Republican challenger wins N.C. Senate race against Obama pick Senator Kay Hagan

via Verne Strickland usadotcom
Conservative Christian Thom Tillis outlasts incumbent Kay Hagan, whose loss is a black eye for Obama, and a repudiation of Senator Harry Reid.

Jon Ostendorff, USA TODAY 12 a.m. EST November 5, 2014

(Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Republican challenger Thom Tillis narrowly defeated Democrat Kay Hagan in the U.S. Senate race in North Carolina.
Tillis had 48.9% and Hagan had 47% of the vote with 97% of the state's precincts reporting, according to the state Board of Elections.
The Associated Press called the race for Tillis.
The campaigns made no immediate comment.
The race pitted Tillis, the speaker of the GOP-controlled state House, against Hagan, a one-term Democrat with a record of backing President Obama and his health care law.
The Affordable Care Act, generally, has not been popular in North Carolina.
Voters who backed Tillis said they wanted change.
"I think we are on a course to doom," said Paula Crowther outside Roberson High School in Skyland, N.C. "I am really worried about it. All the policies that have been worked on for the last eight years have to change and it was important to me to help make a change."
Pharmacist Kristi Johnson, 36, said she eventually settled on Tillis even though neither candidate excited her.
"I examined my beliefs and what I figure was the better good and chose my candidate based on that even though personally I didn't love the candidate that I chose," said Johnson, who works at Rex Hospital.
Others disagreed.
Democratic voter Ron Burrus said the Senate race was his main motivation for casting a ballot at the Wesley Grant Center in Asheville.

 

Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., greets supporters at rally on Oct. 25, 2014,

in Charlotte.(Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)

 

When asked why the election was important, Burrus replied, "The fact that the balance of power in the Senate is at play." He pointed to Tillis' role as speaker of the North Carolina House, leading the charge in a wave of conservative legislation.
"He cut jobs with the teachers, abortion, Medicaid — we need people who help the state of North Carolina. I just don't think we're going the right direction with Tillis," he said.
At a polling place in Raleigh near the State Fairgrounds and N.C. State University, plumbing contractor Steve Rhodes said he voted for Hagan because he believed a GOP majority in the Senate would be a disaster.
"Just so many things I'm against with the Republicans; they've gone too far," said Rhodes, 56. "I'm more moderate. And I used to be a Republican."
He said he's an unaffiliated voter now, having left the GOP about eight years ago because he didn't like the party's support for war.
The campaigns headed into Tuesday's election continuing to trade blows.
The Tillis campaign, late Monday, blasted Hagan for a radio advertisement featuring an endorsement from Obama.
The president has been absent from the race. He narrowly won the state in 2008, but lost it in 2012.
Libertarian Party nominee Sean Haugh also was on the ballot.
In total, the candidates and outside groups have spent an estimated $100 million, according to the Associated Press.
Hagan outspent Tillis by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio entering the campaign's final weeks.
Contributing: The Associated Press. Ostendorff also reports for the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times.

CONNECT 2 TWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE

GOP four seats away from U.S. Senate majority

via Verne Strickland usadotcom 

Mitch McConnell beat Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky

By Stephen Collinson, CNN

updated 8:32 PM EST, Tue November 4, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Republicans unseat Democratic senator in Arkansas
• GOP won first Senate pickup of the night with win in West Virginia
• Mitch McConnell beat Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky

Washington (CNN) -- Republicans are moving closer to winning the Senate by picking up Democratic-held seats in West Virginia and Arkansas, according to CNN projections.

They GOP now needs a net gain of four seats to claim the Senate for the first time since the administration of George W. Bush. A GOP win would mark a rebuke for President Barack Obama and could set the ideological battle lines for the 2016 presidential election.

CNN projection: Sen. McConnell re-elected

Obama: Worst group of states for Dems

Millennials & Midterms

In an early ominous sign for Democrats, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, swiftly dispatched challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in his re-election race. CNN projected the result as soon as polls were closed in Kentucky, in a dramatic early start to what could be a long Election Night.

Meanwhile in Florida, tension is building around the tightly contested governor's race. A judge denied a request from Democrat Charlie Crist to extend voting in Broward County by two hours because of several breakdowns in voting systems according to a spokesperson for the Florida Secretary of State.

Crist is seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Scott in one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country.

The battle for the key Senate races is also hotting up.

In Georgia, exit polls show that the race is on a knife edge between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn, who is looking to complicate the GOP's path to a Senate victory by turning a red state blue.

In Virginia, meanwhile, incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Warner is having a tougher ride than expected against Republican challenger Ed Gillispie in a state Democrats had thought was reliably theirs after Obama won it twice.

No one had believed going into the election that the state would be in play.

In North Carolina, according to exit polls, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan has a slim lead over Republican challenger Thom Tillis. A Hagan win, after the most expensive Senate race in history, would boost Democrats in a state shaping up as a genuine battleground in 2016.

Exit polls

The first wave of exit polls analyzed by CNN Tuesday evening show dissatisfaction with the president's administration. Roughly six in ten voters are either angry or dissatisfied with Obama, though about the same proportion feel the same way about Republican leaders in Congress. And most voters have an unfavorable view of both parties.

The data also reveals a fearful electorate. Seven in ten voters are somewhat or very worried about a terrorist attack on US soil while 50 percent disapprove of the federal government's response to the Ebola crisis.

