My Soul Sings by Delirious
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
"All these are the beginning of sorrows" or "When the Son of man comes shall he find faith on the earth?"
By Dennis Edwards --
Today’s news broadcast has really gotten the Portuguese people in my area all upset. It’s just too many things in one day.
The main event that caused everyone to be on edge has been the killing of four people in a town about five kilometers from ours. It seems in a dispute about an inheritance a man killed his former wife, her parents and her adult son by her first marriage. Some years ago the perpetrator of the murders had had nearly a hundred workers. He was liked by his workers. At the present he had only two. He was in financial problems and the dispute was over the part of inheritance he thought should go to him. His in-laws wanted to leave their properties to their grandchildren, two of which were his. He told them he would kill them if they made a last-will-and-testament to that effect.
The in-laws notified the police which may have aggravated him even more. The police called him down to the squadron and he was required to turn in his weapon. He turned in his hunting rifle, but secretly kept two revolvers. The next morning at nine am he walked into his in-laws café when most of them were still in bed. He shot his ex-wife and mother-in-law with a shot to the head and heart. His father-in-law was shot but escaped to the shed in the back of the house to die there. His step-son tried to escape and he shot him twice in the back. All were dead before the ambulances arrived. Being a hunter he was an expect marksman.
I talked with next door neighbor who had been the first to enter the house after the shooting when the murderer had fled. He bemoaned that he hadn’t been able to sleep because of the gruesome sight he had encountered on entering the home of his neighbor of thirty years. It’s a very sad story, but it’s getting more and more common place every day.
The Portuguese have always been proud that the violence that happened elsewhere seemed to never touch their doors. But recently since the time that the internet and cable and disc TV entered into the country violence has increased each year. I remember reading a few years ago when the cable and disc television companies were first opening up their services in the country, how the police were anticipating in the next years a great increase of violence. Recently in an article by Dr. George Ellis, the famous South African scientist who worked with Stephen Hawking on the Big Bang theory, I read the following:
(What) I really want to say here, (is that) I think our biggest enemy in all of this is Hollywood. If you turn on the television, within 10 minutes and, absolutely, always, without exception, you will find the cinema TV is teaching people to — the way to solve problems is to kill people. And that is a message which is broadcast to the … people … in my country, sitting there. This is the role model which is offered to them. And what we've got to do is try to make available the alternative models where children learn, from the smallest ages 'til they're adults, that there are other ways to solve this, that there are peaceful solutions, there are ways in which you sit down and try and talk with people. You don't pull out a gun and shoot them, which is what Hollywood is teaching people daily, 24 hours a day. And I really think that is one of the major problems we have at this time. I'm not sure what one does about that.[1]
When an event like the murder above touches close to home you really begin to wonder where in the world are we headed? But not only was this shocking event the main headline in the national news, but the international news was just as bad. A massive earthquake killed thousands in Nepal and in the USA riots in Baltimore, Maryland caused the Governor to call out the National Guard. Just weeks ago we had a policeman killing a black man in cold blood as he tried to run away with five shots in the back. We have had ISIS cutting the throats of foreign prisoners in the Middle East and civil war in Ukraine, and students killed in Kenya.
Another Portuguese man was killed today in another city being shot three times in the head and left to die in his car. Last week in yet another case, a Portuguese man of twenty-seven, again about ten kilometers from where we live, walked up to his friend after he had gotten into his car to go to work and shot him dead. What is wrong with this picture? Where are we headed and why? Does anyone have a clue?
Yes, God does. He has given us clues in His word. When approached by his disciples and asked, “What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?”[2] Jesus responded with not just a few, but with dozens of “signs of the times.” I will review them here in case you are unfamiliar with them.
Jesus first warned that many would come in his name and deceive many.[3] How many different Christian religious groups and now New Age groups are coming in Jesus’ name? Yet, down in your heart you know that what they are preaching is just not right. We have many so-called Christian groups, besides the Jehovah Witnesses, and the Mormons. We also have the Moonies and the Hari-Krishnas. We have Reiki, yoga, spirit-science, transcendental meditation, Chakras, Deepak Chopra and plenty of other enlightened ones trying to show us "the way, the truth and the life."[3a] Jesus has warned us there would be many and that is certainly the case.
Next, Jesus said that we would also hear of wars and rumors of war, but the end would not be yet.[4] Well, here in Europe, as in the rest of the world, we have certainly had our share of wars. Jesus clarified further by saying,
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:[5]
A more recent translation uses the phrase “ethnic group against ethnic group” which is what we are seeing all around the world with different ethnic groups fighting each other within a country.
Continuing, Jesus said, “and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.[6]
We have seen famines in Sudan. Ebola in Western Africa and now we have another major earthquake in Nepal. Statistics seem to indicate that major seismological events are on the increase.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.[7]
Are we in fact seeing the beginnings of sorrows that Jesus warned about?
He then said, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”[8] Did you know that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world today? You see it with the beheadings in Libya, Syria, and Iraq, and with the killings in Kenya.
Jesus repeats his warning, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”[9]Could the false prophets be Church officials, national and international politicians, news casters, authors, talk show hosts, newspaper, journals, economists, teachers, professors and anyone else that is saying, “Don’t worry, everything will be alright.” You know, deep down in your heart, that everything is not going to be alright. Do we not certainly appear to be “on the eve of destruction,” as Bob Dylan used to sing? Paul said that the whole creation groans and travails in pain like a woman giving birth waiting to be delivered.[10] Are we not groaning to be delivered from the world around us which seems every day more full of hatred, greed, envy, strife, violence and crime?
Jesus also said, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”[11] How was it in the days of Noah? In Genesis we read,
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”[12]
“The earth was filled with violence.” Does that not sound like today’s violent world with domestic violence, violence at school, racial violence, police violence, robbings, rapings, murders, terrorists, and wars? Everywhere you turn you face violence, or experience the fear of violence. Like it says in Luke:
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of the heaven shall be shaken.”[13]
We are almost dying from fear. We are gripped with fear. We shut ourselves in our houses in fear. We don’t talk to our neighbors and are distrustful of nearly everyone. We build up the fences around our houses higher and higher with tighter and tighter security in hope our fears won’t come upon us. But God’s word says, “The fear of the wicked, shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.”[14]
Jesus went on to say that “because iniquity shall abound, like we saw in the days of Noah, the love of many shall wax cold.”[15]Has our love already waxed cold because we see so much iniquity all around us? The words of Jesus remind me of those of Nietzsche in his famous parable of the Madman. Let’s read it together.
The Madman
Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!" -- As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated? -- Thus they yelled and laughed.
The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him -- you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.
"How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us -- for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto."
Here the madman fell silent and looked again at his listeners; and they, too, were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, and it broke into pieces and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time is not yet. (In other words, the fruit of our killing God had not manifested itself yet, but it would in the future)This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars -- and yet they have done it themselves.
It has been related further that on the same day the madman forced his way into several churches and there struck up his requiem aeternam deo. (A requiem is a mass, or a musical composition for the soul of the dead, song during a mass for the dead. It literally means “a rest,” as in death, so we have the words: Rest Eternal God.) Led out and called to account, he is said always to have replied nothing but: "What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?"[16]
Nietzsche knew that the rejection of God would plunge mankind into an endless abyss of hopelessness. Jesus said the love of many would wax cold as a result of the increase in iniquity in the last days.[17] As Nietzsche said, "Has it not become colder?" It certainly seems like in our lifetime that it's become a bit colder even with all the talk of global warming! "Is not night continually closing in on us?" We have chosen darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil. [18]We have rejected the love and light of God. We have killed Him and have embraced the darkness. That darkness that promised us liberty was itself the servant of corruption and now we are in bondage to it.[19] We are in bondage to these false “isms” that promised us sexual and moral liberty, but instead have led us into moral corruption. Like David the psalmist wrote, “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?”[19a]We have destroyed the foundations of our Christian civilization and are witnessing its moral collapse.
Like the famous British philosopher and author of the twentieth century Aldous Huxley confessed:
"I had motives for not wanting the world to have meaning, consequently assumed it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption . The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics; he is also concerned to prove there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do . . For myself, as no doubt for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.”[20]
“We have objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.” And now we cannot escape. We have embraced relativism and rejected objective moral values. We now have no ultimate standard to judge right or wrong. We have killed God and all reason to be good. We are reaping what we have sowed.[21] The prophet Hosea warned, “For they have sown the wind (or empty foolish philosophies of man), and they shall reap the whirlwind.” Are we not reaping the whirlwind in the results of the sowing of the philosophies of evolution, relativism, utilitarianism, naturalism, humanism, agnosticism and atheism? All these “isms” ultimately deny God and any reason for us to follow the old moral dictates like “love thy neighbor as thyself,”[22] or “thou shalt not kill.”[23]We take a morning after pill or have an abortion and feel it is our choice, our democratic right.
We no longer have any moral compass to hold us onto the right path. Like Nietzsche asked, “Is there any up or down?” No, we have destroyed the ultimate reason for moral absolutes; those absolutes which we each feel deep within us and which are true for every man, woman or child; the rights of life, liberty, education, decent living conditions, work and the pursuit of happiness. “Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing?”
Daniel Webster, who lived from 1782 until 1852, the American orator and Secretary of State for three US Presidents warned,
If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is one to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper, but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.[23a]
Will some sudden catastrophe overwhelm our western civilization, our social democratic experiment and bury us in profound obscurity as has happened to other great empires before us? The psalmist David warned that all the nations that forget God will be turned into hell.[23b] Is our nation being turned into hell because we have forgotten our Maker?[23c]
We ask, why does God allow all this violence and suffering? Why doesn’t he put a stop to it? He will put a stop to it one day. But until then it is up to each and every one of us to do our part to make the world a better place. It is up to each one of us to walk in love with one another because deep down within our souls we know that love is the right way to walk. As John, the disciple said, “He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.”[24] Paul reminds us that "the greatest of these is love."[25]
God is not dead. Nietzsche is. God is not dead as long as you and I walk in love and are beacons of His love to others. Love is the power and the light of God. Choose to walk in God’s love. Choose love over hatred. Choose to make a difference. The choice is yours. "When the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?"[26]It's up to me and to you. Let's choose love! Amen!
Footnotes:
[2] Matthew 24:3b
[3] Matthew 24:4
[4] Matthew 24:6
[5] Matthew 24:7a
[6] Matthew 24:7b
[7] Matthew 24: 7c
[8] Matthew 24:9
[9] Matthew 24:11
[10] Romans 8:22,23 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also,... even we ourselves groan within ourselves....
