Pioneer Press reports…

“The associate pastor of a Minneapolis evangelical church was convicted Friday of killing a man who spent his last evening alive having drinks with the pastor’s estranged wife.

A Hennepin County District Court jury found Derek Griffin, 41, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for last spring’s shooting of Kristopher Miller.

Miller, 27, a well-liked staff member at Minneapolis’ North High School, was the father of two young girls.

Jurors deliberated about six hours before convicting Griffin of premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release. The jury also found him guilty of a second count of first-degree murder that accused him of killing Miller in a drive-by shooting.

A date for Griffin’s sentencing has not been set.

In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman called Griffin “a man who has caused so much pain” and lamented that the “toxic combination of jealousy and a handgun left a good man dead and the North High community, and Mr. Miller’s family, grief-stricken.”

Griffin was one of four associate ministers of True Vine Missionary Baptist Church, a congregation headed by his father, the Rev. Jessie Griffin.

He was charged with murder after the May 10 shooting of Miller at the end of a night in which Miller had had drinks with Griffin’s estranged wife, who, like Miller, worked for the Minneapolis public school district.

Investigators said Griffin was jealous. On the night of the murder, Miller and Griffin’s wife and two friends had drinks at an Elks Club on Plymouth Avenue.

As they ended their evening and walked out of the club, the woman pointed out a white Cadillac across the street and told the others, “There is my ex-husband stalking me again.”

The Griffins were married in March 2002; he filed for divorce in May 2010. The case was later dismissed after neither showed up at a hearing.

Although Griffin had a girlfriend in St. Paul, he and his estranged wife had recently argued over text messages he found on her phone, witnesses told police. Griffin thought the messages were proof she was having an affair with an employee of the Elks Club.

As Miller walked the woman to her car, he hugged her and said goodnight. He then got in his car and drove home alone.

Moments later, residents of Miller’s neighborhood called police to say they had heard gunshots. Family members found Miller dead on his porch, shot twice with a .38-caliber weapon.

A neighbor told investigators a white Cadillac had backed down the street and sped away.

Miller was an associate educator at North High School, where the principal called him “the quasi-dean of students” and students and staff held him in high regard.”

From http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_19837927

“Dear Margaret,

Do you remember the first time we were on the same court?

I sure do. It was at Wimbledon. I was about 17. You went to hit some serves on the clay court out back, and I helped you pick up your balls. I remember looking up to you. You were one of my role models, and I felt so privileged to be on the same court with you, even as your ball girl.

I think that is why it truly pains me now that we can’t see eye to eye. And while I still admire all your accomplishments on the court, I’m disappointed by your inability to acknowledge me as your equal off the court.

There is so much I would like to say here but so little space, so I will try to be brief.

Giving gays and lesbians the right to marry isn’t just a gay rights issue; it is a human rights issue. It is about equal rights and protection under the law for all human beings. Quite simply, it is the right thing to do. It most certainly is a secular issue and not a religious one.

One does not need to be a Christian in order to fall in love and want to marry, straight or gay, otherwise atheists would not be allowed to marry, right? Marriage can be and often is a religious celebration but legally speaking, it is a contract between two people who promise to love each other.

In the United States there are more than 1000 different protection laws that automatically apply once a couple is legally married, so to deny a couple these rights based solely on their gender is discrimination, pure and simple.

Margaret, you say children need a father and a mother and that anything else is not acceptable. Well, giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry affords their children, both current and future, equal protection under the law.

If our society is about strong families, then why not give these gay families, which have always existed and will continue to exist, the same rights and opportunities that straight couples have always had? Should the children in these families suffer emotionally and also financially from this injustice?

You frame the whole gay issue in religious terms and quote the Bible. While I am not a theologian, I do know these same Bibles have been used in the past to justify slavery, to deny men of colour the right to vote, to deny women the right to vote and to try to deny inter-racial couples the right to marry.

As we all now know, the Bible was wrong on these issues and perhaps more importantly, fundamentalists have been on the wrong side of history over and over again; it seems to me they are on the wrong side when it comes to equal rights for gays and lesbians.

You say it is a choice to be gay; do you mean to say you had feelings for women as well as men and chose men? That might explain your certainty on the issue. The feelings one has for either gender are most certainly not a choice, they simply are; the butterflies that hit you in the gut are not a choice, they are just there. The choice is whether or not one acts on such feelings.

