With lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Jeremiah 31:3
The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to bring us to Christ; but the final victory is effected by lovingkindness. The prodigal set out to his father's house from a sense of need; but his father saw him a great way off, and ran to meet him; so that the last steps he took towards his father's house were with the kiss still warm upon his cheek, and the welcome still musical in his ears.
Law and terrors do but harden
All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon
Will dissolve a heart of stone.
The Master came one night to the door, and knocked with the iron hand of the law; the door shook and trembled upon its hinges; but the man piled every piece of furniture which he could find against the door, for he said, I will not admit the man. The Master turned away, but by-and-bye he came back, and with his own soft hand, using most that part where the nail had penetrated, he knocked again-oh, so softly and tenderly. This time the door did not shake, but, strange to say, it opened, and there upon his knees the once unwilling host was found rejoicing to receive his guest. Come in, come in; thou hast so knocked that my bowels are moved for thee. I could not think of thy pierced hand leaving its blood-mark on my door, and of thy going away houseless, `Thy head filled with dew, and thy locks with the drops of the night.' I yield, I yield, thy love has won my heart. So in every case: lovingkindness wins the day. What Moses with the tablets of stone could never do, Christ does with his pierced hand. Such is the doctrine of effectual calling. Do I understand it experimentally? Can I say, He drew me, and I followed on, glad to confess the voice divine? If so, may he continue to draw me, till at last I shall sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
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“... for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
–Deuteronomy 31:6
Loneliness is no respecter of persons. It invades the palace as well as the hut. Many turn to drink because of loneliness. Others lose their sanity becasue of loneliness. Many commit suicide because of the despair of loneliness. Thousands have found Christ to be the answer for their loneliness. The Hebrew children were not alone when they were hurled into the fiery furnace of persecution. There was One with them like unto the Son of God. Moses wasn't alone in the Midian Desert when God came to comfort him and call him to a wider ministry. Elijah wasn't alone at the cave when God came near and spoke with the still, small voice. Paul and Silas were not alone in the Philippian jail when God came down and gave them a song at midnight. Whoever you are, Christ can give you comfort and companionship.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Whenever I begin to feel alone, help me to remember that You are always with me. Sometimes the way seems dark but You are still there. Thank You, Lord.
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The world has a bias toward idolatry. The lost would never begin to believe that God could or would terrify. However, a little honest reading of Scripture will convince them that God is to be greatly feared. The apostle Paul said that it is knowledge of the terror of the Lord that should cause the Christian to persuade men and woman to flee to the Savior (see 2 Cor. 5:11).
Genesis 35:5 And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
These things have I written unto you that believe . . . that ye may know that ye have eternal life . . .
–1 John 5:13
Recently I read that it will cost this country a hundred billion dollars to get one man safely to Mars. It cost God the priceless blood of His only Son to get us sinners to heaven. By tasting death for every man, Jesus took over our penalty as He erased our guilt. Now God can forgive. In a moment of thanksgiving, Paul once exclaimed, “He loved me and gave Himself for me!” Will you repeat these words right now, even as you read? If you do, I believe you will have cause to be thankful too, and that you will experience the love of God in your heart. Try it and see. The Bible teaches that you can be absolutely sure that you are saved.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Father, although my finite mind cannot understand all the wonders of the Gospel, I thank You for the assurance of my salvation through Christ.
The existence of hell is a legitimate reason to come to the Savior, and it is perhaps why so many profess faith in Christ. Though there are undoubtedly some who, in the name of Christianity, have hung its threat over the masses to keep them and their children in line, the biblical threat of hell is real and fearful. However, God’s offer of heaven is just as real and unspeakably wonderful. The threat without the offer is a horrid thing.
None of the children I know have been psychologically damaged by the fear of hell. In fact, it is just the opposite. They don’t fear hell at all, because they know that they have escaped it through faith in Jesus Christ.
However, I know that many children have been psychologically damaged because of the fear of death. That is another legitimate fear—death is a reality all of us must face. As an atheist, what do you tell your beloved children when they, with fear in their eyes, say, “Daddy, I don’t want to die!”? Do you tell them that it is nature’s way, and that they just have to deal with it? Or do you tell them that they shouldn’t think of negative things and to concentrate on life?
Christians don’t need to cop out when that question is asked. We can tell our children how we were created, why we were created, why we are all going to die, what happens after death, and what we can do about it.
Our society is filled with adults with psychological problems due to a fear of death. It terrorizes them every minute of every day. Millions live in quiet futility as they wait to die, and are driven to drugs, to the psychiatrist’s couch, to alcohol, and to suicide, solely because they fear death.
The tragedy is, that fear could instantly leave them if they repent and place their faith in the One who came to “release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:15).
Psalm 34:11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
I, even I, am he that comforteth you . . .
–Isaiah 51:12
There is also comfort in mourning, because in the midst of mourning God gives a song. His presence in our lives changes our mourning into song, and that song is a song of comfort. This kind of comfort is the kind which enabled a devout Englishman to look at a deep dark hole in the ground where his home stood before the bombing and say, “I always did want a basement. Now I can jolly well build another house, like I always wanted.” This kind of comfort is the kind which enabled a young minister’s wife in a church near us to teach her Sunday school class of girls on the very day of her husband’s funeral. Her mourning was not the kind which had no hope—it was a mourning of faith in the goodness and wisdom of God; it believed that our heavenly Father makes no mistakes.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Oh heavenly Father, who knows what agony and grief are because of the sacrifice of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ—I thank You for the comfort which embraces all those who love You.
This is a summation of the Christian message to the world. Those who understand the righteousness of God will see their need for His mercy, which is found only in Jesus Christ. However, there can be no mercy until the hard soil of the heart has been broken up by the plow of the Law (see Rom. 7:7,13). It prepares the heart for the seed of the gospel (see Gal. 3:24).
“There must be plowing before there is sowing if there is to be reaping after the sowing!” Charles Spurgeon
Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
President Barack Obama's faith is continuing
to raise debate following criticism from GOP presidential candidate Rick
Santorum that the president's agenda promotes "phony theology" not
based on the Bible.
Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe,"
Rev. Franklin Graham was asked if he believes Obama is a Christian. Graham, who is the son of evangelist Billy
Graham, said he takes the president at his word, but that people also need to
understand what it means to be Christian.
"I have no idea what he really
believes," Graham said. "For me, the definition of a Christian is
whether we have given our life to Christ and are following Him in faith, and we
have trusted Him as our Lord and Savior."
Graham was then asked about the president's
connection to Islam. He suggested that Obama could be considered a Muslim.
"Under Sharia law, Islam sees him as a
son of Islam because his father was a Muslim, his grandfather was a Muslim, his
great grandfather was a Muslim," Graham responded. "So under Islamic
law, the Muslim world sees Barack Obama as a Muslim, as a son of Islam. That's
just the way it works."
"But of course he says he didn't grow up
that way," Graham continued. "[He says] he didn't believe in that. He
believes in Jesus Christ, so I accept that."
Graham called the president "an
incredible man," but also expressed concern that Obama is not as outspoken
as he could be on the persecution of Christians worldwide.
"[He] seems to be more concerned
about" the Muslims than the "Christians that are being murdered in
the Muslim countries," Graham said. "...He could be speaking to these
countries now, demanding that they protect the Christians."
Graham went on to say he believes
presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are Christians. When
asked about former Gov. Mitt Romney he said, "Most Christians would not
recognize Mormonism as part of the Christian faith."
Meanwhile, White House Spokesman Jay Carney
said the president is continuing to focus on the economy, rather than on what
people are currently saying about his faith.
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KANO, Nigeria-- A radical Muslim group is
threatening to turn parts of Nigeria into an Islamic emirate.
For several years, the group Boko Haram has
waged a violent campaign against the government and Nigerian Christians. The
sophistication of some of their most recent attacks has many concerned about
the group's possible links to international terrorists.
Epicenter of Holy War
About 215 miles from the Nigerian capital of
Abuja sits the sprawling city of Kano. It is the epicenter of Boko Haram's
"holy war" against the country.
"I would prefer not to talk about Boko
Haram's activities here in Kano," said one frightened resident of Kano.
"They just make me very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. Everybody is
afraid; we are all living in fear."
Kano on Edge
On Jan. 20, more than 100 Boko Haram
militants launched their deadliest attack to date. Suicide bombers hit multiple
locations in Kano, killing 185 people and injuring many others.
Kano is a city on edge. Police officers and the Nigerian Army are patrolling
the streets, setting up numerous checkpoints to try and protect this vulnerable
city from future attacks by Boko Haram.
"What this group is doing to our country
is terrible," a young man, who asked to remain anonymous, said. "They
are killing our people and they want to divide us."
'Faceless Enemy'
Boko Haram's official name in Arabic means
the "People committed to Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and
Jihad."
"This is a faceless enemy," a
resident told CBN News. "They don't wear a uniform. They live among us and
suddenly attack so we have to be very careful."
A spokesman for the Islamist group says the deadly attacks won't stop until
Sharia law rules the country.
"Often in the mainstream media, Boko
Haram is presented as a sect as if they had a theology of their own or a small
extremist group. That is not the case," Phares told CBN News.
"Boko Haram is a jihadist movement that
has the same ideology as all other Salafist jihadist movement as al Qaeda, the
Taliban, as al-Shabab," he explained.
"What they want to do is to establish an
emirate, an Islamist radical state -- first in the northern part of Nigeria and
then push to the south and declare an emirate across Nigeria," Phares
said.
Religious Divide
Boko Haram's task won't be easy. Nigeria is
evenly split between Christians in the south and Muslims in North. Sharia law
is already in place across 12 states in the Muslim-majority north.
And while Boko Haram wants to see the Islamic laws more strictly enforced, the
group's radical theology has little traction in the south.
"So now the group is trying to spark a religious war by getting Muslims
and Christians to fight each other," a young Nigerian from Kano said.
Since 2002 when it was founded, Boko Haram
has terrorized Nigerian Christians by attacking their homes, churches, and
killing scores of believers.
Warning to Christians,
Muslims
Bishop Ransom Bello is a prominent Christian
leader in Kano. He's received several death threats from radical Muslims.
The most recent came from Boko Haram warning
about an impending attack against churches here.
"My biggest worry is about the security of the Christians in Kano State. I
am worried so much about that," Ransom Bello, with the Christian
Association of Nigeria, said.
"Because every time they make such
promises they fulfill it," he said. "So the apprehension is that one
day they will come to attack the churches."
At one of Kano's largest mosques, Imam
Abubakar Jibirin used a recent Friday noon gathering to urge followers to
remain calm and seek peace.
But in an interview with CBN News following Friday prayers, Imam Jibirin
refused to criticize directly or condemn the actions of Boko Haram.
The group has distributed leaflets warning
anyone, including Muslims, not to criticize their actions.
"I don't know who these people are, so I can't judge them," Sheikh
Jibirin, with Bayero University Mosque, told CBN News.
"I can't tell you if Boko Haram is a
Muslim group or not," he said. "I've been telling our people that we
should live in peace with one another."
Links to Al Qaeda?
Boko Haram has killed more than 1,000 people
in some 160 separate attacks since July 2009.
Many of the recent attacks, including the
Jan. 20 incident, were far more complex and coordinated than anything linked to
Boko Haram before.
"Their bombs are increasingly more
sophisticated and more powerful, so this has gone beyond the sort of local
radical group," Paul Marshall, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said.
That has Nigerian and Western security
officials worrying about potential links to international terrorist groups like
al Qaeda.
A Nigerian newspaper investigation traced
funding for the group's activities to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, as
well as further plans to turn Nigeria into another Afghanistan.
Members have also reportedly met and received
training from senior al Qaeda figures in North Africa.
"We've had information and analysis and assessments for the last two to
three years that Boko Haram has been in connection with al Qaeda -- al Qaeda
mostly of the Maghreb, which is now operating in Mali, Mauritania, Niger, the
area known as the Sahel," Phares said.
And now perhaps equally worrying are reports
of Boko Haram sympathizers within Nigeria's police, intelligence services, army
and judiciary. That's leaving many to worry about the future of Africa's most
populous country.