Exit poll data also showed fierce contests in two of the closest Senate battles in North Carolina and Georgia. In North Carolina, according to exit polls, Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan has a slim lead over Republican challenger Thom Tillis.

READ: A viewer's guide to the election

Problems at the polls

Photos: The places America votes

There were some hiccups across the country as Americans went to the polls.

Some people in Alaska were voting by flashlight after a power outage and those in Maine had to cope with a winter storm that prompted a state of emergency. In Georgia, home to a competitive Senate and governor's race, a state website listing polling locations went down though the secretary of state said there weren't any voter irregularities there. Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy sought to extend voting hours after problems were reported at Hartford polling stations.

All eyes this evening will be on seats currently held by Democrats that Republicans need to capture to flip the Senate, including in Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Colorado and Alaska.

READ: Second guessing the avoid-Obama strategy

There could be many tension-packed hours before the fate of the Senate is decided. In Alaska, for example, where Democratic Sen. Mark Begich is in a tight race, polls will not close until 1 a.m. on the East Coast.

Close races

Run-off elections, meanwhile, will be needed in Georgia and Louisiana if no candidate gets to the 50% threshold. That means that if things remain tight, the fate of the Senate could be in limbo for weeks.

Who are the midterm spoilers?

What happens once the votes are counted?

Final polls in the decisive states showed Republican Joni Ernst in a dead heat in Iowa with Democrat Bruce Braley — although one Des Moines Register survey over the weekend electrified Republicans by putting her up seven points.

Ernst wrapped up her final 24-hour campaign swing Tuesday morning in her hometown of Red Oak. Her campaign spokeswoman said the Iraq war veteran was "anxious" but confident.

In Colorado, which like Iowa, Obama won twice, Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall is behind after apparently failing to define his GOP opponent, Cory Gardner, as an enemy of young women.

In New Hampshire, Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen is in a dead heat with Republican challenger Scott Brown.

READ: How presidential contenders are spending Election Night

Republicans are also sweating the race in Kansas, where a stumbling re-election bid by Sen. Pat Roberts risks being overtaken by independent Greg Orman. Orman hasn't said which party he would caucus with in Washington and his win could set the GOP back in its bid to win a majority.

But Republicans seized on a comment by Biden in a radio interview that Orman will "be with us," prompting an Orman spokesman to tell CNN his boss had never even met the vice president, and would go to Washington as an Independent.

Beyond West Virginia, Senate races in Montana and South Dakota are considered Republican locks.

Governor's race

Several key governor's races are also being decided on Tuesday.

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Tom Wolf unseated Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in a marquee race. In Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback is in danger of losing amid a backlash against his hard core conservatism. And liberal Massachusetts could elect a Republican governor.

CNN's Magic Wall Midterms coverage

CNN's Miguel Marquez, Nick Valencia, Paul Vercammen, Mary Kay Mallonnee and Ashley Killough contributed to this story.

America, No matter Who wins Today’s Election ……

via Verne Strickland usadotcom Nov. 4, 2014

America, No matter Who wins Today’s Election ……

  By Blessed B | November 4, 2014 | 2014 Election, Barack Hussein Obama, DOMESTIC ISSUES:, Economy, Election/Voter Fraud, ELECTIONS:, Health, NORTH AMERICA, US PRESIDENTS:, USA

From Natural News

Regardless of the outcome of today’s U.S. mid-term elections, there are some things that won’t change one iota. While most of America has finally come to realize what a disaster Obama’s presidency has really been in real-world terms, there are at least five other disasters looming in America’s near future. And neither Republicans nor Democrats have any real plan to deal with these issues… especially when it’s so much easier to get elected by slandering your opponent rather than proposing practical solutions.
So here’s my warning on the five biggest threats still facing America in the years ahead. Don’t hold your breath thinking anyone in Washington D.C. is willing to address any of these. After all, they are the ones who created most of these problems in the first place.

Crisis #1) Out of control growth of government and related debt spending

Under President Obama, America’s national debt exploded past $17 trillion. Unfunded liabilities owed to present and future entitlement receivers now exceed $250 trillion — a number which can never be mathematically repaid by the U.S. population even if workers were immortal.
Under the hypnosis of the fraudulent idea that “bigger government can solve all our problems,” the American people allowed the federal government to radically swell its size and power, creating a nation where more than half the population is now incapable of thinking any problem can be solved without calling for increased government expansion.
America’s national debt has now gone parabolic, and as wise people say, “Nothing parabolic is sustainable.” At some point, perhaps in the very near future, the parabolic growth of debt will reach a tipping point of collapse. This will likely happen in the days after U.S. debt is downgraded by investment houses, unleashing a global selloff of Treasury bonds. The Fed will print unlimited fiat currency to buy back those bonds, unleashing an explosion of price inflation and currency debasement which will end in a currency collapse and the loss of 99% of the dollar’s present-day spending power. (The dollar, by the way, has already lost over 96% of its purchasing power since the early 1900’s. But that’s a slow theft that few really notice. The coming crash will unravel far more quickly.)
The only difference between Democrats and Republicans on this point is that Republicans will take us to a currency collapse just a little less slowly than Democrats, who seem to be rushing headfirst into economic disaster with unlimited spending and the complete abandonment of sane (or honest) accounting practices by government.

Crisis #2) The explosion of global viral pandemics and superbugs

The Ebola crisis has only just begun, and it’s an urgent reminder that no government or first-world medical system is really prepared to deal with a deadly viral outbreak.
While the U.S. will likely contain isolated Ebola carriers who travel to U.S. cities, a sustained spread of Ebola in Mexico, Central America or South America would be disastrous because the U.S. has no border security. Infected illegal immigrants could walk right in, unchecked.
Even disregarding Ebola, the enterovirus D68 pandemic is already underway across U.S. schoolchildren, and recent studies link its spread to uncontrolled border migration as well.
On top of the viral threats, we are giving rise to drug-resistant superbugs at an unprecedented pace in our nation’s hospitals, where the widespread abuse of antibiotics creates the perfect breeding grounds for deadly bacteria. And because the drug companies love humanity so much, they have abandoned virtually all research into new antibiotics because there’s no profit in them.
Because both Republicans and Democrats are beholden to corporate interests — especially Big Pharma interests — expect to see repeated attempts to profit from pandemics through the unrelenting pushing of unproven vaccines backed by zero evidence that they actually work. (Fact: Ebola vaccines will be approved by the FDA without ever be tested against Ebola. They are also being manufactured by a criminal drug corporation with a felony record of committing crimes against Americans.)

Crisis #3) The collapse of abundant underground water aquifers

The California extreme drought crisis is merely one warning sign of the impending collapse of cheap, abundant water across many parts of the world (including North America).
Cheap, easy water pumped from underground aquifers helped give rise to cheap, easy food and a human population explosion. When that water runs dry — which is already beginning in the American Southwest and parts of Texas — it will inevitably lead to a collapse of cheap, easy food. Food scarcity, in turn, eventually leads to social chaos, widespread starvation and a die-off of the human population.
The only apparent solution to all this is the recent announcement by Lockheed Martin of their “compact fusion reactor” breakthrough, which could allow low-cost desalination fusion plants on the coastlines to transform ocean water into fresh water at relatively little cost. Transporting that fresh water to America’s crop heartland, however, is an entirely different matter, and there’s always the question of what happens when nuclear fusion reactors misfire in some unforeseen way. Realistically, fusion-powered desalination plants are probably at least 30 years away.
To learn more about the “T4″ compact fusion reactor breakthrough — which might mean cheap, limitless energy for humanity — read this article at Aviation Week. [1]

Crisis #4) The collapse of a failed medical system that no one can afford

The for-profit medical system that continues to dominate American society is bleeding the nation dry. If it wasn’t for bloated big government spending and “buy this or else” Obamacare mandates, Big Pharma would collapse down to a reasonable percentage of the national economy. (Health care spending now accounts for nearly 25% of GDP… a quarter of the domestic economy!)
The truth is that the western medical system is a horrible failure. It does not prevent disease; it does not teach people how to be healthy; and it places an inexcusably large financial burden on individuals, families, businesses, cities and even the entire nation. The primary purpose of the medical system as it exists today is to extract financial resources from the economy. This is accomplished through mass media propaganda, nationwide physician bribery networks, illegal drug kickbacks to hospitals, anti-competitive price fixing schemes, secret agreements to delay the release of generic drugs that would reduce profits, and even the total infiltration of “science” journals, universities and med schools with quack pharma propaganda.
At the same time, the system is run almost like a form of “soft fascism” based on government-enforced monopolies that protect pharmaceutical profits. Government and industry conspire to eliminate natural medicine alternatives by outlawing their practice in the USA or regulating natural medicinal products into oblivion, for example.
In medicine, there is no such thing as a free market in America today — the entire system is controlled by decree from Washington, with no real competition for consumers and not even legal recourse for consumers who are damaged by faulty vaccine products. (No vaccine lawsuits are allowed in the U.S. court system. Vaccine manufacturers have been granted absolute immunity, placing them higher than the U.S. Supreme Court in terms of judicial power.)
Both Democrats and Republicans are happy to see this immoral, monopolistic system of human suffering continue for the simple reason that drug companies make large campaign contributions. All laws are thereby shaped to reinforce the pharma monopolies and destroy any chance of competition from alternative medicine formulators or practitioners. Who suffers from all this is the health consumer, whose body is exploited for profit by greed-driven drug companies and medical institutions.

Crisis #5) The chemical destruction of croplands and the coming food collapse

Modern agriculture is not “farming.” It’s a chemical factory that destroys soils and grasslands to produce nutritionally-depleted “food.”
One of the most powerful videos I’ve seen in a long time explains all this in just four minutes. The video features one of my all-time favorite heroes of life, Geoff Lawton, revealing the shocking truth about monoculture crops and the horrible devastation such shortsighted production techniques cause.
Click here to watch the video now or view it below. An excellent summary of the video is found on the AltHealthWorks.com website which explains “There’s no life here at all… This is not farming… This is a way of converting fossil fuels into money through food, that’s all.”
Learn more about permaculture — a food production approach I believe can save our civilization and our world — at www.geofflawton.com

Our corrupt system of corporate-run government cannot solve these problems; it can only make them worse

What’s important to realize about all five of these enormous problems we now face is that the corporate-run government system that remains in power today is flatly incapable of solving these problems. In fact, the very idea that big government should even be considered a large-scale problem solver is insane.