[11] Matthew 24:37
[12] Genesis 6:5,11
[13] Luke 21:25,26
[14] Proverbs 10:24
[15] Matthew 24:12
[16] http://historyguide.org/europe/madman.htm; original source: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882, 1887) para. 125; Walter Kaufmann ed. (New York: Vintage, 1974), pp.181-82.]
[17] Matthew 24:12
[18] John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
[19] 2 Peter 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
[20] Aldous Huxley, "Confessions of a Professed Atheist," Report: Perspective on the News, Vol. 3, June 1966, p. 19 [grandson of evolutionist Thomas Huxley, Darwin's closest friend and promoter, and brother of evolutionist Julian Huxley. Aldous Huxley was one of the most influential liberal writers of the 20th century].
[21] Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap.
[22] Matthew 22:39
[23] Exodus 20:13
[23b]Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
[23c]Hosea 8:14 Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples; and Juda has multiplied fenced cities: but I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
[24] 1John 4:8
[25] 1Corinthians 13:13
[26] Luke 18:8
Robert Woodberry's Study Shows Missionary Make a Difference!
Proof That It Works—Part 1 By M. Fountaine
http://directors.tfionline.com/post/proof-it-workspart-one/
A while back I heard about an excellent academic study that I think can be very useful to each of us in strengthening our convictions to be God’s messenger, no matter where Jesus asks us to be. The evidence that is presented in this study by sociologist Robert Woodberry1 can be a great help in aiding us in formulating a factual, convincing, and irrefutable description of the positive influence of Christianity. Here’s something that an article in Christianity Today said regarding this study:
When white settlers in South Africa threatened to take over the natives’ land, a (19th-century missionary named John) Mackenzie helped his friend and political ally Khama III travel to Britain. There, Mackenzie and his colleagues held petition drives, translated for Khama and two other chiefs at political rallies, and even arranged a meeting with Queen Victoria. Ultimately their efforts convinced Britain to enact a land protection agreement. Without it, the nation of Botswana would likely not exist today.
A “quiet, persistent sociologist” named Robert Woodberry has made a convincing scientific argument that the annals of Western Protestant missions “include many John Mackenzies.”
In order to give you a clearer picture of what was presented in Woodberry’s study, I asked one of my co-workers to summarize the article and Woodberry’s study, parts of which I will incorporate into my presentation here.
Woodberry and his team spent 14 years amassing the data for his research, which supported the sweeping claim that areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in non-governmental associations.
Woodberry concluded that the positive effect of missionaries on democracy came from those who are called “conversionary Protestants.” He defined conversionary Protestants (CPs) as those who “(1) actively attempt to persuade others of their beliefs, (2) emphasize lay vernacular Bible reading, and (3) believe that grace/faith/choice saves people, not group membership or sacraments. CPs are not necessarily orthodox or conservative.” I think those three points sound a lot like TFI’s approach!
Protestant clergy financed by the state, as well as Catholic missionaries prior to the 1960s, had no comparable effect in the areas where they worked. As it turned out, being independent from governmental control made a big difference in the effectiveness of missionaries. Woodberry found that missionaries who were notfunded by government sources had more support from ordinary people. He discovered that those missionaries were the ones who did the most to campaign against abuses and to be the leaders in helping the common people to protect their lands, to end the opium trade, to fight abuse by landlords, to play key roles in the abolition movement, and more. They did this out of their love for people, because they cared about them and saw that they had been wronged, and wanted to help make things right.
These missionaries also fought for mass literacy and education, knowing that if everyone was equal in God’s eyes, everyone would need to access the Bible in their own language, and therefore they would need to know how to read. In making it possible for people to learn to read the Bible, at the same time they were giving people the ability to rise out of poverty and to establish democratic movements.
Philip Jenkins, a professor of history at Baylor University, said of this study:
“Try as I might to pick holes in it, the theory holds up. [It has] major implications for the global study of Christianity.”
Another professor said,
“[The study is] incredibly sophisticated and well grounded.”
Dr. Robin Grier, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, said of this work:
“I’m not religious. … I never felt really comfortable with the idea of [mission work]; it seemed cringe-worthy. Then I read Bob’s work. I thought, Wow, that’s amazing. [These missionaries] left a long legacy. It changed my views and caused me to rethink.”
The Christianity Today article goes on to say:
“Over a dozen studies have confirmed Woodberry’s findings. The growing body of research is beginning to change the way scholars, aid workers, and economists think about democracy and development.”
This is clear and convincing proof of the power of missionaries to bring positive benefits to cultures and individuals, and to have a powerful and consistent impact for good on the world.
As Christians we are called to be ambassadors of truth, love, wisdom, and freedom. Because of Jesus’ unconditional love for us, we are ready to sacrifice for the good of others. That stands as irrefutable proof for many people that what we tell them about God’s love is true. It changes lives and flies in the face of so many of the ills humanity struggles with, such as wars, violence, greed, quest for power, and exploitation. Our loving actions and words point to a better path.
What an idealistic, insightful, and commendable task! That’s why in so many places where missionaries have served, they are deeply respected by the local people. Christian missionary work has had tremendous benefits in nation after nation, and has been a powerful force in the lives of millions.
Life experience gained as a missionary can be a valuable part of a person’s résumé. It’s something that you can be proud of, because it indicates high levels of dedication, moral character, dependability, caring for others, self-discipline, honesty, and determination in reaching your goals. These are some of the most desirable characteristics for virtually any job.
Being a missionary requires dedication and determination. You have to be willing to stand up for what you believe in order to accomplish your purpose, whether you’re on some far-flung mission field or in your home country.
Your faith and the truth and love of Jesus are powerful qualities if you put them into action. Look at the twelve disciples. When they were following Jesus around, observing what He did and said, they didn’t stand out that much. But when they began to stand up and use each opportunity to be proud of the faith, training, and dedication that motivated them, even the learned leaders of their day, some of whom hated them, had to marvel.
Like the disciples, you will probably face opposition. But knowing the truth about how Jesus has changed you and what you have to offer can set you free. So use the facts, the evidence of the impact that Jesus working through you can have, to demonstrate what you as a Christian are part of. Some will value strong faith in the Lord and some will not, but its impact on the world will speak for itself. The more you allow His Spirit to shine through you, the more lives you’ll be able to touch and change for the better, wherever you are.
You are a part of the historically powerful good that Christians have to offer. The influence of your efforts will continue to change this world and carry on the wonderful legacy of truth, freedom, and purpose that Jesus has given us, and that we will rejoice for when He returns.
The Christianity Today article about Robert Woodberry is titled “The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries,” by Andrea Palpant Dilley, and is available here. (It is also available via Google News, when you search for it there.)
Woodberry’s original study, from 2012, which is the basis of this article, can be found here.
1 Robert Woodberry is an associate professor of Political Science and director of the Project on Religion and Economic Change at the National University of Singapore. He is also a non-resident scholar at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion and an associate scholar with the Berkley Center's Religious Freedom Project (RFP); he was a part of RFP’s Christianity and Freedom Project. Woodberry is a sociologist specializing in the impact of religion on political development and economic change.
A while back I heard about an excellent academic study that I think can be very useful to each of us in strengthening our convictions to be God’s messenger, no matter where Jesus asks us to be. The evidence that is presented in this study by sociologist Robert Woodberry1 can be a great help in aiding us in formulating a factual, convincing, and irrefutable description of the positive influence of Christianity. Here’s something that an article in Christianity Today said regarding this study:
When white settlers in South Africa threatened to take over the natives’ land, a (19th-century missionary named John) Mackenzie helped his friend and political ally Khama III travel to Britain. There, Mackenzie and his colleagues held petition drives, translated for Khama and two other chiefs at political rallies, and even arranged a meeting with Queen Victoria. Ultimately their efforts convinced Britain to enact a land protection agreement. Without it, the nation of Botswana would likely not exist today.
A “quiet, persistent sociologist” named Robert Woodberry has made a convincing scientific argument that the annals of Western Protestant missions “include many John Mackenzies.”
In order to give you a clearer picture of what was presented in Woodberry’s study, I asked one of my co-workers to summarize the article and Woodberry’s study, parts of which I will incorporate into my presentation here.
Woodberry and his team spent 14 years amassing the data for his research, which supported the sweeping claim that areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in non-governmental associations.
Woodberry concluded that the positive effect of missionaries on democracy came from those who are called “conversionary Protestants.” He defined conversionary Protestants (CPs) as those who “(1) actively attempt to persuade others of their beliefs, (2) emphasize lay vernacular Bible reading, and (3) believe that grace/faith/choice saves people, not group membership or sacraments. CPs are not necessarily orthodox or conservative.” I think those three points sound a lot like TFI’s approach!
Protestant clergy financed by the state, as well as Catholic missionaries prior to the 1960s, had no comparable effect in the areas where they worked. As it turned out, being independent from governmental control made a big difference in the effectiveness of missionaries. Woodberry found that missionaries who were notfunded by government sources had more support from ordinary people. He discovered that those missionaries were the ones who did the most to campaign against abuses and to be the leaders in helping the common people to protect their lands, to end the opium trade, to fight abuse by landlords, to play key roles in the abolition movement, and more. They did this out of their love for people, because they cared about them and saw that they had been wronged, and wanted to help make things right.
These missionaries also fought for mass literacy and education, knowing that if everyone was equal in God’s eyes, everyone would need to access the Bible in their own language, and therefore they would need to know how to read. In making it possible for people to learn to read the Bible, at the same time they were giving people the ability to rise out of poverty and to establish democratic movements.
Philip Jenkins, a professor of history at Baylor University, said of this study:
“Try as I might to pick holes in it, the theory holds up. [It has] major implications for the global study of Christianity.”
Another professor said,
“[The study is] incredibly sophisticated and well grounded.”
Dr. Robin Grier, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, said of this work:
“I’m not religious. … I never felt really comfortable with the idea of [mission work]; it seemed cringe-worthy. Then I read Bob’s work. I thought, Wow, that’s amazing. [These missionaries] left a long legacy. It changed my views and caused me to rethink.”
The Christianity Today article goes on to say:
“Over a dozen studies have confirmed Woodberry’s findings. The growing body of research is beginning to change the way scholars, aid workers, and economists think about democracy and development.”
This is clear and convincing proof of the power of missionaries to bring positive benefits to cultures and individuals, and to have a powerful and consistent impact for good on the world.
