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Jamie joined me in attending CWA's (Concerned Women for America) leadership training in Washington, D.C. Our Arlington hotel was only one Metro stop from the Reagan Airport, but unfortunately the air miles on our credit card did not service Reagan. So we chose to fly into Baltimore because we were able to take the train and the Metro into the city and ultimately to our hotel. It was an unfamiliar experience, but I am somewhat an adventurous spirit, so what the heck?!
When we arrived in Baltimore on Wednesday (September 14th) and shuttled to the train depot, I recognized a woman who entered the station. It was Kenda Bartlett, Field Director for CWA. Though I had met her only once at last year's leadership training in Irvine, her face was familiar to me because she often writes the opening devotion article for CWA's monthly newsletters. She proved to be incredibly helpful. It was a divine appointment that we should run into her that day because she helped us with the train connections and we were blessed to help her a couple of days later on the Capitol prayer walk which I will mention more about in a subsequent post. Also, we thought it would be nice to visit Kenda when we returned to D.C. a few days after the training and so it was cool to, in the end, become friends.
We arrived at the hotel with no trouble at all and were pleased with the accommodations. My soon-to-be-married cousin, Kyler, met us for dinner that evening at a Hamburger Hamlet restaurant located near the closest Metro station to the hotel. We had such a nice visit and were so thankful for the time spent with him. His wedding was only three days later...which we were so thrilled to be able to attend. More on that soon!
Thursday, we made our way to the National Mall via the Metro (yes, we utilized this a lot since we skipped car rental...a wise decision), and a quick stop at the Police Officer's Memorial at Judiciary Square.
This was a mind-blowing event. A few congressmen, author Bill Federer, Father Zechariah Botros (in hiding since the muslim freaks want to kill him - his talk was pre-recorded), Fred Grandy (previously known as Gopher on "The Love Boat"), and Noni Darwish all shared with us their knowledge and personal experience with Sharia Law. Scary stuff. They spoke for a 3-hour long briefing that was streamed on the internet. It was fascinating.
(click here and here for a tiny taste of what this briefing was about.)
The biggest pearl of info I came away with was this: Islam is a religious, political, and military system. This is why it can not be tolerated. If we allow freedom of religion, then we must allow freedom for Muslims. However, a close eye must be kept because in their faith, the committed followers are compelled to carry out the quran not just religiously, but politically and militarily as well...which is why we see "extremists" commit such violent and hostile attacks upon non-Muslims. "Extremists" are those Muslims who follow their faith deeply. I am a Christian extremist because I purpose to follow Scripture as closely as I can. Muslims deeply committed to the quran are compelled to be as much like their "prophet" Muhammed as they possible can be. Just as we seek to be Christ-like, they seek to be Muhammed-like. If they succeed, then naturally the deceptive, violent practices of Muhammed must be emulated.
Does this mean that all Muslims are bad?
-No. But it does mean that the potential is there.
The ones that are "peace-loving" are the ones that are not following their faith deeply. Should they decide to fully commit to their beliefs, they would be compelled to follow in the footsteps of their violent extremist examples.
What hope is there for these who casually follow their faith?
-2 things in my opinion: They never take it seriously; or (even better) they convert away from Islam to Christ and have something virtuous (and non-violent) to live for.
Another thing I gleaned from this briefing is the inherent danger of Sharia Law. Shocking to me....and it should be to EVERY American...is the fact that the idea of Sharia Law is even entertained in our nation. Yet, in our "tolerant" political correctness, some are opening the door to allow Sharia Law into the United States. And some of our elected leaders are Sharia followers and want this to come. I want to encourage you right now to fight this with every ounce of your being. Sharia isn't just the Muslim way of law; it is degrading, demoralizing, and destructive to women. To hell with so-called "tolerance!" Do you want to turn a blind eye to the mistreatment of women for the sake of being p.c.?!! Shame on you if you do. It is one thing to tolerate and grant freedom of religious worship. It is quite another to allow that religion to permeate, infiltrate, and gradually take over a nation. (I posted again on this subject since I took extensive notes and it is something we all need to avoid being ignorant of. Click here for my notes.)
More soon. Don't worry, the trip lightens up on subject matter---you know, for those of you who hate all this political stuff. Soon I'll post pics of landmarks and tourists (us).
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