8.29.10 MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER!

buddhism continued from last week...
75 rules for proper behavior of novices who seek admission in the order
7 ways of settling disputes
227 rules for the male monk
311 for the female
etc.
if you do well enough throughout your lifetimeS, you will achieve nirvana.
my note: imagine having to come back to this living-nightmare of a hell-hole...again...and again...and again... to try and keep a bunch of rules that are impossible to keep!!!, until the sadist who cooked up all this is satisfied. wow. HEAVY!

just in the last several years i was bothered by the fact that i did not practice hospitality...enough (i thot). on further reflection i realized i have rarely in my entire life been hospitable (lit. a lover of strangers...i usually have no contact at all with people who are, technically, strangers...that is, those who are without rights or legal place in the society of which i am a member, what we would call illegal aliens, and have so managed the few contacts with such as to be so 'distant' in nature that i keep from really finding out they are, indeed, strangers here where i live with all my rights and position. i realized that this is not a recommendation or suggestion from God, but it is a command to be kept.
this is ONLY ONE COMMAND out of many, many commands throughout the bible, all of which i am currently miserably failing TO KEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as paul said to the galatian believers, C-U-R-S-E-D IS EVERY ONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY A-L-L THINGS WRITTEN IN THE LAW TO PERFORM THEM (3.10). rules, laws, to do lists never saved one person, but they evidently do wonders to serve as salve for guilty consciences. in fact, they can only condemn. they only serve to show us our TOTAL INABILITY to do what either we or somebody else or God says we must do to make the grade.
one game i have often played in this area is that i perform a clever little mental fantasy that goes like this. if i do x one time, then i can tell myself that I DO X (all the time). no no no no! it doesn't go like that! i must DO X REGULARLY. then i am tortured by the ?, how regular is regular enough?...

another trick is what might be called the GOING-15 (NOT 16!!!)-MILES-PER-HOUR- THROUGH-THE-TOTAL-LENGTH- OF-THE-'SCHOOL-SLOW-ZONE'. if i perform that act, then i have free reign to ride on someone's back bumper, far exceed the speed zone whenever it suits me or i'm late or whatever, use rolling stops, cut corners on turns and whatever else i can get away with if i want to. it's kind of like a catholic indulgence; a' get out of jail free' card in monopoly. i get to choose the little bite-sized 'righteousness'. (ie. something so quick and easy that i can actually do it) this not only grants me the right to do whatever else i please but i grants me total freedom from all prosecution for law-breaking. NOT!
by that hospitality thing, God opened my eyes to the fact that i am totally forgiven, totally given the eternal and perfect righteousness of Christ...because i can NEVER be righteous in any way, shape or form, ON MY OWN. that's about the time i started getting real joy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (i'm not overflowing with joy yet because i so wickedly, perversely, self-deceivedly still think that I am much better than i am.)

..back to buddhism..when a person dies, he is reborn as someone else - not reincarnated in the hindu sense of the word, by reborn. the difference is in the idea of self. a reincarnated person returns as himself in another form; a reborn person returns, but not with any real selfhood. to buddhists self is only an illusion. throughout this life, he will experience the consequences of his former lives. (GREAT!) this is karma, the sum of good and bad deeds in previous existences. karma is like a great wheel - either it will crush you or you will jump clear of its continual spinning thru enlightenment.
buddhism is a peculiar religion in that it does not concern itself with God or gods. even buddha never claimed divinity. progress to enlightenment depends upon you...focusing on self, they also encourage a disregard and forgetfulness of it, saying that there is no ultimate self.

buddhism stresses moralism. Jesus, in their mind, would have been an exemplary buddhist. it is this element that makes it all the more dangerous. moralism, in any form, without Christ, results in condemnation...'even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified'. (galatians 2.16)

c.s.lewis, mere christianity, ...'the death of Christ is just that point in history at which something absolutely unimaginable from outside shows thru into our own world. and if we cannot picture even the atoms of which our own world is built, of course we are not going to be able to picture this. indeed, if we found that we could fully understand it, that very fact would show it was not what it professes to be - the inconceivable, the uncreated, the thing from beyond nature, striking down into nature like lightning. you may ask what good will it be to us if we do not understand it. but that is easily answered. a man can eat his dinner without understanding exactly how food nourished him. a man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it.
we are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins and that by dying He disabled death itself. that is the formula. that is christianity. that is what has to be believed. any theories we build up as to how Christ's death did all this are, in my view, quite secondary; mere plans or diagrams to be left alone if they do not help us, and , even if they do help us, not to be confused with the thing itself.