People (the straight ones) often ask: Why are people gay? I say, well, why are people straight? There is no straight answer here, so to speak. Human sexuality is multi-faceted, complex and quite fluid; genes play a part as well. How much? Who knows? But that’s not really the point anyway.

Perhaps of the many things you said in your opposition to granting same-sex marriage rights was your statement that Australia is in moral decline and giving us equal rights would further this decline, basically labelling us immoral.

That one really hurts. I am trying to figure out which period in Australia’s history you would like to go back to. Maybe it was when the convicts first were shipped here or perhaps it was when wealthy landowners had as many as four votes each, or when women couldn’t vote at all, or when women couldn’t be pastors.

I really have a hard time seeing how two people who love each other and want to affirm that love by certifying their commitment to each other by getting married are acting immorally. Loving another human being is immoral? Really?

I see Australia as one of the best countries in the world, a democracy that strives to be just, a nation that has historically been ahead of most of the world when it comes to human rights, and thus, a fantastic place in which to live. Come to think of it, why am I not living here? I mean, other than the speed cameras, what’s not to love?”

From http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/dont-deny-us-same-sex-marraige-laws-says-martina-navratilova/story-fn6bn88w-1226254744774

“We live in a blessed nation but Australia is on a steep moral decline.

Everywhere you look we are making excuses for a sliding lifestyle and more people are blind to it than ever before.

Our Constitution is based on biblical principles and our nation is great because of it.

We are a country with a moral fabric and families and marriage are at its core.

But increasingly our kids are being taught that anything goes.

As a society we are losing touch with fundamental Christian values, as our leaders lean towards an agenda of political correctness to keep the minorities happy.

We live in a world of moral values. Even those without faith know what is right and what is wrong. We all have a conscience and so many people get trapped in the pattern of saying something is right when deep down they know it isn’t.

It’s that attitude that can harden hearts. People suddenly justify the immoralities around them. We have taken the easy way out. Minorities are now making it harder for the majority. They are increasingly taking everything that is good in society and pushing it to the side.

Looking back, you can see that there has been a steep decline, especially when it comes to the issue of sexuality. There is so much scripture within the Bible that points to what we see happening now. We are losing that sense of discipline.

Let me be clear. I believe that a person’s sexuality is a choice. In the Bible it said that homosexuality is among sins that are works of the flesh. It is not something you are born with. My concern is that we are advocating to young people that it is OK to have these feelings. But I truly believe if you are told you are gay from a young age, soon enough it will start to impact your life and you will live it. If somebody is told they are gay they often start to believe it.

We are living in a society that takes the easy way out. But we have to work at life and make things better. You need to be disciplined. I became the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon because I trained hard and worked towards it.

It’s why I believe so strongly in the sanctity of marriage. It takes hard work. Children need a mother and a father – stability from a male and a female – and I think we are losing sight of this.

We are led by politicians who lie and spread deceit. They no longer stand true to their word and that affects us all, as a nation. Lies just don’t seem to matter much any more.

There is so much deception in the world and it’s getting worse by the minute. The Book of Romans speaks of the people of Earth trading in God; of worshipping life and things within it instead of God who made us. By refusing Him, women no longer know how to be women and men no longer know how to be men. We have lost our way and have been convinced by the secular view that it’s all OK.

It worries me because I fear our next generation will lose all direction and become more blinded than ever before.

I can’t understand, if we are a blessed nation under a biblical Constitution, why there is such a push to change it? We will only start to tear away at the rich fabric and sustained values. Then God will take his hand off our nation and the lights will go out.

That is why I believe we need to protect marriage because it has been God-ordained from the beginning.

God told man to be united with his wife and to multiply on earth.

I had fame and success and a great husband but I always knew something was missing in my life. I used to think there had to be more to it.

I knew He was there but I didn’t know how to make the connection. I didn’t understand how God could be real in my life. But then I accepted Jesus Christ, and believed that He came to Earth as the son of God, to die for our sins.

Even then I didn’t understand the power of the Bible, his word. If I knew then what I knew now I could have won six Wimbledons, not three. The New Testament is the greatest book on psychology. It shows you how to live victoriously. It’s our TV guide to life. It has everything in there for every facet – even how to run a nation.