As Christians we are called to be ambassadors of truth, love, wisdom, and freedom. Because of Jesus’ unconditional love for us, we are ready to sacrifice for the good of others. That stands as irrefutable proof for many people that what we tell them about God’s love is true. It changes lives and flies in the face of so many of the ills humanity struggles with, such as wars, violence, greed, quest for power, and exploitation. Our loving actions and words point to a better path.
What an idealistic, insightful, and commendable task! That’s why in so many places where missionaries have served, they are deeply respected by the local people. Christian missionary work has had tremendous benefits in nation after nation, and has been a powerful force in the lives of millions.
Life experience gained as a missionary can be a valuable part of a person’s résumé. It’s something that you can be proud of, because it indicates high levels of dedication, moral character, dependability, caring for others, self-discipline, honesty, and determination in reaching your goals. These are some of the most desirable characteristics for virtually any job.
Being a missionary requires dedication and determination. You have to be willing to stand up for what you believe in order to accomplish your purpose, whether you’re on some far-flung mission field or in your home country.
Your faith and the truth and love of Jesus are powerful qualities if you put them into action. Look at the twelve disciples. When they were following Jesus around, observing what He did and said, they didn’t stand out that much. But when they began to stand up and use each opportunity to be proud of the faith, training, and dedication that motivated them, even the learned leaders of their day, some of whom hated them, had to marvel.
Like the disciples, you will probably face opposition. But knowing the truth about how Jesus has changed you and what you have to offer can set you free. So use the facts, the evidence of the impact that Jesus working through you can have, to demonstrate what you as a Christian are part of. Some will value strong faith in the Lord and some will not, but its impact on the world will speak for itself. The more you allow His Spirit to shine through you, the more lives you’ll be able to touch and change for the better, wherever you are.
You are a part of the historically powerful good that Christians have to offer. The influence of your efforts will continue to change this world and carry on the wonderful legacy of truth, freedom, and purpose that Jesus has given us, and that we will rejoice for when He returns.
The Christianity Today article about Robert Woodberry is titled “The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries,” by Andrea Palpant Dilley, and is available here. (It is also available via Google News, when you search for it there.)
1 Robert Woodberry is an associate professor of Political Science and director of the Project on Religion and Economic Change at the National University of Singapore. He is also a non-resident scholar at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion and an associate scholar with the Berkley Center's Religious Freedom Project (RFP); he was a part of RFP’s Christianity and Freedom Project. Woodberry is a sociologist specializing in the impact of religion on political development and economic change.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
What Does It Mean to Be Human?
A compilation
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/what-does-it-mean-be-human/
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/what-does-it-mean-be-human/
Audio length: 9:55
Download Audio (9MB)
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.—Genesis 1:26–271
*
You are a letter from Christ … written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.—2 Corinthians 3:3
*
The Christian story presents Christ as the truly human Son of God in whom and for whom all creation was made. Stepping into creation, Christ has come to restore the image of true humanity, drying the tears of a broken world, reviving the image of God within us, overcoming the enemies of sin and death.
In the company of [philosophers] Pascal and Solzhenitsyn, I find Christ to provide the only grounding that offers hope for the contradictions within us. Far more than a hope merely for the future or an escape vehicle from present reality, Christ redeems the tension within us, the tension between my identity as a child of God and a daughter of humanity. We are assured that the promise is ours: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.” For Christ is not only at work redeeming a fallen humanity, resuscitating our nature with his own, standing as the mediator who lifts us to God; Christ came to unite humanity with God so that we can be truly human as He is human.—Jill Carattini
Human value
While God created us along with all other things, He made us different from all other created things by making us in His image. He created us as unique beings and intimately breathed life into us.
He made us personal beings, able to enter a relationship with Him and other humans. He made us a combined physical and spiritual being by giving us body and spirit. And even though all humans have sinned against Him, He loves us so much that He made a way for humanity to become reconciled with Him through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.
God loves His image-bearing creatures, and He values us. Because God values human beings, each has intrinsic, essential value. This should cause us to value each human being. All humans, no matter what their gender, race, skin tone, or creed, are created equal. Each person bears God’s image and should be respected and treated as such. Neither one’s place nor one’s value in society diminishes a person’s intrinsic value.
Newborns, children, the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, the unborn, the hungry, widows, and prisoners, those you disagree with, even enemies—every human being, no matter what their condition, circumstance, or religious belief—has the dignity of being God’s image bearer, and deserves—and should be granted—equal honor and respect by all other human beings. Seeing others as God’s image bearers should rid us of racial, religious, and all other prejudices. It should cause us, as individuals, to view and treat others with respect, regardless of our differences.
It should also cause us to look at ourselves with respect and dignity. To realize that God loves and values us should help us to value ourselves mentally, physically, and spiritually. It should cause us to view ourselves positively, to take care of ourselves physically, to nurture our spirits with positive and godly input. It should remind us of the sanctity of our own lives, thus keeping us from harming ourselves in any way. We should recognize that despite any personal weaknesses or failures, how we may perceive our own worth, how we view our physical appearance or our education or mental abilities, we are valued by God and thus should value ourselves.
Realizing that God values human beings, that He loves and cares for us, should cause us to value humanity, to recognize the worth of every person, ourselves included, and to do what we can to live in harmony and peace with others.—Peter Amsterdam
Irreducible personhood
If a computer could be programmed so thoroughly with the strategies involved in chess that it could defeat our brightest champion, would we then say that this computer is more human than the world’s greatest chess player? Not likely, for to do so would reduce intelligence to computational efficiency, memory, and physical components.
Personhood, according to the Christian understanding, cannot be reduced to form or function. Indeed, our identity is sacred by definition, for we have been created by God to bear God’s image. We have been endowed with a moral nature, with the capacity to give love and to understand goodness. A child, then, does not find her worth in physical beauty or mental prowess, but in reflecting the beauty of her creator. There is a transcendent value to being human, rooted in the very being of God.
As we wade our way through the morass of bio-ethics, we must not look at the face and IQ of a human, but instead, to the face and mind of God. Only then can we truly understand what it means to be human.—Ravi Zacharias
God sent His Son
There have been many startling and significant moments in recorded history. In more recent history, for example, certain events stand out like the Reformation, the first heart transplant in 1967, or the first steps by man on the moon (1969). These are just three events that came to my mind among the scores of others that are studied in history.
But most important of all and from which all of these derive their date is one found in Galatians 4:4: “When the right time came, God sent forth his Son.” The Bible teaches that time and eternity collided when the God-man came among us, born of a virgin. The creator of time and Lord of eternity became a human being. Humanity and divinity collided (they did not become identical), and history would never be the same again!—Michael Suderman
Conceived in personhood
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.—Psalm 139:13–16
Created for righteousness
The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.—Proverbs 4:182
*
This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.—Martin Luther
Published on Anchor April 2015. Read by Debra Lee.
1 The Bible scriptures in this post are from the New International Version (NIV), unless indicated otherwise.
2 ESV.
Download Audio (9MB)
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.—Genesis 1:26–271
*
You are a letter from Christ … written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.—2 Corinthians 3:3
*
The Christian story presents Christ as the truly human Son of God in whom and for whom all creation was made. Stepping into creation, Christ has come to restore the image of true humanity, drying the tears of a broken world, reviving the image of God within us, overcoming the enemies of sin and death.
In the company of [philosophers] Pascal and Solzhenitsyn, I find Christ to provide the only grounding that offers hope for the contradictions within us. Far more than a hope merely for the future or an escape vehicle from present reality, Christ redeems the tension within us, the tension between my identity as a child of God and a daughter of humanity. We are assured that the promise is ours: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.” For Christ is not only at work redeeming a fallen humanity, resuscitating our nature with his own, standing as the mediator who lifts us to God; Christ came to unite humanity with God so that we can be truly human as He is human.—Jill Carattini
Human value
While God created us along with all other things, He made us different from all other created things by making us in His image. He created us as unique beings and intimately breathed life into us.
He made us personal beings, able to enter a relationship with Him and other humans. He made us a combined physical and spiritual being by giving us body and spirit. And even though all humans have sinned against Him, He loves us so much that He made a way for humanity to become reconciled with Him through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.
God loves His image-bearing creatures, and He values us. Because God values human beings, each has intrinsic, essential value. This should cause us to value each human being. All humans, no matter what their gender, race, skin tone, or creed, are created equal. Each person bears God’s image and should be respected and treated as such. Neither one’s place nor one’s value in society diminishes a person’s intrinsic value.
Newborns, children, the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, the unborn, the hungry, widows, and prisoners, those you disagree with, even enemies—every human being, no matter what their condition, circumstance, or religious belief—has the dignity of being God’s image bearer, and deserves—and should be granted—equal honor and respect by all other human beings. Seeing others as God’s image bearers should rid us of racial, religious, and all other prejudices. It should cause us, as individuals, to view and treat others with respect, regardless of our differences.
It should also cause us to look at ourselves with respect and dignity. To realize that God loves and values us should help us to value ourselves mentally, physically, and spiritually. It should cause us to view ourselves positively, to take care of ourselves physically, to nurture our spirits with positive and godly input. It should remind us of the sanctity of our own lives, thus keeping us from harming ourselves in any way. We should recognize that despite any personal weaknesses or failures, how we may perceive our own worth, how we view our physical appearance or our education or mental abilities, we are valued by God and thus should value ourselves.
Realizing that God values human beings, that He loves and cares for us, should cause us to value humanity, to recognize the worth of every person, ourselves included, and to do what we can to live in harmony and peace with others.—Peter Amsterdam
Irreducible personhood
If a computer could be programmed so thoroughly with the strategies involved in chess that it could defeat our brightest champion, would we then say that this computer is more human than the world’s greatest chess player? Not likely, for to do so would reduce intelligence to computational efficiency, memory, and physical components.
Personhood, according to the Christian understanding, cannot be reduced to form or function. Indeed, our identity is sacred by definition, for we have been created by God to bear God’s image. We have been endowed with a moral nature, with the capacity to give love and to understand goodness. A child, then, does not find her worth in physical beauty or mental prowess, but in reflecting the beauty of her creator. There is a transcendent value to being human, rooted in the very being of God.
As we wade our way through the morass of bio-ethics, we must not look at the face and IQ of a human, but instead, to the face and mind of God. Only then can we truly understand what it means to be human.—Ravi Zacharias
God sent His Son
There have been many startling and significant moments in recorded history. In more recent history, for example, certain events stand out like the Reformation, the first heart transplant in 1967, or the first steps by man on the moon (1969). These are just three events that came to my mind among the scores of others that are studied in history.
But most important of all and from which all of these derive their date is one found in Galatians 4:4: “When the right time came, God sent forth his Son.” The Bible teaches that time and eternity collided when the God-man came among us, born of a virgin. The creator of time and Lord of eternity became a human being. Humanity and divinity collided (they did not become identical), and history would never be the same again!—Michael Suderman
Conceived in personhood
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.—Psalm 139:13–16
Created for righteousness
The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.—Proverbs 4:182
*
This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.—Martin Luther
Published on Anchor April 2015. Read by Debra Lee.
1 The Bible scriptures in this post are from the New International Version (NIV), unless indicated otherwise.
2 ESV.
Abortionist Who Did Over 40,000 Abortions Becomes a Pro-Life Activist
http://www.lifenews.com/2015/04/27/abortionist-who-did-over-40000-abortions-becomes-a-pro-life-activist/
(LiveActionNews) — It should have been a routine abortion in the early second trimester. The woman was having her ninth abortion, as former Serbian abortionist Stojan Adasevic describes in the documentary “The First Hour.”
Adasevic, who is now a pro-life leader in Serbia, had performed over 48,000 abortions before doubts about the procedure made him stop —other sources claim that number is closer to 60,000.
Adasevic credits his pro-life conversion to two things: an unusual series of dreams, and this particularly disturbing experience he had while performing what should have been a routine abortion. He describes the procedure:
I opened up the womb, tore the placenta, the birth waters flowed out, and I got to work on the inside with my abortion forceps. I grabbed something, crushed it a little, removed it, and threw it onto a cloth. I look, and I see a hand – quite a large hand. The child was 3, perhaps 4 months old. I had no tape to measure it.
At three months, a preborn baby is fully formed with fingers and toes. All of the organs and body systems are present. The baby has fingerprints, and breathes amniotic fluid in preparation for life outside the womb. Adasevic goes on to say:
Someone had spilled some iodine on a part of the table and the hand fell in such a way that the nerve endings came in contact with the iodine. And what happened? I look and I say, “my God, the hand is moving by itself.” I nevertheless carry on with my forceps, and again catch something, crush it, and pull it out. I think to myself, “let it not be a leg.” I pull, and look. A leg.
I want to put the leg on the table, carefully, so that it isn’t near the moving hand. As my arm falls, I hear a bang behind my back. I jumped, and automatically, my grip on the forceps loosened. At this very moment, the leg completed a somersault and fell next to the hand.
I look – both hand and leg are moving by themselves. I nevertheless, once again, direct my instrument into the womb, and begin to crush everything inside. I think to myself that all I need to complete the picture is the heart. I continue to crush, and crush, and crush, and till I am sure that I have ground everything inside into a pulp, and once again pull out the forceps.
Like this pro-life news article? Please support LifeNews during our current fundraising campaign with a donation!
As I pull out the mess, thinking it will be bone fragments I lay it on the cloth, I look, and I see a human heart, contracting and expanding and beating, beating, beating. I thought I would go mad. I can see that the heartbeat is slowing, ever more slowly, and more slowly still, until it finally stops completely. Nobody could’ve seen what I had seen with my very own eyes, and be more convinced than I was — I had killed a human being.
This strange and terrible experience opened Adasevic’s eyes to the horror of what he was doing. This powerful encounter with the humanity of the preborn was stark in contrast to the training he received. In the documentary, Adasevic describes his daily work as an abortionist:
There were times when I used to carry out 20, 25, 30 or even 35 abortions every day. We used to work five days a week….
He had been trained to regard the preborn baby as subhuman. He had been taught that life did not begin until after the baby was born.
They taught us and they taught us, told us that life began with the first cry. When a baby cries for the first time. That up to that moment, a human being is like any other organ in a woman’s body, like an appendix. The removal of an appendix from a mother’s body is not murder.
Only a child that had been born, and had cried, could be killed. It hasn’t cried, then there can be no talk of murder. That is why, immediately after birth, children were taken and their heads submerged in a bucket of water. A child that would take in water instead of air. And would never cry. That was, therefore, not regarded as murder. Terrible, but that was how things were.
Abortion and infanticide, then, were morally permissible. Both were legal. Adasevic said he first began to question abortion when he began having unusual dreams. The documentary notes:
He dreamed about a beautiful field full of children and young people who were playing and laughing, from 4 to 24 years of age, but who ran away from him in fear. A man dressed in a black and white habit stared at him in silence.
The dream was repeated each night and he would wake up in a cold sweat. One night, he asked the man in black and white who he was. “My name is Thomas Aquinas.”
“Why don’t you ask me who these children are?” St. Thomas asked me in my dream.
“They are the ones you killed with your abortions,” St. Thomas told me.
Thomas Aquinas would be a strange figure to appear in an anti-abortion dream. Aquinas was not pro-life. He did not oppose abortion in his writings, and did not believe life began at conception. He believed that the soul did not enter the preborn baby until 40 days after conception (for a boy) or 80 days (for a girl). Prior to that, abortion was not considered to be wrong.
It is more likely that the abortionist’s dreams were a function of a subconscious mind wrestling with guilt. Ultrasound had recently become available, and it showed moving pictures of preborn babies. The new technology did not sway him – but he started having the series of dreams.
After the disturbing dreams and the horrific abortion experience, Adasevic told the hospital where he worked that he would no longer do abortions. His pro-life conversion came at great cost:
Never before had a doctor in Communist Yugoslavia refused to do so. They cut my salary in half, fired my daughter from her job, and did not allow my son to enter the university.
Adasevic has worked to change hearts and minds. He was responsible for the airing of a pro-life documentary on Serbian television. His dramatic conversion story is chilling, but also inspiring. A dedicated abortionist has become a pro-life hero.
Incidentally, Adasevic owes his life to another abortionist’s mistake. His mother was pregnant with him when she sought an abortion, but the abortionist botched it and he was born alive.
LifeNews.com Note: Sarah Terzo is a pro-life liberal who runs ClinicQuotes.com, a web site devoted to exposing the abortion industry. She is a member of the pro-life groups PLAGAL and Secular Pro-Life. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook. This originally appeared at Live Action News.
(LiveActionNews) — It should have been a routine abortion in the early second trimester. The woman was having her ninth abortion, as former Serbian abortionist Stojan Adasevic describes in the documentary “The First Hour.”
Adasevic, who is now a pro-life leader in Serbia, had performed over 48,000 abortions before doubts about the procedure made him stop —other sources claim that number is closer to 60,000.
Adasevic credits his pro-life conversion to two things: an unusual series of dreams, and this particularly disturbing experience he had while performing what should have been a routine abortion. He describes the procedure:
I opened up the womb, tore the placenta, the birth waters flowed out, and I got to work on the inside with my abortion forceps. I grabbed something, crushed it a little, removed it, and threw it onto a cloth. I look, and I see a hand – quite a large hand. The child was 3, perhaps 4 months old. I had no tape to measure it.
At three months, a preborn baby is fully formed with fingers and toes. All of the organs and body systems are present. The baby has fingerprints, and breathes amniotic fluid in preparation for life outside the womb. Adasevic goes on to say:
Someone had spilled some iodine on a part of the table and the hand fell in such a way that the nerve endings came in contact with the iodine. And what happened? I look and I say, “my God, the hand is moving by itself.” I nevertheless carry on with my forceps, and again catch something, crush it, and pull it out. I think to myself, “let it not be a leg.” I pull, and look. A leg.
I want to put the leg on the table, carefully, so that it isn’t near the moving hand. As my arm falls, I hear a bang behind my back. I jumped, and automatically, my grip on the forceps loosened. At this very moment, the leg completed a somersault and fell next to the hand.
I look – both hand and leg are moving by themselves. I nevertheless, once again, direct my instrument into the womb, and begin to crush everything inside. I think to myself that all I need to complete the picture is the heart. I continue to crush, and crush, and crush, and till I am sure that I have ground everything inside into a pulp, and once again pull out the forceps.
Like this pro-life news article? Please support LifeNews during our current fundraising campaign with a donation!
As I pull out the mess, thinking it will be bone fragments I lay it on the cloth, I look, and I see a human heart, contracting and expanding and beating, beating, beating. I thought I would go mad. I can see that the heartbeat is slowing, ever more slowly, and more slowly still, until it finally stops completely. Nobody could’ve seen what I had seen with my very own eyes, and be more convinced than I was — I had killed a human being.
This strange and terrible experience opened Adasevic’s eyes to the horror of what he was doing. This powerful encounter with the humanity of the preborn was stark in contrast to the training he received. In the documentary, Adasevic describes his daily work as an abortionist:
There were times when I used to carry out 20, 25, 30 or even 35 abortions every day. We used to work five days a week….
He had been trained to regard the preborn baby as subhuman. He had been taught that life did not begin until after the baby was born.
They taught us and they taught us, told us that life began with the first cry. When a baby cries for the first time. That up to that moment, a human being is like any other organ in a woman’s body, like an appendix. The removal of an appendix from a mother’s body is not murder.
Only a child that had been born, and had cried, could be killed. It hasn’t cried, then there can be no talk of murder. That is why, immediately after birth, children were taken and their heads submerged in a bucket of water. A child that would take in water instead of air. And would never cry. That was, therefore, not regarded as murder. Terrible, but that was how things were.
Abortion and infanticide, then, were morally permissible. Both were legal. Adasevic said he first began to question abortion when he began having unusual dreams. The documentary notes:
He dreamed about a beautiful field full of children and young people who were playing and laughing, from 4 to 24 years of age, but who ran away from him in fear. A man dressed in a black and white habit stared at him in silence.
The dream was repeated each night and he would wake up in a cold sweat. One night, he asked the man in black and white who he was. “My name is Thomas Aquinas.”
“Why don’t you ask me who these children are?” St. Thomas asked me in my dream.
“They are the ones you killed with your abortions,” St. Thomas told me.
Thomas Aquinas would be a strange figure to appear in an anti-abortion dream. Aquinas was not pro-life. He did not oppose abortion in his writings, and did not believe life began at conception. He believed that the soul did not enter the preborn baby until 40 days after conception (for a boy) or 80 days (for a girl). Prior to that, abortion was not considered to be wrong.
It is more likely that the abortionist’s dreams were a function of a subconscious mind wrestling with guilt. Ultrasound had recently become available, and it showed moving pictures of preborn babies. The new technology did not sway him – but he started having the series of dreams.
After the disturbing dreams and the horrific abortion experience, Adasevic told the hospital where he worked that he would no longer do abortions. His pro-life conversion came at great cost:
Never before had a doctor in Communist Yugoslavia refused to do so. They cut my salary in half, fired my daughter from her job, and did not allow my son to enter the university.