"I see this as a spiritual battle over Nigeria because these issues go
beyond economic, beyond politics," Bello said. "Its goes beyond
natural things. It's spiritual."
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-Walking In The Way
NEGROS ORIENTAL, Philippines - When an
earthquake struck the Philippine Islands earlier this month, it triggered
landslides that buried two villages in the Negros Oriental province of the
island nation and claimed the lives of at least 51 people.
Many people are still missing. The disaster
wiped out houses, bridges, and other infrastructure in the surrounding
territory.
Following the earthquake, a mini-tsunami
struck the province, sweeping away more than 100 houses with its strong waves.
Even the 16-year-old house church of Pastor
Severino Fuentes did not escape the huge waves. It now lies flattened, several
meters away from where it used to stand.
Pastor Fuentes cried, not over the loss of
his house, but because he is grateful that his wife and granddaughter who were
being carried away by the strong current, survived.
He said the calamity has given him more
purpose in life.
"I am not giving up. I believe God saved
us so that we can continue His work," he told CBN News.
"Everything that we have comes from him.
Our life, our intellect, but we use them to please the world," Fuentes
explained. "All this is a reminder that God is the God of the whole earth
and He is the most powerful one."
Pastor Pio Ancol, with the Assemblies of God
church, shared how he experienced God's power as the big wave rushed toward his
church.
"I commanded the wave. I said, 'Stop in
Jesus name and go back to where you belong!'" he said. "And the wave
stopped and went back into the sea."
"My prayer was 'Lord, save the people.
Open their spiritual eyes. Let them know the truth.' Jesus Christ is the truth.
I pray that they will give their lives to Jesus and for all the people to serve
only Him," Ancol said.
Ancol's prayer was answered when teams from CBN International
arrived and set up a relief distribution station at his church.
He seized the opportunity to share the word
of God with earthquake victims who came for help. On that day, more than 200
people prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their saviour.
The CBN ministry gave the survivors food and mats. It will also
conduct a feeding program for 72 malnourished children.
The ministry also plans to hold medical
missions in the area and seek other ways to help the people recover from the
tragedy.
"Thank you very much CBN. You are a big
help because we really need food for our families. I am so happy because today,
I really feel that God loves me," Vicky Romano, an earthquake survivor,
said.
While CBN's Disaster Relief operation teams
are ongoing in the earthquake-stricken areas, the organization is still helping
victims of typhoons and flash floods that hit other provinces in recent months.
In Quirino province, CBN is providing medical
care to those in need. It's also giving out fishing nets and lamps to fishermen
to help them begin making a living again.
Meanwhile in the Cagayan de Oro and Lanao
provinces, CBN water stations are still providing fresh, clean water to victims
of flash floods.
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-Walking In The Way
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control . . .
–Galatians 5:22,23 (TLB)
Christ can rid you of inner conflict. Man without God is always torn between two urges. His nature prompts him to do wrong, and his conscience urges him to do right. Antagonistic desires and crossed-up emotions keep him in a state of personal instability. Medical men have almost concluded that this conflict is the basis of much physical breakdown and nervous collapse. Many doctors now believe that among the contributing causes of the common cold are stress, tension, and inner conflict. Paul must have been in the midst of such a personal civil war when he cried, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Then he answered his own question when he said, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Only Your Holy Spirit, Lord, can control my innermost feelings. Help me to be conscious of Your presence this day.
After Ezekiel had surveyed the temple of God, he had a vision of the glory of God. When Christ crucified, and the things freely given to us of God, through Him, are shown to us by the Holy Ghost, they make us ashamed for our sins. This frame of mind prepares us for fuller discoveries of the mysteries of redeeming love; and the whole of the Scriptures should be opened and applied, that men may see their sins, and repent of them. We are not now to offer any atoning sacrifices, for by one offering Christ has perfected for ever those that are sanctified, Heb. 10:14; but the sprinkling of his blood is needful in all our approaches to God the Father. Our best services can be accepted only as sprinkled with the blood which cleanses from all sin.” Matthew Henry
Ezekiel 43:2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.
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The world often complains about the hypocrites they think are “in the Church.” Yet hypocrites (pretenders) are not part of the Church, which is made up of true believers. Hypocrites merely dwell as goats among the Lord’s sheep, bad fish among the good, tares among wheat until the day God separates them. These verses confirm that sin can bring joy—but only temporarily (see Jer. 12:1; Heb. 11:24,25; also Job 27:8,9).
“As much as we need to convert the lost to Christianity, more and more we need to convert the Christians to Christianity.” G. K. Chesterton
Job 20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?
Who is a God like unto thee . . . he delighteth in mercy.
–Micah 7:18
Many persons want to hear what God says just out of curiosity. They want to analyze and dissect it in their own test tubes. To these persons, God may remain the great cosmic silence “out there somewhere.” He communicates to those who are willing to hear and receive Him, and willing to obey Him. Jesus said that we must become humble as little children, and God has most often revealed Himself to the meek and the humble—to a shepherd boy like David, to a rough desert man like John the Baptist, to shepherds watching their flocks, to a girl named Mary. How does God speak? How can a blind man see? How can a deaf man hear? From the beginning God spoke to man. Adam heard the voice of the Lord in the Garden of Eden. Adam had two sons, Cain and Abel, and God spoke to them. Cain spurned that which was revealed to him, but Abel was obedient to the Word of God. Abel’s response showed that a man tainted and handicapped by sin could respond to God’s overtures. Thus, in the beginning, God began by revelation to build a bridge between Himself and people.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
How merciful You are, almighty God. I seek to show this same mercy.