People think it’s a book of fear but it is not. It’s a book of love and a training manual for life that offers protection from sin. Life is but a wisp. So many turn to God on their deathbeds but if they accepted His love during life they would experience far more blessings. We will pass away, but the scriptures won’t.

We need to turn our minds back to God and I still believe we have the capacity to make that change. Understand that there is a God and that He is real and that He can be part of your life.

A nun at my primary school once gave me the cane and it was one of the best lessons of my life. She could see the potential in me long before I did. She gave me a grounding for the future, for which I remain grateful. I didn’t have an easy childhood but I had good families around me that sowed into my life. That’s what our kids need right now. People who are willing to stand up for them, for our families, in a world where we have become far too scared.”

From http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/priority-is-to-protect-marriage/story-e6frfhqf-1226252853390

“A controversial New Orleans pastor who led an unsuccessful attempt to recall former U.S. Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao and who joined now-convicted rapper C-Murder to start an anticrime initiative pleaded guilty Thursday to defrauding the federal government out of almost $1 million to support a lavish lifestyle. He could face 30 years in prison.

The Rev. Toris Young, 40, pleaded guilty to theft of government funds and mail fraud, in connection with the $963,900 he received from the Small Business Administration loans he sought for his defunct Hollygrove church, the Bibleway Baptist Church. Young applied for the SBA loans on behalf of the church to repair and rebuild the church, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office.

“Instead, Young used the loan funds for his own personal use,” including purchasing jewelry, vehicles, real estate and designer clothing and paying credit card debt, according to the news release.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier will sentence Young on May 3. Young faces up to 10 years in prison for the theft, up to 10 years for the mail fraud and a fine of $250,000.

Young already is serving time in prison for pleading guilty last year to bank fraud and identity theft, in connection with crimes he committed in Jackson, Miss. There, he opened a bank account using a Social Security number that was not his own, and then deposited forged money orders that were stolen in New Orleans, totaling almost $5,000. He received a 27-month sentence for that crime.

At the time, he was on parole for his 2006 conviction in New Orleans of 11 counts of access device fraud and identity theft, in connection with his stealing identities to get bank accounts and credit cards, though which he stole about $116,000 in goods. As such, U.S. District Judge Lance Africk revoked Young’s supervised release in December 2010 and ordered him to serve two years in federal prison after he completes the 27 months he received in Jackson.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General investigated Young’s latest crime, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Loan “Mimi” Nguyen.

In April 2009, Young joined rapper Corey “C-Murder” Miller in announcing an initiative through which the hip-hop music industry could help reduce crime in New Orleans. At the time, Miller was confined to house arrest in Kenner while awaiting trial for second-degree murder for killing a teen in a Harvey nightclub in 2002.

As a condition of his house arrest, Miller was barred from consorting with felons – meaning Young kept his distance from the rapper during the press conference. Miller later was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence in prison.”

From http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/01/new_orleans_pastor_admits_to_s.html

The Guardian reports…

“A Church of England vicar has been jailed for two and a half years after carrying out dozens of sham marriages allowing illegal immigrants to live in the UK.

The Rev Canon Dr John Magumba was presiding over so many weddings involving foreign nationals his diocese put him in charge of a working party on how to handle marriages for foreigners – and how to spot sham weddings.

Magumba, a father of six originally from Uganda, “asked no questions” when marrying a stream of Nigerian men and eastern European women who began flocking to his parish in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, from across the UK.

The 58-year-old told local churchgoers that African worshippers did not feel comfortable around so many white parishioners so he set up separate “African services”.

The number of weddings rocketed after Magumba became the team vicar for St Mary’s in Rochdale, St Peter’s in Newbold and St Luke’s in Deeplish.

Magumba showed no emotion as sentence was passed at Bolton crown court on Thursday after he admitted carrying out 28 sham weddings.

Passing sentence, Judge William Morris told the defendant: “What you did repeatedly amounted to very serious breaches of the immigration laws of this country properly designed to prevent those with no entitlement to reside in the UK from doing so.

“Such legal restrictions are essential for the proper functioning of the state to ensure that taxpayers’ money is only allocated to the needs of fellow citizens.

“Whatever your motive for facilitating the fraudulent entry into this country of these individuals, neither you or anyone else in your place can place your conscience above the laws of this country. Your offences have brought scandal to the church and let down your family and parishioners.”

Police are not sure Magumba even conducted any actual services – but instead simply filled in the marriage certificates, described as the “golden ticket” to illegal immigrants.

Magumba told police Nigerians “would do anything in their power to come to the UK” and were “crying out” for marriage certificates, the court heard.

Non-EU citizens who marry EU citizens cannot be deported. Nigerian men who marry Polish, Slovak or Czech women – citizens of the EU – then have the right to live, work and claim benefits in the UK.

Investigators uncovered at least 28 bogus weddings carried out by Magumba; 20 at St Peter’s and eight at St Luke’s, between April 2007 and February last year, before the scam was uncovered by the Border Agency.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law by a non-EU person.

He also admitted two counts of theft from his church councils by not declaring income from weddings and funerals.

Magumba stole £5,437 from St Peter’s Church and a further £2,908 from St Luke’s.

He is believed to be only the second clergyman in the UK to be jailed for such offences.

Magumba arrived in the UK in 2004 on an ecclesiastical visa, bringing his family with him from Uganda.

But from the start money was “always an issue” with him, investigators said. He asked the church for loans and took money from parishioners, cash he claimed he needed to clothe his children.

The normal £250 fee for a wedding in a CofE church was never passed on by him to the church funds, Joanna Rodikis, prosecuting, told the court. The one genuine wedding Magumba did perform he overcharged the couple by taking £600.

Apart from the £250 fee he kept from the church for the sham weddings, it is not clear if, or how much, Magumba “charged” for agreeing to issue a marriage certificate for bogus weddings.

UK Border Agency sources say foreign nationals who want to get a marriage certificate have paid around £7,000 to a fixer who organises the scam. The EU national taking part would normally be paid between £1,000 and £4,000.

Police working with the Border Agency first came across Magumba while working on a separate sham wedding investigation in Lancashire.

They initially thought Magumba was an honest vicar until they began to check church marriage records and discovered he was supplementing his £18,000-a-year income by doing scam weddings.

Magumba was marrying so many foreign nationals the Diocese of Manchester set up a special working party, with him heading a committee on how to handle them and how to spot sham marriages.

Parish records showed that from 1996 to 2007 there were no marriages recorded at St Peter’s. But from April 2008 to February 2011 there were 20.

When investigators checked the addresses given of couples in the wedding registers they did not exist.

After the church warden spotted that the same name for one bride appeared twice in the register, Magumba claimed the women were twins and it was common practice in Africa for twins to be given the same name.

He married one “groom” and another “bride” twice in the space of weeks and another “groom” was issued with three separate marriage certificates.

There were also blank “stubs” in the marriage register book, with missing certificates that cannot be traced.

Police checked the church diary and it showed that on 3 October 2009, Magumba allegedly carried out two weddings, one at 10.30am and one at 12.30pm. The same day in the church diary there was a coffee morning being held in aid of cancer research from 11am to 1pm. Police spoke to those who attended and were told they did not see any wedding. Magumba insisted he did conduct the ceremonies.”

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/26/ukcrime?newsfeed=true

Matt Ford writes…

“Dear Partners & Friends, at some stage last week I lost access to my facebook account. Please block or delete me and ignore any messages which originate from social@fireitup.com.au as messages are not being sent fromt his account, even though they appear to be.

Thank you
Matthew Ford”

From http://youtu.be/z__WlHCAL7c

“Margaret Court says she felt victimised and became the target of a relentless hate campaign for airing her views on gay marriage.

The former champion has admitted being stunned by the backlash after her controversial comments made headlines around the world.

The pastor, 70, who arrived in Melbourne last night, said it was never intended as an attack on the gay and lesbian community but rather a plea for the nation to retain its morals.

Momentum is building ahead of a protest by equal rights campaigners at the show court that bears her name.

Organisers hope to send a message of unity by wearing rainbow colours and waving flags on Friday.

Mrs Court said she would not back down from her views and had no concerns about attending the Open this week.

“To target me and the tennis is a political stunt,” Court said.

“There have been some awful things … But I love my nation and I don’t like seeing it in moral decline. I pray for it, I love it and I want to protect the young of the future. My heart is for the next generation.”