Adasevic has worked to change hearts and minds. He was responsible for the airing of a pro-life documentary on Serbian television. His dramatic conversion story is chilling, but also inspiring. A dedicated abortionist has become a pro-life hero.
Incidentally, Adasevic owes his life to another abortionist’s mistake. His mother was pregnant with him when she sought an abortion, but the abortionist botched it and he was born alive.
LifeNews.com Note: Sarah Terzo is a pro-life liberal who runs ClinicQuotes.com, a web site devoted to exposing the abortion industry. She is a member of the pro-life groups PLAGAL and Secular Pro-Life. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook. This originally appeared at Live Action News.
Monday, April 27, 2015
How Much Does God Care?
By Peter Amsterdam
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/how-much-does-god-care/
Audio length: 7:02
Download Audio (6.4MB)
I once heard three different people say three different but connected things within the span of a week, which got me thinking about God’s interaction and participation in my life.
One person said that he didn’t know if God actually cares about what we do in our lives, and that He may not be interested in the choices we make beyond accepting salvation. That person felt that perhaps most of our choices don’t matter to Him—especially if they aren’t significant choices.
The second person said that he had listened to a podcast in which the speaker presented a position that God only intervenes in our lives after we have reached the limits of our means of finding His will—that He expects us to exhaust all available means and do everything we are able to do before He will intervene.
The third person brought up the point of view that when God made the world, He was like a clockmaker who assembled and wound up the clock and then walked away, letting it run completely on its own. God did the initial work of creation, and He created the laws of nature, but from that point on, He has let things run themselves without further involvement or intervention.
In the days that followed, I reflected on these comments. These outlooks disturbed me. Something inside me caused me to resist the thought that God didn’t care or want to be involved in my life, or that to get His attention I had to work so hard at it that it barely seemed worth the trouble.
If any of these three concepts are true, then what beyond salvation would I need God for? What good is He to me? In times of tumult, when I need help and direction, I need the confidence that I can get His guidance and not be wondering if He cares or will get involved.—Or how bad things have to become before He will do so.
When I mulled over these three points of view, I was reminded that God has intervened in my life on several occasions in ways which made it clear to me that He isinterested in the decisions I make. There was one time, years ago, when I had a dream which gave me the answer before I even knew the question. The dream preceded my being offered two different jobs within the few days that followed. The dream made it very clear which offer to take, and doing so put me on the direct path that led me to my major work for the Lord.
There have been numerous times when I have sought the Lord’s guidance and have received direction from Him. I’ve sought for solutions in prayer and found them. I’ve asked Him to give me answers, and He has—through speaking to me in prophecy, speaking to my heart, by reading His Word, and through circumstances. He’s given me clear counsel and direction which, when followed, has worked. I know from personal experience that God cares, that He is interested in me and intervenes in my life.
Over and over again in both Old and New Testaments, there are examples of God’s interaction with man—His intervention in events, His giving guidance and counsel, direction or warning.
The Bible explicitly states that we should look to God for guidance in our decision-making, and that if we do, He will give us direction:
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.1
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.2
In the Psalms, David clearly showed that he believed in God’s guidance when he prayed, “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee.”3
Jesus said that if we are in need, we should:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.4
Jesus believed His Father would guide Him in decisions, as evidenced when He selected the apostles from among His disciples:
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles.5
It’s evident from Scripture that God wants to and will interact with us if we want Him to.
Jesus also promised that once He physically left the earth, the Father would send the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers. He said that the Holy Spirit would live in us.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.6
If God was going to send His Spirit to dwell within me forever, then it stands to reason that He is interested in me as an individual, and in what I do and the decisions I make. I would make the case that He’s actually quite interested. And not just interested butinvolved.
I see plenty of evidence that God wants to be part of my life, to play an active role, even an interactive role. He and I are working together. His Spirit—dwelling within me, guiding my decision-making—helps me in my journey through life.
In a number of Bible translations the word “Counselor,” used to describe the Holy Spirit, is rendered as Helper. I like that image—God’s Spirit being my Helper. I love it that God is an active part of my life, that He is interested in me, in who I am and what I do.
I’m so grateful that He didn’t just wind me up and walk away, but that instead He gave me the means to interact with Him through His Word and His Spirit. I love it that His Spirit dwells within me.
Originally published September 2010. Adapted and republished April 2015.
Read by Jon Marc.
Footnotes:
1 Proverbs 3:6 NKJV.
2 Psalm 32:8 NKJV.
3 Psalm 143:8 KJV.
4 Matthew 7:7–8 ESV.
5 Luke 6:12–13 NASB.
6 John 14:16–17,20 NIV.
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/how-much-does-god-care/
Audio length: 7:02
Download Audio (6.4MB)
I once heard three different people say three different but connected things within the span of a week, which got me thinking about God’s interaction and participation in my life.
One person said that he didn’t know if God actually cares about what we do in our lives, and that He may not be interested in the choices we make beyond accepting salvation. That person felt that perhaps most of our choices don’t matter to Him—especially if they aren’t significant choices.
The second person said that he had listened to a podcast in which the speaker presented a position that God only intervenes in our lives after we have reached the limits of our means of finding His will—that He expects us to exhaust all available means and do everything we are able to do before He will intervene.
The third person brought up the point of view that when God made the world, He was like a clockmaker who assembled and wound up the clock and then walked away, letting it run completely on its own. God did the initial work of creation, and He created the laws of nature, but from that point on, He has let things run themselves without further involvement or intervention.
In the days that followed, I reflected on these comments. These outlooks disturbed me. Something inside me caused me to resist the thought that God didn’t care or want to be involved in my life, or that to get His attention I had to work so hard at it that it barely seemed worth the trouble.
If any of these three concepts are true, then what beyond salvation would I need God for? What good is He to me? In times of tumult, when I need help and direction, I need the confidence that I can get His guidance and not be wondering if He cares or will get involved.—Or how bad things have to become before He will do so.
When I mulled over these three points of view, I was reminded that God has intervened in my life on several occasions in ways which made it clear to me that He isinterested in the decisions I make. There was one time, years ago, when I had a dream which gave me the answer before I even knew the question. The dream preceded my being offered two different jobs within the few days that followed. The dream made it very clear which offer to take, and doing so put me on the direct path that led me to my major work for the Lord.
There have been numerous times when I have sought the Lord’s guidance and have received direction from Him. I’ve sought for solutions in prayer and found them. I’ve asked Him to give me answers, and He has—through speaking to me in prophecy, speaking to my heart, by reading His Word, and through circumstances. He’s given me clear counsel and direction which, when followed, has worked. I know from personal experience that God cares, that He is interested in me and intervenes in my life.
Over and over again in both Old and New Testaments, there are examples of God’s interaction with man—His intervention in events, His giving guidance and counsel, direction or warning.
The Bible explicitly states that we should look to God for guidance in our decision-making, and that if we do, He will give us direction:
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.1
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.2
In the Psalms, David clearly showed that he believed in God’s guidance when he prayed, “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee.”3
Jesus said that if we are in need, we should:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.4
Jesus believed His Father would guide Him in decisions, as evidenced when He selected the apostles from among His disciples:
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles.5
It’s evident from Scripture that God wants to and will interact with us if we want Him to.
Jesus also promised that once He physically left the earth, the Father would send the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers. He said that the Holy Spirit would live in us.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.6
If God was going to send His Spirit to dwell within me forever, then it stands to reason that He is interested in me as an individual, and in what I do and the decisions I make. I would make the case that He’s actually quite interested. And not just interested butinvolved.
I see plenty of evidence that God wants to be part of my life, to play an active role, even an interactive role. He and I are working together. His Spirit—dwelling within me, guiding my decision-making—helps me in my journey through life.
In a number of Bible translations the word “Counselor,” used to describe the Holy Spirit, is rendered as Helper. I like that image—God’s Spirit being my Helper. I love it that God is an active part of my life, that He is interested in me, in who I am and what I do.
I’m so grateful that He didn’t just wind me up and walk away, but that instead He gave me the means to interact with Him through His Word and His Spirit. I love it that His Spirit dwells within me.
Originally published September 2010. Adapted and republished April 2015.
Read by Jon Marc.
Footnotes:
1 Proverbs 3:6 NKJV.
2 Psalm 32:8 NKJV.
3 Psalm 143:8 KJV.
4 Matthew 7:7–8 ESV.
5 Luke 6:12–13 NASB.
6 John 14:16–17,20 NIV.
It wasn’t just the Armenians: The other 20th century massacres we ignore
By Adam Taylor, Washington Post, April 24, 2015
This week is being marked as the 100th anniversary of the killings of more than a million Armenians during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. Despite considerable opposition from the Turkish government, the anniversary is bringing renewed attention to an often overlooked historical issue, with President Obama in particular facing criticism for not using the word “genocide” to describe the killings. This didn’t happen by accident. The attention placed on the massacre this year is the result of a long and coordinated campaign by Armenia and the Armenian diaspora to ensure that a dark and sometimes disputed part of history wasn’t forgotten. It was this campaign that has slowly dragged the Armenian tragedy out of obscure disputes and into mainstream discussion. It doesn’t always work that way, though. In fact, what happens far more often is that the difficult parts of history often are forgotten or ignored. The 20th century was bloody and violent, and while some horrors are at least relatively well-known–the Holocaust or the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia, for example–others have become mere footnotes in history. So, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian killings, here are some of the lesser-known massacres of the 20th century, many of which are considered genocides, too. Unfortunately, because history is so bloody, this list is far from exhaustive. The Herero and Namaqua genocide. When Pope Francis referred to the 1915 killings recently and sparked a backlash from Turkey, he not only called the killings a genocide, but also “the first genocide of the 20th century.” Even if historians would agree with the former, they might have some disagreements with the latter. Between 1904 and 1908, tens of thousands of Herero and Namaqua people were killed in what is now Namibia during German colonial rule. These people were indigenous to an area then known a German South West Africa which was the first colony of Germany, a latecomer to the imperial land grab. After uprisings by both the Herero and the Namaqua, a German general in charge of the region ordered that the indigenous people should be “annihilated” or, if this was not possible, expelled from the land. Unarmed men, women and children were killed by German troops, and huge numbers of Herero and Namaqua people were sent to concentration camps as a form of collective punishment. It’s now thought that as many as 70,000 Herero and 7,000 Namaqua died. In 2004, Germany apologized for the killings, now thought to be the first genocide of the 20th century. Many see the killings as a precursor to the Holocaust. The Ottoman killings of Assyrians and Greeks. The Armenians weren’t the only group targeted during the chaotic collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It’s thought that as many as 250,000 Assyrians, mostly Christians, living in Mesopotamia were killed by Ottoman forces during the period around World War I. Many of those who survived were dispersed throughout the Middle East. A handful of governments, including Armenia, have recognized the killings as a genocide. At the same time, in Anatolia, the Ottoman Empire killed hundreds of thousands of Greek Christians. While the total number of deaths is unclear, some estimates put it at more than 1 million. Since 1994, Greece has held a remembrance for the killings, which it views as a genocide. Holodomor. Between 1932 and 1933, estimates say that as many of 10 million Ukrainians–almost a third of the population at the time–were killed by a devastating famine. The mass starvation was of a truly horrific scale: There were reports of cannibalism, and entire villages were wiped out. It’s not just the scale of the famine that merits its inclusion here. Most agree now that the famine was man-made, designed by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to either eradicate private landowners or perhaps the targeting of Ukrainians as an ethnic group. In 2006, Ukraine’s parliament officially recognized the “Holodomor”–or “Death by Hunger”–as a genocide. But Russia, like the Soviet Union before it, has resisted calls for any compensation for the mass deaths. The Nanking Massacre. In 1937, during the Sino-Japanese war, the Imperial Japanese Army marched into Nanking, then the Chinese capital. The city, now known as Nanjing, was left virtually undefended, and tens of thousands of civilians were killed, if not more (Chinese historians tend to put the number at 300,000, a higher estimate than their Western peers). The six-week spree of violence left the city devastated in many ways. The post-World War II International Military Tribunal for the Far East concluded that some 20,000 rapes occurred during the first month of Japanese occupation, lending the tragedy its other grim name: “The Rape of Nanking.” Thanks to some remarkable scholarship over the past few decades, the Nanking Massacre is hardly obscure anymore. But it remains a disputed issue, with Japanese nationalists (and the current Japanese government) accused of downplaying its significance, or even suggesting that it never happened. The German Expulsions. While the horrors committed by Nazi Germany are well known, what’s lesser acknowledged is what happened to the Germans scattered in Eastern Europe after Germany lost the war. These Germans, who had been left living in places that reverted to Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, had to make their way back to Germany and Austria. Many were forcibly expelled from their homes, some were sent to internment camps. R.M. Douglas, a historian who studies the expulsions, has described it as “not merely the largest forced migration but probably the largest single movement of population in human history,” with more than 12 million civilians forced out. It was effectively what would now be considered “ethnic cleansing,” Douglas argued, and, inevitably, masses died–at least 473,000 by one count. “The Nazis’ crimes had been far worse,” German newspaper Der Spiegel wrote in 2011, “but the suffering of ethnic Germans was immense.” The aftermath of the 30th September Movement. Following a failed coup d’etat in 1965 by a group referred to as the 30th September Movement, General Suharto led an anti-communist purge in Indonesia that eventually turned into widespread massacres around the country. In the end, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), once one of the largest, was virtually wiped out: Estimates for the number of dead start at 500,000. For decades, there was little discussion of the killings in 1965-1966. Few foreign observers saw the events and many foreign governments–including the United States–viewed the anti-communist movement as a good thing. When Suharto became president in 1967, an official silence was installed across the country. Suharto would end up being president for 32 years: To this day, communist organizations are officially banned. It was only in the past few years that discussions about the terrible events began to take place. In 2010, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court struck down a ban on several books about the coup that mentioned the killings. In 2012, American filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer released “The Act of Killing,” a documentary that saw perpetrators act out their killings, which sparked renewed international attention. The Bangladesh Genocide. The Partition of India after 1947 saw one of the world’s largest migrations ever: Some estimates suggest 2 million or more died in the chaos. It also left Pakistan split between the main rump of its body to the west of the new state of India, and a smaller province of East Bengal, later renamed East Pakistan, to the east. This split state didn’t last, with terrible consequences. In 1971, West Pakistan began a military crackdown on Bengali calls for independence, which eventually led to a nine-month war that birthed Bangladesh. That war resulted in an estimated 10 million refugees, and while there is no clear death toll, estimates put the number of deaths in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands. The Bangladeshi government has said that as many as 3 million people died, and many observers consider it a genocide. The war’s toll on women was also especially awful: Estimates say that at least 200,000 people were raped. Recent investigations have also focused on the role the United States could have, and perhaps should have, played in ending the conflict. Pakistan was reliant on U.S. military hardware, journalist Gary J. Bass noted in his book “The Blood Telegram,” but President Richard Nixon was fearful of using it, as Pakistan was a secret conduit for communications to communist China. Ethiopia’s Red Terror. Between 1976 and 1978, the Ethiopian government ran a brutal counter-insurgency campaign which they dubbed “Red Terror.” Following the political vacuum created when Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by a military junta in 1974, a new Marxist government, led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, sought to eradicate the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party and other opposition groups. Estimates of those left dead vary greatly–Human Rights Watch says that the figure was “certainly well in excess of 10,000” and that the killings were “one of the most systematic uses of mass murder by a state ever witnessed in Africa.” Other estimates say as many as 500,000 were killed. Mengistu was deposed in 1991, and fled to exile in Zimbabwe. In 2006, an Ethiopian court found him guilty of genocide, though some doubt that the label is appropriate, as the killings did not target one particular group. Mengistu remains free in Zimbabwe. |
God’s Presence in Times of Difficulty: “Thou Art With Me”
By Dennis Edwards--
It almost seems that today we are in a perpetual crisis. Almost every single day seems like the mountains are too high and the valleys are too low. The mental and emotional difficulties we are passing through as a world seem insurmountable. We may wonder where God is in times like these.
I have been thinking back to another time in my life when things were really tough, not only physically, but spiritually, mentally, psychologically and financially. That was the time I was living in a western European country, when the local officials arrested me and took custody of my children.
I was accused of fraud, of forming an illegal association, which means an association whose aims were to overthrow the government, and not giving my children a proper education. I had been home-schooling them at the time. The accusations were fabricated and false as the later court cases proved. But while being questioned and retained for seventy-two hours, my four school aged children were taken by the local welfare authorities.
After a difficult nearly two months without visitation rights or communication rights, I finally was able to visit my children under police and social service observation for thirty minutes. I would go through a harrowing period of emotional, psychological, and financial pressure before my children were returned to me one year later. It would not be until four years afterwards that the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court would finally vindicate me.
Yes, I felt God had abandoned me, but in fact He was drawing me closer to Him. I remember one day pouring out my heart in prayer as both my mind and faith were fainting. I couldn’t see how I could go on any longer. I cried,
“God, I can’t take it any longer. I’m not going to make it. I am not strong enough.”
He answered me,
“You are not suppose to be. But remember, I am. Remember also, that two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.[1] Meditate on these things.”
Right away, I knew exactly what He was getting at.
In the home-church fellowship I had helped organize was a single mom who also had been home-schooling her children. Her two children had been taken from her at the same time as mine. I liked her from the first, but I didn’t want to get involved emotionally as I was still recovering from a failed marriage which had ended in divorce. But now the Lord was telling me,
“If you don’t get involved, you are not going to make it.”
I thought,
“Okay, Lord, I’ll follow.”
Three months later we were married. Ten months on our first child was born and we have had four more since. In November, we will celebrate 25 years of marriage. Out of what seemed like defeat, God got a great victory. He works in wonderful ways His wonders to perform.
My children ended up in custody for one year. However, my new marriage relationship was the way of escape that God gave me, that I might be able to bear it.[2] The criminal case against me for fraud and forming an illegal association was defeated and the local government’s appeal rejected by the Supreme Court.[3]
The home-schooling case went all the way to the Constitutional Court where the judges upheld the Regional Court’s decision in my favor giving a ruling precedent for families to legally home-school their children.
In the end, God did not abandon me. By yielding to his voice and following His leading, I had found a strong help-meet. God did not leave me comfortless. He comforted me and sent me a comforter, one that I could actually hold and caress, my lovely wife. Together we look back at that period of our lives as some of the most rewarding we have ever lived.
Those times of difficulty strengthened our connection with God, deepened our relationship with Him and fortified our personal convictions. As soldiers of war glory in their days of action, we, too, were on the front lines. We were in the papers, on the news, appearing on radio programs, talking with lawyers, psychologists, policemen, judges and government officials. We were standing up for our convictions and we felt God’s presence with us.
At times it was difficult. At times we were at wits ends. But God did not leave us comfortless. He came to us and He helped us. He raised up people in our defense. He lifted us up. He raised up people to help us with our physical needs. He strengthened us and saved us from our enemies who were too strong for us to overcome. He raised up new friends. God is good. He does not fail. All things work together for good to those who love Him and trust Him. Will you?.
Footnotes:
[1] Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
[2] 1Corinthians 10:13
[3] http://www.cesnur.org/testi/TheFamily/spain.htm
U.N. Refugee Official Calls Situation in Syria and Iraq ‘Unsustainable’
By Rick Gladstone, NY Times, April 24, 2015
The war that has engulfed Syria and spread into Iraq has displaced 14 million people, including four million Syrian refugees scattered to neighboring countries, and it has created “host fatigue,” which has further aggravated the crisis, United Nations officials said Friday.
In remarks to the United Nations Security Council, the officials also rebuked its 15 members for what they called a failure to exert authority to intervene in the four-year-old Syria war, which has left 220,000 people dead.
The officials described the Iraqi territorial gains of the Islamic State, the Syria-based extremist group, as an unforeseen shock to an already overstretched emergency aid system. They called the crisis in both countries a contributor to the surge of people risking death at sea to reach Europe.
“One thing is clear: the situation in the region has become utterly unsustainable,” António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said in remarks to the Council. He called the crisis “a cancer that risks spreading and metastasizing.”
Mr. Guterres was one of four United Nations officials who briefed the Council–the others were his agency’s celebrity global emissary, Angelina Jolie Pitt; Valerie Amos, the departing emergency relief coordinator; and Staffan de Mistura, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy for Syria.
Mr. de Mistura’s briefing was held privately. Officials at the United Nations offices in Geneva said earlier Friday that he had invited representatives of Syria’s government and opposition groups to meet with him there separately next month as part of his effort to revive peace talks.
Mr. de Mistura’s efforts, like those of the two special envoys that preceded him and resigned in frustration, have shown little sign of progress.
The remarks by Ms. Jolie Pitt, who has visited Syrian refugees 11 times since the war began, were in some ways the most eagerly anticipated because of her celebrity aura. They were also among the harshest.