It is, in fact, our corrupt, corporate-influenced government system which has made each of these problems worse. The insanity of government-subsidized corn monoculture for ethanol production — literally burning genetically modified food in combustion engines — is just one small example of the kind of insanity which has infected American government today. There are many more example, including ones in which the government itself functions as a weapon against political enemies such as when the IRS selectively audits conservative non-profit groups or denies them non-profit status merely because of their political preferences.
Today America is rejecting the disastrous Obama failures by voting for a Republican-controlled Senate. Although this might be a reprieve from the outright criminality of Sen. Reid and his elitist, arrogant Democratic cohorts, we must all remember that the Republican establishment is no less beholden to corporate influence than the Democrats have been. It is the system itself which has failed, and no matter what the intentions of the new faces that appear in Congress, they are quickly placed under the spell of corporate campaign money which outspends the rest of us a thousand to one.
As long as corporations are allowed to act with all the rights of persons — but without any of the responsibilities of personhood — our nation will only accelerate toward a ruinous result. Whether Republicans or Democrats are the majority party as the Titanic takes on water is largely irrelevant. The ocean worthiness of the vessel has already been destroyed from within, and as it sinks beneath the waves of the freezing Atlantic, we can only look to each other and ask, “How could we have created such an enormous tool of our own destruction?”
The answer to that question will be debated by historians for centuries to come, in the aftermath of the society that was once known as the United States of America.
Sources for this story include:
[1] http://aviationweek.com/technology/skunk-wor…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I would hazard a guess that if many independents are elected that things might change a bit more than what this article is saying. It will depend on how angry are the people. Then there’s the voter fraud to consider…..

~Blessed B~

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Rising number of Muslims reporting dreams about Jesus

via Verne Strickland usadotcom  11/3/2014

Rising number of Muslims reporting dreams about Jesus

'Man wearing a white robe' appears amid flood of 'joy and love'

Nov. 1, 2014

 

 Michael Carl About | Email | Archive

 

Michael Carl is a veteran journalist with overseas military experience and experience as a political consultant. He also has two Master's Degrees, is a bi-vocational pastor and lives with his family in the Northeast United States.

“I was in the desert alone, lost. As far as the horizon, there was nothing in
 sight but sand. I felt the sand on my bare feet. Then I saw something extraordinary. In the midst of that barrenness, an immense wooden cross emerged from the earth, rising up with sand spilling from it back to earth.”

So begins a dream narrative posted by Bosnian Muslim teenager Emina Emlonic. A dream about Jesus.

It continues: “I felt then a spectator in my own dream, and the sight of the cross gave me neither fear nor joy. But I was a curious and began moving, almost floating, towards it, the most magnificent … thing I’d ever seen or imagined, and as I came closer to the cross, I suddenly saw a man walking toward me: a broad-shouldered, long-striding man, with a dark complexion, long hair, and wearing a white robe.

“And just as suddenly I ceased to be a witness to my dream. I was in it, walking toward the man walking toward me. I knew him immediately. He was Jesus. Without knowing why, I fell to my knees. He stood over me and touched my face with his right hand.”

Posted at the Catholic Thing website, such accounts of encounters with Jesus through dreams and visions increasingly are being reported, according to Pastor Frank Costenbader, founder of Manifold Hope Ministries, publisher of the Isa Dreams website.

Isa is an Arabic name corresponding to Jesus that is found in the Quran.
“The number of Isa dreams has seemed to grow tremendously since 2000, and in 2005 it seems to have kicked into another gear,” Costenbader said.

“There has been an explosion of testimonies on the Web in the past two years about people encountering Jesus in dreams and subsequently becoming followers of Jesus.”

A Saudi man said his dream started with a “horrible” scene.
“One night, while I was asleep, I had this horrible dream of me being taken into hell. And what I saw there brought me real fear, and these dreams kept coming to me almost every night. At this point I was really wondering as to why I should be seeing hell in this manner,” he wrote at Answering-Islam.
He said Jesus appeared to him and said: “Son, I am the way, the truth and the life. And if you would give your life to Me, and follow Me, I would save you from the hell that you have seen.

“This came as a surprise to me, for I did not know who this Jesus was. Of course, He is mentioned in the Quran and in the book Surah Mariam. He is stated as one of our prophets, but not as a savior who could save us from hell. So I started looking out for a Christian who could give me some advice about this Jesus I have seen.”

He said he had to reach out to an Egyptian Christian, because Christianity is “totally banned in Saudi Arabia and if a Christian is caught witnessing to a Muslim, [it is] almost sure that he would be beheaded.”

A Thai teenager named Fa reported on Muslims of Thailand she saw Jesus as she walked in a field.

An account of her experience includes: “She found herself in the open field. There was nothing much special in this scenery but she felt peace in her heart, the kind of peace that she has never felt before. It seemed like she has been in this field before and somehow, she knew what was going to happen next.

“And then suddenly there appeared before her a bright light. She didn’t get startled when she saw the figure. It was a man wearing a white robe that seemed to shine. There was so much of joy and love that flooded in her heart when she saw the figure. She immediately knew that Jesus was appearing to her. Then she woke up.”

Not just Muslims
Muslims are not the only ones reporting such remarkable encounters, as Costenbader also describes accounts by Hindus.

He said regardless of the background, a common characteristic of the dreams of Jesus is that they instill a sense of peace.

“That’s far different than the fear-filled system of Islam,” Costenbader said.
Christine Darg, author and co-host of the Jerusalem Channel television program “Exploits Ministry,” agrees it’s an increasingly common development.



“The phenomenon of Muslims coming to a living faith in Jesus is happening every day. This is part of the prophecy of the prophet Joel that in the last days God will pour out his spirit upon all people – sons and daughters will prophesy, young and old men will experience dreams and visions,” Darg said.

Darg, who is also author of the book “Miracles Among Muslims: The Jesus Visions,” says compiling a record of the visions is difficult because of how often it happens.

“There are so many! One former terrorist promised God he would die for him, Jesus spoke to him audibly and said, ‘I’m calling you not to die but to live for me!’ He was surprised,” Darg said.

“While all Christians, from a theological viewpoint, should be willing to lay down our lives for the Lord Jesus Christ who made atonement for us, nevertheless, this message of Jesus to the former terrorist is quite a refreshing reversal to the death-wish mantra of jihadists!” Darg said.
He noted some experts say at least a quarter of all Muslim-background believers have experienced some type of supernatural dream or vision about Jesus.

“When I share my faith with Muslims, I often ask them if they’ve had a dream or a vision about Jesus, and usually they answer positively,” she said.

In his research, Costenbader found accounts of “Isa dreams” are not new.
A dream in 1844 led to the conversion of an Indonesian named Paulus-Tosari, who helped begin the first modern movement of Muslims converting to Christ.

He said also that two Jesus visions in 1892 can be directly tied to the founder of the second Muslim movement to Christ in Ethiopia.

‘Supernatural’
Author and Choices for Living President Jim Bramlett, who has lived in Saudi Arabia, believes that the phenomenon of Muslims experiencing visions and dreams of Jesus is definitely “supernatural.”

“They’re visions. They’re dreams. It’s a supernatural, sovereign act of God and it’s encouraging. It’s also happening more often than anyone knows,” Bramlett said.

Darg said simply talking about a dream or vision of Jesus opens the door for the Muslim convert to talk openly about the encounter.

“For a case in point, recently I was taking a tour group through the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, and our guide had arranged for us to meet a Muslim cleric,” Darg said.

Soon it was time for questions and answers, and knowing that sheik was an expert on the mystical form of Islam, Sufism, Darg said she “felt he surely would have heard of some of his co-religionists who had experienced a dream about Jesus.”

“So I asked the sheik if he could share any examples with us. Suddenly, the man began to break down in tears. ‘I will tell you a secret. I myself have seen Jesus,’ he said, although he was speaking to my entire group,” Darg said.



Darg says the Sufi leader’s experience is typical.

“He related the most beautiful encounter that he had experienced with the risen Lord Jesus, and how the Lord had embraced him in a way that the sheik had become a believer and follower of Jesus without realizing that he was a Christian,” Darg said.

Costenbader said the number of encounters through dreams is incalculable, since he alone has documented stories from 29 countries.

“Nobody can get perfect statistics, but based on all our research, we believe that well over 1 million Jesus dreams and visions have occurred since the year 2000. This may be only 200 dreams each night among 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide.”

But he said “it is possible that as many as 5 percent of the worldwide Muslim population could have had such a dream – which would be up to 80 million dreamers.”

Darg pointed out many Muslims “do not readily relate these supernatural experiences out of fear of reprisals.”

She relates the story of a woman on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem who experienced dreams and visions about Jesus.

“She did not respond to him at first because of fear of what might happen to her if she became a follower of Jesus. Nevertheless, through an accident in her kitchen and a subsequent total healing of her injury by another night vision of Jesus, she received the strength to testify that Jesus is alive and that he had indeed healed her,” Darg said.

Costenbader cited Sura 4:89 of the Quran, which says conversions from Islam to Christianity are punishable by death.

They all had dreams
Costenbader said the dreams, in the words of one woman he interviewed, transform lives.

“When I interviewed one woman from Iran, she said that they had all had dreams,” Costenbader said.

The woman told him: “Would you put your life on the line for a proposition? We need something transformational, that’s what these dreams are.”

Darg’s book has examples of Jesus appearing to multiple people at the same time.

“My research, as far as I know, is the only book to emphasize this fascinating fact. It’s one thing when Jesus appears to an individual, which He did to me when I was a young girl. He healed me of a life-threatening illness in an open vision.







“But it’s another dimension altogether when Jesus appears to a group
simultaneously. I have a whole chapter in my book about the Lord appearing to Muslim schoolboys in Arabia in a classroom during Ramadan,” Darg said.

Bramlett said the visions could be the result of prayers for Muslims, but he says God is the one who is doing the work.

“I believe He’s sovereignly pouring out His presence to the Muslim people. It’s a product of His grace. He sent His Son to die for them and He loves them. This is one of His ways of communicating His love to them,” Bramlett said.

While Bramlett believes Muslims’ prior perception of Jesus as a prophet could help them come to terms with the visions, another factor is responsible for Muslim conversions.

“I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit is at work, because Scripture says that no one can say Jesus is Lord apart from the Holy Spirit. So it’s His work,” Bramlett said.

Bramlett also notes an important attitude shift that he believes is necessary. He says the details of the stories should help Americans understand God’s desire to see the Arab people embrace Christianity.

“They themselves are God’s creation. Jesus wants to reach out to those precious souls,” Bramlett said.

Bramlett said a major hindrance for Muslims is their belief system.

