3.14.10 que dios te bendiga!

this week's thots -

everytime a key game's score will be in the newspaper i must be at the library to read about it as soon as i can after it is printed! Lord, even though You have taken me away from sitting for hours in front of the tv, i still need You to free me from this addiction. it is still one of the drugs i take to get by. Lord, why are You still not enough? would You truly bring me to the place where i 'need' nothing but You?

saying sent from russ -life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. it's learning to dance in the rain....you can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him..

i constantly fall short of my expectations..sometimes by huge amounts. how do You give the sense that You love, accept and will never leave me alone? the simplest explanation i can come up with is that You tell me these things in Your word...yet at the same time You desire perfection? how do i know this? i guess, once again, it's because You tell me so...You are incomparable. so faithful and true. never pushing You but always focusing on me...how can You be true?

i talk regularly with a friend and am noticing more and more that when talk turns to sport, i am much more animated and interested. i have little apparent interest in talking about You for You rarely come up.

it would be so easy Lord if You wanted me to do what i love to do. my whole life i've pursued doing what makes me feel good and avoided like the plague doing what i don't want to do. help me become not only able to do what You want (what i hate to do) but to do it with diligence and joy. the place i need for You to bring me is where You alone are enough..

a church-going friend was telling of a time that he was in a girl's dorm room in college and said, 'that's when i was a bad person'. this is how i have thot most of my life. it seems as though that is how most church going people tend to think...that they are actually good despite Your word to the contrary in romans 3,7 and elsewhere. isn't that how a person who knows about Jesus but does not yet have a saving relationship with Jesus thinks?

i pray that You would live Your life through me. Your love is so beautiful. if only people who relate to me could see You rather than me! bring me to that point, Lord, no matter what it takes.

i continue, zombie-like to just barely get thru every day. life is colorless, grey, insipid and intolerable to my flesh. that's why i escaped to the basketball drug yesterday..it must be You who are moving me to a life completely defined by duty. it is horrible! and yet, inexorably, You are filling up my life with only what you would have me do...and i am yearning so for what i want to do. experimental believers..i read of them one after another..consecrate themselves totally to You. would You lead me to this Lord?

finally, was struck by the number of christian ministries in haiti. the thot occurred..why are there no muslim ministries there trying to help the people? why no jewish? confucian? hindu? buddist? new age? satanist?

some readings this week -

it's the end of the world and we love it-mark moring ct,march 10,p44f

what's on the other side?

the question is innate to human experience and hollywood knows it - as evidenced by the spate of spiritually themed films to debut after the blockbuster success of the passion of the Christ (2004). in a fear-filled world where war, terrorism and economic collapse bring the question of death and the afterlife to the fore, the film industry has delivered more stories to fuel the question- though not always providing answers.

the result oin 2009 was a record $10 billion at the box office in the us and canada, where theater attendance was up 4.5% over 2008 despite an exonomic recession that saw cuts in consumer spending in almost every other sector.

much of that record windfall came from a near epidemic of movies about the end of the world - from the explosion-driven drivel of transformers: revenge of the fallen (where all life on earth is in peril) and 2012 (global mayhem as predicted by the mayan calendar) to the tongue-in-cheek zombieland and more thotful fare such as terminator salvation, district 9 and the road. the trend continued in 2010 with two end-tims thrillers, the book of eli and legion, both of which opened in january and the documentaries waiting for armageddon and with God on our side, both exploring the state of israel's role in ushering in the last days. january also saw the wide release of the lovely bones, depicting a teen girl's view of heaven (and our own longing for it). more such films - pre- and post-apocalyptic - are on the 2010 tap.

why are so many of us flocking to the theater when we're pinching pennies more now than in decades? and why are we spending our hard-earned $ on movies about the end of existence?

do you want to hear? -jeremy weber p.47

about the vision and ministry to the deaf by david and ruby stecca - deaf video communications (dvc)

'most churches regard the deaf as a benevolence ministry, similar to the elderly or disabled. but experts argue that a different paradigm is desperately needed: seeing deaf ministry as cross-cultural missions (note: they do not understand. not, they can't understand.)

language and cultural barriers have left the deaf a veritable unreached people group right in america's midst. christian deaf ministries estimate that only 1% of american deaf children will attend church as adults. less than 7% will ever have the gospel presented to them in a way they can understand.'

problems with communicating to the deaf:

1. 'the printed word is inaccessible to many because over 50% of deaf adults read at or below a 4th grade level..'

2 the way those who hear and those who do not hear are very different making 'talk' from the former 'translated' by sign language to the latter an ineffective vehicle of communications. 'stecca discovered this when he began translating sermons into asl (american sign language). "it was a waste of time, because the way the sermon was presented was not understandable to the deaf". hearing pastors tend to deliver non-linear messages at a tenth grade reading level, while most deaf best comprehend linear messages at lower reading levels. in stecca's experience, deaf christians often understand less than 40% of an interpreted sermon'.

3. '95% of deaf children are born into hearing families, but only 10% of parents learn enough asl to have a conversation beyond 'pass the salt' and 'be quiet'..when parents have limited signing skills, it's daunting for them to teach their children about Jesus or moses'.

steccas', with the help of volunteer deaf actors and paid, mostly hearing production professionals, dvc has produced almost 500 video of Bible stories, sermons, dramas, marriage counseling sessions and children's programs..all in asl'...

voice of martyrs - testimony of believer in north korea. he escaped to china and there met a man who gave him a bible and said to him, 'if you read this book, you will find truth'. he did and he did. he also took 6 bibles back to north korea and buried them in his yard. he was suspected and taken in for questioning and his wife, as previously instructed, dug them up and destroyed them. since, he has been very disturbed by this and has made 4 trips into china a brought back 4 bibles...each time willing to risk getting caught. he said to vom, 'tonight i will take my fifth bible back to north korea. next year i will have all six back!' vom asked him what he planned to do with the bibles. was he going to give them away? after a long pause, mr. chin looked at me with saddened eyes and said, 'i'm not ready to die yet'.

...marx and his comrades while anti-God, were not atheists, as present-day marxists claim to be. that is, while they openly denounced and reviled god, they hated a god in whom they believed. they challenged not His existence, but His supremacy.

when the revolution broke out in paris in 1871, the communard flournes declared, 'our enemy is God. hatred of god is the beginning of wisdom'.

marx greatly praised the communards who openly proclaimed theis aim. but what has this to do with a more ezuitable distribution of goods or with better social institutions? such are only the outward trappings for concealing the real aim - the total eradication of God and His worship.

marxism is a religion and it even 'uses' scripture. its main work, the capital by marx, is called 'the bible of the working class'. marx considered himself 'the pope of communism'. communism 'has the pride of infallibility'. all who oppose the communist 'creed' (this expression is used by engels) are excommunicated. marx wrote, 'bakunin should beware. otherwise we will excommunicated him'. those who die in the service of marxism are feasted as 'martyrs'. marxism also has its sacraments; the solemn receptions in the toddlers' organization called 'the children of october', the oaths given when received as 'pioneers', after which come the higher grades of initiation in komsomol and the party. confession is replaced with public self criticism before the assembly of party members. marxism is a church. it has all the characteristics..yet, its god is not named in its popular literature. .satan is obviously its god. it is strange that though marxism is clearly satanic, it is not seen as a threat by many churches in the free world'.

the lli massacre ad. 1342...one of the earliest missions in china flourished in the most unlikely place - the frontier town of lli baliq (now known as yining) in a remote region of northwest china. in the 14th century, lli was considered to be outside of civilized china. thousands of criminals and persecuted christians were banished there to serve the rest of their lives in exile.

a group of mature christians, handpicked by church leadership, pioneered evangelism in this forlorn place. among them were francis and raymond ruffa, two priests from alexandria, egypt, and four men, peter from france, lawrence from egypt, matthew from hungary and john from india. they traveled around the sparsely populated region on camel and horseback, stayed in the tents of mongol nomads and succeeded in winning many families to Jesus Christ.

soon after the men arrived, the prince of lli fell ill. francis of alexandria helped the prince recover and won favor with the prince and his father, the khan. the missionaries enjoyed the freedom to preach for several years. in june 1342 the khan was poisoned by one of the princes, a fanatical muslim. the murderer usurped the throne and issued an edict ordering all christians to renounce jesus Christ and embrace islam. failure to do so would result in death. the christians, however, courageously continued to meet for worship.

the missionaries at lli were arrested. they were chained together while a muslim mob struck them with whips and sticks. although severely battered the believers refused to deny their faith. the crowd responded by cutting off the missionaries' noses and ears. the men cried out to Jesus and continued to preach the gospel. the mob finally cut off their heads.

local christians, including ethnic uyghurs, kazkhs, mongols, russians and han chinese, refused to flee. they were thrown in prison and cruelly tortured. many lli christians died as martyrs under the brutal muslim monarch. despite being deprived of leadership and direction, the church in lli survived. remarkably, the gospel was still preached in this remote outpost 400 years later. (china's christian martyrs by paul hattaway, p. 34-6)

intercessors for america, march 2010, a falling away by derek prince delivered 1998

..'the church is failing. a projection of what happens when the church fully fails is recorded in LL tess. 2.3: 'let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not dome (the return of Jesus) unless the falling away comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God..' paul writes to the believers in thess.. to correct their thinking. paul clarifies that the day of the return of the Lord Jesus will not come until there has been a falling away.

interestingly, the greek word for 'falling away' is exactly the word which gives us the english word apostasy. it's only used twice in the new testament - in this passage and in acts 21.21 where the leaders of the church in jerusalem tell paul that he's been accused of teaching apostasy from the law of moses. it specifically means a turning away from a revealed truth. paul is saying that before the antichrist, the man of lawlessness, is revealed, there has to be an apostasy in the Church. there will be a moving away from sound doctrine (l tim. 1.10) why? because the Church is the appointed authority and barrier to the revelation and the consummation of evil. satan knows this and knows the bible better than most of us. satan knows that he cannot manifest the antichrist until the Church is weakened and moved out of the way.

so there has to be an apostasy, a falling away, in the Church because the restraining influence of the Church has to be cancelled before the antichrist can be revealed..

in ii thess. 2.7 paul states that 'the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way'. i know i am entering into speculative prophecy, but there are two ways of interpreting the phrase, 'he who now restrains'. it can be the Holy Spirit or it can be the Church. probably it's both the Holy Spirit and the Church (note: the church, in it's individual members, is indwelled by the Holy Spirit...)

the final consummation of evil in this age will not come until the "Church, by apostasy, opens the way. i would say that the apostasy is just about consummated in america today in the top levels of Church and state. apostasy is ruling via lawless, immoral, blasphemous, Bible-truth- denying, Christ-denying, God-provoking speech, policy and action.

i don't think things need to go much further before the apostasy is complete. in the meanwhile, what is our responsibility? ...we are His salt, light and leaven to restrain corruption and decay until the appointed time.

hope you have a good week. love, dad