Careful Thought

We’re nearly done with our pastor search. The candidate has been notified and the only thing remaining is a congregational vote, which is expected to be just a formality. This is the second time I’ve been asked to participate in the pastor selection process but the only thing the two instances have in common is that God was in them. In the first, we had a very structured process that was bathed in prayer from beginning to end. The team was tight and whenever there was a conflict or dispute we would stop for prayer. At the end of the night (and at the end of the search) we were in unity. I think God blessed our efforts for that reason. I was sad to see the process end, even though we had accomplished our intended objective.

This time was different, though I’m not sure why. I’m convinced that God chose the right man despite our best efforts. In the end, the man was chosen for us. God was in it and our candidate has already shown that he will do a fantastic job. He’s a humble man who walks closely with the Lord.
I’m glad the process is over.

Jesus’ Prayer of Intercession - For the Unity of Believers “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe on Me through their word. May they all be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I in You, so that they may be one in Us, in order that the world may believe that You sent Me! I gave them the glory that You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are One; I in them and You in Me, so that they may be made completely one, in order that the world may know that You have sent Me and that You love them as You love Me. (John 17:20-23)

Okay, this is dated, but liked it…

Impatient with efforts to close the courts to litigants, the Administration literally fired the first shot in its groundbreaking “No Lawyer Left Standing” initiative.

Vice-President Cheney, hunting on a private lawyer ranch near Kingsville, Texas, bagged an impressive buck (Harry Whittington, UT Law ‘50). Under the new program, hunters may take one in-house lawyer or three outside lawyers daily. The limit has been suspended for trial lawyers. “We’ve just got to thin the herd,” said the Vice-President. “We’ve tried tort reform and caps on damages, but people are still suing.” Cheney added, “It’s easy and fun. In Texas, you can shoot in almost any direction and hit a lawyer.”

Palestinian brewery to launch ‘Hamas’ non-alcoholic beer .

There’s a punchline in there somewhere….

Brigitte Gabriel is not a hand-wringer. She doesn’t agonize over what the West has done to antagonize Islam. In her words,

“I was ten years old when my home exploded around me, burying me under the rubble and leaving me to drink my blood to survive, as the perpetrators shouted “Allah Akbar!‿ My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. At 10 years old, I learned the meaning of the word “infidel.”I had a crash course in survival. Not in the Girl Scouts, but in a bomb shelter where I lived for seven years in pitch darkness, freezing cold, drinking stale water and eating grass to live. At the age of 13 I dressed in my burial clothes going to bed at night, waiting to be slaughtered. By the age of 20, I had buried most of my friends–killed by Muslims. We were not Americans living in New York, or Britons in London. We were Arab Christians living in Lebanon.

She spoke at the Intelligence Summit in Washington on Saturday. As a Lebanese Christian she came to realize at an early age that Islam is not a religion of peace. Not because of her color or financial status, not because of her education, but because she is an infidel.

Under the banner of Islam “ la, ilaha illa allah, muhammad rasoulu allah ,” (None is god except Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) they murdered Jewish children in Israel, massacred Christians in Lebanon, killed Copts in Egypt, Assyrians in Syria, Hindus in India, and expelled almost 900,000 Jews from Muslim lands. We Middle Eastern infidels paid the price then. Now infidels worldwide are paying the price for indifference and shortsightedness.This is the ugly face of the enemy we are fighting. We are fighting a powerful ideology that is capable of altering basic human instincts. An ideology that can turn a mother into a launching pad of death. A perfect example is a recently elected Hamas official in the Palestinian Territories who raves in heavenly joy about sending her three sons to death and offering the ones who are still alive for the cause. It is an ideology that is capable of offering highly educated individuals such as doctors and lawyers far more joy in attaining death than any respect and stature, life in society is ever capable of giving them.

