MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, Nov. 28 /Christian Newswire/ — As those who have worked to defend preborn children from the horrors of abortion in America and who have stood uncompromisingly against the legalized slaughter of an estimated 50 million Americans in the womb since 1973, we join with one voice in expressing our indignation and opposition to Rick Warren's welcoming of Senator Barack Obama to his church on December 1, 2006. Rick Warren is bringing Senator Obama to his church to speak for his Global Summit on AIDS and the church and to take an AIDS test in front of the cameras at a noon press conference.
Senator Obama comes to Rick Warren's church believing that abortion should be kept, "safe and legal". When Barack Obama campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 2004, his wife wrote a fundraising letter for him that revealed his support of partial-birth abortion. She said Obama's position is that the "partial-birth abortion ban . . . is clearly unconstitutional and must be overturned." Support of partial-birth abortion goes a lot farther than the politicians who want abortion to be "safe and legal." Senator Obama actually supports the barbaric practice of allowing abortionists to kill babies by allowing them to be partially, born, their skulls punctured and their brains sucked out. Further, he repeatedly opposed an anti-infanticide bill in the state of Illinois that only passed after he left. Killing a child at any stage of life is a violation of God's clear command, "Thou Shall Do No Murder". In addition,Obama's solution to the growing AIDS crisis has been and continues to be the widespread distribution of condoms, not chaste behavior as directed by the Bible.
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Posted by Walt as News Events, Social Issues at 10:50 AM EST
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A friend writes to me to enquire whether Satan knows our thoughts. Of course he does not, as God does. Satan pretty shrewdly guesses at them from our actions and our words, and perhaps even from manifestations upon our countenances; but it is the Lord alone who knows the thoughts of men immediately and by themselves. - C.H. Spurgeon
Posted by Walt as Apologetics, C.H. Spurgeon Gems at 12:20 PM EST
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by Carole McDonnell
“Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
Three weeks ago, a neighbor called me up. She informed me that she had been walking every day – three miles in ten minutes. Knowing that it takes an Olympian about three or four minutes to run a mile, I said nothing. I had learned early that any friendship with her would be based on my never disagreeing with her. But as I saw her speak to strangers about this –not noticing the odd look they gave her– I thought it best to speak up and spare her possible embarrassment. When I did, she stopped speaking to me immediately, once again declaring that she walked three miles in ten minutes.
My mother had a saying: “Six months isn’t a friendship. It’s a trial membership.” She meant one should not become friends with anyone too quickly. For my mother new acquaintances were always on probation.
As Christians we often worry that we might say or do something that will turn God away from us. We worry that our sins will be so great they might prove to be more powerful than God’s love. We worry that the cruelties and afflictions of human life might push us away from God’s love. But we should not fear that God will not love us. If we know God’s love, we will be drawn to it. We only move away from God when we become overly fearful of him. And this fear torments us. We are called to have an awe of God but not a fear of Him. God is not like those humans who judge us, or who is unpredictable, or who gives love only to take it away. Our God will not disown us or reject us. No ritual or prayer done by humans, saints, or demons can come between us and a God whose love is powerful, merciful, and active.
Lord, help my heart understand your love.
Carole McDonnell is the author of a How to Write and Teach Bible Studies which is available for free download from http://ebooks-and-authors.com/ See her other articles at http://www.isnare.com/?s=author&a=Carole+McDonnell
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
Posted by Walt as Witnessing at 12:18 AM EST
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A stampede of elephants recently trampled homes and property in a small village in India's Nagaland state.
For unknown reasons, the herd of about 10 wild elephants left the nearby forest where they typically foraged, then rampaged through the village. All 30 village families escaped to safety, but their houses and property were destroyed.
With no homes left, the people were scattered to neighboring villages to find shelter. And the Christians of the destroyed village also had to leave their church.
In 1998 a Gospel for Asia church had been planted there, but because of the elephant stampede, the group of believers was broken up and long-standing friendships were torn apart.
"It was difficult for the believers to adjust to their new temporary shelters," wrote a GFA correspondent. "They were deeply sad at having to leave their homes and so many belongings behind." But something wonderful was about to happen.
"Little did the believers realize that God had a plan and purpose behind this," commented our correspondent.
As refugees in the surrounding villages, the believers began to share the Gospel among their new neighbors, with amazing results.
"Many people got saved," reported the correspondent, "and as a result, two new fellowships were started in villages close by."
GFA native missionaries are now leading these fellowship groups and discipling the new believers.
"Now all our believers understand that God works all things together for good," wrote the field reporter. "Praise God for using our believers to start these prayer fellowships."
Posted by Walt as Witnessing at 7:10 AM EST
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by Carole McDonnell
“Son, why have you dealt with us thus? Your father and I have sought you sorrowing.” Luke 2:48
Recently, my church group went on a day-trip to Lake Welch, one of the small beaches in the New York’s Hudson Valley. We spent the day –as one spends all festive days– eating, singing, playing soccer, and wading in the lake.
Towards afternoon, two of the children came up missing. We had supposed they were with the rest of the company. But they apparently were not. They simply could not be found. Were they drowned or had some stranger on the crowded beach stolen them away? The older child was a young girl, quite beautiful, of about twelve. The other was a young boy of five who was mentally disabled. Soon all the brothers in the church were looking for them. I need not tell the parents among us how anxious and nervous I became. I walked on the edges of the lake shore fearing I would find a dead little child. I imagined his grief-stricken mother, sorrowing late into the night as police and lifeguards scoured the beach.
As I grew more and more anxious, the verse above began to stroll through my brain. It is a verse I’ve always known. And always when reading it I had agreed quite smugly, “Of course his parents should have known that Jesus was about His father’s business.” But now as I considered the pain Mary and Joseph endured I began to look at the verse in a different way. I found myself growing quite angry with Jesus in fact. How dare He go off and not tell his relatives –no one in the company– what he was up to? I told myself I had never been so angry with Jesus. What a self-willed, arrogant, little know-it-all he was? I soon realized that although I had never gotten this angry at the child Jesus before, I have had moments of fear and sorrow because Jesus had seemingly gone off.
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Posted by Walt as The Bible, Witnessing at 11:02 AM EST
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by Betty Robison
www.lifeoutreach.org
"To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding
and with all your strength…is more important than all
burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:33)
I joined the church when I was very young because I wanted to fit in with my peers and be accepted in the church. It seemed to be the thing to do. I quickly learned that in order to become a good “church member,” I needed to do a lot of good deeds. Even though I was very bashful I didn’t even like to pray out loud I tried to fulfill my obligations.
I got the idea that if I didn’t do the right things, God would punish me. That notion came from fear — fear that if I didn’t perform and stay busy doing everything I could to earn those “gold stars,” God would make me pay for my lack of commitment. I even feared His Word, because I didn’t understand it. I thought the Scriptures’ only purpose was to let me know how much I failed Him. So, I only read the Bible because it was expected of me. Glancing across an assigned passage allowed me to check a box on the church envelope every week.
Obeying God is a wonderful thing, but obedience without relationship can be damaging to the heart and soul. Without a real relationship with our Heavenly Father, we exhaust all of our life’s resources and quickly grow tired. I had to come to this realization before I could move forward. Thank goodness, He is patient with us on our journey. He waits for us to work through our tangled web of distractions and mistakes. I had the idea that the things I did were the measuring stick of my walk with the Lord. Sometimes, I even allowed my works to become the evidence of my worth.
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Posted by Walt as Ministries, The Bible, Witnessing at 11:48 PM EST
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by Carole McDonnell
“Naked came I out of the womb and naked, shall I return; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21
My son Gabriel hates to wear clothes. A child with many allergies, he is diagnosed as “sensory-sensitive.” Sounds, tastes, and sensations bother him more than they bother most people. Every day, he comes home from day care and immediately and removes his clothes. Sometimes he throws away his gloves on winter walks. But then a cold wind blows and he lifts up his cold hands to me to warm them.
We are born naked; but like Gabriel, as we age, we learn to cloth our bodies appropriately. We also learn to cover other parts of ourselves such as our emotions, our flaws, and our needs. From the days of Eden, we humans have known that we are imperfect, not only imperfect in God’s eyes, but imperfect in the eyes of our friends, our enemies, our family, and in our own eyes.
We use many things to cover our nakedness: money, success, alcohol, food, a good life. And these coverings help us forget that we came out of the womb naked and will return naked to the grave. They make us forget who we are, and often we begin to believe that our covering is actually a part of our essential selves. But an unforeseen event such as a new relationship, a serious illness, money troubles, or the death of a loved one will show how naked we are. At those times we judge our coverings and often find them inadequate. We realize we are indeed weak, indeed imperfect. We understand that we are not living in the truth, but that we have forgotten who we are. Perhaps we don’t even know who we are. But then, we remember that God is love. In spite of the filthy rags with which we have covered ourselves, God does not reject us when we come to him. Rather, he helps us to uncover our real self and he doesn’t rebuke us as purifies us.
God loves us as we are, and will help us rid ourselves of those false coverings as He covers us with His righteousness and His love.
Lord, open my heart to see my own nakedness without you, and make me brave enough to come to you in my nakedness that you may clothe me with your love.
Carole McDonnell is the author of a How to Write and Teach Bible Studies which is available for free download from http://ebooks-and-authors.com/ See her other articles at http://www.isnare.com/?s=author&a=Carole+McDonnell
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
Posted by Walt as The Bible, Witnessing at 9:54 PM EST
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by Carole McDonnell
Matthew 25:32-33
I hated gym in high school. The teacher would pick two team captains. The captains, in turn, would choose their respective teams. Unpopular, gawky, weird, and clumsy, I was usually the last person to be “picked.” Basketballs or volleyballs aimed in my direction always landed on the floor. Few of my fellow students knew me, and those who did certainly didn’t identify with me. Several times, however, I was not the last person picked. Those times, the teacher had chosen a one of my friends, or some kind-hearted equally gawky outcast.
We all have had experiences with rejection – we don’t know the right people, or we lack the right skills, or we are considered too important for others to befriend.
In choosing who to identify with, people in the world are often like high-schoolers. We sometimes help only those whose skills and worth are apparent. Or we help when we see a benefit for ourselves. But how differently these sheep behave! Their kindness sprung from hearts that weren’t seeking rewards. No sermon or guilt-trip prodded them to love their outcast neighbors. They weren’t even aware that they had helped Jesus. And yet they had.
In a world where we are often rejected, it is difficult to understand that God accepts us. Indeed, God has a special love for the rejected, the outcast, and those whom the world judges as unworthy. He said, “Come to me all who are heavy-ladened.” Jesus said, “I came to seek the lost.” And, “Those that are well don’t require a physician.” The Book of Proverbs tells us that “there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.”
As Christians, we are called to grow in the love of God. This means that we must not only grow to love God but we must also grow in an understanding of how wonderful and powerful God’s love is for us.
Lord, help me to understand your love, care, and power working in the lives of all those who love Christ and your holy word, the Bible.
About the Author:
Carole McDonnell is the author of a How to Write and Teach Bible Studies which is available for free download from http://ebooks-and-authors.com/ See her other articles at http://www.isnare.com/?s=author&a=Carole+McDonnell
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
Posted by Walt as Social Issues, The Bible, Witnessing at 7:11 AM EST
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Father God:
You are truth. And you have called us as journalists to a profoundly important task. To tell the truth. But to do that, we must find it.
And as we pursue it, it comes in many parts. One group tells us one thing. Another, just the opposite, another something else. Give us the wisdom and understanding and skill to know which parts are true… and then to put the right parts together in the right order.
As we do our jobs, we are often manipulated, misled, managed and maligned. May we not be discouraged. Gift us with patience, guide us with common sense, guard us from pessimism.
Help us to be a voice for the voiceless… To be skeptical but never cynical… Righteously angry at the wrongs we expose, but never revengeful.
Keep our hearts from despair and give us the courage and steadfastness to go to places and ask the questions and shine the light that our readers and viewers need to make sense of this all-too-fallen world.
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Posted by Walt as General, Witnessing at 7:30 AM EST
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By: Mike Fletcher
The New Testament is all about grace.
But do you know what grace really is all about?
The theologians define it as the unmerited favor of God. But really, it’s a free gift. An undeserved handout. God chose to give you light so you can get out of the dark. He chose to cure your blindness and give you sight. He GAVE you LIFE. Eternal life, fulfilling life close to him. That’s grace.
Grace is… God chose you. God drew YOU to him. John 6:43 says: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
The Bible tells us in John 1:1 that Jesus was the Word and with Word was with God before the beginning and the Word was God. The pre-existent Jesus Christ.
Ever since man rebelled and fell into sin and darkness God has been there, a light shining in the darkness that came to earth and became a man so we would find the way, the truth and the life. The incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Let me challenge you to look at your life.
What’s it like? Jesus wants it to be eternal. That’s the glorious security we have. Once saved, forever saved. Jesus wants to give you a present life that is full and abundant. That’s why he came.
What does it mean to have a full and abundant life? Think of the 23rd Psalm, perhaps the most quoted and comforting part of the whole Bible. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.” We all know those verses.
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Posted by Walt as The Bible at 10:44 AM EST
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