Gays and lesbians could lead their life without touching marriage as ordained by God, she said.

But another tennis great, Martina Navratilova, repeated her disappointment yesterday, saying Mrs Court’s views were outdated.

“It’s not about any one person,” Navratilova said.

“It’s not about religious rights, it’s about human rights. She’s only seeing it from one viewpoint.”

It is believed Mrs Court will not attend the tennis in an official capacity but will view plans for the redevelopment of the arena named in her honour.

Her huge collection of trophies will be moved from Western Australia and put on public display in the new centre.

Tennis Australia has said it did not support Mrs Court’s views.

“Margaret has expressed a personal view,” tournament director Craig Tiley said last week .

“(We) do not share that view and believe everyone should be treated equally and fairly.”

Mrs Court said yesterday: “What I have said is what God has said in the Scriptures … we are a Christian nation and we should be able to say that.”

From http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/tennis/hatred-stuns-tennis-great-court/story-fn77kxzt-1226251748152

WOOD reports…

“A Grand Rapids pastor accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from his church will preach again on Sunday, according to his attorney. 

“Pastor Justice Dlamini declined a personal gift of a brand new Nissan Navara worth over E300 000 from members of his church.

Instead, he gave the money contributed by his members to buy the car back to the church coffers.

The actual price of a Navara at Motruck in Manzini, the official dealership of this brand, is E325 620.

Dlamini, the senior pastor and founder of Worship Centre, is said to have told his church that as much as he appreciated the gift, his priority was to ensure the new 2 000-seater dome was fully completed.

The church where members worship at the moment cost around E10 million.

Pastor Justice is said to have praised them for caring about him but wanted more money to be channelled towards the church building and other needs of the church.

According to a source, the pastor told them that it was going to be unfair to benefit personally from collections when there were outstanding bills for the church and certain needs that had not been met.

He wanted the work of God to be properly done before he could consider accepting the gifts.

The source went on to say the gift of a vehicle was considered by the church at a time when the pastor’s focus was on completing the church structure at Eveni.

“I have since realised that we have a unique pastor. I think God has opened our eyes to see Pastor Justice in a different perspective.

“In fact, I have seen that personal gifts come second or third to Pastor Justice. You can’t give him money when there is a church need that must be met first,” said one of the members who leaked the information to this newspaper.

Another member said they would not stop showering the pastor with gifts despite the fact that he had, on two occasions, taken them by surprise when he diverted his personal money to church projects.

The two members of the church asked that their names be kept confidential.

In an interview, Pastor Justice reluctantly confirmed the matter.

He said he had invited a certain pastor to preach in his church, and after seeing the good work he was doing, the commitment he made to the work of God; the visiting pastor motivated the church to buy him a brand new car.

He said the visiting pastor motivated his church out of generosity and was led by the spirit of God to do so.

The church took the request seriously and met privately to discuss it.

The pastor said the members collected enough money to buy him a Navara”

From http://www.times.co.sz/News/36887.html

“When in November 2011 the Senate passed a bill prohibiting same sex marriage, slamming it with a 14-year jail term as punishment, international communities who considered the law an abuse on the emotional rights of homosexuals, threatened to put an end to all grants and aids given to Nigeria unless the law was abolished. Here, acclaimed singles and married counselor, Pastor (Mrs.) Ruth Nick-Essien, Founder/Presiding Pastor of Exodus Evangelical Ministry in Lagos, reveals her views on the issue.

Hear her:

First and foremost, we all came into this world to meet the male and the female, and we know that God created Adam and Eve; not Adam and Steve or Eve and Evelyn. When a man marries another man, and a woman another woman, where is procreation going to take place? As long as procreation does not take place, at the end of the day, we won’t have human beings anymore. Now, if we do not have procreation, where will be the humans whose rights international communities say they’re fighting for, come from? Same sex marriage is simply a target from the pit of hell against the human race.

It is a plan by the devil to exterminate the human race because he probably feels that the bomb blasts and killings going on here and there aren’t enough! Practically, how can people of same sex produce biologically? As we grow older, we’re supposed to replenish the earth, but in the case of same sex marriages, who is going to leave behind new generations of human beings?…..”

From http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/same-sex-marriage-is-a-plan-to-exterminate-human-race-pastor-ruth-essien/