Cram your chair a little closer to the monitor. (Thanks.)
I’m about to cast a wishful eye on the week expiring to note posts that might have been.
(Should there be a comma in there somewhere?)
What might have been — how dreary, that! Read it all
Middle East
“Will You Stand With the Terrorists?”
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s blunt speech to the United Nations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
I have no illusion that it made or will make a difference.
May God keep the Jews, Abraham’s children of the promise.
And may He also bless the Arabs, Abraham’s children of the flesh.*
May He bless us all, Jew and Gentile alike.
Personally.
Undeserving though we all are.
And may we each find peace and hope in that son of Abraham, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
Amen.
* “Arabs are Abraham’s children of the flesh” — is that a true statement?
Bibles to Iran
With links added by me, here’s a current story over at Mission Network News:
Dangerous Bible distribution to get Truth to Iranian youth
Despite the persecution and risk associated with assisting believers there, Bibles are being sent to Iran.
Iran ranks second only to North Korea for its poor treatment of Christians, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List. Believers make up a tiny minority of the nation and pay dearly for their faith.
And yet amid this severe atmosphere, Christ followers are determined to remain in their country and spread the Word. Their persistence is working, and the home church movement is booming–especially among Iranian youth.”
We just believe this is a tremendous opportunity to put Scriptures into the hands of young believers; the youth in that country are incredibly open to the Gospel,” says Ken Leggatt with WorldServe Ministries in Canada. “It’s an incredibly youthful nation as well,” Leggatt adds.
The total median age of an Iranian is about 26-years-old as opposed to the U.S. median of 36-years-old, and the number of these young people in the nation looking for change is high. Many are welcoming digression from the old oppressive regime of Iran and extremism. Getting Bibles into the country so they can read and learn more for themselves is crucial.
With all this in mind, WorldServe has chosen Iran to be the first recipient of their Million Bible Challenge.
We might fault the US Government for failing to support the recent revolution efforts by the youth (and who knows who else) of Iran.
But what kind of spiritual and moral support is Christ’s Church providing to fellow believers and potential believers in the Islamic Republic of Iran?
Did President Obama Say That About Israel?
Some of what President Obama had to say today regarding Israel is extremely alarming (though hardly surprising) to me.
But my quibble in this post is with what is being reported about part of what he said.
Did he really call for “Israel’s return to pre-1967 borders” as the headline states above?
I didn’t listen to the speech, so I’ll stick my neck out and quote the President from the story headlined above:
“We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
That seems to me to say something different than what the headline says.
What say you?
Muslim Democracy and Christianity?
More Christians have been fleeing Iraq in recent months than ever before.
Carl Moeller with Open Doors USA says extremists are calling for the complete extermination of believers in the country.
“We’ve been calling this a ‘religicide’–which is the systematic destruction and elimination of a religious group simply for being that religious group. And we see this now unfolding in a very shocking way,” says Moeller.
The number of Christians in Iraq has dropped dramatically in the last few decades, dropping from 850,000 believers in 1991, to 550,000 believers in 2003, to 345,000 believers in early 2010. Now perhaps less than 250,000 Christians call Iraq home, a number which includes those who have been permanently displaced from their homes.
[…]
At the current rate of the exodus, Iraq will not have any Christians left in three years, according to an Open Doors’ field worker. Read it all
Committed to Dangerous Aid
Turmoil has severely limited food and other necessities in several countries across the Middle East and North Africa. Aid is in high demand. Churches and individual believers are responding, but very much at their own risk.
[…]
In a region where believers are often threatened even during peace time, Christians are especially at risk now–even when they’re doling out desperately-needed aid.
“We think humanitarian effort and helping people in conflict is something everyone will respond to favorably. But they [Christians] know that as they do this, this actually makes them more visible, and it actually puts them in more danger, more in harm’s way,” says BGR’s Jeff Palmer.
[…]
“They choose to do this because the love of Christ compels them,” Palmer explains. “They can’t sit and watch this as people suffer. They can’t watch and not take advantage of what’s happening right now to help people and to make Christ known.”
As believers continue literally to risk their lives for the sake of serving others throughout the Middle East and North Africa, pray for God to provide them with courage and wisdom.
Source: Even Christian aid workers not safe in volatile regions
PS: You could also add love and faithfulness to that prayer list.
Jew
It is very difficult to hate babies.
It takes a special person.
[…]
But the human being does have to learn to hate children and babies, and to regard the torture and murder of them as morally desirable acts. It takes years of work to undo normal protective human attitudes toward children.
That is precisely what the Nazis did and what significant parts of the Muslim world have done to the word “Jew.”
[…]
Yet, when Pakistan was yanked from India and established as a Muslim state at the very same time Israel was established, that act engendered 12.5 million Muslim refugees and about a million dead Muslims (and similar numbers of Hindu refugees and deaths). Why then doesn’t “Hindu” equal “Jew” in the Muslim lexicon of hate?
Here are some answers in brief:
You can read the full article here: The Other Tsunami.
Know this, though: Matters will get worse. Much worse. And it will seem even more normal. And nothing by which to get unduly exercised. As has abortion. Which also takes “a special person” to perform, accept, tolerate, and/or ignore.
The Fogel Family
Christians, don’t forget this: Americans, Arabs, Hindus, Japanese, Jews — we all need Jesus to the exact same degree.