worldmag, 10.23.2010, p8..thecase against dutch politician geert wilders went to court in amsterdam starting oct. 4 and could land the 47 year old conservative lawmaker and head of the freedom party up to a year in jail and a fine. wilders is charged with inciting discrimaination and hatred and with insulting a people on religious grounds. responding to what he calls muslim-led 'street terror', wilders has called for banning the quran and further immigration from islamic countries to the netherlands. in the u.s. he has been a vocal critic of building a new mosque near new your's ground zero. muslims in the netherlands charge that his remarks have poisoned attitudes toward them: 'my family and i no longer feel safe in the netherlands because mr. wilders is continually making hateful remarks about islamic dutch people, ' said one complaint read out by the judge. wilders said in an opening statement, 'i am standing trial..because of my opinions on islam..and because the dutch establishment - most of them non-muslims - wants to silence me. i have been dragged to court beuse in my country freedom can no longer be fully enjoyed. in europe the national state and increasingly the eu, prescribes how citizens - including democratically elected politiicians such as myself - should think and what we are allowed to say'.
it is interesting, as we enter another dark age, to live through this major 'turn' of history that has been experienced before...but never experienced by so many! the m.o. is rapidly moving toward the mode of communication in 'the emporer's new clothing' once again. there will however be a few who will flame out in the dense darkness of untruth...and maybe an errant spark from their extinction will create a new fire..and light!! long live geert wilder's spirit..truth speakers of the world speak and, preferably, live truth to the death.
moishe rosen, founder of jews for jesus recently entered the heavenly hosts. this from his biography..'in late summer of 1961 the couple (moishe and ceil) were surprised to find out the ceil was pregnant. originally they had talked about having 4 children, but ruth's severe illness at birth had confirmed tha additional pregnancies would exacerbate the rh incompatibility and result in fetal death. now, despite conscientious birth control, ceil was expecting. she could tell by comparing it with the other preganancies that something was wrong. moishe kept reassuring her that everything would be okay, but early in her 8th month, she went into labor and their little boy was stillborn.
in describing the experience decades later, moishe said, "both of us went numb. i backslid. i didn't run around and get drunk. i didn't do anything different at all. it's just that i emotionally shut down. i threw myself into the work. i stopped praying. ididn't read the scripture. when it came to sensing any presence of God, i was just numb. but the day after the baby died i preached in 2 different churches.
here's the surprise: that backslidden state lasted most of that year and it was a most successful year in ministry. i prayed in public like i had always prayed. i preached what i had always believed. but i didn't have any strength, or to use the yiddish word, coyach. it was like sleepwalking. i just went from one thing to another..everything became a duty that i did well.
then something happened. i became spiritually awakened...i feel that God reached down and lifted me. i feel that the many achievements were just due to the fact that i did my duty. and God soke trough me, even though for that period of time i was not acquainted with Him".
for moishe, the tragic experience was the polar opposite of his joyous discovery of God's care for him as a new believer in new jersey, as God provided in ways he never would have expected. having experienced such wonderful provision and protection, moishe was stunned by the firsthand knowledge that truly terrible things not only can, but do happen even to those who trust God. he doubtless knew it intellectually, but now he knew it personally and was shaken to his core.
there was no single event that reconnected moishe's emotions to his intellect, no particular revelation that resored his spirit. what he described as 'God lifting me' others might call healing. even so, he never again responded to an impending crisis by assuring himself or others involdved that everything would be ok'.
'christian' prayer requests which do not at all reflect true prayer...
1. for abul who is branded falsely as a thief so that others in his bangladeshi village won't listen to him about his faith..'pray for abul's acquittal and that his name will be cleared.'
how about, Lord, in light of Your words, 'blessed are you when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of Me. rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. for in this way they persecuted the prophets who were before you', we exult with abul in the reward he has waiting in heaven. thank You for helping abul to live the blessed life here! we pray that Your will will be done in all of our lives no matter what that means. give abul and each of this the blessedness of suffering with You, as You dear Lord suffer so much for, with and often because of (!) us. we praise you.
2. the bodies of 3 foreign christian relief workers were found..in pakistan on august 25..pray for the safety of christian aid workers there'.
how about, Lord, You have said, 'precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of His saints'. it is so heartening, in this heartless, rejecting world full of sinners to know that a vast, almost incomprehensible change awaits! we are a moment from being welcomed into Your presence, the only One who looks at us who are Your children as precious!! Your word says, '..if we live we live for the Lord and if we die we die for the Lord. therefore whether we live or die we are the Lord's' help us to live with all confidence that nothing can or will happen to us outside of Your will. so let us be as bold as lions...as a lamb surrounded by wolves..confident that wherever You have us doing Your will - that we will remain there confidently doing Your will until You decide to welcome us in!!!! (also, Lord, if there are aid workers there who don't know and trust You please get them safely out of there.)..
3. christian students in zanzibar recently were prohibited from worshipping at a university..pray for restoration of christian students' right to worship at ..the university..
how about, Lord help us not to have any' rights'. isn't that strange when the disciples have rights when the master they are seeking to become like had none? instead help us to joyfully 'not resist the evil man' but instead try to help him. whatever he demands help us to do more than what he demands, overcoming his evil with our good. but as far as what You command help as to be careful to do it exactly. You say, 'sing unto the Lord a new song. sing unto the Lord all the earth. shew forth His salvation from day to day. declare His glory among the heathens, His wonders among all peoples. for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised....and 'make disciples..of all nations. so help these students and myself to openly conduct worship wherever we are and are going to or from if they don't want us to at a set place. actually we can't obey the above in a set place as well as on the move or wherever we happen to be at any time. open Thou our lips that our mouths may sing forth Your praise. put a new song in our mouths telling of all the good that the Lord is and is doing for us so that many will see and fear and will trust in You. help us to do this to the death if need be so that we might be obedient to Your words. for, Lord, You say whoever shall annul one of the least of Your commandments and so teach others shall be called least in Your kingdom and this is involving Your great commission to us while we are here...hardy the least of Your commandment. what shall we be called if we annul this because of the words of a puny little man?
oct. 2010, voice of the martyrs...testimony from uzbekistan before the court in a situation where this member of a church which the government was seeking to destroy had been harassed and jailed by the authorities. ..'at the trial, which lasted about 6 weeks, aimurat finally testified on his own behalf. "honored court. i listened to the testimonies of all the witnessed on this case and not one of them testified to anything about a crime based on charges against me teaching religious doctrines and organization or participation in a fundamentalist religious organization. i never persuaded anyone to believe or not to believe in Jesus Christ - that is a personal matter of each individual person.
my who guilt is that i believe and will continue to believe with all my heart, in Jesus Christ, and i will never conceal from anyone what i believe in. this faith helped me change for the better and my father and my brother are witnesses to this, as they know what i was like before i believed.
my only request to the court, which the Almighty God i believe in gave the power to judge people on this earth, is to make a fair decision on my case. i believe that justice will triumph. God bless you'.
when lenin landed in st. petersburg during the russian revolution of 1917, he had 2 goals - eliminate the capitalist bourgeois system and eradicate christianity. he failed on both accounts..
after seizing control of russia in the 1917 revolution, lenin wrote a 'call to the muslime'. he declared, 'muslimpeople of russia..all of your mosand religious places were being destroyd during the reign of the czar..from today your beliefs and ideals will prevail and should remain free forever'.
lenin's
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment