Bishop Thomas Weeks, the ex-husband of evangelist Juanita Bynum, is starting a reality show to find a new wife. The show will be titled Holy Hook Up. Sounds classy … *roll my eyes*
What he said… March 10, 2008
I met Aaron once, around 6 years ago when my friend Matt got married. He’s the lead singer of Spur58 and a really honest, real and organic believer. I enjoy reading his blog because he says some really sage things that often confirm for me things I’ve felt in my spirit.
This is his post from today – and all I have to say is “ditto”.
http://aaronivey.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/in-black-and-white/
A Plea to Evangelicals January 14, 2008
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/01/a-plea-to-evang.html#more
All I have to say is “AMEN” !
Tears and inspiration from a survivor and friend January 6, 2008
I’m exhausted. I returned from Chicago today after wrapping up the UOAA Strategic Planning meeting. More about that later. But I wanted to share an email that was shared with me this weekend that absolutely touched my soul.
Those of you that know me well know of my admiration for Tony Snow, former White House press secretary. I had the pleasure of meeting Tony in February 2007 (you can read about it HERE). Tony is a colon cancer survivor, former IBD patient and an honorary Great Comebacks award winner. His cancer returned this past year just weeks after I met him at the Great Comebacks awards ceremony. I’ve not only followed Tony’s journey with cancer because of the IBD and ostomy connection, but also because of his strong faith and the spiritual journey his disease has taken him on.
At the meeting this weekend, a fellow board member and past Great Comebacks award winner shared with me an email from Rolf Beinerschke, former San Diego Charger kicker and founder of the Great Comebacks program.
Tony Snow may be losing his battle with cancer, but the grace and humility he has shown in his journey, and the lives of those he touches along the way will leave a legacy that reaches far beyond the grip of death.
Dear Great Comebacks family,
Earlier this year we had the privilege of meeting Tony Snow and his family at the National Great Comebacks Award celebration in Washington DC when we presented him with the 2007 Honorary Great Comebacks Award for overcoming the challenges he faced as a result of colon cancer. As we’re sure you will all agree, it was a very powerful evening. Ironically, however, ten days following the celebration Tony learned that the cancer had returned and he again had to endure the difficult chemotherapy treatments. Rolf just received a copy of Tony’s testimony and asked me to send it to all of you who had the opportunity to meet him. It is tremendously articulate and well written and a powerful reminder for all of us of what is really important. Please keep Tony and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
Warm regards,
Barb on behalf of Rolf
This is an outstanding testimony from Tony Snow, President Bush’s Press Secretary, and his fight with cancer. Commentator and broadcaster Tony Snow announced that he had colon cancer in 2005. Following surgery and chemo-therapy, Snow joined the Bush Administration in April 2006 as press secretary.
Unfortunately, on March 23, 2007 , Snow, 51, a husband and father of three, announced the cancer had recurred, with tumors found in his abdomen,- leading to surgery in April, followed by more chemotherapy. Snow went back to work in the White House Briefing Room on May 30, but has resigned since, “for economic reasons,” and to pursue ” other interests.”
It needs little intro… it speaks for itself.
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“Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, – in my case, cancer. Those of us with potentially fatal diseases – and there are millions in America today – find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God’s will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence “What It All Means,” Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.
The first is that we shouldn’t spend too much time trying to answer the “why” questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can’t someone else get sick? We can’t answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.
I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.
But despite this, – or because of it, – God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.
Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere.
To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life,- and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many non believing hearts – an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live fully, richly, exuberantly – no matter how their days may be numbered.
Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease,- smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, – but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance; and comprehension – and yet don’t. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.
‘You Have Been Called’. Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet, a loved one holds your hand at the side. “It’s cancer,” the healer announces.
The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. “Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.” But another voice whispers: “You have been called.” Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter,- and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our “normal time.”
There’s another kind of response, although usually short-lived an inexplicable shudder of excitement, as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away everything trivial and tiny, and placed before us the challenge of important questions.
The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing through the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes ( Spain ), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.
There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue, – for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.
Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf.
We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God’s love for others. Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two peoples’ worries and fears.
‘Learning How to Live’. Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God’s arms, not with resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and authority of love.
I sat by my best friend’s bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was an humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He retained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. “I’m going to try to beat [this cancer],” he told me several months before he died. “But if I don’t, I’ll see you on the other side.”
His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity, – filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, – and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms.
Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?
When our faith flags, he throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it. It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up, – to speak of us!
This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.
What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don’t know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us who believe, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place, in the hollow of God’s hand.” T. Snow
Christmas Re-Post December 22, 2007
I was reading through past blog entries this morning and came across this post I made last year at this time. I had just had major surgery and was experiencing some pretty major crises and chaos in my life. Truthfully, I feel much the same this year as I did last, and although this year has initiated major growth in me, I know there’s a ways to go.
But this post sums up how I’m feeling now, and I’m reposting it as a reminder to myself that every story has multiple sides, woven together like a tapestry and without the bad, we would never learn to appreciate the good…
From Dec. 2006: I came across this article that so eloquently conveys thoughts I’ve been pondering in my head all week. I’ve had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. The world seems to be spinning out of control around me. So much is uncertain…things aren’t bad per se, just unsettled. I want to feel the “warm fuzzies” and genuinely want to exhibit “goodwill toward all men” in my thoughts and actions. But it’s not been easy. I haven’t been able to “psych myself up”. So I’m thankful that this article and some revelation from the Holy Spirit have reminded me that while the story of Jesus’ birth is about peace, joy, grace and salvation, it is as much about turmoil, tribulation and brokenness.
As the article says, “God didn’t prepare a pristine time where his Son could be protected and coddled!”. What makes me think I deserve a life free of difficult and sometimes scary circumstances and situations?
A Free-For-All Christmas by Phil Ware
Have you noticed that the Christmas season is more like “let’s get ready to rumble” than it is “O holy night”?
The midnight releases of video consoles, video games, movies, books and specialty gifts have caused rowdy stampedes. We’ve seen grown adults trample each other and get into fistfights over places in line and who got to a toy first. Yikes!Then from many who come from the normally dysfunctional family, there is all the family baggage that gets unwrapped with the Christmas presents. Innocent statements are misinterpreted resulting in hurt feelings. Stiletto sharp innuendos are used to carve up folks who are supposed to love one another. And then fights break out because someone corrects or disciplines someone else’s child. Double yikes!
Even the pilgrimages back to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Christ are complicated by the ongoing war between Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the very place where Jesus was born. These tensions threaten all of world peace in the land where the Prince of Peace lived, died, and rose again. Triple yikes!
While there is much about the Bible’s account of Jesus’ birth that is precious and touching, I believe it is also important to remind us that the Jesus story is not all sweetness and light. One of the most horrific stories in the New Testament is centered around the birth of Jesus. This story is sometimes called “The Slaughter of the Innocents.”
Jesus’ apostle Levi the tax collector records it this way:
Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah:
A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah — weeping and mourning
unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be
comforted—for they are dead. (Matthew 2:16-18 NLT)
What are we to make of this?
The Lord himself said, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed … (Matthew 24:6 NRS). We live in a free for all planet where sin has marred every level of relationships. The whole story of Jesus’ coming is tied to the real world in which we live. God didn’t prepare a pristine time where his Son could be protected and coddled!
Jesus was born into a vicious world of hate, war, struggle, and jealously. These fruits of hell would be ever-present for each step he took on the little blue planet he created. God had to use an angelic vision to warn Joseph and Mary to take the baby Jesus away to prevent his slaughter. Even from the first moments of Jesus’ arrival, even while listening to the angelic choir singing “gloria in excelcis deo”, we hear the rumblings of Herod’s jealous and paranoid bile.
So when things seem bleak or difficult or fractured in the coming days of Christmas, please remember, these are as much a reminder of why Jesus came as are the sweet sounds of angels, the excited presence of Shepherds, and the mysterious journey of the magi. Jesus came to save a broken world. He didn’t do it from afar, but from up close … in person … beginning in a manger … going to a cross … before conquering death and leaving behind an empty tomb.
Televangelism (and mushrooms) make me sick… November 1, 2007
I’m home sick today. ( Mushroom pizza for dinner last night. Mushrooms don’t *usually* bother me, but I haven’t had an obstruction in almost a year, so I guess I was due. Curse the ostomy gods!)
Being home sick = too much time reading online. I ran across this article on clevescene.com and it made me ill ( and I thought my stomach was in knots from the mushrooms *roll eyes*). Now, I know my ultra conservative church friends may complain that Scene is a “liberal -left wing media outlet” intent on bringing a bad name to Christianity. That’s fine, but I really think guys like the televangelists in the article have done way more to bring shame to the name of Jesus than any left wing liberal could hope of accomplishing. I’m ashamed that two of these guys resided in my state.
Reading crap like this makes me nauseated. The article is here
Grab a barf bucket prior to reading…
Kathy Griffin, Petitions, Crazy Christians and Wasted Money September 21, 2007
This morning I received an email from a respected leader in my church, asking me to sign a petition created by a group of Christian actors in response to Kathy Griffin’s off color comment during her acceptance of a creative arts Emmy earlier in the month.
Here’s a link to the article that accompanied the request: http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=276713
I’m flabbergasted. While I think Griffin’s comment was controversial, I’m not at all surprised by it. Griffin is known to make off color comments about many subjects, religion included. She’s a comic…that’s her job. Her comment doesn’t offend me. In fact, I thought it a bit witty. How many times, as a Christian, have I watched an awards show where someone gets up and “thanks Jesus” for their accomplishments, all of us knowing full well that it’s probably just lip service? (I’m not judging here…just being honest. No one knows a heart except God, but He does allow us to examine believers by their fruits). Griffin has never (to my knowledge) claimed to be a follower of Christ. Why would we expect her to be respectful of our God?
But most of all I found Griffin’s statements sad. To get up in front of a national audience and claim that “this award is now your God” is a very bold statement, joking or not, and one that she will have to answer for one day.
So instead of organizing protests and petitions, why doesn’t this group of supposedly well intentioned Christians put their time and effort into praying for Griffin? And I don’t mean organizing a public, self serving “prayer service” to draw attention to themselves. I’m talking about asking God, in their secret closet of prayer, to soften Kathy’s heart and reveal Himself to her.
And then there’s the issue of the $90,000 + spent on an ad in the USA Today claiming “enough is enough”? The group claims they just want to “give a voice to those who want to stand up for Christ”. That’s all well and good…except I can’t help but believe that that $90,000 could have been put to much better use feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and a thousand other tangible tasks that exhibit the love of Christ.
I don’t know…call me crazy…
L’Shanah Tovah September 13, 2007
Ever since becoming a Christian, I have been fascinated by all things Jewish. I know that sounds contradictory, but let me explain. I remember when my fascination began. I was at a healing conference, and during a time of pretty intense worship , someone began blowing a shofar. It’s an eerily beautiful and haunting sound…one that begs you to lie prostrate before your God in awe and amazement. Something about the sounding of the shofar calling to my spirit gave me chills. To this day, hearing a shofar causes me to both tremble and feel at peace(shalom) all at the same time. This began my search into the signifigance of the shofar, and thus began my love affair.Over the years, I’ve studied more about Judaism, the Hebrew people, Jewish custom and tradition, and the history of the conflict in the Middle East. I love the Old Testament for the way it reveals God’s character, foreshadows the coming of the Messiah through the prophetic word, and reveals the symbolism behind many things in the New Testament. I also love the insight it provides into the political, social and religious climate of not only those times, but also the conflicts we have currently going on in the Middle East.Today is Rosh Hashanah, or the beginning of the Jewish New Year. My friend Jon (who was raised Jewish but is now also a follower of Christ…and who is also always SO patient in answering my questions about Jewish custom and law) explained the history behind this holiday really well this morning in an email.
At sundown yesterday the New Year 5768 began! The month of Elul has come and gone, and today is the 1st of Tishrei. The Bible calls this day the Feast of Trumpets. Jews refer to the day as Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah translated means head of the year. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the month in which God created the world. Rosh Hashanah is also the start of a special ten day period called the Days of Awe. These Days of Awe conclude with the holiday called Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement. Over the next ten days Jews are instructed to scrupulously examine their deeds and, more significantly, their misdeeds during the preceding year. It’s a time of repentance of sins, and to restore your relationships with people and most importantly your relationship with God. On these Days of Awe, Jewish tradition teaches, God decides who shall live and who shall die during the coming year. One powerful instrument used to motivate repentance during Rosh Hashanah is the shofar or ram’s horn, which is blown in the synagogue one hundred times on each of two days of Rosh Hashanah. One of the most well known customs of Rosh Hashanah is the dipping of apples into honey and then eating them. You then wish your family and friends “a sweet new year”. This is a very interesting custom that I would like to expand on more in another email. If you have never had apples and honey before, I encourage you to try it. It’s even sweeter if your last name is Sweet. (Jon’s last name is…you guessed it…Sweet)
Recently I came across and article on http://www.relevantmagazine.com/ that so wonderfully addresses so many of the points I find fascinating about the land of Israel and the Israeli people. I’ve copied it below.
Israel – Why You Should Care
by Andrew Myers
Smaller than New Jersey, mostly desert and less than sixty years old, the nation of Israel is a mere crumb on the plate of earth. Few places, however, draw more attention; fewer still elicit more passion and animosity than Israel.
The hype is justified.
Israel represents humanity’s most intense struggles: religion, politics, racism and war. Investigating Israel means asking uncomfortable questions, broaching taboo subjects, uncovering personal prejudices, traditional assumptions and destructive ignorance. A discussion about Israel cuts to the heart of every important controversy. Israel matters.
Israel matters because its existence is a miracle.
“There are in this part of the world [East and Central Europe] 6,000,000 Jews … for whom the world is divided into places where they cannot live and places where they cannot enter.”—Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization, 1936
In 1948, the unprecedented occurs. A people group that traces its roots almost to the beginnings of history became a nation again. After thousands of years of dispersion and intense, concentrated persecution, the Jewish state of Israel exists anew. After walking around with a target on their back (or a star on their front) since time immemorial, the Jewish people make their home once more in the exact same place their culture was born. Many younger generations take for granted the simple fact that Israel shows up on a map, failing to recognize the miraculous events that revived this country and this people from literal near-death.
Around the turn of the last century, Jewish immigration to Israel experienced an upsurge due to pogroms (organized persecution, often violent) in Europe and Russia. These early settlers purchased land from absentee landlords (often foreign investors) and immersed themselves in an agrarian lifestyle on infertile land. Ingenuity and grace, however, coaxed life from the barren deserts and malaria-infested swamplands. Where no civilization had thrived for hundreds of years, the Jewish people began a new chapter in their history.
This story turned infamously tragic during World War II. The British “White Papers” and U.S. policy denied millions of Jewish refugees entrance into the Palestine region, effectively signing a mass death sentence executed by the Nazis. Once European Jewry was all but obliterated, the U.N. drafted a conciliatory partition plan outlining a two-state Palestine: part Jewish, part Arab. The Arab League rejected the proposal.
Since the end of World War I, the British exercised sovereignty over Palestine. On May 15, 1948, the British Mandate ended, and all British troops withdrew immediately, Israel declared independence, and the newborn country was promptly invaded by seven nations: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iraq.
In all of these wars, numbers, resources and reason suggest that Israel should have been defeated with ease. The result in all cases, however, was that Israel won back more land, simply by defending itself. Demonstrating unprecedented humility and mercy, Israel has returned much of this land to aggressor nations in exchange for peace. In some cases, the land was given back for nothing more than the mere hope of peace, as was the case last August, when Israel forfeited the Gaza strip with no guarantee of capitulation.
Since the 1970s, Israel has risen to become a powerful military force. Unfortunately, this demonstration of strength remains necessary because it helps dissuade the many nations and peoples who would still see Israel’s demise.
Israel matters because hate for the Jewish people still exists in the world.
“There is no doubt that the new wave in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot [Israel] from the face of the Islamic world.”—Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, October 2005
There are 56 Muslim countries in the world. Twenty-three Arab nations account for an area twice the size of the United States. Israel, smaller than New Jersey, is the only Jewish country in existence.
At least four times in the past 100 years, Israel has accepted a two-state proposal. The Arab authorities have rejected all such offers (most recently in 2001). Despite the turmoil that has marked its existence, Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, points out, “Israel remains the lone democracy in the Middle East, with all institutions—a free press, a multitude of parties and an independent judiciary—that are at the heart of true liberal democracies.”
Though the perfect government does not exist, Israel’s track record remains among the best. As reported in The International Jerusalem Post, however:
Israel is the subject of more condemnatory resolutions than any other country, it is the only UN member state that is not a permanent member of a regional group, it is alone in being ineligible for election to the UN Human Rights Commission, it is the subject of three anachronistic committees focused on Palestinian rights – and the list goes on and on. (July 1-7, 2005)
Throughout the world, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been likened to Hitler, and Zionism has been equated with Nazism. Germany and France have seen a troubling rise in white supremacist movements over the past few years. Archaic propaganda—notions of Blood Libel and publications like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—persist in popularity. Even Holocaust denial finds prominent support in circles beyond Arab fundamentalists.
Those who believe that anti-semitism perished with the advent of postmodernism live sheltered from the thriving undercurrent of hatred that flows around the globe. False accusations and lies continue to plague the Jews and Israel. Other Middle Eastern “democracies” continue to flounder. Countries like Uganda, Sudan and Rwanda are torn apart by corruption and ethnic strife. Yet Israel, a peaceful, self-governing, diverse, thriving nation, attracts a decidedly disproportionate amount of scorn and animosity.
Israel matters because it reveals God’s character.
“I think we do not attach enough importance to the restoration of the Jews…”—C.H. Spurgeon (19th century preacher and theologian)
Belief in an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God renders void any notions of coincidence in this world. That the Jews still exist—as the nation of Israel, no less—is no random occurrence. Scripture makes it perfectly clear that these events have been orchestrated (TNIV):
Zechariah 8:21: “and the inhabitants of one city will go another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty’ … And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord …
Amos 9:14-15: “I will bring my people Israel back from exile … They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them … I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them.”
Ezekiel 37:11-14; Micah 4:6-7; Jeremiah 50:4-5; and more.
While certain passages in Scripture speak about specific periods of renewal during the history of Israel, there is an undeniable, ultimate restoration suggested. Shortly after Jesus’ time on earth, the Temple was destroyed. It has yet to be rebuilt, its use no longer necessary thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice. Throughout history, however, God has exhibited a dogged commitment to the Jews, preserving them despite systematic efforts to destroy them.
Why? Because God is faithful. The existence of the Jews proves His faithfulness. In Isaiah 43, God tells the Israelites, “You are My witnesses.” The Jewish people are walking testaments to the One True God, from their lineage came God in the flesh. Mankind’s inherent, sinful inclination is to rebel against this God, this Jesus. And as His collective representation on earth, the Jews feel the brunt of this rebellion.
Because “His own did not receive Him,” the salvation Jesus brought—“first for the Jew”—became available to the whole world (John 1:11; Romans 1:16). Because God has not forgotten Israel, however (according to both Scripture and history), Israel’s eventual restoration will bring much greater riches one day.
For this reason, Satan has not forgotten Israel either, hence the supernatural, mindless hatred bequeathed throughout history to all of mankind, and exacted upon Israel and the Jews. Today, that nation is back, populated by a culture that should be dead—and the Bible predicted all of this would happen. We should pay attention.
The generalities and conclusions implied within the preceding brief summary are not meant to stand as a decisive argument. This pithy survey is meant to serve as but a springboard into greater personal investigation, discussion, and action.
Resources
Check the facts: The Case for Israel, by Allen Dershowitz;
Learn the history: From Time Immemorial, by Joan Peters
Engage the Scripture: Your People Shall Be My People, by Don Finto
Witness the hate: Protocols of Zion ( www.protocolsofzionmovie.com )
Examine your conscience: Never Again? by Abraham Foxman
Go find out for yourself: apply for the Israel Experience College Scholarship Program (email office@eagleswings.to)
I recently met a young Israeli guy while at an international ostomy conference. He graciously stayed up half the night with me one evening, answering my questions about life in Israel and the current political climate. He shared with me many perspectives and thoughts I had never considered and I’m grateful for that insight. I’m grateful that now when I pray for the nation and people of Israel, I have a face and a perspective to put with the passion. It makes it that much more real.
Dare I say that God has given me a burden for Israel. I know that this is the case, but I also know that having that burden holds me responsible to act. Other than pray, what do I do? That is my struggle.
This may sound ridiculous (and you can add me to the “Religious Zealot Update”, if you must) but I know that God will one day call me to Israel. I don’t know in what capacity, or for what length of time. Probably it will only be for a visit, and I have no idea who or how I’ll be called to serve while I am there. But I know that for whatever the cause and for whatever duration of time, my spirit will feel at home.
Jubilee September 5, 2007
This week marks the beginning of a 40-day fast to push for legislation to eliminate the debts of 67 of the world’s poorest nations. The Jubilee Act seeks debt relief in an effort to improve the living conditions in developing countries, many of which face insurmountable amounts of debt. Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo are among a group of prominent leaders who are taking part in one-day fasts or are endorsing the Jubilee Campaign …
Charity is not enough August 28, 2007
Charity is Not Enough ~ Kate Stevens
As posted on http://www.relevantmagazine.com/
Charity is my job these days. So is justice. The majority of my waking hours are spent at the non-profit humanitarian organization where I work as a representative for Northern Ontario. It’s been my home for almost six years now, and I am indebted to the global perspective that I’ve gained over those six years. I leave work each day with a sense that I am contributing to something more than my employer’s paycheck, my company’s growth or my culture’s consumerism.I know that I’m contributing to charity and justice in a very tangible way, but I sometimes forget the difference and the importance of each in the midst of endless phone calls, meetings, computer problems and angry donors. It’s easy to be numbed to the real issues that are going on in the world and to lose the right perspective in exchange for paperwork.Even so, as someone who has been concerned about justice since my brother was old enough to take my toys, the story Ronald Stanley tells about the difference between charity and justice is difficult for me to ignore.
Stanley describes a scene where two men are fishing in a river. They begin to enjoy the fish they’ve caught when cries for help get their attention. One by one, they see people being swept away by the river. They jump in, desperate for a chance to save the drowning and, each time, they succeed. Tired after having worked to save several, they hear the cry of another: this time, a child. One of the men rushes away, leaving the other to rescue the child alone. The first man is confused. The second man declares he’s heading upstream to find out why there are so many people being swept away by the river.I can’t help but laugh a little at Stanley’s story, partly because I can almost imagine the desperation in the conversation between the two men and partly because I can’t believe how effectively it captures the difference between charity and justice: charity is helping on the surface, for the short term, while justice is attacking the source of the problem itself. The first man was doing a great thing by saving the people who were drowning, but the second man went a step further by attempting to figure out from where the problem was originating so that he could do something about it. Neither charity nor justice can stand alone. On its own, charity has the potential of becoming a band-aid solution, never really getting to or treating the root of the problem. Justice on its own, on the other hand, can be harsh and can ignore the immediate needs of people. Had the first man in Stanley’s story given up on his attempts at charity, people would have drowned. However, had the second man not worked just a little bit harder to get to the root of the problem, more people would have drowned. A balance is required.A quick look at the media makes obvious that charity and justice are popular topics of discussion these days. We see celebrities adopting children from overseas and giving their time, money and endorsement to the charities of their choice. We see global campaigns like Make Poverty History. We see media endorsement for projects involving sending mosquito nets overseas to combat malaria. Numerous charities produce television spots. People give up their vacation time to volunteer overseas. It’s everywhere.Ever since Dec. 31, 2004, when the undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia created tsunami waves that devastated coastal South Asia, Western culture has been inundated with opportunities to give its time and its money. And it’s all for good reason. We are aware that there is a world that needs the resources we are so blessed to have and are willing to invest our resources in something other than ourselves. Yet, despite how amazing this is, it’s just charity. And we’re not doing enough. Yes, charity’s positive impact is unmistakeable and, yes, charity encompasses elements of justice, but my fear is that while amazing things are being done in the world today because of our charity and generosity charity is just a trend. If our charity is just fashionable, is true justice really being done?It takes sacrifice to develop a lifestyle that allows us to support charity. We need to watch how we spend our money and watch how we save. We need to respond when we feel any sense of compassion rather than changing the channel. It’s challenging, but even so, it’s still just charity.Justice, on the other hand, is messy. Those of us who are aiming for fashionable don’t usually give it much of a thought. It requires long-term commitment and investment in prayer. It requires blood and sweat and tears and hard work and a fight. It requires that we not only sacrifice things in our lives so that we can give, but that we change our lifestyles entirely or, in many cases, that we live counter-culturally, making choices about our lifestyle based on how we will impact what deserves justice: the environment, AIDS orphans in Uganda, farmers making pennies on coffee farms in South America, 10-year-old sweatshop workers in Asia, 14-year-old girls who have been forced into prostitution in Thailand, street kids in Toronto.While we are making an incredibly positive difference with our charity and while the Bible is clear that charity is incredibly important, taking the next step to create truly lasting change for our world requires justice. I imagine that God was trying to let us in on that secret when He asked that we “act justly…love mercy…[and] walk humbly with [Him]” (Micah 6:8, TNIV).
Better pay the cable bill July 16, 2007
LMAO! I’d be paying my bill on time for sure, if it meant no more televangelists 
Cable Company Goes TBN 24/7 for Delinquent Customers
Team Tominthebox News Network® ^ | 09 July, 2007 | Tom Slawson
Posted on 07/09/2007 11:13:56 AM PDT by topcat54
Knoxville, TN- Cable Pro of Knoxville has for years had to put man hours and money into the problem of cable company clients who were delinquent in their payments. The practice has traditionally been that cable customers who persisted in not paying their bills would, after three notices, have their cable service cut off until their account was settled. While this practice has been successful in rooting out non-paying customers, it still costs the company an estimated $60,000 per year in lost time, and man hours.
But recently Cable Pro president, Larry Maezell experimented with a new idea that has so far been very successful. Now, instead of canceling a person’s service, or sending him or her repeated notices of delinquency, Cable Pro simply changes a customer’s subscription preferences resulting in his or her service becoming 24 hours of the Trinity Broadcasting Network on every channel.
“It’s worked beautifully” said Maezell. “In the past we’d have to try and try to get in touch with the people who weren’t paying, try and get our man out there to cut off their service. It was just a big hassle. Now, they call us!”
Cable Pro customer Chris Kjos was one of the first to experience Cable Pro’s new policy.
“All I wanted to do was watch a little golf on Sunday afternoon” said Kjos. “I turned on my set and all I saw was this lady with big poofy hair singing. I just thought the cable company had switched up all the channels again. So I changed the channel, and it was the same thing on every channel. When I called the cable company they said I hadn’t paid up my bill in over a month.”
Now, “like clockwork” customers who are behind on their payments for cable services usually call the company within 24 hours wondering what is wrong with their cable service, only to told that they must pay up if they wish to have any channels other that TBN.
“This is the greatest idea we’ve had in a long time” said Maezell. “We’ve literally saved thousands of dollars. And last week when TBN ran the non-stop Benny Hinn marathon people were calling in so fast we couldn’t keep up.”
While a number of cable customers have complained that Cable Pro’s practice amounts to “cruel and unusual” measures, Maezell has no plans to change.
“The rule stands” he said. “Either pay your bill or all you’ll be watching is TBN, twenty-four-seven.”
From the "God’s Politics" blog June 14, 2007
I especially like the quote from Solzhenitsyn…
Three Principles for Christian Dual Citizens
~Rick Nathan
Sometimes we can best understand the role of faith in politics by listening to the way people of faith responded to crises in their day. Nearly 1,600 years ago, in the year 410 AD, the city of Rome was invaded by an army of 40,000 led by a general named Alaric. The attack on Rome sent a shockwave through the world that was much greater than the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many Christians believed that the fall of Rome signaled the end of the world, or at least the end of Christendom, since Christianity was the established religion in Rome.
The great St. Augustine responded to this equation of the fortunes of Rome with the fortunes of God’s kingdom by writing his immensely important philosophy of history called The City of God. In it, he distinguished between Rome, which he called “the city of man,” and the heavenly kingdom, which Augustine called “the city of God. The city of man, he said, was enamored with its own strength; the city of God is enamored with God and says, “I love you, my Lord, because you are my strength.”
Now, the person of faith is a resident of both cities. We live in time, but we belong to eternity. We are deeply engaged in this world, doing all we can to love our neighbor and work for justice while we acknowledge that we don’t ultimately belong to this world. According to Augustine, people of faith hold dual citizenships; we are resident aliens, or in the words of Jim Wallis’ magazine, we are sojourners.
It is precisely the dual citizenship of people of faith that both the secular left and the religious right deny. And in one of the strangest ironies in contemporary politics, the secular left and the religious right end up in precisely the same place. The secular left denies that there is a city of God to which they are morally accountable. There is only the city of man – utterly autonomous, self-confident, answerable only to itself. The religious right equates the city of God with the city of man. America is God’s chosen nation, our perspectives are God’s perspectives, our fights are God’s fights. So in its triumphalist self-confidence, “because God is always on our side,” the religious right also ends up unaccountable to God.
How can we, as people of faith, carve out a space that rejects both the secular left and its ideological twin, the religious right; one that recognizes our dual citizenship? How can we create a society that sees itself as morally accountable to God and God’s kingdom?
We can start by asking President Lincoln’s great question: Not “Is God on our side?”, but “Are we on God’s side?”
Let me suggest three simple guiding principles to assist us in determining if our political choices are on the side of the city of God.
First, how does this political choice play out for the marginalized? The Hebrew Bible reminds us over and over again to remember the widow, the orphan, and the alien; to remember the widow, the orphan, and the alien – the most dependent, the most vulnerable, the ones living closest to the edge.
Today we would say that the most dependent, and the most vulnerable, certainly include the immigrant, the uninsured, and the hungry, the unborn in the womb and their mothers, the residents in the Darfur and the victims of AIDS around the globe. When we stand before the God of history, he will not ask us about our GPA or our incomes, or what political party we supported. The God of history will ask us what we did for the least of his brethren. As Jesus said, “As you did for the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.”
So, how does this political choice play out for the marginalized? That’s the first principle in deciding if we are on God’s side.
Second, how does this political choice support global peace? The Hebrew Bible speaks of a day when we will beat our swords into plowshares. Jesus, the Messiah, is called the Prince of Peace. The first thing Jesus said following his resurrection was “Peace be with you!” The Eucharist Christians share is called, in Roman Catholic tradition, the “Peace.” The church is always called to be a peace movement. That is why Augustine, who originated the just-war tradition, said that Christians ought to be the most reluctant to go to war – and that when we do, we always go with tears.
As I’ve said to the church I pastor, how did it come to be that we evangelicals have become the chief advocates of war of any demographic in the country? We Christians ought to be the hardest to convince; we ought to require the highest burden of proof; we ought to demand the most evidence before we support any military action. The church is always a peace movement.
Third, and finally, in deciding if we are on the side of God, we must always ask, “Do we see ourselves as answerable to God?” God forbid that we should project evil onto the other – onto the Arab, or the Persian, or the North Korean – still less onto the secular left or the religious right. As Solzhenitsyn said as he was lying on a rotting bed of straw in a Soviet Gulag,
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.
Only if we as individuals and as a nation retain the capacity to be self-critical, to see evil in ourselves, to see ourselves as ultimately answerable and morally accountable to the city of God and to the God of that city, can we have any hope that we, as people of faith, are on the side of God.
Rich Nathan is the pastor of the Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio. He delivered these remarks to the audience at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium before the broadcast of last week’s presidential candidates forum on faith, values, and poverty.
Not just for graduates.. May 25, 2007
Below is a commencement speech given by Jim Wallis of Sojourners at Georgetown University.
Very timely…and certainly thoughts for all of us to meditate on…
Each new generation has a chance to alter two very basic definitions of reality in our world – what is acceptable and what is possible.
First, what is acceptable?
There are always great inhumanities that we inflict upon one another in this world, great injustices that cry out to God for redress, and great gaps in our moral recognition of them. When the really big offenses are finally corrected, finally changed, it is always and only because something has happened to change our perception of the moral issues at stake. The moral contradiction we have long lived with is no longer acceptable to us. What we accepted, or ignored, or denied, finally gets our attention and we decide that we just cannot, and will not, live with it any longer. But until that happens, the injustice and misery continue.
It often takes a new generation to make that decision – that something that people have long tolerated just won’t be tolerated any more.
So the question to you as graduates, as ambassadors for a new generation, is this: what are you going to no longer accept in our world, what will you refuse to tolerate now that you will be making the decisions that matter?
Will it be acceptable to you that 3 billion people in our world today – half of God’s children – live on less that $2 per day, that more than 1 billion live on less than $1 per day, that the gap between the life expectancy in the rich places and the poor places in the world is now 40 years, and that 30,000 children globally will die today – on the day of your graduation – from needless, senseless, and utterly preventable poverty and disease? It’s what Bono calls “stupid poverty.”
Many people don’t really know that, or sort of do but have never really focused on the reality or given it a second thought. And that’s the way it usually is. We don’t know, or we have the easy explanations about why poverty or some other calamity exists and why it can’t really be changed – all of which makes us feel better about ourselves – or we are just more concerned with lots of other things. We really don’t have to care. So we tolerate it and keep looking the other way.
But then something changes. Something gets our attention, something goes deeper than it has before and hooks us in the places we call the heart, the soul, the spirit. And once we’ve crossed over into really seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting the injustice we can never really look back again. It is now unacceptable to us.
What we see now offends us, offends our understanding of the sanctity and dignity of life, offends our notions of fairness and justice, offends our most basic values; violates our idea of the common good, and starts to tug at our deepest places. We cross the line of unacceptability. We become intolerant of the injustice.
But just changing our notion of what is unacceptable isn’t enough, however. We must also change our perception of what is possible.
In that regard, I would encourage each of you to think about your vocation more than just your career. And there is a difference. From the outside, those two tracks may look very much alike, but asking the vocational question rather than just considering the career options will take you much deeper. The key is to ask why you might take one path instead of another – the real reasons you would do something, more than just because you can. The key is to ask who you really are and what you want to become. It is to ask what you believe you are supposed to do.
You do have great potential, but that potential will be most fulfilled if you follow the leanings of conscience and the language of the heart more than just the dictates of the market, whether economic or political. They want smart people like you to just manage the systems of the world. But rather than managing or merely fitting into systems, ask how you can change them. You’re both smart enough and talented enough to do that. That’s your greatest potential.
Ask where your gifts intersect with the groaning needs of the world – there is your vocation.
The antidote to cynicism is not optimism but action. And action is finally born out of hope. Try to remember that. At college, you often believe you can think your way into a new way of living, but that’s actually not the way it works. Out in the world, it’s more likely that you will live your way into a new way of thinking.
The key is to believe that the world can be changed, because it is only that belief that ever changes the world. And if not us, who will believe? If not you, who?
Wish I could say I wrote this… April 20, 2007
This is good stuff…
Step into the Backyard
by Aaron Ivey of SPUR58
(aaronivey.blogspot.com and www.spur58.com)
Most things are not what they seem. Very seldom should we take something at face value; our eyes cannot offer a complete picture of everything that may be going on around us.
I just finished a complete makeover of my backyard. Jamie and I are not much for gardening and landscaping; we’ve never been very good at keeping plants alive. Since we’ve lived in this house, our backyard has been uninhabitable. A tropical jungle had taken over from the back door to the fence. Plants that were once mere shrubbery had become giant trees. It was a little humorous to see the absolute chaos in my yard.
While overhauling the yard, I ran across a tree I needed to remove. The trunk was about four inches in diameter, something a chainsaw could easily handle. I borrowed a chainsaw from a friend and quickly cut that joker down. I didn’t think much of it, until I decided to go ahead and dig the roots of the tree out to completely remove it from the yard. With shovel in hand, I started digging a circle around the fresh-cut stump. As I dug deeper, the trunk went from four inches in diameter to six inches. Six inches turned to eight, then ten. Finally two feet under the ground this trunk had a diameter of about twelve inches. I was shocked at how misleading this little tree was! I kept digging around the trunk, each level of dirt shed light on a bigger and more complex tree underneath. Now three feet into the soil, I could see huge roots jetting from the trunk to various corners of my yard. These roots were probably twice as big as the original trunk I saw at the top of the soil.
The menial task of removing a small tree had quickly turned into a long process of sweat, pain, and blisters. I probably spent two hours digging around each root, and then chopped them with an axe. Every time I thought I was making headway, another root would shake its cruel fist at me. I could not believe how deeply rooted this little tree had become. I had always heard that the root systems of trees were complex, but this little guy deeply impressed me. If I were judging him on how well he had initially fooled me, I would give him a 10 and a gold star.
Two hours later, the last root was removed and I could finally pull the massive trunk out of the ground. I stood in my yard and gazed at the piles of chopped roots that were now flung across my yard. Above the topsoil, this little tree seemed so easy and maintainable. But underneath all the grass and dirt, a complex system of trunk and roots were keeping this little tree planted in the yard.
I sometimes wonder if every person on this green planet is not the same as a little tree. At first glance, one sees something that is tame, maintainable, safe, happy, content, and pleasant. But underneath the soil lies a complex system of problems, sorrow, broken relationships, questions, doubts, fears, and insecurities to name a few. Sadly our recluse generation keeps us in our houses and above the soil. It is difficult to dig deeply into people’s lives because our faith tends be lived in solitude. How easy is it to completely ignore the people around us? Consider the neighbors, acquaintances, and fellow students that are within reaching distance from you. How many of those have you personally dug into?
We don’t dig into people’s lives for a few reasons. 1) It’s usually a messy process. It may require getting our hands dirty; it takes more attention and intent than just being a casual acquaintance. Living in community with people around us is a dirty process, because people are broken and hurting. 2) We’re convinced the facade is real. We look at people and make assumptions about what we see above the soil. We see outward signs of success, beauty, or happiness and think, “they’ve got it all together!” No one has it all together. Every person on the planet is in need of people in their lives stirring and prodding the soil. 3) We don’t see the trees in our backyard. Some of us are so afraid of the jungle in our backyard; we just close the door and pretend it doesn’t exist. Or we’re just oblivious and have never visited our own backyards to notice there are trees.
Yesterday the exterminator came to my house to get rid of spiders. I was pretty much in my own zone yesterday morning with all that was going on with me, the kids, the band, etc. I had a few things I was trying to get done, and I just needed him to spray the bugs and get on his way. He had asked a few questions about what band I’m in, etc. I just wanted him to do his job. Embarrassingly I was short, to the point, and borderline rude to him. In an instant God reminded me of the tree and the root I had previously discovered, and conviction took over. This day a tree managed to make its way into my home, and instead of taking an opportunity to show compassion and interest to a complete stranger, I chose reclusion. I made my way back into a room he was in, and he started another conversation about music and bands. I discovered he was my age, and as we talked more he mentioned his boredom with life, his discontent with where he was, and how he just wanted to get out his rut and start living. Slowly a few centimeters of topsoil were removed, and the real Jesse was coming to the surface. I was able to encourage him to keep going, to follow his dreams, and to remind him that he did have purpose on this planet.
In the short ten minutes we talked in my kitchen, I was reminded how imperative it is that we open our eyes and take notice of the very people that are within arms reach. Although I may not ever see Jesse again, I hope I did my part in showing the love and compassion of Christ. Ignoring and neglect would have robbed Jesse of the conversation, and me the opportunity to see a real-life tree in my kitchen.
There are trees all around. Let’s get our hands dirty and start gently removing topsoil.
A Free For all Christmas December 15, 2006
I came across this article that so eloquently conveys thoughts I’ve been pondering in my head all week. I’ve had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. The world seems to be spinning out of control around me. So much is uncertain…things aren’t bad per se, just unsettled. I want to feel the “warm fuzzies” and genuinely want to exhibit “goodwill toward all men” in my thoughts and actions. But it’s not been easy. I haven’t been able to “psych myself up”. So I’m thankful that this article and some revelation from the Holy Spirit have reminded me that while the story of Jesus’ birth is about peace, joy, grace and salvation, it is as much about turmoil, tribulation and brokenness.
As the article says, “God didn’t prepare a pristine time where his Son could be protected and coddled!”. What makes me think I deserve a life free of difficult and sometimes scary circumstances and situations?
A Free-for-All Christmas?, by Phil Ware
Have you noticed that the Christmas season is more like “let’s get ready to rumble” than it is “O holy night”?
The midnight releases of video consoles, video games, movies, books and specialty gifts have caused rowdy stampedes. We’ve seen grown adults trample each other and get into fistfights over places in line and who got to a toy first. Yikes!
Then from many who come from the normally dysfunctional family, there is all the family baggage that gets unwrapped with the Christmas presents. Innocent statements are misinterpreted resulting in hurt feelings. Stiletto sharp innuendos are used to carve up folks who are supposed to love one another. And then fights break out because someone corrects or disciplines someone else’s child. Double yikes!
Even the pilgrimages back to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Christ are complicated by the ongoing war between Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the very place where Jesus was born. These tensions threaten all of world peace in the land where the Prince of Peace lived, died, and rose again. Triple yikes!
While there is much about the Bible’s account of Jesus’ birth that is precious and touching, I believe it is also important to remind us that the Jesus story is not all sweetness and light. One of the most horrific stories in the New Testament is centered around the birth of Jesus. This story is sometimes called “The Slaughter of the Innocents.”
Jesus’ apostle Levi the tax collector records it this way:
Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted
him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem
who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him
the star first appeared to them about two years earlier. Herod’s
brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah:
A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah — weeping and mourning
unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be
comforted—for they are dead. (Matthew 2:16-18 NLT)
What are we to make of this?
The Lord himself said, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed … (Matthew 24:6 NRS). We live in a free for all planet where sin has marred every level of relationships. The whole story of Jesus’ coming is tied to the real world in which we live. God didn’t prepare a pristine time where his Son could be protected and coddled!
Jesus was born into a vicious world of hate, war, struggle, and jealously. These fruits of hell would be ever-present for each step he took on the little blue planet he created. God had to use an angelic vision to warn Joseph and Mary to take the baby Jesus away to prevent his slaughter. Even from the first moments of Jesus’ arrival, even while listening to the angelic choir singing “gloria in excelcis deo”, we hear the rumblings of Herod’s jealous and paranoid bile.
So when things seem bleak or difficult or fractured in the coming days of Christmas, please remember, these are as much a reminder of why Jesus came as are the sweet sounds of angels, the excited presence of Shepherds, and the mysterious journey of the magi. Jesus came to save a broken world. He didn’t do it from afar, but from up close … in person … beginning in a manger … going to a cross … before conquering death and leaving behind an empty tomb.