“International humanitarian law prohibits torture, starvation, the targeting of schools and hospitals–but these crimes are happening every day in Syria,” she said. “The Security Council has powers to address these threats to international peace and security–but those powers lie unused.”
Ms. Jolie Pitt, who has been a representative of United Nations causes for 13 years, also said: “We cannot look at Syria, and the evil that has arisen from the ashes of indecision, and think this is not the lowest point in the world’s inability to protect and defend the innocent.”
Many Syrian refugees, she said, had lost all hope. She invited Council members to visit them in the refugee camps of neighboring countries to “see first hand their suffering and the impact it is having on the region.”
Mr. Guterres expressed particular worry about enormous stresses imposed on Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, which have absorbed nearly all of the Syrians who have fled, echoing recent Jordanian warnings that “we are seeing a growing ‘host fatigue.’ “
“There are increasing tensions between communities, as local families struggle harder to cope the longer the conflict drags on,” he said.
The situation in Iraq has been compounded by that country’s own surging population of displaced people. Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity, said in a statement Friday that 2.6 million Iraqis were now on the run from conflict. Ms. Amos, in her remarks to the Council, despaired over what she described as widespread disregard for its resolutions requiring humanitarian aid access to civilians. She said “the government, armed and terrorist groups continue to kill, maim, rape, torture and take Syria to new lows that seemed unimaginable a few years ago.”
The war that has engulfed Syria and spread into Iraq has displaced 14 million people, including four million Syrian refugees scattered to neighboring countries, and it has created “host fatigue,” which has further aggravated the crisis, United Nations officials said Friday.
In remarks to the United Nations Security Council, the officials also rebuked its 15 members for what they called a failure to exert authority to intervene in the four-year-old Syria war, which has left 220,000 people dead.
The officials described the Iraqi territorial gains of the Islamic State, the Syria-based extremist group, as an unforeseen shock to an already overstretched emergency aid system. They called the crisis in both countries a contributor to the surge of people risking death at sea to reach Europe.
“One thing is clear: the situation in the region has become utterly unsustainable,” António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said in remarks to the Council. He called the crisis “a cancer that risks spreading and metastasizing.”
Mr. Guterres was one of four United Nations officials who briefed the Council–the others were his agency’s celebrity global emissary, Angelina Jolie Pitt; Valerie Amos, the departing emergency relief coordinator; and Staffan de Mistura, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy for Syria.
Mr. de Mistura’s briefing was held privately. Officials at the United Nations offices in Geneva said earlier Friday that he had invited representatives of Syria’s government and opposition groups to meet with him there separately next month as part of his effort to revive peace talks.
Mr. de Mistura’s efforts, like those of the two special envoys that preceded him and resigned in frustration, have shown little sign of progress.
The remarks by Ms. Jolie Pitt, who has visited Syrian refugees 11 times since the war began, were in some ways the most eagerly anticipated because of her celebrity aura. They were also among the harshest.
“International humanitarian law prohibits torture, starvation, the targeting of schools and hospitals–but these crimes are happening every day in Syria,” she said. “The Security Council has powers to address these threats to international peace and security–but those powers lie unused.”
Ms. Jolie Pitt, who has been a representative of United Nations causes for 13 years, also said: “We cannot look at Syria, and the evil that has arisen from the ashes of indecision, and think this is not the lowest point in the world’s inability to protect and defend the innocent.”
Many Syrian refugees, she said, had lost all hope. She invited Council members to visit them in the refugee camps of neighboring countries to “see first hand their suffering and the impact it is having on the region.”
Mr. Guterres expressed particular worry about enormous stresses imposed on Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, which have absorbed nearly all of the Syrians who have fled, echoing recent Jordanian warnings that “we are seeing a growing ‘host fatigue.’ “
“There are increasing tensions between communities, as local families struggle harder to cope the longer the conflict drags on,” he said.
The situation in Iraq has been compounded by that country’s own surging population of displaced people. Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity, said in a statement Friday that 2.6 million Iraqis were now on the run from conflict. Ms. Amos, in her remarks to the Council, despaired over what she described as widespread disregard for its resolutions requiring humanitarian aid access to civilians. She said “the government, armed and terrorist groups continue to kill, maim, rape, torture and take Syria to new lows that seemed unimaginable a few years ago.”
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Tell Me More About Albert Pike Albert Pike's Background
http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike.htm
Jump to Albert Pike & Three World Wars.
About Albert Pike
Albert Pike was born on December 29, 1809, in Boston, and was the oldest of six children born to Benjamin and Sarah Andrews Pike. He studied at Harvard, and later served as a Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, Pike was found guilty of treason and jailed, only to be pardoned by fellow Freemason President Andrew Johnson on April 22, 1866, who met with him the next day at the White House. On June 20, 1867, Scottish Rite officials conferred upon Johnson the 4th to 32nd Freemasonry degrees, and he later went to Boston to dedicate a Masonic Temple.
Adelph (or Brother), and Companion of Ulysses (or Companion of Penelope).
The Albert Pike Monument
During his leadership, Mazzini enticed Albert Pike into the (now formally disbanded, but still operating) Illuminati. Pike was fascinated by the idea of a one world government, and when asked by Mazzini, readily agreed to write a ritual tome that guided the transition from average high-ranking mason into a top-ranking Illuminati mason (33rd degree). Since Mazzini also wanted Pike to head the Illuminati's American chapter, he clearly felt Pike was worthy of such a task. Mazzini's intention was that once a mason had made his way up the Freemason ladder and proven himself worthy, the highest ranking members would offer membership to the secret 'society within a society'.
It is for this reason that most Freemasons vehemently deny the evil intentions of their fraternity. Since the vast majority never reach the 30th degree, they would not be aware of the real purpose behind Masonry. When instructing Pike how the tome should be developed, Mazzini wrote the following to Pike in a letter dated January 22, 1870. Remember that Freemasonry wasn't started by Pike - rather it was infiltrated by the Illuminati who were looking for a respectable forum in which to hide their clandestine activities:
"We must allow all the federations to continue just as they are, with their systems, their central authorities and their diverse modes of correspondence between high grades of the same rite, organized as they are at the present, but we must create a super rite, which will remain unknown, to which we will call those Masons of high degree whom we shall select. With regard to our brothers in Masonry, these men must be pledges to the strictest secrecy. Through this supreme rite, we will govern all Freemasonry which will become the one international center, the more powerful because its direction will be unknown." 1
In 1871, Pike published the 861 page Masonic handbook known as the Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.
After Mazzini's death on March 11, 1872, Pike appointed Adriano Lemmi (1822-1896, 33rd degree Mason), a banker from Florence, Italy, to run their subversive activities in Europe. Lemmi was a supporter of patriot and revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, and may have been active in the Luciferian Society founded by Pike. Lemmi, in turn, was succeeded by Lenin and Trotsky, then by Stalin. The revolutionary activities of all these men were financed by British, French, German, and American international bankers; all of them dominated by the House of Rothschild.
Between 1859 and 1871, Pike worked out a military blueprint for three world wars and various revolutions throughout the world which he considered would forward the conspiracy to its final stage in the 20th Century.
In addition to the Supreme Council in Charleston, South Carolina, Pike established Supreme Councils in Rome, Italy (led by Mazzini); London, England (led by Palmerston); and Berlin, Germany (led by Bismarck). He set up 23 subordinate councils in strategic places throughout the world, including five Grand Central Directories in Washington, DC (North America), Montevideo (South America), Naples (Europe), Calcutta (Asia), and Mauritius (Africa), which were used to gather information. All of these branches have been the secret headquarters for the Illuminati's activities ever since.
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Previous: Introduction to Conspiratorial History
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You might be interested in the following external links:
Albert Pike Defense: Defenses of certain Pike assertions taken from Walter Lee Brown, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his book "A Life of Albert Pike," published by the U. of Arkansas press, 1997.
Freemasonry Inside Out:
This sensational new analysis of the Masonic brotherhood examines the basic question asked for almost 300 years by the general public and surprisingly by many masons themselves; ‘If Freemasonry is simply a fraternal and charitable organisation, why is there an almost fanatical obsession with secrecy and mysterious rituals?’ E-book.
A Collection of places named after Albert Pike (Schools, streets, towns, counties, temples, windows, paintings, medals, bronzes, rocks and river pools)
Layout of Washington D.C. and discussion of how President Andrew Johnson considered himself to be the subordinate to Albert Pike, the leader of North American Freemasonry.
Looking for pictures of Albert Pike?
Books by Albert Pike
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Beyond the Law : The Religious and Ethical Meaning of the Lawyer's Vocation
Book of the Words
Digest Index of Morals & Dogma 1909
Esoteric Work of the 1 Degree - 3 Degree, According to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
Evil Consequences of Schisms and Disputes for Power in Masonry and of Jealousies and Dissensions Between Masonic Rites, 1858
Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of His Dead Brethren
General Albert Pike's Poems 1900
Historical Inquiry in Regard to the Grand Constitutions of 1786 - 1883
Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems
Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship As Contained in the Rig-Veda
Irano-Aryan Faith and Doctrine As Contained in the Zend-Avesta
Lectures of the Arya
Lectures on Masonic Symbolism and a Second Lecture on Symbolism or the Omkara and Other Inefable Words
Legenda and Readings of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Liturgies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 4 Degree - 30 Degree
Liturgy of the Blue Degrees
Lyrics and Love Songs - 1899
Magnum Opus or the Great Work: The Complete Ritual Work of Scottish Rite Freemasonry
Masonic Baptism: Reception of a Louveteau and Adoption
Masonry of Adoption: Masonic Rituals for Women Complete With the Verbatim Degree Lectures and the "Secret Work"
Meaning of Masonry
Narrative of a Journey in the Prairie - 1835
Old Cashier of the 33d Degree
The Point Within the Circle: Freemasonry Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols
The Porch and the Middle Chamber: Book of the Lodge
Prose Sketches & Poems Written in the Western Country - 1834
Pythagoras and Hermes
Rituals of Old Degrees
What Masonry Is & Its Objects; Ancient Ideals in Modern Masonry - 1919
Footnotes
1. Lady Queensborough: Occult Theocracy, pp. 208-209.
2, 3, 4. Cmdr. William Guy Carr: Quoted in Satan: Prince of This World.
Jump to Albert Pike & Three World Wars.
Very few outsiders know about the intimate plans of Albert Pike and the architects of the New World Order. In the 19th Century Albert Pike established a framework for bringing about the One World Order. Based on a vision revealed to him, Albert Pike wrote a blueprint of events that would play themselves out in the 20th century, with even more of these events yet to come. It is this blueprint which we believe unseen leaders are following today, knowingly or not, to engineer the planned Third and Final World War.
About Albert Pike
Albert Pike was born on December 29, 1809, in Boston, and was the oldest of six children born to Benjamin and Sarah Andrews Pike. He studied at Harvard, and later served as a Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, Pike was found guilty of treason and jailed, only to be pardoned by fellow Freemason President Andrew Johnson on April 22, 1866, who met with him the next day at the White House. On June 20, 1867, Scottish Rite officials conferred upon Johnson the 4th to 32nd Freemasonry degrees, and he later went to Boston to dedicate a Masonic Temple.
Pike was said to be a genius, able to read and write in 16 different languages, although I cannot find a record anywhere of what those languages were. In addition, he is widely accused of plagiarism, so take with a pinch of salt. At various stages of his life we was a poet, philosopher, frontiersman, soldier, humanitarian and philanthropist. A 33rd degree Mason, he was one of the founding fathers, and head of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, being the Grand Commander of North American Freemasonry from 1859 and retained that position until his death in 1891. In 1869, he was a top leader in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Incidentally, Freemasonry itself is a fascinating subject and I could devote an entire website to it. Simon Gray, a Freemason, has compiled a stunning amount of information on Freemasonry that I recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about it.
Pike was said to be a Satanist, who indulged in the occult, and he apparently possessed a bracelet which he used to summon Lucifer, with whom he had constant communication. He was the Grand Master of a Luciferian group known as the Order of the Palladium (or Sovereign Council of Wisdom), which had been founded in Paris in 1737. Palladism had been brought to Greece from Egypt by Pythagoras in the fifth century, and it was this cult of Satan that was introduced to the inner circle of the Masonic lodges. It was aligned with the Palladium of the Templars. In 1801, Issac Long, a Jew, brought a statue of Baphomet (Satan) to Charleston, South Carolina, where he helped to establish the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Long apparently chose Charleston because it was geographically located on the 33rd parallel of latitude (incidentally, so is Baghdad), and this council is considered to be the Mother Supreme Council of all Masonic Lodges of the World.
Pike was Long's successor, and he changed the name of the Order to the New and Reformed Palladian Rite (or Reformed Palladium). The Order contained two degrees:
Adelph (or Brother), and Companion of Ulysses (or Companion of Penelope).
Pike's right-hand man was Phileas Walder, from Switzerland, who was a former Lutheran minister, a Masonic leader, occultist, and spiritualist. Pike also worked closely with Giusseppe Mazzini (pictured at left) of Italy (1805-1872) who was a 33rd degree Mason, who became head of the Illuminati in 1834, and who founded the Mafia in 1860. Together with Mazzini, Lord Henry Palmerston of England (1784-1865, 33rd degree Mason), and Otto von Bismarck from Germany (1815-1898, 33rd degree Mason), Albert Pike intended to use the Palladian Rite to create a Satanic umbrella group that would tie all Masonic groups together.
Albert Pike died on April 2, 1891, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, although the corpse of Pike currently lies in the headquarters of the Council of the 33rd degree of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in Washington, D.C. (see The Deadly Deception, by Jim Shaw - former 33rd degree Mason and Past Master of all Scottish Rite bodies.)
The Albert Pike Monument
Albert Pike made his mark before the war in Arkansas as a lawyer and writer, but as a Confederate Brigadier General, he was, according to the Arkansas Democrat of July 31, 1978, a complete "WASH-OUT," not a hero. Yet, Gen. Albert Pike is the only Confederate general with a statue on federal property in Washington, DC. He was honoured, not as a commander or even as a lawyer, but as Southern regional leader of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The statue stands on a pedestal near the foot of Capitol Hill, between the Department of Labor building and the Municipal Building, between 3rd and 4th Streets, on D Street, NW. More background on the colorful history of the statue can be found at the Masonic Info website. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Lyndon H. LaRouche and his vice presidential running mate, the Reverend James Bevel, launched a mobilization to remove the statue of General Albert Pike from Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square. On February 1, the campaign drew an angry attack from freemasonic leader C. Fred Kleinknecht, who attempted to defend both Pike and the Ku Klux Klan from LaRouche and Bevel's attack. A speech by Anton Chaitkin entitled 'Why Albert Pike's Statue Must Fall' can be found here (September 21, 1992).
The Illuminati and Albert Pike
Adam Weishaupt (1748 - 1811) formed the Order of Perfectibilists on May 1, 1776 (to this day celebrated as May Day throughout many western countries), which later became known as the Illuminati, a secret society whose name means "Enlightened Ones". Although the Order was founded to provide an opportunity for the free exchange of ideas, Weishaupt's background as a Jesuit seems to have influenced the actual character of the society, such that the express aim of this Order became to abolish Christianity, and overturn all civil government.
An Italian revolutionary leader, Giusseppe Mazzini (1805-1872), a 33rd degree Mason, was selected by the Illuminati to head their worldwide operations in 1834. (Mazzini also founded the Mafia in 1860). Because of Mazzini's revolutionary activities in Europe, the Bavarian government cracked down on the Illuminati and other secret societies for allegedly plotting a massive overthrow of Europe's monarchies. As the secrets of the Illuminati were revealed, they were persecuted and eventually disbanded, only to re-establish themselves in the depths of other organizations, of which Freemasonry was one.
During his leadership, Mazzini enticed Albert Pike into the (now formally disbanded, but still operating) Illuminati. Pike was fascinated by the idea of a one world government, and when asked by Mazzini, readily agreed to write a ritual tome that guided the transition from average high-ranking mason into a top-ranking Illuminati mason (33rd degree). Since Mazzini also wanted Pike to head the Illuminati's American chapter, he clearly felt Pike was worthy of such a task. Mazzini's intention was that once a mason had made his way up the Freemason ladder and proven himself worthy, the highest ranking members would offer membership to the secret 'society within a society'.
It is for this reason that most Freemasons vehemently deny the evil intentions of their fraternity. Since the vast majority never reach the 30th degree, they would not be aware of the real purpose behind Masonry. When instructing Pike how the tome should be developed, Mazzini wrote the following to Pike in a letter dated January 22, 1870. Remember that Freemasonry wasn't started by Pike - rather it was infiltrated by the Illuminati who were looking for a respectable forum in which to hide their clandestine activities:
"We must allow all the federations to continue just as they are, with their systems, their central authorities and their diverse modes of correspondence between high grades of the same rite, organized as they are at the present, but we must create a super rite, which will remain unknown, to which we will call those Masons of high degree whom we shall select. With regard to our brothers in Masonry, these men must be pledges to the strictest secrecy. Through this supreme rite, we will govern all Freemasonry which will become the one international center, the more powerful because its direction will be unknown." 1
After Mazzini's death on March 11, 1872, Pike appointed Adriano Lemmi (1822-1896, 33rd degree Mason), a banker from Florence, Italy, to run their subversive activities in Europe. Lemmi was a supporter of patriot and revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, and may have been active in the Luciferian Society founded by Pike. Lemmi, in turn, was succeeded by Lenin and Trotsky, then by Stalin. The revolutionary activities of all these men were financed by British, French, German, and American international bankers; all of them dominated by the House of Rothschild.
Between 1859 and 1871, Pike worked out a military blueprint for three world wars and various revolutions throughout the world which he considered would forward the conspiracy to its final stage in the 20th Century.
In addition to the Supreme Council in Charleston, South Carolina, Pike established Supreme Councils in Rome, Italy (led by Mazzini); London, England (led by Palmerston); and Berlin, Germany (led by Bismarck). He set up 23 subordinate councils in strategic places throughout the world, including five Grand Central Directories in Washington, DC (North America), Montevideo (South America), Naples (Europe), Calcutta (Asia), and Mauritius (Africa), which were used to gather information. All of these branches have been the secret headquarters for the Illuminati's activities ever since.
Next: More About Albert Pike
Previous: Introduction to Conspiratorial History
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You might be interested in the following external links:
Albert Pike Defense: Defenses of certain Pike assertions taken from Walter Lee Brown, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his book "A Life of Albert Pike," published by the U. of Arkansas press, 1997.
Freemasonry Inside Out:
This sensational new analysis of the Masonic brotherhood examines the basic question asked for almost 300 years by the general public and surprisingly by many masons themselves; ‘If Freemasonry is simply a fraternal and charitable organisation, why is there an almost fanatical obsession with secrecy and mysterious rituals?’ E-book.
A Collection of places named after Albert Pike (Schools, streets, towns, counties, temples, windows, paintings, medals, bronzes, rocks and river pools)
Layout of Washington D.C. and discussion of how President Andrew Johnson considered himself to be the subordinate to Albert Pike, the leader of North American Freemasonry.
Looking for pictures of Albert Pike?
Books by Albert Pike
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Beyond the Law : The Religious and Ethical Meaning of the Lawyer's Vocation
Book of the Words
Digest Index of Morals & Dogma 1909
Esoteric Work of the 1 Degree - 3 Degree, According to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
Evil Consequences of Schisms and Disputes for Power in Masonry and of Jealousies and Dissensions Between Masonic Rites, 1858
Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of His Dead Brethren
General Albert Pike's Poems 1900
Historical Inquiry in Regard to the Grand Constitutions of 1786 - 1883
Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems
Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship As Contained in the Rig-Veda
Irano-Aryan Faith and Doctrine As Contained in the Zend-Avesta
Lectures of the Arya
Lectures on Masonic Symbolism and a Second Lecture on Symbolism or the Omkara and Other Inefable Words
Legenda and Readings of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Liturgies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 4 Degree - 30 Degree
Liturgy of the Blue Degrees
Lyrics and Love Songs - 1899
Magnum Opus or the Great Work: The Complete Ritual Work of Scottish Rite Freemasonry
Masonic Baptism: Reception of a Louveteau and Adoption
Masonry of Adoption: Masonic Rituals for Women Complete With the Verbatim Degree Lectures and the "Secret Work"
Meaning of Masonry
Narrative of a Journey in the Prairie - 1835
Old Cashier of the 33d Degree
The Point Within the Circle: Freemasonry Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols
The Porch and the Middle Chamber: Book of the Lodge
Prose Sketches & Poems Written in the Western Country - 1834
Pythagoras and Hermes
Rituals of Old Degrees
What Masonry Is & Its Objects; Ancient Ideals in Modern Masonry - 1919
Footnotes
1. Lady Queensborough: Occult Theocracy, pp. 208-209.
2, 3, 4. Cmdr. William Guy Carr: Quoted in Satan: Prince of This World.