The United States has been a prime target for radical Islamic hatred and terror. Every Friday, mosques in the Middle East ring with shrill prayers and monotonous chants calling death, destruction and damnation down on America and its people. The radical Islamists’ deeds have been as vile as their words. Since the Iran hostage crisis, more than three thousand Americans have died in a terror campaign almost unprecedented in its calculated cruelty along with thousands of other citizens worldwide. Even the Nazis did not turn their own children into human bombs, and then rejoice at their deaths as well the deaths of their victims. This intentional, indiscriminate and wholesale murder of innocent American citizens is justified and glorified in the name of Islam.

You can read more of her speech to the Summit here .

(Link courtesy of Black Kettle )

What is our response as Christians to the palpable hatred by Islam of all things not Islam? Christ calls us to love. How do we love those who are absolutely closed to the message of forgiveness and salvation? When Christ sent out the twelve, he told them,

“Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” ( Mark 6:10-11 , NIV)

Do we continue to reach out to Muslims or shake the collective dust from our feet?

I’ve spoken with missionaries operating in Muslim countries and they are convinced that despite the overt hostility of “big Islam”, God is clearly moving in individuals. Isn’t that what He does everywhere else?

So how do we deal with “big Islam”?

Why didn’t Paul preach in Jerusalem? He was, by his own admission, a Jew among Jews, a Pharisee among Pharisees, educated at the feet of Gamaliel. He knew the law inside and out. Jerusalem was Judaism headquarters, so why couldn’t he win an audience there? Acts 9 says, “When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple,” and later “Saul stayed with [the apostles] and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.” (9:26,28)

Then something interesting happens: peace breaks out. Why? Because Paul was given the boot.

The passage continues,

“When the brothers learned of this [the Grecians Jews trying to kill him], they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. “

Why did things go well when Paul was sent away? I think it was because Paul was a disruptive influence within the fledgling church. God obviously had quite a plan for him once he matured in his newly-discovered faith, but he wasn’t there yet. It isn’t until chapter 13 that Paul begins his missionary journeys which built the Gentile church , rather than a refurbished Jewish church. He does return to Jerusalem on occasion, but it’s never his mission field.

It certainly would have made sense for him to be a church leader in that city, just based on his credentials. But God’s economy is different. God calls us where He needs us, not where we think we’re best suited. Paul was content to wait on the leading of the Holy Spirit and his ministry (and the church) blossomed. If he had stayed in Jerusalem and tried to “make a difference” in the Jewish community, I’m convinced that he would have continued to be a disruptive influence until he learned to listen to what the Holy Spirit was teaching him.

Our prodigious talents are wasted when we’re comfortable, because God doesn’t want us comfortable. Thank God that Paul didn’t let himself get comfortable.

I am  no longer conflicted about the mohammed cartoons. Laura Ingraham played clips from a Larry King interview with family members of those killed on 9/11. Some were on United Flight 93, on the other planes or in the Pentagon or WTC.  Their devastation and suffering is beyond belief, as is the utter barbarity of those acts.

When someone whines about the cartoons, remind them of these  images.

And this is offensive?

What’s this? Common sense creeping back in??

Air Force refines its policy on faith :
Document Gives Chaplains More Leeway in Ministering

By TOM ROEDER THE GAZETTE
The Colorado Springs Gazette New Air Force religion guidelines issued Thursday give chaplains the right to refuse orders that violate their beliefs. Guidelines issued last summer required chaplains to minister to people of all faiths in a nondenominational setting, causing an outcry from evangelical groups that wanted their clerics to promote Christianity.

The new rules appeased those groups by allowing evangelicals to “adhere to their tenets,” and only participate in religious activities that comply with their beliefs.

The Air Force also dropped a provision requiring chaplains to respect the rights of all faiths and nonbelievers.

Evangelicals said the changes will allow their members to proselytize and to refuse to give nondenominational prayers.

(Read the whole piece here .)

Tags: Air Force, chaplains, religion

1 Kings 19:11-13 :
So He said, ‘Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD ‘ And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave And behold, a voice came to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’