we have to take reality as it comes to us: there is no good jabbering about what it ought to be like or what we should have expected it to be like. but though i cannot see why it should be so, i can tell you why i believe it is so.
i have explained why i have to believe that Jesus was (and is) God. and it seems [plain as a matter of history that He taught his followers that the new life was communicated in this way. in other words, i believe it on his authority.
do not be scared by the word authority. believing things on authority only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy. 99% of the things you believe are believed on authority.
i believe there is such a place as new york. i have not seen it myself. i could not prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place as new york. i have not seen it myself. i could not prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place. i believe it because reliable people have told me so.
the ordinary man believes in the solar system, atoms, evolution and the circulation of the blood on authority - because the scientists say so. EVERY HISTORICAL STATEMENT IN THE WORLD IS BELIEVED ON AUTHORITY. none of us has seen the norman conquest or the defeat of the spanish armada. none of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics.
we believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority.
a man who jibbed at authority in other things as some people do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life.

francis asbury and the methodist circuit riders covered america with spiritual awakening. in 1771 john wesley said 'our brethren in america call aloud for help. who are willing to go over and help them?' francis asbury was among those who responded.
born in 1745, having only a few years of formal education, at 22 confirmed as a lay preacher, asbury left for america never to return.
in 1772 asbury was placed in charge of the methodist congregations and preachers of america. he soon realized that the methodist practice of using traveling preachers would be even more practical in america..american congregations were small and separated by large distances. establishing settled pastors was almost impossible. asbury used circuit riders to reach the people.
a traveling preacher brought news from the outside world, was a welcome break from the depressing daily routine of hard labour. he brought crowds from miles around. he would perform marriages, baptize infants and sere communion. his preaching would remind many that God had not forgotten about them.
in 1780 there were 42 preachers and 8504 methodist members. in 1790 these numbers were 227/58,000 and by 1820, near asbury's death, they were 904/256,881.
much of the drive for the enormous methodist growth came from asbury, who rose every morning at 4, taught himself latin, greek and hebrew and made it his rule to read 100 pages of good literature daily. his travels over rough, trackless and dangerous wilderness were staggering.
beginning in 1798, it was his custom to make a complete circuit of the u.s., reaching from georgia to maine, and inland to indiana.
asbury never expected sacrifices of others that he would not make himself. he taveled constantly throughout his lifetime. he never married and had no home. all that he owned was in the 2 saddlebags on his horse.
it is estimated that in asbury's lifetime he preached well over 16,000 sermons, ordained more than 4,000 preachers, travled on horseback or (when he was too old for that) in carriages 270,000 miles, and wore out 6 faithful horses!
asbury never accepted more salary than an ordinary methodist circuit rider, which in 1800 was only $64 a year - only 15% of what the average congregationalist minister received.
journal entry 'Lord, my soul thirsteth for holiness in myself and others. i found my heart led out in prayer for those i cannot preach to.'

voice of martyrs, aug. 2010...MOHAMMED hegazy is a 27 year old believer who, along with his wife are muslim background believers, converts from islam. after becoming a christian 11 years ago, he was beaten regularly by his father until he moved out..2 years later. in addition, he was tortured several times by egyptian police. they tied a blindfold around his eyes, hung him upside down by ropes, beat him and shocked him with electric batons trying to gather info about other christians.

when he filed a lawsuit in august 2007 to change the religious status on his id card from 'muslim' to 'christian' (the 1st such case in egypt), islamic religious leaders called for his death. his house was burned to the ground and his family is now in hiding.

when asked about his thot on what the apostle paul calls tribulations, he told us 'i think that suffering is a most beautiful part of the christian faith because christianity without pain, without suffering, without hard times is like the ready-made food. there's nothing true in it it's very superficial, very shallow'.
SAMIR, a 30 year old man in alexandria, is another believer who has experience the heat of egypt's iron furnace. after his conversion, police declared him insane and institutionalized him. while in a mental hospital, samir was tortured horrifically, leaving his mind and body permanently damaged.

before he met Jesus..samir was a top biochemistry student at..university..he was so well respected that the university rewarded him with a haj, a pilgrimage to the muslim holy city of mecca..while it hould have been the pinnacle moment of his muslim life, the experience caused him to question his faith.
samir knew that christians worship Jesus.so he decided to test the faith for himself. 'i started thinking, "is Jesus real"?..i'm a biochemist, and in science we don't believe anything we hear about. i had to see things myself'...he used to sneak into churches and listen.
samir's problems began as soon as he started to follow Jesus. first, his parents kicked him out of the house. then 6 months after his conversion, he decided to change the religion of his identity card from 'muslim' to 'christian'. the public safety police told him, 'we're going to arrest you and send you to a mental hospital'.
'they were waiting for me and they gave me punches..they grabbed my clothes and tied me. the doctors all had beards; the beard usually means they are radical muslims..you cannot imagine the drugs they gave me. i paced the floor. they gave me..very strong hallucinogenic drugs. they gave me 10 pills in the morning..10 in the afternoon and 10 at night, every single day. they gave me these drugs very fast and they gave me injections. an injection every day and in a few days i was gone. i was gone; saliva was coming out of my mouth'.
the doctors tried to destroy samir. 'they gave me electric shocks on my genitals..they used to give me an injection first to put me to sleep. i didn't see the machine, but i was 2 hands place the electrodes. they put them on wherever they want to hurt people. they said "it's time for you to get shocked". each course of electric shock therapy lasted 6 days, 6 times every morning'.

samir was released from the hospital after about 6 weeks, but he had nowhere to go and his family was more ashamed of him than ever. he went to a church, but CHURCHES ARE AFRAID TO OPENLY ASSIST NEW CHRISTIANS. 'supporting a new christian convert is a crime..every church, you find at the front door 2,3 or 4 cops related to the public safety police. they are there for the safety of..the congregation..but they are working with the govt..'

since his first visit to the mental hospital about 10 years ago, he has been admitted 5 more times. each time, he was held about 6 weeks. in one stay, he was beaten and had some teeth knocked out. but he was not without hope. curing one visit, he met 2 other christians. 'we used to pry together - 3 guys, together the whole time. we sat on the same bed..taking and reading the bible, a chapter every day, especially the 4 gospels. it gave me hope for when i got out'.

samir was released from his 6th hospital visit just 6 weeks before we interviewed him. his mind appears to be irreversibly damaged and he has continual tremors throughout his body, but his heart is still in God's hands. 'they changed me from a normal person, to a mentally retarded person'..in addition, the public safety police still call him often. 'they want to make sure i'm not talking about christianity anymore..IN THIS COUNTRY IT LOOKS NICE, PEOPLE LOOK NICE, EVERYTHING LOOKS NICE, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO (CHRISTIANITY), EVERYTHING IS CHANGED 360 degrees'.
samir is now being mentored by an..evangelist. 'it's my dream to have a small car and to get on with my life..i would take a few blind people and give them rides..to the church. it would give me the chance to serve the blind and the handicapped people. this is my dream'.

was led to pick up what i thot was a current copy of 'israel my glory' published by the friends of israel gospel ministry located in westville, nj. showing how little i know about what is happening there, i was moved by what i read and then by noting the date of publication, september/october 2006

editorial by bill sutters, executive director of the friends of israel, reporting on a recent field staff meeting...'we gathered under the banner of the foi mission statement: "a worldwide christian misistry communicating biblical truth about israel and the messiah, while fostering solidarity with the jewish people"..reports on the rise of anti-semitism where foi serves were disturbing. news from our workers in england and france was especially troubling. our staff's observations matched those in a june 16 article titled 'jews are under siege: a call to action' by charles jacobs and seth klarman in the new york jewish week: 'no one wants to think that 60 years after the holocaust, a new storm threatens jews everywhere. but reality cannot be avoided or minimized'. (my note: CORRECTION: EVERYONE EVERYWHERE IS THREATENED...ABORTION IS THE FOUNDATION OF THIS THREAT) ..several challanges and opportunities ..came into clear focus. first is the challenge to expose the serious error of replacement theology wherever it is found. this teaching which denies God's promises to israel and the jewish people, can only be sustained by an allegorical, rather than a literal, interpretation of God's prophetic word..historically it was used to marginalize the jewish people and even to subject them to violence...