It’s easy to find excuses not to witness by yourself, so find a partner or two and encourage one another in your evangelistic endeavors. Form ties with godly men and women who are liked-minded about the necessity to reach the lost and make plans to go out “fishing” on a regular basis. You may want to begin a weekly PIE night: Pizza, Intercession, and Evangelism. Meet with several others on a Friday night for a big slice of pizza, pray together for 15–20 minutes, then hit the streets or a mall to seek the lost.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
No promise is of private interpretation. Whatever God has said to any one saint, he has said to all. When he opens a well for one, it is that all may drink. When he openeth a granary-door to give out food, there may be some one starving man who is the occasion of its being opened, but all hungry saints may come and feed too. Whether he gave the word to Abraham or to Moses, matters not, O believer; he has given it to thee as one of the covenanted seed. There is not a high blessing too lofty for thee, nor a wide mercy too extensive for thee. Lift up now thine eyes to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, for all this is thine. Climb to Pisgah's top, and view the utmost limit of the divine promise, for the land is all thine own. There is not a brook of living water of which thou mayst not drink. If the land floweth with milk and honey, eat the honey and drink the milk, for both are thine. Be thou bold to believe, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.In this promise, God gives to his people everything. I will never leave thee. Then no attribute of God can cease to be engaged for us. Is he mighty? He will show himself strong on the behalf of them that trust him. Is he love? Then with lovingkindness will he have mercy upon us. Whatever attributes may compose the character of Deity, every one of them to its fullest extent shall be engaged on our side. To put everything in one, there is nothing you can want, there is nothing you can ask for, there is nothing you can need in time or in eternity, there is nothing living, nothing dying, there is nothing in this world, nothing in the next world, there is nothing now, nothing at the resurrection-morning, nothing in heaven which is not contained in this text-I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
–Philippians 4:13
Jesus had a humble heart. If He abides in us, pride will never dominate our lives. Jesus had a loving heart. If He dwells within us, hatred and bitterness will never rule us. Jesus had a forgiving and understanding heart. If He lives within us, mercy will temper our relationships with our fellowmen. Jesus had an unselfish heart. If He lives in us, selfishness will not predominate, but service to God and others will come before our selfish interests. You say, “That’s a big order!” I admit that. It would be impossible if you had to measure up to Him in your own strength and with your natural heart. Paul recognized that he could never attain this heart purity by his own striving.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
So live in me today that I will be able to radiate Your love and grace, Jesus.
When God draws a sinner to Himself and saves him, he becomes part of the virgin Bride of Christ. The believer who has seen the love of God in Christ will take up his cross and follow Him.
Mark 8:34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.
–Ephesians 6:16 (TLB)
Many jokes are made about the devil, but the devil is no joke. If a short time ago I had talked about Satan to university students, they would have made light of him, but no longer. Students today want to know about the devil, about witchcraft, about the occult. Many people do not know they are turning to Satan. They are being deluded because, according to Jesus Christ, Satan is the father of lies and the greatest liar of all times. He is called a deceiver. In order to accomplish his purpose, the devil blinds people to their need of Christ. Two forces are at work in our world—the forces of Christ and the forces of the devil—and you are asked to choose.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
I have chosen to serve You, my Lord Jesus. Give me Your strength to battle the deceptions of Satan.
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Make sure to 'like' us on Facebook, and become a 'Follower' here, or sign up for email notifications on the bottom right of this page. As always, thanks for stopping by, and may God bless you!-Walking In The Way
Famed atheist Alain de Botton, also a best-selling Swiss author and philosopher known for challenging Richard Dawkins and what he calls his "destructive" atheistic theology, has in a recent interview highlighted many ways in which religion is useful even for secularists.
De Botton and Dawkins most recently clashed over plans to build a 151-foot atheist temple in London. De Botton is helping fund the project, which will he says will symbolize more than 300 million years of life on Earth and be a place for "love, friendship, calm and perspective."
Dawkins, on the other hand, the author of The God Delusion, described plans for the temple as being "misplaced for non-believers to build quasi-religious buildings, because atheists did not need temples to probe the meaning of life."
"I think there are better things to spend this kind of money on. If you are going to spend money on atheism you could improve secular education and build non-religious schools which teach rational, skeptical critical thinking," Dawkins explained.
De Botton, however, argues in his new book Religion for Atheists that places of contemplation and community, such as temples, are one of the many positive aspects about religion that secular people need to adapt in their daily lives. In an interview with the Australian broadcaster ABC, the philosopher insisted that religious practice and secular ethics do not need to be so separate, and atheism can learn a lot from religion.
"This is, you know... I think religions are far too useful, complex, intelligent to be abandoned simply to those who happen to believe in them. They're for all of us, especially nonbelievers," he insisted.
"The assumption is if you don't believe in anything, you will be completely uninterested in the whole spectra of religion. But my argument is that, actually, religion is full of useful, interesting, consoling ideas that could be of appeal even to someone who has absolutely no interest in being a believer," de Botton explained.
He further broke down his reasoning behind building the atheist temple in London, describing how religion builds community and unity by reminding people there are things greater and bigger than ourselves.
"What most religions do is they take people – at certain time of the year, calendar, week – and they put them in a place, and they say, "You are very small in the larger perspective – in the cosmos, in the eyes of God," whatever it is. Religion relativizes us, make us small," the philosopher, who grew up in an atheistic household, elaborated.
"Being made to feel small by something amazing – religious people would call that God, but you could call that the universe or nature or the ocean – it has a really calming effect on us, and we don't do it enough. We tend to live in cities, where the achievements of other humans dominate, and where we slowly lose our minds to envy and anxiety until something can just pull us out and reintroduce a wider timeframe and a wider sense of space," he explained.
The philospher affirmed, however, that he is quite rooted in his atheism and is not necessarily looking for God or for a spirit to bring people together – but still wants the secular community to find ways of adopting into their lives religious methods of looking for the answers to life's big questions.
"I'm genuinely an Atheist, and [am] not questing for God or a replacement or a spirit or anything like that, but I think the secular world has not worked out all the answers – and particularly when it comes to organizing the inner life," de Botton said. "I'm really interested in guidance. How do we cope with the fracturing of society?"
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God . . . and it shall be given him.
–James 1:5
Peace with God and the peace of God in a man’s heart and the joy of fellowship with Christ have in themselves a beneficial effect upon the body and mind, and will lead to the development and preservation of physical and mental power. Thus, Christ promotes the best interest of the body and mind as well as of the spirit—in addition to inward peace, the development of spiritual life, the joy and fellowship with Christ, and the new strength that come with being born again. There are certain special privileges that only the true Christian can enjoy. There is, for example, the privilege of having divine wisdom and guidance continually.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Let me live so close to You, almighty God, that Your wisdom will invade my mind continually.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
–Psalm 119:11
When temptations come, let me suggest that you ask God for strength—and also to show you the way He has prepared for your escape. One other word of counsel; be very sure that you do not deliberately place yourself in a position to be tempted. All of us are not subjected to the same weaknesses and temptations. To one, alcohol may be the temptation; to another, it may be impure thoughts and acts; to another, greed and covetousness; to another, criticism and an unloving attitude. Regardless of what it may be, be sure that Satan will tempt you at your weak point, not the strong. Our Lord has given us an example of how to overcome the devil’s temptations. When He was tempted in the wilderness, He defeated Satan every time by the use of the Bible.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
With the shield of Your Word, I will face temptation, almighty God.
“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
–James 1:26
The problems of the world could be solved overnight if men could get victory over their tongues. Suppose there was no anger, no profanity, no lying, no grumbling or complaining; suppose there were no dirty stories told, no unjust criticism—what a different world this would be! The Bible teaches that a man who can control his tongue can control his whole personality. We should ask ourselves three questions before we speak: Is it true? Is it kind? Does it glorify Christ? If we would always think before we speak, there would be much less evil speaking, and there would soon be a spiritual awakening that would sweep the church in America.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
May I remember how important it is to keep a check on my tongue. I pray that my conversation this day will be pleasing in Your sight, Lord.
Some skeptics point to this verse, where Lot offered two of his daughters to a pack of homosexuals who were at his door, threatening to rape Lot’s two male visitors. Of course, the homosexuals did not take him up on his offer, and the visitors (angels) were very capable of protecting themselves. The Bible does not hide human stupidly; it reveals it so that we will not make the same mistakes. We are told that all of Scripture was written for our instruction (see Rom. 15:4; 2 Tim. 3:16). So, be instructed. If rapists come to your door, don’t offer them your daughters. That’s crazy.
Genesis 19:8 See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.
And Jesus said, . . . and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
–Mark 14:62
The world in which we live is full of pessimism. No Christian has the scriptural right to go around wringing his hands wondering what we are to do in the face of the present world situation. The Scripture says that in the midst of persecution, confusion, wars, and rumors of wars, we are to comfort one another with the knowledge that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming back in triumph, glory, and majesty. Many times when I go to bed at night I think to myself that before I awaken Christ may come. Sometimes when I get up and look at the dawn I think that perhaps this is the day He will come. He has told us Christians to be watching constantly and to be ready, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44). Do you think Christ will come today? “Probably not,” you say. It is on just such a day that He may come. What a glorious time of reunion it’s going to be, when we shall be caught up with Him!
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Thank You, Jesus, for the hope that even today I may have the joy of seeing You face to face!
PHILIPPINES -- This month a 6.9 earthquake
struck the central Philippines. But even worse than the quake, were the
landslides that followed.
About 50 people died in the catastrophe and
dozens remain missing.
Many survivors are struggling to find shelter
and food. But relief workers with The Christian Broadcasting Network are
helping them through the hard times.
Remembering the Horror
Earthquake survivor Arnolita Ramas still felt
the horror as she vividly shared how she and her family narrowly escaped a
landslide triggered by the earthquake.
"The tremors were so strong. My husband
carrying our son pulled my hand and we ran away from our house as fast as we
can," she recalled.
"When I looked back, I saw how this huge
amount of earth covered our house. In a wink of an eye, we lost everything,
including my father-in-law who was trapped inside our house," she said.
Ramas is 7 months pregnant. She says it's a
miracle that she, her husband and their 5-year-old son survived.
"I fell flat on my stomach twice and two
banana trees fell on my back, but I did not feel any pain," Ramas told CBN
News.
"While the ground was shaking really
hard, my husband and I raised our hands and shouted, 'Lord, if this is our time
to die then take us. We are ready. But if this is not yet our time, please stop
the earthquake,'" she recalled.
Ramas' father-in-law is among the more than 100 people still missing after the
6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Negros province.
She and her family now live in a former goat den. Their house and small
vegetable plantation were swallowed in the landslide. She and her husband now
rely on relief to feed their seven children.
But help does not come very often because
their village is in the mountains and the roads are susceptible to landslides.
Survivors Get Food, Counseling
That's why Ramas and 300 families are so
relieved that the CBN workers came to help.
Negros is one of the communities badly hit by
the earthquake. It is very difficult to reach because of rough roads and it's
quite far from the city.
There, CBN gave away food and mats. Church
volunteers are also conducting trauma counseling for the children.
More than 37,000 families have been affected by the quake. Many houses are
either completely destroyed or unlivable due to extensive damage.
The homeless now live in tents, but even
those who still have houses camp outside in fear of the frequent strong
aftershocks.
Wake-Up Call
Rock Candido has been pastoring in the area
for some time. His house was badly damaged in the quake, but he says the
catastrophe has fueled him to draw more people to God.
"The people here do not go to church
anymore," Candido told CBN News. "There is a lot of gambling going on
and running after material things in life."
"This is a wake-up call to all of us,
even the churches. We are running out of time," he warned. "We should
be more aggressive in sharing the gospel."
"This has caused the people to go back
to God because He is the one who is in control of everything," he said.
"I like what CBN is doing because they not only cater to the physical
needs of the people but to the spiritual needs as well."
It was through Candido's outreach in the
mountains that Ramas came to know Christ. She acknowledges that it was her
faith that saved her family.
"I really believe that when we have God
in our lives, He will always keep us safe," she said.
Ramas and her children had to walk 4 kilometers for the relief goods, but she
is happy they have food to sustain them for the coming days.
"Thank you very much CBN," she
said. "This is really a big help to us. We don't know where to get our
food because we also lost our farm, and we don't have the means to buy food. I
hope this will not be the last. Thank you and God bless."
CBN will regularly supply food to these far
flung villages and other badly affected areas. The organization is also
preparing livelihood projects for the victims of the earthquake to help them
recover from this calamity.
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-Walking In The Way
From one end of the muslim world to the other, Christians are being murdered for their faith.
We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny.
But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives.
Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm.
