reid stole 20 baby outfits from a Meijer store and stashed another $200 in baby clothes in the store's back room, Wyoming Police reports show.

Reid pleaded guilty to a shoplifting charge.

Elderly Woman Gunned Down In Church Parking Lot

Youngstown's start to 2010 is a deadly one. Police found the murdered body of an elderly woman on the city's South Side Saturday morning.

Police were called to Saint Dominic's Church on Lucius Avenue around 9:30 Saturday morning. When they got there, they found an 80-year-old woman slumped over in the drivers seat of her car.

"Right now, we're preliminary investigating a robbery that turned into a homicide," Youngstown Detective Captain Rod Foley said.

Police believe the woman stayed late after mass to pray. When she was walking to her car, a man robbed her and shot her in the head.

It's only the 23rd day of 2010 and there's already four murders in Youngstown.

"It's pretty bad when you can't go to church and you get shot at. You know what I mean?" St. Dominic's Church member John Schneider said.

No one saw the murder take place but Saint Dom's has security cameras around the parking lot. Police took the camera's hard drive and are currently reviewing the video.

One man who goes to Saint Dom's everyday said it's common for men to approach church-goers in the parking lot asking for money.

"They have a lot of people coming around that try to beg you for money," Schneider said. "Why don't they just take the money and leave the person alone? Don't kill them."

The church does have a security guard, but it is unclear if he was working Saturday.

One parishioner saids he may have seen the suspect leave the parking lot and turn east onto Lucius Avenue. He said the man was African-American between 5' 8" and 5' 10" with a medium build.

While the church community is devastated by this tragedy, Saint Dominic's did not want to comment on the murder at this time.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JEZEBEL SPIRIT

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JEZEBEL SPIRIT

WEB SPINNING STRATEGIES The individual, operating under the jezebel spirit, begins to secretly spin her web by winning the trust and confidence of those she wants to control. She works undercover and does not want to be exposed. Once acceptance is established, she begins to use truth, seasoned with well placed lies, to clandestinely spin a web of deception and entanglement. Clever methods induce fear in others. She then draws power and authority from their fear. Such individuals have mastered a sophisticated ability to manipulate and control without physical force. A jezebel:

• May appear loyal and might volunteer for special service.
• Seeks teaching/leadership positions to gain position in organizations.
• Probes people’s character to locate weak areas and identify breaches that she can exploit.
• Exaggerate her own problems to flush out others.
• Betrays leadership through knowledge of their personal lives and blackmails them into compromise.
• Uses either truth or lies to destroy reputations.
• Uses or asserts another’s authority.
• Gains power by making political alliances, often in a seemingly submissive and demeaning manner.
• Wears individuals down to usurp their authority.
• Labels God’s prophets as false prophets.
• Orchestrates highs and lows in self and those she manipulates.
• Builds up and then tears down; stirs up or pacifies; is very positive or very negative depending on the situation.
• May be loud and bold, or quiet and cunning, depending on situation.
• Works friends against friends and destroys relationships.
• Mingles truth with lies and occasionally contradicts self - when challenged claims to have been misunderstood.
• Changes opinions according to situation and will compromise when necessary.
• Often manipulates several at one time. • Plays one person/group against another.
• Will enlist false witnesses to testify against others.
• Talks and pulls strings behind people’s backs.
• Undermines self worth and confidence in others.
• Will attack anyone who gets between her, her goals, and those she controls.
• Sets people up and springs ambushes/traps.
• Sometimes pretends submission to gain a strategic advantage.
• Stimulates, seduces, entices, persuades, provokes, sets up, stirs up.
• Uses masculine/feminine charms which are deceitful or enticing to manipulate or sexually harass.
• Dramatic and freely uses emotions to advantage.
• May use silent treatment at times or pout.
• Becomes rejected and depressed to gain an advantage.
• May repent verbally, but not from the heart.
• Those around her never know how to take her.
• Presumes God will not judge them–the fear of the Lord is absent–opening the door to their own destruction.
• When two people under the jezebel spirit are together, they usually contend with each other unless it is to their advantage to form an alliance to attain personal goals.

RESPONSE Be compassionate toward people operating under the influence of jezebel, do practical acts of love and kindness as the Lord directs, pray for their eyes to be opened, and for strength to enable them to stand against this spirit and repent. But have no mercy, no compromise or sympathy toward the jezebel spirit itself. Do not tolerate the spirit of jezebel in any way!