“Their religious system is satanic. It’s possible that Allah may be the devil himself. Think of it; the Quran tells them to kill those who won’t convert,” Bramlett said. “However, we should want to see them saved. They’re God’s creation, and they all need to be redeemed. Jesus intentionally died to save them, too.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/11/rising-number-of-muslims-reporting-dreams-about-jesus/#vyD4462V2dZSFjZD.99

North Carolina Voters are Rejecting the Kay Hagan Pro-Abortion Agenda. She's Not a Fit for NC.

via Verne Strickland usadotcom 11/2/14

North Carolina Voters are Rejecting the Kay Hagan Pro-Abortion Agenda

by Andrew Bair | Charlotte, NC | LifeNews.com




Sen. Kay Hagan has stood in lockstep with President Obama in advancing his pro-abortion agenda. She voted to enact the pro-abortion, pro-rationing Obamacare law. She voted to spend federal funds on health plans that pay for abortion on demand (12/08/09, Roll Call No. 369). She opposes the bill that would protect unborn children from abortion at 20 weeks, when they are capable of experiencing pain. President Obama issued a veto threat when such a bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
In Hagan’s 6 years in the Senate, she voted against pro-life interests 100% of the time on votes scored by National Right to Life. That is out of touch with North Carolina.
By contrast, Thom Tillis is pro-life and opposes abortion on demand. In the state legislature, Tillis provided key leadership in enacting a record number of pro-life laws.
“Thom Tillis has demonstrated his effectiveness in the fight to protect innocent human life in North Carolina with his leadership in the North Carolina House,” said Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life. “His excellent style and knowledge will serve him well in advocating for the unborn babies and their mothers in the U.S. Senate.”
On the ground in the Tar Heel State, I have heard time and time again about the frustration North Carolinians have with President Obama’s leadership (or lack thereof). The Huffington Post’s current average disapproval of Obama’s job performance stands at 51.7%. The latest polling from the Democratic Public Policy Polling shows 54% disapprove.
Not surprisingly, in the candidates’ first debate last week, Kay Hagan was desperate to distance herself from President Obama. She also carefully avoided mentioning the word “abortion.” Yet, she cannot hide from her close ties with the President or her extreme record on abortion.
If you live in North Carolina, it’s up to you to educate your pro-life friends and family about what’s at stake in the Senate election. Whether pro-abortion Senator Harry Reid (D-Nv.) continues as U.S. Senate majority leader may all depend on what happens in North Carolina.
Click here to sign up for daily pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
As I travel around North Carolina and meet with voters at county fairs and other events, it’s clear there are two opportunities for the pro-life movement. There is a swath of voters that is energized, informed and motivated to get to the polls and oust Kay Hagan.
And then there is a group that is pro-life but previously unaware of Hagan’s radical position on abortion. We especially need to reach out to the latter group. You can help in that effort!
Please download this piece comparing the candidates on pro-life issues and share with your pro-life friends and family.
If you’d like to volunteer to assist in National Right to Life’s efforts on the ground over the next two months, please email me at Andrew@nrlc.org.

As N.C. voters set to make choice, Thom Tillis returns to where he started his political career.

"Pray for us. Pray for this nation. Pray for this president. And pray that on November the 4th, we elect leadership who will go to Washington and realize the dream, realize America's greatness, and realize that nowhere else on this planet in the history of the Earth is there a greater opportunity than what we have before us right now." Thom Tillis

 
Staff photo by Raul R. Rubiera 
Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis speaks to a supporter at a rally at Cannon Park in Pinehurst on Oct. 20. At center is his wife, Susan.

Story by Paul Woolverton | Fayetteville Observer

CORNELIUS - It was a Saturday evening in Cornelius, the town outside Charlotte where Thom Tillis started his political career because he liked to ride mountain bikes. And the Republican U.S. Senate candidate was getting a little teary-eyed.He was speaking to several dozen volunteers and supporters in the Cornelius Republican Party's office, delivering a variation of a speech he had made several times already on that day. Tillis had awakened in Greenville that morning, about 250 miles away, and made campaign stops in Raleigh, Greensboro and Winston-Salem before arriving in Cornelius in the evening.The audience included people who were with him from the beginning."I love you all; you're good friends. I don't want to choke up talking about you, but you mean a lot to me," Tillis said, his typically clear voice becoming uncharacteristically thick with emotion. 

"Pray for us. Pray for this nation. Pray for this president. And pray that on November the 4th, we elect leadership who will go to Washington and realize the dream, realize America's greatness, and realize that nowhere else on this planet in the history of the Earth is there a greater opportunity than what we have before us right now."

Tillis' delivery in person, and especially in Cornelius, had a sincerity that has not always come across in his television ads and appearances on televised debates in an expensive and often ugly campaign. His down-to-the-wire race against Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan has pushed him onto the national stage, with partisan control of the Senate at stake.Tillis' political path has been an unusual one that has revealed him as a man who is able to recognize opportunity and realize his ambitions.Here in Cornelius, his political career had a humble beginning. 

He liked to ride mountain bikes and, in the early 2000s, he wanted the town to build a mountain bike trail. He put together a proposal for the parks and recreation advisory board.After his presentation, the chairman asked Tillis to join the board."He said, 'You know, we've got an open slot on the board. This would be a great way for you to get, probably get, this thing going,'" Tillis recalled.At the time a partner in IBM's business consulting services division, Tillis stayed involved in politics to get things done. 