The portrayal of Muslims as victims or heroes is at best partially accurate. In recent years the violent oppression of Christian minorities has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations stretching from West Africa and the Middle East to South Asia and Oceania. In some countries it is governments and their agents that have burned churches and imprisoned parishioners. In others, rebel groups and vigilantes have taken matters into their own hands, murdering Christians and driving them from regions where their roots go back centuries.
The media’s reticence on the subject no doubt has several sources. One may be fear of provoking additional violence. Another is most likely the influence of lobbying groups such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—a kind of United Nations of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia—and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Over the past decade, these and similar groups have been remarkably successful in persuading leading public figures and journalists in the West to think of each and every example of perceived anti-Muslim discrimination as an expression of a systematic and sinister derangement called “Islamophobia”—a term that is meant to elicit the same moral disapproval as xenophobia or homophobia.
But a fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other. The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake.
At least 24 Coptic Christians were killed in Cairo during clashes with the Egyptian Army on Oct. 9., Thomas Hartwell / Redux
From blasphemy laws to brutal murders to bombings to mutilations and the burning of holy sites, Christians in so many nations live in fear. In Nigeria many have suffered all of these forms of persecution. The nation has the largest Christian minority (40 percent) in proportion to its population (160 million) of any majority-Muslim country. For years, Muslims and Christians in Nigeria have lived on the edge of civil war. Islamist radicals provoke much if not most of the tension. The newest such organization is an outfit that calls itself Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sacrilege.” Its aim is to establish Sharia in Nigeria. To this end it has stated that it will kill all Christians in the country.
In the month of January 2012 alone, Boko Haram was responsible for 54 deaths. In 2011 its members killed at least 510 people and burned down or destroyed more than 350 churches in 10 northern states. They use guns, gasoline bombs, and even machetes, shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) while launching attacks on unsuspecting citizens. They have attacked churches, a Christmas Day gathering (killing 42 Catholics), beer parlors, a town hall, beauty salons, and banks. They have so far focused on killing Christian clerics, politicians, students, policemen, and soldiers, as well as Muslim clerics who condemn their mayhem. While they started out by using crude methods like hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes in 2009, the latest AP reports indicate that the group’s recent attacks show a new level of potency and sophistication.
The Christophobia that has plagued Sudan for years takes a very different form. The authoritarian government of the Sunni Muslim north of the country has for decades tormented Christian and animist minorities in the south. What has often been described as a civil war is in practice the Sudanese government’s sustained persecution of religious minorities. This persecution culminated in the infamous genocide in Darfur that began in 2003. Even though Sudan’s Muslim president, Omar al-Bashir, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which charged him with three counts of genocide, and despite the euphoria that greeted the semi-independence he grant-ed to South Sudan in July of last year, the violence has not ended. In South Kordofan, Christians are still subject-ed to aerial bombardment, targeted killings, the kidnap-ping of children, and other atrocities. Reports from the United Nations indicate that between 53,000 and 75,000 innocent civilians have been displaced from their resi-dences and that houses and buildings have been looted and destroyed.
Both kinds of persecution—undertaken by extragovernmental groups as well as by agents of the state—have come together in Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. On Oct. 9 of last year in the Maspero area of Cairo, Coptic Christians (who make up roughly 11 percent of Egypt’s population of 81 million) marched in protest against a wave of attacks by Islamists—including church burnings, rapes, mutilations, and murders—that followed the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. During the protest, Egyptian security forces drove their trucks into the crowd and fired on protesters, crushing and killing at least 24 and wounding more than 300 people. By the end of the year more than 200,000 Copts had fled their homes in anticipation of more attacks. With Islamists poised to gain much greater power in the wake of recent elections, their fears appear to be justified.
Egypt is not the only Arab country that seems bent on wiping out its Christian minority. Since 2003 more than 900 Iraqi Christians (most of them Assyrians) have been killed by terrorist violence in Baghdad alone, and 70 churches have been burned, according to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA). Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled as a result of violence directed specifically at them, reducing the number of Christians in the country to fewer than half a million from just over a million before 2003. AINA understandably describes this as an “incipient genocide or ethnic cleansing of Assyrians in Iraq.”
The 2.8 million Christians who live in Pakistan make up only about 1.6 percent of the population of more than 170 million. As members of such a tiny minority, they live in perpetual fear not only of Islamist terrorists but also of Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws. There is, for example, the notorious case of a Christian woman who was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad. When international pressure persuaded Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer to explore ways of freeing her, he was killed by his bodyguard. The bodyguard was then celebrated by prominent Muslim clerics as a hero—and though he was sentenced to death late last year, the judge who imposed the sentence now lives in hiding, fearing for his life.
Such cases are not unusual in Pakistan. The nation’s blasphemy laws are routinely used by criminals and intolerant Pakistani Muslims to bully religious minorities. Simply to declare belief in the Christian Trinity is considered blasphemous, since it contradicts mainstream Muslim theological doctrines. When a Christian group is suspected of transgressing the blasphemy laws, the consequences can be brutal. Just ask the members of the Christian aid group World Vision. Its offices were attacked in the spring of 2010 by 10 gunmen armed with grenades, leaving six people dead and four wounded. A militant Muslim group claimed responsibility for the attack on the grounds that World Vision was working to subvert Islam. (In fact, it was helping the survivors of a major earthquake.)
At least 13 people were killed and 140 injured on March 8, 2011, when participants in a large Christian demonstration in a Cairo slum were attacked by residents of a surrounding neighborhood., Mohamed Omar / EPA-Landov
Not even Indonesia—often touted as the world’s most tolerant, democratic, and modern majority-Muslim nation—has been immune to the fevers of Christophobia. According to data compiled by the Christian Post, the number of violent incidents committed against religious minorities (and at 7 percent of the population, Christians are the country’s largest minority) increased by nearly 40 percent, from 198 to 276, between 2010 and 2011.
The litany of suffering could be extended. In Iran dozens of Christians have been arrested and jailed for daring to worship outside of the officially sanctioned church system. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, deserves to be placed in a category of its own. Despite the fact that more than a million Christians live in the country as foreign workers, churches and even private acts of Christian prayer are banned; to enforce these totalitarian restrictions, the religious police regularly raid the homes of Christians and bring them up on charges of blasphemy in courts where their testimony carries less legal weight than a Muslim’s. Even in Ethiopia, where Christians make up a majority of the population, church burnings by members of the Muslim minority have become a problem.