over a year ago, in a good-faith attempt at conciliation to palestinian and international demands, isrel left the gaza strip. 8 to 10k israeli citizens were expelled from their homes by their own got and the israel defense forces were evacuated.
the move was promoted on the pretext that the palestinians would see the light at the end of the tunnel and that the green fields of statehood would beckon them to the other side. as for the jewish state, many believed disengagement would give israel a drop of tranquility in the vast ocean of arab hostility.
israel's unilateral withdrawal from gaza - for which it received no concessions in return - marked the 1st time in history that the palestinian arabs received independent territory. neither the muslim ottoman turks, who ruled the area for some 4 centuries, not the british, egyptians or jordanians ever allowed the palestinian arabs to govern themselves...
in the minds of many westerners and israelis, this show of good faith would provide a golden opportunity for the jewish state to be rewarded by responsible economic and social progress for the impoverished palestinian people. israel left behind all its agricultural and industrial equipment to facilitate palestinian growth and trade. in other words, the means were there for these arabs to go it alone and become more than slum-dwelling victims of irresponsible and indifferent palestinian leaders.
unfortunately, such was not the case. the next day the first of thousands of kassam rockets and mortar rounds began striking israeli towns. in addition to receiving a steady stream of volatile weapons into the strip, gaza rolled out the welcome mat for some of the world's most vicious terrorist killers. with the election of hamas to power and the acceleration of cross-border attacks, kidnappings and murders, the palestinian hierarchy made its intentions brutally clear; it would not create a peaceful, productive showcase to demonstrated to israel and the international community that palestinians were ready to make the leap into a viable state. western politicians were mystified and israel was rebuffed and left to suffer the consequences...
the goal is to fight until israel and the western democracies are destroyed. therefore, peace would put a serious crimp in their jihad-driven agenda. they want a nation whose people teach their children to strap on homicide belts, rather than one whose people work at good jobs'; receive suitable remuneration for their efforts; live on clean streets and teach their children reading, writing and arithmetic. (note: maybe i should dedicate myself to sharing the good news of Jesus with as many muslim people as possible before i die.)
the recent announcement by the al-aqsa martyrs brigade of the recruitment of 100 female suicide bombers, with more in line to sign up, exposes the heart of the matter. islamists are among the few people on the planet who deliberate defeats as victories..'celebrating martyrs simply means bragging about your own casualties'. this is precisely what people who value life and fight only to achieve a legitimate goal do not understand. for islamists, fighting is not a means to an end; it is an end in itself. (note: proposed theory: since we have gone to war against iraq in the 1990's to preserve our oil-driven prosperity...on a human level it has stirred somewhat sleeping islam...on the divine level, this judgment is meted out to those who have turned their backs on Him.)
..in 2000, arafat refused the offer of a palestinian state and ..opted for a war that would see thousands of new casualties among israelis and his own people. irrational? to us perhaps, but not according to the rules of the 1974 palestine national council in cairo, egypt, which agreed to accept territorial concessions and use them as sanctuaries from which to wage war until all israel is destroyed.
the determination of the stategy was confirmed when a hezbollah terrorist force rec3ently crossed the border into northern israel, killing 8 israeli soldiers and taking 2 others hostage. did hezbollah know israel would retaliate and that the lebanese people would be caught in the crossfire? certainly. but its concern was not for the people of lebanon. its concern was to create an opportunity to fire on israel from its stockpile of weapons that are longer in range and more deadly in accuracy than any it had used previously.
it is difficult to argue with reports that hezbollah terrorists acted as surrogates for the iranians who needed both relief from international pressure and shelter for their frantic attempt to develop weapons of mass destruction. if this was was, in fact, iran's doing, it was successful and will only rain more misery and destruction on the people of the middle east while it gears up to destroy the rest of us..
what has also been put on display for the world to see is that terrorists can successfully create a state-within-a-state situation in a country that becomes politically paralyzed. we now see how they can hold a country hostage and implement an agenda of their own at the expense of the people they victimize.
this was the case in the 1970s when arafat and his..plo used the same tactic in jordan. spurning the authority of king hussein, the plo terror groups staged cross-border attacks into israel. the israelis quickly retaliated, and the jordanian population paid for arafat's malicious adventurism.

but in this case, the archterrorist underestimated his opposition. jordan's late king had the forces and ability to handle the problem - and it wasn't thru vapid diplomatic blather at the un. he sent his troops on a bloody expedition against the plo and ousted them from the country in an episode remembered as black september.
in lebanon, however, the govt has not been in control of national affairs for decades. first, it was besieged by the late syrian president, hafez al-assad, and his occupation for ce. then, when the syrians withdrew in measure, hezbollah moved in to fill the void and carved out a ministate in south lebanon. thus, for the past 6 years, since israel withdrew from the southern security zone it maintained for 20 years, hezbollah moved into the area with its fingers on the trigger, awaiting its opportunity to make war.

article on the temple mount...although the international news media have perpetuated the notion that the current conflict is political (the palestinian people's right to 'their land') or national (the establishment of a palestinian state), the real cause has always been religious.

in 1970 the supreme islamic research council stated, 'the palestine question is not a national issue nor is it a political issue. it is first and foremost an islamic question'. furthermore, article 15 of the hamas covenant states, 'it is necessary to instill in the minds of the muslim generations that the plaestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis'.

as mortimer b. zuckerman, editor -in-chief of us news and world report, observed, 'for hamas, nationalism exists only as "part and parcel of the religious faith" '. shortly after hamas took control of the govt, one of its leaders, mahmoud al-zahar, openly declared that sharia law (islamic religious law) will soon rule in the palestinian territories.
hamas's all-controlling islamic agenda especially targets the temple mount. a picture of the islamic dome of the rock, which occupies the site of the jewish temple, is at the center of hamas's logo. surrounding it are the words there is no god but allah and muhummad is his prophet. hamas wants to 'liberate' the masjid al-aqsa, a term that refers to the entire platform containing the site's religious structures.
it intends to remove all jewish elements from the site and estalish islamic religious sovereignty. this goal is also inherint in the name of one of the leading terrorist groups responsible for dozens of shooting attacks and suicide bombings agianst israeli civilians; the al-aqsa martyrs brigades.

the name was chosen because the palestinian authority claims israel plans to destroy the mosques on the temple mount and rebuild the temple. the name symbolizes a resistance effort to defend islam and its holy places. even christian-born arabs, lured by palestinian propaganda and indoctrinated in replacement theology in their churches and schools, have joined this islamic terrorist organization.
because the islamic worldview recognizes the only relevant history of the region as that which began with muhammad, any statement that a jewish temple once occupied the haram (;noble enclosure', an islamic term for the site) is considered 'provocation' to the islamic mind...and is totally denied!...to minds that have been conditioned against critical thinking regarding their religion, no explanation is reasonable or welcome. this fact was made clear to me years ago when, after photographing stones in the retaining wall of the temple mount, an official of the islamic asked what i was doing. when i said i was researching the past history of the site, he intoned, 'you'd do better to forget the past and think about your future!'

consequently, muslims are hostile to israeli archaeological pursuits of the history of the hewish nation. they have rioted over excavations...consequently, you might expect that the israeli govt would cease trying to placate islamic religious sensibilities and exercise administrative control over the temple mount in order to properly excavate the site and prove to the islamic world the jewish claim to the city and the site. but it does not.
people are often perplexed as to why successive israeli administrations fail to deal decisively with the problem..in the past decade the situation has gone from bad to worse, with the palestinian mufti usurping authority from the jordanian mufti, moving his offices to the temple mount, closing the site to jews and destroying countless antiquities while constructing new mosques...why?!..
one factor is israel's precarious relationship with the international community in light of islamic terrorism and threats to the west, for which israel is being blamed. in the past, attempts by jewish groups to pray on the temple mount or hold demonstrations outside the walls of the old city have resulted in violent palestinian protests and brought swift condemnation from the un for acts of 'provocation'. the attempt to resolve the final status of jerusalem at the camp david II summit brought mediated negotiations between israel and the palestinians to an abrupt halt when the issue of sovereignty over the temple mount was raised.
and following a visit to the temple mount in sept. 2000 by ariel sharon, then the leader of the likud party and arab members of the knesset to investigate reports that the islamic waqf destroyed archaeological remains there, the palestinian authority staged a 2nd intifada (uprising) and banned all jews from the temple mount for the next 3 years until the israeli govt ended this unprecedented challenge to the status quo. this ban continues today with respect to the al-aqsa mosque, the dome of the rock and other sensitive areas.
another reason..many israeli authorities have already become resigned to the eventuality of a palestinian state and the accompanying surrender of israeli sovereignty over the temple mount.

..to hamas, this entire land is not only 'palestine' but 'islamic', and jihad must be waged until it is liberated by the annihilation of the jewish state. the hamas covenant mandates this stand:

"the islamic resistance movement believes that the land of palestine is an islamic waqf consecrated for future moslem generations until judgement day. it , or any part of it, should not be given up. neither a single arab country nor all arab countries, neither any king or persident, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they palestinian or arab possess the right to do that. palestine is an islamic waqf land consecrated for moslem generations until judgement day. this being so who could claim to have the right to represent moslem generations till judgement day?

this is the law governing the land of palestine in the islamic sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (islamic) conquests, the moslems consecrated these lands to moslem generations till the day of judgement."

interview with brigette gabriel a survivor of islam's jihad against lebanese christians; a former news anchor in jerusalem for middle east television; founder of americancongressforTruth.com; author of 'because they hate: a survivor of islamic terror warns america'

'i was raised in the only christian country in the middle east, lebanon. .there once were 2 non-muslim countries ..one..israel..and the other..lebanon, now under a muslim majority controlling influence.
when lebanon got its independence from france in the '40s, the majority of the population was christian. we didn't have any enemies. we were merchant descendants of the phoenicians, strong in commerce in which we prospered. in no time lebanon became the paris of the middle east, the banking capital of the middle east. we wee the only westernized arabic-speaking country in the region..
even though i was raised in a christian country, it was still an arabic country trying to please its neighbors, the arab muslims. even the christian private school i went to was affected. when we studied the bible, we only studied the new testament. i never saw the old testament or heard anything about it cause it was considered the enemy's bible. all i heard was israel is satan, israel is the devil, israelis are demons and they are the source of the problem in the middle east. i was taught the jews are evil, they are unstoppable and they want to control the world. i heard nothing but hatred toward the jews.
the christians in lebanon always had problems with the muslims, but we never thot our neighbors would turn on us. that situation was aggravated by the influx of the palestinians coming from jordan after king hussein kicked them out in black september. that's what tipped the scale in lebanon. not only had muslims become the majority, but they now also felt empowered by the presence of the palestinians and yasser arafat wanting to attack the christians, take over lebanon, and use it as a base from which to attack israel.

when the muslims and palestinians declared jihad on the christians in 1975, we didn't even know what that word meant. we had taken them into our country, allowed them to study side by side with us in our schools and universities. we gave them jobs, shared with them our way of life. we didn't realize the depth of their hatred toward us as infidels. they looked at us as the enemy, not as neighbors, friends, employers and colleagues. (to be continued?)

i just lost the last 2 hours of typing again. that makes about 6 hours over the last month. the librarian said possibly using what she called a flash drive could get around the problem. she also said that when its a long post, such as this that it might cause problems with acceptance. if any of you guys know anything that might help please let me know. maybe i'll just have to start cutting the posts up into smaller chunks. i'm discouraged right now...maybe God doesn't want me spending my time this way. the drive to is very strong. i need Your guidance Lord.

hope you have a good week. love, dad