First, he won a seat on the Cornelius town commission in 2003, then a seat in the state House in 2006.In 2009, he stepped up to become one of the leaders who engineered North Carolina's Republican revolution that knocked the Democrats out of power in the state legislature in the 2010 elections.The Republicans rewarded Tillis by electing him state House speaker in January 2011 - one of the top three positions of power in state government.Now, he is running for the U.S. Senate.While much of Tillis' campaign against incumbent Hagan is devoted to linking her to an unpopular President Obama and his health care reform law, Tillis also promises to get things done in Washington. He says he can work with Democrats and Republicans to break the gridlock that has gripped Washington since 2010.

Rise to power 
 Tillis' path to political leadership sidestepped the usual ladder-climbing and symbolic dues-paying that most politicians follow.In just four years, he moved up from being a nearly unknown freshman state lawmaker to state House speaker. In the process, Tillis stepped over Republican lawmakers who coveted the speakership and had bided their time for a decade or more while Democrats were in control.Three years after becoming speaker, Tillis defeated seven other Republicans to become his party's U.S. Senate nominee.His unusual route to political power echoed the nontraditional path of his career and life. 

When Tillis was growing up, his family - with six kids - moved 17 times, an aide said. He never attended the same elementary school two years in a row. His father was a boat draftsman whose pursuit of work required relocations throughout the Southeast.Tillis told Charlotte Magazine last year that the family's moves taught him to be adaptable. He had to make new friends, learn a new community and work with new teachers every year. He said the skill has served him throughout his business and political life.Tillis graduated from high school in Antioch, Tennessee, in 1978 at age 17. He was the student body president, top-ranked academically and voted most likely to succeed. But he has said he was not really interested in college. Instead, he joined the Air Force.The military career was cut short by a car accident that severely injured Tillis' hand, allowing him to exit with an honorable discharge. 

On the stump and in debates against Hagan, Tillis talks about his first job after leaving the service. A warehouse position paid him minimum wage.Minimum wage has been a campaign issue. Hagan wants Congress to raise the national minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.Tillis says states should determine their own minimum wage and workers should move themselves out of minimum-wage jobs. "It's a stepping stone that through education and hard work you should get past very quickly," Tillis said during a debate with Hagan on Sept. 3.It's what Tillis did with his own life.The young man left the warehouse as soon as he could for better jobs managing records. In the early 1980s, that meant moving paper records into electronic databases on computers that were primitive by modern standards. It was a daunting task. When he needed new skills, Tillis took community college classes.He built a career managing projects, moving to better jobs and new companies, while continuing his education over 16 years at five schools until he got a four-year college degree in 1996 at age 36. 

In the meantime, Tillis had become a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a business consulting firm that advises large corporations. The company later merged with IBM, and Tillis and his wife, Susan, in 1998 moved from a suburb of Washington to Cornelius. There, they raised their two children.Commercial real estate broker Gary Knox was elected mayor of Cornelius in 2003 when Tillis was elected town commissioner. Tillis had impressed Knox in their first encounter several years before at a community meeting."It's one thing to say you're an elected official and show up every other Monday night, and maybe look at your agenda package and maybe start to open it. It's another thing to dive into it," Knox said. Tillis would dive in, he said, and he knew where the community was growing and where it had shortcomings. He was prepared to dissect the staff's recommendations, "as opposed to those that are trying to play catch-up as the meeting has started."Tillis' work experience was invaluable, Knox said."His background coming from big accounting, as well as IBM and being able to process things pretty fast, and talk about how to get to core decisions was very healthy for our town board," Knox said. 

The town in the next years joined with neighboring Huntersville and Davidson to create a regional business park that was not restricted to town lines "so we could compete on a regional basis. That was really stepping out there," Knox said.When there were disagreements in their discussions, "I think Thom was the very first person that actually said, 'Well this is healthy, because we'll just agree to disagree,' and kind of work through that with a respectful way the one or two times that we heard that."Called to RaleighTillis chose not to seek re-election to the town board in 2005. According to Charlotte Magazine, he was approached that year by Republican political strategist Paul Shumaker to run for the state House district seat held by Republican John Rhodes.Rhodes is a darling to people on the far right who consider Tillis to be too moderate. 

They liked Rhodes so much that they recruited him this year to run for Senate as write-in candidate.But in his four years in the legislature, Rhodes passed only one bill. He was known for criticizing then-House Speaker Jim Black - a Democrat who later went to federal prison for corruption - who had the power to prevent him from accomplishing much.The nonpartisan N.C. Center for Public Policy Research rated Rhodes as the legislature's least effective House member."I think Mr. Rhodes', or John's, representation in the legislature created such an immediate opportunity for anybody," Knox said. "And in turn, Thom had already proved himself in our community 20 times over as to what a good study he was of issues, fiscally responsive, would gladly take on a leadership role."Tillis soundly beat Rhodes in the May 2006 primary.In his first two-year term, Tillis passed seven bills into law. In his second term, his fellow Republicans picked him to be their whip, which was the caucus' second-highest leadership position at that time. Another 15 of his bills became law. 