It should be clear from this catalog of atrocities that anti-Christian violence is a major and underreported problem. No, the violence isn’t centrally planned or coordinated by some international Islamist agency. In that sense the global war on Christians isn’t a traditional war at all. It is, rather, a spontaneous expression of anti-Christian animus by Muslims that transcends cultures, regions, and ethnicities.
As Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, pointed out in an interview with Newsweek, Christian minorities in many majority-Muslim nations have “lost the protection of their societies.” This is especially so in countries with growing radical Islamist (Salafist) movements. In those nations, vigilantes often feel they can act with impunity—and government inaction often proves them right. The old idea of the Ottoman Turks—that non-Muslims in Muslim societies deserve protection (albeit as second-class citizens)—has all but vanished from wide swaths of the Islamic world, and increasingly the result is bloodshed and oppression.
So let us please get our priorities straight. Yes, Western governments should protect Muslim minorities from intolerance. And of course we should ensure that they can worship, live, and work freely and without fear. It is the protection of the freedom of conscience and speech that distinguishes free societies from unfree ones. But we also need to keep perspective about the scale and severity of intolerance. Cartoons, films, and writings are one thing; knives, guns, and grenades are something else entirely.
As for what the West can do to help religious minorities in Muslim-majority societies, my answer is that it needs to begin using the billions of dollars in aid it gives to the offending countries as leverage. Then there is trade and investment. Besides diplomatic pressure, these aid and trade relationships can and should be made conditional on the protection of the freedom of conscience and worship for all citizens.
Instead of falling for overblown tales of Western Islamophobia, let’s take a real stand against the Christophobia infecting the Muslim world. Tolerance is for everyone—except the intolerant.
(newsweek.com)
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-Walking In The Way
What kind of place is Heaven? First, Heaven is home. The Bible takes the word “home” with all of its tender associations and with all of its sacred memories and tells us that Heaven is home. Second, Heaven is a home which is permanent. We have the promise of a home where Christ’s followers will remain forever. Third, the Bible teaches that Heaven is a home which is beautiful beyond every imagination. Heaven could not help but be so, because God is a God of beauty. Fourth, the Bible teaches that Heaven will be a home which is happy, because there will be nothing to make it sad. In Heaven families and friends will be reunited. God’s house will be a happy home because Christ will be there. He will be the center of Heaven. To Him all hearts will turn, and upon Him all eyes will rest.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
As I think of the promise of an eternal home with You and the reunion with my loved ones—I rejoice!
What God in His sovereignty may yet do on a worldscale I do not claim to know. But what He will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His face I believe I do know and can tell others. Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days.” A. W. Tozer
2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
When you begin to take steps forward to fortify the “wall” of your life against all work of the enemy, you can bank on the fact that he will pull out all the stops to try and thwart and discourage you. When Nehemiah was in the process of building the wall around Jerusalem, the enemies of Israel did everything possible to thwart the process: “Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion” (Neh. 4:7-8).
What an incredible picture of the enemy’s tactic against us! Whenever we move forward in prayer, spiritual progress, or fortification, he does everything he can to create confusion. Using doubt, discouragement, and fear, he creates a “smoke and mirrors” magic show of illusion, trying to make himself appear more powerful than he really is and convince us that we will never succeed in completing the building process.
If you find that you are constantly distracted with the cares of life, bogged down with emotional or physical “fog,” or pestered with irrational thoughts and fears, there is a good chance that the enemy of your soul is attempting to create confusion and keep you from building a wall of fortification around your life. Beware of saying, “I’ll press into God once these issues are gone.” That is exactly how the enemy wants you to respond. Like Nehemiah, we must aggressively pray and fight until the enemy realizes that we will not kowtow to his bullying.
“Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night…Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I…said to…the people, ‘Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight…And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. (Neh. 4:9,13-15)
Christ said, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). We must live in such a way that we are constantly on guard, always sober and vigilant against the cunning schemes of the enemy (see 1 Peter 5:8). We mustn’t assume the road will be easy, but let us remember that we have available to us the weapons of heaven (see Eph. 6:10-17). And above all, may we remember who fights through us! “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4).
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you . . .
–John 14:27
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Where does peacemaking begin? How can we become peacemakers? Can peace be discovered within ourselves? Freud has told us that peace is but a mental attitude. Cast off our phobias, shed our neuroses, and “bingo!”—we’ll have the coveted peace we long for. I respect psychiatry for what it can do. Unquestionably, it has helped many. But it certainly is not satisfactory as a substitute for the peace which can come only from God. If psychiatry leaves God out, ultimately we shall see psychiatrists going to each other for treatment. There can be no peace until we find peace with God. The Bible says, “He is our peace.”
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
The balm of Your peace pours over my soul and I humbly praise You, almighty God.
God’s Law prepares the heart of the sinner for the good news of the gospel. Without this preparatory work, his heart is hardened and he therefore becomes a candidate for a false conversion. Now and then we can catch a glimpse of the difference between the true and false converts. Here we read the famous narrative of two women, both claiming to be the mother of one child. Solomon, in his wisdom, commanded that the baby be cut in half and thus revealed the true mother. Both of these women dwelt in the same house. The true and false converts dwell together in the house of the Lord. Each of the women called Solomon “lord.” Both the true and false convert call Jesus “Lord,” and it therefore takes the wisdom of Solomon to discern between the true and false. What was it that showed Solomon the real mother? It was that the true mother revealed genuine love. She would rather lose her child than see him cut in two with a sword.
Here is how to tell the true convert from the false. The spurious convert will reveal himself by dividing the Body of Christ in two with some pet doctrine, rather than backing down in humility. He will cut a body of believers in half because of a particular interpretation of Scripture regarding a non-essential. He lacks the wisdom that is peaceable and open to reason. In contrast, the true convert will strive to keep the unity of the body. He will not even put meat to his mouth if it causes his brother to stumble, let alone push a personal interpretation and cause division.
1 Kings 3:16 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him.17 And one woman said, O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house.18 Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no onewas with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.19 And this womans son died in the night, because she lay on him.20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.22 Then the other woman said, No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son. And the first woman said, No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.23 And the king said, The one says, This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one; and the other says, No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.24 Then the king said, Bring me a sword. So they brought a sword before the king.25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.26 Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him! But the other said, Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.27 So the king answered and said, Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
I have loved thee with an everlasting love . . .
–Jeremiah 31:3
No human experience can fully illustrate the imputed righteousness of God, as conceived by His infinite love. It is a mystery—incomprehensible and inexplicable. Like the mystery of the sun’s heat and light, we cannot measure it or explain it, and yet we could not live without it. Writing of the mystery of completed righteousness, Paul said, “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. . . . But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:7, 9). What God has wrought in us is wonderful. But His work has just begun. He has a wonderful, exciting, thrilling future for all of His believing children.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
My finite mind cannot grasp all there is in store for those of us who love You—but this does not take away the joy and expectation all Your love has prepared—everlastingly!
Hypocrites may show up at a church building every Sunday, but there are no hypocrites in the Church (Christ’s body). Hypocrite comes from the Greek word for “actor,” or pretender. Hypocrisy is “the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold.” The Church is made up of true believers; hypocrites are “pretenders” who sit among God’s people. God knows those who love Him, and the Bible warns that He will sort out the true converts from the false on the Day of Judgment. All hypocrites will end up in hell (Matt. 24:51).
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico is suing on behalf of two local residents over a Ten Commandments monument displayed at the BloomfieldCity Hall.
The monument was erected last year on the City Hall's lawn.
The ACLU calls it an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, saying the display violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as the New Mexico State Constitution.
Last November, the ACLU won a similar lawsuit against a Ten Commandments monument that had been placed on a courthouse lawn in Florida.
The organization also sued Giles Country, Va., over a display of historical documents in a southwest Virginia high school.
Make sure to 'like' us on Facebook, and become a 'Follower' here, or sign up for email notifications on the bottom right of this page. As always, thanks for stopping by, and may God bless you! -Walking In The Way
NORTH COTABATO, Philippines -- Shirlyn Macasarte barely escaped death some four years ago when more than 50 armed Muslim rebels ambushed and fired at her car.
Macasarte miraculously survived 29 gunshots, but her foot was crushed and nerves connecting to her legs were damaged, causing temporary paralysis.
Although Macasarte was a victim of mistaken identity, she said she didn't feel angry or bitter over the incident.
"It was a Muslim who brought me to the hospital," she told CBN News. "He saved my life. And that is why I believe that there is good in every person."
Her life spared, Macasarte often testified about God's faithfulness. She was especially drawn to gatherings of persons with disabilities.
Macasarte's own experience caused her to understand their needs. She felt led to help them and launched the group SAKLAY, which means "crutch" in English. The organization empowers people with disabilities.
"Saklay is not limited to providing mobility devices; it also provides livelihood programs, health services and organizes people with disabilities in different communities," Macasarte explained.
Helping the Forgotten
Many of those SAKLAY helped, like Evelyn Penas, have been neglected for a long time. She became lame when her nerves were damaged during a childhood vaccination.
"I was ashamed and so I always hid from people and just stayed at home," Penas told CBN News. "I did not even go to first grade until I reached 15 years old. My father would carry me around. Later I managed to walk with my hands and knees."
After 50 years, Penas finally got her first wheelchair courtesy of SAKLA.
"I am very happy that I now have a wheelchair," she said. "It's a big help for me to be able to go out and earn a living. I have money to buy rice. I thank God for helping me and for giving me hope."
Saklay has also provided prosthetic legs to those in need.
Naot, a Muslim woman, lost her leg in a bomb explosion. She used a crude, wooden leg until Macasarte's organization gave her a better one.
Jimmy Teope was also helped. He lost his leg in an ambush and was using an artificial leg made of aluminum and wood until SAKLAY provide him with a more sophisticated prosthetic.
Close to Home
Macasarte has assisted many handicapped people in her community, but she never expected that one of her relatives would also need help.
One day before Macasarte's interview with CBN News, her niece was gunned down by Muslims in broad daylight -- the fourth ambush in their family.
While Macasarte's niece escaped serious injury, her niece's husband was instantly killed. Their 9-year-old daughter survived, but her leg had to be amputated.
"I know the enemy does not want God to use me. But this incident cannot stop me from what I am doing," Macasarte declared. "I will help the daughter of my niece get an artificial leg."
"This has caused much pain for us, but we are thankful she is alive," she said. "It is the breath of life that inspires me. I believe in all of this, God has a purpose."
Family tragedies have inspired Macasarte to help others. She's now empowering the weak and providing education -- especially for Muslims.
She is a peace maker in Muslim Mindanao, an example of Christian faith in action, working to turn evil intentions into something good.
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The African county of Nigeria remains on edge after a wave of deadly bombings and attacks by gunmen this year.
In the city of Kaduna, police chief Bala Nasarawa said Monday that an attack occurred at the KadunaState government house, but declined to give more details.
The attack came a week after bombs targeting two major military bases and a highway overpass in Kaduna wounded an unknown number of people.
The radical Islamic group Boko Haram is blamed for killing nearly 300 people, including more than 185 in attacks in the city of Kano, which remains on high alert.
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. . . you have been chosen by God who has given you this new kind of life . . .
–Colossians 3:12 (TLB)
Modern writers depict the pessimism of our time and many of them throw up their hands in despair and say, “There is no answer to man’s dilemma.” Hemingway once said, “I live in a vacuum that is as lonely as a radio tube when the batteries are dead, and there is no current to plug into.” Eugene O’Neill in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” typifies the philosophical attitude of our day. He says, “Life’s only meaning is death.” I say to Hemingway and to O’Neill, who have already gone on, “There is more to life than death.” There is more to life than a radio tube that needs a place to plug into. Jesus taught us the dignity and importance of being a person. God put us on this earth for a purpose, and our purpose is fellowship with God and to glorify God.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Loving Father, Your love for me transcends the hopelessness of this life and gives me the purpose I so desperately need.