In early 2009, when the country and state were stuck in the Great Recession and there was growing resentment of the Democrats and newly elected President Obama, Tillis saw opportunity for Republicans to win majority control of the state House of Representatives.He quit his IBM job - leaving behind a half-million-dollar paycheck - to pursue politics full time. Through 2009 and 2010, he traveled the state to recruit and support candidates, raising more than $250,000 for the GOP and leading a targeted and organized campaign.In the 2010 elections, the House flipped from a 68-52 Democratic majority to a 68-52 Republican majority. The Republicans solidified their majority to 77-43 in 2012. 

The result of the shift in power was a wave of conservative legislation that upset Democrats.Tax cuts were passed, promoted to create jobs, but slammed by Democrats for reducing revenues that could have been used for education, to help the unemployed pay their bills while they looked for work, to care for the poor and provide other public services.Unemployment has fallen, but teachers and others in Hagan campaign ads complain about a shortage of textbooks and other resources in the schools. 

Laws were passed to make it harder for women to obtain abortions and to allow some gun owners to carry guns in places where firearms had previously been prohibited. The state constitution was amended to prohibit gay marriage - a move that has since been overturned.The legislature also voted to reject an expansion of Medicaid that was called for by the president's health care law. Democrats say this decision blocked 500,000 lower-income people from health care. On Medicaid and gay marriage, conservatives question Tillis.Shortly before the gay marriage amendment was passed in 2012, Tillis predicted that the next generation would overturn it. It didn't take that long, as it was ruled unconstitutional last month even as Tillis sought to intervene to preserve it.On Medicaid, he recently said he does not have an ideological objection to expanding the program, but he thinks it has serious problems with waste that need to be fixed first.

The next step 
As the race against Hagan winds to its Tuesday finish, Tillis is constantly on the campaign trail. After it is over, he will likely be back in Mecklenburg County, either planning his move to Washington or contemplating his first political setback. Either way, he'll be able to see tangible evidence of what drew him into politics in the first place. 

The 1.3-mile mountain bike train in Jetton Park was not finished until after Tillis was elected to the General Assembly, he said."And it's wonderful to see it, because people are using it, they're getting out in the woods," he said. "Now what they have is this gorgeous natural trail that people jog on, they walk their dogs, they mountain bike on. And they're using public property that was otherwise just sitting there unused." 

Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at woolvertonp@fayobserver.com or 486-3512.

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Most expensive Senate race down to the wire in North Carolina -- must-win battleground state

Most expensive Senate race down to the wire in North Carolina

By Colleen Jenkins

GREENSBORO N.C. Fri Oct 31, 2014 2:10pm EDT

U.S. Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) speaks during a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina October 25, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Chris Keane

(Reuters) - The costliest U.S. Senate race in history is drawing political heavyweights like Mitt Romney and the Clintons to North Carolina as Republicans and Democrats scramble to pull out a win in the battleground state.
Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan's lead has faded in the final stretch before the Nov. 4 vote. The latest polls show her tied or with a slight edge over Republican challenger Thom Tillis in a contest that will help decide which party controls the Senate.
Spending in the closely fought battle has surpassed $100 million, according to the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, with more than two-thirds of the money provided by outside groups.
Hagan's campaign said this week it was encouraged by early voting data that showed higher turnout for Democrats than Republicans. African Americans, who tend to vote Democratic, also are turning out in higher numbers than at the same point in 2010.
"We're on a pace right now that we're very happy with," Hagan campaign manager Preston Elliott said of the black vote.
Hagan will try to build on that momentum on Friday at an early vote event with former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Raleigh. She appeared with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last weekenTillis, speaker of the North Carolina House, enlisted 2012 Republican presidential nominee Romney to rally voters with him on Wednesday, a day after U.S. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham joined him on the trail.
"Thom Tillis is going to be the guy that makes a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate," Romney told voters in Raleigh.
The heavy spending has resulted in a barrage of at least 101,800 TV ads about the race, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Georgia's close Senate race had the next- highest number in the country, with at least 65,000 TV ads.
Hagan, who beat Republican Elizabeth Dole in 2008 to win the seat, said in an ad this week that Tillis had pursued a conservative agenda in the state legislature that hurt the middle class, women and public education.
"There's a huge contrast between me standing forward for North Carolinians first on every issue and Speaker Tillis doing the business of his special interest friends," Hagan said at a campaign stop in Greensboro, where she emphasized her focus on equal pay and healthcare access for womTillis has portrayed Hagan as being in lock step with President Barack Obama, who won North Carolina in the 2008 election but lost the state to Romney in 2012. He criticized her for slow action against Islamic State insurgents and not taking national security threats seriously.
“We need to get this country back on track, and our safety and security is one of the first things we need to focus on,” he told military members in Goldsboro this month.
As of Thursday, registered Democrats had cast nearly 49 percent of the accepted in-person early ballots in North Carolina, compared with 31 percent by Republicans and about 20 percent for unaffiliated and Libertarian voters.
Early voting numbers overall were higher compared with same-day totals in the 2010 midterm election, but Democrats and unaffiliated voters showed the biggest increases, said Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College in Salisbury.
The effect unaffiliated voters will have on the Senate race "is the great unknown right now," Bitzer said.
There are almost 2.8 million registered Democrats, 2 million registered Republicans and 1.8 million unaffiliated voters in North Carolina, according to state election data.
The Tillis campaign said it was confident its aggressive voter outreach efforts would send him to the Senate.
"Thom has the momentum in this race," said Tillis spokeswoman Meghan Burris.
(Additional reporting by Marti Maguire in Goldsboro, North Carolina and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Dan Grebler)